Multi-pathways-mediated mechanisms of selenite reduction and elemental selenium nanoparticles biogenesis in the yeast-like fungus Aureobasidium melanogenum I15.

Selenium (Se) plays a critical role in diverse biological processes and is widely used across manufacturing industries. However, the contamination of Se oxyanions also poses a major public health concern. Microbial transformation is a promising approach to detoxify Se oxyanions and produce elemental selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) with versatile industrial potential. Yeast-like fungi are an important group of environmental microorganisms, but their mechanisms for Se oxyanions reduction remain unknown. In this study, we found that Aureobasidium melanogenum I15 can reduce 1.0 mM selenite by over 90% within 48 h and efficiently form intracellular or extracellular spherical SeNPs. Metabolomic and proteomic analyses disclosed that A. melanogenum I15 evolves a complicated selenite reduction mechanism involving multiple metabolic pathways, including the glutathione/glutathione reductase pathway, the thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase pathway, the siderophore-mediated pathway, and multiple oxidoreductase-mediated pathways. This study provides the first report on the mechanism of selenite reduction and SeNPs biogenesis in yeast-like fungi and paves an alternative avenue for the bioremediation of selenite contamination and the production of functional organic selenium compounds.

Selenomethionine ameliorates LPS-induced intestinal immune dysfunction in chicken jejunum.

Selenomethionine (SeMet) is a widely used food supplement. However, the research on the effect of SeMet on intestinal immune function is not enough. Therefore, in this experiment, SeMet was added to the diet of chickens, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used as harmful stimulation to study the effect of SeMet on intestinal immune function in chickens. We chose chicken jejunum as the research object. The results showed that LPS treatment decreased the expressions of selenoproteins and induced inflammatory reaction, cytokine disorder, decreases of immunoglobulin levels, heat shock protein expression disorder, and decreases of defensin expression levels in jejunum. However, dietary SeMet can effectively alleviate the above injury caused by LPS. Our results showed that SeMet could improve the intestinal immunity in chickens, and feeding SeMet could alleviate the intestinal immune dysfunction caused by LPS. The application range of SeMet in feed can be roughly given through our experiment; i.e. 0.35-0.5 mg/kg SeMet was effective. We speculated that dietary SeMet could effectively alleviate the intestinal immune dysfunction caused by harmful stimulation and help to resist the further damage caused by harmful stimulation.

Can inspiratory muscle training benefit patients after stroke? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of inspiratory muscle training in post-stroke patients and to explore the effective training protocol. DATA SOURCES: PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and China Science Periodical Database were searched through April 2020. REVIEW METHODS: Trials examining effects of inspiratory muscle training on pulmonary function, cardiopulmonary endurance, pulmonary infection incidence, and quality of life in post-stroke patients were included. Subgroup analysis was performed to compare different training programs. Mean differences and risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals were presented. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane tool. RESULTS: Thirteen randomized controlled trials involving a total of 373 participants were identified. Meta-analysis conducted in 8 out of 13 trials revealed evidence for beneficial effects of inspiratory muscle training on forced vital capacity (MD: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.28-0.66), forced expired volume in 1 second (MD: 0.26, 95% CI: 0.18-0.35), 6-minute walk test (MD: 52.61, 95% CI: 25.22-80.01), maximum inspiratory pressure (MD: 18.18, 95% CI: 5.58-30.78), inspiratory muscle endurance (MD: 19.99, 95% CI: 13.58-26.40), and pulmonary infection incidence (RR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.03-0.40). Omitting individual trials from the meta-analysis did not significantly change the results. The effective inspiratory muscle training protocol was suggested by subgroup analysis with three repetitions per week and more than 20 minutes per day for three weeks. CONCLUSION: Inspiratory muscle training can be considered as an effective intervention for improving pulmonary function and cardiopulmonary endurance, and reducing pulmonary infection incidence in patients after stroke.

Novel nanoscale bacteriophage-based single-domain antibodies for the therapy of systemic infection caused by Candida albicans.

Candida albicans (C. albicans) is an important human commensal and opportunistic fungal pathogen. Secreted aspartyl proteinases (Saps) are a major virulence trait of C. albicans, and among these proteases Sap2 has the highest expression levels. It is possible that antibodies against Sap2 could provide an antifungal effect. In this study, two phages displaying anti-rSap2 single chain variable fragments (scFvs) were screened from human single fold scFv libraries, and their potential therapeutic roles were evaluated using a murine model infected by C. albicans. The in vivo efficacies were assessed by mortality rates, fungal burden and histological examination. Overall survival rates were significantly increased while the colony counts and infectious foci were significantly decreased after treatment with the scFv-phages relative to the control groups. In order to investigate the immune response provoked by scFv-phages, three kinds of cytokines (Th1, Th2 and Th17 types) were measured and a clear immune response was observed. These findings suggest that anti-rSap2 scFv-phages have potential in the therapy of systemic infection caused by C. albicans.

Assembly of self-assembled monolayer-coated Al2O3 on TiO2 thin films for the fabrication of renewable superhydrophobic-superhydrophilic structures.

A renewable superhydrophobic-superhydrophilic pattern with a minimum dimension of 50 microm is prepared from octadecyltrimethoxysilane self-assembled monolayer-covered superhydrophobic Al2O3 overlayers on a superhydrophilic TiO2 surface via self-assembly and calcination of boehmite (AlOOH.nH2O) particles. The resulting Al2O3 layer plays dual roles as a superhydrophobic layer and as a UV-blocking layer for the underlying TiO2.