Construction and evaluation of a novel triple cell epitopebased polypeptide vaccine against cow mastitis induced by Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Streptococcus

Purpose: To construct a novel triple cell epitope-based polypeptide vaccine against cow mastitis induced by Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and  Streptococcus and to reduce the use of antibiotics.Methods: Based on bioinformatics approach, a novel triple epitope-based polypeptide (CM-TEP) was designed and subjected to Ni-NTA flow resin purification. Purified CM-TEP was immunized into mice to prepare a polyclonal antibody. Pull-down assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to detect the interaction between CM-TEP antibodies and S. aureus, E. coli and Streptococcus. Active immunity mice and challenge of bacterial pathogens were used to detect immune protection of CM-TEP. Additionally, the optimal expressing conditions of CM-TEP strain were analyzed using orthogonal test design.Results: A novel cow mastitis triple cell epitope-based polypeptide (CM-TEP) with a MW of 36 kDa was designed, purified and used to immunize mice to prepare a  polyclonal antibody. Pull-down assays and ELISA data showed that CM-TEP  antibodies directly interacted with S. aureus, E. coli and Streptococcus. CM-TEP displayed a significant immune protective effect against infection by S. aureus (50 %, p < 0.05) and E. coli (54.54 %, p < 0.05) and provided some immune protective effect (30.78 %, p > 0.05) against Streptococcus. The optimum expressing conditions of CM-TEP were as follows: IPTG concentration of 0.3 mmol/L, strain OD600 value of 1, inducing temperature of 37 oC, and inducing time of 8 h.Conclusion: The findings suggest that epitope-based vaccine of CM-TEP may be a useful strategy for treating cow mastitis induced by S. aureus, E. coli and Streptococcus.Keywords: Cow mastitis, Epitope vaccine, Immunogenicity, Immune protectiv

Purification and characterization of an antimicrobial protein from Gastrodia elata Blume tubers

Purpose: To purify and characterize a novel antimicrobial protein from the Gastrodia elata Blume (Bl.) plant, which has long been used in herbal medicine.Methods: The procedure for isolation and purification of Gastrodia elata protein (GEP) involved phosphate buffer extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion-exchange chromatography, and gelfiltration chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulfate - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was employed to detect the apparent molecular mass and determine homogeneity, while paper disc diffusion was used to measure the antibacterial activity of GEP. A hemolytic assay was performed on rabbit red blood cells. The effect of pH, salt concentration, and temperature on the antibacterial activity of GEP was evaluated by minimum inhibitory concentration assay.Results: GEP was a 14-kDa monomer and displayed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, with 8.0-mm and 9.4-mm zones of inhibition, respectively, but no antibacterial activity was observed against Escherichia coli. GEP had little hemolytic activity on red blood cells even at a concentrations of up to 200 mg/ml. GEP was thermally stable at temperatures below 70 °C for 30 min, and displayed higher antibacterial activity in the pH range 5.0 to 7.0.Conclusion: GEP protein is relatively thermostable and possesses antimicrobial activity. The results suggest that GEP protein has potential agricultural and industrial applications, such as in transgenic plants.Keywords: Antimicrobial protein, Gastrodia elata, Protein characterizatio

Current situation of job burnout and its influencing factors among workers in a chemical fiber factory in Xinxiang City, Henan Province

BackgroundJob burnout is prevalent among the occupational population, which may lead to individual physical and mental discomfort and affect the quality of life and productivity of suffered workers. Most current chemical fiber factory workers are engaged in hazardous tasks with high frequency and high repetition, which are highly associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms, and subsequently lead to job burnout. ObjectiveTo understand the current situation and influencing factors of job burnout in workers of a chemical fiber factory in Xinxiang City of Henan Province, and to provide empirical evidence for preventing and reducing the occurrence of job burnout in target workers. MethodsIn 2022, the workers of a chemical fiber factory in Xinxiang City were selected by cluster random sampling. The Chinese versions of the Burnout Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used to conduct a survey. SPSS 25.0 software was used for rank sum test, correlation analysis, and logistic regression analysis. ResultsA total of 1463 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 90.0%. The positive rate of mild and moderate job burnout in the chemical fiber factory employees was 39.4%, and the positive rate of serious job burnout was 14.3%. There were statistical differences in the positive rates of job burnout among the workers by gender, age, education level, position, work shift system, anxiety symptom severity, and depressive symptom severity (P<0.05). The results of Spearman correlation analysis showed that the score of anxiety symptoms was positively correlated with the total score of job burnout, as well as the dimensional scores of exhaustion and cynicism, and negatively correlated with the dimensional score of professional efficacy (r=0.671, 0.764, 0.673, −0.097; P<0.01). The score of depressive symptoms was also positively correlated with the total score of job burnout, as well as the dimensional scores of exhaustion and cynicism, and negatively correlated with the dimensional score of professional efficacy (r=0.688, 0.791, 0.723, −0.087; P<0.01). The results of logistic regression analysis showed that men had a higher risk of serious job burnout than women (OR=1.698, 95%CI: 1.163-2.479); workers aged ≤ 40 years old had a higher probability of serious job burnout than those aged 51 to 60 years old (OR=2.587, 95%CI: 1.310-5.109); non-assembly line production workers and assembly line production workers were more prone to serious job burnout than administrative management and logistics personnel (OR=6.511, 9.707, 95%CI: 1.539-27.548, 2.260-41.700); compared with other shift systems (three shifts and night shifts), the probability of serious job burnout was lower (OR=0.375, 95%CI: 0.254-0.553) in regular day shift workers; compared with frequent overtime work, those reporting no overtime work and occasional overtime work showed a lower risk of serious job burnout, with OR (95%CI) values of 0.114 (0.068-0.192) and 0.331 (0.194-0.564), respectively. ConclusionThe positive rate of job burnout among the employees of the chemical fiber factory is high, and the anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms are positively correlated with job burnout. Adjustment of work should be strengthened at multiple levels to improve anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms of employees, and reduce the occurrence of job burnout

Current situation and influencing factors of job burnout in express industry in Xinxiang City, Henan Province

BackgroundJob burnout is common among working populations. The current situation and influencing factors of job burnout have been studied in workers of many industries at home and abroad, except the express industry in China.ObjectiveTo understand the current situation of job burnout in express industry in a city of China, and to provide a scientific basis for developing measures to reduce the occurrence of job burnout. MethodsIn 2022, 432 express delivery workers in a city were selected by cluster random sampling, and their job burnout, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms were evaluated by using the General Burnout Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Chi-square test was used to compare inter-group positive rates of job burnout. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between selected variables. Positive job burnout, high level of exhaustion, and high level of cynicism were selected as dependent variables. Single-factor analysis was firstly carried out to identify statistically significant variables for subsequent logistic regression analysis. ResultsA total of 460 questionnaires were distributed and 432 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 93.9%. There were 286 (66.2%) express delivery workers reporting job burnout. The positive rate of anxiety symptoms was 41.0%, and the positive rate of depressive symptoms was 34.0%. The job burnout score of the express industry workers [M (P25, P75)] was 1.8 (1.0, 2.5); the scores [M (P25, P75)] of exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy were 1.0 (0.0, 2.6), 1.0 (0.0, 2.2), and 3.5 (1.2, 5.8), respectively; the score [M (P25, P75)] of anxiety symptoms was 1.5 (0.0, 7.0); the score [M (P25, P75)] of depressive symptoms was 1.0 (0.0, 8.0). There were statistical differences in the positive rates of job burnout among the express industry workers grouped by gender, education, monthly income, work shift system, overtime, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms (P<0.05). The Spearman correlation analysis showed that there were significant positive correlations between the score of anxiety symptoms and the scores of job burnout, exhaustion, and cynicism (rs=0.596, 0.689, 0.600, P<0.001); the score of depressive symptoms was also positively correlated with the scores of job burnout, exhaustion, and cynicism (rs=0.601, 0.680, 0.607, P<0.001). The logistic regression analysis showed that women had a lower risk of job burnout than men (OR=0.458, 95%CI: 0.273, 0.768), and the risk of reporting positive job burnout was 3.140 times higher for those who worked overtime than those who did not (OR=3.140, 95%CI: 1.732, 5.693). ConclusionThe current situation of job burnout in express industry is serious. Gender, education, monthly income, and overtime are the main influencing factors. Measures should be developed to reduce the occurrence of job burnout

Genetic Diversity of mtDNA D-loop and Maternal Origin of Three Chinese Native Horse Breeds

In order to protect the genetic resource of native horse breeds, the genetic diversity of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop of three native horse breeds in western China were investigated. Forty-three 600 bp mtDNA D-loop sequences were analyzed by PCR and sequencing techniques, 33 unique haplotypes with 70 polymorphic sites were detected in these horses, which account for 11.67% of 600 bp sequence analyzed, showing the abundant genetic diversity of the three native horse breeds in western China. The Neighbour-Joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree based on 247 bp of 43 D-loop sequences demonstrated the presence of seven major lineages (A to G), indicating that the three native horse breeds in western China originated from multiple maternal origins. Consistent with the front, the NJ phylogenetic tree based on 600 bp of mtDNA D-loop sequences of 43 Chinese western native horses and 81 sequences of six horse breeds from GenBank indicated that the three horse breeds had distributed into the seven major lineages (A to G). The structure of the phylogenic tree is often blurred because the variation in a short segment of the mitochondrial genome is often accompanied by high levels of recurrent mutations. Consequently, longer D-loop sequences are helpful in achieving a higher level of molecular resolution in horses