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Balancing the benefits and risks of antimicrobials in health care requires an understanding of their effects on antimicrobial resistance at the population scale. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between the population antibiotics use and resistance rates and further identify their critical thresholds.Data for monthly consumption of six antibiotics (daily defined doses [DDDs]/1000 inpatient-days) and the number of cases caused by five common drug-resistant bacteria (occupied bed days [OBDs]/10,000 inpatient-days) from inpatients during 2009-2020 were retrieved from the electronic prescription system at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Jiangsu Province, China. Then, a nonlinear time series analysis method, named generalized additive models (GAM), was applied to analyze the pairwise relationships and thresholds of these antibiotic consumption and resistance.The incidence densities of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), and aminoglycoside-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa were all strongly synchronized with recent hospital use of carbapenems and glycopeptides. Besides, the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli was also highly connected the consumption of carbapenems and fluoroquinolones. To lessen resistance, we determined a threshold for carbapenem and glycopeptide usage, where the maximum consumption should not exceed 31.042 and 25.152 DDDs per 1000 OBDs, respectively; however, the thresholds of fluoroquinolones, third-generation cephalosporin, aminoglycosides, and β-lactams have not been identified.The inappropriate usage of carbapenems and glycopeptides was proved to drive the incidence of common drug-resistant bacteria in hospitals. Nonlinear time series analysis provided an efficient and simple way to determine the thresholds of these antibiotics, which could provide population-specific quantitative targets for antibiotic stewardship.

Background: C-C motif ligand 5 (CCL5) is reported to play a key role in acute and chronic liver diseases. However, the association between CCL5 and chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains to be explored. We aimed to investigate the CCL5 expression in the liver tissues of CHB patients and compared the CCL5 expression among CHB patients with different stages of liver inflammation and fibrosis. Methods: Liver tissue specimens from 51 CHB patients who underwent liver biopsy and twelve healthy liver donors were included in the present study. CCL5 expression in the liver tissues was analyzed using immunohistochemistry. The hepatic inflammation grades and fibrotic stages of CHB patients were assessed by the Scheuer classification system. Results: Livers of CHB patients exhibited significantly accumulated CCL5+ cells when compared to those of healthy controls (42.80 ± 4.37 vs. 7.25 ± 0.99/HPF, P < .001). CHB patients with higher hepatic inflammation grades had more CCL5+ cells in their livers than those with lower grades (P < .05). However, the numbers of CCL5+ cells were not correlated with the fibrotic stages in CHB patients (r = .073, P = .61). The number of CCL5+ cells in the liver tissues of CHB patients was positively correlated with alanine transaminase levels (r = .278, P = .041) and aspartate aminotransferase levels (r = .328, P = .009). Conclusions: CHB patients have a significant accumulation of CCL5+ cells in the liver, and CCL5 may play a pathological role in hepatic inflammation of CHB.

Low winter temperatures are a severe environmental pressure for newly arriving insect species. Adaptive evolutionary changes in cold tolerance facilitate establishment of these species in new environments. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, a noxious invasive plant, is distributed from southern to northern China. As an effective biological control agent of A. artemisiifolia, Ophraella communa is mainly spread in southern China. Previously, O. communa successfully established stable populations in Beijing (39.98°N, 115.97°E) following introduction from Laibin (23.62°N, 109.37°E) in 2012. This means that O. communa has adapted the cold winter temperatures in Beijing. However, the mechanisms underlying its rapid evolution of cold tolerance remain unknown. We investigated the levels of cryoprotectants and energy reserves in adult O. communa from two latitudes. We found that higher levels of trehalose, proline, glycerol, total sugar, and lipid were accumulated in O. communa from high latitudes. We also identified five potential genes (Tret1a, Tret1b, Tret1-2, P5CS, and GST) responsible for regulating cold tolerance that were highly expressed in high latitudes. These genes were involved in trehalose transport, proline biosynthesis, and glutathione S-transferase activation. These changes in hybridization indicated facilitating adaptation to cold temperatures. Our results demonstrate the genetic basis underlying the rapid adaptation of cold tolerance in O. communa, which indicates its extension in regions of A. artemisiifolia distribution at higher latitudes. This implies that the specialist herbivores can often adapt to a new low temperature environment where their host plant exist by rapid genetic evolution.

A novel structure of sinomenine isoxazole derivatives is synthesised from sinomenine hydrochloride and aromatic aldehydes and requires six steps. 19 target compounds have been obtained in good yields. The sinomenine hydrochloride transforms to 4-alkynyl sinomenine, which is a key intermediate product to synthesise the target sinomenine isoxazole compounds, after a neutralisation reaction with ammonia and substitution reaction with 3-chloropropyne. Another key intermediate product is 1,3-dipole, which can be obtained from aromatic aldehyde. After treatment with hydroxylamine hydrochloride and then sodium carbonate solution, aromatic aldehyde is converted to aldehyde oxime, which reacts with N-chlorosuccinimide (NCS) to afford aryl hydroximino chloride. 1,3-Dipole is eventually formed in situ while triethylamine (TEA) in DMF is added dropwise. Then 4-alkynyl sinomenine is added to provide the sinomenine isoxazole derivative via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction as the key step. All the target compounds are characterised by melting point, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HRMS and FT-IR spectroscopy.

Antennal olfaction plays a key role in insect survival, which mediates important behaviors like host search, mate choice, and oviposition site selection. As an oligophagous insect, olfaction is extremely important for Ophraella communa to locate host plants. However, information on the olfactory genes has been lacking in O. communa. Using next generation sequencing, we assembled the antennal transcriptome of O. communa and first reported the major chemosensory genes necessary for olfaction in this species. In this study, a total 105 candidate chemosensory genes were identified in O. communa antennae, including 25 odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), 11 chemosensory proteins (CSPs), four sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs), 30 odorant receptors (ORs), 18 ionotropic receptors (IRs), and 17 gustatory receptors (GRs). We also identified full-length sequences of the highly conserved ORco and IR8a/25a family in O. communa. In addition, the expression profile of 15 ORs and four OBPs were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We found that OcomOR2/4/19 and OcomOBP19/20 had a biased expression in male antennae, and OcomOR8 had a biased expression in the female antennae. This large number of chemosensory genes handled by homology analysis and qPCR results will provide the first insights into molecular basis for the olfactory systems of O. communa as well as advance our understanding of olfactory mechanisms in Coleoptera.

Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) is one of the most classical serological markers of HBV infection. This study aimed to investigate the association of serum anti-HBc and HBeAg seroconversion in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) after antiviral treatment. Two hundred and seventeen HBeAg-positive CHB patients treated with entecavir (ETV) or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) for 48 weeks were retrospectively enrolled. Serological response (SR) is defined as HBeAg seroconversion at 48 weeks of antiviral treatment. Serum anti-HBc level was measured using the Abbott ARCHITECT assay. After 48 weeks of antiviral treatment, twenty-two (10.1 %) patients achieved SR. Baseline level of serum anti-HBc in the SR patients (11.8 S/CO) was significantly higher than patients with non-SR (9.6 S/CO, P 0.001). The median anti-HBc level was significantly declined after 48 weeks of antiviral therapy (9.9 vs. 8.9 S/CO, P 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed baseline of serum anti-HBc was an independent predictor of SR (odds ratio [OR]: 1.462, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.170-1.825, P = 0.001). The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of baseline anti-HBc level for predicting SR was 0.781 with the cut-off of 11.1 S/CO, with a sensitivity of 77.27 % and a specificity of 72.82 %. Our findings highlighted that baseline serum anti-HBc level is a promising indictor for predicting HBeAg seroconversion in HBeAg-positive CHB patients after antiviral treatment.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a serious health problem worldwide. Evaluating liver injury in patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with detectable HBV DNA and normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is crucial to guide their clinical management. We aimed to investigate the stages of liver inflammation and fibrosis as well as the predictive accuracy of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-to-platelet ratio (GPR) in these patients.A total of 184 treatment-naïve HBeAg-negative CHB patients with detectable HBV DNA and normal ALT were enrolled. The Scheuer scoring system was used to classify liver inflammation and fibrosis.The distribution of patients with different liver inflammation grades were as follows: G0, 0 (0%); G1, 97 (52.7%); G2, 68 (37.0%); G3, 12 (6.5%); and G4, 7 (3.8%). The distribution of patients with different liver fibrosis stages were as follows: S0, 22 (12.0%); S1, 72 (39.1%); S2, 42 (22.8%); S3, 19 (10.3%); and S4, 29 (15.8%). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves of GPR in predicting significant inflammation, severe inflammation, and advanced inflammation were 0.723, 0.895, and 0.952, respectively. The accuracy of GPR was significantly superior to that of ALT in predicting liver inflammation. The AUROCs of GPR in predicting significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis, and cirrhosis were 0.691, 0.780, and 0.803, respectively. The predictive accuracy of GPR was significantly higher than that of aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4) in identifying advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis, and it was superior to FIB-4 but comparable to APRI in identifying significant fibrosis.Nearly half of the HBeAg-negative CHB patients with detectable HBV DNA and normal ALT levels had significant liver inflammation or fibrosis. GPR can serve as an accurate predictor of liver inflammation and fibrosis in these patients.

To investigate the effects of ginsenosides on the microvascular and immune microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma rats and analyzes the relationship on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. 60 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were collected and randomly divided into control and treatment group in our hospital from January 2018 to January 2020 and clinical symptoms improvement and adverse reactions were compared and analyzed. 60 rats were randomly divided into ginsenoside, control and model group. The immune cell infiltration and microvascular density were detected and analyzed. In animal studies, the infiltration of cluster of differentiation 3+, cluster of differentiation 4+, cluster of differentiation 8+ and forkhead box P3+ T lymphocytes increased significantly while the transforming growth factor beta 1 value decreased significantly after treatment with ginsenoside. Clinically, the patients in the treatment group showed significant improvement in their conscious symptoms and higher treatment efficiency while the adverse reactions such as decrease of white blood cell, decrease of hemoglobin, decrease of platelet, nausea and vomiting and low fever than that of in control group. In hepatocellular carcinoma model, ginsenosides induced lymphocyte infiltration and inhibited tumor angiogenesis to exert anti-tumor effects. And ginsenoside has both anti-tumor and quality of life effects and has good efficacy in the treatment of advanced primary hepatocellular carcinoma.

Curcumin has been reported to have anti-fibrotic effect. However, the anti-fibrotic mechanism of curcumin for liver fibrosis remains obscure. In the presenting study, we aimed to investigate whether curcumin reduce chemokines secretion by inhibiting kupffer cells (KCs) activation to decrease Ly6Chi monocyte infiltration in the treatment of liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis was induced by intraperitoneal carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-injection in mice. Mice in curcumin group received curcumin treatment by gavage. Pretreatment with curcumin significantly protected mice from liver inflammation and fibrosis. Compared to CCl4 group, mice in the curcumin group showed significantly less intrahepatic infiltration of Ly6Chi monocytes, but no difference of other leucocyte subtypes. Moreover, curcumin significantly reduced Ly6Chi monocytes associated pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrogenic cytokines, which was in line with the decreased numbers of intrahepatic Ly6Chi monocytes. Further study found that curcumin is able to decrease KCs activation and monocyte chemokines, which explains why curcumin can reduce Ly6Chi monocytes infiltration during liver fibrosis. In vitro, we discovered that curcumin prevents the polarization of macrophages toward M1 and reduces monocyte chemokines secretion, which is involved with ERK1/2 and p38 pathways. Taken together, for the first time, we verified that curcumin can reduce chemokines secretion by inhibiting KCs activation to decrease Ly6Chi monocyte infiltration in the treatment of liver fibrosis. These results suggested that curcumin may be considered a promising candidate in the prevention and treatment of liver fibrosis.

Emodin, as a major active component of Rheum palmatum L. and Polygonum cuspidatum, has been reported to have antifibrotic effect. However, the mechanism of emodin on antifibrotic effect for liver fibrosis was still obscure. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether emodin can alleviate carbon tetrachloride- (CCl4-) induced liver fibrosis through reducing infiltration of Gr1hi monocytes. Liver fibrosis was induced by intraperitoneal CCl4 injection in mice. Mice in the emodin group received emodin treatment by gavage. Pretreatment with emodin significantly protected mice from liver inflammation and fibrosis revealed by the decreased elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), as well as reduced hepatic necrosis and fibrosis by analysis of hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, Masson staining, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and collagen-I immunohistochemistry staining. Further, compared to CCl4 group, mice in the emodin group showed significantly less intrahepatic infiltration of Gr1hi monocytes. Moreover, emodin significantly inhibited hepatic expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), granulin (GRN), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), and chemokine ligand 7 (CCL7), which was in line with the decreased numbers of intrahepatic Gr1hi monocytes. In conclusion, emodin can alleviate the degree of liver fibrosis by reducing infiltration of Gr1hi monocytes. These results suggest that emodin is a promising candidate to prevent and treat liver fibrosis.

Heat stress is the most common factor for coral bleaching, which has increased both in frequency and severity due to global warming. In the present study, the stony coral Acropora aculeus was subjected to acute heat stress and entire transcriptomes were sequenced via the next generation sequencing platform. Four paired-end libraries were constructed and sequenced in two groups, including a control and a heat stress group. A total of 120,319,751 paired-end reads with lengths of 2 × 100 bp were assembled and 55,021 coral-derived genes were obtained. After read mapping and abundance estimation, 9110 differentially expressed genes were obtained in the comparison between the control and heat stress group, including 4465 significantly upregulated and 4645 significantly downregulated genes. Twenty-three GO terms in the Biological Process category were overrepresented for significantly upregulated genes, and divided into six groups according to their relationship. These three groups were related to the NF-κB signal pathway, and the remaining three groups were relevant for pathogen response, immunocyte activation and protein ubiquitination. Forty-three common genes were found in four GO terms, which were directly related to the NF-κB signal pathway. These included 2 NACHT, LRR, PYD domains-containing protein, 5 nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein, 29 NLRC3-like protein, 4 NLRC5-like protein, and 3 uncharacterized protein. For significantly downregulated genes, 27 overrepresented GO terms were found in the Biological Process category, which were relevant to protein ubiquitination and ATP metabolism. Our results indicate that heat stress suppressed the immune response level via the NLRC3-like protein, the fine-tuning of protein turnover activity, and ATP metabolism. This might disrupt the balance of coral-zooxanthellae symbiosis and result in the bleaching of the coral A. aculeus.

// Jian Wang 1 , Xiaomin Yan 2 , Yue Yang 1 , Haiyan Chang 1 , Bei Jia 2 , Xiang-An Zhao 3 , Guangmei Chen 4 , Juan Xia 2 , Yong Liu 5 , Yuxin Chen 5 , Guiyang Wang 2 , Li Wang 2 , Zhaoping Zhang 2 , Weimao Ding 6 , Rui Huang 2 and Chao Wu 1, 2 1 Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 2 Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Clinical College of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 4 Department of Infectious Diseases, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing, University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 5 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 6 Department of Hepatology, Huai’an No. 4 People’s Hospital, Huai’an, Jiangsu, China Correspondence to: Chao Wu, email: dr.wu@nju.edu.cn Rui Huang, email: doctor_hr@126.com Keywords: chronic hepatitis B, liver biopsy, liver fibrosis, serum biomarkers, non-invasive fibrosis model Received: June 01, 2017 Accepted: June 28, 2017 Published: July 22, 2017 ABSTRACT Objectives: Noninvasive models have been established for the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB). However, the predictive performance of these established models remains inconclusive. We aimed to develop a novel predictive model for liver fibrosis in CHB based on routinely clinical parameters. Results: Platelets(PLT), the standard deviation of red blood cell distribution width(RDW-SD), alkaline phosphatase(ALP) and globulin were independent predictors of significant fibrosis by multivariable analysis. Based on these parameters, a new predictive model namely APRG(ALP/PLT/RDW-SD/globulin) was proposed. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves(AUROCs) of APRG index in predicting significant fibrosis(≥F2), advanced fibrosis(≥F3) and liver cirrhosis(≥F4) were 0.757(95%CI 0.699 to 0.816), 0.763(95%CI 0.711 to 0.816) and 0.781(95%CI 0.728 to 0.835), respectively. The AUROCs of the APRG were significantly higher than that of aspartate transaminase(AST) to PLT ratio index(APRI), RDW to PLT ratio(RPR) and AST to alanine aminotransferase ratio(AAR) to predict significant fibrosis, advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. The AUROCs of the APRG were also significantly higher than fibrosis-4 score (FIB-4) (0.723, 95%CI 0.663 to 0.783) for cirrhosis(P=0.034) and better than gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase(GGT) to PLT ratio(GPR) (0.657, 95%CI 0.590 to 0.724) for significant fibrosis(P=0.001). Materials and Methods: 308 CHB patients who underwent liver biopsy were enrolled. The diagnostic values of the APRG for liver fibrosis with other noninvasive models were compared. Conclusions: The APRG has a better diagnostic value than conventionally predictive models to assess liver fibrosis in CHB patients. The application of APRG may reduce the need for liver biopsy in CHB patients in clinical practice.

Rhamnose-binding lectin (RBL) is a type of Ca 2+ -independent lectin with tandem repeat carbohydrate-recognition domain, and is crucial for the innate immunity in many invertebrates. In this study, the cDNA sequence encoding RBL in coral Pocillopora damicornis (PdRBL-1) was cloned. The PdRBL-1 protein shared highest amino acid sequence similarity (55%) with the polyp of Hydra vulgaris , and contained a signal peptide and two tandem carbohydrate-recognition domains in which all cysteine residues were conserved. Surface plasmon resonance method revealed that the recombinant PdRBL-1 protein bound to LPS and Lipid A, but not to LTA, β-glucan, mannose and Poly (I:C). Results also showed that it bonded with zooxanthellae using western blotting method, and that the bound protein was detectable only at concentrations higher than 10 2 zooxanthellae cell mL −1 . When recombinant PdRBL-1 protein was preincubated with LPS, lower amounts of protein bound to zooxanthellae compared to cells not preincubated with LPS. Furthermore, PdRBL-1 mRNA expression increased significantly at 12 h, and declined to the baseline at 24 h after heat stress at 31 °C. These results collectively suggest that PdRBL-1 could recognize not only pathogenic bacteria but also symbiotic zooxanthellae, and that the recognition of zooxanthellae by PdRBL-1 could be repressed by pathogenic bacteria through competitive binding. This information allows us to gain new insights in the mechanisms influencing the establishment and maintenance of coral-zooxanthella symbiosis in coral P. damicornis .

A novel structure of sinomenine isoxazole derivatives is synthesised from sinomenine hydrochloride and aromatic aldehydes and requires six steps. 19 target compounds have been obtained in good yields. The sinomenine hydrochloride transforms to 4-alkynyl sinomenine, which is a key intermediate product to synthesise the target sinomenine isoxazole compounds, after a neutralisation reaction with ammonia and substitution reaction with 3-chloropropyne. Another key intermediate product is 1,3-dipole, which can be obtained from aromatic aldehyde. After treatment with hydroxylamine hydrochloride and then sodium carbonate solution, aromatic aldehyde is converted to aldehyde oxime, which reacts with N-chlorosuccinimide (NCS) to afford aryl hydroximino chloride. 1,3-Dipole is eventually formed

Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) is a notorious invasive weed that has spread across most temperate regions of the world. The beetle (Ophraella communa) is considered to be an effective control agent against A. artemisiifolia. As an oligophagous insect, its olfactory system is extremely important for host seeking in the wild. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report on the molecular mechanisms underlying olfaction recognition in this beetle. Hence, in this study, we characterized the odorant receptor co-receptor of O. communa and named it as 'OcomORco'. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that, compared to the control treatment, RNA interference (RNAi) strongly reduced the expression of OcomORco by 89% in male and 90% in female beetles. Electroantennogram assay showed that the antennal response of both male and female beetles to four volatiles of A. artemisiifolia was significantly reduced. The injected male or female beetles lost their preference for plant leaves as observed in the behavioural tests. In addition, disruption of the expression of OcomORco resulted in a reduction of oviposition, while there was no difference in larval hatching rate between control and knockdown females. We demonstrated that OcomORco plays a vital role in olfactory perception and host search in O. communa, and it is involved in oviposition in an indirect way.

The formation of well-defined finite-sized aggregates represents an attractive goal in supramolecular chemistry. In particular, construction of discrete π-stacked dye assemblies remains a challenge. Reported here is the design and synthesis of a novel type of discrete π-stacked aggregate from two comparable perylenediimide (PDI) dyads (PEP and PBP). The criss-cross PEP-PBP dimers in solution and (PBP-PEP)-(PEP-PBP) tetramers in the solid state are well elucidated using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering, and diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy. Extensive π–π stacking between the PDI units of PEP and PBP as well as repulsive interactions of swallow-tailed alkyl substituents are responsible for the selective formation of discrete dimer and tetramer stacks. Our results reveal a new approach to preparing discrete π stacks that are appealing for making assemblies with well-defined optoelectronic properties.

B cell-mediated humoral immunity plays a vital role in viral infections, including chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which remains a critical global public health issue. Despite hepatitis B surface antigen-specific antibodies are essential to eliminate viral infections, the reduced immune functional capacity of B cells was identified, which was also correlated with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) progression. In addition to B cells, T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, which assist B cells to produce antibodies, might also be involved in the process of anti-HBV-specific antibody production. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the role of various subsets of B cells and Tfh cells during CHB progression and discuss current novel treatment strategies aimed at restoring humoral immunity. Understanding the mechanism of dysregulated B cells and Tfh cells will facilitate the ultimate functional cure of CHB patients.

Intracellular pH is an important physiological parameter, which is closely with the cellular behaviors and pathological processes. So, the accurate and sensitive monitoring of the intracellular pH of living cells is highly required. Herein, a coumarin-based fluorescent molecule Lyso-pH was designed and synthesized. The Lyso-pH displayed excellent pH sensitivity, anti-interference capability and reversible circulation ability in the acid range. Above all, Lyso-pH could image the mitolysosome fused by mitophagosome and lysosome as well as monitor lysosomal pH changes based on the excellent lysosomes-targeted capability and response to acid during mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy), which may supply some important information for the interaction between mitochondria and lysosome in vital movement.

Traditional biotechnology, taking advantage of fluorescent protein (FP) to investigate the foreign protein, was difficult to visualize and image accurately in living cells. Herein, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was illumined in virtue of the prepared probe 1, which could monitor the foreign protein of the intracellular recognition, transportation and metabolism under confocal microscopy. Verified by 1H NMR titration experiment and molecular docking simulation, the probes bonded to BSA mainly through hydrogen bond and suitable hydrophobicity, realizing the visualization and high-fidelity imaging of the foreign protein in living cells. The results provided the beneficial approach and methodology for further understanding protein metabolism.

Conventional probes are often difficult to observe apoptosis and autophagy at the same time. Herein, a series of small molecule multifunctional probes (L1-L6) were developed conveniently. Among, probes L1-L2 located in the mitochondria and L3 located in the lysosome in live cells, probes L4-L5 targeting mitochondria and L6 targeting lysosomes in living cells were further developed as a comparison. The experiment results of cells apoptosis showed that L1-L3 could immigrate to nucleolus, but L4-L6 did not due to the increased lipotropy. Significantly, fluorescence microscopy images showed that L2 could accumulate in the autophagic vacuoles when autophagy was activated, which gradually fused with lysosomes to form autolysosomes with increase of autophagy vacuoles. The results provided a beneficial reference for further preparing multifunctional fluorescence probe for monitoring apoptosis and autophagy.

Emodin, as a major active component of Rheum palmatum L. and Polygonum cuspidatum, has been reported to have antifibrotic effect. However, the mechanism of emodin on antifibrotic effect for liver fibrosis was still obscure. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether emodin can alleviate carbon tetrachloride- (CCl4-) induced liver fibrosis through reducing infiltration of Gr1hi monocytes. Liver fibrosis was induced by intraperitoneal CCl4 injection in mice. Mice in the emodin group received emodin treatment by gavage. Pretreatment with emodin significantly protected mice from liver inflammation and fibrosis revealed by the decreased elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), as well as reduced hepatic necrosis and fibrosis by analysis of hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, Masson staining, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and collagen-I immunohistochemistry staining. Further, compared to CCl4 group, mice in the emodin group showed significantly less intrahepatic infiltration of Gr1hi monocytes. Moreover, emodin significantly inhibited hepatic expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), granulin (GRN), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), and chemokine ligand 7 (CCL7), which was in line with the decreased numbers of intrahepatic Gr1hi monocytes. In conclusion, emodin can alleviate the degree of liver fibrosis by reducing infiltration of Gr1hi monocytes. These results suggest that emodin is a promising candidate to prevent and treat liver fibrosis.

Ag3PO4–AgBr nanocomposites with a novel heterostructure were synthesized by a simple one-step reaction at room temperature with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as surfactant and bromine source. The nanocomposites comprise uniform, monodisperse nanospheres of average diameter 90 nm. AgBr nanoparticles are present both on the surface and inside the nanospheres. The morphology of the composites can be controlled by adjusting the reaction conditions. The photocatalytic activity of the nanospheres was evaluated by monitoring degradation of methyl orange and rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. The results indicate that this novel heterostructure has much greater activity and structural stability than pure Ag3PO4. This may be primarily ascribed to effective separation of photoexcited electron–hole pairs at the contact interfaces.

Climate change and environmental pollution have been threatening the survival of corals. In the present study, whole transcriptomes of the coral Pocillopora damicornis were sequenced under high temperature and elevated ammonium. After reads mapping and abundance estimation, differentially expressed genes were obtained in the Control/Heat, Control/Heat_NH4 and Heat/Heat_NH4 comparisons. Five overrepresented GO terms centering the tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway were noted for significantly upregulated genes in the Control/Heat and Control/Heat_NH4 comparisons. In addition, five GO terms related to apoptosis and cell death were overrepresented for significantly upregulated genes in the Control/Heat comparison but not in the Control/Heat_NH4 comparison. The expression level of 112 genes in these GO terms increased significantly in the Heat group, but only 44 genes showed the increase trend in the Heat_NH4 group. These results collectively suggested that elevated ammonium could reduce the negative effect of heat stress on the coral P. damicornis.

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy . This article has been retracted at the request of the authors. The authors had included images in the original article, which were, in fact, electron microscopy results of totally different catalysts. They are no longer able to support their discussion and conclusions given in the original article.

The survival of corals worldwide has been seriously threatened by eutrophication events concomitant with the increase in ocean pollution. In the present study, whole transcriptomes of the stony coral Pocillopora damicornis exposed to elevated ammonium were sequenced. A total of 121,366,983 pair-end reads were obtained, and 209,337 genes were assembled, including 42,399 coral-derived and 54,874 zooxanthella-derived genes. Further, a comparison of the control versus stress group revealed 6572 differentially expressed genes. For 1015 significantly upregulated genes, 24 GO terms were overrepresented, among which 3 terms related to apoptosis and cell death induction included one caspase, five bcl-2-like proteins, and two tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member genes. For 5557 significantly downregulated genes, the top 10 overrepresented terms were related to metabolism and signal transduction. These results indicate that apoptosis and cell death could be induced under elevated ammonium, suggesting that metabolic regulation and signal transduction might be involved in the reconstruction of the coral–zooxanthellae symbiotic balance in the stony coral P. damicornis .

The monodisperse, flowerlike CdS hollow spheres have been successfully synthesized by employing sulfur as the sulfate sources from a solution of H4SiW12O40 (SiW12) in ethanol through UV irradiation. The SiW12 that serves as photocatalyst plays a very important role on the synthesis of CdS crystals. The morphologies of the synthesized CdS crystals could be controlled by adjusting experimental parameters, such as initial precursor ratios, reaction time, and concentration of reagents. The possible mechanism of formation for the CdS nanostructures is proposed based on the experimental results. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of the CdS hollow spheres calculated from the N2 adsorption isotherm is 175.8 m2 g−1, which is much larger than the value reported in previous reports. The optical properties of CdS hollow structures have also been studied. Importantly, the CdS hollow nanostructures have extraordinary photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under irradiation with visible light.

The non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and nucleated iPP was investigated by DSC. The crystalline morphology of iPP was observed by polarized light microscopy. It was found that the crystallization rate increased with the addition of nanometer-scale calcium carbonate (nm-CaCO3) particles. The addition of dibenzylidene sorbitol (DBS) could greatly reduce the spherulite size of iPP. The crystallization temperature for the iPP with DBS was higher than for non-nucleated iPP. DBS was an effective nucleating agent for iPP. The results of measurements suggested that there was a coordinated action to the crystallization of iPP when the organic nucleating agents (DBS) and nm-CaCO3 were added to iPP together. Comparison to the modified Avrami equation and Ozawa equation, another method—Mo’s method can describe the non-isothermal crystallization behavior of iPP and nucleated iPP more satisfactorily.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the result of an inadequate antiviral immune response to the virus. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the soluble CD40 ligand-activated B (CD40-B) cells could present antigen and induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in patients with chronic HBV infection. We observed that after activated by sCD40L, the expression of CD80, CD86, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I and II molecules on the CD40-B cells was significantly increased. Cytometry and fluorescence microscopy showed that more than 41.34% CD40-B cells were loaded by the HBcAg peptide. Furthermore, after been activated and HBcAg18–27 antigen peptide pulsed, B cells obtained from patients with chronic HBV infection could induce HBcAg18–27 specific CTLs in vitro. Taken together, our results show that B cells from patients with chronic HBV infection can be activated by sCD40L and may function as antigen presenting cells and induce HBV-specific CTLs.

Background We aimed to clarify whether soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) activated B cells may be loaded with HBcAg18-27 peptide and served as antigen-producing cells (APCs) to induce HBV-specific cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Results Human B cells could be cultured in the presence of sCD40L up to 54 days, and the proportion of B cells in the S phase increased from 0% to 8.34% in the culture. The expression of CD80, CD86, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) classes I and II molecules on the sCD40L-activated B cell was significantly increased after long-time culture. Cytometry and fluorescence microscopy showed that more than 98% sCD40L-activated B cells were loaded by the HBcAg peptide. Furthermore, the peptide-pulsed activated B cells could induce HBcAg18-27 specific CTLs. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that sCD40L-activated B cells may function as APCs and induce HBV-specific CTLs.