Bacteriophages reduce Yersinia enterocolitica contamination of food and kitchenware

Yersinia enterocolitica, the primary cause of yersiniosis, is one of the most important foodborne pathogens globally and is associated with the consumption of raw contaminated pork. In the current study, four virulent bacteriophages (phages), one of Podoviridae (fHe-Yen3-01) and three of Myoviridae (fHe-Yen9-01, fHe-Yen9-02, and fHe-Yen9-03), capable of infecting Y. enterocolitica were isolated and characterized. fHe-Yen9-01 had the broadest host range (61.3% of strains, 65/106). It demonstrated a latent period of 35 min and a burst size of 33 plague-forming units/cell, and was found to have a genome of 167,773 bp with 34.79% GC content. To evaluate the effectiveness of phage fHe-Yen9-01 against Y. enterocolitica 0:9 strain Ruokola/71, we designed an experimental model of the food market environment. Phage treatment after bacterial inoculation of food samples, including raw pork (4 degrees C, 72 h), ready-to-eat pork (26 degrees C, 12 h), and milk (4 degrees C, 72 h), prevented bacterial growth throughout the experiments, with counts decreasing by 1-3 logs from the original levels of 2-4 x 10(3) CFU/g or ml. Similarly, when artificially contaminated kitchen utensils, such as wooden and plastic cutting boards and knives, and artificial hands, were treated with phages for 2 h, bacterial growth was effectively inhibited, with counts decreasing by 1-2 logs from the original levels of ca 10(4) CFU/cm(2) or ml. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the successful application of phages for the control of Y. enterocolitica growth in food and on kitchen utensils.Peer reviewe

Increasing trend in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in Korea from 2004 to 2015

Background To determine the 12-year incidence of and trends in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) requiring surgery in Korea. Methods This was a nationwide, population-based, retrospective study. We identified 53,179 patients with incident RRD requiring surgery using the Korean National Health Claims Database from 2004 to 2015. We estimated the crude incidence rates and age- and sex-standardized incidence rates per 100,000 person-years in each year during the study period. A joinpoint regression analysis was performed to determine the trend. Results The average annual incidence rate was 9.78 (95% CI: 9.70–9.86). Male patients showed an incidence rate (10.68 [95% CI: 10.57–10.80]) 1.20 times that of female patients (8.87 [95% CI: 8.76–8.98]). The incidence showed a bimodal distribution; the highest peak was in the 60–64 year age group (23.77 [95% CI: 23.18–24.35]) and the second peak was in the 20–24 year age group (7.68 [95% CI: 7.41–7.95]). An increasing trend of RRD incidence was observed in the total population throughout the study period using joinpoint analysis (annual percentage change [APC], 2.05; 95% CI: 0.7–3.4). The increasing trend was more prominent among individuals aged under 50 years (APC, 3.44; 95% CI: 2.3–4.6), while among those aged 50 years or above, the increasing incidence was observed only in male patients. Conclusions In Korea, the incidence of RRD has increased recently. People in the < 50 year age group accounted for the major part of this significant increase, which is related to the increasing incidence of myopia in the young generation in Asia.This research was supported by a grant from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (Grant Number: HI19C0373)

Genotypic Characterization of Vibrio vulnificus Clinical Isolates in Korea

AbstractObjectivesVibrio vunificus is known to cause septicemia and severe wound infections in patients with chronic liver diseases or an immuno-compromised condition. We carried out the molecular characterization of V. vulnificus isolates from human Vibrio septicemia cases based on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using NotI and SfiI.Methods and ResultsPFGE was used to characterize a total of 78 strains from clinical cases after NotI or SfiI digestion. The geographical distribution of PFGE patterns for the strains from the southern part of Korea, a high-risk region for Vibrio septicemia, indicated that the isolates from southeastern Korea showed a comparatively higher degree of homology than those from southwestern Korea.ConclusionsWe report the genetic distribution of V. vulnficus isolated from Vibrio septicemia cases during 2000–2004 in Korea. This method has potential use as a subspecies-typing tool for V. vulnificus strains isolated from distant geographic regions

miRNA regulation of cytotoxic effects in mouse Sertoli cells exposed to nonylphenol

Background: It is known that some environmental chemicals affect the human endocrine system. The harmful effects of endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) nonylphenol (NP) have been studied since the 1980s. It is known that NP adversely affects physiological functions by mimicking the natural hormone 17 beta-estradiol. In the present study, we analyzed the expression of miRNAs and their target genes in mouse Sertoli TM4 cells to better understand the regulatory roles of miRNAs on Sertoli cells after NP exposure. Methods: Mouse TM4 Sertoli cells were treated with NP for 3 or 24 h, and global gene and miRNA expression were analyzed using Agilent mouse whole genome and mouse miRNA v13 arrays. Results: We identified genes that were &gt; 2-fold differentially expressed in NP-treated cells and control cells (P &lt; 0.05) and analyzed their functions through Gene Ontology analysis. We also identified miRNAs that were differentially expressed in NP-treated and control cells. Of the 186 miRNAs the expression of which differed between NP-treated and control cells, 59 and 147 miRNAs exhibited 1.3-fold increased or decreased expression at 3 and 24 h, respectively. Network analysis of deregulated miRNAs suggested that Ppara may regulate the expression of certain miRNAs, including miR-378, miR-125a-3p miR-20a, miR-203, and miR-101a, after exposure to NP. Additionally, comprehensive analysis of predicted target genes for miRNAs showed that the expression of genes with roles in cell proliferation, the cell cycle, and cell death were regulated by miRNA in NP-treated TM4 cells. Levels of expression of the miRNAs miR-135a* and miR-199a-5p were validated by qRT-PCR. Finally, miR-135a* target gene analysis suggests that the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) following exposure to NP exposure may be mediated by miR-135a* through regulation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway. Conclusions: Collectively, these data help to determine NP&#39;s actions on mouse TM4 Sertoli cells and increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the adverse effects of xenoestrogens on the reproductive system.This work was supported an Eco-Technopia 21 project grant from the Ministry of Environment (Development of Decision Method of Chromosomal Abnormality in Reproductive System by Toxic Substances at the Korea Institute of Toxicology)

Body extract of tail amputated zebrafish promotes culturing of primary fin cells from glass catfish

The most spectacular regenerative events in vertebrates are epimorphic regeneration. In this study, interestingly, a whole-body extract 24 h after tail amputation enhanced primary cell growth and viability compared to that of a non-tail amputated body. Additionally, these effects of extract treatment in vitro were dose-dependent occurring at concentrations of 0.02, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml. This is the first in vitro study on the interaction between primary fin cells from glass catfish and tail amputated body extracts of zebrafish. These results provide an essential knowledge base for rational approaches to tissue and organ regeneration.Keywords: Cell growth, cell viability, extract, glass catfish, regeneration, zebrafishAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(12), pp. 1449-145

Controlling the Magnetic Anisotropy of the van der Waals Ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2 through Hole Doping.

Identifying material parameters affecting properties of ferromagnets is key to optimized materials that are better suited for spintronics. Magnetic anisotropy is of particular importance in van der Waals magnets, since it not only influences magnetic and spin transport properties, but also is essential to stabilizing magnetic order in the two-dimensional limit. Here, we report that hole doping effectively modulates the magnetic anisotropy of a van der Waals ferromagnet and explore the physical origin of this effect. Fe3-xGeTe2 nanoflakes show a significant suppression of the magnetic anisotropy with hole doping. Electronic structure measurements and calculations reveal that the chemical potential shift associated with hole doping is responsible for the reduced magnetic anisotropy by decreasing the energy gain from the spin-orbit induced band splitting. Our findings provide an understanding of the intricate connection between electronic structures and magnetic properties in two-dimensional magnets and propose a method to engineer magnetic properties through doping

Quaternary structures of Vac8 differentially regulate the Cvt and PMN pathways.

Armadillo (ARM) repeat proteins constitute a large protein family with diverse and fundamental functions in all organisms, and armadillo repeat domains share high structural similarity. However, exactly how these structurally similar proteins can mediate diverse functions remains a long-standing question. Vac8 (vacuole related 8) is a multifunctional protein that plays pivotal roles in various autophagic pathways, including piecemeal microautophagy of the nucleus (PMN) and cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathways in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Vac8 comprises an H1 helix at the N terminus, followed by 12 armadillo repeats. Herein, we report the crystal structure of Vac8 bound to Atg13, a key component of autophagic machinery. The 70-angstrom extended loop of Atg13 binds to the ARM domain of Vac8 in an antiparallel manner. Structural, biochemical, and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the H1 helix of Vac8 intramolecularly associates with the first ARM and regulates its self-association, which is crucial for Cvt and PMN pathways. The structure of H1 helix-deleted Vac8 complexed with Atg13 reveals that Vac8[Delta 19-33]-Atg13 forms a heterotetramer and adopts an extended superhelical structure exclusively employed in the Cvt pathway. Most importantly, comparison of Vac8-Nvj1 and Vac8-Atg13 provides a molecular understanding of how a single ARM domain protein adopts different quaternary structures depending on its associated proteins to differentially regulate 2 closely related but distinct cellular pathways