RNA Viral Community in Human Feces: Prevalence of Plant Pathogenic Viruses

The human gut is known to be a reservoir of a wide variety of microbes, including viruses. Many RNA viruses are known to be associated with gastroenteritis; however, the enteric RNA viral community present in healthy humans has not been described. Here, we present a comparative metagenomic analysis of the RNA viruses found in three fecal samples from two healthy human individuals. For this study, uncultured viruses were concentrated by tangential flow filtration, and viral RNA was extracted and cloned into shotgun viral cDNA libraries for sequencing analysis. The vast majority of the 36,769 viral sequences obtained were similar to plant pathogenic RNA viruses. The most abundant fecal virus in this study was pepper mild mottle virus (PMMV), which was found in high concentrations—up to 10(9) virions per gram of dry weight fecal matter. PMMV was also detected in 12 (66.7%) of 18 fecal samples collected from healthy individuals on two continents, indicating that this plant virus is prevalent in the human population. A number of pepper-based foods tested positive for PMMV, suggesting dietary origins for this virus. Intriguingly, the fecal PMMV was infectious to host plants, suggesting that humans might act as a vehicle for the dissemination of certain plant viruses

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Densification and fine grain formation mechanisms of BaTiO3 ceramics consolidated by self-assembly sintering

Abstract In this paper, from the perspective of thermodynamics and kinetics, we have studied the mechanism of balancing the densification and grain growth via co-sintering the micron and nano powders, also known as self-assembly sintering. In the experiment, the 200 nm and 80 nm BaTiO 3 spherical powders were used as models for combination and co-sintering. In terms of thermodynamics, the contact angle method is applied to determine the free energy of the binary particle size system. The surface free energy of 200 nm and 80 nm BaTiO 3 powders are 51.66 J/mol and 203.47 J/mol, respectively. When the powder ratio is 1:1, the surface free energy of the binary particle size system is 127.56 J/mol, which is the reason for the balance between densification and grain growth. In terms of kinetics, the Arrhenius equation was utilized to calculate the apparent activation energy ( Q ) of the binary particle size system. The results show that the value of Q is 360 kJ/mol at 1000 °C. The fine-grained ceramics with high relative density obtained by this sintering method at a low sintering temperature (1000 °C) can be explained by the relative low value of Q.</jats:p

Explosive synchronization of multi-layer complex networks based on inter-layer star network connection

Explosive synchronization (ES) is a first-order transition phenomenon that is ubiquitous in various physical and biological systems. In recent years, researchers have focused on explosive synchronization in a single-layer network, but few in multi-layer networks. This paper proposes a frequency-weighted Kuramoto model in multi-layer complex networks with star connection between layers and analyzes the factors affecting the backward critical coupling strength by both theoretical analysis and numerical validation. Our results show that the backward critical coupling strength of each layer network is influenced by the inter-layer interaction strength and the average degree. The number of network layers, the number of nodes, and the network topology can not directly affect the synchronization of the network. Enhancing the inter-layer interaction strength can prevent the emergence of explosive synchronization and increasing the average degree can promote the generation of explosive synchronization.</jats:p

Evaluation of the anti-Toxoplasma gondii Activity of Hederagenin in vitro and in vivo

Toxoplasma gondii infection is widespread worldwide, not only posing a serious threat to human food safety and animal husbandry, but also endangering human health. The selectivity index was employed to measure anti-T. gondii activity. Hederagenin (HE) exhibited potent anti-T. gondii activity and low cytotoxicity. For this reason, HE was selected for in vivo experiments. HE showed 64.8%±13.1% inhibition for peritoneal tachyzoites in mice, higher than spiramycin 56.8%±6.0%. Biochemical parameters such as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, glutathione, and malondialdehyde, illustrated that HE was a good inhibitor of T. gondii in vivo. This compound was also effective in relieving T. gondii-induced liver damage. Collectively, it was demonstrated that HE had potential as an anti-T. gondii agent.</jats:p