• Langston Krarup posted an update 5 hours, 31 minutes ago

    Florfenicol is widely used to control diseases in aquatic animals, and is used extensively to treat streptococcosis-caused by Streptococcus agalactiae-in the commercially important fish tilapia. There are known issues with the development of florfenicol resistance in Streptococcus agalactiae, but the underlying resistance mechanisms are not clear, a situation currently preventing optimal deployment of antibiotics. Here, we examined the induction of resistance by successively increasing the concentrations of florfenicol, and then used RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) to characterize changes in the transcriptomes of a florfenicol-resistant strain (H51-R) and a florfenicol-sensitive strain (H51-S). We obtained a total of 18,418,068 sequence reads in H51-R and 16,070,122 sequence reads in H51-S, from which a total of 1940 unigenes were assembled. In total, 376 unigenes were found to be differently expressed genes (DEGs). After florfenicol treatment, 181 genes were upregulated and 195 genes were downregulated. GO functional analysis of the DEGs indicated that the most strongly enriched GO terms included metabolic process (152 genes), catalytic activity (146), and binding (133), with terms including membrane, membrane part, and transporter activity also showing enrichment. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis highlighted that ribosomes were prominently involved in the transcriptional changes associated with florfenicol resistance. This study demonstrates that florfenicol treatment affects multiple biological functions of Streptococcus agalactiae, suggests that florfenicol resistance in Streptococcus agalactiae is closely related to the reduction of intracellular drug accumulation caused by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, and highlights the potential involvement of altered ribosomal function in florfenicol resistance. BACKGROUND Journal of Oral Biosciences is devoted to the advancement and dissemination of fundamental knowledge concerning every aspect of oral biosciences. HIGHLIGHT This review features review articles in the fields of “Bone Cell Biology,” “Microbiology,” “Oral Heath,” “Biocompatible Materials,” “Mouth Neoplasm,” and “Biological Evolution” in addition to the review articles by winners of the Lion Dental Research Award (“Role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors for modulation of microcircuits in the agranular insular cortex” and “Phospholipase C-related catalytically inactive protein A novel signaling molecule for modulating fat metabolism and energy expenditure”) and the Rising Members Award (“Pain mechanism of oral ulcerative mucositis and the therapeutic traditional herbal medicine hangeshashinto,” “Mechanisms underlying the induction of regulatory T cells by sublingual immunotherapy,” and “Regulation of osteoclast function via Rho-Pkn3-c-Src pathways”), presented by the Japanese Association for Oral Biology. CONCLUSION These reviews in the Journal of Oral Biosciences have inspired the readers of the journal to broaden their knowledge regarding various aspects of oral biosciences. The current editorial review introduces these exciting review articles. V.Amur catfish is extensively distributed and cultured in Asian countries. Despite of economic importance, the genomic information of this species remains limited. A reference transcriptome of Amur catfish was assembled and the sex-biased gene expression in the gonads was characterized using RNA-sequencing. The assembled transcriptome of Amur catfish consisted of 74,840 transcripts. The N50, mean length and max length of transcripts are 1970, 1235 and 16,748 bp. Putative sex-specific transcripts were identified and sex-specific expression of the representative genes was verified by RT-PCR. Differential expression analysis identified 5401 ovary-biased and 5618 testis-biased genes. The ovary-biased genes were mainly enriched in pathways such as RNA transport and ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes. The testis-biased genes were enriched in calcium signaling and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, etc. Our data provide a valuable genomic resource for further investigating the genetic basis of sex determination, sex differentiation and sexual dimorphism of catfish. BACKGROUND No independently-validated score currently exists for risk stratification of patients with frequent premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). OBJECTIVES To develop a risk score to predict adverse events in patients with frequent PVCs. METHODS We analyzed consecutive patients between 2012-2017 undergoing 14-day continuous monitoring with frequent PVCs (>5%) and concurrent echocardiography. We performed binary logistic regression to determine multivariate predictors of adverse LV remodeling (LVEF500ms (OR 4.7, 4 points), Non-sustained VT (OR 5.3, 4 points), forming the ABC-VT risk score. This score predicted future adverse events in both validation cohorts Cohort 1 HR 1.43; 95%CI 1.19-1.73;p less then 0.001, Cohort 2 HR 1.22; 95%CI 1.05-1.42;p=0.01. CONCLUSION The ABC-VT score is a simple tool that predicts adverse LV remodeling and future clinical deterioration in patients with frequent PVCs. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) constitute a unique population of bone marrow-derived cells that play a pivotal role in linking innate and adaptive immune responses. While peripheral tissues are typically devoid of pDCs during steady state, few tissues do host resident pDCs. In the current study, we aim to assess presence and distribution of pDCs in naïve murine limbus and bulbar conjunctiva. Immunofluorescence staining followed by confocal microscopy revealed that the naïve bulbar conjunctiva of wild-type mice hosts CD45+ CD11clow PDCA-1+ pDCs. Flow cytometry confirmed the presence of resident pDCs in the bulbar conjunctiva through multiple additional markers, and showed that they express maturation markers, the T cell co-inhibitory molecules PD-L1 and B7-H3, and minor to negligible levels of T cell co-stimulatory molecules CD40, CD86, and ICAM-1. Epi-fluorescent microscopy of DPE-GFP×RAG1-/- transgenic mice with GFP-tagged pDCs indicated lower density of pDCs in the bulbar conjunctiva compared to the limbus. Further, intravital multiphoton microscopy revealed that resident pDCs accompany the limbal vessels and patrol the intravascular space. In vitro multiphoton microscopy showed that pDCs are attracted to human umbilical vein endothelial cells and interact with them during tube formation. In conclusion, our study shows that the limbus and bulbar conjunctiva are endowed with resident pDCs during steady state, which express maturation and classic T cell co-inhibitory molecules, engulf limbal vessels, and patrol intravascular spaces. Vazegepant clinical trial