Ultrasonic reduction: an unconventional route to exsolute Ag from perovskite La(Ag)FeO3-δ for enhanced catalytic oxidation activity.

We explore an uncommon ultrasonic reduction method to exsolute Ag from perovskite La0.87Ag0.03FeO3-δ, forming a composite with enhanced catalytic oxidation activity. Such a mild exsolution is based on the coupling effect of ultrasonic cavitation and reducible BH4-, and holds great potential in the fields of energy and environment catalysis.

A combined survey and exposure study reveals the distribution characteristic of chromium in fish head.

In this study, the content of chromium (Cr) in three main edible tissues (dorsal muscle, ventral muscle, and head) of 14 different fish species was determined. As expected, Cr level in fish head is generally higher than that in fish muscle. To elucidate the deposition of Cr in the fish head, bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) was chosen as the model fish and a 14-day-exposure experiment of 1 mg/L Cr was subsequently conducted. The fish head was divided into 7 parts, and the results showed that, in different parts of the head, Cr was significantly accumulated in the brain, the muscle after gills, and the muscle of others, and the bone after the fish was exposed to 1-mg/L Cr for 14 days. Additionally, the health risk assessment showed that there was no potential non-carcinogenic risk of consuming the dorsal muscle, the ventral muscle, and the head of the 14 fish species to children, teenagers, and adults as the THQ values were less than 1. However, there was potential carcinogenic risk of consuming the fish head for adults in the 14 fish species. It is worth noting that, in the exposure experiment, the consuming of the lips and the bone of fish head also posed potential carcinogenic risk to adults while there was no potential risk of consuming the total fish head. Overall, compared to the fish muscle, the fish head usually had a high accumulation of Cr, and the Cr was mainly deposited in the position of the bone, which may pose potential carcinogenic risk to adults. Thus, the potential health risk of consuming the fish head is mainly associated with the content of the bone in the head, and, in the health risk assessment, the influence of the bone in the head should be considered, which may overstate the risks as fish head bone is usually not to be eaten.

Pregnancies in women with moderate and severe pulmonary hypertension remain challenging: A single-center experience in East China.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the outcomes in women with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and determine the factors related to adverse outcomes. METHODS: Data from 684 women with PH admitted to the Affiliated Renji Hospital from January 2001 to December 2020 were collected. Outcomes were compared based on the causes and severity of PH. RESULTS: The overall mortality was 2.8%, decreasing from 6.6% in 2001-2005 to 1.7% in 2016-2020 (P = 0.10). Idiopathic PH had the highest mortality (35.3%) and the lowest live birth rate (82.4%). Mortality was similar between moderate and severe PH (5.3% versus 9.7%), but the live birth rate was much lower in severe PH (78.6% versus 89.9%). Hypoxemia and vaginal birth were risk factors of maternal death (odds ratio [OR] 35.28, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42-878.75; OR 850.86, 95% CI 5.67-127 606.74, respectively). General anesthesia was a risk factor in the univariate analysis (OR 12.07, 95% CI 3.72-39.15) but was not significant in the multivariate analysis (P = 0.16). CONCLUSION: The mortality rate in this retrospective study was lower than that previously reported. Pregnancy is safe in mild PH but still has a high risk of complications in moderate and severe PH. Hypoxemia is a risk factor for maternal death, but cesarean section may be a protective factor.

Dietary Selenium Deficiency and Excess Accelerate Ubiquitin-Mediated Protein Degradation in the Muscle of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) via Akt/FoxO3a and NF-κB Signaling Pathways.

Selenium (Se) deficiency and excess can lead to protein degradation in fish. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is the main pathway of muscle proteolysis. This study aimed to investigate the effect and molecular mechanism of dietary Se on ubiquitin-mediated muscle protein degradation in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The fish were fed with the Se-deficient diet (0 mg/kg, DSe), Se-adequate diet (4 mg/kg, ASe), and Se-excessive diet (16 mg/kg, ESe), respectively. After a 10-week feeding trial, the growth performance, body composition, antioxidant enzyme activities, and UPS-related gene and protein expressions were detected. Results indicated that DSe and ESe diets significantly decreased the weight gain rate, specific growth rate, feed efficiency, and muscle crude protein content compared with ASe diet. The histological analysis showed that the mean diameter of muscle fibers was significantly decreased in DSe and ESe groups. And DSe and ESe diets significantly increased the contents of malondialdehyde and nitric oxide, but reduced the glutathione peroxidase activity. Additionally, the abundance of muscle ubiquitinated proteins and the expression levels of MuRF1 and Atrogin-1 were significantly increased in DSe and ESe groups. Compared to ASe diet, DSe and ESe diets significantly decreased the phosphorylation level of Akt Ser473 and the ratio of p-FoxO3a/FoxO3a, but significantly increased the phosphorylation level of IκBα and upregulated the expressions of TNF-α, IL-8, and NF-κB. Overall, this study indicated that dietary Se deficiency and excess accelerated the ubiquitin-mediated muscle protein degradation through regulating Akt/FoxO3a and NF-κB signaling pathways in rainbow trout.

Unicellular Cyanobacteria Are Important Components of Phytoplankton Communities in Australia's Northern Oceanic Ecoregions.

The tropical marine environments of northern Australia encompasses a diverse range of geomorphological and oceanographic conditions and high levels of productivity and nitrogen fixation. However, efforts to characterize phytoplankton assemblages in these waters have been restricted to studies using microscopic and pigment analyses, leading to the current consensus that this region is dominated by large diatoms, dinoflagellates, and the marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium. During an oceanographic transect from the Arafura Sea through the Torres Strait to the Coral Sea, we characterized prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton communities in surface waters using a combination of flow cytometry and Illumina based 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing. Similar to observations in other marine regions around Australian, phytoplankton assemblages throughout this entire region were rich in unicellular picocyanobacterial primary producers while picoeukaryotic phytoplankton formed a consistent, though smaller proportion of the photosynthetic biomass. Major taxonomic groups displayed distinct biogeographic patterns linked to oceanographic and nutrient conditions. Unicellular picocyanobacteria dominated in both flow cytometric abundance and carbon biomass, with members of the Synechococcus genus dominating in the shallower Arafura Sea and Torres Strait where chlorophyll a was relatively higher (averaging 0.4 ± 0.2 mg m-3), and Prochlorococcus dominating in the oligotrophic Coral Sea where chlorophyll a averaged 0.13 ± 0.07 mg m-3. Consistent with previous microscopic and pigment-based observations, we found from sequence analysis that a variety of diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) exhibited high relative abundance in the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait, while dinoflagellates (Dinophyceae) and prymnesiophytes (Prymnesiophyceae) were more abundant in the Coral Sea. Ordination analysis identified temperature, nutrient concentrations and water depth as key drivers of the region's assemblage composition. This is the first molecular and flow cytometric survey of the abundance and diversity of both prokaryotic and picoeukaryotic phytoplankton in this region, and points to the need to include the picocyanobacterial populations as an essential oceanic variable for sustained monitoring in order to better understand the health of these important coastal waters as global oceans change.

Anterior Approach to Improve the Prognosis in HCC Patients Via Decreasing Dissemination of EpCAM+ Circulating Tumor Cells.

BACKGROUND: It is supposed that the improvement of prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient by anterior approach for liver resection was related to the decreasing hematogenic dissemination of circulating cancer cells. METHODS: The EpCAM+ circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were detected in HCC patients having liver resection with either anterior approach (AA) or conventional approach (CA). The relation of CTCs to the 2-year recurrence and survival after surgery was investigated. RESULTS: Overall, patients with ≥3.5 CTCs had much higher recurrence rate than those with <3.5 CTCs (62.0 vs. 18.0%, P = 0.001). Less CTCs were detected in AA group than that in CA group (mean, 2.1 vs. 3.0; median, 1.2 vs. 3.5; all P = 0.001). The 2-year recurrence rate in AA group was much lower than in CA group (27.1 vs. 44.9%, P = 0.009). The 2-year survival rate in AA group was much higher than in CA group (83.3 vs. 66.7%, P = 0.001). The CTCs in >5 cm AA group were much less than that in >5 cm CA group (3.7 vs. 2.4, P = 0.002). Moreover, the 2-year recurrence rate in >5 cm AA group was much lower than that in >5 cm CA group (29.2 vs. 54.7%, P = 0.001). Also, the 2-year survival rates in >5 cm AA group were much higher than that in >5 cm CA group (72.9 vs. 49.1%, P = 0.01). By multivariate analysis, CA is one of the independent risk factors for poor prognosis in HCC patients after liver resection. CONCLUSIONS: Like the liver-directed therapies, AA can reduce the dissemination of CTCs, especially in patients with large-size HCC (>5 cm) and successively improve the early prognosis.

Fluorescence-Based Flow Sorting in Parallel with Transposon Insertion Site Sequencing Identifies Multidrug Efflux Systems in Acinetobacter baumannii.

UNLABELLED: Multidrug efflux pumps provide clinically significant levels of drug resistance in a number of Gram-negative hospital-acquired pathogens. These pathogens frequently carry dozens of genes encoding putative multidrug efflux pumps. However, it can be difficult to determine how many of these pumps actually mediate antimicrobial efflux, and it can be even more challenging to identify the regulatory proteins that control expression of these pumps. In this study, we developed an innovative high-throughput screening method, combining transposon insertion sequencing and cell sorting methods (TraDISort), to identify the genes encoding major multidrug efflux pumps, regulators, and other factors that may affect the permeation of antimicrobials, using the nosocomial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii A dense library of more than 100,000 unique transposon insertion mutants was treated with ethidium bromide, a common substrate of multidrug efflux pumps that is differentially fluorescent inside and outside the bacterial cytoplasm. Populations of cells displaying aberrant accumulations of ethidium were physically enriched using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and the genomic locations of transposon insertions within these strains were determined using transposon-directed insertion sequencing. The relative abundance of mutants in the input pool compared to the selected mutant pools indicated that the AdeABC, AdeIJK, and AmvA efflux pumps are the major ethidium efflux systems in A. baumannii Furthermore, the method identified a new transcriptional regulator that controls expression of amvA In addition to the identification of efflux pumps and their regulators, TraDISort identified genes that are likely to control cell division, cell morphology, or aggregation in A. baumannii IMPORTANCE: Transposon-directed insertion sequencing (TraDIS) and related technologies have emerged as powerful methods to identify genes required for bacterial survival or competitive fitness under various selective conditions. We applied fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to physically enrich for phenotypes of interest within a mutant population prior to TraDIS. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a physical selection method has been applied in parallel with TraDIS rather than a fitness-induced selection. The results demonstrate the feasibility of this combined approach to generate significant results and highlight the major multidrug efflux pumps encoded in an important pathogen. This FACS-based approach, TraDISort, could have a range of future applications, including the characterization of efflux pump inhibitors, the identification of regulatory factors controlling gene or protein expression using fluorescent reporters, and the identification of genes involved in cell replication, morphology, and aggregation.

Effects of Notch2 and Notch3 on Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis of Trophoblast Cell Lines.

AIMS: To investigate the effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on cell proliferation and apoptosis of two trophoblast cell lines, BeWo and JAR. METHODS: Notch2 and Notch3 expression in BeWo and JAR cells was upregulated or downregulated using lentivirus-mediated overexpression or RNA interference. The effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on cell proliferation was assessed by the CCK-8 assay. The effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on the apoptosis of BeWo and JAR cells was evaluated by flow cytometry using the Annexin V-PE Apoptosis kit. Lentivirus-based overexpression vectors were constructed by cloning the full-length coding sequences of human Notch2 and Notch3 C-terminally tagged with GFP or GFP alone (control) into a lentivirus-based expression vector. Lentivirus-based gene silencing vectors were prepared by cloning small interfering sequences targeting human Notch2 and Notch3 and scrambled control RNA sequence into a lentivirus-based gene knockdown vector. The effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on cell proliferation was assessed by the CCK-8 assay. And the effect of Notch2 and Notch3 on the apoptosis of BeWo and JAR cells was evaluated by flow cytometry using the Annexin V PE Apoptosis kit. RESULTS: We found that the downregulation of Notch2 and Notch3 gene expression in BeWo and JAR cells resulted in an increase in cell proliferation, while upregulation of Notch3 and Notch2 expression led to a decrease in cell proliferation. Moreover, the overexpression of Notch3 and Notch2 in BeWo and JAR cells reduced apoptosis in these trophoblast cell lines, whereas apoptosis was increased in the cells in which the expression of Notch3 and Notch2 was downregulated. CONCLUSIONS: Notch2 and Notch3 inhibited both cell proliferation and cell apoptosis in BeWo and JAR trophoblast cell lines.

Expression of notch family proteins in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia.

OBJECTIVES: This study is aimed to identify the expression of Notch family proteins in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN: The expression of Notch family proteins in placentas was investigated by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The profile of distribution of all Notch family proteins in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia is similar to that in normal placentas. All Notch family proteins are expressed in placental trophoblasts. Moreover, Notch1 and Jagged1 (Jag1) are detected in placental endothelial cells. Real-time RT-PCR showed that messenger RNA levels of Notch2 and Delta-like4 (Dll4) in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia are lower than that of normal placentas. Western blotting showed a significant increase in Notch3 expression and a significant decrease in Notch2 expression in placentas from patients with early-onset severe preeclampsia relative to those in normal placentas. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that Notch2 and Notch3 may play some roles in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

[Analysis of clinical features of pregnant women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy].

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the clinical features of pregnant women with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). METHODS: There were 28 patients with HCM who delivered in Renji hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University from January 2000 to August 2012. Clinical data were analyzed, including diagnosis, cardiac functional grading, gestational weeks of delivery, delivery mode, birth weight, Apgar scores, etc. RESULTS: (1) Of all the 28 patients, 14 (50%) were diagnosed before pregnancy and others (50%) were diagnosed during pregnancy.(2) Four cases were obstructive HCM (14%), 3 with cardiac function grade I and 1 with grade II. Twenty four cases were non-obstructive HCM (86%), 14 with cardiac function grade I, 9 with grade II and 1 with grade IV. (3) Of all the 28 patients, 4 had family history, 18 (64%) had clinical symptoms or signs which occurred in 8-32 gestational weeks. Twenty-three cases had abnormal ECG (82%). Among them 21 had non-obstructive HCM (88%), with average interventricular septal thickness of (22 ± 3) mm. The other 2 patients had obstructive HCM, with average interventricular septal thickness of (23 ± 4) mm.7 patients (7/28, 25%) had mild-to-moderate pulmonary hypertension [6 with non-obstructive HCM (6/24, 25%) ], and 10 patients had abnormal myocardial enzyme spectrum or troponin levels [9 with non-obstructive HCM (9/24, 38%) ].(4) Among all the patients, only one had vaginal delivery and others received cesarean section. Twenty-two patients had term pregnancies and 6 had preterm birth. The average gestational weeks of delivery in non-obstructive HCM and obstructive HCM were (36.5 ± 2.5) and (38.5 ± 0.4) weeks, respectively. The average birth weight of neonates were (2684 ± 563) and (3164 ± 321) g, and Apgar scores were 9.9 and 10 (10 minutes) respectively. Patients transferred to NICU after delivery were 8 and 0. There was 1 maternal death (with non-obstructive HCM whose ejection fraction was only 26%) and no perinatal death. CONCLUSIONS: More attention should be paid to the clinical signs and abnormal ECG.HCM could be definitely diagnosed by timely echocardiography. Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were mainly non-obstructive HCM, with cardiac function grade I and II. Monitoring the change of ejection fraction during pregnancy would help. Perinatal outcomes were fine.

Polysaccharides from Rhizopus nigricans mycelia induced apoptosis and G2/M arrest in BGC-823 cells.

In this study, we reported that polysaccharides (RPS) from the mycelia of liquid-cultured Rhizopus nigricans inhibited the proliferation and clonogenic potential of human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Results of acridine orange/ethidium bromide and Hoechst 33258 staining showed that treated cells displayed typical morphological characteristics of apoptosis such as condensation of chromatin, nuclear pyknosis and formation of apoptotic bodies. Flow cytometry analyses and colorimetric assay indicated that RPS induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis which was associated with collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species and elevation of intracellular calcium in BGC-823 cells. Moreover, cell-cycle analysis revealed that RPS arrested cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. These results provided further insights into the potential use of RPS as an anti-cancer agent against human gastric cancer.

Pregnancy outcomes and relative risk factors among Chinese women with congenital heart disease.

OBJECTIVE: To summarize pregnancy outcomes among a cohort of Chinese women with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to identify predictive risk factors for maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 529 women with CHD who gave birth at the Shanghai Obstetrical Cardiology Intensive Care Center, Shanghai, China, between January 1, 1993, and September 30, 2010. Maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications were evaluated for these women. RESULTS: Maternal cardiac complications were reported in 33 (6.2%) of the women, whereas fetal and neonatal complications were reported in 145 (27.4%). The factors found to be significantly predictive for maternal cardiac complications were cardiac events before pregnancy (odds ratio [OR] 36.811), New York Heart Association functional class greater than II (OR 27.702), oxygen saturation below 90% (OR 7.506), and left ventricular obstruction (aorta stenosis) (OR 2.408). Factors significantly predictive for fetal and neonatal complications were New York Heart Association functional class greater than II (OR 20.12), oxygen saturation below 90% (OR 3.78), and pulmonary arterial hypertension (systolic pressure ≥ 50 mm Hg) (OR 3.42). CONCLUSION: Identification of maternal, fetal, and neonatal complications among women with CHD may guide medical intervention and therefore reduce pregnancy-associated risk for these patients.

Risk factors and risk index of cardiac events in pregnant women with heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women with heart disease are at high risk. Studies of risk factors of these patients are of great significance to improve maternal and fetal outcomes. In this paper, we try to discuss the main risk factors of cardiac events in pregnant women with heart disease and to establish a risk assessment system. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out for pregnancies in 1741 women with heart disease who delivered in Shanghai Obstetrical Cardiology Intensive Care Center between January 1993 and September 2010. A Logistic regression model was used to identify independent risk factors of cardiac events and calculate the risk index in pregnant women with heart disease. RESULTS: The composition of heart disease in pregnant women was arrhythmia (n = 662, 38.00%), congenital heart disease (CHD; n = 529, 30.40%), cardiomyopathy (n = 327, 18.80%), rheumatic heart disease (RHD; n = 151, 8.70%), and cardiopathy induced by pre-eclampsia (n = 53, 3.00%). Main cardiac events were heart failure (n = 110, 6.32%), symptomatic arrhythmia needing medication (n = 43, 2.47%), cardiac arrest (n = 2, 0.11%), syncope (n = 3, 0.17%), and maternal death (n = 10, 0.57%). Six independent risk factors to predict cardiac events in pregnant women with heart disease were cardiac events before pregnancy (heart failure, severe arrhythmia, cardiac shock, etc., P = 0.000), New York Heart Association (NYHA) class > II (P = 0.000), oxygen saturation < 90% (P = 0.018), pulmonary artery hypertention (PAH) > 50 mmHg (P = 0.025), cyanotic heart disease without surgical correction (P = 0.015), and reduced left ventricular systolic function (ejection fraction < 40%, P = 0.003). Every risk factor was calculated as 1 score. The incidence of cardiac events in patients with scores 0, 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4 was 2.10%, 31.61%, 61.25%, 68.97%, and 100.00% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy with heart disease could lead to undesirable pregnancy outcomes. The risk of cardiac events in pregnant women with heart disease could be assessed by risk index.

Macrophage immunomodulatory activity of extracellular polysaccharide (PEP) of Antarctic bacterium Pseudoaltermonas sp.S-5.

Antarctic bacteria are a novel source of polysaccharides which might have potential applications as biological response modifiers (BRM). A heteropolysaccharide (PEP) was isolated from the liquid culture broth of the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoaltermonas sp.S-5. PEP contained Mannose, Glucose, and Galactose in a ratio of 4.8:50.9:44.3. High performance gel permeation chromatography of this polysaccharide showed a unimodal profile, and the molecular weight was 397 kDa. PEP was studied for its immunological effects on peritoneal macrophage cells. Morphological alterations were observed in macrophages treated with PEP. In vitro exposure to PEP increased the occurrence of activated macrophages and endocytic index in a dose-dependent pattern (2.5-50 µg/ml) after 24h of incubation, since increase of 136% and 133% was detected in the activated macrophage percentage and endocytic index respectively compared to untreated cells. At 200 µg/ml PEP caused a greatest increase (44.5%) in NO production when compared to the control group; however, this polysaccharide did not affect respiratory burst in the absence of PMA. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that PEP induces macrophages to secrete tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1ß. These results suggested that PEP from Pseudoaltermonas sp.S-5 can be classified as a BRM.

An exopolysaccharide from Trichoderma pseudokoningii and its apoptotic activity on human leukemia K562 cells.

In this study, a novel exopolysaccharide (EPS) was isolated from the fermentation broth of Trichoderma pseudokoningii and its anticancer activities on human leukemia K562 cells were studied. EPS could significantly inhibited K562 cells proliferation in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Meanwhile, characteristic of apoptosis, including apoptotic morphological features and the apoptosis rate were obtained. Sequentially, the dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential, increase production of Reactive oxygen species (ROS), enhancement of the concentration of intracellular, up-regulation of Bax and p53 mRNA, down-regulation of Bcl-2 mRNA were also detected. The results indicate that the EPS could induce of K562 cells apoptosis, primarily in involved the mitochondrial pathways. The present studies suggest that EPS could be a new potential adjuvant chemotherapeutic and chemo preventive agent against human leukemia.