BACKGROUND Kidney transplantation is the best option for patients with end-stage renal disease.However,the need for lifelong immunosuppression results in renal transplant recipients being susceptible to various infect...BACKGROUND Kidney transplantation is the best option for patients with end-stage renal disease.However,the need for lifelong immunosuppression results in renal transplant recipients being susceptible to various infections.Rhodococcus equi(R.equi)is a rare opportunistic pathogen in humans,and there are limited reports of infection with R.equi in post-renal transplant recipients and no uniform standard of treat-ment.This article reports on the diagnosis and treatment of a renal transplant recipient infected with R.equi 21 mo postoperatively and summarizes the charac-teristics of infection with R.equi after renal transplantation,along with a detailed review of the literature.Here,we present the case of a 25-year-old man who was infected with R.equi 21 mo after renal transplantation.Although the clinical features at the time of presentation were not specific,chest computed tomography(CT)showed a large volume of pus in the right thoracic cavity and right middle lung atelectasis,and fiberoptic bronchoscopy showed an endobronchial mass in the right middle and lower lobe orifices.Bacterial culture and metagenomic next-generation sequen-cing sequencing of the pus were suggestive of R.equi infection.The immunosup-pressive drugs were immediately suspended and intravenous vancomycin and azithromycin were administered,along with adequate drainage of the abscess.The endobronchial mass was then resected.After the patient’s clinical symptoms and chest CT presentation resolved,he was switched to intravenous ciprofloxacin and azithromycin,followed by oral ciprofloxacin and azithromycin.The patient was re-hospitalized 2 wk after discharge for recurrence of R.equi infection.He recovered after another round of adequate abscess drainage and intravenous ciprofloxacin and azithromycin.CONCLUSION Infection with R.equi in renal transplant recipients is rare and complex,and the clinical presentation lacks specificity.Elaborate antibiotic therapy is required,and adequate abscess drainage and surgical excision are necessary.Given the recurrent nature of R.equi,patients need to be followed-up closely.展开更多
Streptococcus equi subsp.zooepidemicus(SEZ)is an important zoonotic agent.Here,a virulence-attenuated strain M35246 derived from natural variation of wild-type SEZ ATCC35246 was found.M35246 showed a deletion of 25con...Streptococcus equi subsp.zooepidemicus(SEZ)is an important zoonotic agent.Here,a virulence-attenuated strain M35246 derived from natural variation of wild-type SEZ ATCC35246 was found.M35246 showed a deletion of 25contiguous genes as well as a loss-of-function mutation in covS.Subsequently,a 25-gene-deleted strain(ΔPI),a covS-mutant strain(Mcov S),and relevant complementary strains were constructed and investigated.M35246 and Mcov S were significantly less encapsulated and exhibited poorer anti-phagocytic capacity compared to wild-type SEZ.McovS was significantly more sensitive toβ-lactams,aminoglycosides,macrolides,and lincosamides than wild-type SEZ.M35246,McovS,andΔPI exhibited an increase in median lethal dose(LD_(50))in mice by 10~5,10~5,and 5 times when compared to wild-type SEZ,respectively.Neither M35246 nor McovS were isolated from mice 48 h after being challenged with approximately 2000 times the LD_(50)of wild-type SEZ.Transcriptome analysis showed that 668 significantly differentially expressed genes existed between McovS and wild-type SEZ.Numerous virulence factor-encoding genes and anabolicrelated genes in McovS that were involved in anti-phagocytosis,capsule formation,pathogenicity,and antibiotic resistance were downregulated significantly relative to the wild-type strain.This study revealed that the CovS plays a vital role in the establishment of SEZ virulence.展开更多
Objective:To use two diagnostic antigens belonging to the frequently associated in Theileria domain,Theileria equi(T.equi)protein 82(Te 82)and T.equi 104 k Da microneme-rhoptry antigen precursor(Te 43),to diagnose T.e...Objective:To use two diagnostic antigens belonging to the frequently associated in Theileria domain,Theileria equi(T.equi)protein 82(Te 82)and T.equi 104 k Da microneme-rhoptry antigen precursor(Te 43),to diagnose T.equi infection in horses as compared with equi merozoite antigen-2(EMA-2).Methods:In the current study,we applied a cocktail-ELISA containing two antigens(EMA-2+Te 82)to diagnose T.equi infection either in experimentally infected horses or in field infection.Results:Our findings have revealed that a cocktail formula of EMA-2+Te 82 provided a more practical and sensitive diagnostic candidate for diagnosing T.equi infection in horses as compared with Te 82 or Te 43 alone.Conclusions:The ELISA technique using a cocktail formula of EMA-2+Te 82 offers a practical and sensitive diagnostic tool for diagnosing T.equi infection in horses and using of this promising cocktail formula will be applicable for epidemiological surveys and will help control the infection in horses.展开更多
Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus(SEZ) is a pathogen associated with a wild range of animal species. Frequent outbreaks have occurred in recent years in pigs, horses, goats and dogs which is liable to infect human...Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus(SEZ) is a pathogen associated with a wild range of animal species. Frequent outbreaks have occurred in recent years in pigs, horses, goats and dogs which is liable to infect humans. There is a lack of efficient vaccines against this disease and the occurrence of antibiotic resistance may render drug therapies ineffective. In this study, gene deletion mutant(ΔSEZ) in pathogenicity islands SeseCisland_4 was constructed. The mutant ΔSEZ had a 52-fold decrease in 50% lethal dose(LD_(50)) and had less capacity to adhere epithelial cells. Importantly, immunization of mice with attenuated vaccine ΔSEZ at the dose of 10~2 colony-forming units(CFU) mL^(–1) elicited a significant humoral antibody response, with an antibody titer of 1:12 800. Therefore, 10~2 CFU mL^(–1) might be used as the appropriate immune dose for the attenuated vaccine ΔSEZ, which provided mice with efficient protection against virulent SEZ. In addition, the hyperimmune sera against 10~2 CFU m L–1 attenuated vaccine ΔSEZ could confer significant protection against virulent SEZ infection in the passive immunization experiment and exhibited efficient bactericidal activity in the whole blood assay. Meanwhile, no viable bacteria was detected in blood when mice were immunized with ΔSEZ at the dose of 10~2 CFU mL^(–1) via hypodermic injection. Thereafter, the mutant ΔSEZ at the dose of 10~2 CFU mL^(–1) could confer significant protection in mice and had less negative effects on host, which could be an effective attenuated vaccine candidate for the prevention of SEZ.展开更多
This paper considers nonlinear dynamics of teth- ered three-body formation system with their centre of mass staying on a circular orbit around the Earth, and applies the theory of space manifold dynamics to deal with ...This paper considers nonlinear dynamics of teth- ered three-body formation system with their centre of mass staying on a circular orbit around the Earth, and applies the theory of space manifold dynamics to deal with the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of the equilibrium configurations of the system. Compared with the classical circular restricted three body system, sixteen equilibrium configurations are obtained globally from the geometry of pseudo-potential energy sur- face, four of which were omitted in the previous research. The periodic Lyapunov orbits and their invariant manifolds near the hyperbolic equilibria are presented, and an iteration procedure for identifying Lyapunov orbit is proposed based on the differential correction algorithm. The non-transversal intersections between invariant manifolds are addressed to generate homoclinic and heteroclinic trajectories between the Lyapunov orbits. （3,3）- and （2,1）-heteroclinic trajecto- ries from the neighborhood of one collinear equilibrium to that of another one, and （3,6）- and （2,1）-homoclinic trajecto- ries from and to the neighborhood of the same equilibrium, are obtained based on the Poincar6 mapping technique.展开更多
A new concept of an equi-attractor is introduced, and defined by the minimal compact set that attracts bounded sets uniformly in the past, for a non-autonomous dynam- ical system. It is shown that the compact equi-att...A new concept of an equi-attractor is introduced, and defined by the minimal compact set that attracts bounded sets uniformly in the past, for a non-autonomous dynam- ical system. It is shown that the compact equi-attraction implies the backward compactness of a pullback attractor. Also, an eventually equi-continuous and strongly bounded process has an equi-attractor if and only if it is strongly point dissipative and strongly asymptotically compact. Those results primely strengthen the known existence result of a backward bounded pullback attractor in the literature. Finally, the theoretical criteria are applied to prove the existence of both equi-attractor and backward compact attractor for a Ginzburg-Landau equation with some varying coefficients and a backward tempered external force.展开更多
Suppression subtractive hybridization （SSH） was performed with virulent strain ATCC35246 and avirulent strain ST171 to identify novel genes associated with virulence in Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus （SEZ）....Suppression subtractive hybridization （SSH） was performed with virulent strain ATCC35246 and avirulent strain ST171 to identify novel genes associated with virulence in Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus （SEZ）. There were fourteen genomic regions that only presented in virulent strain ATCC35246. These regions encoded 14 proteins, some of them were homologous to proteins associated with cellular surface structure, molecular synthesis, energy metabolism, regulation, transport systems, and other unknown functions. Primers for 6 particular regions were designed from the already published SEZ sequence. Then, we used PCR to evaluate the distribution and conservation of these 6 DNA fragments in various SEZ strains collected from different sources, regions, groups, and times. The results showed that these 6 DNA fragments were widely distributed in SEZ strains, yet they were not existence in the avirulent strain ST171. Moreover, these fragments could not be detected in other Streptococcus groups.展开更多
Background: Procalcitonin, a precursor protein of the hormone calcitonin, is a sensitive marker for sepsis in human medicine, which is used for diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia in adults and neonates to initiate antib...Background: Procalcitonin, a precursor protein of the hormone calcitonin, is a sensitive marker for sepsis in human medicine, which is used for diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia in adults and neonates to initiate antibiotic therapy. Objectives: In this study, procalcitonin was evaluated as a potential biomarker for Rhodococcus equi associated pneumonia. Methods: In four foals procalcitonin was measured at four time-points (day 0 before antibiotic therapy, day 1, 3 and 5/6 during therapy) in plasma using an equine specific ELISA. Inclusion criteria for the study were a positive sepsis score, ultrasonographic evidence of pulmonary abscesses in addition >8 cm, a positive microbiology out of tracheobronchial secretion and positive response to antibiotic treatment (azithromycin 10 mg/kg BDW 24q PO and rifampicin 10 mg/kg BDW 12q PO) within a weak including improvement of clinical status and reduction of ultrasonographic score Rhodococcus equi.展开更多
基金Supported by Science and Technology Project of Guizhou Province,No.ZK[2023]380.
文摘BACKGROUND Kidney transplantation is the best option for patients with end-stage renal disease.However,the need for lifelong immunosuppression results in renal transplant recipients being susceptible to various infections.Rhodococcus equi(R.equi)is a rare opportunistic pathogen in humans,and there are limited reports of infection with R.equi in post-renal transplant recipients and no uniform standard of treat-ment.This article reports on the diagnosis and treatment of a renal transplant recipient infected with R.equi 21 mo postoperatively and summarizes the charac-teristics of infection with R.equi after renal transplantation,along with a detailed review of the literature.Here,we present the case of a 25-year-old man who was infected with R.equi 21 mo after renal transplantation.Although the clinical features at the time of presentation were not specific,chest computed tomography(CT)showed a large volume of pus in the right thoracic cavity and right middle lung atelectasis,and fiberoptic bronchoscopy showed an endobronchial mass in the right middle and lower lobe orifices.Bacterial culture and metagenomic next-generation sequen-cing sequencing of the pus were suggestive of R.equi infection.The immunosup-pressive drugs were immediately suspended and intravenous vancomycin and azithromycin were administered,along with adequate drainage of the abscess.The endobronchial mass was then resected.After the patient’s clinical symptoms and chest CT presentation resolved,he was switched to intravenous ciprofloxacin and azithromycin,followed by oral ciprofloxacin and azithromycin.The patient was re-hospitalized 2 wk after discharge for recurrence of R.equi infection.He recovered after another round of adequate abscess drainage and intravenous ciprofloxacin and azithromycin.CONCLUSION Infection with R.equi in renal transplant recipients is rare and complex,and the clinical presentation lacks specificity.Elaborate antibiotic therapy is required,and adequate abscess drainage and surgical excision are necessary.Given the recurrent nature of R.equi,patients need to be followed-up closely.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2021YFD1800400)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31872480)+1 种基金the Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund,China(CX(19)2020)the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions,China(PAPD)。
文摘Streptococcus equi subsp.zooepidemicus(SEZ)is an important zoonotic agent.Here,a virulence-attenuated strain M35246 derived from natural variation of wild-type SEZ ATCC35246 was found.M35246 showed a deletion of 25contiguous genes as well as a loss-of-function mutation in covS.Subsequently,a 25-gene-deleted strain(ΔPI),a covS-mutant strain(Mcov S),and relevant complementary strains were constructed and investigated.M35246 and Mcov S were significantly less encapsulated and exhibited poorer anti-phagocytic capacity compared to wild-type SEZ.McovS was significantly more sensitive toβ-lactams,aminoglycosides,macrolides,and lincosamides than wild-type SEZ.M35246,McovS,andΔPI exhibited an increase in median lethal dose(LD_(50))in mice by 10~5,10~5,and 5 times when compared to wild-type SEZ,respectively.Neither M35246 nor McovS were isolated from mice 48 h after being challenged with approximately 2000 times the LD_(50)of wild-type SEZ.Transcriptome analysis showed that 668 significantly differentially expressed genes existed between McovS and wild-type SEZ.Numerous virulence factor-encoding genes and anabolicrelated genes in McovS that were involved in anti-phagocytosis,capsule formation,pathogenicity,and antibiotic resistance were downregulated significantly relative to the wild-type strain.This study revealed that the CovS plays a vital role in the establishment of SEZ virulence.
基金supported by the Ministry of Higher Education Egypt
文摘Objective:To use two diagnostic antigens belonging to the frequently associated in Theileria domain,Theileria equi(T.equi)protein 82(Te 82)and T.equi 104 k Da microneme-rhoptry antigen precursor(Te 43),to diagnose T.equi infection in horses as compared with equi merozoite antigen-2(EMA-2).Methods:In the current study,we applied a cocktail-ELISA containing two antigens(EMA-2+Te 82)to diagnose T.equi infection either in experimentally infected horses or in field infection.Results:Our findings have revealed that a cocktail formula of EMA-2+Te 82 provided a more practical and sensitive diagnostic candidate for diagnosing T.equi infection in horses as compared with Te 82 or Te 43 alone.Conclusions:The ELISA technique using a cocktail formula of EMA-2+Te 82 offers a practical and sensitive diagnostic tool for diagnosing T.equi infection in horses and using of this promising cocktail formula will be applicable for epidemiological surveys and will help control the infection in horses.
基金was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2017YFD0500203)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31672574)+3 种基金the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest,China(201403054)the Primary Research&Development Plan of Jiangsu Province,China(BE2017341)the Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund [CX(16)1028]the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions,China(PAPD)
文摘Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus(SEZ) is a pathogen associated with a wild range of animal species. Frequent outbreaks have occurred in recent years in pigs, horses, goats and dogs which is liable to infect humans. There is a lack of efficient vaccines against this disease and the occurrence of antibiotic resistance may render drug therapies ineffective. In this study, gene deletion mutant(ΔSEZ) in pathogenicity islands SeseCisland_4 was constructed. The mutant ΔSEZ had a 52-fold decrease in 50% lethal dose(LD_(50)) and had less capacity to adhere epithelial cells. Importantly, immunization of mice with attenuated vaccine ΔSEZ at the dose of 10~2 colony-forming units(CFU) mL^(–1) elicited a significant humoral antibody response, with an antibody titer of 1:12 800. Therefore, 10~2 CFU mL^(–1) might be used as the appropriate immune dose for the attenuated vaccine ΔSEZ, which provided mice with efficient protection against virulent SEZ. In addition, the hyperimmune sera against 10~2 CFU m L–1 attenuated vaccine ΔSEZ could confer significant protection against virulent SEZ infection in the passive immunization experiment and exhibited efficient bactericidal activity in the whole blood assay. Meanwhile, no viable bacteria was detected in blood when mice were immunized with ΔSEZ at the dose of 10~2 CFU mL^(–1) via hypodermic injection. Thereafter, the mutant ΔSEZ at the dose of 10~2 CFU mL^(–1) could confer significant protection in mice and had less negative effects on host, which could be an effective attenuated vaccine candidate for the prevention of SEZ.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(11172020)Talent Foundation supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities+1 种基金Aerospace Science and Technology Innovation Foundation of China Aerospace Science Corporationthe National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(863)(2012AA120601)
文摘This paper considers nonlinear dynamics of teth- ered three-body formation system with their centre of mass staying on a circular orbit around the Earth, and applies the theory of space manifold dynamics to deal with the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of the equilibrium configurations of the system. Compared with the classical circular restricted three body system, sixteen equilibrium configurations are obtained globally from the geometry of pseudo-potential energy sur- face, four of which were omitted in the previous research. The periodic Lyapunov orbits and their invariant manifolds near the hyperbolic equilibria are presented, and an iteration procedure for identifying Lyapunov orbit is proposed based on the differential correction algorithm. The non-transversal intersections between invariant manifolds are addressed to generate homoclinic and heteroclinic trajectories between the Lyapunov orbits. （3,3）- and （2,1）-heteroclinic trajecto- ries from the neighborhood of one collinear equilibrium to that of another one, and （3,6）- and （2,1）-homoclinic trajecto- ries from and to the neighborhood of the same equilibrium, are obtained based on the Poincar6 mapping technique.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(11571283)supported by Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province
文摘A new concept of an equi-attractor is introduced, and defined by the minimal compact set that attracts bounded sets uniformly in the past, for a non-autonomous dynam- ical system. It is shown that the compact equi-attraction implies the backward compactness of a pullback attractor. Also, an eventually equi-continuous and strongly bounded process has an equi-attractor if and only if it is strongly point dissipative and strongly asymptotically compact. Those results primely strengthen the known existence result of a backward bounded pullback attractor in the literature. Finally, the theoretical criteria are applied to prove the existence of both equi-attractor and backward compact attractor for a Ginzburg-Landau equation with some varying coefficients and a backward tempered external force.
基金supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents (NCET) at the University of China(NCET-08-0794)the National Transgenic Major Program(2009ZX08009-154B)+3 种基金the Key Technology Program(R65286D)Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Support Program(BE2009388)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China(KYT 201003)the Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions,China
文摘Suppression subtractive hybridization （SSH） was performed with virulent strain ATCC35246 and avirulent strain ST171 to identify novel genes associated with virulence in Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus （SEZ）. There were fourteen genomic regions that only presented in virulent strain ATCC35246. These regions encoded 14 proteins, some of them were homologous to proteins associated with cellular surface structure, molecular synthesis, energy metabolism, regulation, transport systems, and other unknown functions. Primers for 6 particular regions were designed from the already published SEZ sequence. Then, we used PCR to evaluate the distribution and conservation of these 6 DNA fragments in various SEZ strains collected from different sources, regions, groups, and times. The results showed that these 6 DNA fragments were widely distributed in SEZ strains, yet they were not existence in the avirulent strain ST171. Moreover, these fragments could not be detected in other Streptococcus groups.
文摘Background: Procalcitonin, a precursor protein of the hormone calcitonin, is a sensitive marker for sepsis in human medicine, which is used for diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia in adults and neonates to initiate antibiotic therapy. Objectives: In this study, procalcitonin was evaluated as a potential biomarker for Rhodococcus equi associated pneumonia. Methods: In four foals procalcitonin was measured at four time-points (day 0 before antibiotic therapy, day 1, 3 and 5/6 during therapy) in plasma using an equine specific ELISA. Inclusion criteria for the study were a positive sepsis score, ultrasonographic evidence of pulmonary abscesses in addition >8 cm, a positive microbiology out of tracheobronchial secretion and positive response to antibiotic treatment (azithromycin 10 mg/kg BDW 24q PO and rifampicin 10 mg/kg BDW 12q PO) within a weak including improvement of clinical status and reduction of ultrasonographic score Rhodococcus equi.
