Search

As various new sibling species within the Scedosporium spp. have been described recently, this study was conducted to investigate distribution and antifungal susceptibility profiles of the different species of Scedosporium spp. in China. Twenty-one clinical strains of Scedosporium from China and two strains from Japan were reidentified by MLSA. The analysis included BT2, CAL, RPB, SOD, and ACT and the combination of the five loci. Pseudallescheria boydii complex (17 strains) and S. apiospermum (6 strains) were identified. P. boydii complex included four closely related subgroups: P. boydii (9 strains), P. ellipsoidea (6 strains), P. fusoidea (1 strain), and P. angusta (1 strain). There were no significant differences in MICs for neither VOR, POS, nor AMB over all the five species in study. For itraconazole, intraspecific diversity was evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillus fumigatus is an important opportunistic fungal pathogen. Patients treated with chemotherapeutic agent such as cyclophosphamide are susceptible to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Dectin-1 is a pattern recognition receptor critically involved in immune responses to A. fumigatus. Therefore, we tested whether cyclophosphamide treatment could cause alterations in dectin-1 expression in the lung, which could contribute to invasive pulmonary Aspergillus infections in patients. We established a murine A. fumigatus infectious model to investigate the kinetics of dectin-1 expression in lung tissues in the presence or absence of cyclophosphamide treatment. During infection, dectin-1 expression was strikingly increased in immunocompetent mice infected with A. fumigatus as compared to those in a non-infected control group. In vitro macrophages stimulated with heat-inactivated A. fumigatus conidia expressed a significantly elevated level of dectin-1. Infected mice treated with cyclophosphamide showed decreased levels of dectin-1 and a higher fungal burden in the lung than the infected mice without cyclophosphamide treatment. These results suggest that dectin-1 is involved in host defense against A. fumigatus infection and that suppression of dectin-1 expression caused by cyclophosphamide may contribute to susceptibility to infections caused by this fungus in the immunocompromised host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symmetrical acral keratoderma (SAK) is a rare skin disorder with symmetric hyperkeratotic patches on the acral regions. Variants in the filaggrin gene (FLG) have been associated with SAK since 2020. To explore the clinical and genetic basis in six patients with SAK. Whole-exome sequencing, direct sequencing, and prediction of protein structure and function were performed. In this study, we identified two novel variants, c.3320del and c.4909del, and seven previously reported variants, c.3099C>G, c.4544C>A, c.6950_6957del, c.7264G>T, c.7945del, c.8117C>G, c.12064A>T. The findings of this study bolster the existing evidence implicating FLG variants in SAK, introducing two novel variants to the database of FLG variants associated with the condition.

Titanium carbide quantum dots (Ti 3 C 2 QDs) derived from two-dimensional (2D) Ti 3 C 2 T x (MXene) are the rising-star material recently. Herein, nitrogen-doped Ti 3 C 2 QDs (N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs) were synthesized via a solvothermal method. The obtained N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs exhibited excitation-dependent photoluminescence, antiphotobleaching, and dispersion stability. Furthermore, by combining the N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs and DAP (2,3-diaminophenazine, the oxidative product of o -phenylenediamine) as a composite nanoprobe (N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs@DAP), we developed a dual-emission reverse change ratiometric sensor to quantitatively monitor H 2 O 2 based on photoinduced electron-transfer effects, where N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs acted as the donor and DAP as the acceptor. On the basis of the xanthine converting into H 2 O 2 through the catalysis of xanthine oxidase, the N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs@DAP nanoprobe was also exploited for xanthine sensing. As a result, the proposed assay was demonstrated to be highly sensitive for H 2 O 2 and xanthine with detection limits of 0.57 and 0.34 μM, respectively. In a word, we have investigated the application of N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs in H 2 O 2 and xanthine sensing and opened a new and exciting avenue for the N-Ti 3 C 2 QDs in biosensing.

In this research, we attempted to develop a sensitive colorimetric sensing strategy for the detection of acid phosphatase (ACP) based on MnO 2 nanosheets and explored its applications in screening and evaluating inhibitors of ACP. The MnO 2 nanosheets exhibit intrinsic biomimetic oxidase activity, which can catalyze the oxidation of the colorless 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonate) diammonium salt (ABTS) into green oxidized ABTS (oxABTS). Upon the introduction of ACP, l-ascorbic acid-2-phosphate can be dephosphorylated to ascorbic acid, which arouses the disintegration of MnO 2 nanosheets into Mn 2+ ions. This disintegration weakens the enzyme mimicking activity of the MnO 2 nanosheets, leading to the impediment of the oxidation of ABTS. Conversely, in the absence of ACP, the ABTS is rapidly oxidized by MnO 2 , leading to a significant colorimetric signal change. The absorbance difference at 420 nm displayed a linear relationship with the concentration of ACP ranging from 0.075 to 0.45 mU·mL -1 , generating a detection limit of 0.046 mU·mL -1 . In the inhibition assays, this sensing platform provided simple detection for parathion-methyl (PM), a representative inhibitor of ACP. The facile evaluation of the inhibitory effect of PM, including its IC50 toward ACP, was also realized.