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Abstract The microbiota plays an important role in the growth of mosquitoes and the transmission of mosquito‐borne pathogens. The effects of changes in aquatic habitats in which mosquitoes live, as one of the major factors closely associated with the microbial communities of mosquitoes, on the microbiota of different developmental stages remain to be elucidated. Here, we compared the microbiota of larvae and pupae of Aedes albopictus exposed to different ampicillin concentrations and investigated the bacterial composition of adult females. The results demonstrate that the microbial community differed substantially between developmental stages and that samples of the same stages shared similarities, whereas differences were observed between adult females. Based on all observations, we hypothesize that the use of ampicillin caused dysbiosis rather than excluding bacteria from mosquitoes and that the disturbing effect of ampicillin was obvious in adults. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses revealed that most of the bacteria identified in this study were significantly associated with metabolism. Taken together, our results indicate that ampicillin can change the abundance of bacteria, while microbial communities of Ae. albopictus showed obvious stage‐specific characteristics. Further investigations are needed to characterize specific bacterial components that are affected by ampicillin exposure and to quantify their functions, thereby providing a better understanding of the influence of antibiotics on microbial communities at different life stages.

Due to their tight structures, it is usually difficult for one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymers (CPs) to form permanent pores unless 2D and 3D topologies are formed via supramolecular interactions, so studies in the field of oxygen sensing on 1D CPs are rarely reported. Here, we report a 1D Cu(I) cluster-based CP with dual sensing characteristics for temperature and oxygen. Even if the porosity is only 6.6%, the quenching rate of this CP reaches 98.4% with 1 bar O2 at room temperature. Its luminescence intensity exhibits a unique thermal “quenching, then activating” behavior during monotonic variations in temperature.

Frankliniella occidentalis is a destructive pest of horticultural plants, while Orius similis is a natural enemy of thrips. It has been demonstrated that exogenous calcium could induce plant defenses against herbivore attack. We examined whether CaCl2 supplementation altered the volatile emissions of kidney bean plants, which influence the oviposition preference of F. occidentalis. We also assessed the influence of volatile cues on O. similis. Using Y-tube olfactometer tests, we found that exogenous CaCl2 treatment inhibited the selectivity of F. occidentalis but attracted O. similis. In addition, CaCl2 treatment reduced the oviposition preference of F. occidentalis. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses revealed that CaCl2 treatment altered the number and relative abundance of the volatile compounds in kidney bean plants and that (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, 1-octen-3-ol, β-lonone, and (E,E)-2,4-hexadienal might be potential olfactory cues. Furthermore, the results of the six-arm olfactometer test indicated that 1-octen-3-ol (10−2 μL/μL), β-lonone (10−2 μL/μL), and (E,E)-2,4-hexadienal (10−3 μL/μL) repelled F. occidentalis but attracted O. similis. Overall, our results suggested that exogenous CaCl2 treatment induced defense responses in kidney bean plants, suggesting that CaCl2 supplementation may be a promising strategy to enhance the biological control of F. occidentalis.

This study analyzed the in vitro drug sensitivity of Cryptococcus spp. from Guangxi, Southern China. One hundred three strains of Cryptococcus were recovered from 86 patients; 14 were HIV positive and 72 were HIV negative. Ninety-two strains were identified as Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii, while 11 strains were identified as Cryptococcus gattii (5 C. gattii sensu stricto and 6 Cryptococcus deuterogattii). The recovered strains were tested against commonly used antifungal drugs (fluconazole, amphotericin B, 5-fluorocytosine, itraconazole, and voriconazole) and to novel antifungal drugs (posaconazole and isavuconazole) using CLSI M27-A4 method. The results showed that all isolates were susceptible to most antifungal drugs, of which the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranges were as follows: 0.05–4 μg/ml for fluconazole, 0.25–1 μg/ml for amphotericin B; 0.0625–2 μg/ml for 5-fluorocytosine, 0.0625–0.25 μg/ml for itraconazole, 0.0078–0.25 μg/ml for voriconazole, 0.0313–0.5 μg/ml for posaconazole, 0.0020–0.125 μg/ml for isavuconazole for C. neoformans var. grubii isolates, and 1–16 μg/ml for fluconazole, 0.125–1 μg/ml for 5-fluorocytosine, 0.25–1 μg/ml for amphotericin B, 0.0625–0.25 μg/ml for itraconazole, 0.0156–0.125 μg/ml for voriconazole, 0.0156–0.25 μg/ml for posaconazole, and 0.0078–0.125 μg/ml for isavuconazole for C. gattii isolates. Furthermore, some C. neoformans var. grubii isolates were found to be susceptible-dose dependent to 5-fluorocytosine and itraconazole. In addition, a reduction in the potency of fluconazole against C. gattii is possible. We observed no statistical differences in susceptibility of C. neoformans var. grubii and C. gattii in the tested strains. Continuous observation of antifungal susceptibility of Cryptococcus isolates is recommended to monitor the emergence of resistant strains.

Soybean meal (SBM) is a high-quality protein source and widely used in aquafeeds. However, high percentage of dietary SBM would make negative influences on fish. Here, we evaluated the effects of dietary high level of SBM on growth, intestine healthy and intestinal inflammation in large yellow croaker. Two isonitrogenous (450 g kg−1) and isolipidic (100 g kg−1) diets were prepared, in which SBM was added at 0 or 45 %. An 8-week feeding trail was conducted by feeding fish (initial weight 18.2 ± 0.8 g) with these two diets. After feeding trail, SBM0 group had significantly enhanced growth performance, antioxidant capacity and digestive enzyme activities compared with SBM45 group (P < 0.05). Dietary SBM45 caused intestine injury symptoms and decreased intestine villus length of fish. In addition, dietary SBM45 induced intestinal inflammation of large yellow croaker, manifested as significant upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and downregulation of anti- inflammatory cytokines (P < 0.05). The increased inflammatory response of SBM45 group may be due to activation of TLR-MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, as the mRNA expression levels of TLRs and protein levels of c-Rel, P65 and ERK were significantly increased in SBM45 group (P < 0.05). All these results indicated that high percentage of dietary soybean meal could inhibit growth, impair intestine healthy and induce intestinal inflammation possibly by TLR-MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway in large yellow croaker.

Background: Although numerous studies have examined catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) worldwide, most focus on the general population, not on specific vulnerable groups. We aimed to analyse the extent and the influencing factors of CHE in households with breast cancer patients in China, and explore the ability of different insurances to protect these households from CHE.Methods: A multicentre, cross-sectional interview surveys was conducted in households with breast cancer patients across seven provinces/municipalities in China. CHE were defined as out-of-pocket expenditures ≥ 40% of households' non-food expenditures. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were performed to identify the determinants of CHE in household with breast cancer patients.Results: In the 639 participating households with breast cancer patients, the mean out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure accounted for ~55.20% of the mean households' non-food expenditures. The overall incidence of CHE was 87.95 and 66.28% before and after insurance compensation, respectively. The logistic regression model revealed that education, disease course, health insurance, treatment method, and income were significant predictors of CHE.Conclusions: The results indicated that medical insurance protects some households with breast cancer patients from the impact of CHE. However, their reimbursement rates were relatively low. Therefore, breast cancer still had a significant catastrophic effect on the economy of households. Policy efforts should focus on improving insurance compensation rates and relieving the economic burden of critical illnesses such as breast cancer.

Blood-based proteomic analysis is a routine practice for detecting the biomarkers of human disease. The results obtained from blood alone cannot fully reflect the alterations of nerve cells, including neurons and glia cells, in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate novel potential AD biomarker candidates, through an integrated multi-omics approach in AD. We propose a comprehensive strategy to identify high-confidence candidate biomarkers by integrating multi-omics data from AD, including single-nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) datasets of the prefrontal and entorhinal cortices, as wells as serum proteomic datasets. We first quantified a total of 124,658 nuclei, 8 cell types, and 3701 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from snRNA-seq dataset of 30 human cortices, as well as 1291 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) from serum proteomic dataset of 11 individuals. Then, ten DEGs/DEPs (NEBL, CHSY3, STMN2, MARCKS, VIM, FGD4, EPB41L2, PLEKHG1, PTPRZ1, and PPP1R14A) were identified by integration analysis of snRNA-seq and proteomics data. Finally, four novel candidate biomarkers (NEBL, EPB41L2, FGD4, and MARCKS) for AD further stood out, according to bioinformatics analysis, and they were verified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) verification. These candidate biomarkers are related to the regulation process of the actin cytoskeleton, which is involved in the regulation of synaptic loss in the AD brain tissue. Collectively, this study identified novel cell type-related biomarkers for AD by integrating multi-omics datasets from brains and serum. Our findings provided new targets for the clinical treatment and prognosis of AD.