ICESsuHN105, a Novel Multiple Antibiotic Resistant ICE in Streptococcus suis Serotype 5 Strain HN105

Streptococcussuis serotype 5, an emerging zoonosis bacterial pathogen, has been isolated from infections in both pigs and humans. In this study, we sequenced the first complete genome of a virulent, multidrug-resistant SS5 strain HN105. The strain HN105 displayed enhanced pathogenicity in zebrafish and BABL/c mouse infection models. Comparative genome analysis identified a novel 80K integrative conjugative element (ICE), ICESsuHN105, as required for the multidrug resistance phenotype. Six corresponding antibiotic resistance genes in this ICE were identified, namely tet (O), tet (M), erm (two copies), aph, and spc. Phylogenetic analysis classified the element as a homolog of the ICESa2603 family, containing the typical family backbone and insertion DNA. DNA hybrids mediated by natural transformation between HN105 and ZY05719 verified the antibiotic resistant genes of ICESsuHN105 that could be transferred successfully, while they were dispersedly inserted with a single gene in different genomic locations of ZY05719(HN105) transformants. To further identify the horizontal transfer of ICESsuHN105 as a whole mobile genetic element, a circular intermediate form of ICESsuHN105 was detected by PCR. However, the effective conjugation using serotype 2 S. suis as recipients was not observed in current assays in vitro. Further studies confirmed the presence of the complete lantibiotic locus encoded in ICESsuHN105 that effectively inhibits the growth of other streptococci. In summary, this study demonstrated the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in ICE that are able to transfer between different clinical isolates and adapt to a broader range of Streptococcus serotype or species

Understanding the Interaction between Regulatory Focus and Message Framing in Determining Chinese Consumers’ Attitudes toward Artificial Meat

While production and consumption of meat cast a shadow over the prospects for sustainable development, artificial meat may be the solution. However, consumer acceptability of artificial meat is a major impediment to its use as a suitable alternative. This study analyzed the relationship between regulatory focus and consumer acceptance of artificial meat using randomized controlled trial data. Results showed that promotion focus results in a higher acceptance of artificial meat products due to a higher perceived benefit and lower perceived risk, whereas prevention focus results in a lower acceptance of artificial meat products due to perceived benefit being lower and perceived risk being higher. The moderating effect of the message framing was investigated employing structural equation modeling (SEM). It was discovered that a gain-oriented message framing could greatly strengthen the association between promotion focus and perceived benefit, whereas an avoidance-oriented message framing could significantly diminish the relationship between prevention focus and perceived risk. This study has crucial implications for how policymakers and industries communicate with consumers about artificial meat

Role of pyroptosis in the pathogenesis and treatment of diseases

Abstract Programmed cell death (PCD) is regarded as a pathological form of cell death with an intracellular program mediated, which plays a pivotal role in maintaining homeostasis and embryonic development. Pyroptosis is a new paradigm of PCD, which has received increasing attention due to its close association with immunity and disease. Pyroptosis is a form of inflammatory cell death mediated by gasdermin that promotes the release of proinflammatory cytokines and contents induced by inflammasome activation. Recently, increasing evidence in studies shows that pyroptosis has a crucial role in inflammatory conditions like cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, neurological diseases (NDs), and metabolic diseases (MDs), suggesting that targeting cell death is a potential intervention for the treatment of these inflammatory diseases. Based on this, the review aims to identify the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways related to pyroptosis activation and summarizes the current insights into the complicated relationship between pyroptosis and multiple human inflammatory diseases (CVDs, cancer, NDs, and MDs). We also discuss a promising novel strategy and method for treating these inflammatory diseases by targeting pyroptosis and focus on the pyroptosis pathway application in clinics

Demographic characteristics of participants and factors associated with the modified food safety knowledge score.

<p>Demographic characteristics of participants and factors associated with the modified food safety knowledge score.</p

Food safety knowledge, attitude and self-reported practice of secondary school students in Beijing, China: A cross-sectional study

<div><p>In China, food safety problems have occurred frequently in the past ten years, causing great concern for the public. Adolescents, with higher exposure to problematic food, represent a unique target for interventions aimed at risk reduction. To understand their food safety knowledge, attitude and practice, a cross-sectional survey using paper questionnaire was carried out among 4,220 students (median age of 14 years, 50.3% females) from nine secondary schools in 3 districts of Beijing. The findings showed that the majority of respondents (42.0%) had a high knowledge level. Significant association was found between food safety knowledge score (median = 11, IQR:9–13) and demographic characteristics of region, school type, residence type, habit of smoking and alcohol use, academic record and parents’ education background. In terms of attitude and practice, only 17% of those surveyed regarded China’s food safety situation as good, 53.6% regarded it as worrying; almost all students (96.5%) did pay attention to food safety; 95.3% of the students had worried about the safety of the food provided by the small restaurants and street peddlers, but in reality, as many as 69.4% often or occasionally bought food from peddlers around their campuses and nearly half continued the consumption of such food in spite of worrying about its safety problems. Overall, the food safety knowledge among Beijing secondary school students was relatively good. They did not show much confidence in the country’s food safety situation, but many aware of the safety issues did not bother to change or take action. The study suggests that more systematic and targeted education on food safety is necessary for this age group.</p></div

A Method of Grasping Detection for Kiwifruit Harvesting Robot Based on Deep Learning

Kiwifruit harvesting with robotics can be troublesome due to the clustering feature. The gripper of the end effector will easily cause unstable fruit grasping, or the bending and separation action will interfere with the neighboring fruit because of an inappropriate grasping angle, which will further affect the success rate. Therefore, predicting the correct grasping angle for each fruit can guide the gripper to safely approach, grasp, bend and separate the fruit. To improve the grasping rate and harvesting success rate, this study proposed a grasping detection method for a kiwifruit harvesting robot based on the GG-CNN2. Based on the vertical downward growth characteristics of kiwifruit, the grasping configuration of the manipulator was defined. The clustered kiwifruit was mainly divided into single fruit, linear cluster, and other cluster, and the grasping dataset included depth images, color images, and grasping labels. The GG-CNN2 was improved based on focal loss to prevent the algorithm from generating the optimal grasping configuration in the background or at the edge of the fruit. The performance test of the grasping detection network and the verification test of robotic picking were carried out in orchards. The results showed that the number of parameters of GG-CNN2 was 66.7 k, the average image calculation speed was 58 ms, and the average grasping detection accuracy was 76.0%, which ensures the grasping detection can run in real time. The verification test results indicated that the manipulator combined with the position information provided by the target detection network YOLO v4 and the grasping angle provided by the grasping detection network GG-CNN2 could achieve a harvesting success rate of 88.7% and a fruit drop rate of 4.8%; the average picking time was 6.5 s. Compared with the method in which the target detection network only provides fruit position information, this method presented the advantages of harvesting rate and fruit drop rate when harvesting linear clusters, especially other cluster, and the picking time was slightly increased. Therefore, the grasping detection method proposed in this study is suitable for near-neighbor multi-kiwifruit picking, and it can improve the success rate of robotic harvesting

Description of food safety knowledge.

<p>Description of food safety knowledge.</p

Distribution of the respondents’ attitude and practice towards food safety.

<p>Distribution of the respondents’ attitude and practice towards food safety.</p

Ultrathin Polypyrrole Nanosheets via Space-Confined Synthesis for Efficient Photothermal Therapy in the Second Near-Infrared Window

Extensive efforts have been devoted to synthesizing photothermal agents (PTAs) that are active in the first near-infrared (NIR) region (650–950 nm). However, PTAs for photothermal therapy in the second NIR window (1000–1350 nm) are still rare. Here, it is shown that two-dimensional ultrathin polypyrrole (PPy) nanosheets prepared via a novel space-confined synthesis method could exhibit unique broadband absorption with a large extinction coefficient of 27.8 L g^–1 cm^–1 at 1064 nm and can be used as an efficient PTA in the second NIR window. This unique optical property is attributed to the formation of bipolaron bands in highly doped PPy nanosheets. The measured prominent photothermal conversion efficiency could achieve 64.6%, surpassing previous PTAs that are active in the second NIR window. Both in vitro and in vivo studies reveal that these ultrathin PPy nanosheets possess good biocompatibility and notable tumor ablation ability in the second NIR window. Our study highlights the potential of ultrathin two-dimensional polymers with unique optical properties in biomedical applications