Mycobacterium marinum hand infection: a case report and literature review.

Mycobacterium marinum, a photochromogenic, slow-growing mycobacterium, thrives in both marine and freshwater environments. Optimal growth occurs between 25°C and 35°C, with survival becoming challenging above 37°C. Typically, M. marinum enters the body via skin abrasions, often leading to infections of the upper extremities. Diagnosis of M. marinum infection is frequently challenging and delayed due to the difficult pathogen identification. At present, a standardized treatment protocol has yet to be established. Presented herein is a case study detailing an infection of the right hand's middle finger caused by M. marinum. Notably, his occupation as a chef, handling fish and seafood post-injury, was a significant factor. Histological examination of the skin biopsy and positive acid-fast staining were consistent with a diagnosis of mycobacterial infection. Pathological examination confirmed a skin infection with infectious granuloma, and tissue section acid-fast staining revealed acid-fast bacill. Cultures on Columbia blood agar yielded rough, flattened, yellow-fleshy colonies after 10 days, which was identified as M. marinum through 16S rRNA sequencing. The patient responded well to a 3-month regimen of oral moxifloxacin (0.4 qd) and linezolid (0.6 qd), resulting in rash resolution and pain relief, with no recurrence observed for 1-year follow-up. This report presents the first documented acid-fast staining images of M. marinum tissue sections and colony morphology photographs, offering an in-depth view of M. marinum's morphological characteristics. It aims to enhance awareness of M. marinum infections, underscore the necessity for clinicians to delve into patient histories, and provide a review of the clinical manifestations, diagnostic techniques, therapeutic approaches, and pathogenic mechanisms associated with M. marinum.

Chromosomal-scale genome assembly of the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis.

The Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, is a significant marine bivalve species that has ecological and economic importance. This species is robustly resilient and highly invasive. Despite the scientific and commercial interest in studying its biology and aquaculture, there remains a need for a high-quality, chromosome-scale reference genome. In this study, we have assembled a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome for M. galloprovincialis. The total length of our reference genome is 1.41 Gb, with a scaffold N50 sequence length of 96.9 Mb. BUSCO analysis revealed a 97.5% completeness based on complete BUSCOs. Compared to the four other available M. galloprovincialis assemblies, the assembly described here is dramatically improved in both contiguity and completeness. This new reference genome will greatly contribute to a deeper understanding of the resilience and invasiveness of M. galloprovincialis.

GPX4 transcriptionally promotes liver cancer metastasis via GRHL3/PTEN/PI3K/AKT axis.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the most fatal types of malignancy, with a high prevalence of relapse and limited treatment options. As a critical regulator of ferroptosis and redox homeostasis, glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) is commonly upregulated in HCC and is hypothesized to facilitate cancer metastasis, but this has not been fully explored in HCC. Here, we report that up-regulated GPX4 expression in HCC is strongly associated with tumor metastasis. FACS-based in vivo and in vitro analysis revealed that a cell subpopulation featuring lower cellular reactive oxygen species levels and ferroptosis resistance were involved in GPX4-mediated HCC metastasis. Mechanistically, GPX4 overexpressed in HCC tumor cells was enriched in the nucleus and transcriptionally silenced GRHL3 expression, thereby activating PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling and promoting HCC metastasis. Functional studies demonstrated that GPX4 amino acids 110-145 are a binding site that interacts with the GRHL3 promoter. As AKT is a downstream target of GPX4, we combined the AKT inhibitor, AKT-IN3, with lenvatinib to effectively inhibit HCC tumor cell metastasis. Overall, these results indicate that the GPX4/GRHL3/PTEN/PI3K/AKT axis controls HCC cell metastasis and lenvatinib combined with AKT-IN3 represents a potential therapeutic strategy for patients with metastatic HCC.

Performance enhancement, bacterial communities optimization and emerging pollutants elimination by microalgal-bacterial consortium for treating aquaculture pond sediments.

Aquaculture pond sediments have a notable influence on the ecosystem balance and farmed animal health. In this study, microalgal-bacterial immobilization (MBI) was designed to improve aquaculture pond sediments via synergistic interactions. The physicochemical characteristics, bacterial communities, and the removal efficiencies of emerging pollutants were systematically investigated. The consortium containing diatom Navicula seminulum and Alcaligenes faecalis was cultivated and established in the free and immobilized forms for evaluating the treatment performance. The results indicated that the immobilized group exhibited superior performance in controlling nutrient pollutants, shaping and optimizing the bacterial community compositions with the enrichment of functional bacteria. Additionally, it showed a stronger positive correlation between the bacterial community shifts and nutrient pollutants removal compared to free cells. Furthermore, the immobilized system maintained the higher removal performance of emerging pollutants (heavy metals, antibiotics, and pathogenic Vibrios) than free group. These findings confirmed that the employment of immobilized N. seminulum and A. faecalis produced more synergistic benefits and exerted more improvements than free cells in ameliorating aquaculture pond sediments, suggesting the potential for engineering application of functional microalgal-bacterial consortium in aquaculture.

Macroscopic inhibition of DNA damage repair pathways by targeting AP-2α with LEI110 eradicates hepatocellular carcinoma.

DNA damage repair (DDR) genes are known to be closely associated with the progression of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here we report a unique cluster of "deletion-up" genes in HCC, which are accordantly overexpressed in HCC patients and predict the unfavorable prognosis. Binding motif analysis and further validation with ChIP-qPCR unveil that the AP-2α directly modulate the transcription of critical DNA repair genes including TOP2A, NUDT1, POLD1, and PARP1, which facilitates the sanitation of oxidized DNA lesions. Structural analysis and the following validation identify LEI110 as a potent AP-2α inhibitor. Together, we demonstrate that LEI110 stabilizes AP-2α and sensitizes HCC cells toward DNA-damaging reagents. Altogether, we identify AP-2α as a crucial transcription modulator in HCC and propose small-molecule inhibitors targeting AP-2α are a promising novel class of anticancer agents. Our study provides insights into the concept of macroscopic inhibition of DNA damage repair-related genes in cancer treatment.

Characterization of a novel sucrose phosphorylase from Paenibacillus elgii and its use in biosynthesis of α-arbutin.

α-Arbutin, a naturally occurring glycosylated derivative of hydroquinone (HQ), effectively inhibits melanin biosynthesis in epidermal cells. It is widely recognized as a fourth-generation whitening agent within the cosmetic industry. Currently, enzymatic catalysis is universally deemed the safest and most efficient method for α-arbutin synthesis. Sucrose phosphorylase (SPase), one of the most frequently employed glycosyltransferases, has been extensively reported for α-arbutin synthesis. In this study, a previously reported SPase known for its effectiveness in synthesizing α-arbutin, was used as a probe sequence to identify a novel SPase from Paenibacillus elgii (PeSP) in the protein database. The sequence similarity between PeSP and the probe was 39.71%, indicating a degree of novelty. Subsequently, the gene encoding PeSP was coexpressed with the molecular chaperone pG-Tf2 in Escherichia coli, significantly improving PeSP's solubility. Following this, PeSP was characterized and employed for α-arbutin biosynthesis. The specific activity of co-expressed PeSP reached 169.72 U/mg, exhibited optimal activity at 35℃ and pH 7.0, with a half-life of 3.6 h under the condition of 35℃. PeSP demonstrated excellent stability at pH 6.5-8.5 and sensitivity to high concentrations of metal ions. The kinetic parameters Km and kcat/Km were determined to be 14.50 mM and 9.79 min- 1·mM- 1, respectively.The reaction conditions for α-arbutin biosynthesis using recombinant PeSP were optimized, resulting in a maximum α-arbutin concentration of 52.60 g/L and a HQ conversion rate of 60.9%. The optimal conditions were achieved at 30℃ and pH 7.0 with 200 U/mL of PeSP, and by combining sucrose and hydroquinone at a molar ratio of 5:1 for a duration of 25 h.

Dimethyl Bisphenolate Ameliorates Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Liver Injury by Regulating Oxidative Stress-Related Genes.

Liver disease accounts for millions of deaths per year all over the world due to complications from cirrhosis and liver injury. In this study, a novel compound, dimethyl bisphenolate (DMB), was synthesized to investigate its role in ameliorating carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury through the regulation of oxidative stress-related genes. The structure of DMB was confirmed based on its hydrogen spectrum and mass spectrometry. DMB significantly reduced the high levels of ALT, AST, DBIL, TBIL, ALP, and LDH in a dose-dependent manner in the sera of CCl4-treated rats. The protective effects of DMB on biochemical indicators were similar to those of silymarin. The ROS fluorescence intensity increased in CCl4-treated cells but significantly weakened in DMB-treated cells compared with the controls. DMB significantly increased the content of oxidative stress-related GSH, Nrf2, and GCLC dose-dependently but reduced MDA levels in CCl4-treated cells or the liver tissues of CCl4-treated rats. Moreover, DMB treatment decreased the expression levels of P53 and Bax but increased those of Bcl2. In summary, DMB demonstrated protective effects on CCl4-induced liver injury by regulating oxidative stress-related genes.

Hong Kong World: Leveraging Structural Regularity for Line-Based SLAM.

Manhattan and Atlanta worlds hold for the structured scenes with only vertical and horizontal dominant directions (DDs). To describe the scenes with additional sloping DDs, a mixture of independent Manhattan worlds seems plausible, but may lead to unaligned and unrelated DDs. By contrast, we propose a novel structural model called Hong Kong world. It is more general than Manhattan and Atlanta worlds since it can represent the environments with slopes, e.g., a city with hilly terrain, a house with sloping roof, and a loft apartment with staircase. Moreover, it is more compact and accurate than a mixture of independent Manhattan worlds by enforcing the orthogonality constraints between not only vertical and horizontal DDs, but also horizontal and sloping DDs. We further leverage the structural regularity of Hong Kong world for the line-based SLAM. Our SLAM method is reliable thanks to three technical novelties. First, we estimate DDs/vanishing points in Hong Kong world in a semi-searching way. We use a new consensus voting strategy for search, instead of traditional branch and bound. This method is the first one that can simultaneously determine the number of DDs, and achieve quasi-global optimality in terms of the number of inliers. Second, we compute the camera pose by exploiting the spatial relations between DDs in Hong Kong world. This method generates concise polynomials, and thus is more accurate and efficient than existing approaches designed for unstructured scenes. Third, we refine the estimated DDs in Hong Kong world by a novel filter-based method. Then we use these refined DDs to optimize the camera poses and 3D lines, leading to higher accuracy and robustness than existing optimization algorithms. In addition, we establish the first dataset of sequential images in Hong Kong world. Experiments showed that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy and/or efficiency.

Diagnosis by metagenomic next-generation sequencing of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in an infant with chronic granulomatous disease.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a serious fungal infection, with a high degree of mortality in immunocompromised individuals. Diagnosis of IPA is challenging in that clinical manifestations are not specific, with sensitivity of traditional detection procedures low. We report a case of IPA in a chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) infant who was initially suspected to have a lung tumor. Aspergillus fumigatus was identified as the pathogen in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) by next-generation sequencing (mNGS). The patient recovered rapidly following a change of appropriate antifungal treatment and was discharged. This case highlights the additional value of BALF-mNGS for the diagnosis of pediatric invasive pulmonary fungal infection in immune-deficient children.

Dynamic Analysis of Physicochemical Properties and Polysaccharide Composition during the Pile-Fermentation of Post-Fermented Tea.

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) was used to study the diversity of tea polysaccharides and the dynamic changes in the physicochemical indexes of tea samples. FT-IR spectra and the free radical scavenging ability of tea polysaccharides, during pile-fermentation of post-fermented tea, were analyzed. The results showed that 23 saccharide co mponents in tea polysaccharides were identified: these belonged to 11 monosaccharides, 5 oligosaccharides, and 6 derivatives of monosaccharides and oligosaccharides. The abundance of oligosaccharides decreased gradually, while monosaccharides, and derivatives of monosaccharides and oligosaccharides increased gradually with the development of pile-fermentation. According to the differences in polysaccharide composition and their abundance, the tea polysaccharide samples extracted from different pile-fermentation stages could be clearly classed into three groups, W-0, W-1~W-4 and W-5~C-1. The pile-fermentation process affected the yield, the content of each component, FT-IR spectra, and the DPPH free radical scavenging ability of tea polysaccharides. Correlation analysis showed that microorganisms were directly related to the changes in composition and the abundance of polysaccharides extracted from different pile-fermentation stages. The study will further help to reveal the function of tea polysaccharides and promote their practical application as a functional food.

Cardiac performance and heat shock response variation related to shell colour morphs in the mudflat snail Batillaria attramentaria.

Gastropods exhibit remarkable variation in shell colour within and among populations, but the function of shell colour is often not clear. In the present study, body temperature in the field and physiological and transcriptomic responses to thermal stress were investigated in different shell colour morphs of the mudflat snail Batillaria attramentaria. Using biomimetic models, we found that the body temperature of snails with a dark unbanded shell (D-type morph) was slightly higher than that of snails with a white line on the upper side of each whorl (UL-type morph) when exposed to sunlight. Despite no differences in upper lethal temperature among shell colour morphs, their Arrhenius breakpoint temperature (ABT) for cardiac thermal performance differed significantly, and the ABT of snails with the D-type morph was higher than that of snails with the UL-type morph. Transcriptomic analysis showed that D-type snails exhibit higher levels of four heat shock proteins (HSPs) than UL-type snails at control temperature. The unfolded protein response was activated in UL-type snails but not in D-type snails under moderate thermal stress. And 11 HSPs showed an increase in UL-type snails in contrast to 1 HSP in D-type snails, suggesting a 'preparative defence' strategy of the heat shock response in D-type snails under moderate thermal stress. When exposed to sublethal temperature, eight molecular chaperones were uniquely upregulated in D-type snails, suggesting these genes may allow D-type snails to improve their cardiac thermal tolerance. Our results suggest that the preparative defence strategies and higher ABT for cardiac thermal performance may allow the dark shell snails to adapt to rapid and stronger thermal stress in the field.

Identification of castration-dependent and -independent driver genes and pathways in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most diagnosed cancers in the world. PCa inevitably progresses to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) after androgen deprivation therapy treatment, and castration-resistant state means a shorter survival time than other causes. Here we aimed to define castration-dependent and -independent diver genes and molecular pathways in CRPC which are responsible for such lethal metastatic events. METHODS: By employing digital gene expression (DGE) profiling, the alterations of the epididymal gene expression profile in the mature and bilateral castrated rat were explored. Then we detect and characterize the castration-dependent and -independent genes and pathways with two data set of CPRC-associated gene expression profiles publicly available on the NCBI. RESULTS: We identified 1,632 up-regulated and 816 down-regulated genes in rat's epididymis after bilateral castration. Differential expression analysis of CRPC samples compared with the primary PCa samples was also done. In contrast to castration, we identified 97 up-regulated genes and 128 down-regulated genes that changed in both GEO dataset and DGE profile, and 120 up-regulated genes and 136 down-regulated genes changed only in CRPC, considered as CRPC-specific genes independent of castration. CRPC-specific DEGs were mainly enriched in cell proliferation, while CRPC-castration genes were associated with prostate gland development. NUSAP1 and NCAPG were identified as key genes, which might be promising biomarkers of the diagnosis and prognosis of CRPC. CONCLUSION: Our study will provide insights into gene regulation of CRPC dependent or independent of castration and will improve understandings of CRPC development and progression.

Two Foreign Antimicrobial Peptides Expressed in the Chloroplast of Porphyridium purpureum Possessed Antibacterial Properties.

To solve the problem of antibiotic abuse in aquaculture and to utilize the application potential of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a chloroplast transformation system of Porphyridium purpureum was successfully constructed for effectively expressing two exogenous AMPs. The endogenous fragments of 16S rDNA/trnA-23S rDNA were used as flanking fragments for the homologous recombination in the chloroplast genome. Two AMPs encoded by the transformation vector were controlled by the native promoter psbB in a polycistron. The plasmids were transferred into P. purpureum via particle bombardment and the transformation vectors were screened using phosphinothricin (bar), a dominant selection marker under the control of the psbA promoter. Subsequently, in the positive transformed colonies, the exogenous fragments were found to be inserted in the flanking fragments directionally as expected and two foreign AMPs were successfully obtained. Finally, two exogenous peptides with antibacterial properties were obtained from the transformed strain. The two AMPs expressed by the transformed strain were shown to have similar inhibitory effects to antibiotics by inhibition tests. This suggested that AMPs can be introduced into aquaculture using baited microalgae, providing new ideas and ways to solve a series of aquaculture diseases caused by bacteria.

Functional analyses of inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (IAP1) of Antheraea pernyi multinucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AnpeNPV) in viral replication and occlusion body production.

Inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (IAP1) of Antheraea pernyi multinucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AnpeNPV) belongs to the baculovirus IAP1 type. The function of AnpeNPV-IAP1 in viral replication and occlusion body (OB) production remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that AnpeNPV-iap1 is a late gene. AnpeNPV-IAP1 mainly localizes to the nuclear ring zone and exhibits dynamic distribution in the cytoplasm and the virogenic stroma during AnpeNPV infection. AnpeNPV-IAP1 impacted the expression of a variety of viral genes at the very late phase of infection in Tn-Hi5 cells. The deletion of AnpeNPV-iap1 caused decreased expression levels of polyhedrin, morphological changes to OBs and reduced OB production in A. pernyi pupae, along with a lengthening of the lethal time of A. pernyi larvae. These results suggest that AnpeNPV-iap1 is involved in regulating viral gene expression, OB production and morphogenesis in A. pernyi.

ABCC6 Knockdown Fuels Cell Proliferation by Regulating PPARα in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter family is ubiquitous in eukaryotes, specifically in vertebrates, and plays a crucial role in energy homeostasis, cell signaling, and drug resistance. Accumulating evidence indicates that some ABC transporters contribute to cancer cell proliferation and tumor progression; however, relatively little is known about the behavior of the ABC transporter family in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). By analyzing two public transcriptomic databases, we evaluated the effect of genes in the ABC transporter family on HCC prognostic prediction; ABCC6 was selected for further study. Notably, ABCC6 was found to be downregulated in HCC tissues and correlated with favorable outcomes in patients with HCC. Moreover, ABCC6 knockdown not only significantly promoted cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo, but also inhibited cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis. Transcriptome analysis revealed that ABCC6 depletion enhanced the "mitotic cell cycle" and "DNA replication" pathways, and suppressed the "PPAR signaling pathway". Further investigation demonstrated that PPARα, one of the key regulators in peroxisome metabolism, is located downstream of ABCC6. In summary, our study provides profound insights into the behavior of ABC transporter family genes in various HCC cohorts, identifies ABCC6 as a biomarker for early-stage HCC diagnosis, and offers experimental basis for further investigations of targeting ABCC6 in the treatment of patients with HCC.

Inhibitory Effect of Polypeptides Produced by Brevibacillus brevis on Ochratoxigenic Fungi in the Process of Pile-Fermentation of Post-Fermented Tea.

Contamination by ochratoxigenic fungi and its prevention during the pile-fermentation of post-fermented tea have always been a concern. The present study aimed to elucidate the anti-fungal effect and mechanism of polypeptides produced by B. brevis DTM05 (isolated from post-fermented tea) on ochratoxigenic fungi, and to to evaluate their use in the pile-fermentation process of post-fermented tea. The results showed that polypeptides (produced by B. brevis DTM05) with a strong antifungal effect against A. carbonarius H9 mainly had a molecular weight between 3 and 5 kDa. The Fourier-transform infrared spectra of this polypeptide extract showed that it was a mixture consisting mainly of polypeptides and small amounts of lipids and other carbohydrates. The polypeptide extracts significantly inhibited the growth of A. carbonarius H9, and its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 1.6 mg/L, which significantly reduced the survival rate of spores. The polypeptides also effectively controlled the occurrence and ochratoxin A (OTA) production of A. carbonarius H9 on the tea matrix. The lowest concentration of polypeptides that significantly inhibited the growth of A. carbonarius H9 on the tea matrix was 3.2 mg/L. The enhancement of the fluorescence staining signal in the mycelium and conidiospore showed that the polypeptides with a concentration of more than 1.6 mg/L increased the permeability of the mycelium membrane and conidial membrane of A. carbonarius H9. The significant increase in the extracellular conductivity of mycelia suggested the outward leakage of intracellular active substances, and also further indicated an increase in cell membrane permeability. Polypeptides with a concentration of 6.4 mg/L significantly down-regulated the expression level of the polyketide synthase gene related to OTA production (acpks) in A. carbonarius H9, which may be the fundamental reason why polypeptides affect OTA production. In conclusion, reasonable use of the polypeptides produced by B. brevis can destroy the structural integrity of the cell membrane, make the intracellular active substances leak outward, accelerate the death of fungal cells and down-regulate the expression level of the polyketide synthase gene in A. carbonarius; thus, they can effectively control the contamination of ochratoxigenic fungi and OTA production during the pile-fermentation of the post-fermented tea.

Insulin-Like Peptide and FoxO Mediate the Trehalose Catabolism Enhancement during the Diapause Termination Period in the Chinese Oak Silkworm (Antheraea pernyi).

In insects, trehalose accumulation is associated with the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling (IIS) pathway. However, whether insulin-like peptide is involved in the regulation of the trehalose metabolism during diapause termination remains largely unknown. This study assessed whether insulin-like peptide (ApILP) enhances the trehalose catabolism in the pupae of Antheraeapernyi during their diapause termination process. Injection of 10 µg of bovine insulin triggered diapause termination and synchronous adult eclosion in diapausing pupae. Moreover, treatment with bovine insulin increased the expression of trehalase 1A (ApTre-1A) and trehalase 2 (ApTre-2), as well as the activity of soluble and membrane-bound trehalase, resulting in a decline in trehalose levels in the haemolymph. Silencing ApILP via RNA interference significantly suppressed the expression of ApTre-1A and ApTre-2, thus leading to an increase in the trehalose concentration during diapause termination. However, neither injection with bovine insulin nor ApILP knockdown directly affected trehalase 1B (ApTre-1B) expression. Moreover, overexpression of the transcription factor forkhead box O (ApFoxO) induced an increase in trehalose levels during diapause termination; however, depletion of ApFoxO accelerated the breakdown of trehalose in diapausing pupae by increasing the expression of ApTre-1A and ApTre-2. The results of this study help to understand the contributions of ApILP and ApFoxO to the trehalose metabolism during diapause termination.

Medical adhesive vs hookwire for computed tomography-guided preoperative localization and risk factors of major complications.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of medical adhesive and hookwire as CT-guided non-palpable pulmonary nodule (NPN) localization methods before video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) resection, and determine the risk factors for common complications during localization. METHODS: This was a single-center non-randomized retrospective study. 102 consecutive patients with 109 NPNs were divided into Group A (medical adhesive, 66 patients, 72 nodules) and Group B (hookwire, 36 patients, 37 nodules) before VATS. Patient- and nodule-based characteristics were compared. Logistic regression was performed to identify the risk factors for complications. RESULTS: Localization was successfully performed in all the NPNs. For Group A, the rate of pneumothorax immediately after localization was lower (p = 0.049) and the localization-to-surgery interval was longer (p = 0.011) than Group B. There was no significant difference in rates of hemorrhage after needle withdrawal between the two groups (p = 0.198). Hookwire ( vs medical adhesive) (ß = 1.12, p = 0.018), total insertion depth (ß = -0.41, p = 0.013), pleura-needle angle (ß = -0.04, p = 0.025) and grade of hemorrhage after needle withdrawal (ß = -0.96, p = 0.030) were independently associated with pneumothorax, while age (ß = -0.94, p = 0.018), tumor size (ß = 0.29, p = 0.007) and its distance from the pleural surface (ß = 0.14, p = 0.004) were associated with higher grade hemorrhage after needle withdrawal. CONCLUSION: Compared with hookwire, localization with medical adhesive excelled in lower risk of pneumothorax, a more flexible localization-to-surgery interval, and had similar rates of hemorrhage after needle withdrawal. Hookwire is an independent risk factor of pneumothorax immediately after localization. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This study added new clinical evidence to the efficacy of medical adhesive in pre-operative CT-guided NPN localization.

Biodiversity and Geographic Distribution of Rhizobia Nodulating With Vigna minima.

Vigna minima is a climbing annual plant widely distributed in barren wilderness, grass land, and shrub bush of China and other countries such as Japan. However, the rhizobia nodulating with this plant has never been systematically studied. In order to reveal the biodiversity of nodulating rhizobia symbiosis with V. minima, a total of 874 rhizobium isolates were obtained from root nodules of the plant spread in 11 sampling sites of Shandong Peninsula, China, and they were designated as 41 haplotypes in the genus Bradyrhizobium based upon recA sequence analyses. By multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of five housekeeping genes (dnaK, glnII, gyrB, recA, and rpoB), the 41 strains representing different recA haplotypes were classified into nine defined species and nine novel genospecies. Bradyrhizobium elkanii, Bradyrhizobium ferriligni, and Bradyrhizobium pachyrhizi were the predominant and universally distributed groups. The phylogeny of symbiotic genes of nodC and nifH showed similar topology and phylogenetic relationships, in which all the representative strains were classified into two clades grouped with strains nodulating with Vigna spp., demonstrating that Vigna spp. shared common nodulating groups in the natural environment. All the representative strains formed nodules with V. minima in a nodulation test performed in green house conditions. The correlation between V. minima nodulating rhizobia and soil characteristics analyzed by CANOCO indicates that available nitrogen, total nitrogen, and organic carbon in the soil samples were the main factors affecting the distribution of rhizobia isolated in this study. This study systematically uncovered the biodiversity and distribution characteristics of V. minima nodulating rhizobia for the first time, which provided novel information for the formation of the corresponding rhizobium community.

XRCC2 repairs mitochondrial DNA damage and fuels malignant behavior in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The effects of DNA damage repair (DDR) and mitochondrial dysfunction associated with HCC have been investigated, but the functional role of mitochondrial DDR in HCC remains elusive. We studied the DDR genes and identified XRCC2 as a potential prognostic marker for HCC. XRCC2 overexpression was detected in HCC cells and shown to promote the malignant behavior of cancer cells. XRCC2 depletion in HCC cells led to DNA damage accumulation at the replication site in the nucleus. Additionally, XRCC2-depleted HCC cells exhibited impaired mitochondrial respiration and reduced complex I (CI) activity as XRCC2 was responsible for elimination of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage and maintenance of mtDNA-encoded CI-related genes' transcription in a RAD51-dependent manner. We showed that tunicamycin (Tm)-activated sXBP1 bound to the TGTCAT domain and suppressed XRCC2 expression. In HCC patients, we observed a negative correlation between XBP1 and XRCC2 expression. Moreover, XRCC2 inhibition by Tm led to genomic and mtDNA damage, which impaired the transcription of mtDNA-encoded CI-related genes and prevented tumor proliferation in vivo. We described the role of XRCC2 in mtDNA damage repair and HCC progression while unveiling the potential anti-tumor effect of Tm.