Biosynthetic potential of culturable bacteria associated with Apostichopus japonicus.

AIMS: Isolating culturable bacteria associated with sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) and investigating their potential bioactivities are important approaches to discover natural marine products. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 161 isolates were obtained from sea cucumber collected along the Weihai coast of the North Yellow Sea, China. Identification and phylogenetic analysis of 61 isolates were conducted by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The isolates belonged to 13 genera from 10 families in three phyla, including Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. The antimicrobial activities of all strains were determined using six indicator strains. Of the 161 isolates, 93 showed antibacterial activities against at least one of the indicator strains. The 26 strains with the strongest inhibitory effects were selected for screening the biosynthetic gene clusters of polyketide synthase (PKS-I, -II) and nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS). Phylogenetic trees based on the amino acid sequences of the PKS or NRPS genes were constructed. Eleven strains with PKS genes and four strains with NRPS genes were detected. CONCLUSIONS: The data reveal the diversity of culturable bacteria associated with A. japonicus. Most strains showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities, and some strains with antimicrobial activities possessed PKS and NRPS genes. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The results suggest that culturable bacteria associated with A. japonicus may act as a promising source of bioactive substances.

[Association between fruit consumption and stroke in adults in Qingdao: a prospective study].

Objective: To understand the fruit consumption of adults of Qingdao and examine the association between fruit consumption and stroke. Methods: We analyzed baseline data and stroke incidence of the participants who were aged 30-79 years and had been enrolled into the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study from Qingdao city. Cox proportional hazards regression model was conducted to estimate the association of fruit consumption with risk of stroke. Results: A total of 35 509 participants were investgated in the baseline survey. Ratio of male to female was 1∶1.27, and the average age was (50.3±10.2) years. Respondents with higher frequency of fruit consumption were younger, more women, with higher education level and higher income (P<0.05). A total of 1 011 new cases of stroke were observed, with a stroke incidence of 387.63/100 000 person-years. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that fruit consumption had a protective effect on stroke incidence. Compared to the respondents who never consumed fruit, respondents who consumed fruit more than 4 days per week had a 44% lower risk of stroke incidence (HR=0.56, 95%CI: 0.50-0.62, P<0.05), and the risk reduced by 46% (HR=0.54, 95%CI: 0.46-0.64, P<0.05) and 42% (HR=0.58, 95%CI: 0.52-0.69, P<0.05) in male and female, respectively. Further adjustment for WC, BMI, SBP and random blood glucose did not change the association. Conclusion: Increasing fruit consumption can effectively decrease the risk of stroke. People should increase fruit consumption advisably to set up reasonable and healthy dietary habits.

Literature on the aetiology of hypospadias in the last 5 years: molecular mechanism and environmental factors.

Year-by-year, there has been an increasing number of literature on hypospadias, and most of them are mainly focused on two aspects, namely surgical techniques and aetiology, including the molecular mechanism and associated environmental factors. Surgical techniques and nursing levels are being continuously improved. However, in stark contrast, the study of aetiology still lags behind. Up to now, there is still no consensus on the aetiology of hypospadias, including the molecular mechanism and associated environmental factors. To obtain an overall and latest result on the aetiology, we reviewed published literature regarding the aetiology of hypospadias including the molecular mechanism and associated environmental factors in PubMed in the last 5 years. Thirty-seven studies on the aetiology of hypospadias including molecular mechanism and associated environmental factors were found, of which 25 were about associated environmental factors, and they were described according to the aspects of chemicals, parental characteristics, nutrition and hormones. The remaining studies were about the hormone-dependent phase of molecular mechanism, namely androgen-related genes and oestrogen-related genes. Furthermore, the various points of view were classified and discussed in detail.