Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, characterized by paroxysms of severe coughing, and predominantly affects children. We report the ...first case of multiple fractures in the ribs, lumbar spine, and sacrum associated with severe coughing caused by Bordetella pertussis infection in an adult.
A 49-year-old female presented with acute-onset chest wall pain for 3 weeks. Imaging results revealed multiple fractures in the ribs and vertebrae, as well as bilateral pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, right pneumothorax, and enlargement of the left parapharyngeal and subclavian lymph nodes. The patient's bone density scan, autoimmune antibodies, bone marrow biopsy, and sacral bone biopsy all came back normal. Imaging test results found no evidence of solid tumors or active TB infection. The patient later recalled having violent coughing prior to the onset of chest pain and several family members having similar symptoms. Her blood sample was sent to the CDC, revealing Bordetella pertussis toxin (PT) IgG titer of 110.68 IU/mL. The patient was diagnosed with pertussis and multiple stress fractures from violent coughing. Symptomatic treatments were administered, and the patient's symptoms improved. The patient was followed up 8 weeks later, she reported no more coughing or chest pain.
Pertussis is not just a pediatric disease, but diagnosis in adults is challenging as patients may present with a myriad of confusing symptoms, such as multiple stress fractures due to violent coughing. Medical and epidemiological histories are key to reaching the correct diagnosis, which is essential for appropriate treatments to avoid further complications. Adult immunization should be suggested both for the protection of the adult population and to prevent transmission to children.
microRNAs (miRNAs) can be used as biomarkers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, few reports have focused on the value of exosomal miRNAs in the mechanism of the pathophysiological ...process from stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) to AMI. Exosomes were isolated via ultracentrifugation after serum samples were collected. The exosomes were then identified by transmission electron microscopy, western blotting, and nanoparticle tracking analysis. The differential expression of miRNAs in exosomes from six AMI and six matching SCAD patients was screened using the Agilent Human miRNA Microarray Kit. Target genes of the candidate miRNAs were predicted via an online miRNA database, Gene Ontology, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. Further validation was conducted through quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction with 60 exosome samples. The expression of 13 miRNAs was significantly downregulated in the AMI samples compared with the SCAD samples. In addition, we identified various target genes that are mainly involved in the pathways of cardiac rehabilitation and remodelling. Validation of the expression of candidate miRNAs indicated that exosomal miR‐1915‐3p, miR‐4,507, and miR‐3,656 were significantly less expressed in AMI samples than in SCAD samples, and area under the receiver‐operating‐characteristic curve (AUC) analysis showed that the expression of these miRNAs resulted in good predictive accuracy miR‐1915‐3p (AUC: 0.772); miR‐4,507 (AUC: 0.684); and miR‐3,656 (AUC: 0.771), suggesting that these serum exosomal miRNAs might be predictive for AMI at an early stage. Hence, exosomal miRNAs might play an important role in the pathophysiology of AMI and could serve as diagnostic biomarkers.
This study aims to estimate the risk factors of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and to evaluate the optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT).
...We enrolled 1266 patients with ACS in a telephone follow-up program to determine whether any of the patients were hospitalized for GI bleeding. We collected baseline data, laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, and echocardiography covering all ACS patients. Multivariable regression was performed to adjust for confounders and predictors of GI bleeding. At the same time, the optimal duration of DAPT for ACS patients was evaluated.
A total of 1061 ACS patients were included in the study. After 13-68 months, 48 patients (4.5%) were hospitalized for GI bleeding. The risk of GI bleeding was significantly increased in patients treated with DAPT for more than 18 months (hazard ratio 12.792, 5.607-29.185,
< 0.01). Receiver Operating Characteristic curve showed that the duration of DAPT using a cutoff of 14.5 months resulted in a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 77%.
In patients with ACS, DAPT time are the main risk factors of GI bleeding. The optimal duration of DAPT is 14.5 months.
Plant artificial minichromosomes are the next-generation technology for plant genetic engineering and represent an independent platform for expressing foreign genes and the tools for studying the ...structure and function of chromosomes. Minichromosomes have been successfully produced by telomere-mediated chromosome truncation in several plants. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the construction and rough characterization of minichromosomes, while the development of stably inherited minichromosomes and their precise characterization and tracking over different generations have rarely been demonstrated. In this study, a 0.35-kb direct repeat of the
Arabidopsis
telomeric sequence was transformed into
Brassica napus
to produce artificial minichromosomes, which were analyzed by multifluorescence
in situ
hybridization (multi-FISH), Southern hybridization, and primer extension telomere rapid amplification (PETRA). The stably inherited minichromosomes C2 and C4 were developed by crossing transgenic plants with wild-type plants and then selfing the hybrids. Notably, two truncation sites on chromosomes C2 and C4, respectively, were identified by resequencing; thus, the artificial minichromosomes were tracked over different generations with insertion site-specific PCR. This study provided two stably inherited minichromosomes in oilseed rape and describes approaches to precisely characterize the truncation position and track the minichromosomes in offspring through multi-FISH, genome resequencing, and insertion site-specific PCR.
We know very well the Moon’s appearance in the visible wavelengths. What the Moon in the midinfrared (MIR) looks like is still a mystery. We present detailed appearance of the MIR Moon observed by a ...high‐resolution geostationary satellite and reveal the essence behind its appearance. The appearance of the MIR Moon is opposite to its normal visible appearance and shows limb darkening. Both the absolute and the relative brightness distribution of the MIR lunar disk changes with the solar incidence angle i. The signatures of the MIR Moon are controlled by both the reflection and the emission of the lunar surface. The center‐to‐limb temperature variation across the lunar disk is clearly shown. The slower decrease of the brightness temperature when moving away from the subsolar point than the Lambertian model represents topographic effects.
Plain Language Summary
The Moon’s optical characteristics in visible and thermal infrared have long been observed with our eyes or with instruments. However, what the Moon looks like in the mid‐infrared (MIR) is still a mystery. We show several amazing images of the MIR Moon taken by high‐resolution geostationary satellite for different lunar phases. The entire lunar disk was imaged in high‐resolution single exposure, which is advantageous for investigating the brightness distribution across the lunar disk compared to a mosaic of image frames from lunar‐orbiting spacecrafts. The MIR Moon exhibits opposite trends to its normal visible appearance and shows limb darkening. Both the absolute and the relative brightness distribution of the MIR lunar disk evolve with the changing incidence of the solar illumination. The temperature variation across the lunar disk is also clearly shown.
Key Points
We show the MIR Moon’s appearance and variation with lunar phase
We show the center‐to‐limb temperature map of the Moon
The MIR Moon shows limb darkening compared to the Moon in the VNIR
Silique walls play pivotal roles in contributing photoassimilates and nutrients to fuel seed growth. However, the interaction between seeds and silique walls impacting oil biosynthesis is not clear ...during silique development. Changes in sugar, fatty acid and gene expression during
silique development of L192 with high oil content and A260 with low oil content were investigated to identify key factors affecting difference of their seed oil content. During the silique development, silique walls contained more hexose and less sucrose than seeds, and glucose and fructose contents in seeds and silique walls of L192 were higher than that of A260 at 15 DAF, and sucrose content in the silique walls of L192 were lower than that of A260 at three time points. Genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis were activated over time, and differences on fatty acid content between the two genotypes occurred after 25 DAF. Genes related to photosynthesis expressed more highly in silique walls than in contemporaneous seeds, and were inhibited over time. Gene set enrichment analysis suggested photosynthesis were activated in L192 at 25 and 35 DAF in silique walls and at both 15 and 35 DAF in the seed. Expressions of sugar transporter genes in L192 was higher than that in A260, especially at 35 DAF. Expressions of genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis, such as
s,
and
s were higher in L192 than in A260, especially at 35 DAF. Meanwhile, genes related to oil body proteins were expressed at much lower levels in L192 than in A260. According to the WGCNA results, hub modules, such as ME.turquoise relative to photosynthesis, ME.green relative to embryo development and ME.yellow relative to lipid biosynthesis, were identified and synergistically regulated seed development and oil accumulation. Our results are helpful for understanding the mechanism of oil accumulation of seeds in oilseed rape for seed oil content improvement.
The profiling of plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is becoming a valuable tool rapidly for tumor diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis. Diverse plasma cfDNA technologies have been in routine or emerging ...use, including analyses of mutations, copy number alterations, gene fusions and DNA methylation. Recently, new technologies in cfDNA analysis have been developed in laboratories, and potentially reflect the status of epigenetic modification, the immune microenvironment and the microbiome in tumor tissues. In this review, the authors discuss the principles, methods and effects of the current cfDNA assays and provide an overview of studies that may inform clinical applications in the near future.
The emergence of high antimicrobial-resistant and hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) clones in clinics has become a cause of concern in recent years. Despite the global spread of the clonal ...complex (CC) 258, hvKp of other non-CC258 subgroups also emerged. Here, by performing a retrospective study from July 2019 to August 2020 in a Chinese hospital, we obtained 25 K. pneumoniae isolates belonging to CC15. By antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole genome sequencing and analysis, we obtained the resistant phenotypes and genotypes of these isolates. Twenty-one isolates (84%) were carbapenem-resistant, and eighteen were blaKPC-2 positive. In addition, ten isolates were identified as putative hvKp and seven were carbapenem-resistant hvKp. Nine isolates carried the pLVPK-like virulence plasmid, which contains the fragment including rmpA2, peg-589, iutA, and iucABCD. Another isolate carried iucA. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolates belonged to four lineages, and the putative hvKp isolates were identified in three of these. Two independent sublineages of putative hvKp were caused by the acquisition of pLVPK-like virulence plasmid. Based on comparative genomic analysis, the number of pairwise single nucleotide polymorphisms amongst the four sublineages, Lineage 1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b, were 1–43, 2–13, 129–279, and 3–4, respectively, indicating clonal transmission of Lineage 1a, 1b, and 2b. These results indicate that multiple lineages of CC15 carbapenem-resistant hvKp have emerged in the hospital and caused nosocomial transmission, and that the spreading of virulence plasmids among classic K. pneumoniae subtypes might become more common and happen more easily. These findings highlight the importance of surveillance of local epidemics of non-CC258 subgroups in hospitals.
Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) is a rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of triacylglycerol (TAG), the most important form of energy storage in plants. Some residues have previously been ...proven to be crucial for DGAT1 activity. In this study, we used site-directed mutagenesis of the
gene from
to alter 16 amino acids to investigate effects on DGAT1 function. Of the 16 residues (L482R, E542R, Y553A, G577R, R579D, Y582R, R596D, H603D, H609D, A624R, F629R, S632A, W650R, A651R, Q658H, and P660R), we newly identified 5 (L482, R579, H603, A651, and P660) as being essential for DGAT1 function and 7 (E542, G577, R596, H609, A624, S632, and Q658) that significantly affect DGAT1 function to different degrees, as revealed by heterologous expression of the mutants in yeast strain INVSc1. Importantly, compared with
, expression of the mutant
significantly increased the total fatty acid and TAG contents of INVSc1. Comparison among CeDGAT1Y553A, GmDGAT1Y341A, AtDGAT1Y364A, BnDGAT1Y347A, and BoDGAT1Y352A, in which tyrosine at the position corresponding to the 553rd residue in CeDGAT1 is changed into alanine, indicated that the impact of changing Y to A at position 553 is specific for CeDGAT1. Overall, the results provide novel insight into the structure and function of DGAT1, as well as a mutant gene with high potential for lipid improvement in microalgae and plants.
The gap between the growing demand for available organs and the cadaveric organs facilitates the adoption of living donor liver transplantation. We retrospectively identified and evaluated the ...post-operative complications as per the modified Clavien classification system in 152 living liver donors at at the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University between December, 2006 and June, 2014. Post-operative complications were observed in 61 patients (40.1%) in the present study, but no mortality was reported. Complications developed in 58 (40.0%) right, 1 (33.3%) left, and 2 (66.7%) lateral left hepatectomy donors. The prevalence of re-operation was 1.3%. Grade I and II complications were observed in 38 (25.0%) and 11 (7.2%) donors, respectively. Grade IIIa complications developed in 9 (5.9%) donors and only 3 (2.0%) patients reported grade IIIb complications. The most common complication was pleural effusion that occurred in 31 (20.4%) donors. No significant prognostic baseline factor was identified in this study. In conclusion, living donors experienced various complications, which were usually mild and had a good prognosis.
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