The Holothuria leucospilota genome elucidates sacrificial organ expulsion and bioadhesive trap enriched with amyloid-patterned proteins.

Some tropical sea cucumbers of the family Holothuriidae can efficiently repel or even fatally ensnare predators by sacrificially ejecting a bioadhesive matrix termed the Cuvierian organ (CO), so named by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier who first described it in 1831. Still, the precise mechanisms for how adhesiveness genetically arose in CO and how sea cucumbers perceive and transduce danger signals for CO expulsion during defense have remained unclear. Here, we report the first high-quality, chromosome-level genome assembly of Holothuria leucospilota, an ecologically significant sea cucumber with prototypical CO. The H. leucospilota genome reveals characteristic long-repeat signatures in CO-specific outer-layer proteins, analogous to fibrous proteins of disparate species origins, including spider spidroin and silkworm fibroin. Intriguingly, several CO-specific proteins occur with amyloid-like patterns featuring extensive intramolecular cross-ß structures readily stainable by amyloid indicator dyes. Distinct proteins within the CO connective tissue and outer surface cooperate to give the expelled matrix its apparent tenacity and adhesiveness, respectively. Genomic evidence offers further hints that H. leucospilota directly transduces predator-induced mechanical pressure onto the CO surface through mediation by transient receptor potential channels, which culminates in acetylcholine-triggered CO expulsion in part or in entirety. Evolutionarily, innovative events in two distinct regions of the H. leucospilota genome have apparently spurred CO's differentiation from the respiratory tree to a lethal defensive organ against predators.

Comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that auxin and cell wall biosynthesis play important roles in the formation of hollow hearts in cucumber.

BACKGROUND: Hollow heart is a kind of physiological defect that seriously affects the yield, quality, and economic value of cucumber. However, the formation of hollow hearts may relate to multiple factors in cucumber, and it is necessary to conduct analysis. RESULTS: In this study, hollow and non-hollow fruits of cucumber K07 were used for comparative transcriptome sequencing and analysis. 253 differentially expressed genes and 139 transcription factors were identified as being associated with the formation of hollow hearts. Hormone (auxin) signaling and cell wall biosynthesis were mainly enriched in GO and KEGG pathways. Expression levels of key genes involved in indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis in carpel were lower in the hollow fruits than non-hollow fruits, while there was no difference in the flesh. The concentration of indole-3-acetic also showed lower in the carpel than flesh. The biosynthetic pathway and content analysis of the main components of the cell wall found that lignin biosynthesis had obvious regularity with hollow heart, followed by hemicellulose and cellulose. Correlation analysis showed that there may be an interaction between auxin and cell wall biosynthesis, and they collectively participate in the formation of hollow hearts in cucumber. Among the differentially expressed transcription factors, MYB members were the most abundant, followed by NAC, ERF, and bHLH. CONCLUSIONS: The results and analyses showed that the low content of auxin in the carpel affected the activity of enzymes related to cell wall biosynthesis at the early stage of fruit development, resulting in incomplete development of carpel cells, thus forming a hollow heart in cucumber. Some transcription factors may play regulatory roles in this progress. The results may enrich the theory of the formation of hollow hearts and provide a basis for future research.

Aurantiacibacter hainanensis sp. nov. and Qipengyuania zhejiangensis sp. nov., two novel Erythrobacteraceae species isolated from tidal flat sediments.

Two Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, aerobic and carotenoid-producing strains, belonging to the family Erythrobacteraceae, designated as H149T and Z2T, were isolated from tidal flat sediment samples collected in Hainan and Zhejiang, PR China, respectively. Growth of strain H149T occurred at 15-42 °C, 0-10.0 % (w/v) NaCl, and pH 6.0-8.5, with the optima at 35-37 °C, 3.0-3.5 % (w/v) NaCl and pH 7.0. Strain Z2T grew at 15-37 °C, 0-6.0 % (w/v) NaCl, and pH 6.0-9.5, with the optima at 25-30 °C, 0.5-1.0 % (w/v) NaCl and pH 6.0-6.5. Ubiquinone-10 was the sole ubiquinone in two strains. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain H149T were C16 : 0, summed feature 3 and summed feature 8, while those of strain Z2T were C17 : 1 ω6c, summed feature 3 and summed feature 8. Strains H149T and Z2T shared diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and sphingoglycolipid as major polar lipids. The 16S rRNA gene sequence identity analysis indicated that strain H149T had the highest sequence identity of 98.4 % with Aurantiacibacter odishensis KCTC 23981T, and strain Z2T had that of 98.2 % with Qipengyuania pacifica NZ-96T. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene and core-genome sequences revealed that strains H149T and Z2T formed two independent clades in the genera Aurantiacibacter and Qipengyuania, respectively. Strain H149T had average nucleotide identity values of 74.0-81.3 % and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values of 18.5-23.1 % with Aurantiacibacter type strains, while strain Z2T had values of 73.3-78.7 % and 14.5-33.3 % with Qipengyuania type strains. The genomic DNA G+C contents of strains H149T and Z2T were 64.3 and 61.8 %, respectively. Based on the genetic, genomic, phylogenetic, physiological and chemotaxonomic results, strains H149T (=KCTC 8397T=MCCC 1K08920T) and Z2T (=KCTC 8396T=MCCC 1K08946T) are concluded to represent two novel Erythrobacteraceae species for which the names Aurantiacibacter hainanensis sp. nov. and Qipengyuania zhejiangensis sp. nov. are proposed, respectively.

A time series driven model for early sepsis prediction based on transformer module.

Sepsis remains a critical concern in intensive care units due to its high mortality rate. Early identification and intervention are paramount to improving patient outcomes. In this study, we have proposed predictive models for early sepsis prediction based on time-series data, utilizing both CNN-Transformer and LSTM-Transformer architectures. By collecting time-series data from patients at 4, 8, and 12 h prior to sepsis diagnosis and subjecting it to various network models for analysis and comparison. In contrast to traditional recurrent neural networks, our model exhibited a substantial improvement of approximately 20%. On average, our model demonstrated an accuracy of 0.964 (± 0.018), a precision of 0.956 (± 0.012), a recall of 0.967 (± 0.012), and an F1 score of 0.959 (± 0.014). Furthermore, by adjusting the time window, it was observed that the Transformer-based model demonstrated exceptional predictive capabilities, particularly within the earlier time window (i.e., 12 h before onset), thus holding significant promise for early clinical diagnosis and intervention. Besides, we employed the SHAP algorithm to visualize the weight distribution of different features, enhancing the interpretability of our model and facilitating early clinical diagnosis and intervention.

The evolutionary adaptation of shrimp hemocyanin subtypes and the consequences on their structure and functions.

Hemocyanin is the main respiratory protein of arthropods and is formed by hexameric and/or oligomeric subunits. Due to changes in the living environment and gene rearrangement, various hemocyanin subtypes and subunits evolved in crustaceans. This paper reviews the various hemocyanin subtypes and isoforms in shrimp and analyses published genomic data of sixteen hemocyanin family genes from Litopenaeus vannamei to explore the evolution of hemocyanin genes, subunits, and protein structure. Analysis of hemocyanin subtypes distribution and structure in various tissues was also performed and related to multiple and tissue-specific functions, i.e., immunological activity, immune signaling, phenoloxidase activity, modulation of microbiota homeostasis, and energy metabolism. The functional diversity of shrimp hemocyanin due to molecular polymorphism, transcriptional regulation, alternative splicing, degradation into functional peptides, interaction with other proteins or genes, and structural differences will also be highlighted for future research. Inferences would be drawn from other crustaceans to explain how evolution has changed the structure-function of hemocyanin and its implication for evolutionary research into the multifunctionality of hemocyanin and other related proteins in shrimp.

Bone morphogenetic protein 6 induces downregulation of pentraxin 3 expression in human granulosa lutein cells in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether PTX3 is differentially expressed in the granulosa lutein cells derived from women with PCOS and whether BMP6 can regulate the expression of PTX3 in hGL cells. METHODS: The expression levels of BMP6 and PTX3 in granulosa lutein cells were evaluated by RT-qPCR. The correlation between the expression levels of BMP6 /PTX3 and oocyte quality indexes were analyzed using clinical samples. The cells were incubated with BMP6 at different concentrations and times to check the expression of PTX3 in KGN cells. TGF-ß type I inhibitors and small interfering RNA targeting ALK2/3/6,SMAD1/5/8 and SMAD4 were used to study the involvement of SMAD dependent pathways in KGN cells. RESULTS: The levels of BMP6 in hGL cells were negatively correlated with the corresponding oocyte maturation rate and high-quality embryo rate, whereas the levels of PTX3 were positively correlated with the corresponding oocyte maturation rate in PCOS. Additionally, the in vitro cell cultured results showed BMP6 significantly inhibited the expression of PTX3 in KGN cells. Furthermore, using a dual inhibition approach (kinase inhibitors and small interfering RNAs), we identified the ALK2/ALK3 type I receptors and BMPR2/ACVR2A type II receptors and the downstream SMAD1/SMAD5-SMAD4 signaling pathway were responsible for the BMP6-induced cellular activities in KGN cells. CONCLUSIONS: The suppressive effect of BMP6 on PTX3 was mediated by ALK2/ALK3 type I receptors and BMPR2/ACVR2A type II receptors in granulosa cells through the SMAD1/5-SMAD4 dependent signaling pathway in PCOS.Our findings provides new insights into the understanding of the pathogenesis of PCOS-related ovulatory disorders.

miR-145a-5p/Plexin-A2 promotes the migration of OECs and transplantation of miR-145a-5p engineered OECs enhances the functional recovery in rats with SCI.

BACKGROUND: Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) serve as a bridge by migrating at the site of spinal cord injury (SCI) to facilitate the repair of the neural structure and neural function. However, OEC migration at the injury site not only faces the complex and disordered internal environment but also is closely associated with the migration ability of OECs. METHODS: We extracted OECs from the olfactory bulb of SD rats aged <7 days old. We verified the micro ribonucleic acid (miR)-145a-5p expression level in the gene chip after SCI and OEC transplantation using quantitative reverse transcription (qRT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The possible target gene Plexin-A2 of miR-145a-5p was screened using bioinformatics and was verified using dual-luciferase reporter assay, Western blot, and qRT-PCR. The effect of miR-145a-5p/plexin-A2 on OEC migration ability was verified by wound healing assay, Transwell cell migration assay, and immunohistochemistry. Nerve repair was observed at the injured site of the spinal cord after OEC transplantation using tissue immunofluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor rating scale were further used for imaging and functional evaluation. RESULTS: miR-145a-5p expression in the injured spinal cord tissue after SCI considerably decreased, while Plexin-A2 expression significantly increased. OEC transplantation can reverse miR-145a-5p and Plexin-A2 expression after SCI. miR-145a-5p overexpression enhanced the intrinsic migration ability of OECs. As a target gene of miR-145a-5p, Plexin-A2 hinders OEC migration. OEC transplantation overexpressing miR-145a-5p after SCI can increase miR-145a-5p levels in the spinal cord, reduce Plexin-A2 expression in the OECs and the spinal cord tissue, and promote OEC migration and distribution at the injured site. OEC transplantation overexpressing miR-145a-5p can promote the repair of neural morphology and neural function. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that miR-145a-5p could promote OEC migration by down-regulating the target gene Plexin-A2, and transplantation of miR-145a-5p engineered OECs was beneficial to enhance neural structural and functional recovery in SCI rats.

ZIM3 activation of CCL25 expression in pulmonary metastatic nodules of osteosarcoma recruits M2 macrophages to promote metastatic growth.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. However, the involvement of TAMs infiltration in pulmonary osteosarcoma (OS) metastasis remains poorly understood. Therefore, the effect of OS cells on macrophages migration was investigated by in vivo and in vitro experiments to evaluate the infiltration and mechanism of TAMs in pulmonary OS metastases. The results showed that the zinc finger protein ZIM3 was upregulated in OS cells than in osteoblasts and activated the expression of CCL25, which subsequently promoted the migration of M2 macrophages. CCL25 or ZIM3 silencing in OS cells inhibited the infiltration of M2 macrophages and the formation of pulmonary metastatic nodules in a mouse model of pulmonary OS metastasis and prolonged the survival of the mice. Furthermore, bioinformatics analyses revealed that CCL25 and ZIM3 expressions are negatively correlated with the prognosis of OS patients. In conclusion, this study found that a large number of M2 TAMs were recruited into pulmonary metastatic nodules of OS through the activation of the ZIM3-CCL25 axis in OS cells, thereby facilitating OS metastasis. Therefore, the suppression of ZIM3-CCL25-induced recruitment of M2 TAMs to the metastatic sites might be considered as a therapeutic approach to inhibit the growth of pulmonary OS metastases.

Association of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors (SGLT2i) with Cardiac Arrhythmias: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cardiovascular Outcome Trials.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are a class of widely used hypoglycemic agents for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In addition to lowering blood glucose, SGLT2i protects the heart and kidney, significantly reduces cardiovascular events, and delays the progression of heart failure and chronic kidney disease. However, previous studies have not exhaustively discussed the association between SGLT2i and the risk of developing cardiac arrhythmias. The purpose of this study is to assess the association of SGLT2i with cardiac arrhythmias in patients with T2DM and without T2DM in cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs). Methods: We performed a meta-analysis and systematic review of CVOTs that compared SGLT2i with placebo. MEDLINE, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and Embase were systematically searched from inception to December 2022. We included CVOTs reporting cardiovascular or renal outcomes with a follow-up duration of at least 6 months. Results: A total of 12 CVOTs with 77,470 participants were included in this meta-analysis (42,016 SGLT2i vs 35,454 control), including patients with T2DM, heart failure (HF), or chronic kidney disease (CKD). Follow-up duration ranged from 9 months to 5.65 years. Medications included empagliflozin, canagliflozin, dapagliflozin and ertugliflozin. SGLT2i were associated with a lower risk of tachycardia (risk ratio (RR) 0.86; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.79-0.95), supraventricular tachycardia (SVT; RR 0.84; 95% CI 0.75-0.94), atrial fibrillation (AF; RR 0.86; 95% CI 0.75-0.97) and atrial flutter (AFL; RR 0.75; 95% CI 0.57-0.99) in patients with T2DM, HF and CKD. SGLT2i could also reduce the risk of cardiac arrest in CKD patients (RR 0.50; 95% CI 0.26-0.95). Besides, SGLT2i therapy was not associated with a lower risk of ventricular arrhythmia and bradycardia. Conclusions: SGLT2i therapy is associated with significantly reduced the risk of tachycardia, SVT, AF, and AFL in patients with T2DM, HF, and CKD. In addition, SGLT2i could also reduce the risk of cardiac arrest in CKD patients. Further researches are needed to fully elucidate the antiarrhythmic mechanism of SGLT2i.

Integrative strategy for quality control of Radix Bupleuri based on non-targeted metabolomic profiling and molecular networking.

Quality control of Radix Bupleuri (RB) can be challenging due to the complexity of origin, the similar morphological characteristics, and the diversity of the multiple components. In this study, an integrated strategy for extensive identification of metabolites in plants based on multiple data processing methods was proposed to distinguish four commercially available RB species. First, the pre-processed mass spectrometry data was uploaded to Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) for spectral library search and molecular network analysis, which can effectively differentiate isomers and reduce molecular redundancy. Second, the possible cleavage mode was summarized from the characteristic MS/MS fragment ions of saikoside standard, and then the possible structure of saikoside in the sample was deduced according to the cleavage patterns. Third, collected all kinds of RB components reported in the literature and matched the information in the samples to obtain more comprehensive information about metabolites. Finally, chemical markers were found employing chemometrics. This strategy not only increases the variety and number of identified components, but also improves the accuracy of the data. Based on this strategy, a total of 132 components were identified from different species of RB, and 14 chemical constituents were considered to be potential chemical markers to distinguish four kinds of RB. Among them, saikogenin a, hydroxy-saikosaponin a, hydroxy-saikosaponin d, and rutinum were of great significance for identification. The method proposed in this study not only successfully identified and distinguished four species of RB, but also laid a good theoretical foundation for regulating the RB market. This strategy provides promising perspectives in the accurate analysis of the ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine.

Epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections and outcomes among open and robotic pancreatoduodenectomy: A retrospective study from 2013 to 2022.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) are one of the common postoperative complications. This study aims to investigate the epidemiology of postoperative HAIs in patients with open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD) and robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy (RPD). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study described the trend of HAIs in patients undergoing PD from January 2013 to December 2022 at a tertiary hospital. Patients were divided into OPD and RPD, and the HAIs and outcomes were compared. RESULTS: Among 2632 patients who underwent PD, 230 (8.7%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 7.7-9.9%) were diagnosed with HAIs, with a decreasing trend from 2013 to 2022 (P < 0.001 for trend). The incidence of postoperative HAIs was significantly higher in patients with OPD than RPD (9.6% vs 5.8%; P = 0.003). The incidence of HAIs for patients with OPD showed a decreasing trend (P = 0.001 for trend), and the trend for RPD was not significant (P = 0.554 for trend). Logistic regression showed that RPD was significantly associated with postoperative HAIs after adjusting for covariates (adjusted odds ratio = 0.654; 95% CI 0.443-0.965; P = 0.032), especially in the subgroup of patients without preoperative biliary drainage (adjusted odds ratio = 0.486; 95% CI 0.292-0.809; P = 0.006). Regarding clinical outcomes, RPD has a shorter length of stay and a more expensive charge than OPD (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Postoperative HAIs in patients with PD showed a decreasing trend in recent years, especially in OPD. RPD was significantly associated with reduced postoperative HAIs and length of stay, although the charge is more expensive. Attention should be paid to postoperative HAIs in OPD, and it is imperative to continue reducing the costs of RPD.

Long-Term Efficacy of Orthokeratology to Control Myopia Progression.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of orthokeratology in controlling the rate of myopia progression in children and investigate the factors associated with axial length (AL) growth rate with an average of 48 months of orthokeratology lens wear. METHODS: As a retrospective study, 84 subjects underwent relatively complete ophthalmologic examinations. After initial lens wear, AL was measured on average every 12 months. The linear mixed-effects model (LMM) was used to compare the differences in AL growth rates at each time interval. The contribution of the independent variables to AL change was assessed using multiple linear regression. RESULTS: In the LMM, there was a significant difference in the AL growth rate ( P <0.001) at each follow-up. The growth rate of AL was associated with initial AL, spherical equivalent refractive errors (SERs) and diameter of lens ( P =0.045, 0.003 and 0.037, respectively). When the baseline age was included as a factor, the influence of initial AL and SER became insignificant in the analysis, whereas age and diameter of lens were significantly correlated with the growth rate of AL ( P< 0.001 and P< 0.001, respectively). There were significant differences in growth rates among different age groups. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the study demonstrated that the factors associated with lower growth rate in AL were older age and longer diameter of lens.

An interpretable DIC risk prediction model based on convolutional neural networks with time series data.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a complex, life-threatening syndrome associated with the end-stage of different coagulation disorders. Early prediction of the risk of DIC development is an urgent clinical need to reduce adverse outcomes. However, effective approaches and models to identify early DIC are still lacking. In this study, a novel interpretable deep learning based time series is used to predict the risk of DIC. The study cohort included ICU patients from a 4300-bed academic hospital between January 1, 2019, and January 1, 2022. Experimental results show that our model achieves excellent performance (AUC: 0.986, Accuracy: 95.7%, and F1:0.935). Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) was used to explain how predictive models identified patients with DIC. The decision basis of the model was displayed in the form of a heat map. The model can be used to identify high-risk patients with DIC early, which will help in the early intervention of DIC patients and improve the treatment effect.

i-CRISPR: a personalized cancer therapy strategy through cutting cancer-specific mutations.

Developing a strategy to specifically kill cancer cells without inducing obvious damage to normal cells may be of great clinical significance for cancer treatment. In the present study, we developed a new precise personalized strategy named "i-CRISPR" for cancer treatment through adding DNA damage repair inhibitors(i) and inducing cancer cell-specific DNA double strand breaks by CRISPR. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments, we confirmed the efficacy of this strategy in multiple cancer models and revealed the mechanism of cell death. Our strategy might provide a novel concept for precise cancer therapy.

Clinical characteristics of IgG4-related respiratory disease patients: a large Chinese cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an autoimmune disorder and frequently involves multiple organs. The respiratory tract is one of the most frequently affected sites. In this study, we aimed to compare the demographic and clinical characteristics between IgG4 related respiratory disease (IgG4-RRD+) and extra-thoracic IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RRD-) in a large cohort. METHODS: A total of 448 cases of IgG4-RD (104 IgG4-RRD+ patients and 344 IgG4-RRD- patients) diagnosed at Peking University People's Hospital during 2003 to 2020 were included in our study. Patients' demographic data, clinical characteristics, laboratory parameters and imaging features were analysed. RESULTS: IgG4-RRD+ patients had an older age at disease onset and diagnosis. Multiorgan involvement and hypocomplementaemia were more common in IgG4-RRD+. Besides, the level of ESR, IgG and IgG4 were higher in IgG4-RRD+ patients. In IgG4-RRD+ group, salivary gland, lacrimal gland, lymph nodes, biliary system and kidney were more commonly involved than those in the IgG4-RRD- group. Also, more organ involvement eosinophilia and biliary involvement were independent risk factors for the development of IgG4-RRD+. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed demographic, clinical and laboratory differences between the two phenotypes, in addition to describing the imaging features of IgG4-RRD+, which will be helpful for understanding of the disease.

First Report of Flower Stalk Wilting Caused by Rhizopus oryzae on Chinese cabbage in China.

Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) is one of the main biennial vegetables in China and its flowers can be produced in the second year. In May 2021, approximately 50% of the flower stalks of Chinese cabbage wilted in a field in Laizhou, China. Water-soaked lesions were first observed on the lateral shoots of flower stalks, leading to wilting at a later stage. Small diseased tissues were excised from the margin of lesions, surface disinfected in 75% alcohol, rinsed in distilled water twice, and transferred onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium for incubation at 28 ℃. Five fungal isolates were obtained using single spore isolation method. The fungal colonies were initially white and became gray or black within 5 days. The columella was globose to subglobose and 82.86±5.25 µm (n=5) in diameter; sporangiophores were smooth-walled, simple or branched; the globose sporangia were 86.06±15.37 µm (n=5) in diameter and black; the sporangiospores were subglobose and abundant and 5.23±0.98 µm (n=5) in diameter; and the rhizoids were dark brown and 5.69±1.82 µm (n=5) wide. A cetyl tri-methyl ammonium bromide method was used to extract DNA from 3-day-old hyphae (Ausubel et al. 1987). PCR was performed for ITS (White et al. 1990), the RNA polymerase II large subunit (RPB1) gene (Voigt et al. 2000) and the actin (ACT) gene (Stiller et al. 1997). The DNA sequences of the five isolates were identical, therefore, the sequence of Isolate RO21 was submitted to GenBank. According to BLAST search, the ITS (MZ452687), RPB1 (OK431470), and ACT (OK431471) sequences showed 99.66% similarity to Rhizopus oryzae Strain CBS 112.07 (NR103595), 100% to Strain CBS 127.08 (KJ566325) and 100% to Strain CBS 102660 (KJ551423), respectively. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree was reconstructed based on the ITS of Isolate RO21 and 14 other Rhizopus species sequences obtained from GenBank. Isolate RO21 was found to be most closely related to R. oryzae and far from other species. Based on morphological and phylogenetic characteristics, Isolate RO21 was identified as R. oryzae (Dolatabadi et al. 2014, Kwon et al. 2015, Palemón-Alberto et al. 2020). Sporangiospores were harvested from 5-day-old PDA cultures, suspended in sterilized distilled water, adjusted to 106 spores/ml and amended with 0.1% Tween-80. Chinese cabbage inbred line "A54-1" was inoculated near the middle of the flower stalk by applying 20 µl of spore suspension (106 spores/ml) to each of three sites wounded using a sterilized knife or to the unwounded site. Sterilized distilled water was used as the control. Forty flower stalks (20 for the inoculation treatment and the rest for the control) selected from ten plants were used for pathogenicity test. All plants were incubated in a growth chamber at 28/22 °C (day/night), with 80 to 90% of relative humidity. Wilting symptoms similar to those in the field were observed in the wounded flower stalks after 5 days and in the non-wounded flower stalks after 15 days. All control flower stalks remained asymptomatic. The fungus was re-isolated from the artificially infected flower stalks and identified as R. oryzae by morphological characteristics and sequencing to fulfill the Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report that R. oryzae causes flower stalk wilting on Chinese cabbage in China. The results can provide the basis for future studies on the occurrence, prevention and management of this disease.

TLR7 Expression Aggravates Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis by Suppressing Anti-Aspergillus Immunity of Macrophages.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a critical role in early immune recognition of Aspergillus, which can regulate host defense during invasive pulmonary Aspergillosis (IPA). However, the role of TLR7 in the pathogenesis of IPA remains unknown. In this study, an in vivo model of IPA was established to investigate the contribution of TLR7 to host anti-Aspergillus immunity upon invasive pulmonary Aspergillus fumigatus infection. The effects of TLR7 on phagocytosis and killing capacities of A. fumigatus by macrophages and neutrophils were investigated in vitro We found that TLR7 knockout mice exhibited lower lung inflammatory response and tissue injury, higher fungal clearance, and greater survival in an in vivo model of IPA compared with wild-type mice. TLR7 activation by R837 ligand led to wild-type mice being more susceptible to invasive pulmonary Aspergillus fumigatus infection. Macrophages, but not neutrophils, were required for the protection against IPA observed in TLR7 knockout mice. Mechanistically, TLR7 impaired phagocytosis and killing of A. fumigatus by macrophages but not neutrophils. Together, these data identify TLR7 as an important negative regulator of anti-Aspergillus innate immunity in IPA, and we propose that targeting TLR7 will be beneficial in the treatment of IPA.

Outer membrane vesicles derived from hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae stimulate the inflammatory response.

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKP), an increasing important pathotype, was initially recognized as a cause of severe liver abscesses and subsequently as a cause of other complications posing a clinical threat. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) secreted from abundant gram-negative bacteria are considered an important vehicle for delivery of effector molecules to target cells. However, the products and role in bacterial pathogenesis of OMVs secreted from hvKP, have not yet been determined. In order to examine the production of OMVs from hvKP and to determine their effects on the stimulation of the host innate immune response, we used ultracentrifugation to obtain homogeneous OMVs from hvKP ATCC 1706 cultured in vitro. Proteomic analysis was performed and hvKP OMVs were found to contain diverse proteins. Furthermore, hvKP OMVs exhibited discrepant cytotoxic effects on different cell types, in vitro. The vesicles induced the expression of proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 in host cells. In addition, transtracheal injection of hvKP OMVs in wild-type mice led to an inflammatory response manifested by elevated levels of pro-inflammatory mediators including IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL), in accord with in vitro experiments. However, hvKP OMVs were insufficient to kill mice. In summary, OMVs originating from hvKP may serve to provoke the inflammatory response.

Construction of pH sensitive smart glutathione peroxidase (GPx) mimics based on pH responsive pseudorotaxanes.

Two organoselenium compounds, both of which were modified with two primary amine groups, were designed and synthesized to mimic the catalytic properties of glutathione peroxidase (GPx). It was demonstrated that the catalytic mechanism of the diselenide organoselenium compound (compound 1) was a ping-pong mechanism while that of the selenide organoselenium compound (compound 2) was a sequential mechanism. The pH-controlled switching of the catalytic activities was achieved by controlling the formation and dissociation of the pseudorotaxanes based on the organoselenium compounds and cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]). Moreover, the switching was reversible at pH between 7 and 9 for compound 1 or between 7 and 10 for compound 2.

High variance of intraoperative blood pressure predicts early cerebral infarction after revascularization surgery in patients with Moyamoya disease.

Few studies focused on the intraoperative blood pressure in Moyamoya disease (MMD) patients. We aimed to clarify whether or not it relates to early cerebral infarction after revascularization. We reviewed a retrospective cohort of Moyamoya disease from 2011 to 2018 in Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and patients with radiologically confirmed early postoperative infarction were included in the analysis. Controls were matched based on age, sex, and revascularization modality at a ratio of 1:5. Perioperative clinical factors and intraoperative blood pressure data were collected and analyzed. A total of 52 patients out of 1497 revascularization surgeries (3.5%) who experienced CT or MRI confirmed early postoperatively cerebral infarction, aged 38.46 ± 11.70; 26 were male (50.0%). Average real variability (ARV)-systolic blood pressure (SBP) (OR 3.29, p = 0.003), ARV-diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (OR 4.10, p = 0.005), ARV-mean arterial pressure (MAP) (OR 4.08, p = 0.004), and the maximum drops of DBP (OR 1.08, p = 0.003) and MAP (OR 1.06, p = 0.004) were associated with early postoperative infarction. In patients who experienced massive cerebral infarction, the maximum drops of DBP (OR 1.11, p = 0.004) and MAP (OR 1.11, p = 0.003) are independent risk factors, whereas ARVs of SBP (OR 3.90, p < 0.001), DBP (OR 4.69, p = 0.008), and MAP (OR 4.72, p = 0.003) are significantly associated with regional infarction. High variance of intraoperative blood pressure and drastic blood pressure decline are independent risk factors for postoperative infarction in MMD patients who underwent revascularization surgery. Maintaining stable intraoperative blood pressure is suggested to prevent early postoperative cerebral infarction in MMD patients.