C-reactive Protein Positively Correlates With Metabolic Syndrome in Kidney Transplantation Patients

ObjectiveC-reactive protein (CRP) is an independent risk factor for renal allograft loss and predicts all-cause mortality in kidney transplantation patients. Metabolic syndrome has also been associated with increased mortality in kidney transplantation patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between CRP and metabolic syndrome in kidney transplantation patients.Materials and MethodsFasting blood samples were obtained from 55 kidney transplantation patients. Metabolic syndrome and its components were defined using diagnostic criteria from the International Diabetes Federation.ResultsIn total, 13 kidney transplantation patients (23.6%) had metabolic syndrome. Fasting CRP levels positively correlated with metabolic syndrome (p = 0.001). Univariate linear regression analysis indicated that fasting serum CRP values were positively correlated with body weight (p = 0.001), waist circumference (p = 0.008), body mass index (p < 0.001), and body fat mass (p = 0.042). Multivariate forward stepwise linear regression analysis of the significant variables showed that body mass index (β = 0.455, R2 = 0.207, p < 0.001) was an independent predictor of serum CRP levels in kidney transplantation patients.ConclusionCRP level positively correlated with metabolic syndrome in kidney transplantation patients. Body mass index was an independent predictor of serum CRP levels in kidney transplantation patients

Long-term nitrogen fertilization decreased the abundance of inorganic phosphate solubilizing bacteria in an alkaline soil

Inorganic phosphate solubilizing bacteria (iPSB) are essential to facilitate phosphorus (P) mobilization in alkaline soil, however, the phylogenetic structure of iPSB communities remains poorly characterized. Thus, we use a reference iPSB database to analyze the distribution of iPSB communities based on 16S rRNA gene illumina sequencing. Additionally, a noval pqqC primer was developed to quantify iPSB abundance. In our study, an alkaline soil with 27-year fertilization treatment was selected. The percentage of iPSB was 1.10 similar to 2.87% per sample, and the dominant iPSB genera were closely related to Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Brevibacterium and Streptomyces. Long-term P fertilization had no significant effect on the abundance of iPSB communities. Rather than P and potassium (K) additions, long-term nitrogen (N) fertilization decreased the iPSB abundance, which was validated by reduced relative abundance of pqqC gene (pqqC/16S). The decreased iPSB abundance was strongly related to pH decline and total N increase, revealing that the long-term N additions may cause pH decline and subsequent P releases relatively decreasing the demands of the iPSB community. The methodology and understanding obtained here provides insights into the ecology of inorganic P solubilizers and how to manipulate for better P use efficiency

Loss of soil microbial diversity exacerbates spread of antibiotic resistance

Loss of biodiversity is a major threat to the ecosystem processes upon which society depends. Natural ecosystems differ in their resistance to invasion by alien species, and this resistance can depend on the diversity in the system. Little is known, however, about the barriers that microbial diversity provides against microbial invasion. The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a serious threat to public health in the 21st century. We explored the consequences of the reduction in soil microbial diversity for the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. The relationship between this diversity and the invasion of antibiotic resistance was investigated using a dilution-to-extinction approach coupled with high-capacity quantitative PCR. Microbial diversity was negatively correlated with the abundance of antibiotic-resistance genes, and this correlation was maintained after accounting for other potential drivers such as incubation time and microbial abundance. Our results demonstrate that high microbial diversity can act as a biological barrier resist the spread of antibiotic resistance. These results fill a critical gap in our understanding of the role of soil microbial diversity in the health of ecosystem

High yield expression in a recombinant E. coli of a codon optimized chicken anemia virus capsid protein VP1 useful for vaccine development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chicken anemia virus (CAV), the causative agent chicken anemia, is the only member of the genus <it>Gyrovirus </it>of the <it>Circoviridae </it>family. CAV is an immune suppressive virus and causes anemia, lymph organ atrophy and immunodeficiency. The production and biochemical characterization of VP1 protein and its use in a subunit vaccine or as part of a diagnostic kit would be useful to CAV infection prevention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significantly increased expression of the recombinant full-length VP1 capsid protein from chicken anemia virus was demonstrated using an <it>E. coli </it>expression system. The VP1 gene was cloned into various different expression vectors and then these were expressed in a number of different <it>E. coli </it>strains. The expression of CAV VP1 in <it>E. coli </it>was significantly increased when VP1 was fused with GST protein rather than a His-tag. By optimizing the various rare amino acid codons within the N-terminus of the VP1 protein, the expression level of the VP1 protein in <it>E. coli </it>BL21(DE3)-pLysS was further increased significantly. The highest protein expression level obtained was 17.5 g/L per liter of bacterial culture after induction with 0.1 mM IPTG for 2 h. After purification by GST affinity chromatography, the purified full-length VP1 protein produced in this way was demonstrated to have good antigenicity and was able to be recognized by CAV-positive chicken serum in an ELISA assay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Purified recombinant VP1 protein with the gene's codons optimized in the N-terminal region has potential as chimeric protein that, when expressed in <it>E. coli</it>, may be useful in the future for the development of subunit vaccines and diagnostic tests.</p

Neuroimaging markers for studying Gulf-War illness: single-subject level analytical method based on machine learning

Gulf War illness (GWI) refers to the multitude of chronic health symptoms, spanning from fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and neurological complaints to respiratory, gastrointestinal, and dermatologic symptoms experienced by about 250,000 GW veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War (GW). Longitudinal studies showed that the severity of these symptoms often remain unchanged even years after the GW, and these veterans with GWI continue to have poorer general health and increased chronic medical conditions than their non-deployed counterparts. For better management and treatment of this condition, there is an urgent need for developing objective biomarkers that can help with simple and accurate diagnosis of GWI. In this study, we applied multiple neuroimaging techniques, including T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (T1W-MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and novel neurite density imaging (NDI) to perform both a group-level statistical comparison and a single-subject level machine learning (ML) analysis to identify diagnostic imaging features of GWI. Our results supported NDI as the most sensitive in defining GWI characteristics. In particular, our classifier trained with white matter NDI features achieved an accuracy of 90% and F-score of 0.941 for classifying GWI cases from controls after the cross-validation. These results are consistent with our previous study which suggests that NDI measures are sensitive to the microstructural and macrostructural changes in the brain of veterans with GWI, which can be valuable for designing better diagnosis method and treatment efficacy studies.W81XWH-17-1-0440 - a department of Defense CDMRP new investigator awardPublished versio

White spot syndrome virus: an overview on an emergent concern

Viruses are ubiquitous and extremely abundant in the marine environment. One of such marine viruses, the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), has emerged globally as one of the most prevalent, widespread and lethal for shrimp populations. However, at present there is no treatment available to interfere with the unrestrained occurrence and spread of the disease. The recent progress in molecular biology techniques has made it possible to obtain information on the factors, mechanisms and strategies used by this virus to infect and replicate in susceptible host cells. Yet, further research is still required to fully understand the basic nature of WSSV, its exact life cycle and mode of infection. This information will expand our knowledge and may contribute to developing effective prophylactic or therapeutic measures. This review provides a state-of-the-art overview of the topic, and emphasizes the current progress and future direction for the development of WSSV control strategies

A Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the mostpressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenontime-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the availableparameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), whilefeaturing extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates.These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decayand through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-baseddetector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantlyadvance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, andcosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.<br