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Atherosclerosis (AS) has become the leading cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Our previous study had observed that Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nb) infection or its derived products could inhibit AS development by inducing an anti-inflammatory response. We performed a metabolic analysis to screen Nb-derived metabolites with anti-inflammation activity and evaluated the AS-prevention effect. We observed that the metabolite uridine had higher expression levels in mice infected with the Nb and ES (excretory–secretory) products and could be selected as a key metabolite. ES and uridine interventions could reduce the pro-inflammatory responses and increase the anti-inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo. The apolipoprotein E gene knockout (ApoE−/−) mice were fed with a high-fat diet for the AS modeling. Following the in vivo intervention, ES products or uridine significantly reduced serum and liver lipid levels, alleviated the formation of atherosclerosis, and reduced the pro-inflammatory responses in serum or plaques, while the anti-inflammatory responses showed opposite trends. After blocking with 5-HD (5-hydroxydecanoate sodium) in vitro, the mRNA levels of M2 markers were significantly reduced. When blocked with 5-HD in vivo, the degree of atherosclerosis was worsened, the pro-inflammatory responses were increased compared to the uridine group, while the anti-inflammatory responses decreased accordingly. Uridine, a key metabolite from Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, showed anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic effects in vitro and in vivo, which depend on the activation of the mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The large amphibious freshwater apple snail is an important invasive species in China, but there is currently no method available for their surveillance. The development and popularization of smartphones provide a new platform for research on surveillance technologies for the early detection and effective control of invasive species. Methods: The ASI surveillance system was developed based on the infrastructure of the WeChat platform and Amap. The user can directly enter the game interface through the WeChat port on their mobile phone, and the system automatically obtains their location. The user can then report the location of apple snails. The administrator can audit the reported information, and all information can be exported to Microsoft Excel version 2016 for analysis. The map was generated by ArcGIS 10.2 and was used to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution of apple snails in Jiangsu Province. Results: The architecture of ASI consists of three parts: a mobile terminal, a server terminal and a desktop terminal. We published more than 10 tweets on the official WeChat account of the system to announce it to the public, and a total of 207 users in 2020 and 2021 correctly reported sightings of apple snails. We identified 550 apple snails breeding sites in 2020 and 2021, featuring ponds (81%), parks (17%) and farmland (2%). In addition, most of the locations contained snail eggs, and the reporting times mainly occurred between May and September. Conclusions: The ASI is an effective surveillance system that can be used to identify the breeding locations of apple snails and provides the basis of prevention and control for its dispersal. Its successful development and operation provide new potential avenues for surveillance of other public health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a Leslie-Gower predator-prey model with advection and double free boundaries. Firstly, we establish the global existence and uniqueness of the solution. Subsequently, we analyze the long-time behaviors of the solution and demonstrate a spreading-vanishing dichotomy. If the initial habitat size or the expanding capacity of the boundaries is large, the invasive predator will spread throughout the entire space; otherwise, both the prey and predator will eventually vanish. When spreading occurs, two subcases arise, depending on the interaction coefficient $ c $ and the environmental support $ \delta $. If $ c\delta < 1 $, the prey and predator coexist, which we refer to as the weakly hunting case; conversely, if $ c\delta \geq 1 $, the predator survives and spreads throughout the space, while the prey vanishes, which we term the strongly hunting case. In the event of spreading, we also provide an estimate of the spreading speed. Finally, we introduce a front-fixing implicit-explicit finite difference method for the free boundary problem. Numerical simulations validate our theoretical findings and uncover some intriguing new phenomena, prompting further investigation into this and general free boundary problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hookworm infection is one of the most common neglected tropical diseases and is mainly found in tropical and subtropical areas. Two species of human hookworm are distributed in China, i.e., Ancylostoma duodenale (AD) and Necator americanus (NA). Background: Traditional microscopic technology such as the Kato-Katz method is not suitable for hookworm diagnosis due to the rapid degeneration of fragile hookworm eggs or for species identification of hookworm infection. The aim of the present study was to establish and evaluate a novel nucleic acid detection method based on recombinase-aided isothermal amplification (RAA) for the detection of hookworm infections and species identification. Methods: Based on the specific target gene sequences of hookworms (5.8S rRNA for AD and ITS2 for NA, respectively), we designed and synthesized amplification primers and fluorescence probes referring to the principle of the fluorescence recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) technique. Results: Each assay provided specific amplification of larval DNA from AD and NA by fluorescence RAA, and the detection limits in plasmids reached 102 copies and 10 copies, respectively. Genomic DNA of two hookworm species was successfully detected at a concentration of 0.1 pg/μL, revealing a high detection sensitivity. No positive amplification occurred for genomic DNA from crossed hookworm species and genomic DNA from Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia, Strongyloides stercoralis, Schistosoma japonicum, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Clonorchis sinensis, revealing a satisfactory specificity. Fecal sample detection results demonstrated a similar efficacy to the Kato-Katz method; however, it had a greater sensitivity than the larvae culture method. Conclusion: A simple and rapid nucleic acid method was successfully established based on RAA, which improved the detection efficacy and species identification for human hookworm infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an immune checkpoint, programmed cell death 1 (PD‐1) and its ligand (PD‐L1) pathway plays a crucial role in CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) activation and provides antitumor responses. The N‐glycans of PD‐1 and PD‐L1 are highly core fucosylated, which are solely catalyzed by the core fucosyltransferase (Fut8). However, the precise biological mechanisms underlying effects of core fucosylation of PD‐1 and PD‐L1 on CTL activation have not been fully understood. In this study, we found that core fucosylation was significantly upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma. Compared to those of Fut8+/+OT‐I mice, the lung adenocarcinoma formation induced by urethane was markedly reduced in Fut8−/−OT‐I mice. De‐core fucosylation of PD‐1 compromised its expression on Fut8−/− CTL, resulted in enhanced Fut8−/− CTL activation and cytotoxicity, leading to more efficient tumor eradication. Indeed, loss of core fucosylation significantly enhanced the PD‐1 ubiquitination and in turn led to the degradation of PD‐1 in the proteasome. Our current work indicates that inhibition of core fucosylation is a unique strategy to reduce PD‐1 expression for the antilung adenocarcinoma immune therapy in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]