Differential Proteomic and Genomic Comparison of Resistance Mechanism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to Cefoperazone Sodium/Sulbactam Sodium.

The aim of this study was to determine the resistance mechanism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to cefoperazone sodium/sulbactam sodium. We retrospectively analyzed the drug resistance of P.a isolated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University. Drug-resistant P.a strains were constructed, then wild-type (WT) and drug-resistant (DR) strains were compared using protein and gene microarrays to determine differences between DR and WT strains. The resistance rates of P. aeruginosa during 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 21.2%, 21.4%, and 24.6% respectively. Among 242 protein peaks of WT and DR bacteriophage proteins, 41 were differentially expressed between the two groups. The expression of 26 and 15 proteins were respectively upregulated and downregulated in the DR compared with the WT group. Gene microarray results revealed 679 mutant loci in the DR group, of which 42 with the top 50 Q values were found in the NCBI database. The rate of P.a resistance to cefoperazone sodium/sulbactam sodium remained high between 2013 and 2015. The numbers of different proteins and genetic variations in the DR strains suggested that the resistance mechanism of P.a to cefoperazone sodium/sulbactam sodium involves multiple genes and proteins that might be key to controlling P.a resistance to cefoperazone sodium/sulbactam sodium.

Gut Microbiome and Metabolomics Profiles of Allergic and Non-Allergic Childhood Asthma.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of gut bacteria and the derived metabolites among allergic asthmatic children, non-allergic asthmatic children and healthy children without asthma. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 57 participants, including 20 healthy children, 27 allergic asthmatic children, and 10 non-allergic asthmatic children. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was conducted for analyzing gut bacterial compositions and untargeted metabolomics was used to analyze the alterations of gut microbe-derived metabolites. The associations between gut bacterial compositions and metabolites were analyzed by the method of Spearman correlation. Results: The results showed that the compositions and metabolites of gut microbiome were altered both in allergic and non-allergic asthmatics compared with healthy controls. Chao1 (p = 0.025) index reflected a higher bacterial richness and Simpson (p = 0.024) index showed a lower diversity in asthma group. PERMANOVA analysis showed significant differences among the three groups based on unweighted UniFrac distance (p = 0.001). Both allergic and non-allergic asthmatics showed a higher relative abundance of Proteobacteria and a lower relative abundance of genera from Clostridia. More bacteria were altered in non-allergic asthmatics compared with allergic asthmatics. Metabolomics analysis identified that 42 metabolites were significantly associated with allergic asthma, and 58 metabolites were significantly associated with non-allergic asthma (multiple linear regression, p < 0.05). Histamine was 4 folds up-regulated only in the non-allergic asthma group. The relative abundance of Candidatus Accumulib was significantly correlated with the upregulation of histamine. The relative abundance of genera from Clostridia was significantly correlated with the downregulation of lipid and tryptophan metabolism. Conclusion: The altered gut microbes was associated with the mechanism of asthma attack through metabolites in allergic and non-allergic asthma group, respectively. The result suggested that gut microbiome had an impact on the development of both allergic and non-allergic asthma. The distinct gut microbiome and microbiome-derived metabolites in non-allergic asthma children suggested that gut microbiome might play a critical role in modulation of asthma phenotype.

The Impact of Air Pollution on Intestinal Microbiome of Asthmatic Children: A Panel Study.

Air pollution could impact on the alteration of intestinal microbiome. Maturation of intestinal microbiome in early life played an important role in the development of allergic diseases, including asthma. Recent studies presented an increase in the evidence of association between the shift of gut microbiota and asthma. This article is aimed at exploring whether the alteration in the intestinal microbiome triggered by a short wave of air pollution could influence the colonization of bacteria that have been related to the immunological mechanisms of the asthma attack. The impact of air pollution on intestinal microbiome was assessed by longitudinal comparison. Fecal samples were collected twice for twenty-one children in clean and smog days, respectively, including eleven asthmatic children and ten healthy children. Intestinal bacteria were discriminated by using the method of 16S rRNA gene sequence. The results showed that the composition of intestinal microbiome changed between clean and smog days among all children (PERMANOVA, P = 0.03). During smog days, Bifidobacteriaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae, and Clostridium sensu stricto 1 decreased, and Streptococcaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, Rikenellaceae, Bacteroidales S24-7 group, and Bacteroides increased in asthmatic children (Wilcoxon test, P < 0.05), while Fusicatenibacter decreased and Rikenellaceae and Terrisporobacter increased in healthy children (Wilcoxon test, P < 0.05). After controlling for food consumption, the relative abundance of some bacteria belonging to Firmicutes negatively associated with concentration of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2 (multiple linear regression, P < 0.05). This study demonstrated that short wave of air pollution had an impact on the intestinal microbiome of asthmatic children. Intestinal bacteria, which have been related to immunological mechanisms of asthma attack, were also found to be associated with air pollution. This finding suggested that a short wave of air pollution may trigger asthma by impacting on intestinal bacteria.

The association between short-term exposure to extremely high level of ambient fine particulate matter and blood pressure: a panel study in Beijing, China.

High blood pressure (BP) is known as the main determinant of high cerebrovascular disease levels in China. Many studies discovered the associations between short-term exposure to PM2.5 and BP, while most of those focused on low or medium PM2.5 concentration. The aim of this study was to reveal the association between extremely high level ambient PM2.5 exposure and BP. We conducted a repeated-measures panel study in Beijing, China, during December 1, 2016 to December 28, 2016. BP was monitored daily for all 133 participants. Daily concentration of PM2.5 was obtained from local monitoring sites. A linear mixed-effect model combined with the distributed lag non-linear model was used to evaluate the associations between PM2.5 and daily variations in BP. This study showed short-term exposure to PM2.5 that was significantly associated with increased DBP (on lags of 0-8 days, Beta = 0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.04, 0.20). The single day effect of PM2.5 on DBP had a 2-day lag, and the cumulative effect lags 5 days. The effects of PM2.5 on SBP and DBP on hypertensive adults were significant. The cumulative effect of PM2.5 on SBP and DBP had 2 rapidly increasing periods in hypertensive adults: lags of 0-2 days and lags of 0-7 days to lags of 0-11 days. Our study revealed that short-term exposure in the extreme high level of ambient PM2.5 may increase BP among adults. Hypertensive adults may more sensitive than normotensive adults. The periodic high concentration of ambient PM2.5 might magnify the effect of PM2.5 on BP increase.

137Cs and 239+240Pu in the Bohai Sea of China: Comparison in distribution and source identification between the inner bay and the tidal flat.

We investigated artificial radionuclides (239+240Pu and 137Cs) in surface sediments and sediment cores collected from the Bohai Bay and the tidal flat of the Liaodong Bay, China. Increasing trends for 239+240Pu activities and 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios (˃0.18) were observed from land to sea and from north to south in the Bohai Bay. This spatial pattern implied that the scavenging process between riverine sediments and Pacific Proving Ground (PPG) source Pu transported by the currents such as Yellow Sea Warm Current had occurred in the Bohai Bay. In contrast, relatively lower 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios in the tidal flat of Liaodong Bay were due to the mixing process between more global out and less PPG source Pu. The riverine Pu contributions to the total global fallout Pu in the Haihe River (32.8%) were much lower than those in the Yangtze River estuary (77%-80%), indicating better soil conservation in the Haihe River Catchment.

[Cloning and antimicrobial activity of pigeon avian beta-defensin 5].

The objective of the study was to clone avian beta-defensin (AvBD) 5 gene from pigeon bone marrow tissues and liver tissues, to express the recombinant AvBD5 protein in E. coli, and to determine its antimicrobial activity. The mRNA of duck AvBD5 was cloned from pigeon bone marrow tissues and liver tissues by RT-PCR. In addition, phylogenetic relationships between amino acid sequence of the pigeon AvBD5, AvBDs from other avian species, and some mammalian beta-defensin-5 were analyzed. The cDNA of pigeon AvBD5 was sub-cloned into pGEX-6p-1 vector to construct recombinant plasmid pGEX-pigeon AvBD5. The recombinant protein was expressed into E. coli and purified. Antimicrobial activity and physical-chemical stability of the recombinant fusion protein were measured in vitro. The complete nucleotide sequence of both cDNAs contained 201 bp nucleotides, encoding a polypeptide of 66 amino acids. Both beta-defensins have six conserved cysteines. Phylogenetic relationships were analyzed. Both pigeon AvBDs shared the highest amino acid homology (87.9% and 78.8%) with duck AvBD5. So it was named as pigeon AvBD5alpha (bone marrow) and AvBD5beta (liver). Both recombinant plasmids were transformed into E. coli BL21 and the bacteria were induced with Isopropyl beta-D-1-Thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). After purification, antibacterial activity of the purified was investigated. In addition, effect of ionic strength on the antibacterial activity, and hemolytic recombinant protein activity of the purified recombinant protein were investigated. A 32 kDa protein was highly expressed. Both purified recombinant pigeon AvBD5alpha and AvBD5beta exhibited extensive antimicrobial activities against 12 bacteria, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative. In high salt ions concentrations, antibacterial activity of both recombinant proteins was decreased. In addition, the hemolysis activity of recombinant protein was extremely low.