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Objective: To study the efficacy of 3 treatment options for type 2 cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) and establish an optimal treatment strategy for type 2 CSP.Design: Retrospective cohort study.Setting: A tertiary hospital.Patients: The study examined 160 women with type 2 CSP.Interventions: Ultrasound-guided vacuum aspiration after local injection of lauromacrogol, ultrasound-guided vacuum aspiration after uterine artery embolization (UAE), and transabdominal resection or hysteroscopy combined with laparoscopic resection.Main Outcome Measures: The success rates, duration of hospitalization, hospitalization cost, amount of blood loss, recovery time, and menstruation resuming after recovery.Results: The success rates of the UAE, lauromacrogol, and surgical groups were 87.1%, 92.5%, and 95.5%, respectively, with no significant differences. The cost and duration of hospitalization in the lauromacrogol group were significantly lower than those in the UAE and surgical groups. Analysis of the causes of treatment failure revealed a significant difference in the gestational age. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.660 (95% confidence interval, 0.533-0.788). When the gestational age was 48.5 days, Youden index was the highest. Furthermore, when the diagnostic thresholds were selected as 49, 56, and 63 days of pregnancy, the corresponding areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.652, 0.541, and 0.510, respectively.Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided vacuum aspiration after local injection of lauromacrogol is recommended for patients with type 2 CSP at <49 days of gestation. Laparotomy or laparoscopy combined with hysteroscopy is suitable for patients with gestation of >49 days, especially for those with >56 days of gestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of resveratrol-supplemented on the protein oxidation and changes of the protein structural properties of the duck breast muscle (stored in a refrigerator for 7-day at - 18 °C then 12 h at 4 °C) were investigated. A total of 600 1-day-old male ducks were randomly assigned into four groups: the control group (R0, 0 mg/kg dietary resveratrol) and resveratrol groups (R300, 300; R400, 400 and R500, 500 mg/kg dietary resveratrol). On the day 70 of age, ten ducks were selected and slaughtered and ducks breast muscle were stored at −18 °C then 12 h at 4 °C in each group. Resveratrol-supplemented inhibited the formation of carbonyl and dityrosine, and reduced the loss of sulfhydryl and Ca2+-ATPase activity, thus alleviating the modification, cross-linking and denaturation of proteins, whereas enhanced the solubility and the structure (free amino group, secondary structure) and decreased the fluorescence spectroscopy of the duck breast muscle protein. In summary, dietary resveratrol inhibited protein oxidation, enhanced protein structure of the duck breast muscle when subjected to storage, whereas the dietary resveratrol inclusion of 300–400 mg/kg would be more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pterostilbene increased the sensory quality of chicken breast meat, especially WHC. • Pterostilbene improved the quality of amino acids in chicken meat. • Pterostilbene had positive effects on the MP structure of chicken meat. • Pterostilbene enhanced the antioxidant capacity, reduced lipid and protein oxidation. • Correlations between meat quality, MP structure and antioxidant status were explored. This research aimed to investigate the effects of dietary pterostilbene supplementation on meat quality, myofibrillar protein (MP) structure and antioxidant capacity of broiler chicken. The results showed that pterostilbene increased pH 24h , redness a * 24h , water-holding capacity, and decreased yellowness b * 24h and shear force of chicken meat; it also raised the crude protein, non-essential amino acid and flavor amino acid content in muscle. Pterostilbene increased Ca2+-ATPase activity and the α-helical ratio in muscle MP, accompanied by decreased dityrosine content and protein particle size, suggesting that pterostilbene addition effectively improved the MP structure. These alterations caused by dietary pterostilbene might be partially associated with the enhanced total superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities regulated by genes relating to the Nrf2 signaling pathway, as well as reduced lipid and protein oxidation. Together, pterostilbene could be used as a promising dietary supplement for enhancing the organoleptic quality and nutritional value of chicken meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NZ17074, a member of the arenicin family from Arenicola marina , exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi, but had some toxicity to human erythrocytes and porcine intestinal epithelial cells. To resolve this problem, one novel peptide N2 was designed based on NZ17074 by replacing Gly in position 1, 12 with Ala. N2 exhibited a typical β-sheet conformation in aqueous and almost had no hemolysis. N2 was expressed in Pichia pastoris using the small ubiquitin-like modifier fusion technology. The yield of N2 was approximately 6.5 mg/l, and its molecular weight was 2665.0 Da. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of N2 against Gram-negative bacteria ranged from 0.125 to 4 μg/ml. The antibacterial activity of N2 against Escherichia coli CVCC 195 and Salmonella enteritidis CVCC 3377 was enhanced up to 1–3-fold over parent NZ17074. This result provides some information that assists in the rational design of toxic antimicrobial peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a promising antibiotic candidate, it is necessary to find a safe method to produce the porcine cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide PR39. In this study, the antimicrobial peptide PR39 was successfully expressed with the maltose-inducible vector pGJ148 in the Bacillus subtilis WB800N. After induction with 3% maltose concentration, the fusion protein was successfully secreted onto the culture medium directly. After purification a Ni–NTA resin column, the fusion protein with a concentration of 17 mg/l was obtained from fermentation culture. Then, the purified fusion protein was cleaved using enterokinase, and tag-free PR39 was released. Approximately 2 mg of the recombinant PR39 with a purity of approximately 92.0% was obtained from a 1-l culture medium after purification with cation exchange column. The evaluation of antimicrobial and haemolytic activity demonstrated that the recombinant PR39 exhibited a high antimicrobial activity against several Gram-negative strains and a low haemolytic activity (256 μM) against human red blood cells. The synthetic PR39 produced similar results. This work expanded and provided a safe protocol for the large-scale production of antimicrobial peptides in B. subtilis . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MP1106 is a novel variant of plectasin with potent activity against some Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria, especially for Streptococcus suis and Staphylococcus aureus . MP1106 was successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris X-33 using the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAP) promoter. The total protein concentration and antimicrobial activity were 998.3 mg/L and 51,200 AU/mL, respectively. After purification by cation exchange chromatography, recombinant MP1106 (rMP1106) with a concentration of 100.13 mg/L and a purity of 95.2% was obtained from fermentation culture. Its antimicrobial spectrum was similar to that of plectasin, and the antibacterial activity against S. suis CVCC3309 was enhanced up to 29-fold over that of plectasin. In addition, 97.9% of the S. suis CVCC606 bacteria were killed by 16× minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) rMP1106 within 6 h. The percentage hemolysis by rMP1106 against mouse erythrocytes was 3.8% at a concentration of 512 μg/mL. Exposure of porcine intestinal epithelial cells to 16–128 μg/mL rMP1106 caused a 9.5% decrease in cell viability. The rMP1106 was stable over broad ranges of temperature, pH and NaCl concentration. In addition, rMP1106 was highly resistant to papain, proteinase K and snailase digestion but susceptible to trypsin and slightly susceptible to pepsin. These results suggested that rMP1106 has potential as a promising therapeutic drug against S. suis infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxins are produced as secondary metabolites by the toxigenic Aspergillus fungi. Among the aflatoxins, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a common contaminant of global concern in human and animal food products. Prolonged exposure to AFB1 may provoke hepatocyte pyroptosis and oxidative stress, which leads to liver damage. Dietary polyphenols could protect the liver from a wide range of toxins. Curcumin, a polyphenolic substance derived from turmeric, is rich in pharmacological activity. The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the protective effects of curcumin against AFB1-induced liver injury in mice and to explore the possible molecular mechanisms. BALB/c mice received oral gavage of AFB1 (0.75 mg/kg) and curcumin (100 or 200 mg/kg) for 30 days. Our data demonstrated that curcumin attenuated AFB1-induced weight loss in mice and rescued liver injury by mitigating the alterations in pathology and liver function with AFB1 exposure. Curcumin reduced the accumulation of AFB1-DNA adducts in the liver and alleviated hepatotoxicity by inhibiting AFB1-induced oxidative stress and potentiating glutathione S-transferase (GST)-mediated phase II detoxification. In addition, curcumin significantly reduced the characteristic indices of AFB1-induced pyroptosis, such as the expression of mRNAs for genes related to NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome assembly and activation, the expression of key proteins (NLRP3, Caspase-1 and GSDMD). The release of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) in the serum detected by ELISA was also significantly decreased. Notably, administration of curcumin upregulated the expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its related downstream antioxidant molecules (SOD, CAT, HO-1, NQO1) and phase II detoxification enzyme-related molecules (GST, GSH, GSS, GCLC, GCLM) in the presence of AFB1 exposure. To summarize, our results indicated that curcumin could modulate the NLRP3 inflammasome and Nrf2 signaling pathways to attenuate AFB1-induced liver pyroptotic damage and oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dietary resveratrol significantly increased antioxidative status of duck meat. • Dietary resveratrol enhanced the duck meat quality. • Dietary resveratrol decreased lipid and protein oxidation of duck meat. The effects of dietary resveratrol (0, 300, 400 and 500 mg/kg) on the chemical composition, antioxidative capacity, meat quality and volatile compound concentrations of duck meat were investigated. The results showed that dietary resveratrol had no significant effects on the chemical composition. Dietary resveratrol supplementation increased superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase activity, pH 15 min , pH 24 h and color, and reduced the malondialdehyde, and carbonyl contents and shear force, thereby improving water mobility and distribution (T 2b , T 21 , T 22), drip loss, cooking loss and volatile compounds concentration of duck meat. In conclusion, dietary resveratrol supplementation improved the meat quality of ducks by enhancing the antioxidant capacity, improving the color and shear force, and suppressing lipid and protein oxidation, and 500 mg/kg dietary resveratrol had the greatest effect in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]