Anti-NMDAR encephalitis with delayed ovarian teratoma in a young woman: a case report with 5 years of follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune disorder with a variety of clinical manifestations. It has been established that anti-NMDAR encephalitis may be related to ovarian teratoma in female patients. However, a considerable number of patients have no obvious evidence of ovarian teratoma during the onset of the disease. CASE: A 25-year-old previously-healthy female experienced a series of acute symptoms within two days, including confusion, disorientation, short-term memory loss, auditory hallucinations, abnormal behavior, refractory status epilepticus, etc. Her brain MRI and abdominal imaging showed no definite abnormality while her electroencephalogram exhibited the presence of low to moderate amplitude sharp, spike, and multi-spike waves. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid tests yielded positive results for anti-NMDAR antibodies. However, an ultrasound scan failed to identify an ovarian teratoma. Consequently, the diagnosis of anti-NMDAR encephalitis without teratoma was made after 4 days onset. After the plasma exchange and immunoglobulin therapy, her neurological symptoms improved and obtained a clinical cure. In the next eight months of follow-up, the patient accidentally touched a lump in the lower abdomen without any symptoms, and abdominal ultrasound and CT scan revealed a left ovarian tumor. Then she underwent left ovarian teratoma resection surgery and histopathology showed a mature cystic teratoma with neural components. The patient continued to receive five years of follow-up, and her condition remained stable without any recurrence, except that there had been a low titer of anti-NMDAR antibody in her serum. CONCLUSION: Our case demonstrated the importance of long-term follow-up for female patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis, since anti-NMDAR encephalitis-associated ovarian teratomas may develop in a delayed manner, even without any symptoms.

Improving the production of carbamoyltobramycin by an industrial Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius through metabolic engineering.

Tobramycin is an essential and extensively used broad-spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotic obtained through alkaline hydrolysis of carbamoyltobramycin, one of the fermentation products of Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius. To simplify the composition of fermentation products from industrial strain, the main byproduct apramycin was blocked by gene disruption and constructed a mutant mainly producing carbamoyltobramycin. The generation of antibiotics is significantly affected by the secondary metabolism of actinomycetes which could be controlled by modifying the pathway-specific regulatory proteins within the cluster. Within the tobramycin biosynthesis cluster, a transcriptional regulatory factor TobR belonging to the Lrp/AsnC family was identified. Based on the sequence and structural characteristics, tobR might encode a pathway-specific transcriptional regulatory factor during biosynthesis. Knockout and overexpression strains of tobR were constructed to investigate its role in carbamoyltobramycin production. Results showed that knockout of TobR increased carbamoyltobramycin biosynthesis by 22.35%, whereas its overexpression decreased carbamoyltobramycin production by 10.23%. In vitro electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) experiments confirmed that TobR interacts with DNA at the adjacent tobO promoter position. Strains overexpressing tobO with ermEp* promoter exhibited 36.36% increase, and tobO with kasOp* promoter exhibited 22.84% increase in carbamoyltobramycin titer. When the overexpressing of tobO and the knockout of tobR were combined, the production of carbamoyltobramycin was further enhanced. In the shake-flask fermentation, the titer reached 3.76 g/L, which was 42.42% higher than that of starting strain. Understanding the role of Lrp/AsnC family transcription regulators would be useful for other antibiotic biosynthesis in other actinomycetes. KEY POINTS: • The transcriptional regulator TobR belonging to the Lrp/AsnC family was identified.  • An oxygenase TobO was identified within the tobramycin biosynthesis cluster. • TobO and TobR have significant effects on the synthesis of carbamoyltobramycin.

Highly efficient biosynthesis of salidroside by a UDP-glucosyltransferase-catalyzed cascade reaction.

OBJECTIVE: Salidroside is an important plant-derived aromatic compound with diverse biological properties. The main objective of this study was to synthesize salidroside from tyrosol using UDP-glucosyltransferase (UGT) with in situ regeneration of UDP-glucose (UDPG). RESULTS: The UDP-glucosyltransferase 85A1 (UGT85A1) from Arabidopsis thaliana, which showed high activity and regioselectivity towards tyrosol, was selected for the production of salidroside. Then, an in vitro cascade reaction for in situ regeneration of UDPG was constructed by coupling UGT85A1 to sucrose synthase from Glycine max (GmSuSy). The optimal UGT85A1-GmSuSy activity ratio of 1:2 was determined to balance the efficiency of salidroside production and UDP-glucose regeneration. Different cascade reaction conditions for salidroside production were also determined. Under the optimized condition, salidroside was produced at a titer of 6.0 g/L with a corresponding molar conversion of 99.6% and a specific productivity of 199.1 mg/L/h in a continuous feeding reactor. CONCLUSION: This is the highest salidroside titer ever reported so far using biocatalytic approach.

Histone deacetylase inhibitor stimulates E2 and P4 secretion in sika deer ovarian granulosa cells at a moderate dose.

The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) and tumor suppressor play an important role in genome reorganization and epigenetic regulation. In this study, granulosa cells (GCs) isolated from sika deer ovaries were cultured and treated with different concentrations of trichostatin A (TSA) for 48 h. It was found that TSA inhibited GCs proliferation and induced GCs apoptosis by upregulating expression of BAX, meanwhile, downregulating expression of GLUT3, GLUT8, BCL-XL. In addition, TSA caused cell cycle arrest at the G1 and G2/M phase accompanied by reducing expression of Cyclin D2 and CDK4. TSA pretreatment increased DNMT3a, DNMT1, HDAC1, and HAT1 expression, and attenuated them when TAS higher than 50 nM. The protein levels of H3K9ac and H4K8ac in GCs were increased at 48 h after TSA treatment. TSA stimulated the secretion of estradiol and progesterone at a moderate dose. Our data suggest that TSA is important as a regulator of steroid hormone synthesis in granulosa cells during follicular development in the sika deer ovary.

Increased productivity of L-2-aminobutyric acid and total turnover number of NAD+/NADH in a one-pot system through enhanced thermostability of L-threonine deaminase.

OBJECTIVE: To strengthen NADH regeneration in the biosynthesis of L-2-aminobutyric acid (L-ABA). RESULTS: L-Threonine deaminase (L-TD) from Escherichia coli K12 was modified by directed evolution and rational design to improve its endurance to heat treatment. The half-life of mutant G323D/F510L/T344A at 42 °C increased from 10 to 210 min, a 20-fold increase compared to the wild-type L-TD, and the temperature at which the activity of the enzyme decreased by 50% in 15 min increased from 39 to 53 °C. The mutant together with thermostable L-leucine dehydrogenase from Bacillus sphaericus DSM730 and formate dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii constituted a one-pot system for L-ABA biosynthesis. Employing preheat treatment in the one-pot system, the biosynthesis of L-ABA and total turnover number of NAD+/NADH were 0.993 M and 16,469, in contrast to 0.635 M and 10,531 with wild-type L-TD, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: By using the engineered L-TD during endured preheat treatment, the one-pot system has achieved a higher productivity of L-ABA and total turnover number of coenzyme.

[Recent advances in the bioproduction of mannitol].

D-mannitol is a six-carbon sugar alcohol and one of the most abundant polyols in the nature. With antioxidant and osmotic pressure-regulating effects and non-metabolism by the human body, D-mannitol has been widely used in functional food and pharmaceutical industries. At present, a major way for industrial production of D-mannitol is chemical hydrogenation. In addition, D-Mannitol can be produced by microbial metabolism or catalysis. Compared with the chemical hydrogenation, the microbial methods for synthesizing mannitol do not produce sorbitol as a by-product and have the advantages of mild reaction conditions, strong specificity, and high conversion rate. Microbial fermentation is praised for easy access of strains and raw materials and simple separation of the product. Microbial catalysis usually adopts a multi-enzyme coupling strategy, which uses enzymes produced by engineered bacteria for whole-cell catalysis, and the cofactor recycling pathway is introduced to replenish expensive cofactor. This method can achieve high yields with cheap substrates under mild conditions without the formation of by-products. However, the application of microbial methods in the industrial production of D-mannitol is limited by the high costs of fermentation media and substrates and the long reaction time. This article reviews the reported microbial methods for producing D-mannitol, including the use of high-yielding strains and their fermentation processes, the utilization of low-cost substrates, whole-cell catalytic strategies, and the process control for high productivity. The biosynthesis of mannitol is not only of great significance for promoting industrial upgrading and realizing green manufacturing, but also provides strong support for the development of new bio-based products to meet the growing market demand. With the continuous improvement of technological innovation and industrial chain, it is expected to become one of the main ways of mannitol production in the future.

Manipulation of sterol homeostasis for the production of 24-epi-ergosterol in industrial yeast.

Brassinolide (BL) is the most biologically active compound among natural brassinosteroids. However, the agricultural applications are limited by the extremely low natural abundance and the scarcity of synthetic precursors. Here, we employ synthetic biology to construct a yeast cell factory for scalable production of 24-epi-ergosterol, an un-natural sterol, proposed as a precursor for BL semi-synthesis. First, we construct an artificial pathway by introducing a Δ24(28) sterol reductase from plants (DWF1), followed by enzyme directed evolution, to enable de novo biosynthesis of 24-epi-ergosterol in yeast. Subsequently, we manipulate the sterol homeostasis (overexpression of ARE2, YEH1, and YEH2 with intact ARE1), maintaining a balance between sterol acylation and sterol ester hydrolysis, for the production of 24-epi-ergosterol, whose titer reaches to 2.76 g L-1 using fed-batch fermentation. The sterol homeostasis engineering strategy can be applicable for bulk production of other economically important phytosterols.

Craniocerebral Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo under Artificial Intelligence Algorithm and the Correlation with Cerebrovascular Disease.

This research aimed to discuss the characteristics of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and the correlation with cerebrovascular disease. An artificial intelligence algorithm under a parallel dual-domain concatenated convolutional neural network (PDDC-CNN) was proposed to process the images of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) were performed on all 60 research objects with a 3.0 MRI scanner. The number of cases with cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), SWI image display of small veins, the number of lacunar infarctions, vertebral artery dominance, and vertebrobasilar morphology were observed in the two groups. The number of lacunar infarctions was 2.400 ± 3.358 and 0.672 ± 0.251, respectively, in the BBPV group with 30 cases and the control group with the other 30 cases. The positive rates of CMBs on SWI images were 48% and 27% in the BBPV group and the control group, respectively, and the average CMBs were counted as 1.670 ± 2.326 and 0.487 ± 0.865. CMBs were shown as round or oval lesions of conventional sequence deletion in the images with a diameter of less than 1.5 cm. SWI images of the BBPV group showed a significant increase in intracerebral small veins compared to those of the control group. The curvature of the vertebrobasilar artery in the BBPV group was significantly higher than that in the control group, and the curvature of the basilar artery was slightly higher than that in the control group. In conclusion, the MRI features of BPPV patients were related to their own microvascular lesions closely, and it was speculated that the cerebrovascular factors might play a dominant role in the early onset of BPPV.

Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli for Hyperoside Biosynthesis.

Hyperoside (quercetin 3-O-galactoside) exhibits many biological functions, along with higher bioactivities than quercetin. In this study, three UDP-dependent glycosyltransferases (UGTs) were screened for efficient hyperoside synthesis from quercetin. The highest hyperoside production of 58.5 mg·L-1 was obtained in a recombinant Escherichia coli co-expressing UGT from Petunia hybrida (PhUGT) and UDP-glucose epimerase (GalE, a key enzyme catalyzing the conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-galactose) from E. coli. When additional enzymes (phosphoglucomutase (Pgm) and UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (GalU)) were introduced into the recombinant E. coli, the increased flux toward UDP-glucose synthesis led to enhanced UDP-galactose-derived hyperoside synthesis. The efficiency of the recombinant strain was further improved by increasing the copy number of the PhUGT, which is a limiting step in the bioconversion. Through the optimization of the fermentation conditions, the production of hyperoside increased from 245.6 to 411.2 mg·L-1. The production was also conducted using a substrate-fed batch fermentation, and the maximal hyperoside production was 831.6 mg·L-1, with a molar conversion ratio of 90.2% and a specific productivity of 27.7 mg·L-1·h-1 after 30 h of fermentation. The efficient hyperoside synthesis pathway described here can be used widely for the glycosylation of other flavonoids and bioactive substances.

Combined Biosynthetic Pathway Engineering and Storage Pool Expansion for High-Level Production of Ergosterol in Industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Ergosterol, a terpenoid compound produced by fungi, is an economically important metabolite serving as the direct precursor of steroid drugs. Herein, ergsosterol biosynthetic pathway modification combined with storage capacity enhancement was proposed to synergistically improve the production of ergosterol in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. S. cerevisiae strain S1 accumulated the highest amount of ergosterol [7.8 mg/g dry cell weight (DCW)] among the wild-type yeast strains tested and was first selected as the host for subsequent metabolic engineering studies. Then, the push and pull of ergosterol biosynthesis were engineered to increase the metabolic flux, overexpression of the sterol acyltransferase gene ARE2 increased ergosterol content to 10 mg/g DCW and additional overexpression of a global regulatory factor allele (UPC2-1) increased the ergosterol content to 16.7 mg/g DCW. Furthermore, considering the hydrophobicity sterol esters and accumulation in lipid droplets, the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway was enhanced to expand the storage pool for ergosterol. Overexpression of ACC1 coding for the acetyl-CoA carboxylase increased ergosterol content from 16.7 to 20.7 mg/g DCW. To address growth inhibition resulted from premature accumulation of ergosterol, auto-inducible promoters were employed to dynamically control the expression of ARE2, UPC2-1, and ACC1. Consequently, better cell growth led to an increase of ergosterol content to 40.6 mg/g DCW, which is 4.2-fold higher than that of the starting strain. Finally, a two-stage feeding strategy was employed for high-density cell fermentation, with an ergosterol yield of 2986.7 mg/L and content of 29.5 mg/g DCW. This study provided an effective approach for the production of ergosterol and other related terpenoid molecules.

Biomimetic Growth of Hydroxyapatite on Electrospun CA/PVP Core⁻Shell Nanofiber Membranes.

In this study, cellulose acetate (CA)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) core⁻shell nanofibers were successfully fabricated by electrospinning their homogeneous blending solution. Uniform and cylindrical nanofibers were obtained when the PVP content increased from 0 to 2 wt %. Because of the concentration gradient associated with the solvent volatilization, the composite fibers flattened when the PVP increased to 5 wt %. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed the existence of a hydrogen bond between the CA and PVP molecules, which enhanced the thermodynamic properties of the CA/PVP nanofibers, as shown by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results. To analyze the interior structure of the CA/PVP fibers, the water-soluble PVP was selectively removed by immersing the fiber membranes in deionized water. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the PVP component, which has a low surface tension, was driven to the exterior of the fiber to form a discontinuous phase, whereas the high-content CA component inclined to form the internal continuous phase, thereby generating a core⁻shell structure. After the water-treatment, the CA/PVP composite fibers provided more favorable conditions for mineral crystal deposition and growth. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and FTIR proved that the crystal was hydroxyapatite (HAP) and that the calcium to phosphorus ratio was 1.47, which was close to the theoretical value of 1.67 in HAP. Such nanofiber membranes could be potentially applicable in bone tissue engineering.

Online Purchase Intention of Fruits: Antecedents in an Integrated Model Based on Technology Acceptance Model and Perceived Risk Theory.

Over recent years, online purchase platforms of fruits are increasingly emerged to advance the e-commerce development and improve quality of human life. Unfortunately, we empirically observed that a lot of enterprises selling fruits online have suffered from bankruptcy due to a lot of complicated factors, such as inefficient logistics, low acceptance of online platforms, and financial risks. One of the root causes responsible for such an unanticipated phenomenon is related to the purchase intention, which motivates us to investigate what are the dominant factors affecting the online purchase intention of fruits. The results can be of great significance to the development of fruit e-commerce enterprises in online marketing. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and perceived risk theory (PRT), this research developed an integrated theoretical model to explore the influential factors underlying consumers' intention to purchase fruits online. A web-based survey of 344 consumers with ages below 30 was used to test the hypotheses in our theoretical model. Through sample collection with questionnaires, a structural equation model is developed to compute the coupling relationship between influential factors and purchase intention. The results reveal that fruit quality and price are dominantly affecting the willingness of consumers to purchase fruit. Surprisingly, we found that e-commerce platforms, information quality, and perceived risk are less significant. Finally, some specific suggestions are recommended for fruit e-commerce enterprises in devising effective marketing strategies.

Effect of vitrification on meiotic maturation, mitochondrial distribution and glutathione synthesis in immature silver fox cumulus oocyte complexes.

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of vitrifying oocytes obtained from silver foxes on nuclear maturation, mitochondrial distribution and glutathione (GSH) synthesis after in vitro culture for 72 h. Immature oocytes were randomly divided into three groups: (1) fresh GV (germinal vesicle) oocytes (Control group), (2) exposure to the equilibration and vitrification solution but without being plunged into liquid nitrogen (exposed group), and (3) vitrification by the cryoloop method (vitrified-warmed group). The number of survival oocytes was not decreased by either being exposed to the cryoprotectant or being vitrified-warmed compared with the control group (P > 0.05). After IVM, the percentage of resumption of meiosis for vitrified-warmed oocytes (41.9%) was significantly lower than in the control (81.2%) and exposed (79.1%) groups (P < 0.05). However, the proportion of oocytes reaching the metaphase II (MII) stage was similar among the different groups (11.4%, 9.3% and 5.2%, respectively, P > 0.05). The translocation of active mitochondria during fox oocyte maturation was revealed using MitoTracker Red staining and confocal laser microscopy. For fresh oocytes at the GV stage, active mitochondria were distributed around the entire cortex with small granulations and various-sized cavities (no MitoTracker signals). After IVM, the mitochondria formed large granulations and clumps throughout the cytoplasm. Vitrification significantly decreased the proportion of MII oocytes with normal mitochondrial distribution compared with the control and exposed groups (35.4%, 71.9% and 59.2%, respectively, P < 0.05). Similarly, the GSH content was significantly lower in vitrified-warmed oocytes compared with the control and exposed oocytes after IVM (3.4, 5.7 and 4.7 pM/oocyte, respectively, P < 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed between the cryoprotectant exposed and control groups with regard to the normal mitochondrial distribution or GSH content (P > 0.05). These results indicate that vitrification of fox immature oocytes using a cryoloop allows them to resume meiosis and develop to the MII stage. The damage to mitochondria and the GSH synthesis deficiency may be associated with the reduced developmental competence of cryopreserved oocytes.

Fecal progestin concentrations as an indicator of reproductive success in American Mink.

Efforts to increase mink reproductive success (live births and litter sizes) can be partly assessed by measurement of blood progesterone levels. However, the stress of blood sampling increases the incidence of failed matings, aborted fetuses and death of the dam. We have therefore non-invasively measured fecal progesterone metabolite (progestin) concentrations during the reproductive cycle of mink. We tested the hypothesis that fecal progestin concentrations during the window of implantation (late March-early April) will, (1): be higher for whelping than non-whelping mink, and (2): be higher for mink mated multiple times, compared to single matings. Mink were mated once (March 3), twice (March 3 and 10) or three times (March 3, 10 and 11) and fecal progestin concentrations determined from March 1 to April 30. The percent mink in each group giving birth to live offspring was 42.8%, 80.8% and 92.3% for mink mated once, twice or three times, respectively (P<0.05). Litter sizes did not differ among mink mated once (5.22±0.55), twice (6.29±0.35) or three times (6.08±0.32; P>0.05). Mean fecal progestin concentrations from mating to diapause (March 19) did not differ between mink that whelped or not, nor in response to the number of times mated. However, mean fecal progestin concentrations for mink that whelped were higher on March 25 (peri-implantation) than March 19 after being mated once (51.96±2.96 vs 23.53±1.89nM/g dry wt; P<0.05), twice (66.00±1.60 vs 25.57±1.28nM/g dry wt; P<0.05) or three times (66.48±1.42/g vs 19.16±1.09nM/g dry wt; P<0.05). During implantation (April 5), mean fecal progestin concentrations for mink that whelped after being mated once (146.60±10.02nM/g dry wt), twice (162.10±5.64nM/g dry wt) or three times (188.50±3.92nM/g dry wt) were significantly higher than for those that failed to whelp; 119.30±8.87nM/g dry wt, 77.84±5.86nM/g dry wt. and 118.9±6.55nM/g dry wt., respectively (P<0.05). Our findings suggest that measurement of fecal progestin concentrations during blastocyst reactivation and implantation may be a useful indicator of successful pregnancies in mink.

Novel Stable Gel Polymer Electrolyte: Toward a High Safety and Long Life Li-Air Battery.

Nonaqueous Li-air battery, as a promising electrochemical energy storage device, has attracted substantial interest, while the safety issues derived from the intrinsic instability of organic liquid electrolytes may become a possible bottleneck for the future application of Li-air battery. Herein, through elaborate design, a novel stable composite gel polymer electrolyte is first proposed and explored for Li-air battery. By use of the composite gel polymer electrolyte, the Li-air polymer batteries composed of a lithium foil anode and Super P cathode are assembled and operated in ambient air and their cycling performance is evaluated. The batteries exhibit enhanced cycling stability and safety, where 100 cycles are achieved in ambient air at room temperature. The feasibility study demonstrates that the gel polymer electrolyte-based polymer Li-air battery is highly advantageous and could be used as a useful alternative strategy for the development of Li-air battery upon further application.