Arsenic bioleaching in medical realgar ore and arsenicbearing refractory gold ore by combination of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Purpose: To develop a novel biotechnological method for removing toxic arsenic from two kinds of representative arsenic-containing ores using different mixed mesophilic acidophiles.Methods: Bioleaching of the two types of arsenic-containing ores by mixed arsenic-unadapted Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans or mixed arsenic-adapted cultures, were carried out. Arsenic bioleaching ratios in the various leachates were determined and compared.Results: The results showed that the maximum arsenic leaching ratio obtained from realgar in the presence of mixed adapted cultures was 28.6 %. However, the maximum arsenic leaching ratio from realgar in the presence of mixed unadapted strains was only 12.4 %. Besides, maximum arsenic leaching ratios from arsenic-bearing refractory gold ore by mixed adapted strains or unadapted strains were 45.0 and 22.9 %, respectively. Oxidation of these two ores by sulfuric acid was insignificant, as maximum arsenic leaching ratios of realgar and arsenic-bearing refractory gold ore in the absence of any bacterium were only 2.8 and 11.2 %, respectively.Conclusion: Arsenic leaching ratio of realgar and refractory gold ore can be enhanced significantly in the presence of arsenic-adapted mesophilic acidophiles.Keywords: Adaptation, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, Realgar, Arsenicbearing refractory gold ore, Arsenic leaching rati

Comparison of cold hardiness in the leaves of various grape cultivars based on photochemical reflectance index

We compared cold hardiness in the leaves of 12 grape cultivars, including two wild species, two Vitis vinifera × V. labrusca, three HPDs (interspecific crosses) and five V. vinifera L. cultivars using PRI-T curves and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The photochemical reflectance index (PRI) of most grape leaves decreased linearly when frozen progressively in darkness, but these patterns varied. The PRI of diploid cultivars and blanc cultivars at the standard temperature (PRI 4°C) remained relatively steady during exposure to successively lower temperatures (0, -2, -4 and -6°C) compared with polyploid and noir cultivars, representing a boundary dividing grape cultivars into frost tolerant and vulnerable. According to this principle, which was tested by ANOVA, the cold hardiness of the four species was ranked (from high to low) as V. vinifera L. > HPD = wild species > V. vinifera × V. labrusca. The cold hardiness of the 12 cultivars was divided into three classes: Resistant: PRI increased markedly compared with the control, RPRI((PRI-PRIcontrol)/PRIcontrol) > 0 (p < 0.05), indicating high freezing tolerance and wide temperature adaption; Tolerant: PRI changed little compared with the control (p < 0.05), RPRI trended to 0, indicating relative stability when exposed to a short period of freezing temperatures; Vulnerable: PRI decreased dramatically compared with the control, RPRI < 0 (p < 0.05), indicating that photosynthesis was inhibited or damaged due to freezing. We also observed seasonal differences in the cold hardiness of the cultivars; grape leaves were more vulnerable to cold in fall than in spring. This study provides a practical method for estimating cold hardiness in grape

IMass time: The future, in future!

Joseph John Thomson discovered and proved the existence of electrons through a series of experiments. His work earned him a Nobel Prize in 1906 and initiated the era of mass spectrometry (MS). In the intervening time, other researchers have also been awarded the Nobel Prize for significant advances in MS technology. The development of soft ionization techniques was central to the application of MS to large biological molecules and led to an unprecedented interest in the study of biomolecules such as proteins (proteomics), metabolites (metabolomics), carbohydrates (glycomics), and lipids (lipidomics), allowing a better understanding of the molecular underpinnings of health and disease. The interest in large molecules drove improvements in MS resolution and now the challenge is in data deconvolution, intelligent exploitation of heterogeneous data, and interpretation, all of which can be ameliorated with a proposed IMass technology. We define IMass as a combination of MS and artificial intelligence, with each performing a specific role. IMass will offer advantages such as improving speed, sensitivity, and analyses of large data that are presently not possible with MS alone. In this study, we present an overview of the MS considering historical perspectives and applications, challenges, as well as insightful highlights of IMass

One Possible Mechanism of Pulsed Dye Laser Treatment on Infantile Hemangioma: Induction of Endothelial Apoptosis and Serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Level Changes

Introduction: Pulsed dye laser (PDL) is an important treatment for superficial infantile hemangioma, but few studies report on its cellular mechanism. The aim of this study was to evaluate alterations of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in infantile hemangioma (IH) patients after laser treatment and effects of PDL irradiation on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro, as well as to explore the biomolecular mechanisms and ultrastructure changes of the PDL effect.Methods: 74 children with infant hemangioma including 45 patients in proliferating phase, 18 patients in involuting phase, 11 patients in involuted phase and 10 healthy children were engaged in this study. The plasma VEGF levels of children were measured with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). 24 hours after, HUVECs cultured in vitro were irradiated with PDL, cell apoptosis, mRNA levels of VEGF, and changes of ultrastructure were evaluated using flow cytometry, real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and transmission electron microscopy, respectively.Results: The serum VEGF concentrations in children with proliferating hemangiomas were significantly higher than in patients with involuting / involved hemangiomas and healthy patients. After receiving 3 laser treatments, the plasma VEGF levels of IH patients in proliferating hemangiomas decreased significantly. PDL irradiation could down-regulate VEGF mRNA expression of HUVECs, and increase cell apoptosis rate. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that PDL irradiation imparts apoptosis induction effects on HUVECs in vitro. Furthermore, our results suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor may be of particular importance in pathophysiology and PDL treatment of hemangiomas, also serum VEGF levels may be used as an aid in the follow up of IH. This provides valuable evidence of the PDL effect on infantile hemangioma

Everything of Thoughts: Defying the Law of Penrose Triangle for Thought Generation

Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) have revolutionized decision-making by breaking down complex problems into more manageable language sequences referred to as ``thoughts''. An effective thought design should consider three key perspectives: performance, efficiency, and flexibility. However, existing thought can at most exhibit two of these attributes. To address these limitations, we introduce a novel thought prompting approach called ``Everything of Thoughts'' (XoT) to defy the law of ``Penrose triangle of existing thought paradigms. XoT leverages pretrained reinforcement learning and Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) to incorporate external domain knowledge into thoughts, thereby enhancing LLMs' capabilities and enabling them to generalize to unseen problems efficiently. Through the utilization of the MCTS-LLM collaborative thought revision framework, this approach autonomously produces high-quality comprehensive cognitive mappings with minimal LLM interactions. Additionally, XoT empowers LLMs to engage in unconstrained thinking, allowing for flexible cognitive mappings for problems with multiple solutions. We evaluate XoT on several challenging multi-solution problem-solving tasks, including Game of 24, 8-Puzzle, and Pocket Cube. Our results demonstrate that XoT significantly outperforms existing approaches. Notably, XoT can yield multiple solutions with just one LLM call, showcasing its remarkable proficiency in addressing complex problems across diverse domains.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Serum peptidome profiling for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer: Discovery and validation in two independent cohorts

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant neoplasms worldwide. Except for the existing fecal occult blood test, colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy, no widely accepted in vitro diagnostic methods have been available. To identify potential peptide biomarkers for CRC, serum samples from a discovery cohort (100 CRC patients and 100 healthy controls) and an independent validation cohort (91 CRC patients and 91 healthy controls) were collected. Peptides were fractionated by weak cation exchange magnetic beads (MB-WCX) and analysed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDITOF MS). Five peptides (peaks at m/z 1895.3, 2020.9, 2080.7, 2656.8 and 3238.5) were identified as candidate biomarkers for CRC. A diagnostic panel based on the five peptides can discriminate CRC patients from healthy controls, with an accuracy of 91.8%, sensitivity of 95.6%, and specificity of 87.9% in the validation cohort. Peptide peaks at m/z 1895.3, 2020.9 and 3238.5 were identified as the partial sequences of complement component 4 (C4), complement component 3 (C3) and fibrinogen a chain (FGA), respectively. This study potentiated peptidomic analysis as a promising in vitro diagnostic tool for diagnosis of CRC. The identified peptides suggest the involvement of the C3, C4 and FGA in CRC pathogenesis

Profile of immunoglobulin G N-glycome in COVID-19 patients: A case-control study

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a major health challenge globally. Previous studies have suggested that changes in the glycosylation of IgG are closely associated with the severity of COVID-19. This study aimed to compare the profiles of IgG N-glycome between COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. A case-control study was conducted, in which 104 COVID-19 patients and 104 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals were recruited. Serum IgG N-glycome composition was analyzed by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography with the ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (HILIC-UPLC) approach. COVID-19 patients have a decreased level of IgG fucosylation, which upregulates antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) in acute immune responses. In severe cases, a low level of IgG sialylation contributes to the ADCC-regulated enhancement of inflammatory cytokines. The decreases in sialylation and galactosylation play a role in COVID-19 pathogenesis via the activation of the lectin-initiated alternative complement pathway. IgG N-glycosylation underlines the complex clinical phenotypes of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Yeast-produced subunit protein vaccine elicits broadly neutralizing antibodies that protect mice against Zika virus lethal infection

International audienceZika virus (ZIKV) infection is a serious public health concern due to its ability to induce neurological defects and its potential for rapid transmission at a global scale. However, no vaccine is currently available to prevent ZIKV infection. Here, we report the development of a yeast-derived subunit protein vaccine for ZIKV. The envelope protein domain III (EDIII) of ZIKV was produced as a secretory protein in the yeast Pichia pastoris. The yeast-derived EDIII could inhibit ZIKV infection in vitro in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that it had acquired an appropriate conformation to bind to cellular receptors of ZIKV. Immunization with recombinant EDIII protein effectively induced antigen-specific binding antibodies and cellular immune responses. The resulting anti-EDIII sera could efficiently neutralize ZIKV representative strains from both Asian and African lineages. Passive transfer with the anti-EDIII neutralizing sera could confer protection against lethal ZIKV challenge in mice. Importantly, we found that purified anti-EDIII antibodies did not cross-react with closely related dengue virus (DENV) and therefore did not enhance DENV infection. Collectively, our results demonstrate that yeast-produced EDIII is a safe and effective ZIKV vaccine candidate

Novel Human \u3cem\u3eABCC9/SUR2\u3c/em\u3e Brain-Expressed Transcripts and an eQTL Relevant to Hippocampal Sclerosis of Aging

ABCC9 genetic polymorphisms are associated with increased risk for various human diseases including hippocampal sclerosis of aging. The main goals of this study were 1 \u3e to detect the ABCC9 variants and define the specific 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) for each variant in human brain, and 2 \u3e to determine whether a polymorphism (rs704180) associated with risk for hippocampal sclerosis of aging pathology is also associated with variation in ABCC9 transcript expression and/or splicing. Rapid amplification of ABCC9 cDNA ends (3′RACE) provided evidence of novel 3′ UTR portions of ABCC9 in human brain. In silico and experimental studies were performed focusing on the single nucleotide polymorphism, rs704180. Analyses from multiple databases, focusing on rs704180 only, indicated that this risk allele is a local expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL). Analyses of RNA from human brains showed increased ABCC9 transcript levels in individuals with the risk genotype, corresponding with enrichment for a shorter 3′ UTR which may be more stable than variants with the longer 3′ UTR. MicroRNA transfection experiments yielded results compatible with the hypothesis that miR‐30c causes down‐regulation of SUR2 transcripts with the longer 3′ UTR. Thus we report evidence of complex ABCC9 genetic regulation in brain, which may be of direct relevance to human disease