Metabolic response to Klebsiella pneumoniae infection in an experimental rat model.

Bacteremia, the presence of viable bacteria in the blood stream, is often associated with several clinical conditions. Bacteremia can lead to multiple organ failure if managed incorrectly, which makes providing suitable nutritional support vital for reducing bacteremia-associated mortality. In order to provide such information, we investigated the metabolic consequences of a Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) infection in vivo by employing a combination of (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis. K. pneumoniae was intravenously infused in rats; urine and plasma samples were collected at different time intervals. We found that K. pneumoniae-induced bacteremia stimulated glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle and also promoted oxidation of fatty acids and creatine phosphate to facilitate the energy-demanding host response. In addition, K. pneumoniae bacteremia also induced anti-endotoxin, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidization responses in the host. Furthermore, bacteremia could cause a disturbance in the gut microbiotal functions as suggested by alterations in a range of amines and bacteria-host co-metabolites. Our results suggest that supplementation with glucose and a high-fat and choline-rich diet could ameliorate the burdens associated with bacteremia. Our research provides underlying pathological processes of bacteremia and a better understanding of the clinical and biochemical manifestations of bacteremia

Folate in the United States Population and its Association with Congestive Heart Failure

Background: To investigate the relationship between red blood cell (RBC) folate and congestive heart failure (CHF). Methods: We extracted the concentrations of RBC folate and collated CHF information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) survey (12820 individuals). Weighted univariate logistic regression, weighted multivariate logistic regression, and restrictive cubic spline (RCS) were used to assess the relationship between RBC folate concentrations and CHF. Results: The unadjusted model showed that the highest tertile group of RBC folate concentration was significantly associated with a higher risk of CHF compared to the lowest tertile group of RBC folate levels (odds ratio [OR] = 3.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.14–4.46). Similar trends were seen in the multivariate-adjusted analysis (OR = 1.98; 95% CI: 1.27–3.09). The OR was >1.0 when the predicted RBC folate exceeded 2757 nmol/L in the RCS model, indicating that the risk of CHF was low and relatively stable up to a predicted RBC folate level of 2757 nmol/L, but began to increase rapidly thereafter (p = 0.001). Conclusions: The risk of CHF may be increased either by high RBC folate concentrations (highest tertile of RBC folate or >2637 nmol/L) or by folate deficiency. Considering the two sides of the association between RBC folate and CHF, there is a need for large-scale clinical research to better investigate if the association between RBC folate and CHF is a cause-effect relationship, what are the underlying pathophysiological basis, as well as to identify optimal dietary folate equivalent (DFE) and RBC folate concentration intervals

Anatomy of resistive switching behavior in titanium oxide based RRAM device

Resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices based on binary transition metal oxides and the application for nonvolatile memory devices are becoming an area of extensive concern. The physical understanding of resistive switching is crucial for RRAM development. In this paper, both experiments and simulated dynamic formation and rupture processes of oxygen vacancy (VO) conductive filament (CF) channels in titanium oxide based RRAM devices are presented. Compared with the Al/TiO2.1/Al device with higher oxygen content, the Al/TiO1.6/Al device shows a lower forming voltage. However, little dependence on oxygen content in TiOx film is shown for other resistive switching parameters, including high resistance state resistance, low resistance state resistance, set voltage, and reset voltage. A numerical physics model is presented to relate the resistive switching behavior with the evolution CF channels in terms of VO morphology and − characteristics

Design and Implementation of an Efficient Hardware Coprocessor IP Core for Multi-axis Servo Control Based on Universal SoC

The multi-axis servo control system has been extensively used in industrial control. However, the applications of traditional MCU and DSP chips in high-performance multi-axis servo control systems are becoming increasingly difficult due to their lack of computing power. Although FPGA chips can meet the computing power requirements of high-performance multi-axis servo control systems, their versatility is insufficient, and the chip is too costly for large-scale use. Therefore, when designing the universal SoC, it is better to directly embed the coprocessor IP core dedicated to accelerating the multi-motor vector control current loop operation into the universal SoC. In this study, a coprocessor IP core that can be flexibly embedded in a universal SoC was designed. The IP core based on time division multiplexing (TDM) technology could accelerate the multi-motor vector control current loop operation according to the hardware–software coordination scheme proposed in this study. The IP was first integrated into a universal SoC to verify its performance, and then the FPGA prototype verification for the SoC was performed under three-axis servo control systems. Secondly, the ASIC implementation of the IP was also conducted based on the CSMC 90 nm process library. The experimental results revealed that the IP had a small area and low power consumption and was suitable for application in universal SoC. Therefore, the cheap and low-power single universal SoC with the coprocessor IP can be suitable for multi-axis servo control

O-PLS-DA comparison between plasma spectra from <i>K. pneumoniae</i> infected rats and corresponding controls and metabolite concentration changes relative to corresponding controls at different time points after <i>K. pneumoniae</i> infection.

<p>(A) Cross validated O-PLS-DA scores (left hand side) and coefficient plots (right hand side) generated from NMR spectral data of plasma of rats at 8 hours after <i>K. pneumoniae</i> infection (red dots), compared with those of non-infected (black squares). (B) a-c plots show metabolites changes in plasma. C_inf and C_con stand for the averaged concentration in the infection and control group, respectively.</p

Trajectories of plasma and urinary metabolic profiles of the control group and the infected group at different time intervals.

<p>Time-dependent trajectories of plasma (A, R²X = 0.928, Q² = 0.918) and urinary (B, R²X = 0.789, Q² = 0.614) metabolic profiles of the control group (black squares) and the infection group (red squares) from hour 0 to day 14. Bars denote the standard deviations of each group.</p

Schematic representation of the metabolites and metabolic pathways in <i>K. pneumoniae</i> bacteremia.

<p>The metabolites in red indicate the changes in plasma and those in blue indicate the changes in urine whereas those in black were not observed; the arrows pointing up and down denoted relative increase and decrease in the infected group compared with the controls.</p

¹H NMR spectra of plasma and urine from control and <i>K. pneumoniae</i> infected rats for 8 hours.

<p>Typical 500 MHz ¹H (CPMG) NMR spectra of plasma obtained from a non-infected SD rat (P_A) and a rat infected with <i>K. pneumoniae</i> for 8 hours (P_B). The region of δ 5.0–9.0 in the blood plasma spectra was vertically expanded 16 times compared with the region of δ 0.5–4.5; Representative 600 MHZ ¹H NMR spectra of urine samples obtained from a non-infected SD rat (U_A) and a rat infected with <i>K. pneumoniae</i> for 8 hours (U_B). The spectral region, δ 6.2–9.5, was vertically expanded 4 times compared with the region of δ 0.5–4.4. Key: 1,lipoprotein; 2,valine; 3,leucine; 4,isoleucine; 5,creatine; 6,<i>N</i>-acetyl glycoprotein; 7,<i>O</i>-acetyl glycoprotein; 8,alanine; 9,lactate; 10,acetoacetate; 11,α-glucose; 12,acetate; 13,pyruvate; 14,dihydrothymine; 15,threonine; 16,unsaturated fatty acid; 17,choline; 18,phosphorylcholine; 19,glycerophosphocholine; 20,lysine; 21,citrate; 22,_D-3-hydroxybutyrate; 23,glutamine; 24,glutamate; 25,histidine; 26,phenylalanine; 27,tyrosine; 28,formate; 29,trimethylamine; 30,urea; 31,triglyceride; 32,arginine; 33,ω-3 fatty acid; 34,poly unsaturated fatty acid; 35,glucose and amino acids α-CH resonances; 36,2-oxoglutarate; 37,creatinine; 38,hippurate; 39,1-methylnicotimamide; 40,acetamide; 41,fumarate; 42,phenylacetylglycine; 43,cis-aconitate; 44,pantothenic acid; 45,succinate; 46,<i>N</i>-methylnicotinate; 47,malate; 48,indoxyl sulfate; 49,dimethylamine; 50,glycine; 51,isovalerate; 52,2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid; 53,2,3-dihydroxybutyrate; 54,4-cresol glucuronide; 55,dimethylglycine; 56,taurine; 57,hypotaurine; 58,4-deoxyerythronate; 59,trimethylamine <i>N</i>-oxide.</p

Bacterial counts, procalcitonin, white blood cell count and C-reactive protein in blood stream obtained from <i>K.</i><i>pneumoniae-</i>infected rats compared to controls^a.

a<p>Bacterial counts data are represented as median (range); Procalcitonin, white blood cell count and C-reactive protein are represented as mean ± SD. *p<0.05, **p<0.01.</p