Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiaolan Zhang, Yue Wang, Hui Zhu, Zhaohua Zhong
Summary: This study focuses on the role of an esterase (Sse) secreted by Streptococcus pyogenes in pathogenesis. By generating a gene knockout strain and conducting transcriptome analysis, the study reveals that Sse plays a crucial role in GAS virulence and metabolic pathways.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Irfan A. Rather, Mohammad Younus Wani, Majid Rasool Kamli, Jamal S. M. Sabir, Khalid Rehman Hakeem, Ahmad Firoz, Yong-Ha Park, Yan-Yan Hor
Summary: This study demonstrates the anti-biofilm and anti-virulence properties of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum KAU007 against Streptococcus pyogenes. The results show that Lactiplantibacillus plantarum KAU007 inhibits the growth and survival of S. pyogenes, as well as the formation of biofilm and the production of virulence-associated factors. This research provides a basis for further investigation into the use of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum KAU007 as an antibacterial agent to combat streptococcal infections.
Review
Immunology
Shyra Wilde, Anders F. Johnson, Christopher N. LaRock
Summary: Group A Streptococcus is a major human pathogen with a natural tropism for the oropharynx and skin. Its virulence factors cause excessive inflammation, leading to severe infections, toxic shock syndrome, and post-infection autoimmune disease. Understanding how these factors induce inflammation and promote disease may lead to new therapeutic targets for severe infections.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Andrea L. Herrera, Michael S. Chaussee
Summary: The study found that the Streptococcal peptide of virulence (SpoV) is essential for GAS virulence, and targeting this peptide has therapeutic potential.
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Vasilis Nikolaou, Sebastiano Massaro, Wolfgang Garn, Masoud Fakhimi, Lampros Stergioulas, David Price
Summary: In this study, three subtypes of the COPD cardiovascular phenotype were identified in UK patients, each characterized by different features and disease profiles. The random forest model was found to be the most accurate for predicting cardiovascular comorbidities in COPD patients with the cardiovascular phenotype.
RESPIRATORY MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Meredith B. Finn, Kathryn M. Ramsey, Simon L. Dove, Michael R. Wessels
Summary: The study reveals that the CsrRS system in Group A Streptococcus regulates gene expression by modulating the phosphorylation of CsrR, affecting the bacteria's ability to adapt to the human host. Analysis indicates that CsrR influences the expression of multiple genes by binding to regulated promoters and controlling the expression of intermediate transcription regulators.
Article
Cell Biology
Patience Shumba, Thomas Sura, Kirsten Moll, Bhavya Chakrakodi, Lea Toelken, Joern Hossmann, Katharina Hoff, Ole Hyldegaard, Michael Nekludov, Mattias Svensson, Per Arnell, Steinar Skrede, Nikolai INFECT Study Group, Anna Norrby-Teglund, Nikolai Siemens
Summary: In this study, it was found that tissue inflammation, neutrophil influx, and degranulation positively correlate with increasing frequency of SpeB-negative GAS clones in patients with monomicrobial necrotizing soft tissue infections. Single colony proteomics revealed that GAS isolated directly from tissue express but do not secrete SpeB. These findings provide new information about GAS fitness and heterogeneity in the soft tissue milieu.
JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Yujiro Hirose, Piotr Kolesinski, Masanobu Hiraoka, Satoshi Uchiyama, Raymond H. Zurich, Monika Kumaraswamy, Elisabet Bjanes, Partho Ghosh, Shigetada Kawabata, Victor Nizet
Summary: This study shows that the M87 protein of Streptococcus pyogenes strain emm87 acts as a virulence factor by modulating the interaction between the bacteria and innate immune cells, contributing to bacterial resistance and the release of mature IL-1 beta.
MICROBIAL PATHOGENESIS
(2022)
Article
Mathematics
Erwin Cornelius, Olcay Akman, Dan Hrozencik
Summary: The study proposes a clustered random forest approach to predict COVID-19 patient mortality, showing comparable predictive performance to other methods. Analysis of demographic information and subsequent neural network modeling and k-means clustering provide insight into the mortality risks associated with COVID-19.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jenny Clarke, Murielle Baltazar, Mansoor Alsahag, Stavros Panagiotou, Marion Pouget, William A. Paxton, Georgios Pollakis, Dean Everett, Neil French, Aras Kadioglu
Summary: The study revealed the crucial role of Streptolysin O (SLO) from Group A Streptoccocus (GAS) in determining infection outcomes, with high levels of haemolytic SLO leading to sepsis and lower activity resulting in translocation of bacteria to joints. Careful consideration is needed for novel therapy or vaccination strategies targeting SLO, as neutralizing its activity may reduce severe invasive disease but potentially promote chronic inflammatory conditions like septic arthritis.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Joseph S. Rom, Yoann Le Breton, Emrul Islam, Ashton T. Belew, Najib M. El-Sayed, Kevin S. McIver
Summary: This study investigated the importance of the delta subunit of GAS RNA polymerase for virulence, showing its significant impact on gene expression and virulence in GAS.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaoyu Liu, Dali Ji, Xiaoheng Jin, Vanesa Quintano, Rakesh Joshi
Summary: By combining the random forest (RF) model with experimentally observed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data, a complete chemical analysis dataset of Co(III)/Co(II) ratio for thermally synthesized Co-rGO supercapacitor electrodes was constructed. The predicted dataset showed less than 8% error compared to experimental validation.
Article
Immunology
Roshika Roshika, Ira Jain, Josette Medicielo, Jasmin Wachter, Jessica L. Danger, Paul Sumby
Summary: The study found that serotype M28 isolates of group A Streptococcus (GAS) enhance their colonization ability in the female reproductive tract through the RD2 pathogenicity island, and introducing RD2 into other serotypes also increases colonization rates in mice. However, the impact of RD2 on survival and adherence to human vaginal epithelial cells varies depending on the serotype.
INFECTION AND IMMUNITY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Abolfazl Jaafari, Saeid Janizadeh, Hazem Ghassan Abdo, Davood Mafi-Gholami, Behzad Adeli
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between geoenvironmental factors and land degradation (specifically gully erosion) and produces spatially explicit maps of land susceptibility to gully erosion. The study finds that distance from roads and rivers, altitude, and normalized difference vegetation index are the most influential factors in gully erosion occurrence.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Thermodynamics
Shule Wang, Ziyi Shi, Yanghao Jin, Ilman Nuran Zaini, Yan Li, Chuchu Tang, Wangzhong Mu, Yuming Wen, Jianchun Jiang, Par Goran Jonsson
Summary: An in-depth understanding of pyrolytic kinetics is crucial for comprehending the process of thermal decomposition. This study successfully constructed a model to predict the mean values of model-free activation energies of pyrolysis for five different feedstocks using the random forest machine learning method. The results indicate the potential of machine learning methods for quick initial pyrolytic kinetic estimation. The study also revealed the correlations between atomic ratios and activation energies, as well as the influence of ash content on activation energy, depending on the organic component species present in the feedstocks.
ENERGY CONVERSION AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
L. A. Lyons, R. M. Buckley, R. J. Harvey, Danielle Aberdein, Asa Ohlsson Andersson, Tomas F. Bergstrom, Adam R. Boyko, Margret L. Casal, Brian W. Davis, Ottmar Distl, N. Matthew Ellinwood, Oliver P. Forman, Edward Ginns, Daisuke Hasegawa, Vidhya Jagannathan, Isabel Hernandez, Maria Kaukonen, Emilie Leclerc, Tosso Leeb, Hannes Lohi, Mark A. Magnuson, Shrinivasrao P. Mane, John S. Munday, Alexandra N. Myers, Simon M. Peterson-Jones, Clare Rusbridge, Beth Shapiro, William F. Swanson, Rory J. Todhunter, Elizabeth A. Wilcox, Yoshihiko Yu
Summary: Tabby patterns in cats are influenced by at least three loci, including Tabby and Ticked loci. The Ticked locus on cat chromosome B1 is suggested to control the presence or absence of ticked patterns. Variant analysis identified candidate genes and variants associated with the Ticked locus, including Dickkopf Wnt Signaling Pathway Inhibitor 4 (DKK4) variants.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Francesca Genova, Simona Nonnis, Elisa Maffioli, Gabriella Tedeschi, Maria Giuseppina Strillacci, Michela Carisetti, Giuseppe Sironi, Francesca Anna Cupaioli, Noemi Di Nanni, Alessandra Mezzelani, Ettore Mosca, Christopher R. Helps, Peter A. J. Leegwater, Laetitia Dorso, Maria Longeri, Reuben M. Buckley, Danielle Aberdein, Paulo C. Alves, Asa Ohlsson Andersson, Gregory S. Barsh, Rebecca R. Bellone, Tomas F. Bergstrom, Adam R. Boyko, Jeffrey A. Brockman, Margret L. Casal, Marta G. Castelhano, Ottmar Distl, Nicholas H. Dodman, N. Matthew Ellinwood, Jonathan E. Fogle, Oliver P. Forman, Dorian J. Garrick, Edward Ginns, Bianca Haase, Jens Haggstrom, Robert J. Harvey, Daisuke Hasegawa, Isabel Hernandez, Marjo K. Hytonen, Maria Kaukonen, Christopher B. Kaelin, Tomoki Kosho, Emilie Leclerc, Teri L. Lear, Tosso Leeb, Ronald H. L. Li, Hannes Lohi, Mark A. Magnuson, Richard Malik, Shrinivasrao P. Mane, John S. Munday, William J. Murphy, Niels C. Pedersen, Simon M. Peterson-Jones, Max F. Rothschild, Clare Rusbridge, Beth Shapiro, Joshua A. Stern, William F. Swanson, Karen A. Terio, Rory J. Todhunter, Wesley C. Warren, Elizabeth A. Wilcox, Julia H. Wildschutte, Yoshihiko Yu, Leslie A. Lyons
Summary: The study utilized multi-omics analyses to explore unknown pathogenetic processes in Abyssinian cats with amyloidosis, revealing genomic variants, protein expression differences, and differential miRNA expression. The familial amyloid renal form is not a simple monogenic trait and amyloid deposition is triggered by a mix of proteins coded by wild-type genes. This form of amyloidosis in Abyssinian cats can be biochemically classified as AA amyloidosis.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Anibal Araya, Scarlet Gallegos, Rodrigo Viveros, Loreto San Martin, Braulio Munoz, Robert J. Harvey, Hanns U. Zeilhofer, Luis G. Aguayo
Summary: The study reveals that both VTA and PFC contain similar levels of α and β receptor subunits, with lower sensitivity to glycine in PFC compared to VTA. Ethanol potentiates glycine receptors in VTA neurons but not in PFC neurons. Both regions express heteromeric αβ receptors, with α1 glycine receptors predominantly expressed in VTA and α2/α3/α4 glycine receptor subunits suggested in PFC.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sean J. Buckley, Robert J. Harvey, Zack Shan
Summary: This study employed various RF algorithms and GAS RR alleles to infer genomic traits of Group A Streptococcus, achieving high accuracy, identifying novel structural domains and evolutionary pathways.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Letter
Parasitology
Kate Mounsey, Robert J. Harvey, Victoria Wilkinson, Kotaro Takano, Julie Old, Hayley Stannard, Leanne Wicker, David Phalen, Scott Carver
Summary: This study discusses the issue of wildlife treatment by personnel with little or no formal scientific training. The study finds that in southeast Australia, wildlife carers use varying doses and frequencies of Cydectin (R) to treat sarcoptic mange in bare-nosed wombats. These treatments are conducted under permits issued by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Management Authority.
PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH
(2022)
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Mukesh K. Pandey, Andreas M. Grabrucker, Sunil Q. Mehta, Robert J. Harvey
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ghada Aboheimed, Maha M. AlRasheed, Sultan Almudimeegh, Karla A. Pena-Guerra, Kelly J. Cardona-Londono, Mustafa A. Salih, Mohammed Z. Seidahmed, Futwan Al-Mohanna, Dilek Colak, Robert J. Harvey, Kirsten Harvey, Stefan T. Arold, Namik Kaya, Arnaud J. Ruiz
Summary: This study investigates a patient with hyperekplexia and identifies a novel missense mutation A455P in the GLRB gene, which affects GlyR function. The study provides important insights into the pathogenesis of hyperekplexia.
JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Correction
Parasitology
Kate Mounsey, Robert J. Harvey, Victoria Wilkinson, Kotaro Takano, Julie Old, Hayley Stannard, Leanne Wicker, David Phalen, Scott Carver
PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Huan Yang, Caroline Sibilla, Raymond Liu, Jina Yun, Bruce A. Hay, Craig Blackstone, David C. Chan, Robert J. Harvey, Ming Guo
Summary: This study identifies Clueless and CLUH as key regulators of Drp1, which control mitochondrial fission and have important impacts on cellular functions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Xiumin Chen, Katie A. Wilson, Natascha Schaefer, Lachlan De Hayr, Mark Windsor, Emmanuel Scalais, Germaine van Rijckevorsel, Katrien Stouffs, Carmen Villmann, Megan L. O'Mara, Joseph W. Lynch, Robert J. Harvey
Summary: This study investigates the functional characteristics of four missense variants in the GLRA2 gene associated with ASD or developmental disorders. The results suggest that these variants can result in a loss, gain or alteration of GlyR alpha 2 function, which may lead to changes in brain development, cognition, learning, and memory.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Kerith-Rae Dias, Colleen M. Carlston, Laura E. R. Blok, Lachlan De Hayr, Urwah Nawaz, Carey-Anne Evans, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Stephanie Htun, Ying Zhu, Alan Ma, Sally Ann Lynch, Catherine Moorwood, Karen Stals, Sian Ellard, Matthew N. Bainbridge, Jennifer Friedman, John G. Pappas, Rachel Rabin, Catherine B. Nowak, Jessica Douglas, Theodore E. Wilson, Maria J. Guillen Sacoto, Sureni Mullegama, Timothy Blake Palculict, Edwin P. Kirk, Jason R. Pinner, Matthew Edwards, Francesca Montanari, Claudio Graziano, Tommaso Pippucci, Bri Dingmann, Ian Glass, Heather C. Mefford, Takeyoshi Shimoji, Toshimitsu Suzuki, Kazuhiro Yamakawa, Haley Streff, Christian P. Schaaf, Anne M. Slavotinek, Irina Voineagu, John C. Carey, Michael F. Buckley, Annette Schenck, Robert J. Harvey, Tony Roscioli
Summary: This study identifies a novel neurocognitive disorder caused by variants in the ZMYND8 gene. The disorder is characterized by intellectual disability with variable cardiovascular, ophthalmologic, and minor skeletal anomalies. Functional analysis reveals that missense variants in ZMYND8 disrupt its interaction with Drebrin and GATAD2A, potentially leading to impaired cognitive function.
GENETICS IN MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Kimberley M. Reid, Robert Spaull, Smrithi Salian, Katy Barwick, Esther Meyer, Juan Zhen, Hiromi Hirata, Diba Sheipouri, Hind Benkerroum, Kathleen M. Gorman, Apostolos Papandreou, Michael A. Simpson, Yoshinobu Hirano, Irene Farabella, Maya Topf, Detelina Grozeva, Keren Carss, Martin Smith, Hardev Pall, Peter Lunt, Susanna De Gressi, Erik-Jan Kamsteeg, Tobias B. Haack, Lucinda Carr, Rita Guerreiro, Jose Bras, Eamonn R. Maher, Richard H. Scott, Robert J. Vandenberg, F. Lucy Raymond, Wui K. Chong, Sniya Sudhakar, Kshitij Mankad, Maarten E. Reith, Philippe M. Campeau, Robert J. Harvey, Manju A. Kurian
Summary: This study aimed to identify and characterize the underlying cause of a complex neurodevelopmental disorder in a family with severe developmental delay. Through mapping and sequencing, homozygous variants in three candidate genes were found, and their functional impact was investigated using cellular and vertebrate model systems.
MOVEMENT DISORDERS
(2022)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Natascha Schaefer, Robert J. Harvey, Carmen Villmann
Summary: Startle disease is a condition characterized by enhanced startle responses, muscle stiffness, falling, and fatal apnea episodes. Mutations in glycine receptor and glycine transporter 2 genes have been identified in individuals with this disease. Previous research has focused on understanding the impact of these mutations on ion channel/transporter function or trafficking. Recent studies using cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray structures have provided insights into the structural transitions important for receptor gating and have revealed the complexity of this disease.
Article
Parasitology
Kotaro Takano, Lachlan de Hayr, Scott Carver, Robert J. Harvey, Kate E. Mounsey
Summary: Sarcoptes scabiei is a microscopic burrowing mite that causes sarcoptic mange in various mammalian species. In Australia, sarcoptic mange is a problem in native and introduced wildlife species, with severe cases observed in wombats and emerging issues in koalas and quendas. Effective treatment of sarcoptic mange in wild populations is challenging due to safety concerns, efficacy, and the potential emergence of acaricide resistance. This review critically evaluates the use of acaricides in treating sarcoptic mange in Australian wildlife, including their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, and current reports of drug resistance.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY-DRUGS AND DRUG RESISTANCE
(2023)