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© 2020, The Author(s). Manuka honey (MH) is currently used as a wound treatment and suggested to be effective in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) elimination. We sought to optimize the synthesis of MH microneedles (MHMs) while maintaining the MH therapeutic effects. MHMs were synthesized using multiple methods and evaluated with in vitro assays. MHMs demonstrated excellent bactericidal activity against MRSA at concentrations ≥ 10% of honey, with vacuum-prepared honey appearing to be the most bactericidal, killing bacterial concentrations as high as 8 × 107 CFU/mL. The wound-healing assay demonstrated that, at concentrations of 0.1%, while the cooked honey had incomplete wound closure, the vacuum-treated honey trended towards faster wound closure. In this study, we demonstrate that the method of MHM synthesis is crucial to maintaining MH properties. We optimized the synthesis of MHMs and demonstrated their potential utility in the treatment of MRSA infections as well as in wound healing. This is the first report of using MH as a substrate for the formation of dissolvable microneedles. This data supports the need for further exploration of this new approach in a wound-healing model and opens the door for the future use of MH as a component of microneedle scaffolds., NIH (Grants P30-ES002109 (JGF), P50-GM021700)

© 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group, on behalf of Shanghai Shangyixun Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. Inclusion body nephropathy (IBN) and kidney fibrosis in aged immunodeficient mice and, to lesser extent, in immunocompetent mice have been recently linked to infection of mouse kidney parvovirus (MKPV), also known as murine chapparvovirus (MuCPV). Knowledge about its prevalence and the complete genome sequence of more MKPV strains is essential for understanding phylogenetic relationships and pathogenicity among MKPV strains. In the present study using PCR and genome walking, we determined the complete 4440-nucleotide genome of a new MKPV strain, namely MIT-WI1, which was identified in IBN-affected Il2rg-/-Rag2-/- c-Kit W-sh/W-sh mice housed in the vivarium at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (WI). The overall nucleotide (>94%) and deduced amino acid sequences (>98%) of p10, p15, NS1 (replicase), NS2 and VP1 (capsid protein) within the MIT-WI1 genome, are closely related to MKPV/MuCPV strains described in laboratory and wild Mus musculus mice. In addition, PCR and qPCR assays using newly designed primers conserved among the known MKPV/MuCPV genomes were developed and utilized to assess MKPV status in selected mice. MKPV was also detected in immunodeficient (NSG) and immunocompetent (Crl:CD1(ICR), UTXflox) mouse strains/stocks. The abundance of the MKPV genome copies was significantly correlated with the severity of IBN. Our data indicate that MKPV is present in selected mouse strains/stocks, and provides new insights into the genome evolution of MKPV., NIH (Grant P30-ES002109)

© 2020, The Author(s). Manuka honey (MH) is currently used as a wound treatment and suggested to be effective in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) elimination. We sought to optimize the synthesis of MH microneedles (MHMs) while maintaining the MH therapeutic effects. MHMs were synthesized using multiple methods and evaluated with in vitro assays. MHMs demonstrated excellent bactericidal activity against MRSA at concentrations ≥ 10% of honey, with vacuum-prepared honey appearing to be the most bactericidal, killing bacterial concentrations as high as 8 × 107 CFU/mL. The wound-healing assay demonstrated that, at concentrations of 0.1%, while the cooked honey had incomplete wound closure, the vacuum-treated honey trended towards faster wound closure. In this study, we demonstrate that the method of MHM synthesis is crucial to maintaining MH properties. We optimized the synthesis of MHMs and demonstrated their potential utility in the treatment of MRSA infections as well as in wound healing. This is the first report of using MH as a substrate for the formation of dissolvable microneedles. This data supports the need for further exploration of this new approach in a wound-healing model and opens the door for the future use of MH as a component of microneedle scaffolds.

© 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group, on behalf of Shanghai Shangyixun Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. Inclusion body nephropathy (IBN) and kidney fibrosis in aged immunodeficient mice and, to lesser extent, in immunocompetent mice have been recently linked to infection of mouse kidney parvovirus (MKPV), also known as murine chapparvovirus (MuCPV). Knowledge about its prevalence and the complete genome sequence of more MKPV strains is essential for understanding phylogenetic relationships and pathogenicity among MKPV strains. In the present study using PCR and genome walking, we determined the complete 4440-nucleotide genome of a new MKPV strain, namely MIT-WI1, which was identified in IBN-affected Il2rg-/-Rag2-/- c-Kit W-sh/W-sh mice housed in the vivarium at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (WI). The overall nucleotide (>94%) and deduced amino acid sequences (>98%) of p10, p15, NS1 (replicase), NS2 and VP1 (capsid protein) within the MIT-WI1 genome, are closely related to MKPV/MuCPV strains described in laboratory and wild Mus musculus mice. In addition, PCR and qPCR assays using newly designed primers conserved among the known MKPV/MuCPV genomes were developed and utilized to assess MKPV status in selected mice. MKPV was also detected in immunodeficient (NSG) and immunocompetent (Crl:CD1(ICR), UTXflox) mouse strains/stocks. The abundance of the MKPV genome copies was significantly correlated with the severity of IBN. Our data indicate that MKPV is present in selected mouse strains/stocks, and provides new insights into the genome evolution of MKPV.

Thirteen Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates cultured from feces, intestines, liver, lungs, and blood from immunocompromised NOD-scid gamma (NSG) mice with clinical illness, housed at a biomedical research institute, were sequenced using Illumina MiSeq technology for elucidation of pathogenic potential and genes encoding antibiotic resistance.