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Abstract Spaceflight induces an immune response in astronauts. To better characterize this effect, we generated single-cell, multi-ome, cell-free RNA (cfRNA), biochemical, and hematology data for the SpaceX Inspiration4 (I4) mission crew. We found that 18 cytokines/chemokines related to inflammation, aging, and muscle homeostasis changed after spaceflight. In I4 single-cell multi-omics data, we identified a “spaceflight signature” of gene expression characterized by enrichment in oxidative phosphorylation, UV response, immune function, and TCF21 pathways. We confirmed the presence of this signature in independent datasets, including the NASA Twins Study, the I4 skin spatial transcriptomics, and 817 NASA GeneLab mouse transcriptomes. Finally, we observed that (1) T cells showed an up-regulation of FOXP3, (2) MHC class I genes exhibited long-term suppression, and (3) infection-related immune pathways were associated with microbiome shifts. In summary, this study reveals conserved and distinct immune disruptions occurring and details a roadmap for potential countermeasures to preserve astronaut health.

Background: Severe infections remain one of the main causes of neonatal deaths worldwide. Possible severe infection is diagnosed in young infants (aged 0–59 days) according to the presence of one or more clinical signs. The recommended treatment is hospital admission with 7–10 days of injectable antibiotic therapy. In low-income and middle-income countries, barriers to hospital care lead to delayed, inadequate, or no treatment for many young infants. We aimed to identify effective alternative antibiotic regimens to expand treatment options for situations where hospital admission is not possible. Methods: We did this randomised, open-label, equivalence trial in four urban hospitals and one rural field site in Bangladesh to determine whether two alternative antibiotic regimens with reduced numbers of injectable antibiotics combined with oral antibiotics had similar efficacy and safety to the standard regimen, which was also used as outpatient treatment. We randomly assigned infants who showed at least one clinical sign of severe, but not critical, infection (except fast breathing alone), whose parents refused hospital admission, to one of the three treatment regimens. We stratified randomisation by study site and age (

Abstract Placentas of obese women have low mitochondrial β-oxidation of fatty acids (FA) and accumulate lipids in late pregnancy. This creates a lipotoxic environment, impairing placental efficiency. We hypothesized that placental FA metabolism is impaired in women with obesity from early pregnancy. We assessed expression of key regulators of FA metabolism in first trimester placentas of lean and obese women. Maternal fasting triglyceride and insulin levels were measured in plasma collected at the time of procedure. Expression of genes associated with FA oxidation (FAO; ACOX1, CPT2, AMPKα), FA uptake (LPL, LIPG, MFSD2A), FA synthesis (ACACA) and storage (PLIN2) were significantly reduced in placentas of obese compared to lean women. This effect was exacerbated in placentas of male fetuses. Placental ACOX1 protein was higher in women with obesity and correlated with maternal circulating triglycerides. The PPARα pathway was enriched for placental genes impacted by obesity, and PPARα antagonism significantly reduced 3H-palmitate oxidation in 1st trimester placental explants. These results demonstrate that obesity and hyperlipidemia impact placental FA metabolism as early as 7 weeks of pregnancy.

South Asian farmers are turning to mechanized planting, crop stubble retention, and herbicide application to address the current labor shortage situation. The purpose of this on-farm study was to compare conventional plow tillage combined with manual weeding to single-pass tillage combined with herbicides on the overall weed control efficacy and seed yield ofrapeseed(Brassica napus L.) under northern Bangladesh conditions. During 2014–2016, the rapeseed variety ‘BARI Mustard-14’ was grown under two different tillage systems, plow tillage and single-pass tillage with zero-stubble and 50% standing stubbles of previously grown monsoon rice. The plow tillage was conducted using a two-wheel, while the single-pass tillage was performed using a versatile multi-crop planter. In plow tillage, weeds were managed by hand on three dates. In single-pass tillage, a pre-plant herbicide (glyphosate), pre-emergence herbicide (pendimethalin), and post-emergence herbicide (isoproturon) were applied for weed control. Data revealed that the combination of single-pass tillage and herbicides with 50% rice stubbles resulted in the highest weed control efficacy. Additionally, this practice resulted in a 20% yield increase and a 70% increase in benefit-cost ratio compared with plow tillage and hand weedings combination without keeping any rice stubbles in the field.

Genetic diversity in four geographically distinct rohu (Labeo rohita) populations such as rohu Khulna, rohu India, rohu Faridpur and rohu Barisal was determined by RAPD. The banding pattern showed that rohu India was genetically different from the rest three. A total of 87 bands were found in four rohu populations where 35 bands were polymorphic, indicating 48.38% polymorphisms with an average of 12 bands per primer. The molecular size of amplified DNA fragments ranged from 400 to 1250 bp. Eight unique bands were observed in the four populations of which six were found in rohu Indian population. The genetic distance was highest (0.7221) and genetic identity was lowest (0.4857) between rohu India and rohu Barisal populations. Among three local varieties, the lowest genetic distance and highest genetic identity were found between rohu Khulna and rohu Faridpur populations. The UPGMA dendrogram segregated four populations of rohu into three major clusters - C1, C2 and C3. Rohu India was positioned at a fully different cluster - C3, rohu Khulna was placed in C2 and the rest two populations in C1.

Phyllanthus emblica L., or Amla, is known for its therapeutic properties and has been used as a medicinal plant. It is rich in vitamin C and other bioactive phytochemicals like polyphenols, gallic acid, chebulagic acid, leutolin, quercetin, etc. Different parts of this plant are used to treat various viral, bacterial, and fungal diseases. This review article summarizes the recent literature relevant to the antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal effects of P. emblica. A variety of bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtillus, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella typhi, and Escherichia, etc.), fungi (Alternaria alternate Botroyodiplodia theobromae, Colletotrichum corcori, Curvularia lunata, Fusarium exquisite, Fusarium solanii, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Colletotrichum gleosparoitis, and Macrophomina phaseolina) and viruses, like Influenza A virus strain H3N2, hepatitis B, Human Immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1), Simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) have experimented. Different techniques were used based on the way of identification. 'For example, disc diffusion, dilution methods, sound diffusion, Immuno-peroxidase monolayer assay, serum HBV and HBsAg assay, enzyme immunoassay, etc. The present review analyzed and summarized the antimicrobial activities of P. emblica and possible mechanisms of action to provide future directions in translating these findings clinically., (© 2024 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

Ceramidases (CDases) are vital enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of sphingolipids, which are essential components of eukaryotic membranes. The function of these enzymes in insects, however, is poorly understood. We identified a neutral ceramidase (NlnCDase) from the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, one of the most destructive hemipteran pests of rice. The C12-ceramide was the most preferred substrate for the NlnCDase enzyme. The activity of the NlnCDase enzyme was highest in the neutral-pH range (pH 6.0). It was inhibited by EGTA, Cs + and Fe 2+ , while stimulated by EDTA and Ca 2+ . Moreover, the NlnCDase has higher transcript level and activity in adults than in eggs and nymphs, and in the reproductive organs (ovaries and spermaries) than in other tissues (i.e. heads, thorax, legs, midguts), which suggested that the NlnCDase might be elevated to mediate developmental process. In addition, transcripts and activity of the NlnCDase were up-regulated under abiotic stresses including starvation, abnormal temperature, and insecticides, and biotic stress of resistant rice varieties. Knocking down NlnCDase by RNA interference increased female survival under starvation and temperature stresses, suggesting that NlnCDase might be involved in the stress response in N. lugens.

The neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase) 1 homologue gene LsSMase was cloned from Laodelphax striatellus, a direct sap-sucker and virus vector of gramineous plants, and expressed via a Bac to Bac baculovirus expression system. The LsSMase-enhanced green fluorescent protein fusion protein was located in the endoplasmic reticulum in a similar manner to mammalian nSMase 1. The biochemical properties of LsSMase were determined in detail. The optimal pH and temperature for recombinant LsSMase were 8 and 37 °C, respectively. LsSMase was an Mg 2+ or Mn 2+ dependent enzyme, but different concentration of each were needed. The activity of LsSMase was significantly stimulated by Ethylene glycol bis(2-aminoethyl ether)tetraacetic acid (EGTA), whereas it was inhibited by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Millimolar concentrations of Zn 2+ completely inhibited LsSMase. The reducing agents dithiothreitol and β-mercaptoethanol varied in their effects on activity. Phospholipids were not found to stimulate LsSMase., (© 2017 The Royal Entomological Society.)

In plants, sphingolipids, such as long-chain bases (LCBs), act as bioactive molecules in stress responses. Until now, it is still not clear if these lipids are involved in biotic stress responses to herbivore. Herein we report that a rice LCB gene, OsLCB2a1 encoding a subunit of serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), a key enzyme responsible for the de novo biosynthesis of sphingolipids, plays a critical role in plant defense response to the brown planthopper (BPH) attack and that its up-regulation protects plants from herbivore infestation. Transcripts of OsLCB2a1 gene in rice seedlings were increased at 4 h, but decreased at 8-24 h after BPH attack. Sphingolipid measurement profiling revealed that overexpression of OsLCB2a1 in Arabidopsis thaliana increased trihydroxylated LCB phytosphingosine (t18:0) and phytoceramide by 1.7 and 1.3-fold, respectively, compared with that of wild type (WT) plants. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants also showed higher callose and wax deposition in leaves than that of WT. Overexpression of OsLCB2a1 gene in A. thaliana reduced the population size of green peach aphid ( Myzus persicae ). Moreover, the electrical penetration graph (EPG) results indicated that the aphids encounter resistance factors while reaching for the phloem on the transgenic plants. The defense response genes related to salicylic acid signaling pathway, remained uplgulated in the OsLCB2a1 -overexpressing transgenic plants. Our data highlight the key functions of OsLCB2a1 in biotic stress response in plants.

A Gram-staining-positive, solvent-tolerating (acetophenone, benzene, toluene, xylene and hexane), aerobic, non-motile, terminal endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium was isolated from a bottle of xylene. The strain, designated JC22(T), was found to be oxidase and catalase positive. The strain was able to tolerate solvents with different log p values like acetophenone (log P = 1.5), benzene (log P = 2.0), toluene (log P = 2.5), xylene (log P = 3.2) and hexane (log P = 3.4), though it could not use them as sole carbon sources. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain JC22(T) was identified as belonging to the genus Lysinibacillus and was most closely related to Lysinibacillus sinduriensis BLB-1(T) (98.1 %), Lysinibacillus halotolerans LAM612(T) (97.8 %), Lysinibacillus chungkukjangi 2RL3-2(T) (97.6 %) and Lysinibacillus xylanilyticus XDB9(T) (97.1 %). The DNA-DNA relatedness of strain JC22(T) with the type strains of closest species was <30 %. Strain JC22(T) grew chemoorganoheterotrophically with an optimal pH of 7-8 (range 6-10) at 35-37 °C (range 25-40 °C). The DNA G+C content was 41.2 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0 and iso-C16:0. Cell wall peptidoglycan type was determined to be A4α (L-Lys-D-Asp). Predominant quinone system was MK-7 with moderate amounts of MK-6, MK-6(H2) and MK-7(H2). Polar lipids of strain JC22(T) contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified phospholipid. On the basis of morphological, physiological, genetic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomical analyses, we conclude that strain JC22(T) be assigned the status of novel species of the genus Lysinibacillus for which the name Lysinibacillus xyleni sp. nov. is proposed. Type strain of the species is JC22(T) (= CCUG 57912(T) = KCTC 13604(T) = NBRC 105753(T) = DSM 23555(T)).