Sexually transmitted diseases are major causes of infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and premature birth. Here, we developed a new multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the ...simultaneous detection of nine major sexually transmitted infections (STIs) found in Vietnamese women, including Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Gardnerella vaginalis, Trichomonas vaginalis, Candida albicans, Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma genitalium, and human alphaherpesviruses 1 and 2. A panel containing three tubes × three pathogens/tube was predesigned based on double-quenched TaqMan probes to increase detection sensitivity. There was no cross-reactivity among the nine STIs and other non-targeted microorganisms. Depending on each pathogen, the agreement with commercial kits, sensitivity, specificity, repeatability and reproducibility coefficient of variation (CV), and limit of detection of the developed real-time PCR assay were 99.0%-100%, 92.9%-100%, 100%, <3%, and 8-58 copies/reaction, respectively. One assay cost only 2.34 USD. Application of the assay for the detection of the nine STIs in 535 vaginal swab samples collected from women in Vietnam yielded 532 positive cases (99.44%). Among the positive samples, 37.76% had one pathogen, with G. vaginalis (33.83%) as the most prevalent; 46.36% had two pathogens, with G. vaginalis + C. albicans as the most prevalent combination (38.13%); and 11.78%, 2.99%, and 0.56% had three, four, and five pathogens, respectively. In conclusion, the developed assay represents a sensitive and cost-effective molecular diagnostic tool for the detection of major STIs in Vietnam and is a model for the development of panel detections of common STIs in other countries.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this study, the synthesized CuCo-zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) catalyst was used to degrade methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) in water via a novel Fenton-like catalytic reaction. ...Effects of catalyst dosage, H
concentration, initial concentration of the contaminants, and reaction time were evaluated. The results showed that MO and MB decomposition efficiencies were highly influenced by CuCo-ZIF concentration. The presence of H
accelerated the degradation reaction of both MO and MB. Although it took 100 min to complete the removal of MB, it was 60 min for MO. At concentrations of MO and MB lower than 40 mg·L
, the catalyst showed an almost complete degradation. The CuCo-ZIF catalyst presented a good recyclability with more than 90% removal of MO and MB after four times and five times reuse, respectively. These results demonstrated that MO and MB were efficiently degraded by a Fenton-like catalyst of CuCo-ZIFs and its potential in industrial wastewater treatment.
Gene expression regulation is one of the most effective adaptation responses to abiotic stressors. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the method of choice for quantifying ...gene expression levels. Reference genes are important factors that are required for accurate and reliable normalization of RT-qPCR-derived data, and a minimum of two stably expressed reference genes must be employed according to the Minimum Information for publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Experiment guidelines. To date, most gene expression studies reported in rice under salt stress have utilized a single reference gene. In addition, there has been little research into a set of reference genes that are stably expressed across tissues of different rice genotypes. In this study, twelve potential reference gene candidates were selected, including
ACT11
,
TIP41
,
BTUB
,
EF1A
,
EIF4A
,
FBOX
,
GAPDH
,
PP2A
,
SPX
,
UBCE2
,
UBQ10
, and
CCZ1
. Their expression stability was evaluated in internode, leaf, and root tissues of six rice genotypes with different salt stress tolerances. The geNorm, NormFinder, and RefFinder statistical algorithms identified
EIF4A
and
TIP41
as the most suitable set of reference genes for the accurate and reliable normalization of RT-qPCR data generated from eighteen tissue samples. The performance of the identified reference genes was validated for their accuracy and reliability through RT-qPCR analysis of the gene encoding the HKT1 potassium transporter. Our results highlighted the importance of identifying a suitable set of reference genes for gene expression studies in rice under salt stress in order to obtain accurate and reliable data.
Adjunctive dexamethasone reduces mortality from tuberculous meningitis, but how it produces this effect is not known. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are important in the immunopathology of many ...inflammatory CNS diseases thus we hypothesized that that their secretion is important in TBM and might be influenced by dexamethasone.
The kinetics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) MMP and tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) concentrations were studied in a subset of HIV uninfected adults (n = 37) with TBM recruited to a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of adjuvant dexamethasone. Analysis followed a pre-defined plan. Dexamethasone significantly reduced CSF MMP-9 concentrations in early follow up samples (median 5 days (range 3-8) of treatment), but had no significant influence on other MMPs/TIMPs. Additionally CSF MMP-9 concentration was strongly correlated to concomitant CSF neutrophil count.
Dexamethasone decreased CSF MMP-9 concentrations early in treatment and this may represent one mechanism by which corticosteroids improve outcome in TBM. The strong correlation between CSF MMP-9 and neutrophil count suggests that polymorphonuclear leukocytes may play a central role in the early pathogenesis of TBM.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Hypertension and oxidative stress are involved in the pathophysiological mechanism of stroke. We aimed to investigate the modification impact of the pro-oxidant-anti-oxidant balance (PAB) on the ...association between hypertension and stroke recurrence (SR).
A cross-sectional design was conducted from December 2019 to December 2020 in 951 stroke patients in six hospitals across Vietnam. Hypertension was defined using antihypertensive medication or systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg. PAB was estimated using weighting methods based on smoking, drinking, and overweight/obesity with pro-oxidant capacity, diet quality, fruit intake, vegetable intake, and physical activity with antioxidant capacity. The higher PAB scores indicated a beneficial balance shifting toward antioxidant dominance. SR was diagnosed by neurologists. Moreover, sociodemographic and health conditions were included as covariates. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to explore the associations and interactions.
The hypertension and SR proportions were 72.8% and 17.5%, respectively. hypertension was associated with an increased SR likelihood (odds ratio (OR) = 1.93;
= 0.004), whereas a higher PAB score was associated with a lowered SR likelihood (OR = 0.87;
= 0.003). Moreover, hypertension interacting with every one-point increment of PAB was associated with a lowered SR likelihood (OR = 0.83;
= 0.022).
The harmful impact of hypertension on SR could be alleviated by PAB. The interplay of health behaviors should be highlighted in the intervention strategies for stroke prevention.
1. The objective of the study was to demonstrate that Bacillus subtilis strain VL28 (BS-VL28), a novel strain isolated from faeces of healthy chicken, has potential as a probiotic.
2. The study ...evaluated the probiotic properties of BS-VL28 and the effects of dietary supplementation of this strain on growth performance and mortality in chickens challenged with Salmonella enterica CT01.
3. BS-VL28 exhibited a specific inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli CT11, Salmonella enterica CT01, Staphylococcus spp. CT21 and Streptococcus spp. CT31.
4. BS-VL28 also showed an auto-aggregation percentage of 82%, co-aggregation activity greater than 60%, high tolerance to low pH (<2.0) under the presence of 0.05% bile salts. However, the results from the antibiotic susceptibility tests demonstrated that this strain was sensitive to erythromycin, gentamycin, doxycycline, norfloxacin, oxytetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, enrofloxacin but was intermediate to neomycin.
5. Inclusion of probiotic (5 g BS-VL28 (10
7
CFU/g) per kg of feed to diet of challenged chickens showed better performance and feed conversion rates (FCR). There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in mortality in the probiotic-treated group compared to the control and antibiotic-treated groups.
6. From these results, BS-VL28 could potentially function as a probiotic for broilers.
From an EtOAc-soluble extract of the roots of Taxus wallichiana, six new (1–6) and 11 known lignans were isolated. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated based on interpretation of ...spectroscopic data. (+)-7′-epi-Tsugacetal (1) is a rare aryltetralin-type lignan having a cis-orientation of H-7′ and H-8′. Compounds 3–6 were identified as the first naturally occurring tetrahydrofuranoid lignans having a cis-orientation of H-7 and H-8. All tested compounds were found to possess α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, with formosanol (9) showing the most potent effect with an IC50 value of 35.3 μM.
The failure of soft rocks is highly concerned in both research and practice due to the vulnerability of materials and its involvement in a wide range of foundation and mine collapses. Different ...methods have been suggested to study the fracture characteristics of soft rocks. In this study, a discrete-based modelling method is proposed, as an alternative to existing continuum methods, to analyse the fracturing behaviour of soft rocks. A new cohesive model coupling damage mechanics with plasticity theory is formulated to characterise the failure mechanisms of cement bridges between aggregates in the materials. In conjunction with the discrete element method (DEM), the proposed modelling method can produce realistic modelling of soft rock failure, demonstrated through good agreements between experimental and numerical results in both specimen responses and crack patterns. Based on this, further analyses of soft rock failure are carried out, focusing on the influence of specimen geometries on the material fracture toughness measured in a semi-circular bending test. The simulation results agree well with their experimental counterparts while being less scattered than the experimental data. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method in characterising fracture properties of soft rocks and opens more potentials for a better understanding of soft rock failure.
•Failure of soft rocks can be effectively captured using a new cohesive model combined with DEM.•The combined damage-plasticity cohesive model can describe well the degradation of cement bridges in soft rocks.•This facilitates the characterisation of soft rock failure for better understanding and design.
Although abiotic catalysts are capable of promoting numerous new-to-nature reactions, only a small subset has so far been successfully integrated into living systems. Research in intracellular ...catalysis requires an interdisciplinary approach that takes advantage of both chemical and biological tools as well as state of the art instruments. In this Perspective, we will focus on the techniques that have made studying metal-catalyzed reactions in cells possible using representative examples from the literature. Although the lack of quantitative data in vitro and in vivo has somewhat limited progress in the catalyst development process, recent advances in characterization methods should help overcome some of these deficiencies. Given its tremendous potential, we believe that intracellular catalysis will play a more prominent role in the development of future biotechnologies and therapeutics.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from tumor cells have the potential to provide a much-needed source of non-invasive molecular biomarkers for liquid biopsies. However, current methods for EV ...isolation have limited specificity towards tumor-derived EVs that limit their clinical use. Here, we present an approach called immunomagnetic sequential ultrafiltration (iSUF) that consists of sequential stages of purification and enrichment of EVs in approximately 2 h. In iSUF, EVs present in different volumes of biofluids (0.5-100 mL) can be significantly enriched (up to 1000 times), with up to 99% removal of contaminating proteins (e.g., albumin). The EV recovery rate by iSUF for cell culture media (CCM), serum, and urine corresponded to 98.0% ± 3.6%, 96.0% ± 2.0% and 94.0% ± 1.9%, respectively (p > 0.05). The final step of iSUF enables the separation of tumor-specific EVs by incorporating immunomagnetic beads to target EV subpopulations. Serum from a cohort of clinical samples from metastatic breast cancer (BC) patients and healthy donors were processed by the iSUF platform and the isolated EVs from patients showed significantly higher expression levels of BC biomarkers (i.e., HER2, CD24, and miR21).
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