Search

Abstract: Objective: Delayed encephalopathy after acute carbon monoxide poisoning (DEACMP) is a disease with poor prognosis. The present study was conducted to determine the factors that affect the prognosis of DEACMP patients. Methods: In a retrospective study, 46 DEACMP patients were chosen by the following criteria: (1) a clear history of acute carbon monoxide poisoning, a distinct “lucid interval,” and neuropsychologic symptoms; (2) first-time admittance to a hospital (within 1 week of onset of disease); and (3) completion of standard treatment period in our hospital. All patients received hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) treatments. Results: Fifty percent (23 of 46) of the DEACMP patients showed improvements after HBO2 treatments. Age, lucid interval, danger–activities of daily living scores (assessed at worst conditions), and complications were related (P < .05) to the prognosis of DEACMP patients, whereas sex, fundamental diseases, HBO2 treatment in acute stage, intoxication time, unconsciousness duration, and GM1 ganglioside administration were not (P > .05) related to prognosis. Conclusion: Hyperbaric oxygen treatment appears useful in treating DEACMP patients; and patients with greater age and more complications, but shorter lucid interval and less danger–activities of daily living scores, are more likely to have poor prognosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Chilling is a prevalent type of abiotic stress that adversely affects agricultural productivity worldwide. Phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs) are a group of transcription factor that are crucial for plant abiotic stress response. Our research reveals that the maize PIF family gene ZmPIF6 is responsive to chilling stress, which mitigates the negative impacts of chilling through reducing reactive oxygen species content and enhancing cell membrane stability at the physiological and biochemical levels. We also found that the ZmPIF6 overexpression lines showed a significant increase in grain size, encompassing both length and width, which mainly due to the increase in cell size. In addition, digital gene expression results suggested that ZmPIF6 regulates the expression of cold-related and grain size-related genes in rice. In light of these findings, ZmPIF6 has a hopeful prospect as a candidate gene of chilling tolerance and crop productivity in the transgenic breeding. • ZmPIF6 enhances chilling tolerance through reducing ROS content and enhancing CMS. • ZmPIF6 enhances grain size, which mainly due to the increase in cell size. • ZmPIF6 has a hopeful prospect in the transgenic breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rifamycin, a highly potent drug for the treatment of tuberculosis should raise environmental concerns due to its massive production of mycelial dreg (RMD). The RMD treatment by anaerobic digestion (AD) is a highly promising endeavor, but has still far from explicit. Herein, the thermal alkaline pretreatment (TAP)-AD process with RMD as substrate was performed. The optimal temperature, pH, and reaction time for TAP were 140 °C, 12, and 3 h, respectively. The optimal RMD concentration (1%) and inoculation ratio (2:1, sludge: RMD, mass ratio) were subsequently determined, leading to an increase of 86.4% in cumulative methane production. Correspondingly, a functional core taxa including fermentative bacteria and methanogens was enriched. Molecular ecological network (pMEN) revealed an ecological niche-based functional redundancy, which facilitated the efficiency and stability of the AD system. Notably, representative draft genome recovered from raw RMD possessed the potential fermentation capability, and the phosphotransferase component for carbohydrate transport may not be affected by rifamycin-B according to the results of molecular docking. Taking these factors, an innovative insight into the natural suitability of RMD as native fermentation inoculum was carefully presented. This study clarifies the feasibility of TAP-AD in the treatment of RMD. Moreover, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the ecological properties and microbial mechanisms in AD systems. [Display omitted] • The treatment of RMD by TAP-AD was comprehensively evaluated. • TAP resulted in an 86.4% improvement in cumulative methane production. • Genome-centric metagenomic revealed the in-situ fermentation potential of RMD. • The loose binding of PTS component and rifamycin-B was revealed by molecular docking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]