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MSystems Oct 2022Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) seriously threatens public health by reducing antibiotic effectiveness in curing bacterial infections. Atmospheric particulate matter...
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) seriously threatens public health by reducing antibiotic effectiveness in curing bacterial infections. Atmospheric particulate matter (APM) is a common environmental hazard that affects human health by causing various diseases and disseminating bacterial pathogenesis, of which pathogenic bacteria and AMR are essential parts. The properties of APM microbiomes and resistomes, along with their shaping factors and mutual relationships, need further examination. To address this, we analyzed APMs collected from 13 cities within four clusters (North and South China, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet). Significant regionalization was found for both the microbiomes ( < 0.001) and core resistomes ( < 0.001) for APMs, with statistical analyses showing significant differences in different regions. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and accompanying ANOSIM analyses showed that microbiomes and core resistomes followed the same regional subclustering hierarchy patterns. This finding, together with response analysis of APM microbiomes and core resistomes to environmental parameters that showed similar response patterns, as well as Procrustes analysis (M = 0.963, < 0.05) between APM microbiomes and core resistomes, strongly suggested that APM microbiomes and core resistomes are correlated. Co-occurrence network analysis further revealed key taxa and antimicrobial resistance determinants in the interactions between APM microbiomes and core resistomes. Thus, it was concluded that APM microbiome and resistome compositions were highly regional, that environmental pollutants and APM levels impacted APM microbiomes and resistomes, and that microbiomes and resistomes in APMs are significantly correlated ( < 0.05). Bacteria associated with atmospheric particulate matter (APMs) can transmit over long distances. A large portion of these bacteria can potentially threaten human health. The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of pathogenic bacteria carried by APMs prevents curing from infections. Therefore, both the pathogenic bacteria in APMs and their AMR are receiving more attention. The literature suggests a knowledge gap that exists for bacterial AMR and bacterial pathogenesis in APMs, including their distribution patterns, mutual relationships, and factors influencing their compositions. This work aimed to bridge this knowledge gap by studying APM samples collected from 13 cities. The results demonstrated that both bacteria and antibiotic resistance determinants were highly regional and that their composition patterns were significantly correlated, and influenced by the same group of environmental factors. This study thus determined the relationship between the two important aspects of bacterial pathogenesis in APMs and represents significant progress in understanding bacterial pathogenesis in APMs.
Topics: Humans; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Microbiota; Bacteria; Anti-Bacterial Agents; R Factors
PubMed: 36154139
DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00698-22 -
NeuroImage. Clinical 2022The ability to share and understand the distress of others is critical for successful social interactions and is a fundamental building block of morality. Psychopathy is...
The ability to share and understand the distress of others is critical for successful social interactions and is a fundamental building block of morality. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that includes lack of empathy and concern for others. In the present study, functional MRI was used to examine neural responses and functional connectivity associated with empathy and affective perspective-taking in female inmates (N = 109) with various levels of psychopathic traits, as measured with Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Participants viewed hands and feet in painful or non-painful situations while adopting a first person or third person perspective. All participants demonstrated robust neural responses in anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate (ACC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and supplementary motor area (SMA) when viewing pain, both during imagine-self and imagine-other blocks. Psychopathy shifted the functional connectivity seeded in core nodes of the salience and social cognition networks. Perceiving stimuli depicting somatic pain led to decreased functional coupling from right temporoparietal junction to superior temporal sulcus, which correlated with scores on PCL-R Factor 1 (Affective/Interpersonal). In contrast, connectivity from right insula to precuneus increased with Factor 2 (Lifestyle/Antisocial) scores. When adopting a third-person perspective, psychopathic traits modulated connectivity from the social cognition network, but not the salience network, with Factor 1 scores associated with increased connectivity to sensorimotor cortex and temporal pole, while Factor 2 scores were associated with decreased connectivity with ACC/SMA and inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, these results demonstrate that psychopathic traits in incarcerated females are associated with atypical functional connectivity within the salience network during pain-empathy processing and within the social cognition network during affective perspective-taking.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Brain; Brain Mapping; Empathy; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Pain; Pain Perception
PubMed: 35276604
DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.102984 -
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Dec 2015To study how sensitivity encoding (SENSE) impacts periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) image quality, including...
PURPOSE
To study how sensitivity encoding (SENSE) impacts periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) image quality, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), robustness to motion, precision of motion estimation, and image quality.
METHODS
Five volunteers were imaged by three sets of scans. A rapid method for generating the g-factor map was proposed and validated via Monte Carlo simulations. Sensitivity maps were extrapolated to increase the area over which SENSE can be performed and therefore enhance the robustness to head motion. The precision of motion estimation of PROPELLER blades that are unfolded with these sensitivity maps was investigated. An interleaved R-factor PROPELLER sequence was used to acquire data with similar amounts of motion with and without SENSE acceleration. Two neuroradiologists independently and blindly compared 214 image pairs.
RESULTS
The proposed method of g-factor calculation was similar to that provided by the Monte Carlo methods. Extrapolation and rotation of the sensitivity maps allowed for continued robustness of SENSE unfolding in the presence of motion. SENSE-widened blades improved the precision of rotation and translation estimation. PROPELLER images with a SENSE factor of 3 outperformed the traditional PROPELLER images when reconstructing the same number of blades.
CONCLUSION
SENSE not only accelerates PROPELLER but can also improve robustness and precision of head motion correction, which improves overall image quality even when SNR is lost due to acceleration. The reduction of SNR, as a penalty of acceleration, is characterized by the proposed g-factor method.
Topics: Adult; Algorithms; Artifacts; Brain; Female; Humans; Image Enhancement; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Motion; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Signal-To-Noise Ratio
PubMed: 25522132
DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25557 -
BMC Urology May 2023Collecting system entry in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy may occur even in cases showing a low N factor in the R.E.N.A.L nephrometry score. Therefore, in this...
BACKGROUND
Collecting system entry in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy may occur even in cases showing a low N factor in the R.E.N.A.L nephrometry score. Therefore, in this study, we focused on the tumor contact surface area with the adjacent renal parenchyma and attempted to construct a novel predictive model for collecting system entry.
METHODS
Among 190 patients who underwent robot-assisted partial nephrectomy at our institution from 2015 to 2021, 94 patients with a low N factor (1-2) were analyzed. Contact surface was measured with three-dimensional imaging software and defined as the C factor, classified as C1, < 10 cm [2]; C2, ≥ 10 and < 15 cm [2]; and C3: ≥ 15 cm [2]. Additionally, a modified R factor (mR) was classified as mR1, < 20 mm; mR2, ≥ 20 and < 40 mm; and mR3, ≥ 40 mm. We discussed the factors influencing collecting system entry, including the C factor, and created a novel collecting system entry predictive model.
RESULTS
Collecting system entry was observed in 32 patients with a low N factor (34%). The C factor was the only independent predictive factor for collecting system entry in multivariate regression analysis (odds ratio: 4.195, 95% CI: 2.160-8.146, p < 0.0001). Models including the C factor showed better discriminative power than the models without the C factor.
CONCLUSIONS
The new predictive model, including the C factor in N1-2 cases, may be beneficial, considering its indication for preoperative ureteral catheter placement in patients undergoing robot-assisted partial nephrectomy.
Topics: Humans; Nephrectomy; Retrospective Studies; Robotic Surgical Procedures; Robotics; Carcinoma, Renal Cell; Kidney Neoplasms
PubMed: 37158841
DOI: 10.1186/s12894-023-01247-0 -
Journal of Personality Assessment 2022Character strengths have become a popular topic in personality research. A set of questionnaires has recently been developed as measures of character strengths: the VIA...
Character strengths have become a popular topic in personality research. A set of questionnaires has recently been developed as measures of character strengths: the VIA Inventory of Strengths-Revised, two 96-item short forms of that instrument, and two new measures called the Global Assessment of Character Strengths and Signature Strengths Survey. Collectively, these are referred to as the VIA Assessment Suite for Adults. Prior research has supported the reliability and validity of these measures. The current study extended those findings through a demographically stratified sample of 1,765 U.S. resident adults. Results indicated the scores were interchangeable across all three versions of the VIA-IS, irrespective of whether the items are all positively keyed or a mix of positive and negative items. In addition, the VIA-IS-R factor structure is also consistent with a previously identified three-factor model for the strengths. By freeing residual covariances, a model was developed for which adequate fit was replicable. This provided the foundation for demonstrating measurement invariance. The present study also explored differences in strengths across demographic categories and evaluated various approaches to identifying key (signature) strengths for the respondents. Recommendations on the use of the different instruments are provided.
Topics: Adult; Character; Humans; Personality Disorders; Personality Inventory; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 34379545
DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2021.1955692 -
Scientific Reports Jul 2022Considering the high-temporal-resolution rainfall data requirements for calculating the Rainfall Erosivity factor (that is, the R-factor), studies have developed a large...
Considering the high-temporal-resolution rainfall data requirements for calculating the Rainfall Erosivity factor (that is, the R-factor), studies have developed a large number of proxies for the R-factor (PR). This study aims to evaluate 15 widely used proxies, which were developed in various countries using daily, monthly, or yearly rainfall data, in terms of correlation and statistical equality with the R-factor by using the 6-min pluviographic data from 28 stations in Australia. Meng's test was applied to rank the correlations. Although the Meng's test indicated that the correlation between Rainfall Erosivity (R) and Rainfall Erosivity calculated by the proxy model (PR) generally increased with a finer time resolution of the rainfall data (in the order of year, month, and day), the 15 PRs under examination were all highly correlated with R (r > 0.62, p < 0.004), implying that all of them can be reasonably used as an R predictor. A direct estimation of the R-factor using PRs produced a mean relative error (MRE), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) with a mean of 50.0%, 1392 MJ mm ha h a, and 0.17, respectively. The linear calibrations improved the accuracy of the estimation and produced an MRE, RMSE, and NSE with a mean of 36.0%, 887 MJ mm ha h a, and 0.70, respectively. Finally, suitable proxies for instances where only daily, monthly, or yearly rainfall data are available were recommended.
Topics: Australia; Environmental Monitoring; Rain; Soil; Water Movements
PubMed: 35840597
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15271-x -
Current Drug Targets 2016As early as 1940, Abraham and Chain described "an enzyme able to destroy penicillin". In the late 1940's, penicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus were... (Review)
Review
As early as 1940, Abraham and Chain described "an enzyme able to destroy penicillin". In the late 1940's, penicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus were found to be a clinical problem. They produced a penicillinase that could hydrolyze the amide bond in the β-lactam ring. Later, an enzyme mediated by an R-factor was isolated from Enterobacteriaceae. Methicillin and cephalosporins, both very poor substrates of the S. aureus enzyme, were found to be sensitive to this new enzyme. Third generation cephalosporins appeared to solve the problem, but further enzymes were selected that exhibited extended spectra and could for instance hydrolyze cefotaxime and/or ceftazidime. The discovery of carbapenems constituted a major advance for our antimicrobial arsenal: they inactivated most of the essential penicillin binding proteins effectively and escaped the activity of nearly all known -β lactamases. However, the metallo-β-lactamases, which had not been recognised as a major danger before 1990, were found to act as effective carbapenemases and started to spread in a worrying way. Moreover, carbapenem-hydrolyzing enzymes were found in each of the 3 classes of active-site serine β-lactamases.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins; Carbapenems; Drug Discovery; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Models, Molecular; beta-Lactamases
PubMed: 26424390
DOI: 10.2174/1389450116666151001112859 -
Plasmid Jul 2023Plasmid families harbor different maintenances functions, depending on their size and copy number. Low copy number plasmids rely on active partition systems, organizing... (Review)
Review
Plasmid families harbor different maintenances functions, depending on their size and copy number. Low copy number plasmids rely on active partition systems, organizing a partition complex at specific centromere sites that is actively positioned using NTPase proteins. Some low copy number plasmids lack an active partition system, but carry atypical intracellular positioning systems using a single protein that binds to the centromere site but without an associated NTPase. These systems have been studied in the case of the Escherichia coli R388 and of the Staphylococcus aureus pSK1 plasmids. Here we review these two systems, which appear to be unrelated but share common features, such as their distribution on plasmids of medium size and copy number, certain activities of their centromere-binding proteins, StbA and Par, respectively, as well as their mode of action, which may involve dynamic interactions with the nucleoid-packed chromosome of their hosts.
Topics: Humans; Plasmids; DNA Copy Number Variations; Nucleoside-Triphosphatase; Escherichia coli; Bacterial Proteins; Chromosome Segregation
PubMed: 37301314
DOI: 10.1016/j.plasmid.2023.102694 -
Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine... Dec 2023CeONPs and ZnONPs can curb the increase of cholesterol and triglycerides observed in rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It was suggested that CeO NPs could...
Nano cerium oxide and cerium/zinc nanocomposites characterization and therapeutic role in combating obesity via controlling oxidative stress and insulin resistance in rat model.
BACKGROUND
CeONPs and ZnONPs can curb the increase of cholesterol and triglycerides observed in rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It was suggested that CeO NPs could potentially have an insulin-sensitizing effect, specifically on adipose tissue and skeletal muscle. It was reported that ZnONPs combat the increase of insulin resistance observed in obese rats and could be beneficial value in NAFLD. In our previous work, ZnO-NPs manifested valuable anti-obesity effects via lowering body weight gain, oxidative stress, BMI, lipids, and insulin resistance.
METHODS
In the present study, cerium oxide nanoparticles (A-1) and cerium/zinc nanocomposites (A-2 and A-3) were synthesized by solgel to investigate their role on oxidative stress, adipocyte hormones, and insulin resistance in an obese rat model. X-ray diffraction, HRTEM, SEM, and XPS were carried out to confirm the crystal structure, the particle size, the morphology of the nanoparticles and the oxidation states.
RESULTS
The Rietveld refinement has also been executed on A-1 (chi = 1.00; average Bragg = 2.92%; R-factor = 2.45%) and on A-2 (R = 9.87%, R= 9.68%, χ = 1.04, G = 1.02). The XPS spectra indicated the presence of Ce in + 4 and + 3 oxidation states and Zn as ZnO and ZnO.OH. Cerium oxide and ZnO crystal sizes lie in the range 40.53-45.01 and 40.53-45.01 nm, respectively. The results indicated that treating obese rats with any of the tested nano compounds (5 mg or 10 mg/Kg) lowered plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, insulin resistance, glucose, and BMI significantly relative to obese group values. On the other hand, HDL increased significantly in obese rats after treatment with either A-2 or A-3 compared to obese rats. The current investigation showed antioxidant activities for A-1, A-2, and A3 as evidenced by the significant increase in GSH level and a significant decrease in MDA.
CONCLUSION
It was found that A-1, A-2, and A-3 have an efficient therapeutic role in treating of obesity-related hyperlipidemia, oxidative stress and insulin resistance. The results of A-2 and A-3 were more pronounced than those of A-1. The use of Zn/Ce nanocomposite (that have positive characteristics) in combating obesity and its complications could be become a new trend in therapeutic application for a management of obesity.
Topics: Rats; Animals; Insulin Resistance; Zinc; Zinc Oxide; Obesity; Oxidative Stress; Cerium; Nanoparticles; Cholesterol; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Triglycerides; Nanocomposites
PubMed: 37804595
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2023.127312 -
Cells Oct 2022Ubiquilin-4 () is a proteasomal shuttle factor that directly binds to ubiquitylated proteins and delivers its cargo to the 26S proteasome for degradation. We previously...
Ubiquilin-4 () is a proteasomal shuttle factor that directly binds to ubiquitylated proteins and delivers its cargo to the 26S proteasome for degradation. We previously showed that upregulated UBQLN4 determines the DNA damage response (DDR) through the degradation of MRE11A. However, the regulatory mechanism at DNA level, transcriptionally and post-transcriptional levels that control mRNA levels remains unknown. In this study, we screened 32 solid tumor types and validated our findings by immunohistochemistry analysis. UBQLN4 is upregulated at both mRNA and protein levels and the most significant values were observed in liver, breast, ovarian, lung, and esophageal cancers. Patients with high mRNA levels had significantly poor prognoses in 20 of 32 cancer types. DNA amplification was identified as the main mechanism promoting UBQLN4 upregulation in multiple cancers, even in the early phases of tumor development. Using CRISPR screen datasets, was identified as a common essential gene for tumor cell viability in 81.1% (860/1,060) of the solid tumor derived cell lines. Ovarian cancer cell lines with high mRNA levels were platinum-based chemotherapy resistant, while they were more sensitive to poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi). Our findings highlight the utilities of as a significant pan-cancer theranostic factor and a precision oncology biomarker for DDR-related drug resistance.
Topics: Female; Humans; Prognosis; R Factors; Ribose; Precision Medicine; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases; Ovarian Neoplasms; DNA; Genomics; RNA, Messenger; Adenosine Diphosphate; Carrier Proteins; Nuclear Proteins
PubMed: 36291176
DOI: 10.3390/cells11203311