Kennyherbert7726

Clostridioides difficile is an enteric bacterial pathogen that can a cause nosocomial infection leading to debilitating colitis. The development of a murine model of C. difficile infection has led to fundamental discoveries in disease pathogenesis and the host immune response to infection. Recently, C. difficile endogenously present in the microbiota of mice has been reported and was found to complicate interpretation of mouse studies. Here, we report a novel C. difficile strain, named NTCD-035, isolated from the microbiota of our mouse colony. The presence of NTCD-035 in mice prior to challenge with a highly pathogenic C. difficile strain (VPI10463) led to significantly reduced disease severity. Phylogenetic characterization derived from whole genome sequencing and PCR ribotyping identified the isolate as a novel clade 1, ribotype 035 strain that lacks the pathogenicity locus required to produce toxins. Deficiency in toxin production along with sporulation capacity and secondary bile acid sensitivity was confirmed using in vitro assays. Inoculation of germ-free mice with NTCD-035 did not cause morbidity despite the strain readily colonizing the large intestine. Implementation of a culture-based screening procedure enabled the identification of mice harboring C. difficile in their microbiota, the establishment of a C. difficile-free mouse colony, and a monitoring system to prevent future contamination. Taken together, these data provide a framework for screening mice for endogenously harbored C. difficile and support clinical findings that demonstrate the therapeutic potential of non-toxigenic strains in preventing C. difficile associated disease. Abbreviations PaLoc - Pathogenicity locus, CFUs - Colony forming units, TcdA - toxin-A, TcdB - toxin-B, CdtA - binary toxin A, CdtB - binary toxin B, CdtR - binary toxin R, NTCD - non-toxigenic C. difficile.

There has been no report on the predictive value of auditory steady-state response (ASSR) in the hearing prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL).

To investigate whether ASSR can be a prognostic indicator of hearing outcome in patients with SSNHL after systemic steroid treatment.

Fifty-three patients with unilateral mild to severe SSNHL (≤90 dB HL at 0.5k, 1k, 2k, and 4 kHz, 4FA) were included. All patients received systemic high dose steroid therapy within one month after onset. Ruboxistaurin in vitro The difference between the threshold levels measured by ASSR and PTA on the same day [ASSR - PTA] was calculated. The hearing recovery (HR) was defined as

 < 30 dB HL of final degree of hearing loss and

 > 15 dB HL of hearing gain.

The HR (+) group showed significantly worse ASSR predicted threshold than pure-tone threshold in univariate (

(51) = 2.412,

 = .020) and multivariate analysis (OR 0.910,

 = .012). The [ASSR - PTA] threshold showed significantly moderate correlation with hearing gain (

= -0.303,

 = .028).

Worse ASSR predicted threshold than pure-tone threshold predicted poor hearing outcome after systemic steroid treatment in mild to severe unilateral SSNHL.

Worse ASSR predicted threshold than pure-tone threshold predicted poor hearing outcome after systemic steroid treatment in mild to severe unilateral SSNHL.The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19. Until now, diverse drugs have been used for the treatment of COVID-19. These drugs are associated with severe side effects, e.g. induction of erythrocyte death, named eryptosis. This massively affects the oxygen (O2) supply of the organism. Therefore, three elementary aspects should be considered simultaneously (1) a potential drug should directly attack the virus, (2) eliminate virus-infected host cells and (3) preserve erythrocyte survival and functionality. It is known that PKC-α inhibition enhances the vitality of human erythrocytes, while it dose-dependently activates the apoptosis machinery in nucleated cells. Thus, the use of chelerythrine as a specific PKC-alpha and -beta (PKC-α/-β) inhibitor should be a promising approach to treat people infected with SARS-CoV-2.Xylitol is a widely marketed sweetener with good functionality and health-promoting properties. It can be synthetized by many yeast species in a one-step reduction of xylose. Arabinose is a common contaminant found in xylose and there is ongoing interest in finding biocatalysts that selectively produce xyltiol. From a screen of 99 yeasts, Barnettozyma populi Y-12728 was found to selectively produce xylitol from both mixed sugars and corn stover hemicellulosic hydrolysate. Here, fermentation conditions for xylitol production from xylose by B. populi were optimized. The medium for xylitol production was optimized through response surface methodology. The yeast produced 31.2 ± 0.4 g xylitol from xylose (50 g L-1) in 62 h using the optimized medium. The optimal pH for xylitol production was 6.0. Glucose (10 g L-1), acetic acid (6.0 g L-1), HMF (4 mM) and ethanol (2.0 g L-1) inhibited the xylitol production. The glucose inhibition was entirely mitigated by using a 2-stage aeration strategy, indicating that the yeast was inhibited by ethanol produced from glucose under low aeration. This culture strategy will greatly benefit xylitol production from hemicellulosic hydrolysates, which often contain glucose. This is the first report on optimization of xylitol production by a Barnettozyma species.

Smoking is a cause behind many diseases, including tuberculosis, and it is a risk factor for tuberculosis infection and mortality. Moreover, smoking is associated with a poor tuberculosis treatment outcome.

In this study, we focus on the effects of cigarette smoke on an infected cell culture treated with anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Cytotoxicity on THP-1, J774A.1 and MH-S cell lines and growth of

exposed to a reference or a commercial cigarette was evaluated. THP-1 cell line was exposed to cigarette smoke, infected with

and treated with anti-tuberculosis drugs. Apoptosis and death cell were also tested on

BCG infected cells. Minimal inhibitory concentrations of anti-tuberculosis drugs were analyzed.

All cells lines showed viability values higher than 80% when exposed to cigarette smoke extract. However, THP-1 cell line infected with

BCG and exposed to Marlboro cigarette smoke showed up to a 54% reduction of apoptotic cells than cells unexposed to smoke.

exposed to Marlboro cigarette smoke for 11 days had an optical density 16% lower than unexposed bacteria.