Impact of anterior capsule polishing on capsule opacification and capsule bend after age-related cataract surgery.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of anterior capsule polishing on postoperative capsule opacification and capsular bend in patients with age-related cataract displaying normal axial length. SETTING: University hospital. DESIGN: Prospective self-controlled trial. METHODS: Patients with age-related cataracts aged 56 to 84 years displaying normal axial length were enrolled. Prior to surgery, a coin-toss method was used to randomly select one eye for intraoperative 360° anterior capsule polishing (polishing group); the contralateral eye received no treatment (control group). Capsular bend index (CBI), anterior capsule opacification (ACO), posterior capsule opacification (PCO), and anterior capsule opening area (ACOA) were recorded at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months postoperatively using swept-source optical coherence tomography and slit-lamp examination. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients (42 eyes) were enrolled. Within-group comparisons showed that both groups had significant differences in CBI between 1 week and 1 month postoperatively, and between 6 months and 12 months postoperatively (P < .05). Between-group comparisons revealed a significant difference in CBI at 1 week postoperatively (P < .05); at 12 months postoperatively, there was a significant difference in ACOA (P < .05). There were no significant between-group differences regarding ACO or PCO at any time point (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: For patients with age-related cataracts and normal axial length, 360° anterior capsule polishing can delay early capsular bag deformation without increasing the risks of ACO and PCO. This approach can also limit contraction of the anterior capsule opening.

The Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequence of Staphylea holocarpa (Staphyleaceae).

Staphylea holocarpa (Hemsley 1895) is an ornamental deciduous shrub or tree in the family Staphyleaceae. As the shortage of the wild resources, S. holocarpa is also a rare plant. The revelation of the species origin and evolution progress and the relation. Therefore, the S. holocarpa complete chloroplast genome sequence was completed and characterized by de novo assembly. The cp genome length of S. holocarpa was 160,461 bp and it has a typical quadripartite structure, consisted of an 89,760 bp large single-copy region and a 18,639 bp small single-copy region, which were divided by two inverted repeat regions of 26,031 bp. After genome annotation, it comes to 130 genes that were predicted, which includes 85, 8, and 37 encoded proteins, rRNA, and tRNA, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis has shown that the S. holocarpa cp genome is related to the Staphylea trifolia. This work will be useful for further population genomic and phylogenetic studies of S. holocarpa.

Phenome-wide Mendelian randomization study evaluating the association of circulating vitamin D with complex diseases.

Background: Circulating vitamin D has been associated with multiple clinical diseases in observational studies, but the association was inconsistent due to the presence of confounders. We conducted a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study to explore the healthy atlas of vitamin D in many clinical traits and evaluate their causal association. Methods: Based on a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS), the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) instruments of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) from 443,734 Europeans and the corresponding effects of 10 clinical diseases and 42 clinical traits in the European population were recruited to conduct a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study. Under the network of Mendelian randomization analysis, inverse-variance weighting (IVW), weighted median, weighted mode, and Mendelian randomization (MR)-Egger regression were performed to explore the causal effects and pleiotropy. Mendelian randomization pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) was conducted to uncover and exclude pleiotropic SNPs. Results: The results revealed that genetically decreased vitamin D was inversely related to the estimated BMD (ß = -0.029 g/cm2, p = 0.027), TC (ß = -0.269 mmol/L, p = 0.006), TG (ß = -0.208 mmol/L, p = 0.002), and pulse pressure (ß = -0.241 mmHg, p = 0.043), while positively associated with lymphocyte count (ß = 0.037%, p = 0.015). The results did not reveal any causal association of vitamin D with clinical diseases. On the contrary, genetically protected CKD was significantly associated with increased vitamin D (ß = 0.056, p = 2.361 × 10-26). Conclusion: The putative causal effects of circulating vitamin D on estimated bone mass, plasma triglyceride, and total cholesterol were uncovered, but not on clinical diseases. Vitamin D may be linked to clinical disease by affecting health-related metabolic markers.

Attenuation of Aeromonas hydrophila Infection in Carassius auratus by YtnP, a N-acyl Homoserine Lactonase from Bacillus licheniformis T-1.

In this experiment, the quorum quenching gene ytnP of Bacillus licheniformis T-1 was cloned and expressed, and the effect against infection of Aeromonas hydrophila ATCC 7966 was evaluated in vitro and vivo. The BLAST results revealed a 99% sequence identity between the ytnP gene of T-1 and its homolog in B.subtilis sub sp. BSP1, and the dendroGram showed that the similarity in the YtnP protein in T-1 was 100% in comparison with B.subtilis 3610, which was categorized as the Aidc cluster of the MBL family. The AHL lactonase activity of the purified YtnP was detected as 1.097 ± 0.7 U/mL with C6-HSL as the substrate. Otherwise, purified YtnP protein could significantly inhibit the biofilm formation of A.hydrophila ATCC 7966 with an inhibition rate of 68%. The MIC of thiamphenicol and doxycycline hydrochloride against A. hydrophila reduced from 4 µg/mL and 0.5 µg/mL to 1 µg/mL and 0.125 µg/mL, respectively, in the presence of YtnP. In addition, YtnP significantly inhibited the expression of five virulence factors hem, ahyB, ast, ep, aerA of A. hydrophila ATCC 7966 as well (p < 0.05). The results of inhibition on virulence showed a time-dependence tendency, while the strongest anti-virulence effects were within 4-24 h. In vivo, when the YtnP protein was co-injected intraperitoneally with A. hydrophila ATCC 7966, it attenuated the pathogenicity of A. hydrophila and the accumulated mortality was 27 ± 4.14% at 96 h, which was significantly lower than the average mortality of 78 ± 2.57% of the Carassius auratus injected with 108 CFU/mL of A. hydrophila ATCC 7966 only (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the AHL lactonase in B. licheniformis T-1 was proven to be YtnP protein and could be developed into an agent against infection of A. hydrophila in aquaculture.

Effect of mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphisms on the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: Evidence from a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The effect of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) gene polymorphisms on susceptibility of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were evaluated in ethnically different populations, whereas the results were always inconsistent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen articles involving 36 datasets were recruited to evaluate the association between MBL gene polymorphisms and rheumatoid arthritis in a meta-analysis. The random or fixed effect models were used to evaluate the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Stratified analysis by ethnicities was conducted and the result revealed that rs1800450 (T vs C, OR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.04-1.67, P < .05) and MBL-A/O (T vs C, OR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.08-1.34, P < .001) were strongly associated with RA in Brazilian populations. In addition, the significant relationship between rs11003125 (T vs C, OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.06-1.26, P < .05) with RA were also observed in East Asian populations. Meanwhile, the inverse associations between rs5030737 with RA in East Asians and rs1800450 with RA in Indians were acquired. However, no association between any MBL polymorphism with RA susceptibility was confirmed in Caucasians. CONCLUSIONS: The structural polymorphisms in exon 1 of MBL gene may significantly contribute to susceptibility and development of RA in Brazilian and Indian populations, whereas the functional polymorphisms in the promoter region were more likely to associate with RA in East Asians.

The Quorum Quenching Bacterium Bacillus licheniformis T-1 Protects Zebrafish against Aeromonas hydrophila Infection.

Quorum sensing, bacterial cell-to-cell communication via small signaling molecules regulates virulence in many bacterial pathogens, and is a promising target for antivirulence therapy, which may inhibit virulence rather than cell growth and division. Herein, Bacillus strains capable of degrading QS molecules from freshwater environments were screened as potential aquaculture probiotics. A total of 34 Bacillus strains were isolated. Strain T-1 was selected with "H" streaking and double layer agar plate methods using Chromabacterium violaceum ATCC12472 as reporter, and eventually identified as Bacillus licheniformis based on biochemical and molecular identification. Quorum quenching by T-1 was confirmed using C. violaceum CV026. T-1 was non-hemolytic in vitro. In biocontrol experiments, T-1 reduced the pathogenicity of Aeromonas hydrophila cb15 in zebrafish co-injected intraperitoneally with both strains, achieving a relative percentage survival of 70%. Determination and analysis of the T-1 draft genome using the Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform identified the quorum quenching gene ytnP, encoding an acyl-homoserine lactone metallo-ß-lactamase, as a potential QS quencher in T-1. In conclusion, B. licheniformis T-1 could be a safe and effective quorum quenching bacterium for protecting hosts against pathogenic bacterial infections in aquaculture.