Hydrogen Bonding and Noncovalent Electric Field Effects in the Photoconversion of a Phytochrome.

A profound understanding of protein structure and mechanism requires dedicated experimental and theoretical tools to elucidate electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions in proteins. In this work, we employed an approach to disentangle noncovalent and hydrogen-bonding electric field changes during the reaction cascade of a multidomain protein, i.e.

Influence of Cavity Lining on the 3-Year Clinical Outcome of Posterior Composite Restorations: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

The purpose of this randomized, split-mouth-designed controlled and single-blinded clinical study was to evaluate the 3-year clinical performance of Class I and Class II resin composite restorations placed with or without cavity lining with a flowable composite. Fifty patients with treatment needs in two premolars or molars were included. One of the teeth was restored using the nanohybrid composite (GrandioSO, control group), in the test group a high viscosity flowable composite was additionally applied as a first layer.

Spatio-temporal characterization of drought variability in data-scarce regions using global precipitation data: a case study in Cauto river basin, Cuba.

Drought is considered the most severe water-related disaster in the Cauto river basin, which is the longest river and the main agricultural producer in Cuba. Better understanding of drought characteristics is crucial to drought management. Given the sparsity of ground-based precipitation observations in the Cauto, this study aims at using gridded global precipitation to analyze the spatio-temporal variations of drought in this river basin.

Socio-behavioural factors influencing meat intake and meat reduction intention in Vietnam and Switzerland.

Meat consumption is declining in developed countries but increasing in emerging countries. This study, for the first time, compares the socio-behavioural factors influencing individuals' meat consumption level and meat reduction intention between Vietnam, an emerging economy and Switzerland, a developed country. Online consumer surveys were conducted in late 2022, yielding 552 usable replies from Switzerland and 592 from Vietnam for this study.

Surgical outcomes of premeatal and retromeatal cerebellopontine angle meningioma in Vietnam: a single-center prospective cross-sectional study.

Unlabelled: Cerebellopontine angle (CPA) meningiomas are the second most common tumor of the CPA. Depending on the site of dural attachment, the relationship between the tumor and critical neurovascular structures of the CPA is variable. This study aims to evaluate the influence of CPA meningioma location in relation to the internal auditory canal (IAC) on clinical symptoms, radiological presentations, and surgical treatments and outcomes which has been rarely reported in Vietnam.

The Interaction of Two Widely Used Endodontic Irrigants, Chlorhexidine and Sodium Hypochlorite, and Its Impact on the Disinfection Protocol during Root Canal Treatment.

In recent years, sodium hypochlorite and chlorhexidine digluconate have been the gold standard of irrigation solutions utilized within the disinfection protocol during root canal treatments. Nowadays, it is known that, during chemical disinfection of the root canal, consecutive application of sodium hypochlorite and chlorhexidine digluconate leads to the formation of an orange-brown precipitate. This precipitate is described as being chemically similar to para-chloroaniline, which is suspected to have cytotoxic and carcinogenic effects.

Influence of Ascorbic Acid as a Growth and Differentiation Factor on Dental Stem Cells Used in Regenerative Endodontic Therapies.

Background: Vitamin C is one of the major extracellular nonenzymatic antioxidants involved in the biosynthesis of collagen. It promotes the growth of fibroblasts, wound healing processes, and enhances the survival and differentiation of osteoblasts. The potential effects of ascorbic acid on human dental pulp cells (DPC) and the cells of the apical papilla (CAP) used in actual regenerative endodontic procedures remain largely unknown.

Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization and Related Olefin Metathesis Reactions in Benzotrifluoride as an Environmentally Advantageous Medium.

A tremendous number of solvents, either as liquids or vapors, contaminate the environment on a daily basis worldwide. Olefin metathesis, which has been widely used as high-yielding protocols for ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), ring-closing metathesis (RCM), and isomerization reactions, is typically performed in toxic and volatile solvents such as dichloromethane. In this study, the results of our systematic experiments with the Grubbs G1, G2, and Hoveyda-Grubbs HG2 catalysts proved that benzotrifluoride (BTF) can replace dichloromethane (DCM) in these reactions, providing high yields and similar or even higher reaction rates in certain cases.

Single-Image 3-D Reconstruction: Rethinking Point Cloud Deformation.

Single-image 3-D reconstruction has long been a challenging problem. Recent deep learning approaches have been introduced to this 3-D area, but the ability to generate point clouds still remains limited due to inefficient and expensive 3-D representations, the dependency between the output and the number of model parameters, or the lack of a suitable computing operation. In this article, we present a novel deep-learning-based method to reconstruct a point cloud of an object from a single still image.

Engineering type I methanotrophic bacteria as novel platform for sustainable production of 3-hydroxybutyrate and biodegradable polyhydroxybutyrate from methane and xylose.

Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum20Z recombinant strain co-utilizing methane and xylose from anthropogenic activities and lignocellulose biomassis a promising cell factory platform. In this study, the production of (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate and poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) inM. alcaliphilum20Z was demonstrated.

Ultrafast proton-coupled isomerization in the phototransformation of phytochrome.

The biological function of phytochromes is triggered by an ultrafast photoisomerization of the tetrapyrrole chromophore biliverdin between two rings denoted C and D. The mechanism by which this process induces extended structural changes of the protein is unclear. Here we report ultrafast proton-coupled photoisomerization upon excitation of the parent state (Pfr) of bacteriophytochrome Agp2.

Boosting the acetol production in methanotrophic biocatalyst Methylomonas sp. DH-1 by the coupling activity of heteroexpressed novel protein PmoD with endogenous particulate methane monooxygenase.

Background: Methylacidiphilum sp. IT6 has been validated its C3 substrate assimilation pathway via acetol as a key intermediate using the PmoCAB3, a homolog of the particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO). From the transcriptomic data, the contribution of PmoD of strain IT6 in acetone oxidation was questioned.

Local Electric Field Changes during the Photoconversion of the Bathy Phytochrome Agp2.

Phytochromes switch between a physiologically inactive and active state via a light-induced reaction cascade, which is initiated by isomerization of the tetrapyrrole chromophore and leads to the functionally relevant secondary structure transition of a protein segment (tongue). Although details of the underlying cause-effect relationships are not known, electrostatic fields are likely to play a crucial role in coupling chromophores and protein structural changes. Here, we studied local electric field changes during the photoconversion of the dark state Pfr to the photoactivated state Pr of the bathy phytochrome Agp2.

Enhancing Sesquiterpenoid Production from Methane via Synergy of the Methylerythritol Phosphate Pathway and a Short-Cut Route to 1-Deoxy-D-xylulose 5-Phosphate in Methanotrophic Bacteria.

Sesquiterpenoids are one of the most diverse classes of isoprenoids which exhibit numerous potentials in industrial biotechnology. The methanotrophs-based methane bioconversion is a promising approach for sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from methane. With intrinsic high carbon flux though the ribulose monophosphate cycle in 20Z, we demonstrated here that employing a short-cut route from ribulose 5-phosphate to 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) could enable a more efficient isoprenoid production via the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway, using α-humulene as a model compound.

Experimental and theoretical studies on induced ferromagnetism of new (1 - x)NaBiTiO + xBaFeO solid solution.

New solid solution of NaBiTiO with BaFeO materials were fabricated by sol-gel method. Analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that BaFeO materials existed as a well solid solution and resulted in distortion the structure of host NaBiTiO materials. The randomly incorporated Fe and Ba cations in the host NaBiTiO crystal decreased the optical band gap from 3.

Sustainable biosynthesis of chemicals from methane and glycerol via reconstruction of multi-carbon utilizing pathway in obligate methanotrophic bacteria.

Obligate methanotrophic bacteria can utilize methane, an inexpensive carbon feedstock, as a sole energy and carbon substrate, thus are considered as the only nature-provided biocatalyst for sustainable biomanufacturing of fuels and chemicals from methane. To address the limitation of native C1 metabolism of obligate type I methanotrophs, we proposed a novel platform strain that can utilize methane and multi-carbon substrates, such as glycerol, simultaneously to boost growth rates and chemical production in Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z. To demonstrate the uses of this concept, we reconstructed a 2,3-butanediol biosynthetic pathway and achieved a fourfold higher titer of 2,3-butanediol production by co-utilizing methane and glycerol compared with that of methanotrophic growth.

A Resonance Raman Marker Band Characterizes the Slow and Fast Form of Cytochrome Oxidase.

Cytochrome oxidase (CcO) in its as-isolated form is known to exist in a slow and fast form, which differ drastically in their ability to bind oxygen and other ligands. While preparation methods have been established that yield either the fast or the slow form of the protein, the underlying structural differences have not been identified yet. Here, we have performed surface enhanced resonance Raman (SERR) spectroscopy of CcO immobilized on electrodes in both forms.

Enhanced optical absorption in conformally grown MoS layers on SiO/Si substrates with SiO nanopillars with a height of 50 nm.

The integration of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) layers on nanostructures has attracted growing attention as a means to improve the physical properties of the ultrathin TMDC materials. In this work, the influence of SiO nanopillars (NPs) with a height of 50 nm on the optical characteristics of MoS layers is investigated. Using a metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique, a few layers of MoS were conformally grown on the NP-patterned SiO/Si substrates without notable strain.

Engineered Methanotrophy: A Sustainable Solution for Methane-Based Industrial Biomanufacturing.

Methane is a promising feedstock with high abundance and low cost for the sustainable production of biochemicals and biofuels. Methanotrophic bacteria are particularly interesting platforms for methane bioconversion as they can utilize methane as a carbon substrate. Recently, breakthroughs in the understanding of methane metabolism in methanotrophs as well as critical advances in systems metabolic engineering of methanotrophic bacteria have been reported.

Metabolic role of pyrophosphate-linked phosphofructokinase pfk for C1 assimilation in Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z.

Background: Methanotrophs is a promising biocatalyst in biotechnological applications with their ability to utilize single carbon (C1) feedstock to produce high-value compounds. Understanding the behavior of biological networks of methanotrophic bacteria in different parameters is vital to systems biology and metabolic engineering. Interestingly, methanotrophic bacteria possess the pyrophosphate-dependent 6-phosphofructokinase (PPi-PFK) instead of the ATP-dependent 6-phosphofructokinase, indicating their potentials to serve as promising model for investigation the role of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) and PPi-dependent glycolysis in bacteria.

Unlocking the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenoids from methane via the methylerythritol phosphate pathway in methanotrophic bacteria, using α-humulene as a model compound.

Isoprenoids are an abundant and diverse class of natural products with various applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and biofuel industries. A methanotroph-based biorefinery is an attractive scenario for the production of a variety of value-added compounds from methane, because methane is a promising alternative feedstock for industrial biomanufacturing. In this study, we metabolically engineered Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z for de novo synthesis of a sesquiterpenoid from methane, using α-humulene as a model compound, via optimization of the native methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway.

Author Correction: Characterisation of the Cyanate Inhibited State of Cytochrome c Oxidase.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Evaluate the Results at Minimum 2-Years of Treating Rotator Cuff Tear by Arthroscopic Surgery.

Background: Rotator cuff tear (RCT) is a common injury of the shoulder, especially middle-aged people. Nonoperative treatment, cortisone injections are only effective at an early stage. Open surgery causes postoperative atrophy of the deltoid muscle, so results are limited.

Effects of Interlayer Coupling and Band Offset on Second Harmonic Generation in Vertical MoS/MoSSe Structures.

Noncentrosymmetric monolayers (MLs) of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and their 3-type vertical stacks provide an ideal platform for studying atomic-scale nonlinear light-matter interaction in terms of second harmonic generation (SHG). Unlike the case of MLs, SHG from artificial stacks can be nontrivially affected by interlayer coupling and band offset between the constituent MLs, where the latter occurs for band-gap-engineered vertical heterostructures (VHs). In order to study these effects, we produced different sets of 3-type homobilayers (homo-BLs) and heterobilayers (hetero-BLs) composed of MoS and its ternary alloy MoSSe.