Search

Objectives: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) plays an important role in providing temporary life support for patients with severe cardiac or pulmonary failure, but requires strict anticoagulation and monitoring. This network meta‐analysis systematically explored the most effective anticoagulation and monitoring strategies for patients receiving ECMO. Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched up to January 31, 2023, for studies comparing unfractionated heparin (UFH), argatroban (Arg), bivalirudin (Biv), and/or nafamostat mesylate (NM) in patients receiving ECMO. The primary outcomes included device‐related thrombosis, patient‐related thrombosis, and major bleeding events. The secondary outcomes included ECMO survival, ECMO duration, and in‐hospital mortality. Results: A total of 2522 patients from 23 trials were included in the study. Biv was associated with a decreased risk of device‐related thrombosis (odd ratio [OR] 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33–0.84) compared with UFH, whereas NM (OR 2.2, 95% CI: 0.24–65.0) and Arg (OR 0.92, 95% CI: 0.43–2.0) did not reduce the risk of device‐related thrombosis compared with UFH. Biv was superior to Arg in decreasing the risk of device‐related thrombosis (OR 0.14, 95% CI: 0.03–0.51). Biv reduced the risk of patient‐related thrombosis compared with UFH (OR 0.44, 95% CI: 0.18–0.85); NM (OR 0.65, 95% CI: 0.14–3.3) and Arg (OR 3.1, 95% CI: 0.94–12.0) did not decrease risk of patient‐related thrombosis compared with UFH. No significant difference was observed in the risk of major bleeding between three alternatives and UFH: Biv (OR 0.54, 95% CI: 0.23–1.3), Arg (OR 1.3, 95% CI: 0.34–5.8), and NM (OR 0.60, 95% CI: 0.13–2.6). NM showed a reduced risk of in‐hospital mortality compared with UFH (OR 0.27, 95% CI: 0.091–0.77), whereas Arg (OR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.15–1.2) and Biv (OR 0.75, 95% CI: 0.52–1.1) did not decrease risk of in‐hospital mortality. Conclusions: Compared with UFH and Arg, Biv reduces the risk of thrombosis and appears to be a better choice for patients requiring ECMO. NM was associated with a reduced risk of in‐hospital mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important economic crop, and cotton fiber is one of the longest plant cells, which provides an ideal model for the study of cell elongation and secondary cell wall synthesis. Cotton fiber length is regulated by a variety of transcription factors (TF) and their target genes; however, the mechanism of fiber elongation mediated by transcriptional regulatory networks is still unclear to a large extent. Here, we used a comparative assay for transposase‐accessible chromatin with high‐throughput sequencing (ATAC‐seq) assay and RNA‐seq analysis to identify fiber elongation transcription factors and genes using the short‐fiber mutant ligon linless‐2 (Li2) and wild type (WT). A total of 499 differential target genes were identified and GO analysis shows that differential genes are mainly involved in plant secondary wall synthesis and microtubule‐binding processes. Analysis of the genomic regions preferentially accessible (Peak) has identified a number of overrepresented TF‐binding motifs, highlighting sets of TFs that are important for cotton fiber development. Using ATAC‐seq and RNA‐seq data, we have constructed a functional regulatory network of each TF regulatory target gene and also the network pattern of TF regulating differential target genes. Further, to obtain the genes related to fiber length, the differential target genes were combined with FLGWAS data to identify the genes highly related to fiber length. Our work provides new insights into cotton fiber elongation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nocardia seriolae, a gram‐positive branching filamentous bacterium, is the causative agent of fish nocardiosis. It mainly infects fish through gills, anus, lateral line or surface injury, resulting in a large number of white nodules in visceral organs and skin ulcerations. N. seriolae can infect about 42 species of fish and severely harm the aquaculture industry in many regions, particularly in Asia. Aiming to have a more comprehensive understanding about N. seriolae, the literature of N. seriolae before January 2022 was collected by searching nine databases and the current knowledge of the host diversity, drug resistance, genotype and phenotype, virulence factor, molecular detection and vaccine development of N. seriolae was summarized in this review. The future studies of N. seriolae are also prospected in order to help the research on the pathogenic mechanism and control of N. seriolae infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutamic endopeptidases (Glu), belonging to the class of serine proteases, are a subfamily of chymotrypsin‐like proteolytic enzymes, which are regarded as important virulence factors in bacteria. However, the roles of glutamic endopeptidases of Nocardia seriolae in pathogenic process still remain uncertain. Here, a glutamic endopeptidase homolog from N. seriolae (GluNS) was cloned and its function was elucidated. GluNS encoded a 414‐aa protein which shared 93% identity to N. concava. In the phylogenetic tree, the glutamic endopeptidases of genus Nocardia clustered together firstly and then clustered with Streptomyces species. Moreover, GluNS was identified to be a secreted protein of N. seriolae and localized in the mitochondria of FHM cells. The transient overexpression of GluNS significantly induced increase in caspase‐3 activity and decrease in ΔΨm values in FHM cells. The number of apoptotic bodies was remarkably higher than that in control group. Taken together, GluNS overexpression induced apoptotic characteristics in FHM cells. This study provided new insights into the function of glutamic endopeptidase from N. seriolae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish nocardiosis is a chronic systemic granulomatous disease, and Nocardia seriolae is the main pathogen. The pathogenesis and virulence factors of N. seriolae are not fully understood. Secreted superoxide dismutase (SOD) may be a virulence factor found by a comparative bioinformatics analysis of the whole genome sequence of N. seriolae and the virulence factor database (VFDB). In order to determine the subcellular localization and study the preliminary function of SOD from N. seriolae (NsSOD), gene cloning, secreted protein identification, subcellular localization in fish cells, and apoptosis detection of NsSOD were carried out in this study. Subcellular localization research revealed that NsSOD‐GFP fusion proteins were evenly distributed in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, apoptotic bodies were observed in the transfected FHM cells by the overexpression of protein NsSOD. Then, assays of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) value, caspase‐3 activity and apoptosis‐related genes (Bax, Bid, Bad and Bcl‐2) mRNA expression were conducted. The results showed that ΔΨm was decreased, and caspase‐3 was significantly activated. The mRNA expression of the Bad gene showed significant up‐regulated expression at 24 h.p.t., while Bid and Bax genes showed significant up‐regulated expression at 72 and 96 h.p.t. and anti‐apoptotic gene (Bcl‐2) was down‐regulated in NsSOD overexpressed cells. Taken together, the results indicated that the protein NsSOD might be involved in apoptosis regulation. This study may lay the foundations for further studies on the function of NsSOD and promote the understanding of the virulence factors and the pathogenic mechanisms of N. seriolae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nocardia seriolae, a Gram‐positive bacterium, is the main pathogen of fish nocardiosis. Protein NlpC/P60 is a cell‐wall peptidase and a potential virulence factor of N. seriolae. Subcellular localization research revealed that both NlpC/P60‐GFP and NlpC/P60Δsig‐GFP fusion proteins were evenly distributed in the whole cell of fathead minnow (FHM) cells. Furthermore, typical apoptotic features, such as nuclear pyrosis and apoptotic bodies, were observed in the transfected FHM cells and grouper spleen cells by the overexpression of protein NlpC/P60. Then, quantitative assays of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) value, caspase‐3 activity and apoptosis‐related gene (Bax, BNIP3, TNF1 and TNF6) mRNA expression were conducted. The results showed that ΔΨm was decreased, caspase‐3 was significantly activated, and the mRNA expression of pro‐apoptotic genes (Bax and BNIP3) and tumour necrosis factors (TNF1 and TNF6) was up‐regulated in NlpC/P60‐overexpressed cells. Taken together, the results indicated that the protein NlpC/P60 of N. seriolae might involve in apoptosis regulation. This study may lay the foundation for further study on the function of N. seriolae NlpC/P60 and promote the understanding of the virulence factors and pathogenic mechanism of N. seriolae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of linarin from Flos chrysanthemi indici by ethanol was investigated. Two modeling techniques, response surface methodology and artificial neural network, were adopted to optimize the process parameters, such as, ethanol concentration, extraction period, extraction frequency, and solvent to material ratio. We showed that both methods provided good predictions, but artificial neural network provided a better and more accurate result. The optimum process parameters include, ethanol concentration of 74%, extraction period of 2 h, extraction three times, solvent to material ratio of 12 mL/g. The experiment yield of linarin was 90.5% that deviated less than 1.6% from that obtained by predicted result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes that when top management team members are convinced that their leader is committed to people and productivity, they conclude that their leader is effective and contribute to making their organization innovative. Cooperative goals among top management team members may be credible evidence that their leader has people and production values. Executives from over 100 organizations in China completed measures of their cooperative, competitive, and independent goals, their leader's people and production values, and their leader's effectiveness. CEOs from these firms rated their organization's innovativeness. Structural equation analysis suggested that cooperative goals among top management teams convince them that their leader values people and production and that these values in turn result in leader effectiveness and organizational innovation. Results, coupled with previous research, were interpreted as suggesting that cooperative goals and leader people and production values are foundations for leader and top management team effectiveness in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]