Efficacy and safety of everolimus treatment on liver transplant recipients: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Everolimus is an effective immunosuppressant in organ transplantation without impaired renal function. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of everolimus therapy in liver transplant recipients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted to identify the eligible studies. The quality of the included studies was assessed. The outcomes of interest were biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR), graft loss, death, renal function and adverse events. RESULTS: Eight trials involving 1570 participants were included. Compared to the standard exposure to calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs), the incidences of BPAR, graft loss and death were not increased in the everolimus combined with reduced CNIs group. The renal function was significantly improved after everolimus combined with reduced CNI therapy, and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated to be elevated by 5.59 (95% CI: 2.17-9.01, P = .001) as compared to the standard exposure to CNIs. The risk of any adverse event was increased by everolimus combined with reduced CNI therapy (RR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.04-1.42, P = .01) as compared to the standard exposure to CNIs. The likelihood of infection was not associated with the regimen. Any publication bias was not identified. CONCLUSIONS: Although everolimus combined with reduced CNI therapy significantly improved the renal function in liver transplant recipients, it did not influence the incidence of BPAR, graft loss and death. This regimen might be associated with an increased risk of adverse events, which needs to be elucidated further.

Isolation and diversity of sediment bacteria in the hypersaline aiding lake, China.

Halophiles are relatively unexplored as potential sources of novel species. However, little is known about the culturable bacterial diversity thrive in hypersaline lakes. In this work, a total of 343 bacteria from sediment samples of Aiding Lake, China, were isolated using nine different media supplemented with 5% or 15% (w/v) NaCl. The number of species and genera of bacteria recovered from the different media varied, indicating the need to optimize the isolation conditions. The results showed an unexpected level of bacterial diversity, with four phyla (Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Rhodothermaeota), fourteen orders (Actinopolysporales, Alteromonadales, Bacillales, Balneolales, Chromatiales, Glycomycetales, Jiangellales, Micrococcales, Micromonosporales, Oceanospirillales, Pseudonocardiales, Rhizobiales, Streptomycetales, and Streptosporangiales), including 17 families, 43 genera (including two novel genera), and 71 species (including four novel species). The predominant phyla included Actinobacteria and Firmicutes and the predominant genera included Actinopolyspora, Gracilibacillus, Halomonas, Nocardiopsis, and Streptomyces. To our knowledge, this is the first time that members of phylum Rhodothermaeota were identified in sediment samples from a salt lake.