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Effective phage cocktails consisting of multiple virus types are essential for successful phage therapy against pandrug-resistant pathogens, including Salmonella enterica serovar (S.) Typhimurium. Here we show that a Salmonella phage, F118P13, with non-productive infection and a lytic phage, PLL1, combined to inhibit pandrug-resistant S. Typhimurium growth and significantly limited resistance to phages in vitro. Further, intraperitoneal injection with this unique phage combination completely protected mice from Salmonella-induced death and inhibited bacterial proliferation rapidly in various organs. Furthermore, the phage combination treatment significantly attenuated the inflammatory response, restored the generation of CD4+ T cells repressed by Salmonella, and allowed macrophages and granulocytes to participate in immunophage synergy to promote bacterial clearance. Crucially, the non-productive phage F118P13 is less likely to be cleared by the immune system in vivo, thus providing an alternative to phage cocktail against bacterial infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osimertinib-based therapy effectively improves the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor mutations. However, patients will have cancer progression after approximately one year due to the occurrence of drug resistance. Extensive evidence has revealed that lipid metabolism and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) are associated with drug resistance, which deserves further exploration. Methods: An osimertinib resistance index (ORi) was built to investigate the link between lipid metabolism and osimertinib resistance. The ORi was constructed and validated using TCGA and GEO data, and the relationship between ORi and immune infiltration was discussed. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis based on the M2/M1 macrophage ratio determined the hub gene TIAM2 and the biological function of TIAM2 in LUAD was verified in vitro. Results: ORi based on nine lipid metabolism-related genes was successfully constructed, which could accurately reflect the resistance of LUAD patients to osimertinib, predict the prognosis, and correlate with M2-like TAM. Additionally, TIAM2 was found to increase osimertinib tolerance, enhance cell motility, and promote M2-like TAM polarization in LUAD. Conclusions: The lipid metabolism gene is strongly connected with osimertinib resistance. TIAM2 contributes to osimertinib resistance, enhances cell motility, and induces M2-like TAM polarization in LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of bacteriophages to control foodborne bacterial pathogens in foods has gained traction in recent years. Poultry meat is a major source of Campylobacter jejuni, and a target for the application of bacteriophages. To offer the prospect of a post-harvest control measure, the bacteriophage must function at refrigeration temperatures, where C. jejuni does not grow but can survive. Here, we report actions of three classes of Campylobacter bacteriophage at 4 °C. The pre-incubation of broth cultures at 4 °C before a shift to 42 °C under conditions that support the growth of the host bacteria revealed differences in the time to lysis compared with cultures incubated at 42 °C. The pre-adsorption of the bacteriophage to a sub-population of bacteria is consistent with the observation of asynchronous infection. To ascertain whether the bacteriophages adsorb and infect (the commitment to replicate), we investigated bacteriophage transcription at 4 °C. RNA transcripts for all the bacteriophage host combinations were detected after 15 min, indicating that the interaction is not merely passive. Bacteriophages can infect C. jejuni at refrigeration temperatures, but the infection does not proceed to lysis in the absence of host cell division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common gynecological cancer worldwide. Although prophylactic vaccination presents the most effective method for cervical cancer prevention, chemotherapy is still the primary invasive intervention. It is urgent to exploit low-toxic natural anticancer drugs on account of high cytotoxicity and side-effects of conventional agents. As a natural product, (-)-epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) has abilities in anti-proliferation, anti-metastasis and pro-apoptosis of cervical cancer cells. Moreover, EGCG also has pharmaceutical synergistic effects with conventional agents such as cisplatin (CDDP) and bleomycin (BLM). The underlying mechanisms of EGCG suppressive effects on cervical cancer are reviewed in this article. Further research directions and ambiguous results are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-spectral photometric stereo can recover pixel-wise surface normal from a single RGB image. The difficulty lies in that the intensity in each channel is the tangle of illumination, albedo and camera response; thus, an initial estimate of the normal is required in optimization-based solutions. In this paper, we propose to make a rough depth estimation using the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) instead of using depth sensors or binocular stereo devices. Since high-resolution ground-truth data is expensive to obtain, we designed a network and trained it with rendered images of synthetic 3D objects. We use the model to predict initial normal of real-world objects and iteratively optimize the fine-scale geometry in the multi-spectral photometric stereo framework. The experimental results illustrate the improvement of the proposed method compared with existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: New-born piglets often fail to thrive during suckling without any obvious signs of clinical disease, which causes significant economic loss and suffering. This is, in part, caused by enhanced production values, with too many piglets produced for the sow to provide adequate nutrition to its offspring. These piglets may not be receiving enough milk from the sow and may be removed to controlled environment pens and fed a complete commercial milk replacer to provide adequate nutrition and enhanced care. However, milk replacers do not traditionally contain the milk sugars found in sow milk that stimulate the development of a healthy immune system and gut microbiota. In this study, the effects of supplementing milk replacer with simple milk sugars on gut health, the microbiome and immune-protective goblet cells were investigated. Commercial milk replacer supplemented with milk sugars significantly increased the abundance of beneficial gut bacteria, improved gut health and the numbers of protective immune goblet cells. Results indicate that milk sugars given in milk replacer may be a useful addition in the husbandry of non-thriving, poorly performing piglets when moved to environmentally controlled pens away from sows and fit siblings by modulating their microbiome and gut health performance. Poorly performing piglets receiving commercial milk replacers do not benefit from the naturally occurring probiotic galacto-oligosaccharides otherwise found in sow milk. Study objectives were to investigate the effects of complete milk replacer supplemented with galacto-oligosaccharides on the microbiome, gut architecture and immunomodulatory goblet cell expression of poorly performing piglets that could benefit from milk replacement feeding when separated from sows and housed with fit siblings in environmentally controlled pens. The study is novel in that it is one of the first to investigate the effects of supplementing complete milk replacer with galacto-oligosaccharides in poorly performing piglets. Gastrointestinal tract samples were collected from piglets, and the microbiome composition was assessed by 16s ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene sequencing. Gut architectural features, villus/crypt ratio and enumeration of goblet cells in tissues were assessed by histopathological techniques. The most abundant taxa identified at the genus level were Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Prevotella, Lactococcus and Leuconostoc. Milk replacer plus galacto-oligosaccharides significantly improved gut architectural features and villus/crypt ratio throughout the gastrointestinal tract, increased the number of goblet cells and revealed a differential abundance of beneficial probiotic bacteria, particularly Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. In these respects, galacto-oligosaccharide-supplemented milk replacer may be a useful addition to animal husbandry in poorly performing, non-thriving animals when moved to environmentally controlled pens away from sows and fit siblings, thereby modulating the microbiome and gastrointestinal tract performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) refer to a certain subpopulation within the tumor entity that is characterized by restricted cellular proliferation and multipotent differentiation potency. The existence of CSCs has been proven to contribute to the heterogeneity of malignancies, accounting for intensified tumorigenesis, treatment resistance, and metastatic spread. Dormancy was proposed as a reversible state of cancer cells that are temporarily arrested in the cell cycle, possessing several hallmarks that facilitate their survival within a devastating niche. This transient period is evoked to enter an actively proliferating state by multiple regulatory alterations, and one of the most significant and complex factors comes from local and systemic inflammatory reactions and immune components. Although CSCs and dormant cancer cells share several similarities, the clear relationship between these two concepts remains unclear. Thus, the detailed mechanism of immune cells interacting with CSCs and dormant cancer cells also warrants elucidation for prevention of cancer relapse and metastasis. In this review, we summarize recent findings and prospective studies on CSCs and cancer dormancy to conclude the relationship between these two concepts. Furthermore, we aim to outline the mechanism of immune components in interfering with CSCs and dormant cancer cells to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention of relapse and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual threats of energy depletion and global warming place the development of methods for harnessing renewable energy resources at the center of public interest. Solar energy is one of the most promising renewable energy resources. Sun trackers can substantially improve the electricity production of a photovoltaic (PV) system. This paper proposes a novel design of a dual-axis solar tracking PV system which utilizes the feedback control theory along with a four-quadrant light dependent resistor (LDR) sensor and simple electronic circuits to provide robust system performance. The proposed system uses a unique dual-axis AC motor and a stand-alone PV inverter to accomplish solar tracking. The control implementation is a technical innovation that is a simple and effective design. In addition, a scaled-down laboratory prototype is constructed to verify the feasibility of the scheme. The effectiveness of the Sun tracker is confirmed experimentally. To conclude, the results of this study may serve as valuable references for future solar energy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously reported that dynamic high-pressure microfluidization (DHPM) can degrade pectin in aqueous solution. In this study, we further investigated the effect of DHPM on pectin in water-ethanol systems. In the absence of DHPM treatment, it was found that pectin exhibited increased average particle size and unchanged average molecular weight, but a decline in reducing-sugar-ends content with the increase of ethanol concentrations (0–10% v/v). These results indicated that the addition of ethanol induced aggregation of pectin. During DHPM treatment, pectin underwent disaggregation and degradation under all measured ethanol concentrations. Disaggregation was enhanced but degradation was weakened with the increase of ethanol concentration. FT-IR and UV spectra indicated that demethylation but no β-elimination occurred in the water-ethanol system during DHPM. Finally, the mechanism of DHPM-induced disaggregation and degradation of pectin under a water-ethanol system was updated. This work may help us to find a suitable condition for reducing the degradation of pectin during the process of homogenization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) remains a major problem in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We have developed a novel reperfusion strategy for PCI and named it "volume-controlled reperfusion (VCR)". The aim of the current study was to assess the safety and feasibility of VCR in patients with STEMI. Methods: Consecutive patients admitted to Beijing Chaoyang Hospital with STEMI were prospectively enrolled. The feasibility endpoint was procedural success. The safety endpoints included death from all causes, major vascular complications, and major adverse cardiac event (MACE), i.e., a composite of cardiac death, myocardial reinfarction, target vessel revascularization (TVR), and heart failure. Results: A total of 30 patients were finally included. Procedural success was achieved in 28 (93.3%) patients. No patients died during the study and no major vascular complications or MACE occurred during hospitalization. With the exception of one patient (3.3%) who underwent TVR three months after discharge, no patient encountered death (0.0%), major vascular complications (0.0%), or and other MACEs (0.0%) during the median follow-up of 16 months. Conclusion: The findings of the pilot study suggest that VCR has favorable feasibility and safety in patients with STEMI. Further larger randomized trials are required to evaluate the effectiveness of VCR in STEMI patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salmonella contamination in foods and their formation of biofilms in food processing facility are the primary bacterial cause of a significant number of foodborne outbreaks and infections. Broad lytic phages are promising alternatives to conventional technologies for pathogen biocontrol in food matrices and reducing biofilms. In this study, 42 Salmonella phages were isolated from environmentally-sourced water samples. We characterized the host range and lytic capacity of phages LPSTLL, LPST94 and LPST153 against Salmonella spp., and all showed a wide host range and broad lytic activity. Electron microscopy analysis indicated that LPSTLL, LPST94, and LPST153 belonged to the family of Siphoviridae, Ackermannviridae and Podoviridae, respectively. We established a phage cocktail containing three phages (LPSTLL, LPST94 and LPST153) that had broad spectrum to lyse diverse Salmonella serovars. A significant decrease was observed in Salmonella with a viable count of 3 log10 CFU in milk and chicken breast at either 25 °C or 4 °C. It was found that treatment with phage cocktail was able to significantly reduced biofilm on a 96-well microplate (44–63%) and on a stainless steel surface (5.23 to 6.42 log10). These findings demonstrated that the phage cocktail described in this study can be potentially used as a biological control agent against Salmonella in food products and also has the effect to reduce Salmonella formed biofilms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many in vitro studies have shown that tea catechins had vevarious health beneficial effects. However, inconsistent results between in vitro and in vivo studies or between laboratory tests and epidemical studies are observed. Low bioavailability of tea catechins was an important factor leading to these inconsistencies. Research advances in bioavailability studies involving absorption and metabolic biotransformation of tea catechins were reviewed in the present paper. Related techniques for improving their bioavailability such as nanostructure-based drug delivery system, molecular modification, and co-administration of catechins with other bioactives were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic endocrine disease resulted from insulin secretory defect or insulin resistance and it is a leading cause of death around the world. The care of DM patients consumes a huge budget due to the high frequency of consultations and long hospitalizations, making DM a serious threat to both human health and global economies. Tea contains abundant polyphenols and caffeine which showed antidiabetic activity, so the development of antidiabetic medications from tea and its extracts is increasingly receiving attention. However, the results claiming an association between tea consumption and reduced DM risk are inconsistent. The advances in the epidemiologic evidence and the underlying antidiabetic mechanisms of tea are reviewed in this paper. The inconsistent results and the possible causes behind them are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is a beverage beneficial to health and is also a source for extracting bioactive components such as theanine, tea polyphenols (TPP) and tea polysaccharides (TPS). TPS is a group of heteropolysaccharides bound with proteins. There is evidence showing that TPS not only improves immunity but also has various bioactivities, such as antioxidant, antitumor, antihyperglycemia, and anti-inflammation. However, inconsistent results concerning chemical composition and bioactivity of TPS have been published in recent years. The advances in chemical composition and bioactivities of TPS are reviewed in the present paper. The inconsistent and controversial results regarding composition and bioactivities of TPS are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultraviolet B (UVB) photosensitivities of eight catechins were screened. In both water and ethanol, epicatechin (EC, 575 μM) and catechin (C, 575 μM) exhibited low photostabilities under 6 h UVB radiation with the generation of yellow photoproducts, while other catechins (epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, gallocatechingallate, gallocatechin, catechin gallate) were relatively UVB-insensitive. Photoisomerization and photolysis were two important UVB-induced reactions to EC whereas photolysis was the dominant reaction for C. The influencing factors of time (2–10 h), solvent (water, ethanol) and substrate concentration (71.875–1150 μM) on UVB-induced chemical conversions of EC and C were investigated, and eight photoproducts were identified through ultra performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-DAD-MS/MS) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR analysis). Photolysis reaction involved two pathways, including radical reaction and photo-induced electron transfer reaction. The 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging abilities of eight catechins did not change upon 6 h UVB irradiation. EC and C are photosensitive catechins among eight catechins causing deep color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel velocimeter based on laser self-mixing Doppler technology has been developed for speed measurement. The laser employed in our experiment is a distributed feedback (DFB) fiber laser, which is an all-fiber structure using only one Fiber Bragg Grating to realize optical feedback and wavelength selection. Self-mixing interference for optical velocity sensing is experimentally investigated in this novel system, and the experimental results show that the Doppler frequency is linearly proportional to the velocity of a moving target, which agrees with the theoretical analysis commendably. In our experimental system, the velocity measurement can be achieved in the range of 3.58 mm/s-2216 mm/s with a relative error under one percent, demonstrating that our novel all-fiber configuration velocimeter can implement wide-range velocity measurements with high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tantalum (Ta)-doped titanium oxide (TiO2) thin films are grown by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), and used as both an electron transport layer and hole blocking compact layer of perovskite solar cells. The metal precursors of tantalum ethoxide and titanium isopropoxide are simultaneously injected into the deposition chamber. The Ta content is controlled by the temperature of the metal precursors. The experimental results show that the Ta incorporation introduces oxygen vacancies defects, accompanied by the reduced crystallinity and optical band gap. The PEALD Ta-doped films show a resistivity three orders of magnitude lower than undoped TiO2, even at a low Ta content (0.8–0.95 at.%). The ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy spectra reveal that Ta incorporation leads to a down shift of valance band and conduction positions, and this is helpful for the applications involving band alignment engineering. Finally, the perovskite solar cell with Ta-doped TiO2 electron transport layer demonstrates significantly improved fill factor and conversion efficiency as compared to that with the undoped TiO2 layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, spatial atomic layer deposition (sALD) is employed to prepare titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films by using titanium tetraisopropoxide and water as metal and water precursors, respectively. The post-annealing temperature is varied to investigate its effect on the properties of the TiO2 films. The experimental results show that the sALD TiO2 has a similar deposition rate per cycle to other ALD processes using oxygen plasma or ozone oxidant, implying that the growth is limited by titanium tetraisopropoxide steric hindrance. The structure of the as-deposited sALD TiO2 films is amorphous and changes to polycrystalline anatase at the annealing temperature of 450 °C. All the sALD TiO2 films have a low absorption coefficient at the level of 10−3 cm−1 at wavelengths greater than 500 nm. The annealing temperatures of 550 °C are expected to have a high compactness, evaluated by the refractive index and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer measurements. Finally, the 550 °C-annealed sALD TiO2 film with a thickness of ~8 nm is applied to perovskite solar cells as a compact electron transport layer. The significantly enhanced open-circuit voltage and conversion efficiency demonstrate the great potential of the sALD TiO2 compact layer in perovskite solar cell applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crude water-extracted pectin (WEP) isolated from creeping fig seeds were mainly fractionated into WEP-0.3 and WEP-0.4 fractions. Fractions were confirmed to be nonstarch, nonreducing sugars, nonpolyphenols and protein-unbounded acidic polysaccharides. Interestingly, a significant difference in solubility was found between WEP-0.3 (higher solubility than WEP) and WEP-0.4 (remarkably insoluble), which was consistent with the amorphous and porous sponge-like structure of WEP-0.3 as well as the crystalline and dense rod-like state of WEP-0.4. However, the result of the FT-IR spectra was contradicted by the solubility of WEP-0.4, which possessed the lowest degree of methoxylation and ought to possess the highest solubility. Through mineral analysis, a considerably high content of Ca2+ was found in WEP-0.4, suggesting that the low solubility of WEP-0.4 was probably attributable to the formation of microgels during dialysis. Therefore, metal divalent cations in the dialysate were suggested to be depleted for the dialysis of low methoxyl pectin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]