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Interstitial nephritis is the primary cause of mortality in IBV-infected chickens. Our previous research has demonstrated that Radix Isatidis polysaccharide (RIP) could alleviate this form of interstitial nephritis. To explore the mechanism, SPF chickens and chicken embryonic kidney cells (CEKs) were pre-treated with RIP and subsequently infected with QX-genotype IBV strain. Kidneys were sampled for transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses, and the cecum contents were collected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results showed that pre-treatment with RIP led to a 50 % morbidity reduction in infected-chickens, along with decreased tissue lesion and viral load in the kidneys. Multi-omics analysis indicated three possible pathways (including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis) which associated with RIP's efficacy against interstitial nephritis. Following further validation both in vivo and in vitro, the results showed that pre-treatment with RIP could activate the antioxidant transcription factor Nrf2, stimulate antioxidant enzyme expression, and consequently inhibit oxidative stress. Pre-treatment with RIP could also significantly reduce the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and apoptosis-associated proteins (including Bax, Caspase-3, and Caspase-9). Additionally, RIP was also observed to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestine. Overall, pretreatment with RIP can alleviate QX-genotype IBV-induced interstitial nephritis via the Nrf2/NLRP3/Caspase-3 signaling pathway. This study lays the groundwork for the potential use of RIP in controlling avian infectious bronchitis (IB)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Leafy greens, especially lettuce, are repeatedly linked to foodborne outbreaks. This paper studied the susceptibility of different leafy greens to human pathogens. Five commonly consumed leafy greens, including romaine lettuce, green-leaf lettuce, baby spinach, kale, and collard, were selected by their outbreak frequencies. The behavior of E. coli O157:H7 87-23 on intact leaf surfaces and in their lysates was investigated. Bacterial attachment was positively correlated with leaf surface roughness and affected by the epicuticular wax composition. At room temperature, E. coli O157:H7 had the best growth potentials on romaine and green-leaf lettuce surfaces. The bacterial growth was positively correlated with stomata size and affected by epicuticular wax compositions. At 37 °C, E. coli O157:H7 87-23 was largely inhibited by spinach and collard lysates, and it became undetectable in kale lysate after 24 h of incubation. Kale and collard lysates also delayed or partially inhibited the bacterial growth in TSB and lettuce lysate at 37 °C, and they sharply reduced the E. coli O157:H7 population on green leaf lettuce at 4 °C. In summary, the susceptibility of leafy greens to E. coli O157:H7 is determined by a produce-specific combination of physiochemical properties and temperature., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although vaccines play a major role in the prevention of infectious bronchitis (IB), Anti-IB drugs still have great potential in poultry production. Radix Isatidis polysaccharide (RIP) is a crude extract of Banlangen with antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and multiple immunomodulatory functions. The aim of this study was to explore the innate immune mechanisms responsible for RIP-mediated alleviation of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV)-induced kidney lesions in chickens. Specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicken and chicken embryo kidney (CEK) cells cultures were pretreated with RIP and then infected with the QX-type IBV strain, Sczy3. Morbidity, mortality, and tissue mean lesion scores were calculated for IBV-infected chickens, and the viral loads, inflammatory factor gene mRNA expression levels, and innate immune pathway gene mRNA expression levels in infected chickens and CEK cell cultures were determined. The results show that RIP could alleviate IBV-induced kidney damage, decrease CEK cells susceptibility to IBV infection, and reduce viral loads. Additionally, RIP reduced the mRNA expression levels of the inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-8, and IL-1β by decreasing the mRNA expression level of NF-κB. Conversely, the expression levels of MDA5, TLR3, STING, Myd88, IRF7, and IFN-β were increased, indicating that RIP conferred resistance to QX-type IBV infection via the MDA5, TLR3, IRF7 signaling pathway. These results provide a reference for both further research into the antiviral mechanisms of RIP and the development of preventative and therapeutic drugs for IB., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to predict pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer using radiomics based on pretreatment staging contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT)., Patients and Methods: A total of 215 patients were retrospectively analyzed. Based on the intratumoral and peritumoral regions of CECT images, radiomic features were extracted and selected, respectively, to develop an intratumoral signature and a peritumoral signature with logistic regression in a training dataset (138 patients from November 2015 to October 2017). We also developed a clinical model with the molecular characterization of the tumor. A radiomic nomogram was further constructed by incorporating the intratumoral and peritumoral signatures with molecular characterization. The performance of the nomogram was validated in terms of discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility in an independent validation dataset (77 patients from November 2017 to December 2018). Stratified analysis was performed to develop a subtype-specific radiomic signature for each subgroup., Results: Compared with the clinical model (area under the curve [AUC], 0.756), the radiomic nomogram (AUC, 0.818) achieved better performance for pCR prediction in the validation dataset with continuous net reclassification improvement of 0.787 and good calibration. Decision curve analysis suggested the nomogram was clinically useful. Subtype-specific radiomic signatures showed improved AUCs (luminal subgroup, 0.936; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive subgroup, 0.825; and triple negative subgroup, 0.858) for pCR prediction., Conclusion: This study has revealed a predictive value of pretreatment staging-CECT and successfully developed and validated a radiomic nomogram for individualized prediction of pCR to neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer, which could assist clinical decision-making and improve patient outcome., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of integrons and associated gene cassettes in Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolates from waterfowls in Hainan, China. The antimicrobial resistance profile of the isolates was examined by using disc diffusion test. In addition, PCR, RFLP, plasmid replicon typing and DNA sequencing analyses were used for the characterization of integrase genes (class 1, 2 and 3) and associated gene cassettes. Approximatively, 90% of the isolates were positive for the integrase genes by PCR. Specifically, class 1 and class 2 integrons were found in 252 (81%) and 7 (2.3%) strains, respectively. While 21 (6.7%) isolates were positive for both class 1 and class 2 integrons. However, none of the isolate was positive for the class 3 integrons. In addition, 5 various cassette arrays, dfrA1-orfC, aadA2, aadA1, dfrA1-aadA1, and dfrA1-orfC- aadA1, were found within the variable regions (VRs) of class 1 integron isolates. While only single cassette array, dfrA1-sat2- aadA1, was identified within VRs of class 2 integron isolates. We identified incF plasmid as the most common plasmid type, which was detected in 81 of 243 VRs containing isolates. This study is the first report showing the baseline characteristics of integrons in E. coli isolates from waterfowls in Hainan, China. Our results provide evidence of the waterfowl birds as a reservoir of class 1 and class 2 integrons carrying antibiotic resistance gene cassettes. Therefore, strict preventive measures should be taken to avoid the spread of mobile genetic resistance elements in waterfowls in China., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)