Acute hepatitis with nontyphoidal salmonella and hepatitis E virus coinfection

SummaryA 65-year-old Taiwanese man presented with dark urine for 5 days before admission to hospital and with fever on the 2nd day of admission to hospital. Laboratory studies showed acute hepatitis with hyperbilirubinemia. Acute hepatitis with nontyphoidal salmonella and hepatitis E virus coinfection was diagnosed. The fever subsided after treatment with ceftriaxone and cefepime. His serum bilirubin reached its peak value on the 3rd week after admission to hospital and then gradually returned to the normal range. To the best of our knowledge, acute hepatitis E coinfection with nontyphoidal salmonella has not been reported previously

Asymmetric purine-pyrimidine distribution in cellular small RNA population of papaya

BACKGROUND: The small RNAs (sRNA) are a regulatory class of RNA mainly represented by the 21 and 24-nucleotide size classes. The cellular sRNAs are processed by RNase III family enzyme dicer (Dicer like in plant) from a self-complementary hairpin loop or other type of RNA duplexes. The papaya genome has been sequenced, but its microRNAs and other regulatory RNAs are yet to be analyzed. RESULTS: We analyzed the genomic features of the papaya sRNA population from three sRNA deep sequencing libraries made from leaves, flowers, and leaves infected with Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRSV). We also used the deep sequencing data to annotate the micro RNA (miRNA) in papaya. We identified 60 miRNAs, 24 of which were conserved in other species, and 36 of which were novel miRNAs specific to papaya. In contrast to the Chargaff’s purine-pyrimidine equilibrium, cellular sRNA was significantly biased towards a purine rich population. Of the two purine bases, higher frequency of adenine was present in 23nt or longer sRNAs, while 22nt or shorter sRNAs were over represented by guanine bases. However, this bias was not observed in the annotated miRNAs in plants. The 21nt species were expressed from fewer loci but expressed at higher levels relative to the 24nt species. The highly expressed 21nt species were clustered in a few isolated locations of the genome. The PRSV infected leaves showed higher accumulation of 21 and 22nt sRNA compared to uninfected leaves. We observed higher accumulation of miRNA* of seven annotated miRNAs in virus-infected tissue, indicating the potential function of miRNA* under stressed conditions. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified 60 miRNAs in papaya. Our study revealed the asymmetric purine-pyrimidine distribution in cellular sRNA population. The 21nt species of sRNAs have higher expression levels than 24nt sRNA. The miRNA* of some miRNAs shows higher accumulation in PRSV infected tissues, suggesting that these strands are not totally functionally redundant. The findings open a new avenue for further investigation of the sRNA silencing pathway in plants

Di-μ-thio­cyanato-κ4 N:N-bis­({5-meth­oxy-2-[3-(methyl­amino)propyl­imino­meth­yl]phenolato-κ3 O 1,N,N′}copper(II))

The title thio­cyanate-bridged dinuclear copper(II) complex, [Cu2(C12H17N2O2)2(NCS)2], possesses crystallographic inversion symmetry. Each CuII atom is five-coordinated by one imine N, one amine N and one phenolate O atom of the Schiff base ligand, and by two N atoms from two bridging thio­cyanate ligands, forming a square-pyramidal geometry. Beside the two thio­cyanate bridges, there are two intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, which further link the two Cu(C12H17N2O2)(NCS) units. The Cu⋯Cu separation is 3.261 (2) Å. Parts of the methylaminopropylimino segment are disordered over two sites with occupancies of 0.669(9) and 0.331(9)

Effect of Top-Region Area of Flat-Top Pyramid Patterned Sapphire Substrate on the Optoelectronic Performance of GaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes

The flat-top pyramid patterned sapphire substrates (FTP-PSSs) have been prepared for the growth of GaN epilayers and the fabrication of lateral-type light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an emission wavelength of approximately 470 nm. Three kinds of FTP-PSSs, which were denoted as FTP-PSS-A, FTP-PSS-B, and FTP-PSS-C, respectively, were formed through the sequential wet etching processes. The diameters of circle areas on the top regions of these three FTP-PSSs were 1, 2, and 3 μm, respectively. Based on the X-ray diffraction results, the full-width at half-maximum values of rocking curves at (002) plane for the GaN epilayers grown on conventional sapphire substrate (CSS), FTP-PSS-A, FTP-PSS-B, and FTP-PSS-C were 412, 238, 346, and 357 arcsec, while these values at (102) plane were 593, 327, 352, and 372 arcsec, respectively. The SpeCLED-Ratro simulation results reveal that the LED prepared on FTP-PSS-A has the highest light extraction efficiency than that of the other devices. At an injection current of 350 mA, the output powers of LEDs fabricated on CSS, FTP-PSS-A, FTP-PSS-B, and FTP-PSS-C were 157, 254, 241, and 233 mW, respectively. The results indicate that both the crystal quality of GaN epilayer and the light extraction of LED can be improved via the use of FTP-PSS, especially for the FTP-PSS-A

BNP facilitates NMB-encoded histaminergic itch via NPRC-NMBR crosstalk

Histamine-dependent and -independent itch is conveyed by parallel peripheral neural pathways that express gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and neuromedin B (NMB), respectively, to the spinal cord of mice. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been proposed to transmit both types of itch via its receptor NPRA encoded b