Cancer has been one of the most common life‐threatening diseases for a long time. Traditional cancer therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy (CT), and radiotherapy (RT) have limited effects due to drug resistance, unsatisfactory treatment efficiency, and side effects. In recent years, photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) have been utilized for cancer treatment owing to their high selectivity, minor resistance, and minimal toxicity. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that selective delivery of drugs to specific subcellular organelles can significantly enhance the efficiency of cancer therapy. Mitochondria‐targeting therapeutic strategies are promising for cancer therapy, which is attributed to the essential role of mitochondria in the regulation of cancer cell apoptosis, metabolism, and more vulnerable to hyperthermia and oxidative damage. Herein, the rational design, functionalization, and applications of diverse mitochondria‐targeting units, involving organic phosphine/sulfur salts, quaternary ammonium (QA) salts, peptides, transition‐metal complexes, guanidinium or bisguanidinium, as well as mitochondria‐targeting cancer therapies including PDT, PTT, CDT, and others are summarized. This review aims to furnish researchers with deep insights and hints in the design and applications of novel mitochondria‐targeting agents for cancer therapy.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been widely applied in cancer therapy as a result of its non-invasive, localized treatment and good therapeutic effect. In general, the final therapeutic effect of PTT...

Investigations were carried out to identify the causative agent of acute diarrhea, respiratory distress, and polioencephalomyelitis of pigs on a swine farm in Shanghai, China. Samples from the affected animals were tested for viruses and bacteria that are known to cause similar symptoms in swine, and only porcine sapelovirus (PSV; designated as csh strain) was isolated. The presence of PSV was further confirmed by the specific cytopathic effects observed in susceptible cells and by the results of PCR and electron microscopy. Nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that this isolate is PSV. When inoculated into healthy pigs, PSV.csh caused the same symptoms as observed in the affected herd. Therefore, PSV.csh is the causative agent of this disease. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of PSV infecting piglets in China.

Microbial communities of human gut directly influence health and bear adaptive potential to different geography environment and lifestyles. However, knowledge about the influences of altitude and geography on the gut microbiota of Tibetans is currently limited. In this study, fecal microbiota from 208 Tibetans across six different locations were analyzed by MiSeq sequencing; these locations included Gannan, Gangcha, Tianzhu, Hongyuan, Lhasa and Nagqu, with altitudes above sea level ranging from 2800 m to 4500 m across the Tibetan plateau. Significant differences were observed in microbial diversity and richness in different locations. At the phylum level, gut populations of Tibetans comprised Bacteroidetes (60.00%), Firmicutes (29.04%), Proteobacteria (5.40%), and Actinobacteria (3.85%) and were marked by a low ratio (0.48) of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes. Analysis based on operational taxonomic unit level revealed that core microbiotas included Prevotella, Faecalibacterium, and Blautia, whereas Prevotella predominated all locations, except Gangcha. Four community state types were detected in all samples, and they mainly belong to Prevotella, Bacteroides, and Ruminococcaceae. Principal component analysis and related correspondence analysis results revealed that bacterial profiles in Tibetan guts varied significantly with increasing altitude, BMI, and age, and facultative anaerobes were rich in Tibetan guts. Gut microbiota may play important roles in regulating high-altitude and geographical adaptations.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram-positive pathogen causing a variety of infections in humans and animals. Extensive use of antibiotics has led to the emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). As an alternative antibacterial agent against drug-resistant S. aureus, a lytic phage, designated SLPW, was isolated from fecal sewage in a pig farm. The SLPW was morphologically classified under Podoviridae and contains a double-stranded DNA genome. The genome of SLPW was 17,861 bp (29.35% G+C) containing 20 open reading frames and lacked regions encoding lysogeny-related integrase gene and cI repressor gene. Phage SLPW showed a broad host range and high efficiency of plating against various types of S. aureus. One-step growth curve showed a short latency period (10 min) and a long lytic period (120 min). Phage SLPW remained stable under a wide range of temperatures or pH and was almost unaffected in chloroform or ultraviolet light. Further, it efficiently lysed MRSA strains in vitro and in vivo. Intraperitoneal phage administration at 1 h post-infection cured the mice and reduced the bacterial expression of inflammatory cytokines in mice. Specifically, the phage SLPW displayed a wide antibacterial spectrum. It was therapeutically effective against intra-abdominal infection in mice harboring different multilocus sequence typing (MLST) types of S. aureus strains. Therefore, phage SLPW is a potential therapeutic agent against MRSA infections.