Eczema is frequently the first manifestation of an atopic diathesis and alteration in the diversity of gut microbiota has been reported in infants with eczema. To identify specific bacterial communities associated with eczema, we conducted a case-control study of 50 infants with eczema (cases) and 51 healthy infants (controls). We performed high-throughput sequencing for V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA genes from the gut fecal material. A total of 12,386 OTUs (operational taxonomic units) at a 97% similarity level were obtained from the two groups, and we observed a difference in taxa abundance, but not the taxonomic composition, of gut microbiota between the two groups. We identified four genera enriched in healthy infants: Bifidobacterium, Megasphaera, Haemophilus and Streptococcus; and five genera enriched in infants with eczema: Escherichia/Shigella, Veillonella, Faecalibacterium, Lachnospiraceae incertae sedis and Clostridium XlVa. Several species, such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Ruminococcus gnavus, that are known to be associated with atopy or inflammation, were found to be significantly enriched in infants with eczema. Higher abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila in eczematous infants might reduce the integrity of intestinal barrier function and therefore increase the risk of developing eczema. On the other hand, Bacteroides fragilis and Streptococcus salivarius, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties, were less abundant in infants with eczema. The observed differences in genera and species between cases and controls in this study may provide insight into the link between the microbiome and eczema risk.
Amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptide is the original causative factor of Alzheimer's disease (AD) according to the amyloid cascade hypothesis. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), the major intracellular protein quality control system in eukaryotic cells, is related to AD pathogenesis. There is growing evidence showing that there is a tight relationship between Abeta and UPS and this relationship plays an important role in AD pathogenesis. This article reviews the relationship between Abeta and the UPS in terms of the following three aspects: the interaction of the two factors, the ubiquitinating process of Abeta, and impact of dysfunctional UPS on Abeta production. The impairment in the UPS in AD could affect the degradation of Abeta and lead to an abnormal accumulation of Abeta. At the same time, Abeta inhibits the proteasomal activity and subsequently leads to impairment of multivesicular bodies (MVB) sorting pathway, forming an interacting relationship between Abeta and UPS. Mutant ubiquitin (Ub) and ubiquitin-like (UBL) ubiquilin-1 are related to Abeta accumulation. Meanwhile E2 conjugating enzymes, E3 ligases, and de-ubiquitinating enzymes, all of which function in the ubiquitination process, play a pivotal role in the proteasomal degradation of Abeta. Ubiquitin-proteasome system has an immense impact on the amyloidogenic pathway of amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing that generates Abeta. Upregulation in proteasomal degradation of BACE1 and components of gamma-secretase leads to decreased Abeta accumulation. A deep look into the mechanism underlying the interplay between Abeta and UPS may provide alternative therapeutic targets and lead to new drugs and therapies.
Aerobic granular sludge can be classified as a type of self-immobilized microbial consortium, consisting mainly of aerobic and facultative bacteria and is distinct from anaerobic granular methanogenic sludge. Aerobic granular technology has been proposed as a promising technology for wastewater treatment, but is not yet established as a large-scale application. Aerobic granules have been cultured mainly in sequenced batch reactors (SBR) under hydraulic selection pressure. The factors influencing aerobic granulation, granulation mechanisms, microbial communities and the potential applications for the treatment of various wastewaters have been studied comprehensively on the laboratory-scale. Aerobic granular sludge has shown a potential for nitrogen removal, but is less competitive for the high strength organic wastewater treatments. This technology has been developed from the laboratory-scale to pilot scale applications, but with limited and unpublished full-scale applications for municipal wastewater treatment. The future needs and limitations for aerobic granular technology are discussed.
Design and development of photosensitizers that can efficiently convert energy of near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation are of major importance for cancer photoassisted therapeutics. Herein, for the first time, it is demonstrated that Prussian blue (PB), a classic coordination compound, can act as a novel photosensitizer with efficient generation of singlet oxygen and excellent photothermal conversion via NIR photoirradiation-induced energy transfer. After modification with hyaluronic acid (HA), the as-prepared HA-modified PB nanocubes (HA@PB) are highly dispersible in aqueous and physiological solutions, as well as show excellent photothermal/photodynamic activities under NIR (808 nm) photoexcitation. On the basis of these features, HA@PB is used to study their in vitro and in vivo combined therapeutic effect. Owing to the CD44 ligand of HA, HA@PB have specific uptake by CD44-positive cells in vitro and can be precisely in vivo delivered to the tumor site. HA@PB as one of the synergistically photodynamic/photothermal combination nanoplatforms could achieve excellent therapeutic efficacy with targeted specificity under the guidance of dual-modality photoacoustic/infrared thermal imaging. Hence, this work is expected to pave the way for using PB-based nanomaterials as a promising multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform in biomedical fields.
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