Metabolic picture of microbial interaction: chemical crosstalk during co-cultivation between three dominant genera of bacteria and fungi in medicinal plants rhizosphere.

INTRODUCTION: Microbial communities affect several aspects of the earth's ecosystem through their metabolic interaction. The dynamics of this interaction emerge from complex multilevel networks of crosstalk. Elucidation of this interaction could help us to maintain the balance for a sustainable future. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the chemical language among highly abundant microbial genera in the rhizospheres of medicinal plants based on the metabolomic analysis at the interaction level. METHODS: Coculturing experiments involving three microbial species: Aspergillus (A), Trichoderma (T), and Bacillus (B), representing fungi (A, T) and bacteria (B), respectively. These experiments encompassed various interaction levels, including dual cultures (AB, AT, TB) and triple cultures (ATB). Metabolic profiling by LC-QTOFMS revealed the effect of interaction level on the productivity and diversity of microbial specialized metabolites. RESULTS: The ATB interaction had the richest profile, while the bacterial profile in the monoculture condition had the lowest. Two native compounds of the Aspergillus genus, aspergillic acid and the dipeptide asperopiperazine B, exhibited decreased levels in the presence of the AT interaction and were undetectable in the presence of bacteria during the interaction. Trichodermarin N and Trichodermatide D isolated from Trichoderma species exclusively detected during coexistence with bacteria (TB and ATB). These findings indicate that the presence of Bacillus activates cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters in Trichoderma. The antibacterial activity of mixed culture extracts was stronger than that of the monoculture extracts. The TB extract exhibited strong antifungal activity compared to the monoculture extract and other mixed culture treatments. CONCLUSION: The elucidation of medicinal plant microbiome interaction chemistry and its effect on the environment will also be of great interest in the context of medicinal plant health Additionally, it sheds light on the content of bioactive constituents, and facilitating the discovery of novel antimicrobials.

Superior border of the arcuate line: Three dimension reconstruction and digital measurements of the fixation route for pelvic and acetabular fractures.

PURPOSE: To obtain a series of parameters describing the shape and bone thickness of the fixation route along the superior border of the arcuate line, so as to provide references for pelvic and acetabular surgery and design pelvic anatomic internal fixators. METHOD: A total of 175 complete pelvic computed tomography (CT) scans of normal adult pelvises were collected. Each person's CT scans were reconstructed to create a three-dimensional pelvic model. A curve of the fixation route was delineated and divided into 11 equal parts. The total length of the curve, the radius of curvature, and the bone thickness at each decile point were all measured. The position of the pelvic inlet, the anterior and posterior sagittal diameter were measured. RESULTS: The radius of curvature at each decile point were 29.18 ± 15.53, 55.27 ± 29.48, 43.04 ± 14.42, 59.62 ± 21.02, 91.67 ± 52.01, 78.9 ± 38.66, 75.76 ± 25.87, 61.75 ± 16.68, 54.62 ± 14.88, and 43.61 ± 19.10 mm, respectively. The anterior and posterior sagittal diameter of the pelvic inlet was 66.01 ± 9.15 and 41.36 ± 8.19 mm, respectively. For all groups divided by the ratio of the posterior and the anterior sagittal diameter, the decile points 1, 3, and 10 had smaller radii of curvature than the before and after points, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The curve of the fixation route along superior border of arcuate line has a relatively greater bending degree at the pubic tubercle, iliopubic eminence and close to the sacroiliac joint. With the transition of the pelvic inlet shape from android to gynecoid and platypelloid type, the bone surface at the iliopubic eminence becomes flatter. Pelvic and acetabular surgery could be more accurate by referring to the previous key bending points and the change of the pelvic inlet shape.

Insights into the catalytic and regulatory mechanisms of dihydroflavonol 4-reductase, a key enzyme of anthocyanin synthesis in Zanthoxylum bungeanum.

Accumulation of anthocyanins largely determines the fruit color, and dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) is a key enzyme involved in the formation of anthocyanins. However, the catalytic and regulatory mechanisms of DFR are unclear. In this study, the gene encoding DFR from Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. was cloned and ZbDFR was analyzed in detail. The ZbDFR accepted dihydrokaempferol, dihydroquercetin and dihydromyricetin as substrates. Flavonols such as myricetin, quercetin and kaempferol significantly inhibited the activity of ZbDFR, while quercitrin and isoquercitrin slightly increased the activity. Quercetin was a competitive inhibitor at low concentrations, and it had a combined effect of competitive and noncompetitive inhibition at high concentrations, which was consistent with ZbDFR having two inhibitor binding sites. In addition, the content of different types of flavonoids in Z. bungeanum peel at green, semi-red and red stage was analyzed, and the in vivo results could be explained by the regulation of ZbDFR activity in vitro. Site-directed mutagenesis combined with enzyme activity experiments showed that Ser128, Tyr163, Phe164 and Lys167 are the key catalytic amino acid residues. The Ser128, Tyr163 and Lys167 were crucial for the hydrogen transfer reaction, and mutation of these amino acids resulted in the loss of all or most of the activity. Phe164 was found to be important for the regulation of ZbDFR by flavonols. Accordingly, ZbDFR is a node at which flavonoids regulate the synthesis of anthocyanins and proanthocyanins.

Case report: Successful treatment of acute generalized pustular psoriasis of puerperium with secukinumab.

Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is a rare and severe form of psoriasis presenting with erythematous, aseptic pustules. Common systemic symptoms include fever and myalgias. The presentation of GPP resembles acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP). However, the treatment of these two pathologies differs. While AGEP is self-limiting and treated with topical corticosteroids and constrain of systemic steroids. GPP treatment avoids corticosteroid, choosing acitretin, methotrexate, and cyclosporine as first-line agents. In this case report, a 27-year-old female with a medical history of AGEP presented to the hospital with extensive erythema and pustules. Complete blood count acute phase reactant analysis revealed an elevated white blood cell count and C-reactive protein (CRP). Two histopathological examinations revealed psoriatic hyperplasia of the epidermis with keratosis, along with Kogoj and Munro micro abscesses above the spina layer. Lymphocytic and neutrophilic infiltrate was present in the superficial derma layer along with vasodilation. The patient was diagnosed with GPP according to pathological and clinical criteria. Treatment was initiated with secukinumab because of the patient's failure to respond to systemic treatment with Acitretin, methotrexate, and cyclosporin. Following 2 weeks of therapy with 300 mg of secukinumab, the pustular lesions had resolved. This study indicates the potential efficacy of secukinumab as an effective therapy that can rapidly improve the clinical symptoms of GPP.

Sensitivity analysis of biomechanical effect in vertebral body of two different augmenters.

BACKGROUND: Transvertebral Bone Graft and Augmentation (TBGA) has achieved good clinical effects in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs). This study aimed to investigate the postoperatively biomechanical effects of TBGA and compare the biomechanical sensitivity of two different augmenters: a cylindrical enhancement device (CED) and bone cement. METHODS: Finite element models of the spine segment T11-L3 were created, including one model based on normal segment and the other three with L1 augmentation for pathological conditions. Three treatments were simulated including CED implant treatment A, CED implant treatment B, and bone cement treatment. The stress distribution and maximum displacement of the four models under different treatments were analyzed. A method of linear fitting of dummy variables was used to analyze the sensitivity of biomechanical parameters to the degree of osteoporosis (DO) and load. FINDINGS: The reduction of stress with increasing DO in augmented and adjacent vertebral bodies under bone cement augmentation was less than that under CED augmentation. The stress of augmented vertebral body and the adjacent vertebral body was most sensitive to extension and rotation loading conditions. As DO increasing, the bone cement augmentation significantly increased the stress level on the upper and lower endplates. INTERPRETATION: When the degree of osteoporosis increased, CED outperforms bone cement in terms of the stress reduction in augmented vertebral and adjacent vertebral, which could be beneficial for avoiding re-fracture. Using TBGA to treat OVCFs, especially with Plan B method, the condition of the pathological spine is closer to the original status in terms of the sensitivity to stress and the spinal range of motion. The TBGA treatment is sensitive to lateral bending and torsion, therefore patients should be advised to avoid high-risk motions like lateral bending and rotation.

[Diffusion-weighted imaging hyperintensity is reversible in large middle cerebral artery infarction following thrombectomy:a case report].

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is currently the most sensitive technique to diagnose early ischemic stroke. DWI signal hyperintensity is usually considered to suggest irreversible infarct core, but recent studies demonstrated that DWI hyperintensity signal could be reversible on small embolic lesions. Herein we present a case in a 63-year-old male patient, who was admitted to the emergency department with altered mental status and complaint of weakness in the left arm and leg 6.8 h prior to the admission. Emergency cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and angiography (MRA) revealed occlusion of his right middle cerebral artery (MCA) and large lesions on DWI. The patient underwent intra-artery thrombectomy after evaluation in spite of the large volume of the DWI lesions up to 91.5 mL at the baseline. His right MCA was recanalized at 8.5 h from symptom onset. One week after the procedure, the patient showed reduced DWI lesion volume to 11.58 mL. In this case we observed the reversibility of a large lesion of the anterior artery circulation presenting with hyperintensity on DWI, suggesting that the clinical implication of DWI hyperintensity should be interpreted with caution, and a large volume of baseline DWI hyperintensity may not be a contraindication to thrombectomy. This conclusion, however, awaits further validation by future large-scale randomized controlled trials.

[Mismatch of ASPECTS based on arterial spin labeling and diffusion-weighted imaging as an indicator for mechanical thrombectomy in patients with wake-up stroke].

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively analyze the outcomes of wake-up stroke (WUS) patients with occlusion of large vessel occlusion (LVO), who were selected for mechanical thrombectomy according to the mismatch of Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) based on arterial spin labeling (ASL) and diffusion-weighted image (DWI) on admission magnetic resonance (MR) scans. METHODS: Twelve consecutive WUS patients with acute LVO of the anterior circulation undergoing MR scans with ASL and DWI prior to thrombectomy were retrospectively evaluated. The mismatch of ASPECTS was defined as the difference between ASL-ASPECTS and DWI-ASPECTS, and a higher score indicates a greater mismatch. RESULTS: The procedures led to successful reperfusion in all the cases (Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction Grade 2b-3). Eleven patients (91.7%) had significantly decreased National Institute of Health Stroke scale (NIHSS) score at discharge.AmRS score of ≤2 at 90 days was achieved in 8 of the 12 patients (66.7%). CONCLUSIONS: The mismatch between ASPECTS assessed based on ASL and DWI can detect a true mismatch in patients with acute LVO of the anterior circulation, and can be used for rapid screening of patients eligible for thrombectomy.

Functional characterization of the Wrab17 gene in the interaction process between wheat and Puccinia triticina.

In the interaction between wheat and Puccinia triticina, wheat resists the invasion of P. triticina by producing hypersensitive reaction-programmed cell death (HR-PCD). To better understand the mechanism of wheat resistance to P. triticina, it is important to identify the defensive genes involved in wheat resistance to leaf rust. This paper systematically presented the role of Wrab17 in the HR-PCD process in wheat after infection by P. triticina. The subcellular location analysis is performed using the full length of Wrab17 coding sequences and Wrab17 is found to be localized in cell nucleus and cytoplasm. Quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot analysis showed that expression of Wrab17 at both mRNA and protein levels increased by P. triticina infection, indicating that the Wrab17 gene participated in the interaction between wheat and P. triticina. Wrab17 knockdown plants were generated by RNA-mediated gene silencing technology (RNA interference, RNAi) and confirmed by southern blot. Further analysis with P. triticina inoculation found that knockdown of Wrab17 exhibited decreased HR expansion area in incompatible combination (L10×260) and significant higher sensitivity to the compatible pathogen P. triticina race 165. In all, this work reports that Wrab17 is a new defensive gene playing a role in wheat resistance to leaf rust.

Social crowding sensitizes high-responding rats to psychomotor-stimulant effects of morphine.

Large individual differences have been identified toward varied addictive effects as evidenced in self-administration, place conditioning, and psychomotor stimulation paradigms, which have been primarily attributed to the role of congenital factors. However, it remains unknown whether environmental factors, like extraneous social stress events, could distinctively modulate animals with differentiated biobehavioral traits, such as rats with higher motor activity (high responder, HR) developed in a novel environment and their counterparts, LR (low responder) rats. In the present study, the influence of social crowding procedure upon morphine psychomotor effect was investigated. Moreover, the roles social stress played, respectively, on HRs and LRs were explored based on previous observation that HRs not only responded more to drugs but also to stress. Our results revealed that social crowding procedure could sensitize morphine psychomotor effect as a whole, and this effect was only evident for HR but not LR rats. The individual differences toward morphine psychomotor effects was indiscernible in rats housed in normal social conditions and only turned out to be significant under stress conditions. Given the fact that the occurrence of human addictive behavior usually happens within social environment permeated with various stress factors, the genetic and environmental elements may collaboratively contribute to the ultimate susceptibility of drug-prone individuals.

Identification of a xylitol dehydrogenase gene from Kluyveromyces marxianus NBRC1777.

Xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) (EC 1.1.1.9) is one of the key enzymes in the xylose fermentation pathway in yeast and fungi. A xylitol dehydrogenase gene (XYL2) encoding a XDH was cloned from Kluyveromyces marxianus NBRC 1777, and the in vivo function was validated by disruption and complementation analysis. The highest activity of KmXDH could be observed at pH 9.5 during 55°C. The values of k(cat)/K(m) indicate that KmXDH prefers NAD(+) to NADP(+) (k(cat)/K(m NAD)(+) 3681/min mM and k(cat)/K(m NADP)(+) 1361/min mM). The different coenzyme preference between KmXR and KmXDH caused an accumulation of NADH in the xylose utilization pathway. The redox imbalance may be one of the reasons to cause the poor xylose fermentation under oxygen-limited conditions in K. marxianus NBRC1777.

Design and biomechanical evaluation of a custom lateral mandible titanium prosthesis.

A large mandibular discontinuity defect is most often due to severe trauma, infection or resection for neoplasm. Reconstruction plates have been popularly applied to bridge mandibular defects without bone grafting. The esthetics and continuity of the mandible with segmental defects could be rehabilitated successfully. However, the function is difficult to reconstructed using this type of plate. Furthermore, skin or mucosa perforation, plate fracture and loss of screw retention were the serious complications resulting in reconstruction failure. In this paper, a lateral biomechanical titanium mandibular prosthesis (BMMP) with new retention structure has been design. Problems of masticatory muscle attachment and other soft tissue overlay on the prosthesis have been considered. The biomechanical effect of the BMMP has been analysed by the three-dimensional finite element method (FEM). And the analysis of biomechanical effects of the retention on the BMMP was performed comparing with that of traditional reconstruction plate. Analysis results have shown that the BMMP was of better load conductibility and reliable retention. The function, continuity and esthetics of the mandible bone with a lateral defect were reconstructed successfully using the BMMP.