Helicobacter pylori causes gastric dysbacteriosis in chronic gastritis patients.

Gastric mucosal samples were procured and underwent the sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) via Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology to explore the impact of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection on the composition of gastric flora in chronic gastritis (CG) patients. In the results, the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) analysis revealed an overlap of 5706 OTUs shared between the two groups. The top 5 abundance ranking (TOP5) phyla comprised Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Epsilonbacteraeota, while the TOP5 genus was Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Helicobacter, Bacteroides, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas. In the metabolic pathways at the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG)_L3 level, conspicuous variations across seven functions were observed between the H. pylori-positive (HP_Pos) and H. pylori-negative (HP_Neg) groups. Subsequently, functional gene enrichment in KEGG pathways was further validated through animal experimentation. In contrast to the mice in the HP_Neg group, those infected with H. pylori manifested an infiltration of inflammatory cells, an augmentation in gastric acid secretion, and conspicuously elevated scores regarding gastric activity, along with heightened levels of malondialdehyde. In conclusion, CG patients infected with H. pylori displayed a disorder in gastric flora, furnishing a theoretical basis for the prophylaxis of H. pylori infection and its associated pathogenic ramifications.

Conservation and Divergence of the Trihelix Genes in Brassica and Expression Profiles of BnaTH Genes in Brassica napus under Abiotic Stresses.

Trihelix (TH) proteins are a family of plant-specific transcription factors that play a role in light response and are extensively involved in plant growth and development, as well as in various stress responses. However, the function of TH genes in Brassica napus (B. napus) remains unclear, as does the evolution and differentiation pattern of TH genes in Brassica plants. Here, we identified a total of 455 TH genes in seven species, including six Brassica species and Arabidopsis, which were grouped into five clades, GT-1, GT-2, GTγ, SH4, and SIP1, each with 69, 142, 44, 55, and 145 members, respectively. The types and distributions of motifs of the TH proteins and the structures of the TH genes are conserved in the same subgroup, and some variations in certain amino acid residues occur in B. napus when inheriting motifs from Brassica rapa (B. rapa) and Brassica oleracea (B. oleracea). Collinearity analysis revealed that the massive expansion of TH genes in tetraploid species was attributed to the hetero-tetraploidization of diploid ancestors and gene duplication events within the tetraploid species. Comparative analysis of the membership numbers of five subgroups in different species revealed that the GT-2 and SIP1 genes underwent significant expansion during evolution, possibly to support the better adaptation of plants to their environments. The differential expression of the BnaTH genes under five stresses indicates that the BnaTH genes are involved in plant responses to stresses such as drought, cold, and heat. The presence of different stress-responsive cis-elements in the upstream promoter region of the genes indicated that BnaTH genes have the potential to cope with variable environments. Meanwhile, qRT-PCR analyses also confirmed that five TH genes respond to different abiotic stresses. Our results provide information and candidates for further studies on the role of TH genes in stress resistance of B. napus.

Development of sodium alginate-based antioxidant and antibacterial bioactive films added with IRMOF-3/Carvacrol.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of different concentrations of the amine-functionalized isoreticular metal-organic framework-3 loaded with carvacrol (IRMOF-3/CA) on the properties of sodium alginate (SA) composite films, thus determining the optimal addition amount and further preparing bioactive packaging film with antibacterial and antioxidant activities. The morphology, structure, physical properties, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the films were characterized and analyzed. The results showed that the thermal stability and light barrier property of the films were improved by the addition of IRMOF-3/CA. When the additional concentration was 0.4 wt%, the tensile, water vapor barrier and hydrophobic properties of the films were increased by 30.13%, 9.06% and 46.43% respectively compared with those of pure SA film. Moreover, the film added with IRMOF-3/CA had sustained antioxidant and antibacterial activities, and had an apparent fresh-keeping effect on pork, suggesting its application potential in food packaging.

Effects of Walking on Fatigue in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Walking is a simple form of exercise that is easily accepted by patients. Exercise is one of the main ways to control cancer-related fatigue (CRF). However, there are conflicting data on the association between walking and severity of CRF. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the overall effect of walking on CRF among adult cancer patients. METHODS: Databases including PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were systematically reviewed to identify suitable randomized controlled trials from inception to February 29, 2020. Two reviewers independently evaluated the risk of bias and extracted correlated data with Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews on Interventions. The data analysis was performed by Review Manager 5.3. RESULTS: A total of 12 studies with 1064 patients were identified. Integrated result analysis of walking yielded a statistically significant effect on CRF (standard mean difference [SMD], -0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.06 to -0.26). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that intervention time longer than 6 weeks (SMD, -0.89; 95% CI, -1.22 to -0.57) had a better effect on fatigue compared with that of less than 6 weeks (SMD, 0.03; 95% CI, -0.39 to 0.45). The study showed walking was statistically more effective than the control intervention in patients undergoing cancer treatment (SMD, -0.79; 95% CI, -1.16 to -0.42). Descriptive analysis also showed that walking was effective for cancer patients who completed treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Walking is effective for CRF during and after cancer therapy. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results provide evidence for a general exercise form to relieve fatigue in cancer patients and facilitate support for future clinical trials and work.

Paenibacillus tianjinensis sp. nov., isolated from corridor air.

A Gram-stain-positive, facultatively anaerobic, non-motile, endospore-forming and rod-shaped bacterium, occurring singly or in pairs, designated TB2019T, was isolated from environmental monitoring samples of corridor air collected at the Tianjin Institute for Drug Control, Tianjin Province (PR China). The isolate was able to grow at 15-40 °C (optimum growth at 37 °C), pH 6.0-8.0 (pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-2% (w/v) NaCl (0% NaCl). Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that TB2019T was most closely related to Paenibacillus typhae CGMCC 1.11012T (98.63%), Paenibacillus albidus Q4-3T (98.19%), Paenibacillus borealis DSM 13188T (97.55%), Paenibacillus helianthi P26ET (97.33%) and Paenibacillus odorifer DSM 15391T (97.19%). The digital DNA-DNA hybridization and the average nucleotide identity values between TB2019T and the five type strains mentioned above ranged from 20.7 to 25.0% and 75.2 to 81.3%, respectively, and the genomic DNA G+C content was 49.52 mol%. The diagnostic cell-wall sugar was ribose, and the diagnostic amino acid was meso-diaminopimelic acid. The polar lipids of TB2019T included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminophospholipids and one unidentified phospholipid. MK-7 was the predominant menaquinone, and anteiso-C15:0 (30.6%) was the major fatty acid. Based on the polyphasic taxonomic data, strain TB2019T represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus tianjinensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TB2019T (=CICC 25065T=JCM 34610T).

A Study of Personal Recognition Method Based on EMG Signal.

With the increasing development of internet, the security of personal information becomes more and more important. Thus, variety of personal recognition methods have been introduced to ensure persons' information security. Traditional recognition methods such as Personal Identification Number (PIN), or Identification tag (ID) are vulnerable to hackers. Then the biometric technology, which uses the unique physiological characteristics of human body to identify user information has been proposed. But the biometrics widely used at present such as human face, fingerprint, iris, and voice can also be forged and falsified. The biometric with living body features such as electromyography (EMG) signal is a good method to achieve aliveness detection and prevent the spoofing attacks. However, there are few studies on personal recognition based on EMG signal. According to the application context, personal recognition system may operate either in identification mode or verification mode. In the personal identification mode, the system recognizes an individual by searching the templates of all the users in the database for a match. While in the personal verification mode, the system validates a person's identity by comparing the captured features with her or his own template(s) stored in the system database. In this paper, both EMG-based personal identification method and EMG-based personal verification method are investigated. First, the Myo armband is placed on the right forearm (specifically, the height of the radiohumeral joint) of 21 subjects to collect the surface EMG signal under hand-open gesture. Then, two different methods are proposed for EMG-based personal identification, i.e., personal identification method based on Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and ExtraTreesClassifier, and personal identification method based on Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). Experiments with 21 subjects show that the identification accuracy of this two methods can achieve 99.206% and 99.203% respectively. Then based on the identification method using CWT and CNN, transfer learning algorithm is adopted to solve the model update problem when new data is added. Finally, an EMG-based personal verification method using CWT and siamese networks is proposed. Experiments show that the verification accuracy of this method can achieve 99.285%.

Multilayers assembly of bio-polyelectrolytes onto surface modified polypropylene films: Characterization, chelating and antioxidant activity.

In order to remove the trace transition metal ions which catalyze the oxidation in food, chitosan (CS) and sodium alginate (ALG) multilayers were assembled on the polypropylene (PP) surface grafted with polyacrylic acid (PAA) to obtain PP-g-PAA/(CS/ALG)n films. The morphology of the active films was observed, and the thickness of each single assembled layer was about 7 nm. The chelation ability of the films improved with increasing number of (CS/ALG)n multilayers, and Cu2+ chelating quantity of PP-g-PAA/(CS/ALG)15.5 films was about 3.4 umol/cm2 for 72 h at pH about 5, improved by about 9.92 % as compared with PP-g-PAA films. In addition, the PP-g-PAA/(CS/ALG)n films had chelation activity for both Cu2+ and Fe2+, suggesting the potentiality in antioxidant food package application.

A Double-Switch Temperature-Sensitive Controlled Release Antioxidant Film Embedded with Lyophilized Nanoliposomes Encapsulating Rosemary Essential Oils for Solid Food.

In order to match the solid food oxidation during logistics and storage process under severe high temperature, a double-switch temperature-sensitive controlled release antioxidant film embedded with lyophilized nanoliposomes encapsulating rosemary essential oils (REOs) was prepared. The double switch temperature at 35.26 and 56.98 °C was achieved by development of a temperature sensitive polyurethane (TSPU) film. With biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) as a barrier layer, the intelligent complex film was prepared via coating the TSPU embedded with lyophilized nanoliposomes encapsulating REOs on BOPET. The results indicate that the REO is well encapsulated in nanoliposomes with encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 67.3%, high stability and lasting antioxidant effect during 60 days. The incorporation of lyophilized nanoliposomes containing REOs into TSPU remains the double-switch temperature-sensitive characteristic of the prepared TSPU. In agreement with porosity and WVTR results, the diffusion coefficient (D) of the antioxidant complex film sharply increases respectively at two switching temperatures, indicating that the intelligent double-switch temperature-sensitive controlled release property is functioning. Furthermore, compared with films directly added with REO, the lower Ds of films added with lyophilized nanoliposomes encapsulating REOs provides a longer-lasting antioxidant activity. Thus, the acquired controlled release antioxidant film sensitive to temperature at 39.56 and 56.00 °C can be potentially applied for protection of solid food during distribution and storage process under severe high temperatures.

[Effect of silencing lycB gene on the carotenoid synthesis in Haematococcus pluvialis].

Haematococcus pluvialis is a freshwater planktonic single-cell microalgae. It will accumulate high amount of carotenoids under unfavorable environmental conditions. As one of carotenoids, lycopene is an important intermediate in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. Lycopene ß-cyclase (LycB) is the key enzyme that catalyzes the circularization of lycopene to form ß-carotene. In this study, we constructed a p1301-BS-RNAi vector using lycB from Dunaliella salina as the interference sequence with kanamycin and atrazine resistance marker, and then transformed it into H. pluvialis by electroporation. Sixteen independent transgenic lines were obtained after resistance selection, genome PCR, and RT-PCR analyses. Seven well-grown lines were selected to determine the contents of carotenoids by HPLC analysis after inducing by high light. The lycopene content in these lines was increased by 99.4% while the ß-carotene content was decreased by 48.4%, indicating that the interference by heterogenous lycB could inhibit the conversion of lycopene into ß-carotene. The amount of increase in lycopene was only 5% of the amount of decrease in ß-carotene, indicating that 95% of the decreased ß-carotene was converted into other metabolites. Therefore, in order to largely increase the lycopene content in H. pluvialis, it is necessary to coordinatively regulate other metabolic pathways.