Infective Endocarditis Caused by Neisseria Sicca Species 10 Years After Mechanical Aortic Valve Implantation.

We report a rare case of mechanical aortic valve infective endocarditis caused by Neisseria sicca. A 44-year-old man, with a history of aortic valve replacement, presented to the hospital with a 10-day history of fever. Investigations revealed that the blood cultures grew Neisseria sicca. Although the transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) was negative, a transesophageal echocardiogram showed a 0.5 cm × 0.3 cm piece of vegetation attached to the aortic valve. After eight weeks of therapy, according to the antibiotic susceptibility test, the patient's blood cultures were negative, and repeat TTE showed no vegetation. This report can offer valuable insights for clinical diagnosis and treatment of Neisseria sicca endocarditis, particularly when selecting sensitive antibiotics.

Effects of socio-economic status on infant native and non-native phoneme discrimination.

Infants undergo fundamental shifts in perception that are reported to be critical for language acquisition. In particular, infants' perception of native and non-native sounds begins to align with the properties of their native sound system. Thus far, empirical evidence for this transition - perceptual narrowing - has drawn from socio-economically and linguistically narrow populations from limited world regions. In this study, infants were sampled across diverse socio-economic strata and linguistic development in Singapore. One hundred and 16 infants were tested on their ability to discriminate both a native phonetic contrast (/ba/ versus /da/) and a non-native Hindi contrast (/ta/ versus /ʈa). Infants ranged in age from 6 to 12 months. Associations between age and discrimination varied by contrast type. Results demonstrated that infants' native sensitivities were positively predicted by family SES, whereas non-native sensitivities were not. Maternal socio-economic factors uniquely predicted native language sensitivity. Findings suggest that infants' sensitivity to native sound contrasts is influenced by their family socio-economic status. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We investigated effects of socio-economic status on infant speech perception. Infants were tested on native and non-native speech discrimination. Socio-economic status predicted native speech discrimination. Maternal occupation was a key predictor of native speech discrimination.

The home literacy environment mediates effects of socio-economic status on infant vocabulary development.

It is well attested that high socio-economic status (SES) is associated with larger vocabulary size estimates in young children. This has led to growing interest in identifying associations and mechanisms that may contribute to this relationship. In this study, parent-child reading behaviors were investigated in relation to vocabulary size in a large-scale study of linguistically and socio-economically diverse families. This study sampled 902 infants in Singapore, a multilingual society. Both single-language (dominant and non-dominant) and dual-language vocabulary size estimates were obtained and related to family SES, demographic details, and home literacy activities. Results demonstrated that both single-language (dominant and non-dominant) and dual-language infant vocabulary size estimates were predicted by parental education levels. Further analyses revealed that parent-child book reading activities mediated the relationship between parental education and infant vocabulary size. Findings suggest that shared book reading may narrow effects of socio-economic disparities on early language development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Socio-economic status (SES) was examined in relation to infant vocabulary size in a linguistically and socio-economically diverse setting. Mediating effects of the home literacy environment on infant vocabulary size were measured. Socio-economic factors, notably parental education, had both direct and indirect effects on vocabulary size. The home literacy environment mediated effects of SES on infant vocabulary size.

Rabphilin 3A binds the N-peptide of SNAP-25 to promote SNARE complex assembly in exocytosis.

Exocytosis of secretory vesicles requires the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins and small GTPase Rabs. As a Rab3/Rab27 effector protein on secretory vesicles, Rabphilin 3A was implicated to interact with SNAP-25 to regulate vesicle exocytosis in neurons and neuroendocrine cells, yet the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we have characterized the physiologically relevant binding sites between Rabphilin 3A and SNAP-25. We found that an intramolecular interplay between the N-terminal Rab-binding domain and C-terminal C2AB domain enables Rabphilin 3A to strongly bind the SNAP-25 N-peptide region via its C2B bottom α-helix. Disruption of this interaction significantly impaired docking and fusion of vesicles with the plasma membrane in rat PC12 cells. In addition, we found that this interaction allows Rabphilin 3A to accelerate SNARE complex assembly. Furthermore, we revealed that this interaction accelerates SNARE complex assembly via inducing a conformational switch from random coils to α-helical structure in the SNAP-25 SNARE motif. Altogether, our data suggest that the promotion of SNARE complex assembly by binding the C2B bottom α-helix of Rabphilin 3A to the N-peptide of SNAP-25 underlies a pre-fusion function of Rabphilin 3A in vesicle exocytosis.

Efficacy of Rosuvastatin Combined with rt-PA Intravenous Thrombolytic Therapy for Elderly Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients.

Background: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a fatal and disabling disease. Given the unsatisfactory results by current treatment strategies, optimizing the treatment of AIS is still an urgent problem to be solved. Objective: To determine the therapeutic efficacy of rosuvastatin (ROS) combined with thrombolytic therapy using recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) on senile AIS patients and analyze its effects on serum inflammatory responses and neurological function. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 150 senile AIS patients who visited the Longmen County People's Hospital between January 2019 and June 2021. Of them, 100 cases treated by ROS combined with rt-PA intravenous thrombolytic therapy (ivTT) were set as the observation group and the rest 50 cases receiving rt-PA alone were included in the control group. Intergroup comparisons were conducted with respect to the following parameters: neurological function (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, NIHSS; Scandinavian Stroke Scale, SSS), serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), therapeutic efficacy, incidence of adverse reactions, and patient satisfaction. Results: The observation group had lower NIHSS and SSS scores and serum NSE and hs-CRP than the control group. In addition, the observation group was found with a higher overall response rate, higher patient satisfaction, and fewer adverse reactions. Conclusion: ROS combined with rt-PA ivTT can better enhance the therapeutic efficacy of elderly patients with AIS, improve their neurological function, and reduce serum inflammatory responses.

Language acquisition in a multilingual society: English vocabulary norms and predictors in Singaporean children.

In this study, infant vocabulary development was tracked in a multilingual society (Singapore) within a socioeconomically diverse sample. The sample comprised 1316 infants from 17.4 to 27.7 months (669 females, 647 males; 88% Chinese race, 4% Malay, 4% Indian, and 0.004% mixed-race [4% declined to provide race information]). Children varied in English language exposure and socioeconomic status. Analyses focused on identifying demographic predictors of English vocabulary size in multilingually exposed infants. Adaptations of the Macarthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory for English, Mandarin, and Malay are provided as well as English vocabulary norms that account for variation in English exposure. This manuscript reports the first set of English language norms-calibrated to English exposure-for multilingual infants in a non-Western setting.

Genetic mapping reveals BjRf as a candidate gene controlling fertility restoration of the oxa CMS in Brassica juncea.

KEY MESSAGE: A candidate gene for male fertility restoration in Brassica juncea, BjRf, was isolated from a 23-kb interval on chromosome A05 using map-based cloning and BSA methods. The cytoplasmic male sterility/fertility restoration (CMS/Rf) system has been extensively used for heterosis in plants. It also provides valuable resources for studying mitochondrial-nuclear coevolution and interaction. The oxa CMS, which is a new CMS type reported in Brassica juncea (B. juncea), has been broadly used in the exploitation and application of heterosis in this species. However, the oxa CMS fertility restorer gene BjRf has not been reported. In this study, a stable restorer line was successfully constructed via continuous testcross and artificial selection. Besides, a new Rf gene was mapped in a 23-kb region on chromosome A05 in B. juncea with a genetic distance of 0.5 cM by the method incorporating bulk segregant analysis (BSA) and conventional map-based cloning. Finally, BjuA017917, a non-PPR Rf gene encoding a guanosine nucleotide diphosphate dissociation inhibitor (GDI), is proposed to be the candidate gene for fertility restoration of the oxa CMS line in B. juncea. Moreover, a functional marker, CRY3, was developed for marker-assisted selection for Brassica juncea breeding.

Fine-mapping of the BjPur gene for purple leaf color in Brassica juncea.

Purple leaves are rich in health-protecting anthocyanins and food colorants in Brassica juncea. But the causal gene, which is related to leaf color formation, have not been reported in B. juncea. Anthocyanins mainly accumulated throughout the adaxial and abaxial epidermal leaf cells of purple leaves. A genetic analysis indicated that an incompletely dominant gene controls the purple leaf trait in B. juncea. Furthermore, the BjPur gene, which increased anthocyanin accumulation in purple-leaf mustard, was cloned. Blast and phylogenetic analyses revealed that BjPur encodes a new R2R3-MYB transcription factor. Sequence analysis of two alleles revealed a DNA sequence insertion in the first intron of BjPur in green leaves parent line (LY) when compared with the BjPur gene in the purple-leaf parent line (ZY). And this insertion greatly reduced the transcription of BjPur in green leaves. In purple-leaf plants, the transcript level of BjPur was significantly higher in leaves than in roots, stems, siliques, and flower buds. Additionally, molecular markers linked to leaf color were developed to distinguish different genotypes of B. juncea. These results will be helpful for the genetic improvement of the purple leaf color in B. juncea.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of EEG features during sleep in major depressive disorder after treatment with escitalopram: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown escitalopram is related to sleep quality. However, effects of escitalopram on dynamics of electroencephalogram (EEG) features especially during different sleep stages have not been reported. This study may help to reveal pharmacological mechanism underlying escitalopram treatment. METHODS: The spatial and temporal responses of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) to escitalopram treatment were analyzed in this study. Eleven MDD patients and eleven healthy control subjects who completed eight weeks' treatment of escitalopram were included in the final statistics. Six-channel sleep EEG signals were acquired during sleep. Power spectrum and nonlinear dynamics were used to analyze the spatio-temporal dynamics features of the sleep EEG after escitalopram treatment. RESULTS: For temporal dynamics: after treatment, there was a significant increase in the relative energy (RE) of Î´1 band (0.5 - 2 Hz), accompanied by a significant decrease in the RE of ß2 band (20 - 30 Hz). Lempel-Ziv complexity and Co - complexity values were significantly lower. EEG changes at different sleep stages also showed the same regulation as throughout the night sleep. For spatio dynamics: after treatment, the EEG response of the left and right hemisphere showed asymmetry. Regarding band-specific EEG complexity estimations, δ1 and ß2 in stage-1 and δ1 in stage-2 sleep stage in frontal cortex is found to be much more sensitive to escitalopram treatment in comparison to central and occipital cortices. CONCLUSIONS: The sleep quality of MDD patients improved, EEG response occurred asymmetry in left and right hemispheres due to escitalopram treatment, and frontal cortex is found to be much more sensitive to escitalopram treatment. These findings may contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the pharmacological mechanism of escitalopram in the treatment of depression.

Effective editing for lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase 2/5 in allotetraploid rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) using CRISPR-Cas9 system.

BACKGROUND: Brassica napus is one of the most important oilseed crops, and can supply considerable amounts of edible oil as well as provide raw materials for the production of biodiesel in the biotechnology industry. Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase (LPAT), a key enzyme in the Kennedy pathway, catalyses fatty acid chains into 3-phosphoglycerate and promotes further production of oil in the form of triacylglycerol. However, because B. napus is an allotetraploid with two subgenomes, the precise genes which involved in oil production remain unclear due to the intractability of efficiently knocking out all copies with high genetic redundancy. Therefore, a robust gene editing technology is necessary for gene function analysis. RESULTS: An efficient gene editing technology was developed for the allotetraploid plant B. napus using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Previous studies showed poor results in either on-target or off-target activity in B. napus. In the present study, four single-gRNAs and two multi-gRNAs were deliberately designed from the conserved coding regions of BnLPAT2 which has seven homologous genes, and BnLPAT5, which has four homologous genes. The mutation frequency was found to range from 17 to 68%, while no mutation was observed in the putative off-target sites. The seeds of the Bnlpat2/Bnlpat5 mutant were wizened and showed enlarged oil bodies, disrupted distribution of protein bodies and increased accumulation of starch in mature seeds. The oil content decreased, with an average decrease of 32% for Bnlpat2 lines and 29% for Bnlpat5 lines in single-gRNA knockout lines, and a decline of 24% for Bnlpat2 mutant lines (i.e., g123) and 39% for Bnlpat2/Bnlpat5 double mutant lines (i.e., g134) in multi-gRNA knockout lines. CONCLUSIONS: Seven BnLPAT2 homologous genes and four BnLPAT5 homologous genes were cleaved completely using the CRISPR-Cas9 system, which indicated that it is effective for editing all homologous genes in allotetraploid rapeseed, despite the relatively low sequence identities of both gene families. The size of the oil bodies increased significantly while the oil content decreased, confirming that BnLPAT2 and BnLPAT5 play a role in oil biosynthesis. The present study lays a foundation for further oil production improvement in oilseed crop species.

Increased Sample Entropy in EEGs During the Functional Rehabilitation of an Injured Brain.

Complex nerve remodeling occurs in the injured brain area during functional rehabilitation after a brain injury; however, its mechanism has not been thoroughly elucidated. Neural remodeling can lead to changes in the electrophysiological activity, which can be detected in an electroencephalogram (EEG). In this paper, we used EEG band energy, approximate entropy (ApEn), sample entropy (SampEn), and Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) features to characterize the intrinsic rehabilitation dynamics of the injured brain area, thus providing a means of detecting and exploring the mechanism of neurological remodeling during the recovery process after brain injury. The rats in the injury group (n = 12) and sham group (n = 12) were used to record the bilateral symmetrical EEG on days 1, 4, and 7 after a unilateral brain injury in awake model rats. The open field test (OFT) experiments were performed in the following three groups: an injury group, a sham group, and a control group (n = 10). An analysis of the EEG data using the energy, ApEn, SampEn, and LZC features demonstrated that the increase in SampEn was associated with the functional recovery. After the brain injury, the energy values of the delta1 bands on day 4; the delta2 bands on days 4 and 7; the theta, alpha, and beta bands and the values of ApEn, SampEn, and LZC of the cortical EEG signal on days 1, 4 and 7 were significantly lower in the injured brain area than in the non-injured area. During the process of recovery for the injured brain area, the values of the beta bands, ApEn, and SampEn of the injury group increased significantly, and gradually became equal to the value of the sham group. The improvement in the motor function of the model rats significantly correlated with the increase in SampEn. This study provides a method based on EEG nonlinear features for measuring neural remodeling in injured brain areas during brain function recovery. The results may aid in the study of neural remodeling mechanisms.

Deciding for Future Selves Reduces Loss Aversion.

In this paper, we present an incentivized experiment to investigate the degree of loss aversion when people make decisions for their current selves and future selves under risk. We find that when participants make decisions for their future selves, they are less loss averse compared to when they make decisions for their current selves. This finding is consistent with the interpretation of loss aversion as a bias in decision-making driven by emotions, which are reduced when making decisions for future selves. Our findings endorsed the external validity of previous studies on the impact of emotion on loss aversion in a real world decision-making environment.

Contamination, source identification, and risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the soils of vegetable greenhouses in Shandong, China.

The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in soil (n=196) and vegetable (n=30) collected from greenhouses, and also in the soil (n=27) collected from agriculture fields close to the greenhouses in Shandong Province, China. The total PAH concentration (∑16PAH) ranged from 152.2µg/kg to 1317.7µg/kg, within the moderate range in agricultural soils of China. Three-ring PAHs were the dominant species, with Phe (16.3%), Ace (13.1%), and Fl (10.5%) as the major compounds. The concentrations of low molecular weight (LMW ≤3 rings) PAHs were high in the east and north of Shandong, while the concentrations of high molecular weight (HMW ≥4 rings) PAHs were high in the south and west of the study area. The PAH level in soils in industrial areas (IN) was higher than those in transport areas (TR) and rural areas (RR). No significant difference in concentration of ∑16PAH and composition was observed in soils of vegetable greenhouses and field soils. PAH concentration exhibited a weakly positive correlation with alkaline nitrogen, available phosphorus in soil, but a weakly negative correlation with soil pH. However, no obvious correlation was observed between PAH concentration and organic matter of soil, or ages of vegetable greenhouses. ∑16PAH in vegetables ranged from 89.9µg/kg to 489.4µg/kg, and LMW PAHs in vegetables positively correlated with those in soils. The sources of PAHs were identified and quantitatively assessed through positive matrix factorization. The main source of PAHs in RR was coal combustion, while the source was traffic in TR and IN. Moreover, petroleum source, coke source, biomass combustion, or mixed sources also contributed to PAH pollution. According to Canadian soil quality guidelines, exposure to greenhouse soils in Shandong posed no risk to human health.

[Pollution Characteristics and Source Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Agricultural Soils from Shandong].

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that originate mainly from anthropogenic sources. PAHs have elicited much concern because they exhibit strong toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic properties. Agricultural soil is at risk of PAH contamination mainly caused by atmospheric depositions, wastewater irrigation, or organic substances and biowaste applied as fertilizers. The surface agricultural soils were collected from Shandong in July 2015, and measured for 16 US EPA priority PAHs using high performance liquid chromatography with UV and fluorescence detector. The content and composition of PAHs were analyzed. The differences of PAHs between soils from the field for growing crops and from vegetable greenhouses, and between soils from point sources and from non-point sources were compared. The sources of PAHs were determined with methods of ratio between PAHs and positive matrix factorization (PMF), and the risks of PAHs were assessed. The results showed that the total content of 16 PAHs (∑16PAHs) ranged from 111.5 ng·g-1 to 2744.1 ng·g-1, with the mean of 556.3 ng·g-1. The content of 3-ring PAHs was relatively high, with the mean of 201.5 ng·g-1; while the contents of 2-ring and 6-ring PAHs were relatively low, with the mean of 39.3 ng·g-1 and 43.4 ng·g-1, respectively. According to the contamination classification in Poland, 71% of the samples in Shangdong were weakly contaminated. Compared with other areas in China, the content of PAHs in the agricultural soils in Shandong was in the middle range. Acenaphthene, fluorine, and fluoranthene were the major PAH compounds, accounting for more than 10% of the total PAHs; while the contribution of indeno (1,2,3-cd) pyrene was low. The content of ∑16PAHs and contribution of 7 carcinogenic PAHs were significantly higher in soils polluted by point sources than those in soils from non-point sources. Moreover, the contribution of PAHs with 2-3 rings was significantly higher in soils from non-point sources, while the contribution of PAHs with 4-6 rings was significantly higher in soils polluted by point sources. There was no significant difference in soils from vegetable greenhouses and from adjacent field soils, and the contribution of PAHs with 3-4 rings was high. The PAH isomer pair ratios of Ant/(Ant+Phe), Flu/(Flu+Pyr), BaA/(BaA+Chr), and InP/(InP+BP) were utilized as molecular indices to elucidate the possible PAH sources, and the results suggested that the PAHs in the soils were mainly from combustion. To quantitatively assess the contribution of various sources to PAH contamination, PMF was used to analyze the sources. The sources of PAHs were combustion of coal biomass, oil combustion from traffic, coking, and petroleum pollution, with contribution of 42.7%, 19.3%, 22.8% and 15.2%, respectively. Toxic equivalency factors were used to evaluate PAH contamination in the soils, and the carcinogenicity of other PAHs relative to BaP was quantified to estimate the BaP-equivalent concentration (TEQBaP). The TEQBaPof 16 PAHs (∑16TEQBap) in soils from non-point sources and vegetable greenhouses was 31.69 and 44.47 ng·g-1, respectively, which were below the safe value in Canadian soil quality guidelines. However, the ∑16TEQBap in some field soils from point sources exceeded the safe value, indicating that there were potential risks in the soils from point sources in Shandong.