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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted cell-derived membrane structures present in all organisms across animal, bacterial, and plant phyla. These vesicles play important roles in cell-cell communication in many processes integral to health and disease. Recent studies demonstrate that EVs and their cargo have influential and conserved roles in male reproduction. While EVs have been isolated from virtually all specialized tissues comprising the male reproductive tract, they are best characterized in the epididymis (epididymosomes) and seminal fluid (seminal fluid extracellular vesicles or prostasomes). Broadly speaking, EVs promote reproductive success through supporting sperm development and function, as well as influencing the physiology of female reproductive tract cells after mating. In this review, we present current knowledge on the composition and function of male reproductive tract EV populations in both normal physiology and pathology, and argue that their functions identify them as critical regulators of fertility and fecundity.

Cephalosporin is the most commonly used empirical agent for urinary tract infection in children. However, increasing use of cephalosporins can lead to an increase in resistant pathogens. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of monotherapy with ampicillin-sulbactam as an alternative to cephalosporins.

All 2- to 24-month-old patients who were hospitalized at Pusan National University Children’s Hospital due to a first episode of febrile UTI during the 2-year period from 2012 to 2014 were included in the study. The subjects were divided into two groups according to their empirical therapy (cefotaxime or ampicillin-sulbactam). We determined the patients’ UTI pathogens and their antibiotic susceptibilities and compared the effectiveness and the occurrence of adverse effects of ampicillin-sulbactam and cephalosporin therapy.

Forty-six patients were treated with cefotaxime (group A) and 41 patients with ampicillin-sulbactam as empirical antibiotic (group B). The most common pathogen in both groups was Escherichia coli, and antibiotic susceptibilities of the bacterial strains isolated from both groups were similar in ampicillin-sulbactam and cefotaxime . In addition, there was no significant difference in the duration of fever after treatment between the two groups (Group A 2.0 vs. Group B 3.0, P = 0.331). There were no treatment failures and no recurrence in either group, even in patients with resistant pathogens. The most common side effect of the antibiotic agents was diarrhea.

Ampicillin-sulbactam could be an effective alternative to cephalosporin as empiric antibiotic for the treatment of first-episode UTI in patients under 24 months of age.

Ampicillin-sulbactam could be an effective alternative to cephalosporin as empiric antibiotic for the treatment of first-episode UTI in patients under 24 months of age.

It is important to investigate the behavior of protein hydrolysate components in both in vitro and in vivo studies, to support the elucidation of their biological functions. As protein hydrolysates and biological matrices are highly complex mixtures, it is essential to apply fully reliable and flexible analytical approaches.

A novel and generic Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry methodology was developed to analyze short peptides. A stable-isotope-labeled labeling agent 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (

C

) was synthesized and used to prepare internal standards from non-labeled analyte peptides. The amino acid and peptides p, pG, Pp, GPp and PpG (where p stands for hydroxyproline) were used for proof of principle.

The method showed acceptable performance in solvent, in simulated gastrointestinal fluid and in serum. The (linear) dynamic range expanded to over four orders of magnitude, which is very useful when multiple analytes are analyzed in a biological matrix, due to the larg elucidation of the biological functions of protein hydrolysate components.Notch signaling plays a pivotal role in many cancers, including glioblastoma (GBM). Recombination signal binding protein for immunoglobulin kappa J region (RBPJ) is a key transcription factor of the Notch signaling pathway. Here, we interrogated the function of RBPJ in GBM. Firstly, RBPJ expression of GBM samples was examined. Then, we knocked down RBPJ expression in 2 GBM cell lines (U251 and T98) and 4 glioblastoma (GBM) stem-like cell lines derived from surgical samples of GBM (KGS01, KGS07, KGS10 and KGS15) to investigate the effect on cell proliferation, invasion, stemness, and tumor formation ability. Expression of possible downstream targets of RBPJ was also assessed. RBPJ was overexpressed in the GBM samples, downregulation of RBPJ reduced cell proliferation and the invasion ability of U251 and T98 cells and cell proliferation ability and stemness of glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSC) lines. These were accompanied by reduced IL-6 expression, reduced activation of STAT3, and inhibited proneural-mesenchymal transition (PMT). Tumor formation and PMT were also impaired by RBPJ knockdown in vivo. In conclusion, RBPJ promotes cell proliferation, invasion, stemness, and tumor initiation ability in GBM cells through enhanced activation of IL-6-STAT3 pathway and PMT, inhibition of RBPJ may constitute a prospective treatment for GBM.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is driven by the interplay between a dysfunctional epidermal barrier and a skewed cutaneous immune dysregulation. As part of the complex skin barrier dysfunction, abnormalities in lipid organization and microbiome composition have been described. EVP4593 We set out to systematically investigate the composition of the stratum corneum lipidome, skin microbiome and skin physiology parameters at three different body sites in patients with AD and healthy volunteers.

We analysed tape strips from different body areas obtained from 10 adults with AD and 10 healthy volunteers matched for FLG mutation status for 361 skin lipid species using the Metabolon mass spectrometry platform. 16S rRNA data were available from all probands.

Our study showed that the lipid composition differs significantly between body sites and between AD patients and healthy individuals. Ceramide species NS was significantly higher in AD patients compared to healthy volunteers and was also higher in AD patients with a FLG mutation compared to AD patients without a FLG mutation.