Image_1_Vitamin D effects on Chlamydia trachomatis infection: a case-control and experimental study.pdf

IntroductionVitamin D deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Chronic vitamin D deficiency causes immune system dysfunction, which increases susceptibility to pathogens such as bacteria, especially intracellular parasites, and viruses. Chlamydia trachomatis (C. t) is an obligate intracellular parasitic bacterium that causes a variety of sequelae. We speculated that vitamin D might be associated with C. t infection. This study aimed to address this gap in knowledge by investigating the relationship between vitamin D and C. t infection using both in vitro and in vivo models.Methods and resultsThe addition of calcitriol to McCoy cell culture in vitro delayed and reduced the quantity and volume of inclusions compared to the control group. Macrophages of peritoneally lavaged mice co-cultured with McCoy decreased the infection rate and delayed the appearance of inclusions. In mice models of vitamin D deficiency, mice in the VD-group exhibited more severe genital tract inflammation and a longer duration of infection after inoculation with C. t in the genital tract. Supplementing these mice with vitamin D3 during treatment enhanced the therapeutic effect of antibiotics. We also conducted a case-control study involving 174 C. t-positive patients (95 males and 79 females) and 380 healthy volunteers (211 males and 169 females) aged 20–49 from January 2016 to March 15, 2017. Serum 25-(OH)D concentration was measured by assessing morning fasting blood samples of healthy volunteers and C. t-positive patients 1 day before antibiotic treatment and the next day after one course of treatment. The patients were followed up for 1 month and evaluated for recovery. The results showed that vitamin D deficiency was a risk factor for C. t infection and treatment failure.ConclusionIn summary, findings from experimental and clinical studies indicate a close association between vitamin D levels and C. t infection and treatment outcomes. Given the affordability and safety of vitamin D, both healthy individuals and patients should focus on vitamin D intake. Vitamin D supplementation could enhance treatment success and should be used as an adjunctive therapy alongside antibiotic therapy for C. t infections, pending confirmation in larger, prospective, randomized controlled trials.</p

Table_1_Vitamin D effects on Chlamydia trachomatis infection: a case-control and experimental study.docx

IntroductionVitamin D deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Chronic vitamin D deficiency causes immune system dysfunction, which increases susceptibility to pathogens such as bacteria, especially intracellular parasites, and viruses. Chlamydia trachomatis (C. t) is an obligate intracellular parasitic bacterium that causes a variety of sequelae. We speculated that vitamin D might be associated with C. t infection. This study aimed to address this gap in knowledge by investigating the relationship between vitamin D and C. t infection using both in vitro and in vivo models.Methods and resultsThe addition of calcitriol to McCoy cell culture in vitro delayed and reduced the quantity and volume of inclusions compared to the control group. Macrophages of peritoneally lavaged mice co-cultured with McCoy decreased the infection rate and delayed the appearance of inclusions. In mice models of vitamin D deficiency, mice in the VD-group exhibited more severe genital tract inflammation and a longer duration of infection after inoculation with C. t in the genital tract. Supplementing these mice with vitamin D3 during treatment enhanced the therapeutic effect of antibiotics. We also conducted a case-control study involving 174 C. t-positive patients (95 males and 79 females) and 380 healthy volunteers (211 males and 169 females) aged 20–49 from January 2016 to March 15, 2017. Serum 25-(OH)D concentration was measured by assessing morning fasting blood samples of healthy volunteers and C. t-positive patients 1 day before antibiotic treatment and the next day after one course of treatment. The patients were followed up for 1 month and evaluated for recovery. The results showed that vitamin D deficiency was a risk factor for C. t infection and treatment failure.ConclusionIn summary, findings from experimental and clinical studies indicate a close association between vitamin D levels and C. t infection and treatment outcomes. Given the affordability and safety of vitamin D, both healthy individuals and patients should focus on vitamin D intake. Vitamin D supplementation could enhance treatment success and should be used as an adjunctive therapy alongside antibiotic therapy for C. t infections, pending confirmation in larger, prospective, randomized controlled trials.</p

Highly Acidic Conditions Drastically Alter the Chemical Composition and Absorption Coefficient of α‑Pinene Secondary Organic Aerosol

Secondary organic aerosols (SOA), formed through the gas-phase oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), can reside in the atmosphere for many days. The formation of SOA takes place rapidly within hours after VOC emissions, but SOA can undergo much slower physical and chemical processes throughout their lifetime in the atmosphere. The acidity of atmospheric aerosols spans a wide range, with the most acidic particles having negative pH values, which can promote acid-catalyzed reactions. The goal of this work is to elucidate poorly understood mechanisms and rates of acid-catalyzed aging of mixtures of representative SOA compounds. SOA were generated by the ozonolysis of α-pinene in a continuous flow reactor and then collected using a foil substrate. SOA samples were extracted and aged by exposure to varying concentrations of aqueous H2SO4 for 1–2 days. Chemical analysis of fresh and aged samples was conducted using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array spectrophotomety and high-resolution mass spectrometry. In addition, UV–vis spectrophotometry and fluorescence spectrophotometry were used to examine the changes in optical properties before and after aging. We observed that SOA that aged in moderately acidic conditions (pH from 0 to 4) experienced small changes in composition, while SOA that aged in a highly acidic environment (pH from −1 to 0) experienced more dramatic changes in composition, including the formation of compounds containing sulfur. Additionally, at highly acidic conditions, light-absorbing and fluorescent compounds appeared, but their identities could not be ascertained due to their small relative abundance. This study shows that acidity is a major driver of SOA aging, resulting in a large change in the chemical composition and optical properties of aerosols in regions where high concentrations of H2SO4 persist, such as upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

Label-Free Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering-Based Microbial Whole-Cell Biosensor for Acute Toxicity Assessment in Water

Aquatic toxicity assessment is extremely important to ensuring water safety. Typically, the evaluation was accomplished by introducing bioluminescent bacteria, where the weakened luminescence was used to calculate the acute toxicity. Herein, a new microbial whole-cell biosensor was proposed for aquatic toxicity evaluation using a label-free surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique with Escherichia coli (E. coli) as a model organism. The proposed strategy required neither special bacteria strains nor mediators. The dose-dependent SERS signal of the exposed model bacteria can be directly acquired. For the model toxic chemical Cu2+, the half-inhibitory concentration (IC50) was found to be 3.87 mg/L. The method also helps understand the mechanism of toxicity of bacterial cells after exposure to a toxic environment, providing a multiparameter view of the changes in bacterial physiological metabolism induced by toxicants

Additional file 13 of Physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic reveal metabolic pathway alterations in Gymnocypris przewalskii due to cold exposure

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Additional file 2 of Physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic reveal metabolic pathway alterations in Gymnocypris przewalskii due to cold exposure

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Additional file 11 of Physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic reveal metabolic pathway alterations in Gymnocypris przewalskii due to cold exposure

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Additional file 9 of Physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic reveal metabolic pathway alterations in Gymnocypris przewalskii due to cold exposure

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