Vitrification Cryo-Foil for Apple Cryopreservation and the Seesaw Effect Between Shoot Recovery and Virus Eradication

Improvements of existing cryopreservation protocols are necessary to facilitate long-term preservation of plant germplasm and the cryotherapy-effect of pathogen eradication. This study reported a vitrification (V) cryo-foil/plate methods for cryopreservation of shoot tips and cryotherapy effect in ‘Pink Lady’ apple. In V cryo-foil/plate protocols, shoot tips were first attached onto aluminum foils/plates using calcium alginate before other procedures. Shoot tips cryopreserved by V cryo-foil required 6.1 weeks to fully recover and 53% of shoot regrowth was obtained, comparable to the Dv cryopreservation. Similar regrowth levels were produced between applying V cryo-foil and Dv cryopreservation to another 4 Malus genotypes. Histological observations in shoot tips cryopreserved by Dv and V cryo-foil found only those with surviving apical dome and leaf primordia (LPs) could recover after cryopreservation. In apical meristem of shoot tips cryopreserved by Dv and V cryo-foil, higher surviving probability was detected from the V cryo-foil protocol, and the young LPs showed the highest level of surviving. Virus detection in cryo-derived plants showed apple stem grooving virus and apple chlorotic leaf spot virus were all preserved after cryopreservation, and higher eradication efficiency of apple stem pitting virus (70%) was produced by Dv than the 55% of V cryo-foil. These results supported applying V cryo-foil as an improvement to the widely applied Dv method in shoot tip cryopreservation, and also revealed a seesaw mode between shoot recovery and cryotherapy effect. Once the seesaw moves to increase the recovery after cryopreservation, the cryotherapy-effect on the other side would be decreased.

Crucial Role of Central Nervous System as a Viral Anatomical Compartment for HIV-1 Infection

The chronic infection established by the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) produces serious CD4+ T cell immunodeficiency despite the decrease in HIV-1 ribonucleic acid (RNA) levels and the raised life expectancy of people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) through treatment with combined antiretroviral therapies (cART). HIV-1 enters the central nervous system (CNS), where perivascular macrophages and microglia are infected. Serious neurodegenerative symptoms related to HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are produced by infection of the CNS. Despite advances in the treatment of this infection, HAND significantly contribute to morbidity and mortality globally. The pathogenesis and the role of inflammation in HAND are still incompletely understood. Principally, growing evidence shows that the CNS is an anatomical reservoir for viral infection and replication, and that its compartmentalization can trigger the evolution of neurological damage and thus make virus eradication more difficult. In this review, important concepts for understanding HAND and neuropathogenesis as well as the viral proteins involved in the CNS as an anatomical reservoir for HIV infection are discussed. In addition, an overview of the recent advancements towards therapeutic strategies for the treatment of HAND is presented. Further neurological research is needed to address neurodegenerative difficulties in people living with HIV, specifically regarding CNS viral reservoirs and their effects on eradication.

Changes in the gut microbiota after hepatitis C virus eradication

The gut microbiota interacts with infectious diseases and affects host immunity. Liver disease is also reportedly associated with changes in the gut microbiota. To elucidate the changes in the gut microbiota before and after hepatitis C virus (HCV) eradication through direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), we investigated 42 samples from 14 patients who received DAA therapy for HCV. Fecal samples were obtained before treatment (Pre), when treatment ended (EOT), and 24 weeks after treatment ended (Post24). The target V3–4 region of the 16S rRNA gene from fecal samples was amplified using the Illumina Miseq sequencing platform. The diversity of the gut microbiota did not significantly differ between Pre, EOT, and Post24. Principal coordinates analysis showed that for each patient, the values at Pre, EOT, and Post24 were concentrated within a small area. The linear discriminant analysis of effect size showed that the relative abundances of Faecalibacterium and Bacillus increased at EOT, further increased at Post24, and were significantly increased at Post24 compared to Pre. These suggest that changes in the gut microbiota should be considered as among the various effects observed on living organisms after HCV eradication.

AI-driven deep learning method for diagnosing COVID-19 symptoms

The outbreak of COVID-19 put the whole world in an unprecedentedly harsh situation, horribly disrupting life around the world and killing thousands. COVID-19 remains a real threat to the public health system as it spreads to 212 countries and territories and the number of cases of infection and deaths increases to 5,212,172 and 334,915 (as of May 22, 2020). This treatise provides a response to virus eradication via artificial intelligence (AI). Several deep learning (DL) methods have been described to achieve this goal, including GAN (Generative Adversarial Network), ELM (Extreme Learning Machine), and LSTM (Long / Short Term Memory). It describes an integrated bioinformatics approach that combines various aspects of information from a series of orthopedic and unstructured data sources to form a user-friendly platform for physicians and researchers. A major advantage of these AI-powered platforms is to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment process of the COVID-19 disease. The latest relevant publications and medical reports have been investigated to select inputs and targets for networks that will facilitate arriving at reliable artificial neural network-based tools for COVID-19-related challenges. There are also several specific inputs per platform, including clinical data and data in various formats, such as medical images, which can improve the performance of the introduced method for the best response in real application.

Risk Factors and Hepatocellular Cancer Screening After Hepatitis C Virus Eradication

Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) usually develops against the background of chronic liver disease. Until recently, the most common etiology of HCC was infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The appearance of direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAAD) has become a big breakthrough in the treatment of HCV infection. A stable virological response can now be achieved in almost all treated patients, even in people at high risk of HCC, primarily with cirrhosis of the liver. At the same time, reports gradually began to accumulate about the continued risk of malignant transformation after successful therapy of DAAD. Simultaneously with the decrease in the burden of cirrhosis caused by HCV, the etiological role of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has sharply increased. Moreover, in a significant part of patients with NAFLD, HCC is formed at the pre-cirrhotic stage. These changes in the etiology and epidemiology of HCC suggest the revision of patient management tactics