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Soil specimens collected from a site around the home of patients with food-borne type E botulism probably caused by neurotoxigenic Clostridium butyricum in Guanyun, Jiangsu province, China, were examined for the presence of neurotoxigenic C. butyricum. Five lakeside sites of Weishan lake, in an area near to the sites where the type E botulism outbreaks caused by neurotoxigenic C. butyricum occurred were also surveyed. Type E toxin-producing C. butyricum was isolated from soil from four sites including the site in Guanyun. Polymerase chain reaction assay demonstrated the presence of the type E toxin gene in all the toxigenic isolates. The biochemical properties of the isolates from the Guanyun soil and the lakeside soil were identical except for inulin fermentation and starch hydrolysis properties. These results indicate that neurotoxigenic C. butyricum has its principal habitat in soil.

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Neurotoxigenic Clostridium butyricum was isolated from the food implicated in an outbreak of clinically diagnosed type E botulism in China. PCR assay showed that the isolate (LCL 155) contained the type E botulinum toxin gene. This appears to be the first report of neurotoxigenic C. butyricum causing food-borne botulism.

Background. The aim of this pilot clinical study is to evaluate the efficacy of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (HAMSCs) treatment for the wound healing with patients. Methods. This study was a clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells treatment for the wound healing with patients. 346 patients with skin wounds attending the central hospital of Yue Yang were enrolled in the study, setting in the period from January 2016 to January 2021. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups: experimental group received treatment with human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells for each 10 cm2 of wound and control group received conventional dressing with normal saline for each 10 cm2 of wound. Results. No adverse events were recorded during the period of treatment. The granulation tissue coverage rate and thickness of granulation tissue after 10 days of treatment in experimental group were significantly improved compared with control group. Furthermore, the occurrence of bleeding of wound and suppurative wounds between two groups had significant difference ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusion. The data in this pilot study indicated that human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells may be a safe and effective alternative therapy for wound healing. Moreover, larger, placebo-controlled, perspective studies are necessity to evaluate the efficacy and safety of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells treatment for wound healing patients.

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Chromium is a significant mutagen and carcinogen in environment. We compared the effects of tri- and hexavalent chromium on cytotoxicity and oxidative stress in yeast. Cell growth was inhibited by Cr(3+) or Cr(6+), and Cr(6+) significantly increased the lethal rate compared with Cr(3+). Both Cr(3+) and Cr(6+) can enter into the yeast cells. The percent of propidium iodide permeable cells treated with Cr(3+) is almost five times as that treated with the same concentration of Cr(6+). Levels of TBARS, O2 (-), and carbonyl protein were significantly increased in both Cr(6+)- and Cr(3+)-treated cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, the accumulation of these stress markers in Cr(6+)-treated cells was over the Cr(3+)-treated ones. The decreased GSH level and increased activity of GPx were observed after 300 μM Cr(6+)-exposure compared with the untreated control, whereas there was no other change of GSH content in cells treated with Cr(3+) even at very high concentration. Exposure to both Cr(3+) and Cr(6+) resulted in the decrease of activities of SOD and catalase. Furthermore, the effect of Cr(6+) is stronger than that of Cr(3+). Null mutation sensitivity assay demonstrated that the gsh1 mutant was sensitive to Cr(6+) other than Cr(3+), the apn1 mutant is more sensitive to Cr(6+) than Cr(3+), and the rad1 mutant is sensitive to both Cr(6+) and Cr(3+). Therefore, Cr(3+) can be concluded to inhibit cell growth probably due to the damage of plasma membrane integrality in yeast. Although both tri- and hexavalent chromium can induce cytotoxicity and oxidative stress, the action mode of Cr(3+) is different from that of Cr(6+), and serious membrane damage caused by Cr(3+) is not the direct consequence of the increase of lipid peroxidation.

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