Sudden sulfamethoxazole shock leads to nitrite accumulation in microalgae-nitrifying bacteria consortia: Physiological responses and light regulating strategy.

Antibiotic shock may potentially impact the performance of promising microalgae-nitrifying bacteria consortia (MNBC) processes. This study investigated physiological behaviors of MNBC under sulfamethoxazole (SMX) shock (mg/L level) and verified a light regulating strategy for improving process performance. Results showed that SMX shock did not affect ammonium removal but caused nitrite accumulation, resulting from combined effects of excessive reactive oxidative species (ROS) production, inhibited microalgal photosynthetic activity, upregulated expressions of amoA and hao, and downregulated expression of nxrA. Moreover, high ammonium concentration aggravated nitrite accumulation and reduced ammonium removal owing to significantly reduced dissolved oxygen (DO). Increasing light intensity enhanced microalgal photo-oxygenation and promoted expressions of all nitrification-related genes, thus improving ammonium removal and alleviating nitrite accumulation. A central composite design coupled with response surface methodology (CCD-RSM) further demonstrated the negative impacts of SMX shock and high ammonium on MNBC and the effectiveness of the light regulation in maintaining stable process performance. This study provides theoretical basis for physiological responses and regulatory strategy of the MNBC process facing short-term antibiotic shock.

Suppression of miR-193a alleviates neuroinflammation and improves neurological function recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in mice.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, and is tightly associated with microglia-regulated neuroinflammation. However, the activation profile of microglia during the pathophysiological responses is still not fully understood. Micro-RNAs (miRs), as noncoding RNAs, are involved in the progression of TBI. In this study, we attempted to explore the effects of miR-193a on TBI using the in vivo and in vitro studies. Following experimental TBI in mice, we found that miR-193a expression was significantly up-regulated in ipsilateral cortical tissues and in the microglia/macrophages isolated from the ipsilateral cortical tissues, which was accompanied with markedly enhanced expression of pro-inflammatory factors. We then found that miR-193a hairpin inhibitor (antagomir) markedly reduced lesion volume, brain water contents and neuron death in TBI mice induced by the controlled cortical impact (CCI). In addition, cognitive dysfunction in TBI mice was markedly improved after miR-193a antagomir injection. Of note, CCI-induced activation of microglia was repressed by miR-193a inhibition, along with significantly reduced expression of neuroinflammatory markers, which were associated with the blockage of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. The anti-neuroinflammation effects of miR-193a suppression were verified in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-incubated microglial cells transfected with miR-193a inhibitor. In contrast, LPS-induced activation of microglial cells and the expression of pro-inflammatory factors was markedly further accelerated by the transfection of miR-193a mimic. Taken together, TBI resulted in a robust neuroinflammatory response that was closely associated with the up-regulated miR-193a expression mainly in microglia/macrophages; however, miR-193a suppression significantly alleviated post-traumatic neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction. Therefore, miR-193a might be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of TBI-associated neuroinflammation.

Development and validation of the Chinese Version of the Adult Epilepsy Self-Management Scale (C-ESMS) in Western China.

PURPOSE: To develop and validate the Epilepsy Self-Management Scale (ESMS) for Chinese persons with epilepsy (PWE). METHODS: On the basis of ESMS, the standard translation procedure was used to set up the Chinese version of the ESMS (C-ESMS). A consecutive cohort of PWE admitted in Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital were recruited randomly from May 2017 to December 2017 and required to complete the C-ESMS. Project analysis was employed to test the homogeneity of each dimension. Content validity was evaluated by experts. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were applied to assess the validity. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the reliability. RESULTS: Of the 400 completed C-ESMS forms, only 394 (98.5%) were suitable for analysis. The C-ESMS included 34 items and five dimensions, after removing four and modifying three items. The correlation coefficient of all 34 items was greater than 0.4. Each item level (I-CVI) and scale level CVI (S-CVI) was equal to 1. Five factors were extracted and together they explained 51.24% of the data's variance. The factor load of each item was 0.446-0.843. The CFA showed that CMIN/DF was 1.325, goodness of fit was 0.835, comparative fit index was 0.921, and root mean square error of approximation was 0.041. The total Cronbach's alpha of the scale was 0.848, and Cronbach's alpha in each dimension was 0.784-0.845. CONCLUSION: The C-ESMS exhibited good reliability and validity for adult PWE in western China.