Selective malaria antibody screening among eligible blood donors in Jiangsu, China

The risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria is a major concern in many countries. This study investigated the prevalence of malaria antibodies and parasitemia in eligible blood donors in Jiangsu, in Eastern China. Malaria antibodies were detected in 2.13% of the 704 plasma samples studied. We found that the prevalence of malaria antibodies was not significantly correlated with gender, occupation and frequency of donation, but it increased with age. No Plasmodium was observed in red blood cells and no Plasmodium DNA was detected in any of the antibody-positive samples. The prevalence of malaria antibodies was not higher than expected in Eastern China

Substitution of manure for chemical fertilizer affects soil microbial community diversity, structure and function in greenhouse vegetable production systems

Soil microbial communities and enzyme activities together affect various ecosystem functions of soils. Fertilization, an important agricultural management practice, is known to modify soil microbial characteristics; however, inconsistent results have been reported. The aim of this research was to make a comparative study of the effects of different nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates and types (organic and inorganic) on soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities and microbial attributes in a greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) system of Tianjin, China. Results showed that manure substitution of chemical fertilizer, especially at a higher substitution rate, improved soil physicochemical properties (higher soil organic C (SOC) and nutrient (available N and P) contents; lower bulk densities), promoted microbial growth (higher total phospholipid fatty acids and microbial biomass C contents) and activity (higher soil hydrolase activities). Manure application induced a higher fungi/bacteria ratio due to a lower response in bacterial than fungal growth. Also, manure application greatly increased bacterial stress indices, as well as microbial communities and functional diversity. The principal component analysis showed that the impact of manure on microbial communities and enzyme activities were more significant than those of chemical fertilizer. Furthermore, redundancy analysis indicated that SOC and total N strongly influenced the microbial composition, while SOC and ammonium-N strongly influenced the microbial activity. In conclusion, manure substitution of inorganic fertilizer, especially at a higher substitution rate, was more efficient for improving soil quality and biological functions.</p

Fish Cholesterol 25-Hydroxylase Inhibits Virus Replication via Regulating Interferon Immune Response or Affecting Virus Entry

Cholesterol 25-hydroxylase (CH25H) is an interferon (IFN)-induced gene that catalyzes the oxidation of cholesterol to 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), which exerts broad-spectrum antiviral function. To investigate the roles of fish CH25H in Singapore grouper iridovirus (SGIV) and red-spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV) infection, we cloned and characterized a CH25H homolog from orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) (EcCH25H). EcCH25H encoded a 271-amino-acid polypeptide, with 86 and 59% homology with yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) and humans, respectively. EcCH25H contained a conserved fatty acid (FA) hydroxylase domain and an ERG3 domain. EcCH25H expression was induced by RGNNV or SGIV infection, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or poly (I:C) treatment in vitro. Subcellular localization showed that EcCH25H and mutant EcCH25H-M were distributed in the cytoplasm and partly colocalized with the endoplasmic reticulum. SGIV and RGNNV replication was decreased by EcCH25H overexpression, which was reflected in the reduced severity of the cytopathic effect and a decrease in viral gene transcription, but replication of both viruses was increased by knockdown of EcCH25H. Besides, the antiviral activity was dependent on its enzymatic activity. Treatment with 25HC significantly inhibited replication of SGIV and RGNNV. EcCH25H overexpression positively regulated the IFN-related molecules and proinflammatory cytokines, and increased both IFN and ISRE promoter activities. Moreover, 25HC treatment significantly suppressed SGIV and RGNNV entry into host cells. The similar inhibitory effect on SGIV entry was observed in EcCH25H overexpression cells. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that EcCH25H inhibited SGIV and RGNNV infection by regulating IFN signaling molecules, and might also influence viral entry via an effect on cholesterol

Visual analysis of lung neuroendocrine tumors based on CiteSpace knowledge graph

ObjectiveThe relevant literatures in the field of pulmonary neuroendocrine tumor were analyzed to understand the lineage, hot spots and development trends of research in this tumor.MethodThe Web of Science core collection was searched for English-language literature about neuroendocrine tumors of the lung published between 2000 and 2022. CiteSpace software was imported for visualization analysis of countries, institutions, co-cited authors and co-cited journals and sorting of high-frequency keywords, as well as co-cited references and keyword co-occurrence, clustering and bursting display.ResultsA total of 594 publications on neuroendocrine tumours of the lung were available, from 2000 to 2022, with an overall upward trend of annual publications in the literature. Authors or institutions from the United States, Italy, Japan and China were more active in this field, but there was little cooperation among the major countries. Co-cited references and keyword co-occurrence and cluster analysis showed that research on diagnostic instruments, pathogenesis, ectopic ACTH signs, staging and prognosis and treatment was a current research hotspot. The keyword bursts suggested that therapeutic approaches might be a key focus of future research into the field for pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors.ConclusionOver these 20 years, research related to neuroendocrine tumors of the lung has increased in fervour, with research on diagnostic instruments, pathogenesis, ectopic ACTH signs, staging and prognosis, and treatment being the main focus of research. Therapeutic treatments may be the future research trend in this field

The Global Heat Flow Database: Release 2021

This data publication contains the compilation of global heat-flow data by the International Heat Flow Commission (IHFC; http://www.ihfc-iugg.org/) of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI). The presented data release 2021 contains data generated between 1939 and 2021 and constitutes an updated and extended version of the 2012 IHFC database release (IHFC 2012; later re-published as PANGAEA release: Global Heat Flow Compilation Group, 2013). The 2021 release contains 74,548 heat-flow data from 1,403 publications. 55% of the reported heat-flow values are from the continental domain (n ~ 40,870), while the remaining 45% are located in the oceanic domain (n ~ 33,678). The data are provided in csv and Excel formats. Compared to earlier compilations, which followed the structure defined by Jessop et al. (1976), the new data release was transformed to the recently redefined structure for reporting and storing heat-flow data in the Global Heat Flow Database (Fuchs et al., 2021). Therefore, the notation and structure of the database was adopted, transforming the database field entries defined after Jessop et al. (1976) to the new field structure. Old code notations are not continued and the dataset was cleaned for entries without reporting any heat-flow value. Although successfully transformed, this release marks an intermediate step as the majority of the newly defined database fields have not been filled yet. Filling these fields, checking the existing entries and assessing the quality of each entry are the aim of the upcoming Global Heat Flow Data Assessment Project, for which this data set provides the basis. Consequently, we kindly ask the user to take notice that the current release still suffers similar problems as previously published compilations in terms of data heterogeneity, documentation and quality

A Survey of Chinese Pig Farms and Human Healthcare Isolates Reveals Separate Human and Animal Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Populations.

There has been increasing concern that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming is contributing to the burden of antimicrobial resistance in people. Farmed animals in Europe and North America, particularly pigs, provide a reservoir for livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA ST398 lineage) found in people. This study is designed to investigate the contribution of MRSA from Chinese pig farms to human infection. A collection of 483 MRSA are isolated from 55 farms and 4 hospitals in central China, a high pig farming density area. CC9 MRSA accounts for 97.2% of all farm isolates, but is not present in hospital isolates. ST398 isolates are found on farms and hospitals, but none of them formed part of the "LA-MRSA ST398 lineage" present in Europe and North America. The hospital ST398 MRSA isolate form a clade that is clearly separate from the farm ST398 isolates. Despite the presence of high levels of MRSA found on Chinese pig farms, the authors find no evidence of them spilling over to the human population. Nevertheless, the ST398 MRSA obtained from hospitals appear to be part of a widely distributed lineage in China. The new animal-adapted ST398 lineage that has emerged in China is of concern

Prediction of protein assemblies, the next frontier: The CASP14-CAPRI experiment

We present the results for CAPRI Round 50, the fourth joint CASP-CAPRI protein assembly prediction challenge. The Round comprised a total of twelve targets, including six dimers, three trimers, and three higher-order oligomers. Four of these were easy targets, for which good structural templates were available either for the full assembly, or for the main interfaces (of the higher-order oligomers). Eight were difficult targets for which only distantly related templates were found for the individual subunits. Twenty-five CAPRI groups including eight automatic servers submitted ~1250 models per target. Twenty groups including six servers participated in the CAPRI scoring challenge submitted ~190 models per target. The accuracy of the predicted models was evaluated using the classical CAPRI criteria. The prediction performance was measured by a weighted scoring scheme that takes into account the number of models of acceptable quality or higher submitted by each group as part of their five top-ranking models. Compared to the previous CASP-CAPRI challenge, top performing groups submitted such models for a larger fraction (70–75%) of the targets in this Round, but fewer of these models were of high accuracy. Scorer groups achieved stronger performance with more groups submitting correct models for 70–80% of the targets or achieving high accuracy predictions. Servers performed less well in general, except for the MDOCKPP and LZERD servers, who performed on par with human groups. In addition to these results, major advances in methodology are discussed, providing an informative overview of where the prediction of protein assemblies currently stands.Cancer Research UK, Grant/Award Number: FC001003; Changzhou Science and Technology Bureau, Grant/Award Number: CE20200503; Department of Energy and Climate Change, Grant/Award Numbers: DE-AR001213, DE-SC0020400, DE-SC0021303; H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology, Grant/Award Numbers: 675728, 777536, 823830; Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique (INRIA), Grant/Award Number: Cordi-S; Lietuvos Mokslo Taryba, Grant/Award Numbers: S-MIP-17-60, S-MIP-21-35; Medical Research Council, Grant/Award Number: FC001003; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI, Grant/Award Number: JP19J00950; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Grant/Award Number: PID2019-110167RB-I00; Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Grant/Award Numbers: UMO-2017/25/B/ST4/01026, UMO-2017/26/M/ST4/00044, UMO-2017/27/B/ST4/00926; National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Grant/Award Numbers: R21GM127952, R35GM118078, RM1135136, T32GM132024; National Institutes of Health, Grant/Award Numbers: R01GM074255, R01GM078221, R01GM093123, R01GM109980, R01GM133840, R01GN123055, R01HL142301, R35GM124952, R35GM136409; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 81603152; National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Numbers: AF1645512, CCF1943008, CMMI1825941, DBI1759277, DBI1759934, DBI1917263, DBI20036350, IIS1763246, MCB1925643; NWO, Grant/Award Number: TOP-PUNT 718.015.001; Wellcome Trust, Grant/Award Number: FC00100