Weathered Coal-Immobilized Microbial Materials as a Highly Efficient Adsorbent for the Removal of Lead.

Most research on immobilized microorganisms employs biomass charcoal as a carrier, but limited studies explore coal-based resources for microbial immobilization. Herein, lead-resistant functional strains were immobilized using weathered coal as a carrier, resulting in the development of a weathered coal-immobilized microbial material (JK-BW) exhibiting high efficiency in lead removal from solutions. A quadratic polynomial model for the adsorption capacity and adsorption rate of JK-BW on Pb2+ was developed using the Box-Behnken method to determine the optimal adsorption conditions. The Pb2+ adsorption mechanism of JK-BW was studied through batch adsorption and desorption experiments along with SEM-EDS, BET, FT-IR, and XPS analyses. Findings indicated that optimal conditions were identified at 306 K temperature, 0.36 g/L adsorbent dosage, and 300 mg/L initial solution concentration, achieving a peak adsorption performance of 338.9 mg/g (308 K) for the immobilized material, surpassing free cell adsorption by 3.8 times. Even after four cycles of repeated use, the material maintained its high adsorption capacity. Pb2+ adsorption by JK-BW involved monolayer chemisorption with ion exchange, complexation, precipitation, physical adsorption, and microbial intracellular phagocytosis. Ion exchange accounted for 22-42% and complexation accounted for 39-57% of the total adsorption mechanisms, notably involving exchanges with K, Ca, Na, and Mg ions as well as complexation with -OH, -COOH, CO-OH, -COOH, CO-, NH2, and the ß-ring of pyridine for Pb2+ adsorption.

End-stage renal disease in a critical patient with superior vena cava syndrome with central vein catheters inserted via the superficial femoral vein: A case study.

Superior vena cava syndrome (SVCS) is caused by obstruction to the blood flow through this vein. Indwelling central venous devices, such as cardiac pacemakers and haemodialysis catheters have emerged as the most common benign aetiology of SVCS. SVCS is particularly severe in patients with end-stage renal disease who require continuous renal replacement therapy plus infusion therapy. The presence of SVCS results in a reduction of available venous access for affected patients. Therefore, venous access plays a crucial role in the management of these patients. The importance of dealing with vascular access (VA) in critical patients with these conditions cannot be overstated. This case describes an 81-year-old man with respiratory failure who had end-stage renal disease complicated with SVCS. Using ultrasound-guided puncture, we inserted a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) into the superficial femoral vein to meet his infusion requirements in intensive care. After successful placement, the catheter tip position was adjusted using imaging to position the tip relative to the haemodialysis catheter. Whenever patients with severe renal dysfunction are treated, central veins should be preserved. Safe PICC access is possible via the superficial femoral vein to protect the last central VA for rational use. This meets urgent needs for infusion and deserves promotion.

A Series of New Pyrrole Alkaloids with ALR2 Inhibitory Activities from the Sponge Stylissa massa.

Twelve new and four known alkaloids including five different structural scaffolds were isolated from the sponge Stylissa massa collected in the South China Sea. Compound 1 is the first identified precursor metabolite of the classic 5/7/5 tricyclic skeleton with unesterified guanidine and carboxyl groups, compounds 2-5 and 13-15 belong to the spongiacidin-type pyrrole imidazole alkaloids (PIAs). Z- and E-configurations of the spongiacidin-type PIAs often appeared concomitantly and were distinguished by the chemical shift analysis of 13C NMR spectra. The structures of all twelve new compounds were determined by NMR, MS, and ECD analysis combined with single-crystal data of compounds 1, 5, and 10. In the aldose reductase (ALR2) inhibitory assay, six 5/7/5 tricyclic compounds (2-5, 13-15) displayed significant activities. Compounds 13 and 14, as the representative members of spongiacidin-PIAs, demonstrated their ALR2-targeted activities in SPR experiments with KD values of 12.5 and 6.9 µM, respectively.

Incidence of and Risk Factors for Medical Adhesive-Related Skin Injuries Among Patients: A Cross-sectional Study.

PURPOSE: We explored the incidence of medical adhesive-related skin injuries (MARSIs) that developed in an intensive care unit (ICU) and identified the relevant risk factors associated with these skin injuries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: A 29-bed adult general ICU of a tertiary teaching hospital affiliated with Zhejiang University in southeast China. METHODS: Data regarding MARSIs, skin assessments, and related nursing procedures were collected between January 2018 and May 2018. The incidence of MARSIs was calculated, and the associated risk factors were analyzed using a logistic regression model. RESULTS: During the study period, 430 patients were evaluated, of which 55 experienced MARSIs (4 prior to hospitalization in our ICU). The overall MARSI incidence rate was 11.86% (51/430); mechanical damage including epidermal stripping (72.7%; 40/55) and skin tears (14.5%; 8/55) was the most common MARSI. Moderate-to-severe edema, hyperthermia, and the use of certain medicines such as immunosuppressants and anticoagulants were independent risk factors for MARSIs. CONCLUSIONS: Critically ill patients are at a high risk of MARSIs in China. Preventive measures and good clinical nursing practice are needed to ensure patient safety.

Using the Delphi method to establish nursing-sensitive quality indicators for ICU nursing in China.

In this study, the Delphi method was used to develop evidence-based indicators of intensive care unit (ICU) nursing quality of care in China. Nursing quality indicators reflect elements of patient care that are directly affected by nursing practice. A comprehensive literature search identified 2,857 potentially relevant articles. From the 50 articles that were included in this study, researchers identified 38 commonly used nursing quality indicators. A panel of experts reduced these to 20, which were then subjected to two rounds of Delphi discussion by a different panel, and a final consensus was achieved. The 20 indicators were grouped into three dimensions: structure, process, and outcome (including adverse consequences). The agreement among the experts for the 20 indicators was high. These evidence-based nursing quality indicators provide for ease in data collection and a basis for clinical application and improvement in the quality of ICU nursing throughout China.

[Analysis of Antibodies with Superior Antigen-recognition in Serum from Patients Infected by Necator americanus].

Objective: To evaluate the reactivity of adult hookworm antigens to serum from patients with hookworm disease, and analyze in the serum class- or subclass-specific antibodies that show superior antigen recognition. Methods: Sera from healthy participants, patients infected by Necator americanus and those with other parasitic infections were processed for ELISA, which used raw antigens extracted from adult worms of Necator americanus as the coating antigen, and different classes or subclasses of anti-human antibody labeled with HRP as the secondary antibody. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay with various secondary antibodies were compared. Results: The ELISA using IgM, IgD，IgE, IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, or IgG4 as the secondary antibody showed a sensitivity of 41.84%, 2.04%, 1.02%, 92.93%, 19.39%, 25.51%, 17.35%, and 88.78%, respectively; specificity of 77.61% 97.01%, 92.54%, 79.10%, 95.52%, 92.53%, 92.53%, and 92.53%, respectively; and diagnostic efficiency of 56.36%, 40.61%, 38.18%, 87.88%, 50.30%, 52.7%, 47.88%, and 90.30%, respectively. The sensitivity when using IgG4 and IgG as the secondary antibody had far exceeded that when using IgM, IgD, IgE, and other three subclasses of IgG (P<0.05). There was no difference in sensitivity between tests using IgG4 and IgG (χ2=1.61, P＞0.05). However, the test using IgG4 revealed significantly higher specificity than that using IgG (χ2=4.97, P＜0.05). Conclusion: Use of IgG4 as the enzyme-linked secondary antibody shows advantages in overall diagnostic efficiency over other classes/subclasses in ELISA.

[Diagnostic potential of five natural antigens from Echinococcus granulosus in the patients of cystic echinococcosis with different clinical status].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics of serum antibody reactivity of cystic echinococcosis (CE) patients with different clinical status towards five native antigens obtained from Echinococcus granulosus (Eg). METHODS: The protoscolex somatic soluble antigen (EgPS), crude hydatid cyst fluid antigen (EgHF), partially purified hydatid fluid antigen (Burstein's antigen, EgBu), adult somatic soluble antigen (EgAs) and the native antigen B (EgAgB) were pre- pared. 369 serum samples from CE patients and 281 sera samples from healthy individuals were examined for the antibodies against 5 native antigens with indirect ELISA. The serologic results were classified according to clinical status, and the statistical analyses were carried out to understand the relationship between the results of different antigen-ELISA and the clinical status of patients. RESULTS: The results of EgBu, EgAS and EgAgB-ELISA showed that the antibody positive rate in hepatic CE patients [74.1% (212/286), 73.4% (210/286), 63.6% (182/286)] was significantly higher than that of other groups (including renal CE and pelvic CE, 1/8, 2/8, 1/8) (P < 0.05). Except EgAS, the S/N value of other groups examined by the rest four antigen-ELISA (EgPS: 3.10, EgHF: 2.40, EgBu: 1.60, EgAgB: 2.38) was also significantly lower than that of hepatic CE patients (3.73, 3.65, 4.40, and 3.61) (P < 0.05). EgBu, EgAS and EgAgB-ELISA results showed that the antibody positive rate in sera of recurrent CE patients [82.4% (150/182), 86.3% (157/182), 70.9% (129/182)] and the S/N value (5.54, 3.23, 3.75) were significantly higher than that of primary patients [positive rate: 67.4% (126/187); 63.6% (119/187); 57.2% (107/187); S/N value: 4.20, 2.70, 3.75] (P < 0.05). The S/N value detected by EgPS-ELISA and the positive rate examined by EgAgB-ELISA significantly increased with the increasing of the number of operations (P < 0.05), reached 4.23 and 91.7% (11/12), respectively, in the patients with > or = 4 times of operations. The positive rate and S/N value of EgAS-ELISA and EgAgB-ELISA increased with the number of hydatid cysts in patients (P < 0.05), reached 90.5% (19/21), 76.2% (16/21), and 3.97, 4.42, respectively, in patients with at least 4 cysts. Among the five antigen-ELISA, the positive rate increased with the cyst diameter (P > 0.05). The S/N value of EgHF-ELISA and EgAS-ELISA increased significantly with the cyst diameter (P < 0.05), reached 3.66 and 3.69, respectively, when the cyst diameter was > or = 15.1 cm. ROC analysis result showed that among the 5 native antigen-ELISA, the AUC(ROC) was highest in patients with cysts at CE2 stage (EgPS: 0.988 +/- 0.009, EgHF: 0.957 +/- 0.013, EgBu: 0.969 +/- 0.011, EgAs: 0.910 +/- 0.024, EgAgB: 0.894 +/- 0.021), EgAgB-ELISA presented the lowest AUC(RCO) of 0.267 +/- 0.031 in patients with cysts at CE5 stage. Except EgAgB, the positive rate of another 4 antigen-ELISA in detection of patients with cysts at CE 2 stage [EgPS: 97.2% (69/71), EgHF: 93.0% (66/71), EgBu: 88.7% (63/71), EgAs: 85.9% (61/71)] was slightly higher than that of the patients with cysts at CE1 stage, and then promptly reduced in patients with cysts at CE5 stage (EgPS: 56.3%, EgHF: 43.8%, EgBu: 12.5%, EgAs: 12.5%). In the patients with cysts at CE5 stage, the S/N value of the five antigen-ELISA was lowest (EgPS: 2.29, EgHF: 1.50, EgBu: 1.11, EgAs: 0.78, and EgAgB: 1.11). CONCLUSION: Compared with the other three antigens, the EgPS and EgAgB antigens have higher antigenicity, sensitivity, and specificity. The sera of hepatic CE patients are more reactive to the five native antigens than the other clinical types.

Intelligent Stroke Disease Prediction Model Using Deep Learning Approaches.

Stroke is a high morbidity and mortality disease that poses a serious threat to people's health. Early recognition of the various warning signs of stroke is necessary so that timely clinical intervention can help reduce the severity of stroke. Deep neural networks have powerful feature representation capabilities and can automatically learn discriminant features from large amounts of data. This paper uses a range of physiological characteristic parameters and collaborates with deep neural networks, such as the Wasserstein generative adversarial networks with gradient penalty and regression network, to construct a stroke prediction model. Firstly, to address the problem of imbalance between positive and negative samples in the stroke public data set, we performed positive sample data augmentation and utilized WGAN-GP to generate stroke data with high fidelity and used it for the training of the prediction network model. Then, the relationship between observable physiological characteristic parameters and the predicted risk of suffering a stroke was modeled as a nonlinear mapping transformation, and a stroke prediction model based on a deep regression network was designed. Finally, the proposed method is compared with commonly used machine learning-based classification algorithms such as decision tree, random forest, support vector machine, and artificial neural networks. The prediction results of the proposed method are optimal in the comprehensive measurement index F. Further ablation experiments also show that the designed prediction model has certain robustness and can effectively predict stroke diseases.

Influence and compensation of connection characteristics on shaking table control performance.

When testing earthquake simulation shaking tables, it is commonly assumed that the test load, table, and actuator are integrated, which differs significantly from the actual situation and negatively impacts the accuracy of system waveform reproduction. This paper simplifies the connection between the three as a spring-damping model for simulation modeling. The effects of different load mass, different connection intrinsic frequency, different connection damping ratios, and other factors on the control performance of the system are analyzed, and based on the results of the analysis, a method to improve the effects of the connection characteristics on the performance of the system, called flexible connection reaction force compensation algorithm, is proposed. Resonance peaks caused by flexible connections reduce the effective bandwidth. To broaden the bandwidth and enhance system stability, the paper introduces a flexible connection force compensation algorithm based on a multi-parameter control algorithm to compensate for the interaction force caused by the connection characteristics. This compensation strategy expands the effective bandwidth, eliminates resonance peaks, improves the waveform correlation coefficient (CC), and reduces the root-mean-square error (RMSE).

The Construction and Application of a New Screening Method for Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors.

Phosphodiesterases (PDEs), a superfamily of enzymes that hydrolyze cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), are recognized as a therapeutic target for various diseases. However, the current screening methods for PDE inhibitors usually experience problems due to complex operations and/or high costs, which are not conducive to drug development in respect of this target. In this study, a new method for screening PDE inhibitors based on GloSensor technology was successfully established and applied, resulting in the discovery of several novel compounds of different structural types with PDE inhibitory activity. Compared with traditional screening methods, this method is low-cost, capable of dynamically detecting changes in substrate concentration in live cells, and can be used to preliminarily determine the type of PDEs affected by the detected active compounds, making it more suitable for high-throughput screening for PDE inhibitors.

Differential diagnosis of cystic and alveolar echinococcosis using an immunochromatographic test based on the detection of specific antibodies.

Human cystic and alveolar echinococcoses are zoonotic diseases caused by the larval stages of Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis, respectively. As the diseases are co-endemic in many areas of the world, a simple and rapid test for the differential diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinocoocosis (AE) is needed. Here, we describe the development of an immunochromatographic test (ICT) using crude hydatid cyst fluid and a recombinant 18-kDa protein (rEm18) as antigens for the detection of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis antibodies in serum samples. The ICT was evaluated with serum samples from 195 echinococcosis patients from different endemic areas in northwestern China. These included 144 from CE patients, 51 from AE patients, 67 from patients with other parasitic diseases, 13 from patients with serous hepatic cysts, and 60 from healthy individuals. The sensitivity and specificity of the ICT for CE were 91.0 and 96.9% and for AE were 98.0 and 99.3% with diagnostic efficiencies of 94.1 and 99.1%, respectively. No significant differences and high degrees of agreement were found between the ICT and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for both CE and AE. Five serum samples from cysticercosis patients and one serum sample from a healthy control were found positive for CE with the ICT. These findings indicate that this test allows for discrimination between both forms of human echinococcosis. In conclusion, the ICT developed in this study is a promising tool for the simultaneous detection and discrimination of CE and AE. This test will be useful for serodiagnosis of CE and AE in clinical settings and screening programs.

A new uncertain multi-objective programming model with chance-entropy constraint for advertising promotion.

The COVID-19 outbreak has forced people to stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus. In this case, social media platforms have become the main communication venue for people. Online sales platforms have also become the main field for people's daily consumption. So, how to make full use of social media to carry out online advertising promotion, and then achieve better marketing, is one of the core issues that the marketing industry must pay attention to and solve. Therefore, this study takes the advertiser as the decision-maker, maximizes the number of full playing, likes, comments and forwarding, and minimizes the cost of advertising promotion as the decision-making goals, and Key Opinion Leader (KOL) selection as the decision vector. Based on this, a multi-objective uncertain programming model of advertising promotion is constructed. Among them, the chance-entropy constraint is proposed by combining the entropy constraint and the chance constraint. In addition, the multi-objective uncertain programming model is transformed into a clear single-objective model through mathematical derivation and linear weighting of the model. Finally, the practicability and effectiveness of the model are verified by numerical simulation, and decision-making suggestions for advertising promotion are put forward.

Integrated lipidomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal the mechanism of lipid biosynthesis and accumulation during seed development in sesame.

Sesame is one of the most important oilseed crops and attracts significant attention because of its huge nutritional capacity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying oil accumulation in sesame remains poorly understood. In this study, lipidomic and transcriptomic analyses in different stages of sesame seed (Luzhi No.1, seed oil content 56%) development were performed to gain insight into the regulatory mechanisms that govern differences in lipid composition, content, biosynthesis, and transport. In total, 481 lipids, including fatty acids (FAs, 38 species), triacylglycerol (TAG, 127 species), ceramide (33 species), phosphatidic acid (20 species), and diacylglycerol (17 species), were detected in developing sesame seed using gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Most FAs and other lipids accumulated 21-33 days after flowering. RNA-sequence profiling in developing seed highlighted the enhanced expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis and transport of FAs, TAGs, and membrane lipids, which was similar to that seen during lipid accumulation. Through the differential expression analysis of genes involved in lipid biosynthesis and metabolism during seed development, several candidate genes were found to affect the oil content and FA composition of sesame seed, including ACCase, FAD2, DGAT, G3PDH, PEPCase, WRI1 and WRI1-like genes. Our study reveals the patterns of lipid accumulation and biosynthesis-related gene expression and lays an important foundation for the further exploration of sesame seed lipid biosynthesis and accumulation.

[Establishment and evaluation of colloid gold labeled immunochromatographic strip test for rapid diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis].

OBJECTIVE: To establish and evaluate a colloid gold immunochromatographic strip test for the diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis. METHODS: Total RNA was prepared from Echinococcus multilocularis protoscoleces collected from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Em18 gene was obtained by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The PCR product was sequenced and cloned into pGEX-3X vector. The recombinant plasmid was expressed and induced by isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) to obtain recombinant protein. The anti-human IgG monoclonal antibodies was conjugated with colloid gold as detecting reagent; the recombinant Em18 antigen and goat anti-mouse IgG were immobilized on nitrocellulose in proper position. The prepared immunochromatographic strip was evaluated using serum samples from patients with alveolar echinococcosis (56), cystic echinococcosis (87), cysticercosis (30), schistosomiasis japonica (10), toxoplasmosis (10) and healthy subjects (50) . Comparison between the immunochromatographic strip test and ELISA was made by kappa statistics. RESULTS: Sensitivity detected by the immunochromatographic strip test was 92.9% (52/56). The cross-reactivity to cystic echinococcosis and cysticercosis was 9.2% (8/87) and 3.3% (1/30), respectively. There was no cross reactivity with schistosomiasis japonica and toxoplasmosis. 4 samples out of 50 healthy people showed false positive reaction. The overall specificity was 93.0 (174/187). Sensitivity and specificity both showed no statistical difference between immunochromatographic strip test and ELISA. High degree of agreement was observed between the strip test and ELISA (kappa = 0.98). CONCLUSION: The developed immunochromatographic strip test using recombinant Em18 antigen as coated antigen is a sensitive, specific, simple and rapid assay for diagnosing alveolar echinococcosis.

Research on parameter identification of shaking table systems based on the RLS method.

It is difficult to accurately establish a model of the real mesa system. Furthermore, a model of a seismic simulation vibration table array system is critical to increasing the accuracy of seismic testing in laboratory settings. Herein a model of the nine subarray shaking table system is identified by recursive extension of the least square method, which is used to accurately identify the structure parameters by simulation of the structure assuming a single degree-of-freedom. Then, through the displacement of the empty shaking table and the application of the recursive least squares algorithm, the model of the seismic simulation vibration table array is established. Through this study, the vibration table model of different construction forms can be obtained, and the parameters that are difficult to measure for some complex structures can effectively be determined.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae).

Xenopsylla cheopis, also called oriental rat flea, is an ectoparasite as well as disease vector for murine typhus and bubonic plague. In the study, the whole mitochondrial genome of X. cheopis was sequenced and assembled, which is the second report of mitochondrial genome in the family Pulicidae and the sixth mitochondrial genome in the order Siphonaptera (fleas). The mitochondrial genome is 18,902 bp in length, consisting of 40% A, 44% T, 6% G, and 10% C. Phylogenetic analysis of all available mitochondrial genomes from Siphonaptera indicated that X. cheopis clustered with Ctenocephalides felis since both species belonged to the family Pulicidae. The complete mitochondrial genome of X. cheopis could serve as useful genetic data for investigating the genetic relationship of fleas.

[Detection and species identification of two imported cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis].

OBJECTIVE: To diagnose and identify pathogen of two suspected cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis. METHODS: Two cases of dermatosis with several major ulcers on the skin were examined, who worked and returned from Algeria (case 1) and Saudi Arabia (case 2), respectively. The stained smears of skin tissue from lesions were observed by microscope. Extravasate from lesions was cultured in NNN medium to search protozoan parasites, which were obtained by centrifugation. Two pairs of species-specific primers, ITS1-ITS2 and K13A-K13B, were used to amplify inter-nal transcribed spacer of rDNA and kinetoplast DNA, respectively. The products were sequenced and analyzed by Blast. RESULTS: There were Leishmania amastigotes in the tissue smear of case 2, while none in that of case 1. Promastigotes were found in culture medium of both cases. The PCR products of ITS1-ITS2 and K13A-K13B from 2 cases were about 330 bp and 120 bp with respective homology of 100% and 96% to corresponding sequences of Leishmania major. The accession numbers of 4 sequences were JF831924-JF831927. CONCLUSION: Two cases of dermatosis are diagnosed as imported cutaneous leishmaniasis and the pathogen is L. major.

The Relationship Between Convergent IGH Signatures and Severity of COVID-19 Patients by Next-Generation Sequencing of B-Cell Repertoire.

OBJECT: To reveal convergent IGH signatures and the association with severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. METHOD: A total of 25 COVID-19 inpatients were classified into three clinical conditions: mild, severe, and critical. We analyzed convergent IGH signatures by ImmuHub® B-cell receptor (BCR) profiling system. RESULTS: IGH singleton frequency in patients is significantly lower than that of healthy donors (HDs). The clonality index of IGH in patients is significantly higher than that in HDs. Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed among the three groups. The difference in IGH clonality (top five clones) between post- and pretreatment was significant in the improvement and deterioration groups. Three common public motifs were shared by all COVID-19 patients: ARDYGG, RWYFDY, and YYYYGMDV. CONCLUSION: B cells could recognize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and produce clonal expansion. Patients who had better outcomes after treatment had higher IGH clonality. Three common public motifs-ARDYGG, RWYFDY, and YYYYGMDV-might be used for vaccine development (ChiCTR2000029626).

Label-Free Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Three Strains of Viscerotropic Leishmania Isolated from Patients with Different Epidemiological Types of Visceral Leishmaniasis in China.

BACKGROUND: There are three epidemiological types of visceral leishmaniasis in China, which are caused by Leishmania strains belonging to the L. donovani complex. The mechanisms underlying their differences in the population affected, disease latency, and animal host, etc., remain unclear. We investigated the protein abundance differences among Leishmania strains isolated from three types of visceral leishmaniasis endemic areas in China. METHODS: Promastigotes of the three Leishmania strains were cultured to the log phase and harvested. The protein tryptic digests were analyzed with liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS), followed by label-free quantitative analysis. The MS experiment was performed on a Q Exactive mass spectrometer. Raw spectra were quantitatively analyzed with the MaxQuant software (ver 1.3.0.5) and matched with the reference database. Differentially expressed proteins were analyzed using the bioinformatics method. The MS analysis was repeated three times for each sample. RESULTS: A total of 5012 proteins were identified across the KS-2, JIASHI-5 and SC6 strains in at least 2 of the three samples replicate. Of them, 1758 were identified to be differentially expressed at least between 2 strains, including 349 with known names. These differentially expressed proteins with known names are involved in biological functions such as energy and lipid metabolic process, nucleotide acid metabolic process, amino acid metabolic process, response to stress, cell membrane/cytoskeleton, cell cycle and proliferation, biological adhesion and proteolysis, localization and transport, regulation of the biological process, and signal transduction. CONCLUSION: The differentially expressed proteins and their related biological functions may shed light on the pathogenicity of Leishmania and targets for the development of vaccines and medicines.

Continuous Infusion of Angiotensin IV Protects against Acute Myocardial Infarction via the Inhibition of Inflammation and Autophagy.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Angiotensin (Ang) IV possesses many biological properties that are not yet completely understood. Therefore, we investigated the function and mechanism of Ang IV in AMI in in vivo and in vitro conditions. AMI was performed by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) in male C57 mice. Ang IV was continuously infused by a minipump 3 d before AMI for 33 d. The neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVCs) were stimulated with Ang IV and cultured under hypoxic conditions. In vivo, Ang IV infusion significantly reduced the mortality after AMI. By the 7th day after AMI, compared with the AMI group, Ang IV reduced the inflammatory cytokine expression. Moreover, terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase- (TDT-) mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay showed that Ang IV infusion reduced AMI-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Compared with AMI, Ang IV reduced autophagosomes in cardiomyocytes and improved mitochondrial swelling and disarrangement, as assessed by transmission electron microscopy. By 30th day after AMI, Ang IV significantly reduced the ratio of heart weight to body weight. Echocardiography showed that Ang IV improved impaired cardiac function. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson staining showed that Ang IV infusion reduced the infarction size and myocardial fibrosis. In vitro, dihydroethidium (DHE) staining and comet assay showed that, compared with the hypoxia group, Ang IV reduced oxidative stress and DNA damage. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed that Ang IV reduced hypoxia-induced secretion of the tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) ɑ and interleukin- (IL-) 1ß. In addition, compared with the hypoxia group, Ang IV reduced the transformation of light chain 3- (LC3-) I to LC3-II but increased p62 expression and decreased cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Overall, the present study showed that Ang IV reduced the inflammatory response, autophagy, and fibrosis after AMI, leading to reduced infarction size and improved cardiac function. Therefore, administration of Ang IV may be a feasible strategy for the treatment of AMI.