Understanding Haemophilus parasuis infection in porcine spleen through a transcriptomics approach

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Haemophilus parasuis </it>(HPS) is an important swine pathogen that causes Glässer's disease, which is characterized by fibrinous polyserositis, meningitis and arthritis. The molecular mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of the disease remain poorly understood, particularly the resistance of porcine immune system to HPS invasion. In this study, we investigated the global changes in gene expression in the spleen following HPS infection using the Affymetrix Porcine Genechip™.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 931 differentially expressed (DE) transcripts were identified in the porcine spleen 7 days after HPS infection; of these, 92 unique genes showed differential expression patterns based on analysis using BLASTX and Gene Ontology. The DE genes involved in the immune response included genes for inflammasomes (<it>RETN</it>, <it>S100A8</it>, <it>S100A9</it>, <it>S100A12</it>), adhesion molecules (<it>CLDN3</it>, <it>CSPG2</it>, <it>CD44</it>, <it>LGALS8</it>), transcription factors (<it>ZBTB16</it>, <it>SLC39A14</it>, <it>CEBPD</it>, <it>CEBPB</it>), acute-phase proteins and complement (<it>SAA1</it>, <it>LTF</it>, <it>HP</it>, <it>C3</it>), differentiation genes for epithelial cells and keratinocytes (<it>TGM1</it>, <it>MS4A8B</it>, <it>CSTA</it>), and genes related to antigen processing and presentation (<it>HLA-B</it>, <it>HLA-DRB1</it>). Further immunostimulation analyses indicated that mRNA levels of <it>S100A8</it>, <it>S100A9</it>, and <it>S100A12 </it>in porcine PK-15 cells increased within 48 h and were sustained after administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Poly(I:C) respectively. In addition, mapping of DE genes to porcine health traits QTL regions showed that 70 genes were distributed in 7 different known porcine QTL regions. Finally, 10 DE genes were validated by quantitative PCR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings demonstrate previously unrecognized changes in gene transcription that are associated with HPS infection <it>in vivo</it>, and many potential cascades identified in the study clearly merit further investigation. Our data provide new clues to the nature of the immune response in mammals, and we have identified candidate genes that are related to resistance to HPS.</p

LongSAGE analysis of skeletal muscle at three prenatal stages in Tongcheng and Landrace pigs

Transcriptional profiling of Tongcheng and Landrace pigs using long serial analysis of gene expression provides insight into the molecular mechanism underlying differences in muscle growth

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Candidate Genes for Growth Relevant Traits in Pigs

Improvement of the growth rate is a challenge in the pig industry, the Average Daily Gain (ADG) and Days (AGE) to 100 kg are directly related to growth performance. We performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genetic parameters estimation for ADG and AGE using the genomic and phonemic from four breed (Duroc, Yorkshire, Landrace, and Pietrain) populations. All analyses were performed by a multi-loci GWAS model, FarmCPU. The GWAS results of all four breeds indicate that five genome-wide significant SNPs were associated with ADG, and the nearby genomic regions explained 4.08% of the genetic variance and 1.90% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. For AGE, six genome-wide significant SNPs were detected, and the nearby genomic regions explained 8.09% of the genetic variance and 3.52% of phenotypic variance, respectively. In total, nine candidate genes were identified to be associated with growth and metabolism. Among them, TRIB3 was reported to associate with pig growth, GRP, TTR, CNR1, GLP1R, BRD2, HCRTR2, SEC11C, and ssc-mir-122 were reported to associate with growth traits in human and mouse. The newly detected candidate genes will advance the understanding of growth related traits and the identification of the novel variants will suggest a potential use in pig genomic breeding programs

Importance of interfaces in hybrid perovskite solar cells

Photovoltaic devices based on hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite absorbers have reached outstanding performance over the past few years, surpassing power conversion efficiency of over 22%. In this talk we discuss the role of the interface in optimizing device performance as measured by both power conversion efficiency and stability. We present an examination of different perovskite active layers and interfacial electronic structure of these remarkable materials with functional oxide and organic contact layers. Interface formation of the active layer with different carrier transport materials has direct implications for performance of the resulting devices. We present interface studies, which permit identification of charge transfer mechanisms across the interface with chemical specificity and insight into the requirements for realizing high performance devices. Our findings from surface science approaches are combined with time resolved spectroscopy, structural studies and device level studies to validate impacts on carrier dynamics and demonstrate their technological relevance of interfacial insights

BCG vaccination strategies against tuberculosis: updates and perspectives

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only licensed vaccine against tuberculosis (TB). However, BCG has variable efficacy and cannot completely prevent TB infection and transmission. Therefore, the worldwide prevalence of TB calls for urgent development of a more effective TB vaccine. In the absence of other approved vaccines, it is also necessary to improve the efficacy of BCG itself. Intravenous (IV) BCG administration and BCG revaccination strategies have recently shown promising results for clinical usage. Therefore, it is necessary for us to revisit the BCG vaccination strategies and summarize the current research updates related to BCG vaccination. This literature review provides an updated overview and perspectives of the immunization strategies against TB using BCG, which may inspire the following research on TB vaccine development

Dissociated Spatial-Arithmetic Associations in Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions

Spatial–numerical associations (small numbers—left/lower space and large numbers—right/upper space) are regularly found in elementary number processing. Recently, the interest in this phenomenon has been extended from elementary number processing to mental arithmetic. Many studies have demonstrated horizontal spatial-arithmetic associations, i.e., solving addition or subtraction problems cause spatial shifts of attention rightward or leftward, respectively. However, the role of this effect in the vertical dimension has not been addressed. This is problematic because it leaves the analogy between elementary number processing and arithmetic incomplete. In order to make a strong case for a similarity between elementary number processing and mental arithmetic, a spatial-arithmetic association should be observed in the vertical dimension too. Here, we adopted the target detection paradigm from Liu et al. (2017) to replicate the horizontal spatial-arithmetic association, and meanwhile investigate whether this effect also exists in the vertical direction. Our results confirmed that addition could induce covert movement to right side and subtraction to left side. However, such a spatial-arithmetic association was not found in the vertical dimension. The implication of these findings is discussed

Manejo Invasivo versus Conservador de Pacientes com IAMSSST Com Idade ≥ 75 Anos

Resumo Fundamento A eficiência do manejo invasivo em pacientes mais velhos (≥75 anos) com infarto do miocárdio sem supradesnivelamento do segmento ST (IAMSSST) permanece ambígua. Objetivos Avaliar a eficiência do tratamento invasivo em pacientes idosos com IAMSSST com base em metanálise e análise sequencial de estudo (TSA). Métodos Ensaios clínicos randomizados relevantes (ECR) e estudos observacionais foram incluídos. Os resultados primários foram morte por todas as causas, infarto do miocárdio, acidente vascular cerebral e hemorragia grave. O odd ratio agrupado (OR) e o intervalo de confiança de 95% (IC) foram calculados. P<0,05 foi considerado estatisticamente significativo. Resultados Cinco ECRs e 22 estudos observacionais com 1.017.374 pacientes foram incluídos.Com base nos resultados de ECR e TSA, o manejo invasivo foi associado a menores riscos de infarto do miocárdio (OR: 0,51; 95% IC: 0,40-0,65; I2=0%), eventos cardiovasculares adversos maiores (MACE; OR: 0,61; 95% IC: 0,49-0,77; I2=27,0%) e revascularização (OR: 0,29; 95% IC: 0,15-0,55; I2=5,3%) em comparação com o tratamento conservador. A combinação de resultados de ECRs e estudos observacionais com ajuste multivariável mostrou riscos consistentemente menores de morte por todas as causas (OR: 0,57; IC 95%: 0,50-0,64; I2 = 86,4%), infarto do miocárdio (OR: 0,63; IC 95%: 0,56 -0,71; I2=0%), acidente vascular cerebral (OR: 0,59; 95% IC: 0,51-0,69; I2=0%) e MACE (OR: 0,64; 95% IC: 0,54-0,76; I2=43,4%). O melhor prognóstico associado ao manejo invasivo também foi observado em cenários do mundo real. No entanto, para pacientes com idade ≥85 anos, o manejo invasivo pode aumentar o risco de sangramento maior (OR: 2,68; IC 95%: 1,12-6,42; I2=0%). Conclusões O manejo invasivo foi associado a menores riscos de infarto do miocárdio, MACE e revascularização em pacientes idosos com IAMSSST,no entanto, pode aumentar o risco de sangramento maior em pacientes com idade ≥85 anos

Addition and Subtraction but Not Multiplication and Division Cause Shifts of Spatial Attention

Many studies have shown that solving addition and subtraction problems can induce overt shifts of spatial attention. In particular, right-side targets are detected faster than left-side targets when preceded by an addition operation, while left-side targets are detected faster than right-side targets when preceded by a subtraction operation. However, the interaction between space and arithmetic in multiplication or division is hardly studied and remains controversial. In order to make a strong case for the interaction between space and mental arithmetic, we attempted to replicate the spatial-arithmetic association in addition and subtraction (Experiment 1), and at the same time investigated whether shift of spatial attention would also be induced by multiplication or division operations (Experiment 2). We found that solving addition problems facilitated the detection of right-side targets, whereas left-side targets were detected faster after solving subtraction problems. However, no interaction between space and arithmetic operation was observed in multiplication or division. The implication of these findings is discussed