Allyl isothiocyanate mitigates airway inflammation and constriction in a house dust mite-induced allergic asthma model via upregulation of tight junction proteins and the TRPA1 modulation.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that has been associated with insufficient vegetable intake. Allyl Isothiocyanate (AITC) is a natural isothiocyanate found in cruciferous plants with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant abilities. Our study aimed to investigate the potential effect of AITC on tracheal constriction in a house dust mite (HDM)-induced asthma animal model, and explore the underlying mechanisms. To investigate the effects of AITC on HDM-induced allergic asthma model, established by intranasally administering extracts of HDM and AITC or DEX was given orally for four weeks. Flexivent SCIREQ, H&E staining, ELISA were employed to evaluate the lung function and the cytokine secretion. Possible mechanisms were determined by Western blot. Rat tracheae contraction was measured by Labscribe. We utilized lung epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) to assess the adhesion response to the combination of inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-4. The results of the study showed that AITC significantly reduced tracheal constriction in ex vivo experiments and improved lung function in in vivo experiments compared to HDM-induced mice. Additionally, AITC decreased cytokine secretion, inflammatory cell infiltration in the lung, and constriction-related proteins expression in both lung and tracheae. Moreover, AITC increased tight junction-related protein expression in lung tissues. In vitro experiments showed that AITC had a protective effect through TRPA1 channel without affecting cell viability. Our results demonstrate that AITC has potential anti-asthma effects in HDM-induced asthma models by alleviating airway inflammation and airway constriction through increasing tight junction-related protein expression and suppressing Ca2+ signaling. These findings suggest that AITC may be a beneficial adjuvant therapy in asthma treatment.

Consumption of Artificial Sweetener Acesulfame Potassium Increases Preterm Risk and Uterine Contraction with Calcium Influx Increased via Myosin Light Chain Kinase-Myosin Light Chain 20 Related Signaling Pathway.

SCOPE: The consumption of artificial sweeteners has been rapidly increasing, with potentially hazardous effects on human reproduction. This study aims to explore the effect of Acesulfame Potassium (Ace K) and its potential mechanism to induce uterine contraction through in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo, and clinical observation studies. METHODS AND RESULTS: Used ex vivo and in vitro studies to analyze its effect on uterine contraction and involved signaling pathway. Used the long-term, high-dose exposure to examine Ace K's affection for contractive-related protein expression. By involving a cohort of 613 participants, to assess the dose-responsiveness of Ace K consumption and calculate the odd ratio of Ace K consumption and the relationship with preterm risk. Animal studies show increasing uterine contraction, cytokine secretion, and altered contraction-related protein expression. Human data show that higher consumption of Ace K may be related to early delivery. CONCLUSION: Long-term high-dose exposure to Ace K can induce uterine hypercontraction, increase cytokine secretion, and alters contraction-related protein expression. These findings suggest that women who suffer from uterine hypercontraction causes painfulness should pay more attention to the zero- or low-calorie soft drinks or food products containing Ace K.

Pusillimonas minor sp. nov., a novel member of the genus Pusillimonas isolated from activated sludge.

A novel pale white-pigmented bacterial strain designated YC-7-48T was isolated from activated sludge in China. Cells of the strain, which grew at 15-37 °C (optimum at 30 °C) and pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum at 7.0), were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped and motile. Strain YC-7-48T had 97.4-97.1% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to type strains of eight species in the genera Pusillimonas, Eoetvoesia, Paralcaligenes, Parapusillimonas and Paracandidimonas of the family Alcaligenaceae. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing placed the strain on a separate branch in the genus Pusillimonas and showed that it exhibited 97.4, 97.3 and 96.6% similarity to Pusillimonas caeni EBR-8-1T, Pusillimonas noertemannii BN9T and Pusillimonas maritima 17-4AT, respectively. The genome size of strain YC-7-48T was 3202438 bp, with 54.3 mol% G+C content. According to the genome analysis, YC-7-48T encodes several heavy metal resistance proteins and enzymes related to the metabolism of nicotine and aromatic compounds. The results of digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity analyses based on whole genome sequences between strain YC-7-48T and the closely related strains indicated that the strain represented a new species of the genus Pusillimonas. The chemotaxonomic results identified Q-8 as the predominant respiratory quinone, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol and two unidentified aminolipids as the major polar lipids, and C16:0 (27.4 %), C17:0 cyclo (22.0 %), C18:0 (11.7 %) and C19:0 cyclo ω8c (9.5 %) as the major fatty acids. Thus, based on morphological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characterization and genomic data, we proposed that the isolate is a representative of a novel species named Pusillimonas minor sp. nov., with the type strain YC-7-48T (=CGMCC 1.17466T=KACC 21349T).

Functional Aerogels Composed of Regenerated Cellulose and Tungsten Oxide for UV Detection and Seawater Desalination.

Functional aerogels composed of regenerated cellulose and tungsten oxide were fabricated by implanting tungsten-oxide nanodots into regenerated cellulose fiber. This superfast photochromic property benefitted from the small size and even distribution of tungsten oxide, which was caused by the confinement effect of the regenerated cellulose fiber. The composite was characterized using XRD and TEM to illustrate the successful loading of tungsten oxide. The composite turned from pale white to bright blue under ambient solar irradiation in five seconds. The evidence of solar absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) demonstrated the fast photochromic nature of the composite and its mechanism. Furthermore, carbon fiber filled with preferential growth tungsten-oxide nanorods was obtained by annealing the photochromic composite in a N2 atmosphere. This annealed product exhibited good absorption across the whole solar spectrum and revealed an excellent photothermal conversion performance. The water evaporation rate reached 1.75 kg m-2 h-1 under one sun illumination, which is 4.4 times higher than that of pure water. The photothermal conversion efficiency was 85%, which shows its potential application prospects in seawater desalination.

Classification of the risk of internet gaming disorder by flow short scale and cardiovascular response.

The American Psychiatric Association has identified Internet gaming disorder (IGD) as a potential psychiatric disorder. Questionnaires are the main method to classify high-risk IGD (HIGD) and low-risk IGD (LIGD). However, the results obtained using questionnaires might be affected due to several factors. Flow can measure a person's state of concentration and cardiovascular signals can reflect the autonomic responses of a person. We propose to observe the cardiovascular responses and flow scores from the flow short scale of the HIGD and LIGD groups to assist questionnaires in IGD risk assessment. The preliminary study recruited 18 gamers from colleges. Games with the easy and hard levels were set to arouse desire for playing. The result showed that the flow scores of five HIGD participants were significantly lower compared with that of 13 LIGD participants. The stroke volume (SV) of the LIGD group during baseline (67.06 ± 11.61) was significantly greater that of (p < 0.05) while playing the easy game (64.08 ± 10.37) and playing the hard game (63.70 ± 9.89). For the LIGD group, the cardiac output (CO) during baseline (5.28 ± 0.97) was significantly greater (p < 0.01) than that of recovery (5.03 ± 0.83), and while playing the easy game (5.34 ± 0.98) it was significantly more than that during recovery (p < 0.05). For the HIGD group, a significant difference in the heart rate, SV, and CO was not observed. The changes in cardiovascular responses of the LIGD group are greater than that of the HIGD group. Gamers with LIGD might have a higher susceptibility to the negative effect of playing video games, but gamers with HIGD might not. The finding of this study might help psychologists to estimate the IGD risk.Clinical Relevance- This study investigated the differences in the score of flow short scale, self-assessment manikin, challenge/skill, emotional questionnaire, and the changes in the cardiovascular responses between the HIGD and LIGD groups.

Regulatory T cells and T helper 17 cells in viral infection.

CD4+ T cells are the central element of the adaptive immune responses and protect the body from a variety of pathogens. Starting from naive cells, CD4+ T cells can differentiate into various effector cell subsets with specialized functions including T helper (Th) 1, Th2, Th17, regulatory T (Treg) and T follicular helper (Tfh) cells. Among them, Tregs and Th17 cells show a strong plasticity allowing the functional adaptation to various physiological and pathological environments during immune responses. Although they are derived from the same precursor cells and their differentiation pathways are interrelated, the terminally differentiated cells have totally opposite functions. Studies have shown that Tregs and Th17 cells have rather complex interplays in viral infection: Th17 cells may contribute to immune activation and disease progression while Tregs may inhibit this process and play a key role in the maintenance of immune homoeostasis, possibly at the cost of compromised viral control. In this review, we take respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections as examples to discuss these interplays and their impacts on disease progression in viral infection.

Paracandidimonas caeni sp. nov., isolated from sludge.

A beige-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, named 24T, was isolated from sludge of a pesticide manufacturing factory in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain 24T shared highest similarity with Parapusillimonas granuli Ch07T (98.20 %), followed by Candidimonas nitroreducens SC-089T (98.07 %) and Paracandidimonas soli IMT-305T (98.03 %). Phylogenetic trees showed that strain 24T formed a distinct clade with Paracandidimonas soli IMT-305T. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization tests showed that reassociation values were less than 45 % with respect to these closely related type strains. Strain 24T contained Q-8 and putrescine as the major respiratory quinone and polyamine, respectively. The main cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c/C16 : 1ω6c), summed feature 2 (iso-C16 : 1 I/C14 0 3-OH/C12 : 0 aldehyde), summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c) and C12 : 0. The polar lipid profile included phosphatidylmethylethanolamin, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid and one unidentified aminolipid. The G+C content was 56.83 mol%. Combined data from phenotypic, phylogenetic and DNA-DNA relatedness studies demonstrated that strain 24T represents a novel species of the genus Paracandidimonas, for which the name Paracandidimonas caeni sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 24T (=CCTCC AB 2018057T=KACC 19692T).

Enhanced Neuroactivation during Working Memory Task in Postmenopausal Women Receiving Hormone Therapy: A Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Hormone therapy (HT) has long been thought beneficial for controlling menopausal symptoms and human cognition. Studies have suggested that HT has a positive association with working memory, but no consistent relationship between HT and neural activity has been shown in any cognitive domain. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the convergence of findings from published randomized control trials studies that examined brain activation changes in postmenopausal women. METHODS: A systematic search for fMRI studies of neural responses during working memory tasks in postmenopausal women was performed. Studies were excluded if they were not treatment studies and did not contain placebo or blank controls. For the purpose of the meta-analysis, 8 studies were identified, with 103 postmenopausal women taking HT and 109 controls. RESULTS: Compared with controls, postmenopausal women who took HT increased activation in the left frontal lobe, including superior frontal gyrus (BA 8), right middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), anterior lobe, paracentral lobule (BA 7), limbic lobe, and anterior cingulate (BA 32). Additionally, decreased activation is noted in the right limbic lobe, including parahippocampal gyrus (BA 28), left parietal lobe, and superior parietal lobule (BA 7). All regions were significant at p ≤ 0.05 with correction for multiple comparisons. CONCLUSION: Hormone treatment is associated with BOLD signal activation in key anatomical areas during fMRI working memory tasks in healthy hormone-treated postmenopausal women. A positive correlation between activation and task performance suggests that hormone use may benefit working memory.

Status of cellular rather than humoral immunity is correlated with clinical outcome of enterovirus 71.

We valuated specific cellular and humoral immune response of cases of enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection and correlated immune response with clinical outcome. After obtaining informed consent, we enrolled 30 EV71 cases including 7 cases with brainstem encephalitis plus pulmonary edema, 12 cases of CNS (CNS) involvement and 11 uncomplicated cases. We measured antibodies specific to EV71, lymphocyte proliferation response and EV71-stimulated cellular response of Th1/Th2 cytokines and chemokines. The 7 EV71 cases involving brainstem encephalitis plus pulmonary edema had a significantly lower phytohemagglutinin stimulation index than other cases (p = 0.04). After EV71 stimulation of peripheral mononuclear cells, there was a significant increase in cellular Th1 cytokine (gamma-interferon) and proinflammatroy cytokines. However, cases with pulmonary edema had significantly lower cellular gamma-interferon (p = 0.04), lower cellular IL-1beta (p = 0.04), lower cellular IL-6 (p = 0.04), lower cellular tumor necrosis factor-alpha response (p = 0.04), and lower cellular macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (p = 0.04) response compared with other cases. Their titers of EV71 neutralizing antibodies demonstrated no difference among cases. These results suggest lower EV71-specific cellular response may be associated with immunopathogenesis of EV71-related pulmonary edema.

Two new C21 steroidal glycosides from Marsdenia tenacissima (ROXB.) WIGHT et ARN.

Two new C(21) steroidal glycosides, tenacissoside L (1), tenacissoside M (2), were isolated from the stems of Marsdenia tenacissima (ROXB.) WIGHT et ARN. Their structures were elucidated, respectively, by means of chemical and spectral data, including ESI-MS, HR-ESI-MS, 1D-NMR and 2D-NMR.