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We predict novel topological phases with broken time-reversal symmetry supporting the coexistence of opposite chiral edge states, which are fundamentally different from the photonic spin-Hall, valley-Hall, and higher-order topological phases. We find a fine-grained categorization of Chern insulators, their band topologies characterized by identical Chern numbers are completely different. Furthermore, we prove that different topologies cause zeros in their Bloch wave function overlaps, which imprint the band gap closing and appear at the degenerate points of topological phase transition. The Bloch wave function overlaps predict the reflection and refraction at a topological time boundary, and the overlap zeros ensure the existence of vanishing revival amplitude at critical times even though different topologies before and after the time boundary have identical Chern numbers. Our findings create new opportunities for topological metamaterials, uncover the topological feature hidden in the time boundary effect as a probe of topology, and open a venue for the exploration of the rich physics originating from the long-range couplings.
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No abstract available.
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Células Precursoras de Linfócitos T , Leucemia-Linfoma Linfoblástico de Células T Precursoras , Humanos , Citometria de Fluxo , Imuno-Histoquímica , Leucemia-Linfoma Linfoblástico de Células T Precursoras/diagnósticoRESUMO
Objective: To investigate the factors influencing total bilirubin elevation and its correlation with UGT1A1 gene polymorphism in the early postoperative period of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). Methods: 104 cases with portal hypertension and esophageal variceal hemorrhage (EVB) treated with elective TIPS treatment were selected as the study subjects and were divided into a bilirubin-elevated group and a normal bilirubin group according to the total bilirubin elevation level during the early postoperative period. Univariate analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the factors influencing total bilirubin elevation in the early postoperative period. PCR amplification and first-generation sequencing technology were used to detect the polymorphic loci of the UGT1A1 gene promoter TATA box, enhancer c.-3279 T > G, c.211G > A, and c.686C > A. Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation of four locus alleles and genotypes with elevated total bilirubin in the early postoperative period. Results: Among the 104 cases, 47 patients were in the bilirubin elevated group, including 35 males (74.5%) and 12 females (25.5%), aged (50.72 ± 12.56) years. There were 57 cases in the normal bilirubin group, including 42 males (73.7%) and 15 females (26.3%), aged (51.63 ± 11.10) years. There was no statistically significant difference in age (t = -0.391, P = 0.697) and gender (χ(2) = 0.008, P = 0.928) between the two groups of patients. Univariate analysis revealed that preoperative alanine transaminase (ALT) level (χ(2) = 5.954, P = 0.015), total bilirubin level (χ(2) = 16.638, P < 0.001), MELD score (χ(2) = 10.054, P = 0.018), Child-Pugh score (χ(2) = 6.844, P = 0.022), and postoperative portal vein branch development (χ(2) = 6.738, P = 0.034) were statistically significantly different between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that preoperative ALT level, total bilirubin level, and portal vein branch development after TIPS were correlated with the elevated total bilirubin in the early postoperative period. The polymorphism of the c.211G > A locus of the UGT1A1 gene correlation had elevated total bilirubin in the early postoperative period of TIPS. The risk of elevated total bilirubin was increased in the population carrying allele A (P = 0.001, OR = 4.049) in the early postoperative period. Allelic polymorphisms in the TATA box promoter region and enhancer c.-3279 T > G and c.686C > A had no statistically significant difference between the bilirubin-elevated group and the normal bilirubin group. Conclusion: The preoperative ALT level, total bilirubin level, and portal vein branch development are correlated with the elevated total bilirubin in early postoperative patients. The polymorphisms of the UGT1A1 gene and enhancer c.211G > A are correlated with the occurrence of elevated total bilirubin in the early postoperative period of TIPS. Allele A carrier may have a higher risk of elevated total bilirubin in the early postoperative period.
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Varizes Esofágicas e Gástricas , Glucuronosiltransferase , Derivação Portossistêmica Transjugular Intra-Hepática , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Bilirrubina , Hemorragia Gastrointestinal/cirurgia , Período Pós-Operatório , Estudos Retrospectivos , Resultado do Tratamento , Adulto , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Glucuronosiltransferase/genéticaRESUMO
Coral bleaching is the single largest global threat to coral reefs worldwide. Integrating the diverse body of work on coral bleaching is critical to understanding and combating this global problem. Yet investigating the drivers, patterns, and processes of coral bleaching poses a major challenge. A recent review of published experiments revealed a wide range of experimental variables used across studies. Such a wide range of approaches enhances discovery, but without full transparency in the experimental and analytical methods used, can also make comparisons among studies challenging. To increase comparability but not stifle innovation, we propose a common framework for coral bleaching experiments that includes consideration of coral provenance, experimental conditions, and husbandry. For example, reporting the number of genets used, collection site conditions, the experimental temperature offset(s) from the maximum monthly mean (MMM) of the collection site, experimental light conditions, flow, and the feeding regime will greatly facilitate comparability across studies. Similarly, quantifying common response variables of endosymbiont (Symbiodiniaceae) and holobiont phenotypes (i.e., color, chlorophyll, endosymbiont cell density, mortality, and skeletal growth) could further facilitate cross-study comparisons. While no single bleaching experiment can provide the data necessary to determine global coral responses of all corals to current and future ocean warming, linking studies through a common framework as outlined here, would help increase comparability among experiments, facilitate synthetic insights into the causes and underlying mechanisms of coral bleaching, and reveal unique bleaching responses among genets, species, and regions. Such a collaborative framework that fosters transparency in methods used would strengthen comparisons among studies that can help inform coral reef management and facilitate conservation strategies to mitigate coral bleaching worldwide.
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Antozoários , Dinoflagellida , Animais , Recifes de Corais , TemperaturaRESUMO
AIMS: Vaccines for bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) are available but are difficult to produce, expensive or suffer from genetic instability. Therefore, we designed constructs encoding C-terminally truncated forms (transmembrane anchoring region deleted) of glycoproteins G and GNS such that they were secreted from the cell into the media to achieve high-level antigen expression, correct glycosylation pattern and enable further simple purification with the V5 epitope tag. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, synthetic biology was employed to create membrane-bound and secreted forms of G and GNS glycoprotein. Mammalian cell culture was employed as an antigen expression platform, and the secreted forms of G and GNS protein were easily purified from media using a highly effective, single-step method. The V5 epitope tag was genetically fused to the C-termini of the proteins, enabling detection of the antigen through immunoblotting and immunomicroscopy. Our data demonstrated that the C-terminally truncated form of the G glycoprotein was efficiently secreted from cells into the cell media. Moreover the immunogenicity was confirmed in mice test. CONCLUSIONS: The immuno-dot blots showed that the truncated G glycoprotein was present in the total cell extract, and was clearly secreted into the media, consistent with the western blotting data and live-cell images. Our strategy presented the expression of secreted, epitope-tagged, forms of the BEFV glycoproteins such that appropriately glycosylated forms of BEFV G protein was secreted from the BHK-21 cells. This indicates that high-level expression of secreted G glycoprotein is a feasible strategy for large-scale production of vaccines and improving vaccine efficacy. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The antigen expression strategy designed in this study can produce high-quality recombinant protein and reduce the amount of antigen used in the vaccine.
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Vírus da Febre Efêmera Bovina , Febre Efêmera , Animais , Bovinos , Febre Efêmera/genética , Febre Efêmera/prevenção & controle , Vírus da Febre Efêmera Bovina/genética , Epitopos/genética , Glicoproteínas/genética , Camundongos , Vacinas de Subunidades AntigênicasRESUMO
AIMS: Riemerella anatipestifer infections of goslings and ducklings can result in high mortality. Since there are at least 21 serotypes of R. anatipestifer, cross-protection is an important goal for vaccine development. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, we evaluated the immunostimulatory effect of different immunization regimens - the traditional inactivated vaccine vs prime-boost regimens using DNA and protein subunit vaccines (DNA+subunit, subunit+subunit, subunit+inactivated and DNA+DNA). Results showed that, when compared to the inactivated vaccine, prime-boost regimens induced higher and up to 16-week longer lasting levels of antibody responses, significantly elevated the percentage of the cytotoxic CD8+ T cell and higher expression levels of IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-12 mRNAs. Furthermore, as an indication of cross-protection, sera from prime-boost regimens were able to recognize lysates of R. anatipestifer serotypes 1, 2 and 6. CONCLUSIONS: Prime-boost regimens especially DNA-prime and protein-boost, induce strong long-term immune response and may prove protective for breeder ducks requiring long-term protection. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: It is worth mentioning that the subunit+inactivated regimen group also elicited strong immune response. The cost of this regimen may only be half of the other prime-boost regimens, making this subunit + inactivated combination an attractive option.
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Vacinas Bacterianas/imunologia , Infecções por Flavobacteriaceae/veterinária , Imunização/métodos , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/prevenção & controle , Riemerella/imunologia , Animais , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Proteínas de Bactérias/imunologia , Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismo , Vacinas Bacterianas/administração & dosagem , Proteção Cruzada , Patos/microbiologia , Infecções por Flavobacteriaceae/microbiologia , Infecções por Flavobacteriaceae/prevenção & controle , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/microbiologia , Riemerella/genética , Vacinas de DNA/administração & dosagem , Vacinas de DNA/imunologia , Vacinas de Subunidades Antigênicas/administração & dosagem , Vacinas de Subunidades Antigênicas/imunologiaRESUMO
Objective: The study intends to identify gap in HIV/AIDS awareness dissemination between the official channel delivery and the needs of adolescents. Methods: We crawled all the HIV/AIDS queries from "Baidu zhidao" till June 11st, 2018. "Baidu zhidao" inquiry and information form official public service announcement (abbreviated for "official delivery" hereafter) were the data source for comparative analysis. We categorized the text data into four kinds, "prevention", "testing and treatment", "symptoms and infection" and "legalization and policies" according to official categorization. Word segmentation was used for text mining and word frequency statistics, as well word cloud was used for word frequency visualization (all based on a comparison after removing the useless words). Results: Of the official delivery, the proportion of prevention category accounted for 32.3% (n=162) (ranks 1st), and the proportion of legalization and policies category was 14.1% (n=71). While among the "Baidu zhidao" inquiry information, the proportion of testing and treatment category accounted for 51.7% (n=51 264), and the proportion of prevention category accounted for 11.4% (n=11 272). The frequencies of same terms/ repeated terms of two channels accounted for 60% (59.3%-63.9%) of each category among the official delivery, of which, the proportion of interest terms comparatively less and more diverse in "Baidu zhidao" inquiries. The proportion of the terms frequency of each category was about 45% in "prevention, testing and treatment", 34.3% (n=14 781) in "symptoms and infection" and 17.0% (n=5 744) in "legalization and policies", respectively. Conclusion: A big gap was identified between the available official source and inquiries' term, especially word frequency discrepancy between "legalization and policies" and "prevention" categories. It underscore the necessity for the official channel to address the needs and interests of adolescents in the future.
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Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/prevenção & controle , Adolescente , Mineração de Dados , Humanos , Disseminação de InformaçãoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is usually a nodal lymphoma expressing CD10, rarely with leukaemic presentation (FL-LP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched for FL-LP in our institution from 2000 to 2018 and characterised the neoplastic cells by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Thirteen (6.1%) of 212 FL cases were FL-LP, all de novo neoplasms. The leukaemic cells were small in 12 cases and large in one. All had concurrent FL, mostly (92%; 12/13) low-grade. The single case with large leukaemic cells had a concurrent primary splenic low-grade FL and a double-hit large B-cell lymphoma in the marrow. RESULTS: CD10 was expressed in the leukaemic cells in 38% (5/13) cases by flow cytometry and in 77% (10/13) cases in tumours (p= 0.0471). IGH/BCL2 reciprocal translocation was identified in 85% (11/13) cases. Most patients were treated with chemotherapy. In a median follow-up time of 36 months, nine patients were in complete remission. The 2- and 5-year survival rates were at 100% and 83%, respectively. In this study, we characterised a series of de novo FL-LP in Taiwan. All patients had concurrent nodal and/or tissue tumours, which might suggest that these patients seek medical help too late. CONCLUSION: The lower CD10 expression rate by flow cytometry than by immunohistochemistry might be due to different epitopes for these assays. Alternatively, loss of CD10 expression might play a role in the pathogenesis of leukaemic change. The clinical course of FL-LP could be aggressive, but a significant proportion of the patients obtained complete remission with chemotherapy.
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Leucemia de Células B , Linfoma Folicular , Neprilisina/metabolismo , Adulto , Idoso , Feminino , Citometria de Fluxo , Humanos , Imuno-Histoquímica , Hibridização in Situ Fluorescente , Leucemia de Células B/metabolismo , Leucemia de Células B/patologia , Leucemia Linfocítica Crônica de Células B/metabolismo , Linfoma Folicular/metabolismo , Linfoma Folicular/patologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prognóstico , Taxa de SobrevidaRESUMO
AIMS: To evaluate the effect of a DNA priming and protein boosting immunization scheme in ducks. METHODS AND RESULTS: Pekin ducks were immunized with pTCY/VP2 DNA vaccine; on day 14 (D14) after primary immunization, the ducks were boosted with either the same vaccine (DNA + DNA) or the rVP2 vaccine (DNA + rVP2). CpG oligodeoxynucleotides containing three copies of GACGTT motifs were used as the adjuvant in the vaccines. Compared with unimmunized controls, both immunization schemes significantly increased the titre of antigen-specific antibodies, lymphocyte proliferation index, percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and mRNA expression of interferon (IFN)-α, IFN-γ, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-12 in antigen-stimulated PBMCs. Furthermore, compared with the DNA + DNA homologous scheme, the DNA + rVP2 heterologous scheme significantly increased lymphocyte proliferation, percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in PBMCs and upregulation of mRNA expression of cytokines 2 weeks after the boost (D28). CONCLUSIONS: The DNA + rVP2 immunization scheme enhanced immune responses, mainly Th1 type, against parvovirus in ducks. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The DNA priming and protein boosting heterologous immunization strategy can be applied to develop vaccines against viral infections in ducks. It can potentially be used in breeding ducks because of long-term immunity may confer protection for ducklings.
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Infecções por Parvoviridae/veterinária , Parvovirus/imunologia , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/prevenção & controle , Vacinas de DNA/administração & dosagem , Proteínas Virais/administração & dosagem , Adjuvantes Imunológicos/administração & dosagem , Animais , Citocinas/genética , Citocinas/imunologia , Patos , Imunização , Imunização Secundária , Leucócitos Mononucleares/imunologia , Infecções por Parvoviridae/imunologia , Infecções por Parvoviridae/prevenção & controle , Infecções por Parvoviridae/virologia , Parvovirus/genética , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/genética , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/imunologia , Doenças das Aves Domésticas/virologia , Células Th1/imunologia , Vacinas de DNA/genética , Vacinas de DNA/imunologia , Proteínas Virais/genética , Proteínas Virais/imunologiaRESUMO
AIMS: Available bacterins, commercial or autogenous, for Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae disease control have, thus far, shown debatable protective efficacy and only in homologous challenges. Our study sought to determine whether the addition of reombinant protein ApxIV to the multicomponent vaccine could enhance protection against homologous and heterologous challenge of A. pleuropneumoniae. METHODS AND RESULTS: The virulence of ApxI, ApxII, ApxIV and OMP were cloned and expressed using a prokaryotic system; these recombinant proteins were combined with inactivated A. pleuropneumoniae serovar 1 to formulate different multicomponent vaccines. Immune response and protective efficacy of the vaccines were evaluated in mice and pigs. A protection rate of 67% was observed against heterologous challenge in mice vaccinated with the rApxIV formulation. Piglets vaccinated with vaccine containing ApxIV produced significantly higher antibody titre and provided complete protection and reduced gross lesions by 67% when compared with the nonimmunized group after homologous challenge. Additionally, flow cytometry analysis showed significant cellular immune response. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our vaccination experiments revealed that a combination of inactivated bacteria and the recombinant antigens rApxI, rApxII, rApxIV and rOMP can provide effective protection against heterologous A. pleuropneumoniae challenge. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The addition of ApxIV to the multicomponent vaccine could enhance homologous and heterologous protection in mice and pigs, respectively, against challenge by A. pleuropneumoniae.
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Infecções por Actinobacillus/veterinária , Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae/imunologia , Proteínas de Bactérias/imunologia , Doenças dos Suínos/prevenção & controle , Infecções por Actinobacillus/imunologia , Infecções por Actinobacillus/microbiologia , Infecções por Actinobacillus/prevenção & controle , Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae/genética , Animais , Anticorpos Antibacterianos/imunologia , Proteínas de Bactérias/administração & dosagem , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Vacinas Bacterianas/administração & dosagem , Vacinas Bacterianas/genética , Vacinas Bacterianas/imunologia , Feminino , Camundongos , Proteínas Recombinantes/administração & dosagem , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/imunologia , Suínos , Doenças dos Suínos/imunologia , Doenças dos Suínos/microbiologia , VacinaçãoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PC) can be related to increased systemic oxidative stress and dihydrotestosterone level, which are also reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We conducted a cohort study to determine whether patients with PC have an increased risk of AMD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database for the 1999-2010 period. The study PC cohort comprised 22 084 patients aged ≥18 years with a first diagnosis of PC. The comparison cohort consisted of age-, occupation-, and urbanization level-matched patients at a ratio of 1 : 1. The primary outcome was the incidence of AMD, which was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and proportional hazards modeling. RESULTS: The mean follow-up periods (standard deviation) for the patients with AMD in the age-, occupation-, and urbanization level-matched PC cohort and non-PC cohorts were 4.69 (2.90) and 5.51 (2.82) years. The mean age of the PC cohort was 73.9 years and that of the non-PC cohort was 73.2 years, with approximately 85.9% of the patients aged >65 years. The PC cohort had a higher risk of AMD than did the propensity score-matched non-PC cohort with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.25 (95% confidence interval, 1.12-1.39). Compared with PC cohort receiving no injection hormone therapy, the PC cohort receiving injection hormone therapy had a lower risk of AMD (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.41-0.76). CONCLUSION: PC is associated with an increased risk of AMD. Patients with PC receiving injected form of androgen deprivation therapy had a lower risk of AMD than patients with PC not receiving injected form of androgen-deprivation therapy.
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Degeneração Macular/epidemiologia , Neoplasias da Próstata/epidemiologia , Idoso , Estudos de Coortes , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Retrospectivos , Risco , Taiwan/epidemiologiaRESUMO
A novel scheme for generating a pair of gigawatt attosecond pulses by coherent Thomson scattering from relativistic electron sheets is proposed. With a circularly polarized relativistic laser pulse, the scattered x-ray signal can have a saddlelike temporal profile, where the lower electromagnetic frequencies are found mostly in the center region of this saddlelike profile. By filtering out the latter, we can obtain two few-attosecond pulses separated by a subfemtosecond interval, which is tunable by controlling the energy of the sheet electrons. Such a pulse pair can be useful for an attosecond pump probe at an unprecedented time resolution and for ultrafast chiral studies in molecules and materials.
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Reporting of percutaneous injuries (PIs) to the Chinese Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) became mandatory for all public and tertiary referral hospitals in Taiwan in 2011. We have estimated the number of microbially contaminated PIs and the national PI incidence using a retrospective secondary data analysis approach to analyse 2011 data from the Chinese EPINet to determine the types of PI, mechanisms of occurrence and associated risks. The results revealed a national estimate of PIs between 6710 and 8319 in 2011. The most common incidents for physicians were disposable syringes, suture needles, and disposable scalpels; while for nurses they were disposable syringes, intravenous catheters, and lancets. About 13·0% of the source patients were seropositive for hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen, 13·8% were seropositive for hepatitis C virus (HCV), and 1·1% seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). From these results we estimate that annually 970 full-time healthcare workers (HCWs) would be exposed to HBV, 1094 to HCV, and 99 to HIV. This study improves our understanding of the mechanisms and risks of PIs and informs the development of more efficient preventive measures to protect HCWs from such injuries.
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Corpo Clínico Hospitalar/estatística & dados numéricos , Ferimentos Penetrantes Produzidos por Agulha/epidemiologia , Recursos Humanos de Enfermagem Hospitalar/estatística & dados numéricos , Exposição Ocupacional/estatística & dados numéricos , Traumatismos Ocupacionais/epidemiologia , Estudos de Coortes , Infecções por HIV/epidemiologia , Pessoal de Saúde , Hepatite B/epidemiologia , Hepatite C/epidemiologia , Humanos , Incidência , Estudos Retrospectivos , Taiwan/epidemiologia , Ferimentos Perfurantes/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Objective To assess the criterion validity, construct validity and test-retest reliability of the traditional Chinese language version of the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS-TC version). Methods This was an observational, cross-sectional study covering hospital and community samples of 317 women aged 39-62 years. Two questionnaires were administered, namely, the MRS-TC version, made up of 11 items in three dimensions, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). The intraclass correlation coefficient was used to examine the test-retest reliability of the questionnaire on two separate occasions, 2 weeks apart. The internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's α. To evaluate criterion validity, the relationship between the individual items and dimension scores of both instruments was estimated. Pearson's correlation was used to assess convergent and discriminant validity; construct validity was evaluated by comparing the mean scores of menopausal and non-menopausal women for each of the MRS dimensions. Results The final questionnaire comprised 11 items in three dimensions. The intra-class correlation (ICC) for the test-retest reliability ranged from 0.83 to 0.93; values of Cronbach's α for psychological, somatic, and urogenital symptom domains were 0.88, 0.68, and 0.59, respectively. For the convergent and discriminant validity, the correlations between the individual questionnaire and the WHOQOL-BREF were significant; those with the MRS dimensions were significantly negatively associated for the physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. Conclusion The MRS-TC version using the traditional Chinese language is a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing menopausal symptoms and global quality of life in climacteric women.
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Menopausa , Psicometria/métodos , Inquéritos e Questionários/normas , Avaliação de Sintomas/métodos , Traduções , Adulto , China , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Idioma , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Variações Dependentes do Observador , Qualidade de Vida , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Organização Mundial da SaúdeRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The incidence of prostate cancer is much lower in Asian men than in Western men. This study investigated whether prostate cancer is associated with prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and other medical conditions in the low-incidence population. METHODS: From the claims data obtained from the universal National Health Insurance of Taiwan, we identified 1184 patients with prostate cancer diagnosed from 1997 to 2008. Controls comprised 4736 men randomly selected from a cancer-free population. Both groups were 50 years of age or above. Medical histories between the two groups were compared. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that prostatitis and BPH had stronger association with prostate cancer than the other medical conditions tested. Compared with men without prostatitis and BPH, a higher odds ratio (OR) for prostate cancer was associated with BPH (26.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 20.8-33.0) than with prostatitis (10.5, 95% CI=3.36-32.7). Men with both conditions had an OR of 49.2 (95% CI=34.7-69.9). CONCLUSION: Men with prostate cancer have strong association with prostatitis and/or BPH. Prostatitis interacts with BPH, resulting in higher estimated relative risk of prostate cancer in men suffering from both conditions.
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Hiperplasia Prostática/epidemiologia , Neoplasias da Próstata/epidemiologia , Prostatite/epidemiologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Ásia , Comorbidade , Detecção Precoce de Câncer , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Análise Multivariada , Antígeno Prostático Específico , RiscoRESUMO
AIMS: Purification and characterization of a novel bacteriocin produced by strain Enterococcus faecium D081821. METHODS AND RESULTS: Enterococcus faecium D081821, isolated from the traditional Taiwanese fermented food dochi (fermented black beans), was previously found to produce a bacteriocin against Listeria monocytogenes and some Gram-positive bacteria. This bacteriocin, termed enterocin TW21, was purified from culture supernatant by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sep-Pak C18 cartridge, ion-exchange and gel filtration chromatography. Mass spectrometry analysis showed the mass of the peptide to be approximately 5300·6 Da. The N-terminal amino acid sequencing yielded a partial sequence NH2 -ATYYGNGVYxNTQK by Edman degradation, and it contains the consensus class IIa bacteriocin motif YGNGV in the N-terminal region. The open reading frame (ORF) encoding the bacteriocin was identified from the draft genome sequence of Enterococcus faecium D081821, and sequence analysis of this peptide indicated that enterocin TW21 is a novel bacteriocin. CONCLUSIONS: Enterococcus faecium D081821 produced a bacteriocin named enterocin TW21, the molecular weight and amino acid sequence both revealed it to be a novel bacteriocin. SIGNIFICANT AND IMPACT OF STUDY: A new member of class IIa bacteriocin was identified. This bacteriocin shows great inhibitory ability against L. monocytogenes and could be applied as a natural food preservative.
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Antibacterianos/química , Bacteriocinas/química , Enterococcus faecium/química , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Antibacterianos/isolamento & purificação , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Bacteriocinas/genética , Bacteriocinas/isolamento & purificação , Bacteriocinas/farmacologia , Sequência de Bases , Enterococcus faecium/isolamento & purificação , Fermentação , Bactérias Gram-Positivas/efeitos dos fármacos , Listeria monocytogenes/efeitos dos fármacos , Dados de Sequência MolecularRESUMO
AIM: To identify and characterize novel bacteriocins from Weissella hellenica 4-7. METHODS AND RESULTS: Weissella hellenica 4-7, isolated from the traditional Taiwanese fermented food sian-sianzih (fermented clams), was previously found to produce a bacteriocin active against Listeria monocytogenes and some other Gram-positive bacteria. Bacteriocin activity decreased slightly after autoclaving (121°C for 15 min), but was inactivated by protease K and trypsin. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed the bacteriocin mass to be approximately 3205·6 Da. N-terminal amino acid sequencing yielded a partial sequence, NH2 -KGFLSWASKATSWLVGP, by Edman degradation. The obtained partial sequence showed high homology with leucocin B-TA33a; however, at least two different residues were observed. No identical peptide or protein was found, and this peptide was therefore considered to be a novel bacteriocin produced by W. hellenica 4-7 and termed weissellicin L. CONCLUSIONS: The findings obtained in the current study suggest a novel bacteriocin produced by W. hellenica 4-7. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Bacteriocins from Weissella remain rare, and this study is the second report of a bacteriocin produced by W. hellenica.
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Antibacterianos/química , Bacteriocinas/química , Weissella , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Antibacterianos/biossíntese , Antibacterianos/isolamento & purificação , Bacteriocinas/biossíntese , Bacteriocinas/isolamento & purificação , Bivalves/microbiologia , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Alimentos Marinhos/microbiologia , Weissella/isolamento & purificaçãoRESUMO
AIM: To isolate and characterize bacteriocin-like inhibitory substance (BLIS)-producing lactic acid bacteria from the intestine of grey mullet. METHODS AND RESULTS: Inhibitory activity against at least one or more indicator strains was observed in one Enterococcus thailandicus, one Enterococcus faecium and two Lactococcus garvieae strains. Enterococcus faecium B3-8 and Ent. thailandicus B3-22 showed the greatest inhibitory activities against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19111 and were therefore further characterized. The results suggested that the inhibitory substances from the two strains showed similar characteristics with respect to sensitivity to heat and proteolytic enzymes. BLIS from Ent. thailandicus B3-22 was characterized by a broader inhibitory spectrum than that from Ent. faecium B3-8. SDS-PAGE revealed that the molecular size of partially purified BLISs from Ent. faecium B3-8 and Ent. thailandicus B3-22 was c. 5 and 3 kDa, respectively. The molecular mass of purified bacteriocin from Ent. thailandicus B3-22 was further determined to be 6319 Da by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The results indicated that BLIS from Ent. thailandicus B3-22 can effectively inhibit the growth of all tested L. garvieae strains. CONCLUSIONS: The findings obtained in this study suggest the potential use of Ent. thailandicus B3-22 as a biocontrol agent against pathogenic L. garvieae in the aquaculture. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This is the first report describing the characteristics of BLIS from Ent. thailandicus that showed potential for use as a biocontrol agent in the aquaculture.
Assuntos
Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Aquicultura , Bacteriocinas/farmacologia , Agentes de Controle Biológico , Enterococcus faecium/metabolismo , Enterococcus/metabolismo , Smegmamorpha/microbiologia , Animais , Antibacterianos/química , Antibacterianos/isolamento & purificação , Bacteriocinas/química , Bacteriocinas/isolamento & purificação , Enterococcus/isolamento & purificação , Enterococcus faecium/isolamento & purificação , Temperatura Alta , Intestinos/microbiologia , Listeria monocytogenes/efeitos dos fármacos , Peso MolecularRESUMO
Breast tumor segmentation of ultrasound images provides valuable information of tumors for early detection and diagnosis. Accurate segmentation is challenging due to low image contrast between areas of interest; speckle noises, and large inter-subject variations in tumor shape and size. This paper proposes a novel Multi-scale Dynamic Fusion Network (MDF-Net) for breast ultrasound tumor segmentation. It employs a two-stage end-to-end architecture with a trunk sub-network for multiscale feature selection and a structurally optimized refinement sub-network for mitigating impairments such as noise and inter-subject variation via better feature exploration and fusion. The trunk network is extended from UNet++ with a simplified skip pathway structure to connect the features between adjacent scales. Moreover, deep supervision at all scales, instead of at the finest scale in UNet++, is proposed to extract more discriminative features and mitigate errors from speckle noise via a hybrid loss function. Unlike previous works, the first stage is linked to a loss function of the second stage so that both the preliminary segmentations and refinement subnetworks can be refined together at training. The refinement sub-network utilizes a structurally optimized MDF mechanism to integrate preliminary segmentation information (capturing general tumor shape and size) at coarse scales and explores inter-subject variation information at finer scales. Experimental results from two public datasets show that the proposed method achieves better Dice and other scores over state-of-the-art methods. Qualitative analysis also indicates that our proposed network is more robust to tumor size/shapes, speckle noise and heavy posterior shadows along tumor boundaries. An optional post-processing step is also proposed to facilitate users in mitigating segmentation artifacts. The efficiency of the proposed network is also illustrated on the "Electron Microscopy neural structures segmentation dataset". It outperforms a state-of-the-art algorithm based on UNet-2022 with simpler settings. This indicates the advantages of our MDF-Nets in other challenging image segmentation tasks with small to medium data sizes.