Prevalence of pleuromutilin antibiotic resistance genes in different laying hen breeding stages in China.

Antimicrobial resistance is a rapidly evolving and extremely complex issue, particularly due to the use of various types of antimicrobials within human, animal, and environmental sectors. Pleuromutilin antibiotics are used to prevent and control respiratory diseases in the rearing stage of hen chicks, but the current status of pleuromutilin resistance in the laying hen breeding process is unclear. ATP-binding cassette transporters encoded by lsa(A), lsa(E), lsa(C), and vga(D) can be transferred by plasmids and transposons, thereby posing a potential dissemination risk. To investigate pleuromutilin resistance genes in the laying hen production chain in China, 95 samples from five environmental types were collected in four breeding stages to determine the abundances of the main resistance genes by qPCR, i.e. lsa(A), lsa(E), lsa(C), and vga(D). The abundance (5.16 log10GC/g) and detection rate (100%) of lsa(E) was highest in all of the samples, thereby suggesting high contamination with the lsa(E) gene across the large-scale laying hen breeding environment and feces. The lsa(A) (6.02 log10GC/g) and lsa(E) (6.18 log10GC/g) genes were most abundant in flies, and the abundance of vga(D) (4.50 log10GC/g) was highest in dust (P < .05). In addition to feces, flies and dust were important sources of contamination with pleuromutilin resistance along the laying hen production chain. In summary, we determined the abundances of four pleuromutilin resistance genes in the laying hen production chain and provided direct evidence of pleuromutilin resistance transmission and environmental contamination. In particular, the chicken breeding stage needs further attention.

SETD4-expressing cells contribute to pancreatic development and response to cerulein induced pancreatitis injury.

In the adult pancreas, the presence of progenitor or stem cells and their potential involvement in homeostasis and regeneration remains unclear. Here, we identify that SET domain-containing protein 4 (SETD4), a histone lysine methyltransferase, is expressed in a small cell population in the adult mouse pancreas. Genetic lineage tracing shows that during pancreatic development, descendants of SETD4+ cells make up over 70% of pancreatic cells and then contribute to each pancreatic lineage during pancreatic homeostasis. SETD4+ cells generate newborn acinar cells in response to cerulein-induced pancreatitis in acinar compartments. Ablation of SETD4+ cells compromises regeneration of acinar cells, in contrast to controls. Our findings provide a new cellular narrative for pancreatic development, homeostasis and response to injury via a small SETD4+ cell population. Potential applications may act to preserve pancreatic function in case of pancreatic disease and/or damage.

SET Domain-Containing Protein 4 Epigenetically Controls Breast Cancer Stem Cell Quiescence.

Quiescent cancer stem cells (CSC) play important roles in tumorigenesis, relapse, and resistance to chemoradiotherapy. However, the determinants of CSC quiescence and how they sustain themselves to generate tumors and relapse beyond resistance to chemoradiotherapy remains unclear. Here, we found that SET domain-containing protein 4 (SETD4) epigenetically controls breast CSC (BCSC) quiescence by facilitating heterochromatin formation via H4K20me3 catalysis. H4K20me3 localized to the promoter regions and regulated the expression of a set of genes in quiescent BCSCs (qBCSC). SETD4-defined qBCSCs were resistant to chemoradiotherapy and promoted tumor relapse in a mouse model. Upon activation, a SETD4-defined qBCSC sustained itself in a quiescent state by asymmetric division and concurrently produced an active daughter cell that proliferated to produce a cancer cell population. Single-cell sequence analysis indicated that SETD4+ qBCSCs clustered together as a distinct cell type within the heterogeneous BCSC population. SETD4-defined quiescent CSCs were present in multiple cancer types including gastric, cervical, ovarian, liver, and lung cancers and were resistant to chemotherapy. SETD4-defined qBCSCs had a high tumorigenesis potential and correlated with malignancy and chemotherapy resistance in clinical breast cancer patients. Taken together, the results from our previous study and current study on six cancer types reveal an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of cellular quiescence epigenetically controlled by SETD4. Our findings provide insights into the mechanism of tumorigenesis and relapse promoted by SETD4-defined quiescent CSCs and have broad implications for clinical therapies. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings advance our knowledge on the epigenetic determinants of quiescence in cancer stem cell populations and pave the way for future pharmacologic developments aimed at targeting drug-resistant quiescent stem cells.

DEK terminates diapause by activation of quiescent cells in the crustacean Artemia.

To cope with harsh environments, the Artemia shrimp produces gastrula embryos in diapause, a state of obligate dormancy, having cellular quiescence and suppressed metabolism. The mechanism behind these cellular events remains largely unknown. Here, we study the regulation of cell quiescence using diapause embryos of Artemia We found that Artemia DEK (Ar-DEK), a nuclear factor protein, was down-regulated in the quiescent cells of diapause embryos and enriched in the activated cells of post-diapause embryos. Knockdown of Ar-DEK induced the production of diapause embryos whereas the control Artemia released free-swimming nuaplii. Our results indicate that Ar-DEK correlated with the termination of cellular quiescence via the increase in euchromatin and decrease in heterochromatin. The phenomena of quiescence have many implications beyond shrimp ecology. In cancer cells, for example, knockdown of DEK also induced a short period of cellular quiescence and increased resistance to environmental stress in MCF-7 and MKN45 cancer cell lines. Analysis of RNA sequences in Artemia and in MCF-7 revealed that the Wnt and AURKA signaling pathways were all down-regulated and the p53 signaling pathway was up-regulated upon inhibition of DEK expression. Our results provide insight into the functions of Ar-DEK in the activation of cellular quiescence during diapause formation in Artemia.

[Impacts of Land Use and Landscape Patterns on Heavy Metal Accumulation in Soil].

Land use cover change (LUCC) is one of the most important human activities that drive the evolution of the environment. It has great effect on the accumulation, distribution, and migration of heavy metals in the environment. Vegetation can absorb heavy metals directly, and it can also change the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil and then control the mobility and activity of heavy metals in soil, which will eventually cause pollution of heavy metals in soil. In addition, the migration of heavy metals in soil is also affected by changes of landscape element composition and landscape pattern at sample points, plots, watersheds, and regional scales. Based on the soil sampling data and land use data of Ningbo city in 2003 and 2013, the decision tree classification method based on classification and regression tree algorithm was used to classify the land use and cover type. Single-factor pollution index and Nemero composite pollution index were used to evaluate the soil heavy metal pollution status. The landscape pattern indexes were used to explore the change of landscape patterns under different degrees of heavy metal accumulation. Finally, redundancy analysis and partial redundancy analysis were used to identify those landscape pattern factors that had the most significant impacts on the soil heavy metal accumulation in the study area. The results showed that:①The eight soil heavy metal elements including As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn presented different degree of accumulation from 2003 to 2013 in the study area, of which Hg, Ni, and Cr had the highest degree of accumulation. Most of the study area has been polluted by heavy metals, and the pollution degree in the heavily polluted areas is still increasing. ②Higher accumulation degrees of heavy metals was not distributed entirely in areas where land use types have always been construction land, or in areas where other types of land use had been converted to construction land. A considerable proportion of heavy metals accumulated in areas where land use types have always been cultivated land or converted from other types to cultivated land. ③Heavy metal polluted areas have fragmented, complex, and aggregated landscape pattern, and the correlation between this kind of landscape pattern characteristics and soil heavy metal accumulation in arable land, residential land, and industrial land was the highest. ④The higher the aggregation degree of construction land patch, the higher the accumulation degree of most heavy metals. The accumulation degree of Cu, Hg, Pb, and Cd increased significantly with the increase of landscape diversity and shape complexity of agricultural land. The closer the distance to the mining site, the more obvious the effect on the increase of Cd content.

[Development and clinical evaluation of an anesthesia information management system].

OBJECTIVE: To study the design, implementation and clinical evaluation of an anesthesia information management system. METHODS: To record, process and store peri-operative patient data automatically, all kinds of bedside monitoring equipments are connected into the system based on information integrating technology; after a statistical analysis of those patient data by data mining technology, patient status can be evaluated automatically based on risk prediction standard and decision support system, and then anesthetist could perform reasonable and safe clinical processes; with clinical processes electronically recorded, standard record tables could be generated, and clinical workflow is optimized, as well. RESULTS: With the system, kinds of patient data could be collected, stored, analyzed and archived, kinds of anesthesia documents could be generated, and patient status could be evaluated to support clinic decision. CONCLUSION: The anesthesia information management system is useful for improving anesthesia quality, decreasing risk of patient and clinician, and aiding to provide clinical proof.

[Design and practice of the Clinical Information System for ICU].

This paper presents a typical Clinical Information System for ICU and its design and implementation. This system is able to capture and archive vital data from the monitor network, providing a whole digital solution in ICU. These vital data can be used in quantitative analysis in the computer-assisted decision support.

[IHE technical framework and its application].

Firstly, IHE technical framework is introduced in this paper, and the sub-framework of Schedule Workflow is also described. Secondly, the development of IHE in Japan and the formation of IHE-J are presented, and in combination with IDS system's practice in IHE-J, some ideas about developing IHE in China and the relative methods of implementation are discussed.