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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of knowledge, attitude, and behavior (KAB) of gastrointestinal endoscopy nurses on occupational protection against COVID-19. We analyzed the influencing factors on KAB to provide a reference for the training of nurses on occupational protection in endoscopic centers. A convenience sample of 400 endoscopy nurses from 26 provinces and cities in China was surveyed using a questionnaire to determine their KAB about occupational protection against COVID-19. Job title was an influencing factor of endoscopy nurses' attitude toward occupational protection against COVID-19. The type of hospital, whether nurses had received training on COVID-19, number of training courses received, and nurses' satisfaction with the workload in their endoscopic center were the influencing factors for occupational protective behavior. Study participants had good knowledge of occupational protection against COVID-19. Their overall attitude was positive, but their protective behavior needs further improvement. Feasible interventions to strengthen the occupational protective behavior of endoscopy nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic are suggested to improve the overall occupational protection level of endoscopy nurses.

The continuous challenge of existing vaccine systems by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) variant strains in recent years, it caused significant economic losses in the global swine industry. A PEDV virulent strain CH/HLJBQL/2022 was successfully isolated in China in this study. A genome-wide based phylogenetic analysis suggests that CH/HLJBQL/2022 belongs to the GII subtype, and 96.3%–99.6% homology existed in the whole genomes of other strains. For the first time, simultaneous mutations of four amino acids were found in the highly conserved membrane (M) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins, as well as five amino acid mutations that differed from the vast majority of strains in the spike (S) protein. Mutations in the M and S proteins were found to produce coils with different angles by building 2D and 3D structural models. Epitope analysis indicated that the isolates produced specific changes and that the transmembrane function of the M protein had not been affected. In addition, typing markers exist during strain evolution, but isolates are using the fusion of specific amino acids from multiple variant strains to add additional features, as also demonstrated by protein alignments and 3D models of numerous subtype strains. These results suggest that aa mutations in the M and S proteins may have changed the structure and antigenic epitope of the isolates and PEDV is evolving again on the basis of variants that have been found to counteract the immune network of the new vaccine.

Circoviruses represent a group of small viruses with circular single-strand DNA genome that infect a wide range of both domesticated and wild animals. Domesticated geese infected with circovirus have been confirmed in many parts of the world, and is considered to cause immunosuppression and facilitate the secondary infections caused by other pathogens. In the present study, extensive genetically diversified goose circoviruses (GoCVs) were identified in the liver samples of domesticated geese from Guangdong province, southern China. Genetic analysis revealed that the sequences generated in this study shared 81.5 to 99.7% genome-wide pairwise identity with previously identified GoCV genomes. More importantly, nine recombination events were identified among all known complete genomome sequences of GoCV including those obtained herein, and the majority was determined associate with the sequences identified from Guangdong province, suggesting that recombination is the primary driver for the diversification of GoCVs. Additionally, purifying selection was the dominant evolutionary pressure acting on the genomes of GoCVs, and the ORF C1 gene of GoCV showed a higher genetic variation than ORF V1 gene. These results expand the knowledge about the genetic diversity and evolution of GoCV, and also indicate extensive genetically divergent GoCV strains were co-circulating in goose population in partial areas of Guangdong province, southern China.

This study developed an axial air-suction drum seed-metering device without a special vacuum pump and associated pipeline facilities, greatly simplifying the structure of the air-suction drum seed-metering device, which aimed to solve the problems of complex structure and difficult maintenance of traditional air suction drum seed-metering device. The geometric model of the seed-metering device was established by SOLIDWORKS. In addition, numerical simulation tests were carried out on the seed-metering device based on CFD to verify the feasibility of the theoretical operation of the seed-metering device. The seed-metering device was processed and a test bench was built for physical testing, which verified the feasibility of the actual operation of the seed-metering device. The bench test results showed that when the fan speed reached 2100 rpm, the adsorption rate of the seed-metering device on tomato seeds, pepper seeds, and eggplant seeds reached more than 86.39%,87.22%, and 93.06%, respectively. Besides, when the fan speed reached 2400 rpm, the adsorption rate of the seed-metering device on tomato seeds, hot pepper seeds, and eggplant seeds all reached more than 95%, which demonstrated that the seed-metering device has good seed suction performance despite its straightforward design.

A new phenolic glycoside 1, together with two known compounds (2, 3), has been isolated from the ethanolic extract of Polygonatum sibiricum F. Delaroche. Its structure was elucidated as (2R)-syringylpropane-1,3-diol-1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside by spectroscopic data (1H NMR, 13C NMR, HSQC, HMBC, and HR-ESI-MS) and chemical evidence. In the in vitro assay, compound 1 displayed potent inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase with an IC50 value of 10.90 μM.

The strain which degraded steviol glycosides to steviol (STE) was screened and isolated from soil samples. A phylogenetic tree was constructed and used to determine the taxonomic status of the strain. 16S rDNA sequence was ultimately used to identify the strain as

Comprehending the current-voltage properties of CdZnTe device is an essential step toward improving its spectroscopic performance. Thus an in-depth analysis of I-V characteristics on Au/Cd0.9Zn0.1Te/Au device is carried out in this work. Typical non-linear transitions observed in I-V curve are found to be closely correlated with deep donor in CdZnTe. Profile of deep donor ionization probability is calculated under various biases. Afterwards the distribution of space charge and electric field is obtained. Based on these results, reasons for transitions in I-V curve are revealed. Also, related carrier transport mechanisms are confirmed.

To evaluate the synergy of the Burkholderia signaling molecule cis-2-dodecenoic acid (BDSF) and fluconazole (FLU) or itraconazole (ITRA) against two azole-resistant C. albicans clinical isolates in vitro and in vivo.Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of antibiotics against two azole-resistant C. albicans were measured by the checkerboard technique, E-test, and time-kill assay. In vivo antifungal synergy testing was performed on mice. Analysis of the relative gene expression levels of the strains was conducted by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).BDSF showed highly synergistic effects in combination with FLU or ITRA with a fractional inhibitory concentration index of ⪕ 0.08. BDSF was not cytotoxic to normal human foreskin fibroblast cells at concentrations of up to 300 μg/mL. The qRT-PCR results showed that the combination of BDSF and FLU/ITRA significantly inhibits the expression of the efflux pump genes CDR1 and MDR1 via suppression of the transcription factors TAC1 and MRR1, respectively, when compared with FLU or ITRA alone. No dramatic difference in the mRNA expression levels of ERG1, ERG11, and UPC2 was found, which indicates that the drug combinations do not significantly interfere with UPC2-mediated ergosterol levels. In vivo experiments revealed that combination therapy can be an effective therapeutic approach to treat candidiasis.The synergistic effects of BDSF and azoles may be useful as an alternative approach to control azole-resistant Candida infections.

To evaluate the efficacy of cis-2-dodecenoic acid (BDSF) in the treatment and prevention of vaginal candidiasis in vivo.The activities of different concentrations of BDSF against the virulence factors of Candida albicans (C. albicans) were determined in vitro. An experimental mouse model of Candida vaginitis was treated with 250 μmol/L BDSF. Treatment efficiency was evaluated in accordance with vaginal fungal burden and inflammation symptoms.In vitro experiments indicated that BDSF attenuated the adhesion and damage of C. albicans to epithelial cells by decreasing phospholipase secretion and blocking filament formation. Treatment with 30 μmol/L BDSF reduced the adhesion and damage of C. albicans to epithelial cells by 36.9% and 42.3%, respectively. Treatment with 200 μmol/L BDSF completely inhibited phospholipase activity. In vivo mouse experiments demonstrated that BDSF could effectively eliminate vaginal infection and relieve inflammatory symptoms. Four days of treatment with 250 μmol/L BDSF reduced vaginal fungal loads by 6-fold and depressed inflammation. Moreover, BDSF treatment decreased the expression levels of the inflammatory chemokine-associated genes MCP-1 and IGFBP3 by 2.5- and 2-fold, respectively.BDSF is a novel alternative drug that can efficiently control vaginal candidiasis by inhibiting the virulence factors of C. albicans.

Objective To summarize our experiences in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of male breast cancer(MBC).Methods The clinical date of 24 MBC patients treated in our hospital from January 2006 to December 2012 were retrospective analyzed.Results The average age of these 24 patients was(55.7±2.1) years.All the patients received surgical treatment,and the surgical procedures were simple excision of breast lesion in 6 patients,breast resection alone in 5 patients,and modified radical mastectomy in 13 patients(bilateral in 1 case).The pathological diagnoses included invasive ductal carcinoma in 18 cases,papillary carcinoma in 4 cases,mucinous adenocarcinoma in 1 case,and malignant solitary fibrous tumor in 1 case.Twenty patients received chemotherapy,7 received radiotherapy,and 15 received endocrine therapy after operation.The 5-year survival rate was 54.2%.Conclusions The incidence of MBC is low.This malignancy is mainly seen in elderly individuals,with relatively long disease course,poor prognosis,and high risk of metastasis.MBC is mainly treated by surgery,and adjuvant chemotherapy,radiotherapy,and endocrine therapy may be applied,if appropriate,after the operation.目的 总结24例男性乳腺癌的临床与病理特点及治疗方法。方法 回顾性分析2006年1月至2012年12月收治的24例男性乳腺癌患者的临床资料。结果 24例男性乳腺癌患者平均(55.7±2.1)岁,全部患者均行手术治疗,其中单纯病损切除术6例、乳腺单纯切除术5例、乳腺癌改良根治术13例(1例为双侧)。病理诊断浸润性导管癌18例、乳头状癌4例、黏液性腺癌1例、恶性孤立性纤维性瘤1例。术后20例患者行辅助化疗,7例行辅助放疗,15例行内分泌治疗,5年生存率54.2%。结论 男性乳腺癌发病率低,患者年龄大,病程长,预后差,容易发生转移,本病以手术治疗为主,术后根据情况辅以化疗、放疗及内分泌治疗。.

Background By September 2016, approximately 653,865 people in China were living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and 492,725 people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). PLWHA frequently experience discrimination in all domains of their personal and social lives. The World Health Organization includes discrimination in its list of social determinants of health factors that have been linked to poor physical and psychological health. This paper identifies the family support enjoyed and discrimination faced by people infected with HIV and examines the effect they have on patients’ quality of life (QOL) as they undergo ART in China. Methods We conducted this observational cohort study of ART-treated patients with HIV in Guangxi Province using a questionnaire survey at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months, starting in 2010. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the demographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, educational level, marital status, and employment status) of participants. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were employed to examine the relationships between family support, discrimination, and QOL. Results In the study, 90.4% (n = 281) of patients received family support at baseline, here defined as the initiation of ART, 91.8% (n = 244) received family support 6 months into ART, 95.5% (n = 220) at 12 months, and 94.3% (n = 230) at 24 months. The proportion of patients who did not feel discriminated against by their families was 87.2% (n = 274) at baseline, 90.4% (n = 229) 6 months into ART, 90.0% (n = 210) at 12 months, and 94.5% (n = 219) at 24 months. Patients’ overall QOL scores were positively associated with having received family support (OR = 2.74, P = 0.040, 95% CI: 1.68–4.47), not feeling discriminated against by their families (OR = 1.3, P = 0.041, 95% CI: 1.07–1.59) or discrimination from patients themselves, including never experiencing fear of abandonment by family (OR = 2.05, P = 0.025, 95% CI: 1.49–2.82). Conclusions Family support along with no or minimal discrimination was found to contribute to QOL among people infected with HIV. Their overall QOL tended to improve significantly as ART continued. This suggests that strategies meant to improve and strengthen family support, care for PLWHA, and promote HIV screening among high-risk populations should be explored by both policy makers and researchers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40249-017-0364-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Candida is an important opportunistic human fungal pathogen. Infections caused by Candida albicans are related to the formation of a biofilm. The biofilm enhances the resistance of the C. albicans defence system, increases its resistance to antifungal drugs and induces increased drug tolerance, making clinical care more challenging. The in vitro activity of cis-2-dodecenoic acid (BDSF; a diffusible signal factor from Burkholderia cenocepacia) and trans-2-dodecenoic acid (trans-BDSF) against C. albicans growth, germ-tube germination and biofilm formation was estimated by absorbance measurements and microscopic assessments. C. albicans biofilms were prepared using a static microtitre plate model. Quantitative analysis of biofilm formation was performed using a 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfo-phenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide reduction assay to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of BDSF and trans-BDSF at different stages of biofilm formation. Reductions in biofilm structure and formation were visualized by inverted microscopy. Real-time RT-PCR was employed to estimate the mRNA expression levels of the hyphae-specific genes HWP1 and ALS3. It was found that 30 µM of either BDSF or trans-BDSF reduced germ-tube formation by approximately 70 % without inhibiting yeast growth. Yeast growth was strongly repressed by the exogenous addition of 300 µM BDSF and trans-BDSF at 0 and 1 h after cell attachment, with biofilm formation being reduced by approximately 90 and 60 %, respectively. BDSF and trans-BDSF were more effective against biofilm formation than farnesol and the diffusible signal factor cis-11-methyl-2-dodecenoic acid. None of the four drugs was able to destroy pre-formed biofilms. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that HWP1 was downregulated by approximately 90 % and ALS3 was downregulated by 70-80 % by 60 µM BDSF and trans-BDSF, implying that BDSF and trans-BDSF block C. albicans biofilm formation by interfering with the morphological switch. These results suggest that BDSF and trans-BDSF are potentially useful therapeutic agents worthy of further study.

To improve transgene expression level, we synthesized a truncated insecticidal gene m-cry1Ac by increasing its GC content from 37.4 to 54.8%, based on the codon usage pattern of sugarcane genes, and transferred it into two sugarcane cultivars (ROC16 and YT79-177) by microprojectile bombardment. The integration sites and expression pattern of the transgene were determined, respectively, by Southern, northern and western blot analyses. The transgenic sugarcane lines produced up to 50 ng Cry1Ac protein per mg soluble proteins, which was about fivefold higher than that produced by the partially modified s-cry1Ac (GC% = 47.5%). In greenhouse plant assay, about 62% of the transgenic lines exhibited excellent resistance to heavy infestation by stem borers. In field trials, the m-cry1Ac transgenic sugarcane lines expressing high levels of Cry1Ac were immune from insect attack. In contrast, expression of s-cry1Ac in transgenic sugarcane plants resulted in moderately decreased damages in internodes (0.4-1.7%) and stalks (13.3-26.7%) in comparison with the untransformed sugarcane controls, which showed about 4 and 26-40% damaged internodes and stalks, respectively. Significantly, these transgenic sugarcane lines with high levels of insect resistance showed similar agronomic and industrial traits as untransformed control plants. Taken together, the findings from this study indicate a promising potential of engineering an insect-resistant gene to tailor its protein expression levels in transgenic sugarcane to combat insect infestations.

Background In 2013, the authors of the World Alzheimer Report estimated that 44·35 million people had dementia worldwide, causing a substantial economic cost for the society. Objective, systematic economic costs caused by dementia are needed to track disease burden and inform health policy. We aimed to estimate the global economic burden of dementia by country and regions. Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, and Wanfang databases for studies of the economic costs of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia that were published between Jan 1, 2000, and April 1, 2017. On the basis of the scientific literature and regressions, we used the latest dementia prevalence estimates from the 2013 World Alzheimer's Disease Report and several other data sources to estimate the economic costs of dementia by setting for different countries and regions. Findings Our global estimates suggest that the total economic costs caused by dementia increased from US$279·6 billion in 2000 to $948 billion in 2016, with an annual growth rate of 15·94%. This included costs of informal care at $95·1 billion in 2000 and $401·9 billion in 2016, with the annual growth rate of 21·50%. Regional differences in the economic burden of dementia exist, and the highest economic burden was found in Europe and North America. Interpretation Our findings suggest that dementia is a substantial economic burden worldwide. A global and regional strategic action plan for dementia will be important to reduce the future burden of dementia. Funding Tsinghua University Education Foundation (Global Health Program, 16-263).

The proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) to produce Abeta peptides is thought to play an important role in the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease. Here, we show that lysines 587 and 595 of APP, which are immediately adjacent to the site of beta-secretase cleavage, are covalently modified by SUMO proteins in vivo. Sumoylation of these lysine residues is associated with decreased levels of Abeta aggregates. Further, overexpression of the SUMO E2 enzyme ubc9 along with SUMO-1 results in decreased levels of Abeta aggregates in cells transfected with the familial Alzheimer's disease-associated V642F mutant APP, indicating the potential of up-regulating activity of the cellular sumoylation machinery as an approach against Alzheimer's disease. The results also provide the first demonstration that the SUMO E2 enzyme (ubc9) is present within the endoplasmic reticulum, indicating how APP, and perhaps other proteins that enter this compartment, can be sumoylated.

Lamin A mutations cause many diseases, including cardiomyopathies and Progeria Syndrome. The covalent attachment of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) polypeptides regulates the function of many proteins. Until now, no examples of human disease-causing mutations that occur within a sumoylation consensus sequence and alter sumoylation were known. We show that lamin A is sumoylated at lysine 201 and that two lamin A mutants associated with familial dilated cardiomyopathy, E203G and E203K, exhibit decreased sumoylation. E203 occupies the conserved +2 position in the sumoylation consensus ΨKXE. Lamin A mutants E203G, E203K, and K201R all exhibit a similar aberrant subcellular localization and are associated with increased cell death. Fibroblasts from an individual with the E203K lamin A mutation also exhibit decreased lamin A sumoylation and increased cell death. These results suggest that SUMO modification is important for normal lamin A function and implicate an involvement for altered sumoylation in the E203G/E203K lamin A cardiomyopathies.

Heat shock proteins (hsps) are protective against the harmful effects of mutant expanded polyglutamine repeat proteins that occur in diseases such as Huntington’s, prompting the search for pharmacologic compounds that increase hsp expression in cells as potential treatments for this and related diseases. In this paper, we show that celastrol, a compound recently shown to up-regulate hsp gene expression, significantly decreases killing of cells expressing mutant polyglutamine protein. This effect requires the presence of the transcription factor responsible for mediating inducible hsp gene expression, HSF1, and is correlated with decreased amounts and increased sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solubility of polyglutamine aggregates. These results suggest the potential of celastrol as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of human polyglutamine expansion diseases. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00109-007-0251-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Adoptive transfer of tumor infiltrating or circulating lymphocytes transduced with tumor antigen receptors has been examined in various clinical trials to treat human cancers. The tumor antigens targeted by transferred lymphocytes affects the efficacy of this therapeutic approach. Because cancer stem cells (CSCs) play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis, we hypothesized that adoptive transfer of T cells targeting a CSC antigen could result in dramatic anti-tumor effects. Results An EpCAM-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) was constructed to transduce human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and thereby enable them to target the CSC marker EpCAM. To investigate the therapeutic capabilities of PBLs expressing EpCAM-specific CARs, we used two different tumor models, PC3, the human prostate cancer cell line, which has low expression levels of EpCAM, and PC3M, a highly metastatic clone of PC3 that has high expression levels of EpCAM. We demonstrate that CAR-expressing PBLs can kill PC3M tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. Despite the low expression of EpCAM on PC3 cells, CAR-expressing PBLs significantly inhibited tumor growth and prolonged mouse survival in a PC3 metastasis model, probably by targeting the highly proliferative and metastatic population of cancer cells. Conclusions Our data demonstrate that PBLs expressing with EpCAM-specific CARs have significant anti-tumor activity against prostate cancer. Therefore, the adoptive transfer of T cells targeting EpCAM could have great potential as a cancer treatment.

Lightweight, flexible electrodes based on three-dimensional (3D) graphene have received increasing attention because of their application potential in electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Integrating 3D graphene networks with other active components endows electrodes with large capacity/capacitance, high energy and power densities, and ultrastable cycling at high rates. This review highlights the fabrication techniques for self-supported 3D porous graphene structures and their integrated electrodes with metal oxides/hydroxides for battery, supercapacitor, and oxygen reduction reaction applications. Merits and demerits of different preparation methods and the associated electrochemical properties are presented. General advantages of graphene-based integrated electrodes are discussed. ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore) MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)

This paper presents a dissipative particle dynamics (DPDs) method for investigating the movement and deformation of biconcave shape red blood cells (RBCs) with the worm-like chain (WLC) bead spring. First, the stretching of a RBC is modeled and the obtained shape evolution of the cell agrees well with experimental results. Second, the movement and deformation of a RBC in shear flows are investigated and three typical modes (tumbling, intermittent and tank-treading) are observed. Lastly, an illustrating example of multi-RBCs in Poiseuille flow in a tube is simulated. We conclude that the presented DPD method with WLC spring can effectively model the movement and deformation of bioconcave cells.

Quorum sensing (QS) has been a novel target for the treatment of infectious diseases. Here structural analogs of Pseudomonas aeruginosa autoinducer N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) were investigated for QS inhibitor (QSI) activity and a novel QSI was discovered, N-decanoyl-L-homoserine benzyl ester (C2). Virulence assays showed that C2 down-regulated total protease and elastase activities, as well as the production of rhamnolipid, that are controlled by QS in P. aeruginosa wild-type strain PAO1 without affecting growth. C2 was also shown to inhibit swarming motility of PAO1. Using a microdilution checkerboard method, we identified synergistic interactions between C2 and several antibiotics, tobramycin, gentamycin, cefepime, and meropenem. Data from real-time RT-PCR suggested that C2 inhibited the expression of lasR (29.67%), lasI (21.57%), rhlR (28.20%), and rhlI (29.03%).

Expression of virulence factors in many pathogens requires that quorum sensing autoinducer (QSA) reaches a certain threshold concentration; therefore, QSAs play central roles in the regulation of many disease processes. Quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) can competitively inhibit the quorum sensing signal system, which provides a novel target to combat pathogens for the development of new drugs. In this report, we used two biosensor strains, Agrobacterium tumefaciens NT1 for N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (OdDHL) inhibitors and Chromobacterium violacerm CV026 for N-butanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (BHL) inhibitors, to screen for the QSIs from bacteria. There were 12 putative positive strains screened from more than 500 isolates in the initial screening. A confirmatory bioassay was carried out after concentrating the putative positive culture supernatant. Finally, three out of the twelve strains showed that one strain produced OdDHL inhibitor while the other two strains were able to inhibit BHL. Phylogenetic analysis reviewed all of these three bacterial isolates, showing that the QSA inhibition belonged to the genus Pseudomonas. We also determined the composition of microbial assemblages of the soil samples using pyrosequence date of the 16S rDNA gene, and found that the phylum Proteobacteria, to which the QSI positive isolates belong, was the most abundant in the soil of beach (56.1%), and the second in the soil from land (18.9%). This percentage was in accord with the resource of final three positive strains, two from beach and one from land. It showed an appreciable percentage of bacteria producing QSI molecules would be isolated from the soil of land and beach. Key words: Quorum sensing, quorum sensing inhibitor, screen, phylogenetic analysis.

Commensal microbiota play a critical role in maintaining oral tolerance. The effect of food allergy on the gut microbial ecology remains unknown.We sought to establish the composition of the gut microbiota in experimental food allergy and its role in disease pathogenesis.Food allergy-prone mice with a gain-of-function mutation in the IL-4 receptor α chain (Il4raF709) and wild-type (WT) control animals were subjected to oral sensitization with chicken egg ovalbumin (OVA). Enforced tolerance was achieved by using allergen-specific regulatory T (Treg) cells. Community structure analysis of gut microbiota was performed by using a high-density 16S rDNA oligonucleotide microarrays (PhyloChip) and massively parallel pyrosequencing of 16S rDNA amplicons.OVA-sensitized Il4raF709 mice exhibited a specific microbiota signature characterized by coordinate changes in the abundance of taxa of several bacterial families, including the Lachnospiraceae, Lactobacillaceae, Rikenellaceae, and Porphyromonadaceae. This signature was not shared by similarly sensitized WT mice, which did not exhibit an OVA-induced allergic response. Treatment of OVA-sensitized Il4raF709 mice with OVA-specific Treg cells led to a distinct tolerance-associated signature coincident with the suppression of the allergic response. The microbiota of allergen-sensitized Il4raF709 mice differentially promoted OVA-specific IgE responses and anaphylaxis when reconstituted in WT germ-free mice.Mice with food allergy exhibit a specific gut microbiota signature capable of transmitting disease susceptibility and subject to reprogramming by enforced tolerance. Disease-associated microbiota may thus play a pathogenic role in food allergy.

In this paper, an efficient naphthalene superplasticizer is obtained by improving the production process, shortening the production cycle. Considering the performance and production costs of the water-reducing agent, the optimized mixture ratio was obtained by mixing the product with different kinds of compound retarder. Meanwhile, the cement paste fluidity of the complex product in different time, cement, water-cement ratio and superplasticizer content was also determined to be compared with the commercially available superplasticizer and characterized performance of naphthalene compound water-reducing agent. The results showed that the optimal mass ratio of naphthalene superplasticizer, sodium gluconate, sodium tripolyphosphate and lignin sulfonate is 1∶0.042∶0.042∶0.305. The cement paste fluidity of the self-made naphthalene superplasticizer mixture prevails over the commercially available superplasticizer.

Cancer therapy using oncolytic viruses represents a promising new approach for controlling ovarian cancer. In this study, we have circumvented the limitation of repeated vaccination by employing different virus vectors, Semliki Forest Virus (SFV) and vaccinia virus (VV) for boosting the immune response. We found that infection of tumor-bearing mice with VV followed by infection with SFV or vice versa leads to enhanced antitumor effects against murine ovarian surface epithelial carcinoma (MOSEC) tumors. Furthermore, infection with VV-ovalbumin (OVA) followed by infection with SFV-OVA or vice versa was found to lead to enhanced OVA-specific CD8(+) T-cell immune responses. In addition, we found that infection with SFV-OVA followed by infection with VV-OVA leads to enhanced antitumor effects in vivo and enhanced tumor killing in vitro through a combination of viral oncolysis and antigen-specific immunity. The clinical implications of this study are discussed.

Background Tumor employs various means to escape immunosurveillance and inhibit immune attack, and strategies have been developed to counteract the inhibitory signals. However, due to the complex suppressive mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment, blocking one or a few inhibitory signals has only limited effects on therapeutic efficacy. Instead of targeting tumor immunosuppression, we considered from another point of view, and hypothesized that manipulating T cells to make them resist any known or unknown suppressive mechanism may be more effective for cancer treatment. Methods We used OT-1 cells transduced with retroviruses encoding Akt and human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) transduced with retroviruses encoding both Akt and a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) specific for tumor antigen EpCAM to examine the effect of over-expressing Akt on tumor specific T cells in tumor environment. Results We show that Akt activity of T cells in the tumor environment was inhibited, and over-expressing Akt in OT-1 cells increased the cytokine production and cell proliferation in the presence of B16-OVA tumor cells. What’s more, adoptive transfer of OT-1 cells over-expressing Akt inhibited B16-OVA tumor growth and prolonged mouse survival. To examine if over-expressing Akt could increase the anti-tumor activity of T cells in human cancer, PBLs co-expressing EpCAM specific CAR and Akt were cultured with EpCAM-expressing human prostate cancer cells PC3M, and less inhibition on cell proliferation and less apoptosis were observed. In addition, adoptive transfer of PC3M specific T cells over-expressing Akt resulted in more dramatic tumor inhibitory effects in PC3M bearing NOD/SCID mice. Conclusions These data indicates that over-expressing Akt in tumor specific T cells increases T cell proliferation and activity in the tumor environment, and enhances anti-tumor effects of adoptively transferred T cells. Our study provides a new strategy to improve the efficacy of adoptive T cell therapy, and serves as an important foundation for clinical translation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1611-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.