Epidemiological Investigation of Feline Upper Respiratory Tract Infection Encourages a Geographically Specific FCV Vaccine.

A total of 1158 cats with feline upper respiratory tract infection were incorporated from twenty animal hospitals in Wuhan, China, from April 2019 to April 2022 to investigate the epidemiology of feline calicivirus (FCV), herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1), Mycoplasma felis (M. felis) and Chlamydia felis (C. felis) for the development of a geographically-specific FCV vaccine with reference to prevalence and risk factors for infection. The 871 samples (75.2%) of kittens were younger than 12 months, of which 693 were males, and 456 were females. Among the samples, 443 were British shorthair cats, accounting for 38.3%, and 252 were Chinese rural cats, accounting for 21.8%. PCR/RT-PCR detection of the above four viruses (FCV, FHV-1, M. felis, and C. felis) in the upper respiratory tract of cats showed that the total positive samples were 744 (64.3%), including 465 positive samples of feline calicivirus, accounting for 40.2% of the total 1158 samples. There were 311 positive samples of M. felis, accounting for 26.9% of the total samples, ranked second in clinical practice. The 180 positive samples of feline herpesvirus accounted for 15.5%, and 85 positive samples of Chlamydia felis accounted for 7.3%. Among them, the number of positive samples of single pathogenic infections was 493, accounting for 66.3% of the total 744 positive samples. Double, triple, and quadruple infections accounted for 28.2%, 5.0%, and 0.5%, respectively, with the highest proportion of single infections. The molecular biological characteristics of the 17 isolated FCVd strains in Wuhan were further analyzed. It was found that the F9 vaccine strain and the antigenic epitopes in the 5'HVR of the E region were collated with the F9 vaccine strain. Moreover, phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the strains related to the F9 and 255 vaccines were distantly related, leading to the failure of the vaccine. In addition, the strains associated with the F9 and 255 vaccines were distant, which might lead to vaccine failure in anticipation of the development of a more phylogenetically close FCV vaccine in China and may require the development of a vaccine for a locally related FCV strain.

Physiological Measurements and Transcriptome Survey Reveal How Semi-mangrove Clerodendrum inerme Tolerates Saline Adversity.

Salinity adversity has been a major environmental stressor for plant growth and reproduction worldwide. Semi-mangrove Clerodendrum inerme, a naturally salt-tolerant plant, can be studied as a successful example to understand the biological mechanism of saline resistance. Since it is a sophisticated and all-round scale process for plants to react to stress, our greenhouse study interpreted the response of C. inerme to salt challenge in the following aspects: morphology, osmotic protectants, ROS production and scavenging, ion homeostasis, photosynthetic efficiency, and transcriptome reprogramming. The results drew an overview picture to illustrate the tolerant performance of C. inerme from salt acclimatization (till medium NaCl level, 0.3 mol/L) to salinity stress (high NaCl level, 0.5 mol/L). The overall evaluation leads to a conclusion that the main survival strategy of C. inerme is globally reshaping metabolic and ion profiles to adapt to saline adversity. These findings uncover the defense mechanism by which C. inerme moderates its development rate to resist the short- and long-term salt adversity, along with rebalancing the energy allocation between growth and stress tolerance.

Periodic density functional theory study of the high-pressure behavior of crystalline L-serine-L-ascorbic acid.

A detailed study of the structural, electronic and absorption properties of crystalline L-serine-L-ascorbic acid (SAA) in the pressure range of 0-300 GPa was performed by density-functional theory (DFT) calculations in this work. Our results show that the compressible crystal of SAA is anisotropic. Furthermore, specific analysis of the variation tendencies of bond lengths and bond angles under different pressures show that the main structural transformations occur at pressures of 40, 50, 70, 100, 130 and 150 GPa, accompanied by repeated formations and disconnections of covalent bonds between O2(P1) and C2(P2) as well as C3(P1) and O1(P2), and a newly formed five-atom ring at 100 GPa. In addition, from 40 to 230 GPa, complex hydrogen bond transformations occur in SAA under compression, while from 240 to 300 GPa, the curve of lattice constants, bond lengths and bond angles of SAA barely changes, suggesting structural stability after 230 GPa. Then, by analyzing the band gap and density of states of SAA, it was found that the crystal undergoes a phase transformation from insulator to semiconductor at 150 GPa and it becomes more sensitive under compression. In addition, a relatively high optical activity with the pressure increases of SAA was seen from the absorption spectra, and two obvious changes of absorption coefficients were also observed at 50 GPa and 130 GPa, respectively, indicating that structural transformations occur here. Graphical abstract Structural formation and breaking of the five-atom ring O1(P2)-C2(P2)-O2(P1)-C2(P1)-C3(P1) with increasing pressure.

Magnetic ordering and structural phase transitions in a strained ultrathin SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattice.

Ruthenium-based perovskite systems are attractive because their structural, electronic, and magnetic properties can be systematically engineered. The SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattice, with its period consisting of one unit cell each, is very sensitive to strain change. Our first-principles simulations reveal that, in the high tensile strain region, it transits from a ferromagnetic metal to an antiferromagnetic insulator with clear tilted octahedra, while in the low strain region, it is a ferromagnetic metal without octahedra tilting. Detailed analyses of three spin-down Ru-t(2g) orbitals just below the Fermi level reveal that the splitting of these orbitals underlies these dramatic phase transitions, with the rotational force constant of RuO(6) octahedron high up to 16 meV/Deg(2), 4 times larger than that of TiO(6). Differently from nearly all the previous studies, these transitions can be probed optically through the diagonal and off-diagonal dielectric tensor elements. For a 1% change in strain, our experimental spin moment change is -0.14±0.06 µ(B), quantitatively consistent with our theoretical value of -0.1 µ(B).

Response gene to complement 32 is essential for fibroblast activation in renal fibrosis.

Response gene to complement 32 (RGC-32) is a downstream target of transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß). TGF-ß is known to play a pathogenic role in renal fibrosis. In this study, we investigated RGC-32 function in renal fibrosis following unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) in mice, a model of progressive tubulointerstitial fibrosis. RGC-32 is normally expressed only in blood vessels of mouse kidney. However, UUO induces RGC-32 expression in renal interstitial cells at the early stage of kidney injury, suggesting that RGC-32 is involved in interstitial fibroblast activation. Indeed, expression of smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA), an indicator of fibroblast activation, is limited to the interstitial cells at the early stage, and became apparent later in both interstitial and tubular cells. RGC-32 knockdown by shRNA significantly inhibits UUO-induced renal structural damage, α-SMA expression and collagen deposition, suggesting that RGC-32 is essential for the onset of renal interstitial fibrosis. In vitro studies indicate that RGC-32 mediates TGF-ß-induced fibroblast activation. Mechanistically, RGC-32 interacts with Smad3 and enhances Smad3 binding to the Smad binding element in α-SMA promoter as demonstrated by DNA affinity assay. In the chromatin setting, Smad3, but not Smad2, binds to α-SMA promoter in fibroblasts. RGC-32 appears to be essential for Smad3 interaction with the promoters of fibroblast activation-related genes in vivo. Functionally, RGC-32 is crucial for Smad3-mediated α-SMA promoter activity. Taken together, we identify RGC-32 as a novel fibrogenic factor contributing to the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis through fibroblast activation.

Transcriptional responses of Haemophilus parasuis to iron-restriction stress in vitro.

Haemophilus parasuis is the causative agent of Glässer's disease, which is responsible for the increasing economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. In this study, selective capture of transcribed sequences approach was used to investigate the transcriptional responses of H. parasuis to iron-restriction stress. Thirty-six genes were identified to be up-regulated under iron-restricted conditions. Knowledge of the genes involved in adaptation to environments encountered during disease will help understand the mechanisms of pathogenesis for this economically significant bacterium.