Hypertensive vascular and cardiac remodeling protection by allicin in spontaneous hypertension rats via CaMK â ¡/NF-κB pathway.

Allicin is the main active component of Traditional Chinese medicine, garlic. It is widely used to treat cardiovascular diseases. Our previous studies have confirmed that allicin significantly reduces blood pressure in Spontaneous Hypertension Rats (SHRs). However, the reports studying the effect of allicin on vascular and cardiac remodeling caused by hypertension are few, with their underlying mechanism not being studied in detail or fully elucidated. In this study, we treated 12-week-old SHRs with allicin for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, allicin was shown to improve vascular and cardiac remodeling in SHRs, as evidenced by reduced cardiac left ventricular wall thickness, aortic vessel thickness, and reduced proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and increased expression of and smooth muscle 22α (SM 22α). Additionally, allicin reduced serum IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α levels, improved calcium homeostasis in cardiomyocytes, downregulated calcium transportation-related CaMK II and inflammation-related NF-κB and NLRP3, which were observed in smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes. Thus, we inferred that allicin protected hypertensive vascular and cardiac remodeling in Spontaneous Hypertensive Rats by inhibiting the activation of the CaMK II/ NF-κB pathway. This study also provided new mechanistic insights into the anti-hypertensive vascular and cardiac remodeling effects of allicin, highlighting its therapeutic potential.

A hospital-associated measles outbreak in health workers in Beijing: Implications for measles elimination in China, 2018.

BACKGROUND: Since the National Action Plan for Measles Elimination 2006-2012 was released in 2006, China has entered into an era of accelerated measles elimination. Despite substantial decline, measles outbreak continued to occur mainly in a non-targeted population, in particular health workers due to occupational exposure. We investigated a measles outbreak in a Chinese medicine hospital, Beijing, in March 2018. METHODS: Descriptive analysis was performed on epidemiology of the outbreak, clinical and laboratory evaluations, vaccination status of cases, and public health response. A case-control study was also conducted to identify the associated risk factors for measles. RESULTS: From March 13, 2018, through March 27, 2018, a total of 11 measles cases in health workers were reported in Hospital X, Beijing. The median age of cases was 26 years (range, 21-53) and 4 (36.4%) were male. Of the 11 cases, ten had not been vaccinated or had unknown vaccination status; two occurred in emergency departments. No inpatients became infected, 141 (83.9%) of whom in affected departments were 55 years of age or older. The outbreak was confirmed by laboratory testing; the virus strain was genotype H1. The response activities included isolation of cases, and enhanced health surveillance of health workers and inpatients, particularly in affected departments. A total of 2234 doses of measles-containing vaccines (MCVs) were administered, covering 93.3% of susceptible health workers, in addition to 973 doses to the susceptible individuals in household and community. Lack of documentation of MCV vaccination before the outbreak was identified as a risk factor for measles (odd ratio: 3.333, 95% confidence interval: 1.295-8.621). CONCLUSIONS: High coverage of outbreak response immunization activities contributed largely to limit the spread of measles and might provide an indirect protection for inpatients. 2-Dose measles-containing vaccination of personnel in healthcare settings is warranted to prevent potential nosocomial transmission of measles.

Genome-wide analysis of maize CONSTANS-LIKE gene family and expression profiling under light/dark and abscisic acid treatment.

The CONSTANS-LIKE (COL) gene has an important role both in regulation flowering through photoperiodic control and response to abiotic stress. In the present study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of maize COL gene family and identified 19 non-redundant ZmCOL genes, which were unequally distributed on ten maize chromosomes. Analysis of compound phylogenetic tree (maize, sorghum, rice and Arabidopsis) showed high bootstrap, as well as conserved domain and semblable gene structures among members within the same clade, revealing that COL genes in same clade were from the common ancestral and prior to the divergence of monocots and dicots lineages. Calculation of Ka/Ks ratio demonstrated that most duplicated ZmCOLs experienced purifying selection, which suggested limited functional divergence after duplication events. Comparing interspecies gene collinearity between three major grasses species, extensive microsynteny was detected among maize, sorghum and rice COL-containing segments. Additionally, several light-responsive and one ABA-responsive cis-elements could be detected for ZmCOL genes in group A. Therefore, qRT-PCR was performed to explore the expression patterns of ZmCOL genes in group A under light/dark conditions and ABA treatment. Our results laid the foundation for functional characterization of ZmCOL proteins and uncovering the biological roles of COL genes in response to stress in future.

Small RNA profiling reveals important roles for miRNAs in Arabidopsis response to Bacillus velezensis FZB42.

Bacillus velezensis FZB42 (previously classified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42) has been confirmed to successfully colonize plant roots and enhance defense response against pathogen infection. This study indicated that FZB42 inoculation enhanced Arabidopsis defense response against Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 through inducing the expression of PR1, PDF1.2 and stomata closure. To further clarify the induced defense response at miRNA level, sRNA libraries from Arabidopsis roots inoculated with FZB42 and control were constructed and sequenced. The reads of 21nt and 24nt in length were the most abundant groups in FZB42-treated library and control library, respectively. 234 known miRNAs and 16 novel miRNAs were identified. Among them, 11 known miRNAs and 4 novel miRNAs were differentially expressed after FZB42 inoculation. Moreover cis-elements (TC-rich repeats, TCA-element and CGTCA-motif) associated with plant defense were also found in the promoters of these miRNAs. Additionally, 141 mRNAs were predicted as potential targets of these differentially expressed miRNAs. GO annotations of the target genes indicated their potential roles in polyamine biosynthetic process and intracellular protein transport biological process, which may contribute to increased defense response. Our findings indicated that Bacillus velezensis FZB42 inoculation altered the expression of Arabidopsis miRNAs and their target genes, which were associated with defense response.

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the phytopathogenic fungi Sclerotinia sclerotiorum JX-21.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is one of the most devastating necrotrophic fungal plant pathogens in agriculture causing diseases in over 400 species of plants including important crops and numerous weeds. In this work, the mitochondrial sequence of S. sclerotiorum with different strain obtained from the infected stems of Brassica campestris L. in Wangjiang County, Anhui Province, China is presented. The mt DNA codes for 14 proteins of the respiratory chain, 1 ribosomal protein, 2 homing endonucleases, 2 rRNAs, 25 tRNAs, and 5 hypothetical proteins ORFs. Phylogenetic analysis with protein-coding gene sequences of reported Ascomycota mt genomes revealed the close relationship of JX-21 with the family of Sclerotiniaceae.