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Tumor hypoxia is a great physiological barrier for tumor treatment. The development of efficient detection and treatment methods for tumor hypoxia has great scientific and clinical significance. In this work, we investigated the potential of magnetotactic bacteria AMB-1 for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided magnetic hyperthermia treatment of hypoxic tumors. Our investigations reveal that AMB-1 bacteria can selectively migrate to the hypoxic regions of solid tumors due to their anaerobic characteristics, showing active deep tumor penetrability. Moreover, AMB-1 bacteria exhibit high MRI contrast and magnetic heating performances because of the excellent magnetic performance of their magnetosomes.

Interferon-epsilon (IFN-ε) is a type I IFN playing an essential role in innate and adaptive immunity against viral infection. Ovis aries IFN-ε (OvIFN-ε), consisting of 582 bp and which encodes a protein of 193 amino acids containing a signal peptide of 21 amino acids, was cloned and characterized. OvIFN-ε shares 51.6∼ 86.5% similarity to other species of IFN-ε, and evolves from the IFN-ε branch but not the other types of IFN. Additionally, OvIFN-ε gene is well conserved during evolution, and is highly transcribed in the liver, lung, brain, skin, ovary and uterus. Recombinant protein of OvIFN-ε was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified with nickel chelated column, which exhibited broad antiviral activity in vitro, sensitivity of trypsin, and stability of pH and temperature to some extent. Furthermore, OvIFN-ε could induce the transcription of ISG15, Mx1 and OAS in a time-dependent manner, as well as inhibit the VSV and BVDV replication in Ovis aries peripheral blood lymphocyte cells and MDBK cells. This study revealed OvIFN-ε has the typical characterization of type I IFNs and exerts antiviral activity against VSV and BVDV, and induces the expression of ISGs, which not only enriches the understanding of IFN-ε, but also facilitates further research on the antiviral defense responses of Ovis aries.

Doping Mn (II) ions into iron oxide (IO) as manganese ferrite (MnIO) has been proved to be an effective strategy to improve T

A bovine interferon-kappa (BoIFN-κ) gene was amplified, which encodes a protein of 215 amino acids sharing 63% identity with human IFN-κ. BoIFN-κ was demonstrated to have antiviral and antiproliferative activities. Moreover, BoIFN-κ was shown to be highly sensitive to trypsin, however, it remained stable despite changes in pH and temperature. Result showed that BoIFN-κ can bind with bovine type I IFN receptors, and the antiviral activity can be blocked by antibodies against type I IFN receptors or BoIFN-κ. Additionally, BoIFN-κ can induce the transcription of Mx1, ISG15 and ISG56 gene, as well as the expression of Mx1 protein. The NF-κB, ISRE, and BoIFN-β promoter can all be activated by BoIFN-κ. This study revealed that BoIFN-κ exhibits the typical characteristics of type I IFNs and exerts antiviral activity via activation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Overall, these findings will enrich the current knowledge about IFN-κ and facilitate further research on the role of type I IFN in antiviral defense responses in bovine.

Through an empirical examination, this research reports on the results of cultural influences on whistleblowing decisions and the perception of people from individualistic cultures and those from collectivist cultures. We utilise cultural differences and characteristics between different nations to formulate hypotheses that individuals from collectivist cultures are less likely to be whistle–blowers, and less accepting of whistleblowing behaviour, than individuals from individualistic cultures. Data were collected through a survey given to subjects of British and Chinese students from the University of Glasgow. The results support hypotheses about diversity in decisions made by individuals from individualistic cultures compared to those from collectivist cultures. The research findings have implications for the administration of domestic and multinational corporations. In order to enhance the effectiveness of internal control systems in various nations, such systems should take cultural differences into consideration. The results suggest that, compared to collectivist cultures, whistleblowing as an organisational strategy of internal control systems is more likely to be effective in individualistic cultures.