{"title":"On or Off: Life-Changing Decisions Made by <i>Vibrio cholerae</i> Under Stress.","authors":"Yitian Zhou, Zachariah L Lee, Jun Zhu","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000037","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Vibrio cholerae</i>, the causative agent of the infectious disease, cholera, is commonly found in brackish waters and infects human hosts via the fecal-oral route. <i>V. cholerae</i> is a master of stress resistance as <i>V. cholerae's</i> dynamic lifestyle across different physical environments constantly exposes it to diverse stressful circumstances. Specifically, <i>V. cholerae</i> has dedicated genetic regulatory networks to sense different environmental cues and respond to these signals. With frequent outbreaks costing a tremendous amount of lives and increased global water temperatures providing more suitable aquatic habitats for <i>V. cholerae</i>, cholera pandemics remain a probable catastrophic threat to humanity. Understanding how <i>V. cholerae</i> copes with different environmental stresses broadens our repertoire of measures against infectious diseases and expands our general knowledge of prokaryotic stress responses. In this review, we summarize the regulatory mechanisms of how <i>V. cholerae</i> fights against stresses in vivo and in vitro.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"127-135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769058/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61737673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Susanna K P Lau, Zirong He, Ken P K Lin, Patrick C Y Woo
{"title":"Sex Bias in Sample Collections From Bats, the Culprit of SARS Coronavirus, SARS-Coronavirus-2, and Other Emerging Viruses.","authors":"Susanna K P Lau, Zirong He, Ken P K Lin, Patrick C Y Woo","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000036","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000036","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"173-174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769062/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42020938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bo Tu, Yuening Zhang, Jingfeng Bi, Zhe Xu, Lei Shi, Xin Zhang, Peng Zhao, Dawei Zhang, Guang Yang, Enqiang Qin
{"title":"Microbiological Characteristics and Antibiotic Sensitivity in Patients with Nosocomial Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis Caused by <i>Escherichia coli</i>: A Multicenter Study.","authors":"Bo Tu, Yuening Zhang, Jingfeng Bi, Zhe Xu, Lei Shi, Xin Zhang, Peng Zhao, Dawei Zhang, Guang Yang, Enqiang Qin","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000035","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Escherichia coli</i> is a prevalent causative pathogen of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). In this retrospective study, we investigated the microbiological characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility of <i>E. coli</i> clinical isolates obtained from liver cirrhosis patients suffering from nosocomial SBP. Our results showed that extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing <i>E. coli</i> accounted for 47% of the cases, while 62% of the isolates were multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens. ESBL-producing and MDR isolates showed high incidences of resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, but they displayed susceptibility to carbapenems, β-lactamase inhibitors, and aminoglycosides. Importantly, liver cirrhosis patients with MDR <i>E. coli</i> SBP showed a significantly higher death rate than patients with non-MDR infections (<i>P</i> = 0.021). The 30-day mortality of nosocomial SBP was independently correlated with female gender [odds ratio (OR) = 5.200, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.194-22.642], liver failure (OR = 9.609, 95% CI = 1.914-48.225), hepatocellular carcinoma (OR = 8.176, 95% CI = 2.065-32.364), hepatic encephalopathy (OR = 8.176, 95% CI = 2.065-32.364), model of end-stage liver disease score (OR = 1.191, 95% CI = 1.053-1.346), white blood cell count (OR = 0.847, 95% CI = 0.737-0.973), and ascites polymorphonuclear (OR = 95.903, 95% CI = 3.410-2697.356). In conclusion, third-generation cephalosporins may be inappropriate for empiric treatment of nosocomial SBP caused by <i>E. coli</i>, due to the widespread presence of ESBLs and high incidence of MDR pathogens.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"167-172"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769054/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48720831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Will the Overuse of Antibiotics During the Coronavirus Pandemic Accelerate Antimicrobial Resistance of Bacteria?","authors":"Prasanth Manohar, Belinda Loh, Sebastian Leptihn","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000034","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000034","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"87-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8529698/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42603147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Potential Therapeutic Options for COVID-19.","authors":"Xiaoqin Zheng, Lanjuan Li","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000033","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000033","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The recently emerged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly evolved into a pandemic with over 10 million infections and over 500 thousand deaths. There are currently no effective therapies or vaccines available to protect against this coronavirus infection. In this review, we discuss potential therapeutic options for COVID-19 based on the available information from previous research on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Substantial efforts are underway to discover new therapeutic agents for COVID-19, including the repurposing of existing agents and the development of novel agents that specifically target SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or host factors. Through the screening of compound libraries, various classes of drugs, such as ribavirin, remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir, and hydroxychloroquine have been identified as potential therapeutic candidates against COVID-19. Novel antiviral drugs for SARS-coronavirus 2 are being developed to target viral enzymes or functional proteins, as well as host factors or cell signaling pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"89-95"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8529694/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48056130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular Mechanisms of Gut Microbiota-Associated Colorectal Carcinogenesis","authors":"Yichang Shao, Xun Zeng","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the cancer occurring in colon and rectum, and is the fourth leading cause of tumor-associated deaths worldwide. As a multi-etiological cancer, CRC could be induced by genetic and environmental factors, including unhealthy diet, irregular lifestyle, inappropriate inflammatory, and the dysbiosis of gut microbiota. Since immunotherapy has been the most popular cancer therapy nowadays, the relationships among gut microbiota, host immune cells and CRC pathogenesis are widely investigated. Scientists constantly tried to figure out the underlying mechanisms involved to support the further therapeutic studies. In this review, we discuss the component shifts of gut microbiota in CRC patients compared with healthy people, summarize how immune cells participate in protecting host from pathogenic microbes, elaborate the molecular mechanisms involved in gut microbiota-associated carcinogenesis of colonic epithelial cells and look into how gut microbiota influence the CRC therapy.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"96 - 106"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000030","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42911534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of Population Mask Wearing on Covid-19 Post Lockdown.","authors":"Babak Javid, Nathalie Q Balaban","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000029","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000029","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7299124/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45444550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kunkai Su, Xin Huang, Kaijin Xu, Weibo Du, Danhua Zhu, Meifang Yang, Wenji Yuan, Lanjuan Li
{"title":"Transcriptomics Curation of SARS-CoV-2 Related Host Genes in Mice With COVID-19 Comorbidity: A Pilot Study.","authors":"Kunkai Su, Xin Huang, Kaijin Xu, Weibo Du, Danhua Zhu, Meifang Yang, Wenji Yuan, Lanjuan Li","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000025","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory disease caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, is causing substantial morbidity and mortality. Along with the respiratory symptoms, underlying diseases in senior patients, such as diabetes, hypertension, and coronary heart disease, are the most common comorbidities, which cause more severe outcomes and even death. During cellular attachment and entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, the key protein involved is the angiotensin I converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is located on the membrane of host cells. Here, we aim to curate an expression profile of <i>Ace2</i> and other COVID-19 related genes across the available diabetes murine strains. Based on strictly manual curation and bioinformatics analysis of the publicly deposited expression datasets, <i>Ace2</i> and other potentially involved genes such as <i>Furin</i>, <i>Tmprss2</i>, <i>Ang</i>, and <i>Ang2</i> were examined. We found that <i>Ace2</i> expression is rather ubiquitous in three selected diabetes prone strains (db/db, ob/ob and diet-induced obese). With the most abundant datasets present, the liver shows a medium <i>Ace2</i> expression level compared with the lungs, pancreatic islets, brain and even T cells. Age is a more critical factor for <i>Ace2</i> expression in db/db compared with the other two strains. Besides <i>Ace2</i>, the other four host genes showed varied levels of correlation to each other. To accelerate research on the interaction between COVID-19 and underlying diseases, the Murine4Covid transcriptomics database (www.geneureka.org/Murine4Covid) will facilitate the design of research on COVID-19 and comorbidities.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":"2 1","pages":"42-47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8529699/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46949773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sisi Huang, Anding Zhu, Yan Wang, Yancong Xu, Lu Li, Dexing Kong
{"title":"Suspected Close Contacts as the Pilot Indicator of the Growth Trend of Confirmed Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Simulation Approach.","authors":"Sisi Huang, Anding Zhu, Yan Wang, Yancong Xu, Lu Li, Dexing Kong","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000026","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Regarding to the actual situation of the new coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic, social factors should be taken into account and the increasing growth trend of confirmed populations needs to be explained. A proper model needs to be established, not only to simulate the epidemic, but also to evaluate the future epidemic situation and find a pilot indicator for the outbreak.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The original susceptible-infectious-recover model is modified into the susceptible-infectious-quarantine-confirm-recover combined with social factors (SIDCRL) model, which combines the natural transmission with social factors such as external interventions and isolation. The numerical simulation method is used to imitate the change curve of the cumulative number of the confirmed cases and the number of cured patients. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between the suspected close contacts (SCC) and the final outcome of the growth trend of confirmed cases with a simulation approach.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This article selects four representative countries, that is, China, South Korea, Italy, and the United States, and gives separate numerical simulations. The simulation results of the model fit the actual situation of the epidemic development and reasonable predictions are made. In addition, it is analyzed that the increasing number of SCC contributes to the epidemic outbreak and the prediction of the United States based on the population of the SCC highlights the importance of external intervention and active prevention measures.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The simulation of the model verifies its reliability and stresses that observable variable SCC can be taken as a pilot indicator of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7268865/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41914273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Translation: Expert Consensus on the Application of Artificial Liver Blood Purification System in the Treatment of Severe and Critical COVID-19: National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.","authors":"Lanjuan Li","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000021","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The prevention and treatment of COVID-19 nationwide has entered a tackling phase. Effective treatment of severe and critically ill patients is the key to reducing the fatality of the disease. The artificial liver blood purification system can remove inflammatory factors, alleviate the damage of the inflammatory response to the body, and has important value for the treatment of severe COVID-19. Led by Academician Lanjuan Li, based on the experience of treating patients across the country, integrating the opinions of experts from all over the country, the center summarized and formulated the consensus including the basic principles, treatment indications, relative contraindications, mode selection, monitoring indicators, and efficacy evaluation of artificial liver, which provides reference for treatment of severe COVID-19 patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7227200/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46141884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}