Species of Alternaria (phylum Ascomycota, family Pleosporaceae) are known as serious plant pathogens, causing major losses on a wide range of crops. Alternaria atra (Preuss) Woudenb. & Crous (previously known as Ulocladium atrum) can grow as a saprophyte on many hosts and causes Ulocladium blight on potato. It has been reported that it can also be used as a biocontrol agent against a.o. Botrytis cinerea Here we present a scaffold-level reference genome assembly for A. atra. The assembly contains 43 scaffolds with a total length of 39.62 Mbp, with scaffold N50 of 3,893,166 bp , L50 of 4 and the longest 10 scaffolds containing 89.9% of the assembled data. RNA Seq-guided, gene prediction using BRAKER resulted in 12,173 protein-coding genes with their functional annotation. This first high-quality reference genome assembly and annotation for A. Atra can be used as a resource for studying evolution in the highly complicated Alternaria genus and might help understand the mechanisms defining its role as pathogen or biocontrol agent.Several ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and nodulation have been identified. We describe three previously-unreported ABC subfamily-B transporters, named ABCB for Mycorrhization and Nodulation (AMN1, AMN2, and AMN3), that are expressed early during infection by rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These ABCB transporters are strongly expressed in symbiotically infected tissues, including in root hair cells with rhizobial infection threads and arbusculated cells. During nodulation, the expression of these genes is highly induced by rhizobia and purified Nod factors, and was dependent on DMI3, but is not dependent on other known major regulators of infection such as NIN, NSP1, or NSP2. During mycorrhization their expression is dependent on DMI3 and RAM1, but not on NSP1 and NSP2. Therefore, they may be commonly regulated through a distinct branch of the common symbiotic pathway. Mutants with exonic Tnt1-transposon insertions were isolated for all three genes. None of the single or double mutants showed any differences in colonization by either rhizobia or mycorrhizal fungi, but the triple amn1 amn2 amn3 mutant showed an increase in nodule number. Further studies are needed to identify potential substrates of these transporters and understand their roles in these beneficial symbioses.Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Spreng, also known as eaglewood, belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family and has a considerably high medicinal value. It has been enlisted as the class II national key protective plant. In June 2019, about 15 percent of A. sinensis treelets in a forest area of China's Hainan province were observed to have the anthracnose symptoms. The diseased spots on leaves of A. sinensis treelets were usually round or irregular with pale yellow edges. The color of the center of the lesion was firstly light brown and then black or yellowish-brown. Small pieces of tissue from the edge of the leaf spots were surface sterilized in 75% alcohol for the 60s, washed twice with sterile distilled water, and then cultivated at 28 °C in darkness on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium. One fungus was systematically isolated to get pure cultures. The culturing of the three isolates was carried out in PDA media at 28 °C for a week. The average diameter of the collateral colony was 6.80 ±0.60 cm. Initially, the fungalose-like symptoms were observed 6 days postinoculation. The control plant tissues remained healthy. Follow up reisolation of C. enigma culture was obtained in PDA agar plates from leaf infected lesions, and the morphological features were found to be consistent with that of CX-0301 isolate, satisfying Koch's postulates. Based on the characterized information, it is the first report of Colletotrichum aenigma responsible for causing leaf spots on Aquilaria sinensis in China. Thereby, this provides a theoretical reference for the research and control of anthracnose on A. sinensis.Snake gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina L.), an annual climbing plant belonging to the family of Cucurbitaceae, is native to Southeast Asia countries, e.g., India, Pakistan, Malaysia, China, and Indonesia. It is commonly consumed as a vegetable and also used as a traditional herbal medicine due to the antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, and cytotoxic activities (Devi 2017). In September 2020, phytoplasma-induced disease symptoms such as little leaf, yellowing, phyllody, virescence, and witches' broom were observed on snake gourd in Yunlin County, Taiwan. The cross-sectional examination of the symptomatic plant by transmission electron microscopy showed typical phytoplasma-like pleomorphic bodies with spherical, oval and tubular shapes in sieve elements. Further examination by nested PCR revealed that a 1.2 kb DNA fragment for 16S rRNA gene was only amplified from symptomatic leaf of snake gourd using the phytoplasma universal primer pairs P1/P7 followed by R16F2n/R16R2. BLAST and iogen identified in snake gourd is identical with that of PnWB phytoplasma. In Taiwan, species of family Cucurbitaceae such as loofah, bitter gourd, and pumpkin are commonly infected by 16SrVIII phytoplasma (Davis 2017). In this study, we report for the first time that snake gourd, a species of family Cucurbitaceae, was infected by 16SrII-V PnWB phytoplasma in Taiwan.Sheath blight (ShB, caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG1-1A) and narrow brown leaf spot (NBLS, Cercospora janseana) are among the most important diseases affecting rice production in Texas and other southern United States. Because of high yielding potential, hybrid rice acreage has continually increased. Understanding the relative levels of resistance to ShB and NBLS in hybrids over inbreds is important to effective disease management but remain largely unknown. Comparative performance of hybrid rice and inbred rice was evaluated with 173 hybrid and 155 inbred genotypes (cultivars and elite breeding lines) over five crop seasons (2016 to 2020) and two locations in Texas. The results show that genotype, cultivar type (hybrid or inbred), location, and their interactions had a significant effect on the severity of ShB and NBLS. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Sunitinib-Malate-(Sutent).html ShB severities in hybrid genotypes were significantly lower than in inbred genotypes, with an average of 27% reduction in disease severity over the 5 year x 2 location evaluation. Most (53%) of the hybrid genotypes were rated moderately resistant (MR), whereas almost all (97%) of the inbred genotypes ranged from very susceptible (VS) to moderately susceptible (MS).

Background Accurate prediction of recurrence-free survival (RFS) is important for the prognosis of cutaneous melanoma patients. The image-based pathological examination remains as the gold standard for diagnosis. It is of clinical interest to account for computer-aided processing of pathology image when performing prognostic analysis. Methods We enrolled in this study a total of 152 patients from TCGA-SKCM (The Cancer Genome Atlas Skin Cutaneous Melanoma project) with complete information in recurrence-related survival time, baseline variables (clinicopathologic variables, mutation status of BRAF and NRAS genes), gene expression data, and whole slide image (WSI) features. We preprocessed WSI to segment global or nucleus areas, and extracted 3 types of texture features from each region. We performed cross validation and used multiple evaluation metrics including C-index and time-dependent AUC to determine the best model of predicting recurrence events. We further performed differential gene expression analysisence the study objects were retrospectively registered.Background In the course of producing a patient safety toolkit for primary care, we identified the need for a concise safe-systems checklist designed to address areas of patient safety which are under-represented in mandatory requirements and existing tools. This paper describes the development of a prototype checklist designed to be used in busy general practice environments to provide an overview of key patient safety related processes and prompt practice wide-discussion. Methods An extensive narrative review and a survey of world-wide general practice organisations were used to identify existing primary care patient safety issues and tools. A RAND panel of international experts rated the results, summarising the findings for importance and relevance. The checklist was created to include areas that are not part of established patient safety tools or mandatory and legal requirements. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ly333531.html Four main themes were identified information flow, practice safety information, prescribing, and use of IT systems from which ers. Senior practice staff such as practice managers and GP partners should find it a useful tool to understand the safety of less explored yet important safety processes within the practice.Background Effective targeting and evaluation of interventions that protect against adult malaria vectors requires an understanding of how gaps in personal protection arise. An improved understanding of human and mosquito behaviour, and how they overlap in time and space, is critical to estimating the impact of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and determining when and where supplemental personal protection tools are needed. Methods for weighting estimates of human exposure to biting Anopheles mosquitoes according to where people spend their time were first developed over half a century ago. However, crude indoor and outdoor biting rates are still commonly interpreted as indicative of human-vector contact patterns without any adjustment for human behaviour or the personal protection effects of ITNs. Main text A small number of human behavioural variables capturing the distribution of human populations indoors and outdoors, whether they are awake or asleep, and if and when they use an ITN over the course of the g questions, including further development and validation of methods for entomological and human behavioural data collection and analysis.Background Iron overload has been found to be related with various cardiometabolic disorders, like dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. The disturbance of the iron status and lipid metabolism can contribute to organ damage such as atherosclerotic plaque growth and instability. An assessment on the associations of iron status with apolipoproteins and lipid ratios would be informative for maintenance of metabolic homeostasis and hinderance of disease progression. Hence, this study aims to establish the relationships of iron status with apolipoproteins and lipid ratios. Methods A cross-sectional study of 7540 adult participants from the China Health and Nutrition Survey 2009 was conducted. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the relationships between indicators of iron status and the prevalence of unfavorable apolipoprotein profiles. Multivariate linear regression models were constructed to assess the dose-response correlations between serum ferritin and lipid parameters. Results AftTC/HDL-C, apoB/apoA1, and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio in men (β coefficient = 0.147, 0.061, 0.043, 0.038, 0.032, respectively, all P values less then 0.001) and in women (β coefficient = 0.074, 0.034, 0.025, 0.020, 0.018, respectively, all P values less then 0.05). Conclusions The indicators of iron status are significantly associated with unfavorable apolipoprotein profiles. Serum ferritin concentrations are positively correlated with the levels of lipid ratios. The management on the modifiable iron status and lipid metabolism has a clinical significance. The atherosclerotic lipid profiles of the patients with iron overload deserve special clinical concerns.Background Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection is a major global health issue around the world. There are approximately 15-20 million individuals infected with HDV worldwide. HDV infection usually causes increased mortality compared with infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) alone. However, testing for the detection of HDV is not widely available in Taiwan. Therefore, the General Biologicals Corporation (GB) HDV Ab kit was developed for detecting anti-HDV antibodies. Methods A total of 913 serum and 462 EDTA-treated plasma samples were obtained from HBsAg-positive individuals in three hospitals in Taiwan from June 2014 to November 2017. We used three commercially available ELISA kits, DiaPro HDV Ab, DiaSorin ETI-AB-DELTAK-2 and GB HDV Ab, which were utilized strictly according to the instructions of the manufacturers. Results A comparative study of the results from the GB HDV Ab kit and the other commercial ELISA kits (DiaPro and DiaSorin) was performed to determine their efficacy for anti-HDV detection. The results indicated that the sensitivity of the GB HDV Ab kit for serum and EDTA samples was 100% compared to that of the DiaPro and DiaSorin kits, whereas the specificity for serum and EDTA samples was 99.

Comparative analysis of all the results showed that VTRRT-13.V2.1 have the highest docking Glide score (-12.28 kcal/mol) and best binding energy (-52.23 kcal/mol) as compared to the other hybrid constructs such as VTRRT-13.V2 (-9.47 and -47.36 kcal/mol), VTRRT-13 (-8.9 and -47.55 kcal/mol), and current antiviral investigated. The mutational sensitivity screening showed that binding residues of Mpro are not present in mutation hotspots. It was also observed that VTRRT-13.V2.1 does not have any human off-targets. SARS-CoV2 main protease is essential for the survival of this virus; hence, a designed novel hybrid antiviral molecule (VTRRT-13.V2.1) might be useful to control the infection of COVID-19 infection.
Influenza virus infection is associated with a high disease burden. COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become a pandemic outbreak since January 2020. Taiwan has effectively contained COVID-19 community transmission. We aimed to validate whether fighting COVID-19 could help to control other respiratory infections in Taiwan.

We collected week-case data of severe influenza, invasive
disease and death toll from pneumonia among 25 calendar weeks of the influenza season for four years (2016-2020), which were reported to Taiwan CDC. Trend and slope differences between years were compared.

A downturn trend of severe influenza, invasive
disease and the death toll from pneumonia per week in 2019/2020 season and significant trend difference in comparison to previous seasons were noted, especially after initiation of several disease prevention measures to fight potential COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan.

Fighting COVID-19 achieved collateral benefits on significant reductions of severe influenza burden, invasive
disease activity, and the death toll from pneumonia reported to CDC in Taiwan.
Fighting COVID-19 achieved collateral benefits on significant reductions of severe influenza burden, invasive S. pneumoniae disease activity, and the death toll from pneumonia reported to CDC in Taiwan.Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in the setting of previous hip fusion is rare with a paucity of evidence in the orthopaedic literature. Traditionally, TKA is performed supine, with the aid of knee-positioning devices allowing for hip flexion and range of motion of the knee to facilitate ease of surgical intervention. However, TKA using traditional positioning would not be possible in the presence of ipsilateral hip arthrodesis preventing hip motion. This case report describes a TKA performed for a 72-year-old woman with end-stage osteoarthritis of the right knee, ipsilateral hip arthrodesis, and leg-length discrepancy as the sequelae of slipped capital femoral epiphysis. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/rcm-1.html We describe novel surgical positioning to be used to facilitate TKA in the absence of ipsilateral hip motion with bed modifications and the use of an extremity positioning device.
SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was first detected in Spain on 31 January 2020. On 14 March 2020, a state of emergency was declared in Spain in a bid to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The aim of our study is to analyze the impact on emergency medicine attendance after the national lockdown, as well as the clinical presentation and the management of patients with suspected COVID-19 in the Paediatric Emergency Department.

This retrospective observational study included children and adolescents under the age of 18, attended in our Paediatric Emergency Department during the period March 14 to April 17, 2020.

A total of 1666 patients were attended during the study period, 65.4% less than in the same period of 2019. Just over half (51.2%) were males, and mean age was 5.4 years. In triage, 39.9% were high priority levels, 6.5% more than 2019. Most frequent reasons for consultation at the Paediatric Emergency Department were fever (26.5%), respiratory symptoms (16.1%), and trauma (15.2%). A total of 218 patients (13%) received a diagnosis of possible COVID-19, with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed in 18.4%, and 23.8% (52/218) were hospitalised. At discharge, 44% (96/218) were diagnosed with lower, and 33.9% (74/218) with upper respiratory infection.

During the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, the demand for urgent paediatric care decreased, with the proportion of cases with high priority triage levels increasing. Most of the patients with suspected or microbiological confirmation of COVID-19 had mild respiratory symptoms.
During the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, the demand for urgent paediatric care decreased, with the proportion of cases with high priority triage levels increasing. Most of the patients with suspected or microbiological confirmation of COVID-19 had mild respiratory symptoms.Corona virus disease (COVID 19) is an infectious respiratory disease caused by the novel virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). With many countries implementing lockdown the surgical activities in the division of otolaryngology across the world has been affected with many hospital confining themselves to only emergency or essential surgeries. The aim of this work is to report and discuss the in the surgical activity of the otolaryngology unit of the St John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore (India) during the pandemic. We performed acute and subacute emergencies which include diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors of the head and neck, management of airway emergencies in adults and children, drainage of abscesses of the head and neck, Foreign body removal, emergency nasal debridement and surgeries for the unsafe ear. With the pandemic the surgical activities in otolaryngology changed drastically and with strict protocol and triaging put in place the risk for Health care workers was avoided and services to patients delivered.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The virus that causes COVID-19 was designated as severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several studies have reported chemosensory dysfunction, such as anosmia and ageusia, as common findings in COVID-19 positive patients. To date, qualitative olfactory testing has been performed only in a very few cohort studies on COVID-19 patients. However, objective testing is necessary to verify or determine the true magnitude of their deficits. Moreover, the proportion of COVID-19 patients exhibiting true olfactory disturbances is unknown.

To determine the true prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 patients by objective assessment in mild to moderate symptomatic patients.

This was a prospective cross-sectional analytical study. All patients who were COVID-19 positive and having mild to moderate symptoms and not admitted in ICU formed part of the study group. Objective evaluation of smell function was done.

191, p=0.001 for velocity).

In PD+FOG, the more the COP was initially positioned towards the stance foot, the slower and shorter the first step. The initial medio-lateral COP position may be a compensatory strategy to address postural instability of PD+FOG. A specific training regarding postural control prior to gait preparation and execution could improve functional mobility in PD+FOG.
In PD+FOG, the more the COP was initially positioned towards the stance foot, the slower and shorter the first step. The initial medio-lateral COP position may be a compensatory strategy to address postural instability of PD+FOG. A specific training regarding postural control prior to gait preparation and execution could improve functional mobility in PD+FOG.
Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) features parkinsonism characterized by early postural instability, falls and prominent eye movement abnormalities that consist of saccadic slowing, followed by gaze limitation. Nystagmus is not considered typical for PSP, being more commonly associated with multiple system atrophy.

To describe the prevalence and phenomenology of nystagmus in patients with PSP.

42 patients with probable PSP underwent detailed clinical eye movement examination. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/kaempferide.html Patients with nystagmus performed video-nystagmography. T-test, Chi-Square test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used to test differences in demographic data, disease duration and PSP subtype between patients with and without nystagmus, and for analysis of video-nystagmographic data.

Among 42 patients with PSP, we identified 15 patients (35,7%) with gaze-evoked nystagmus, predominantly horizontal. Clinically, 10/15 patients had symmetrical or asymmetrical gaze - evoked nystagmus (Type 1), while 5/15 patients had dissociated n of the neural integrator. Nystagmus in PSP has been a hitherto under-described feature and its presence should not deter clinicians from a diagnosis of PSP.Growth of an organism involves transformations of the state of matter from unstructured food or photosynthate into the highly organized matter in the living organism. Biological evolution involves random changes in the structure of DNA that lead to changes in the organization of the matter in an organism. Thermodynamic data show the organized biomass in living organisms has the same thermodynamic properties as a random mixture of the same elemental composition and is not in an energetically metastable, low entropy state. Therefore, the central thesis of this work is that building biological structures and organization from foodstuffs incurs no direct thermodynamic cost. The implication is that growth and evolution occur with little or no thermodynamic cost. In consequence, the fundamental difference between living biomass and lifeless organic sludge is in the information constraints that direct and govern the organization of the system. These constraints within a living organism override random processes to produce an organized distribution of biomass within the organism. Similarly, the information in DNA constrains the outcome of biological evolution across organisms within a population of a species in a predictable way that leads to convergent evolution. Although individuals and molecules act or are acted upon in a random manner, the outcome in a constrained system is predictable within an organism and across organisms. As a consequence evolution will produce similar outcomes at the macro level in similar environments. Stochastic determinism is proposed as a method that could be used to model convergent evolution.It has been a traditionally held view that winged insects stop molting after they reach adulthood. We observed a fascinating phenomenon of a post-imago molt occurring in the neotenic females of a firefly species in Taiwan over the last two years. By rearing Lamprigera minor larvae to adults, four out of the five unmated females studied were found undergoing an extra molt 8-18 days after adult eclosion. They were reproductively mature when the post-imago molt occurred, as evidenced by the eggs inside their bodies. The four females died without oviposition whereas the only normal female laid eggs. A comparison of exuviae of different stages confirmed the existence of post-imago ecdysis. The adult skin differed from the pupal one mainly in the mouthparts and leg structures. No mix of pupal and adult traits was seen in the adult skin. The females retained the same morphology after the extra molt. A close examination of the post-imago molting females revealed that their oviduct openings were all blocked by larval or pupal skin and thus unable to lay eggs. The reproductive stress may invoke an endocrine disorder and lead to an extra molt. We propose that L. minor females retain their prothoracic glands even as adults, allowing them to molt as adults under certain environmental or physiological conditions. Thus, neoteny of L. minor is reflected in both the external morphology as well as the internal physiology. The possible developmental changes associated with the evolution of neoteny are discussed.Micro-and nano-plastics (MNPs) (size less then 5 mm/ less then 100 nm) epitomize one of the emergent environmental pollutants with its existence all around the globe. Their high persistence nature and release of chemicals/additives used in synthesis of plastics materials may pose cascading impacts on living organism across the globe. Natural connectivity of all the environmental compartments (terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric) leads to migration/dispersion of MNPs from one compartment to others. Nevertheless, the information on dispersion of MNPs across the environmental compartments and its possible impacts on living organisms are still missing. This review first acquaints with dispersion mechanisms of MNPs in the environment, its polymeric/oligomeric and chemical constituents and then emphasized its impacts on living organism. Based on the existing knowledge about the MNPs' constituent and its potential impacts on the viability, development, lifecycle, movements, and fertility of living organism via several potential mechanisms, such as irritation, oxidative damage, digestion impairment, tissue deposition, change in gut microbial communities' dynamics, impaired fatty acid metabolism, and molecular damage are emphasized. Finally, at the end, the review provided the challenges associated with remediation of plastics pollutions and desirable strategies, policies required along with substantial gaps in MNPs research were recommended for future studies.

The analysis of urinary volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a promising field of research with the potential to discover new biomarkers for cancer early detection. This systematic review aims to summarise the published literature concerning cancer-associated urinary VOCs. A systematic online literature search was conducted to identify studies reporting urinary VOC biomarkers of cancers in accordance with the recommendations of the Cochrane Library and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines. Thirteen studies comprising 1266 participants in total were included in the review. Studies reported urinary VOC profiles of five cancer subtypes prostate cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, leukaemia/lymphoma, lung cancer, and bladder cancer. Forty-eight urinary VOCs belonging to eleven chemical classes were identified with high diagnostic performance. VOC profiles were distinctive for each cancer type with limited cross-over. The metabolic analysis suggested distinctive phenotypes for prostate and gastrointestinal cancers. The heterogenicity of study design, methodological and reporting quality may have contributed to inconsistencies between studies. Urinary VOC analysis has shown promising performance for non-invasive diagnosis of cancer. However, limitations in study design have resulted in inconsistencies between studies. These limitations are summarised and discussed in order to support future studies.Several parameters have been studied for identifying the visual outcomes after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for epiretinal membrane (ERM) peeling. This retrospective study aimed to analyze structural retinal changes with spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and their correlations with visual acuity improvement in patients with ERM undergoing PPV. Twenty-one pseudophakic eyes were enrolled in the study. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/aunp-12.html Ophthalmic evaluations included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and retinal layer thickness measurements with SD-OCT. The segmentation of the retina was divided into four parts the inner retinal layer (IRL), composed of an internal limiting membrane, retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell layer, and inner plexiform layer; inner nuclear layer (INL); outer plexiform layer (OPL); and outer nuclear layer (ONL). Correlations between changes in retinal layer thicknesses and BCVA were explored over a 6 month follow-up period. The postoperative thickness decrease of the INL was significantly correlated with thickness changes in all other measured retinal layers (p less then 0.001). Non-parametric linear regression showed that postoperative improvement in BCVA was associated with a postoperatively decreased thickness in the IRL (p = 0.021), INL (p = 0.039), and OPL (p = 0.021). In eyes undergoing PPV, postoperative thickness decreases of the IRL, INL, and OPL were correlated with visual acuity improvements. Re-compaction of these retinal layers after relieving ERM-induced traction may be an important factor in postoperative visual function improvement.Polyphenols are considered protective against diseases associated with oxidative stress. Short-term intake of an anthocyanin-rich fruit juice resulted in significantly reduced deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strand-breaks in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and affected antioxidant markers in healthy volunteers. Consequently, effects of long-term consumption of fruit juice are of particular interest. In focus was the impact on nuclear factor erythroid 2 (NFE2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2), the Nrf2-regulated genes NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1) and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) as well as effects on the gut microbiota. In a nine-week placebo-controlled intervention trial with 57 healthy male volunteers, consumption of anthocyanin-rich juice significantly increased NQO-1 and HO-1 transcript levels in PBLs compared to a placebo beverage as measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Three Nrf2-promotor single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), analyzed by pyrosequencing, indicated an association between individual Nrf2 transcript levels and genotype. Moreover, the Nrf2 genotype appeared to correlate with the presence of specific microbial organisms identified by 16S-PCR and classified as Spirochaetaceae. Furthermore, the microbial community was significantly affected by the duration of juice consumption and intake of juice itself. Taken together, long-term consumption of anthocyanin-rich fruit juice affected Nrf2-dependent transcription in PBLs, indicating systemic effects. Individual Nrf2 genotypes may influence the antioxidant response, thus requiring consideration in future intervention studies focusing on the Nrf2 pathway. Anthocyanin-rich fruit juice had an extensive impact on the gut microbiota.A thermopile device with sub-wavelength hole array (SHA) is numerically and experimentally investigated. The infrared absorbance (IRA) effect of SHAs in active area of the thermopile device is clearly analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The prototypes are manufactured by the 0.35 μm 2P4M complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor micro-electro-mechanical-systems (CMOS-MEMS) process in Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (TSMC). The measurement results of those prototypes are similar to their simulation results. Based on the simulation technology, more sub-wavelength hole structural effects for IRA of such thermopile device are discussed. It is found from simulation results that the results of SHAs arranged in a hexagonal shape are significantly better than the results of SHAs arranged in a square and the infrared absorption efficiencies (IAEs) of specific asymmetric rectangle and elliptical hole structure arrays are higher than the relatively symmetric square and circular hole structure arrays. The overall best results are respectively up to 3.532 and 3.573 times higher than that without sub-wavelength structure at the target temperature of 60 °C when the minimum structure line width limit of the process is ignored. Obviously, the IRA can be enhanced when the SHAs are considered in active area of the thermopile device and the structural optimization of the SHAs is absolutely necessary.