Identification and characterization of chromosomal relBE toxin-antitoxin locus in Streptomyces cattleya DSM46488.

The relBE family of Type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems have been widely reported in bacteria but none in Streptomyces. With the conserved domain searches for TA pairs in the sequenced Streptomyces genomes, we identified two putative relBE loci, relBE1sca and relBE2sca, on the chromosome of Streptomyces cattleya DSM 46488. Overexpression of the S. cattleya toxin RelE2sca caused severe growth inhibition of E. coli and S. lividans, but RelE1sca had no toxic effect. The toxicity of RelE2sca could be abolished by the co-expression of its cognate RelB2sca antitoxin. Moreover, the RelBE2sca complex, or the antitoxin RelB2sca alone, specifically interacted with the relBE2sca operon and repressed its transcription. The relBE2sca operon transcription was induced under osmotic stress, along with the ClpP proteinase genes. The subsequent in vivo analysis showed that the antitoxin was degraded by ClpP. Interestingly, the E. coli antitoxin RelBeco was able to alleviate the toxicity of S. cattleya RelE2sca while the mutant RelB2sca(N61V&M68L) but not the wild type could alleviate the toxicity of E. coli RelEeco as well. The experimental demonstration of the relBEsca locus might be helpful to investigate the key roles of type II TA systems in Streptomyces physiology and environmental stress responses

Additional file 2: Figure S1. of A retrospective paired study: efficacy and toxicity of nimotuzumab versus cisplatin concurrent with radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Overall survival of stage II patients who received h-R3/RT or CDDP/RT. Figure S2. Overall survival of patients aged more than 60 years old who received h-R3/RT or CDDP/RT. Figure S3. Overall survival in stage III and IV patients with h-R3/RT and CDDP/RT. (ZIP 12 kb

Tuning Polyelectrolyte–Surfactant Interactions: Modification of Poly(ethylenimine) with Propylene Oxide and Blocks of Ethylene Oxide

Significantly enhanced adsorption at the air–water interface arises in polyelectrolyte/ionic surfactant mixtures, such as poly­(ethylenimine)/sodium dodecyl sulfate (PEI/SDS), down to relatively low surfactant concentrations due to a strong surface interaction between the polyelectrolyte and surfactant. In the region of charge neutralization this can result in precipitation or coacervation and give rise to undesirable properties in many applications. Ethoxylation of the PEI can avoid precipitation, but can also considerably weaken the interaction. Localization of the ethoxylation can overcome these shortcomings. Further manipulation of the polyelectrolyte–surfactant interaction can be achieved by selective ethoxylation and propoxylation of the PEI amine groups. Neutron reflectivity and surface tension data are presented here which show how the polyelectrolyte–surfactant interaction can be manipulated by tuning the PEI structure. Using deuterium labeled surfactant and polymer the neutron reflectivity measurements provide details of the surface composition and structure of the adsorbed layer. The general pattern of behavior is that at low surfactant concentrations there is enhanced surfactant adsorption due to the strong surface interaction; whereas around the region of the SDS critical micellar concentration, cmc, the surface is partially depleted of surfactant in favor bulk aggregate structures. The results presented here show how these characteristic features of the adsorption are affected by the degree of ethoxylation and propoxylation. Increasing the degree of propoxylation enhances the surfactant adsorption, whereas varying the degree of ethoxylation has a less pronounced effect. In the region of surfactant surface depletion increasing both the degree of ethoxylation and propoxylation result in an increased surface depletion

Additional file 1: Table S1. of A retrospective paired study: efficacy and toxicity of nimotuzumab versus cisplatin concurrent with radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Prognostic factors for overall survival (Univariate) (N = 104). Table S2. Prognostic factors for overall survival (multivariable) (N = 104). Table S3. Toxicities in stage III and IV patients with h-R3/RT and CDDP/RT (N = 78). Table S4. Assignment expressions for factors in the table of patients’ characteristics. Table S5. Patients’ compliance (104 cases). Table S6. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was recommended by NCCN guidelines of Head and Neck Cancer. Table S7. General information for all 302 patients of CDDP/RT and h-R3/RT group. Table S8. Prognostic factors for Overall Survival of all 302 patients (Univariate). Table S9. Prognostic factors for Overall Survival of all 302 patients (Multivariable). (ZIP 437 kb

DS_10.1177_0022034518784260 – Supplemental material for Hydrogen Peroxide Might Bleach Natural Dentin by Oxidizing Phosphoprotein

<p>Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0022034518784260 for Hydrogen Peroxide Might Bleach Natural Dentin by Oxidizing Phosphoprotein by T. Jiang, Y.R. Guo, X.W. Feng, Y. Sa, X. Yang, M. Wang, P. Li and Y.N. Wang in Journal of Dental Research</p

Optical Nanoimaging of Hyperbolic Surface Polaritons at the Edges of van der Waals Materials

Hyperbolic polaritons in van der Waals (vdW) materials recently attract a lot of attention, owing to their strong electromagnetic field confinement, ultraslow group velocities, and long lifetimes. Typically, volume-confined hyperbolic polaritons (HPs) are studied. Here we show the first near-field optical images of hyperbolic surface polaritons (HSPs), which are confined and guided at the edges of thin flakes of a vdW material. To that end, we applied scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) for launching and real-space nanoimaging of hyperbolic surface phonon polariton modes on a hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) flake. Our imaging data reveal that the fundamental HSP mode exhibits a stronger field confinement (shorter wavelength), smaller group velocities, and nearly identical lifetimes, as compared to the fundamental HP mode of the same h-BN flake. Our experimental data, corroborated by theory, establish a solid basis for future studies and applications of HPs and HSPs in vdW materials

Short- and Long-Term Performance of the Thin-Film Composite Forward Osmosis (TFC-FO) Hollow Fiber Membranes for Oily Wastewater Purification

Fouling behavior of thin-film composite (TFC) membranes synthesized on sulfonated polyphenylenesulfone (sPPSU) hollow fiber substrates was investigated for separating oil–water emulsions under forward osmosis (FO). The water and salt reverse fluxes of the TFC-FO hollow fiber membranes were found to be stable for a period of 28 days when deionized (DI) water was used as feed. A series of fouling experiments were carried out, and it was observed that water flux decreased faster with increasing oil concentration of the feed solution. In addition, the rate of flux decline was rapid in the initial few hours, because of the cake-enhanced concentration polarization (CECP). Furthermore, we observed that the ratio of salt reverse flux to water flux (<i>J</i>_s/<i>J</i>_w) was much lower, compared to that of using DI water as feed. This may indicate that the oil fouling plugs some defects in the selective layer and the oil fouling layer hinders the salt transport, because of the CECP mechanism. Further investigations revealed that the FO fouling could be efficiently washed off using a solution containing 1 g/L NaOH and 0.3 g/L sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and the water flux could be effectively recovered, to a large extent, within 5 days when separating a 500 ppm oil–water emulsion. Overall, the newly developed FO membranes can recover ∼80% of the water at a high average water flux of 10.4 LMH using 1 M NaCl as draw solution from a 500 ppm oil–water emulsion containing a low salt concentration of 0.5 g/L. This, in turn, demonstrates the potential of the FO membranes for oily wastewater reclamation