MycoRed: Betalain pigments enable in vivo real-time visualisation of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) are mutualistic interactions formed between soil fungi and plant roots. AM symbiosis is a fundamental and widespread trait in plants with the potential to sustainably enhance future crop yields. However, improving AM fungal association in crop species requires a fundamental understanding of host colonisation dynamics across varying agronomic and ecological contexts. To this end, we demonstrate the use of betalain pigments as in vivo visual markers for the occurrence and distribution of AM fungal colonisation by Rhizophagus irregularis in Medicago truncatula and Nicotiana benthamiana roots. Using established and novel AM-responsive promoters, we assembled multigene reporter constructs that enable the AM-controlled expression of the core betalain synthesis genes. We show that betalain colouration is specifically induced in root tissues and cells where fungal colonisation has occurred. In a rhizotron setup, we also demonstrate that betalain staining allows for the noninvasive tracing of fungal colonisation along the root system over time. We present MycoRed, a useful innovative method that will expand and complement currently used fungal visualisation techniques to advance knowledge in the field of AM symbiosis.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza are mutualistic interactions formed between soil fungi and plant roots. This study presents the MycoRed system, which uses red plant pigments derived from beetroot to reveal how fungi establish symbiosis with living legume and wild tobacco roots.     

Evaluation of lytic activity of staphylococcal bacteriophage Sb‐1 against freshly isolated clinical pathogens

In recent decades the increase in antibiotic‐resistant bacterial strains has become a serious threat to the treatment of infectious diseases. Drug resistance of Staphylococcus aureus has become a major problem in hospitals of many countries, including developed ones. Today the interest in alternative remedies to antibiotics, including bacteriophage treatment, is gaining new ground. Here, we describe the staphylococcal bacteriophage Sb‐1 – a key component of therapeutic phage preparation that was successfully used against staphylococcal infections during many years in the Former Soviet Union. This phage still reveals a high spectrum of lytic activity in vitro against freshly isolated, genetically different clinical samples (including methicillin‐resistant S. aureus) obtained from the local hospitals, as well as the clinics from different geographical areas. The sequence analyses of phage genome showed absence of bacterial virulence genes. A case report describes a promising clinical response after phage application in patient with cystic fibrosis and indicates the efficacy of usage of Sb‐1 phage against various staphylococcal infections.     

The interrelations of radiologic findings and mechanical ventilation in community acquired pneumonia patients admitted to the intensive care unit: a multicentre retrospective study

Background

Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) bacteria are highly virulent, typically multidrug-resistant, opportunistic pathogens in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and other immunocompromised individuals. B. vietnamiensis is more often susceptible to aminoglycosides than other BCC species, and strains acquire aminoglycoside resistance during chronic CF infection and under tobramycin and azithromycin exposure in vitro, apparently from gain of antimicrobial efflux as determined through pump inhibition. The aims of the present study were to determine if oxidative stress could also induce aminoglycoside resistance and provide further observations in support of a role for antimicrobial efflux in aminoglycoside resistance in B. vietnamiensis.

Findings

Here we identified hydrogen peroxide as an additional aminoglycoside resistance inducing agent in B. vietnamiensis. After antibiotic and hydrogen peroxide exposure, isolates accumulated significantly less [³H] gentamicin than the susceptible isolate from which they were derived. Strains that acquired aminoglycoside resistance during infection and after exposure to tobramycin or azithromycin overexpressed a putative resistance-nodulation-division (RND) transporter gene, amrB. Missense mutations in the repressor of amrB, amrR, were identified in isolates that acquired resistance during infection, and not in those generated in vitro.

Conclusions

These data identify oxidative stress as an inducer of aminoglycoside resistance in B. vietnamiensis and further suggest that active efflux via a RND efflux system impairs aminoglycoside accumulation in clinical B. vietnamiensis strains that have acquired aminoglycoside resistance, and in those exposed to tobramycin and azithromycin, but not hydrogen peroxide, in vitro. Furthermore, the repressor AmrR is likely just one regulator of the putative AmrAB-OprM efflux system in B. vietnamiensis.     

Extending the Continuous Operating Lifetime of Perovskite Solar Cells with a Molybdenum Disulfide Hole Extraction Interlayer

Solution‐processed organic–inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are considered as one of the most promising photovoltaic technologies thanks to both high performance and low manufacturing cost. However, a key challenge of this technology is the lack of ambient stability over prolonged solar irradiation under continuous operating conditions. In fact, only a few studies (carried out in inert atmosphere) already approach the industrial standards. Here, it is shown how the introduction of MoS₂ flakes as a hole transport interlayer in inverted planar PSCs results in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ≈17%, overcoming the one of the standard reference devices. Furthermore, this approach allows the realization of ultrastable PSCs, stressed in ambient conditions and working at continuous maximum power point. In particular, the photovoltaic performances of the proposed PSCs represent the current state‐of‐the‐art in terms of lifetime, retaining 80% of their initial performance after 568 h of continuous stress test, thus approaching the industrial stability standards. Moreover, it is further demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by fabricating large‐area PSCs (0.5 cm² active area) with MoS₂ as the interlayer. These large‐area PSCs show improved performance (i.e., PCE = 13.17%) when compared with the standard devices (PCE = 10.64%).     

Irisin and Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) as Potential Diagnostic Biomarkers in Gastric and Colorectal Cancers

Background:Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a common gastrointestinal tumor biomarker. Irisin is adipo-myokines that has been suggested to have a potential role in cancer development. However, limited studies test irisin as biomarker in gastric and colorectal cancers. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether CEA and irisin could be a potential diagnostic biomarker in gastric and colorectal cancer.Methods:A case-control study consists of 90 subjects, 21 gastric cancer patients, 49 colorectal cancer patients and 20 control. Serum CEA was detected by fluorescence immunoassay (FIA) kit. Serum irisin was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit.Results:Serum CEA increases significantly and serum irisin decreases significantly in gastric and colorectal cancer patients. According to Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, in gastric cancer, the area under curve of CEA is 1.00 (95% CI, 1.000-1.000, p< 0.0001). The diagnostic cut-off of CEA is< 3.08 ng/ml with %100 sensitivity and 100% specificity. The area under curve of irisin is 0.94 (95% CI, 0.8177-1.000, p< 0.0001). The cut-off of irisin is> 30.2 ng/ml with %90 sensitivity and 100%, specificity. In colorectal cancer, the area under curve of CEA is 0.99 (95% CI, 0.9866-1.000, p< 0.0001) and the diagnostic value< 2.6 ng/ml with %98 sensitivity and %100 specificity. The area under curve of irisin is 0.96 (95% CI, 0.9155-1.000, p< 0.0001). The diagnostic cut-off of irisin is> 41.9 ng/ml with 88.1sensitivity and 90.5 specificity.Conclusion:CEA and irisin could be powerful potential diagnostic biomarkers which would be use for early detection of gastric and colorectal cancers.Key Words: Biomarker, Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), Colorectal cancer, Gastric cancer, Irisin     

Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) in primary or secondary liver cancer

Most patients with a history of common solid tumors will in the end develop liver metastases. Next to that, primary liver cancer, is a frequent cancer with fatal liver failure in the majority of patients. Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT), has gradually been introduced over the recent years and is a promising, innovative albeit palliative treatment modality. The specific clinical background with regard to the indication and methodology of SIRT is presented and discussed in this paper.     

Efficient and Highly Air Stable Planar Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells with Reduced Graphene Oxide Doped PCBM Electron Transporting Layer

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is added in the [6,6]‐Phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) electron transport layer (ETL) of planar inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs), resulting in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) improvement of ≈12%, with a hysteresis‐free PCE of 14.5%, compared to 12.9% for the pristine PCBM based device. The universality of the method is demonstrated in PSCs based on CH₃NH₃PbI_3?x Cl_x and CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskites, deposited through one step and two step spin coating process, respectively. After a comprehensive spectroscopic characterization of both devices, it is clear that the introduction of rGO in PCBM ETL results in an important increase of the ETL conductivity, together with reduced series resistance and surface roughness. As a result, a significant photoluminescence quenching of such perovskite/ETL is observed, confirming the increased measured short circuit current density. Transient absorption measurements reveal that in the rGO‐based device, the relaxation process of the excited electrons is significantly faster compared to the reference, which implies that the charge injection rate is significantly faster for the first. Furthermore, the light soaking effect is significantly reduced. Finally, aging measurements reveal that the rGO stabilizes the ELT/perovskite interface, which results in the stabilization of perovskite crystal structure after prolonged illumination.