Effect of Ephestia kuehniella Eggs on Development and Transcriptome of the Ladybird Beetle Propylea japonica.

The eggs of the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella, are frequently utilized as alternative diets and have demonstrated promising outcomes when consumed by various insects. Nonetheless, the specific reasons for their effectiveness remain unclear. In our study, we assessed the developmental performance of the ladybird Propylea japonica when fed E. kuehniella eggs, alongside 12 factitious prey or artificial diets. Our findings revealed that ladybirds fed E. kuehniella eggs displayed a performance comparable to those fed the natural prey Megoura crassicauda. Transcriptome profiling of larvae raised on E. kuehniella eggs and M. crassicauda revealed that genes upregulated in the former group were enriched in metabolic pathways associated with carbohydrates, lipids, and other essential nutrients. This suggests that E. kuehniella eggs may have a higher nutrient content compared to natural prey. Furthermore, a notable downregulation in the expression of immune effector genes, such as Attacin and Coleoptericin, was observed, which might be attributed to the lower microbial content in E. kuehniella eggs compared to M. crassicauda. We suggest that the difference between E. kuehniella eggs and M. crassicauda as food sources for P. japonica lies in their nutrient and microbial contents. These findings provide valuable insights for the advancement of innovative artificial breeding systems for natural enemies.

Virtual screening and biological activity evaluation of novel efflux pump inhibitors targeting AdeB.

The AdeABC efflux pump is an important mechanism causing multidrug resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii, and its main component AdeB can recognize carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and other multi-class antibiotics and efflux them intracellularly, which is an ideal target for the development of anti-multidrug resistant bacteria drugs. Here, we combined multiple computer-aided drug design methods to target AdeB to identify promising novel structural inhibitors. Virtual screening was performed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation (MD) and 12 potential compounds were identified from the databases. Meanwhile, their biological activities were validated by in vitro activity assays, and ChemDiv L676-2179 (γ-IFN), ChemDiv L676-1461, and Chembridge 53717615 were confirmed to suppress efflux effects and restore antibiotic susceptibility of resistant bacteria, which are expected to be developed as adjuvant drugs for the treatment of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii clinical infections.

Progress in Application of Heparin Coating in Blood Contact Medical Devices / 中国医疗器械杂志

Blood compatibility is the main restriction of blood-contacting medical devices in clinical application, especially long-term blood-contacting medical devices will stimulate the immune defense mechanism of the host, resulting in thrombosis. Heparin anticoagulant coating links heparin molecules to the surface of medical device product materials, improves the compatibility between the material surface interface and the body, and reduces the host immune defense reactions. This study reviews the structure and biological properties of heparin, the market application status of heparin-coated medical products, the insufficiency and improvement of heparin coating, which can provide a reference for the application research of blood contact medical devices.

Comparison of mortality and its causes in patients with complicated systemic lupus erythematosus on hemodialysis versus peritoneal dialysis: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Ten percent to 20% of patients with SLE progress to end-stage renal disease and would require renal replacement therapy or renal transplantation. In this analysis, we aimed to systematically compare mortality and the causes of mortality in patients with complicated SLE who were treated on hemodialysis (HD) versus peritoneal dialysis (PD). METHODS: Cochrane Central, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Excerpta Medica dataBASE, and http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for studies that compared HD versus PD in patients with SLE. The RevMan software version 5.4 (RevMan software, Cochrane Collaborations, United Kingdom) was used to analyze data. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q and the I2 statistical tests. In this analysis, a random effects model was used during data assessment. Risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to represent the results following analysis. RESULTS: A total number of 3405 SLE participants were included in this analysis, whereby 2841 were assigned to HD and 564 participants were assigned to PD. In patients with SLE who were on dialysis, our analysis showed that the risk of mortality was similar with HD and PD (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.45-1.07; P = .10). When the cause of mortality was analyzed, cardiovascular death (RR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.31-1.31; P = .22), death due to infection (RR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.47-1.17; P = .20), death due to a respiratory cause (RR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.18-6.21; P = .95), cause of death due to SLE flare up (RR, 2.54; 95% CI, 0.39-16.37; P = .33), and other causes of death (RR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.35-1.77; P = .57) were not significantly different with HD and PD. CONCLUSION: This current analysis showed that in SLE patients who required dialysis, the risk of mortality between HD and PD was similar, and the causes of death including cardiovascular, infective, respiratory, SLE flare up, and other causes were not significantly different. Therefore, both dialysis methods were tolerable in these patients with SLE. Further studies with larger data would be required to confirm this hypothesis.

Association of Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists With the Mortality and Cardiovascular Effects in Dialysis Patients: A Meta-analysis.

Whether Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA) reduce mortality and cardiovascular effects of dialysis patients remains unclear. A meta-analysis was designed to investigate whether MRA reduce mortality and cardiovascular effects of dialysis patients, with a registration in INPLASY (INPLASY2020120143). The meta-analysis revealed that MRA significantly reduced all-cause mortality (ACM) and cardiovascular mortality (CVM). Patients receiving MRA presented improved left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). There was no significant difference in the serum potassium level between the MRA group and the placebo group. MRA vs. control exerts definite survival and cardiovascular benefits in dialysis patients, including reducing all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality, LVMI, and arterial blood pressure, and improving LVEF. In terms of safety, MRA did not increase serum potassium levels for dialysis patients with safety. Systematic Review Registration: (https://inplasy.com/inplasy-protocol-1239-2/), identifier (INPLASY2020120143).

Effects of intensive blood pressure control on mortality and cardiorenal function in chronic kidney disease patients.

BACKGROUND: Blood pressure (BP) variability is highly correlated with cardiovascular and kidney outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, appropriate BP targets in patients with CKD remain uncertain. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CKD patients who underwent intensive BP management. Kappa score was used to assess inter-rater agreement. A good agreement between the authors was observed to inter-rater reliability of RCTs selection (kappa = 0.77; P = 0.005). RESULTS: Ten relevant studies involving 20 059 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, intensive BP management may reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease mortality (RR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.53 to 0.90, P: 0.01), all-cause mortality (RR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67 to 0.88, P < 0.01) and composite cardiovascular events (RR: 0.84 95% CI: 0.75 to 0.95, P < 0.01) in patients with CKD. However, reducing BP has no significant effect on the incidence of doubling of serum creatinine level or 50% reduction in GFR (RR: 1.26, 95% CI: 0.66 to 2.40, P = 0.48), composite renal events (RR 1.07, 95% CI: 0.81 to 1.41, P = 0.64) or SAEs (RR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.90 to 1.05, P = 0.48). CONCLUSION: In patients with CKD, enhanced BP management is associated with reduced all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and incidence of composite cardiovascular events.

Evaluation of the properties of whey protein films with modifications.

Whey protein concentrate (WPC) has been widely studied as a biodegradable bio-based packaging material in the food industry. In this study, different whey protein films were obtained through physical, chemical, enzymatic, and composite modifications. The molecular structure, micro-morphology, mechanical properties, barrier properties, and other characteristics of the films were evaluated. The results illustrated that the thickness of WPC with composite modification increased and the transmittance decreased, but the mechanical properties and barrier properties were more prominent. The WPC film prepared by physical modification combined with transglutaminase has the best film-forming effect, the tensile strength (TS) was 5.45 MPa, the elongation at break (EAB) was 25.19%, the WVP was 5.53 g·mm/m2 ·hr·kPa, and the Oxygen permeability (OP) was 1.83 meq/K, and its microstructure was and uniform. In addition, based on the the results of SDS-PAGE and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the intermolecular and intramolecular interactions of various modification methods on WPC were studied, thus contributing to analyze the properties of the film. This study provides theoretical basis and technical support for the industrial production of protein-based films.

Randomized controlled trials for comparison of laparoscopic versus conventional open catheter placement in peritoneal dialysis patients: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The application of laparoscopic catheterization technology in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients has recently increased. However, the advantages and disadvantages of laparoscopic versus conventional open PD catheter placement are still controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis is to assess the complications of catheterization in PD patients and to provide a reference for choosing a PD-catheter placement technique in the clinic. METHODS: We searched numerous databases, including Embase, PubMed, CNKI and the Cochrane Library, for published randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RESULTS: Eight relevant studies (n = 646) were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results showed a lower incidence of catheter migration (OR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.90, P: 0.03) and catheter removal (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.79, P: 0.008) but a higher incidence of bleeding (OR: 3.25, 95% CI: 1.18 to 8.97, P: 0.02) with a laparoscopic approach than with a conventional approach. There was no significant difference in the incidence of omentum adhesion (OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.05 to 2.10, P: 0.24), hernia (OR: 0.38, 95% CI: 0.09 to 1.68, P: 0.20), leakage (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.38 to 1.26, P: 0.23), intestinal obstruction (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.48 to 1.91, P: 0.90) or perforation (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.06 to 15.42, P: 0.97). The statistical analysis showed no significant difference in early (OR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.15 to 1.33, P: 0.15), late (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.41 to 1.90, P: 0.76) or total (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.42 to 1.12, P: 0.13) peritonitis infections between the 2 groups, and there are no no significant difference in early (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.06 to 2.36, P: 0.30), late (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 0.78 to 2.33, P: 0.16) or total (OR: 1.20, 95% CI: 0.71 to 2.02, P: 0.17) tunnel or exit-site infections between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic catheterization and conventional open catheter placement in PD patients have unique advantages, but laparoscopic PD catheterization may be superior to conventional open catheter placement. However, this conclusion needs to be confirmed with further large-sample-size, multi-centre, high-quality RCTs.

LINC00346 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression via activating the JAK-STAT3 signaling pathway.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains the most common malignant tumor worldwide. Long noncoding RNAs can modulate various tumorigenic processes. In addition, growing evidence has indicated tha the Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathway is activated in multiple cancers, including HCC. Recently, it was found that LINC00346 can participate in several cancers. Nevertheless, the biological roles of LINC00346 in HCC have been barely investigated. In this study, the function of LINC00346 was specifically concentrated upon. We observed that LINC00346 was obviously elevated in HCC cells (Bel7404, Huh-6, HepG2, and QGY-7703 cells). Then, Bel7404 and HepG2 cells were overexpressed with LINC00346. Overexpression of LINC00346 repressed HCC cell survival and cell proliferation. In addition, apoptosis of Bel7404 and HepG2 cells was triggered by LINC00346 upregulation. Bel7404 and HepG2 cell cycle was arrested in the G1 phase by LINC00346. Meanwhile, we conducted wound-healing assay and Transwell invasion assays. As shown, we observed that the migratory and invasive capacities of Bel7404 and HepG2 cells were remarkably restrained by the increase of LINC00346. Moreover, we showed that LINC00346 overexpression activated the JAK-STAT3 pathway, which is involved in many cancers. Afterward, in vivo experiments were utilized and we proved that LINC00346 was able to induce HCC tumor growth via activating the JAK-STAT3 pathway. To conclude, we revealed the potential possibility of developing LINC00346 as an indicator for HCC.

Plastein reaction enhanced bile-acid binding capacity of soybean protein hydrolysates and whey protein hydrolysates.

Plastein reaction is a modification reaction that can improve the functional properties of protein hydrolysate. The product of the reaction is a thixotropic aggregation of peptides. This study investigated the formation condition of soybean-whey plastein and bile acid binding capacity of plastein. Soy protein and whey protein were hydrolyzed by pepsin. The mixture (1:1, w/w) of two hydrolysates was modified by pepsin again. After the reaction, the decrease in free amino groups and the turbidity of the modified hydrolysate were measured to obtain appropriate reaction condition. Results showed that the concentration of hydrolysates 40% (w/v), enzyme ratio of 2.0 KU/g protein, pH 5.0, 37 °C, reaction time of 3.0 h respectively, were showed maximum changes in protein hydrolysates. Tricine SDS-PAGE analysis under denaturing conditions revealed that whey protein was more sensitive to pepsin and yielded different polypeptides (PPs) of molecular weight ranged from 3.5-17 kDa. However, a high molecular weight PP was completely hydrolyzed while PPs of 14.2-26 kDa were partially digested after pepsin treatment. Native page analysis further revealed the presence of a high-molecular weight PP in crude and purified plastein product. The bile acid binding capacity was improved by the plastein reaction. The amount of binding sodium deoxycholate, sodium taurocholate, and sodium cholate were 0.75, 2.0 and 1.87 µmol/100 mg respectively.

Analysis of EEG in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment based on Lempel-Ziv complexity / 生物医学工程学杂志

We studied the mechanism of electroencephalography (EEG) in the elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by analyzing the Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) of EEG during a cognitive task. We recorded the EEG simultaneously when they were asked to judge whether the color of two graphics was matched or not. The results showed that the LZC of EEG in the MCI group was significantly higher than those in the normal control group early in the period of cognitive activities (P < 0.05). The LZC in MCI patients decreased gradually over time, while results of the normal group kept unchanged. There was no significant difference in LZC between two types of tasks. The two groups showed similar regularity in spatial distribution.

Screening for cholesterol-lowering probiotic based on deoxycholic acid removal pathway and studying its functional mechanisms in vitro.

Elevated serum cholesterol in humans is generally a risk factor correlated with the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). Reducing deoxycholic acid (DCA) content in the intestine can reduce serum cholesterol levels, which reduce the incidence of CHD. A total of 150 strains of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria were isolated from human fecal samples. The DCA removal ability of these strains was evaluated. Results showed that 9 strains displayed above 10% DCA removal rate. The probiotic potentials of the 9 strains were evaluated. The strain Lactobacillus casei F0822 was screened out due to the stronger adhesion to HT-29 cells and tolerance to bile and acid. DCA removal for this strain resulted from that the S-layer protein locating the cell surface bound DCA. The FTIR spectra showed that the carboxyl group in DCA was the principal group by which DCA was bound to the S-layer protein of L. casei F0822. These findings suggested that L. casei F0822 is a better candidate probiotic strain, which has the potential to reduce human serum cholesterol levels.

Inhibition of Shigella sonnei adherence to HT-29 cells by lactobacilli from Chinese fermented food and preliminary characterization of S-layer protein involvement.

In this study, seven lactobacilli with a high degree of antagonistic activity against three pathogens and good adherence to HT-29 cells were selected. The ability of these seven lactobacilli to inhibit adhesion of Shigella sonnei to intestinal mucosa was studied on cultured HT-29 cells. Lactobacilli were added simultaneously with, before or after S. sonnei to test for their effectiveness in exclusion, competition and displacement assays, respectively. Lactobacillus paracasei subp. paracasei M5-L, Lactobacillus rhamnosus J10-L and Lactobacillus casei Q8-L all exhibited significant inhibitory activity. In order to elucidate the inhibitory functions of S-layer proteins, the S-layer proteins were removed with 5 M LiCl from the M5-L, J10-L and Q8-L strains. Under such conditions, inhibition activity was decreased in all three strains, as revealed in exclusion, competition and displacement assays. SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the presence of S-layer proteins with dominant bands of approximately 45 kDa. Further analysis of S-layer proteins revealed that the hydrophobic amino acids accounted for 40.5%, 41.5% and 43.8% of the total amino acid for the M5-L, J10-L and Q8-L strains, respectively. These findings suggest that the M5-L, J10-L and Q8-L strains possess the ability to inhibit S. sonnei adherence to HT-29 cells, and S-layer proteins are involved in this adhesion inhibition.