Publications by authors named "Chen Kong"

TRIM25, an E3 ligase, is an important regulator to modulate the functions of retinoic acid inducible gene-I (RIG-I) and other factors in innate immunity. Herein the structural interaction between the 2CARD domain of RIG-I and the PRYSPRY domain of TRIM25 was investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray crystallography, computer-assisted modeling, and cell-based assays to elucidate the complex structure of PRYSPRY/2CARD. The interacting model indicated that docking of 2CARD onto PRYSPRY brought two RIG-I molecules into a close proximity to form a dimer.

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Chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) substantially limits long-term survival following lung transplantation. To identify potential targets for CLAD prevention, T cells from explanted CLAD lungs and lung-draining lymph nodes, as well as diseased and nondiseased controls were isolated and single-cell RNA sequencing and TCR sequencing were performed. TCR sequencing revealed a clonally expanded population of CD8+ tissue-resident memory T cells (TRMs) with high cytotoxic potential, including upregulation of KLRK1, encoding the co-receptor NKG2D.

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Probiotics have been proposed as a potential strategy for managing ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the underlying mechanisms mediating microbiota-host crosstalk remain largely elusive. Here, we report that Limosilactobacillus reuteri (L.

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Introduction: ActiGraph accelerometers are used extensively to objectively assess physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. Here, we present an objective validation of five generations of ActiGraph sensors to characterize potential differences in output arising from changes to hardware or firmware.

Methods: An orbital shaker generated accelerations from 0 to 3700 milli-g in a randomized order to test the wGT3X-BT, GT9X, CentrePoint Insight Watch (CPIW) 1.

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E-cigarette/vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) is strongly associated with vitamin E acetate and often occurs with concomitant tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) use. To uncover pathways associated with EVALI, we examined cytokines, transcriptomic signatures, and lipidomic profiles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from THC-EVALI patients. At a single center, we prospectively enrolled mechanically ventilated patients with EVALI from THC-containing products (N = 4) and patients with non-vaping acute lung injury and airway controls (N = 5).

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Article Synopsis
  • Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a powerful technique that helps identify rare cells, discover new cellular subclusters, and study gene expression in individual cells, revealing shifts in cellular phenotypes and subtype heterogeneities.* -
  • Since its introduction in 2009, scRNA-seq has evolved with advancements like cell-specific barcodes and droplet-based systems, despite challenges such as cellular stress during sample preparation.* -
  • Recent innovations in spatial transcriptomics enhance understanding of cellular organization by preserving the spatial context of gene activity, leading to promising future research directions that combine this data with other omics for deeper insights.*
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The intestinal immune system is the largest immune organ in the human body. Excessive immune response to intestinal cavity induced by harmful stimuli including pathogens, foreign substances and food antigens is an important cause of inflammatory diseases such as celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Although great progress has been made in the treatment of IBD by some immune-related biotherapeutic products, yet a considerable proportion of IBD patients remain unresponsive or immune tolerant to immunotherapeutic strategy.

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Regulated secretion of insulin from β-cells, glucagon from α-cells, and somatostatin from δ-cells is necessary for the maintenance of glucose homeostasis. The release of these hormones from pancreatic islet cells requires the assembly and disassembly of the SNARE protein complex to control vesicle fusion and exocytosis. Complexin 2 (Cplx 2) is a small soluble synaptic protein that participates in the priming and release steps of vesicle fusion.

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Diabetes is a complex disease that impacts more than 500 million people across the world. Many of these individuals will develop diabetic neuropathy as a comorbidity, which is historically treated with exogenous opioids, such as morphine, oxycodone, or tramadol. Although these opioids are effective analgesics, growing evidence indicates that they may directly impact the endocrine pancreas function in patients.

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Background/objectives: Attention bias (AB) toward food is associated with obesity, but it is unclear if programs designed to reduce AB can impact adolescents' eating behavior. We investigated whether a two-week, smartphone-delivered attention retraining (AR) program (vs a control program) altered food AB in adolescent girls with overweight.

Methods: Participants completed three food-cue visual-probe trainings/day.

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Osmotic stress and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling are important for plant growth and abiotic stress resistance. Activation of osmotic and ABA signaling downstream of the PYL-type ABA receptors requires the release of SnRK2 protein kinases from the inhibition imposed by PP2Cs. PP2Cs are core negative regulators that constantly interact with and inhibit SnRK2s, but how osmotic signaling breaks the PP2C inhibition of SnRK2s remains unclear.

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Background & Aims: Caloric overfeeding combined with adequate protein intake increases not only body fat mass but also fat-free mass. However, it remains unclear whether the increase in fat-free mass due to overfeeding is associated with an increase in total body protein mass. We evaluated the hypothesis that overfeeding would promote an increase in total body protein mass.

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Regulating appropriate valence states of metal active centers, such as Ce/Ce and Mn/Mn, as well as surface vacancy defects, is crucial for enhancing the catalytic activity of cerium-based and manganese-based nanozymes. Drawing inspiration from the efficient substance exchange in rhizobia-colonized root cells of legumes, we developed a symbiosis nanozyme system with rhizobia-like CeO nanoclusters robustly anchored onto root-like MnO nanosupports (CeO/MnO). The process of "substance exchange" between Ce and Mn atoms-reminiscent of electron transfer-not only fine-tunes the metal active sites to achieve optimal Ce/Ce and Mn/Mn ratios but also enhances the vacancy ratio through interface defect engineering.

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The intestinal barrier maintained by various types of columnar epithelial cells, plays a crucial role in regulating the interactions between the intestinal contents (such as the intestinal microbiota), the immune system, and other components. Dysfunction of the intestinal mucosa is a significant pathophysiological mechanism and clinical manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, current therapies for IBD primarily focus on suppressing inflammation, and no disease-modifying treatments specifically target the epithelial barrier.

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Background: Up to 50% of adolescents who undergo metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) have obesity 3 years post-MBS, placing them at continued risk for the consequences of obesity.

Objectives: We conducted an open-label, 16-week pilot study of liraglutide in adolescents with obesity after sleeve gastrectomy (SG) to investigate liraglutide effects on weight and body mass index (BMI) post-SG.

Methods: Adolescents aged 12-20.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers developed a colloidal gold immunochromatographic test strip for quick detection of enramycin in feed using a specific monoclonal antibody.
  • The test strip was optimized with specific concentrations of potassium carbonate, antibodies, and antigens, achieving good specificity and a low detection limit.
  • It successfully detected enramycin A at 25 ng/mL, proving to be more sensitive and repeatable than traditional methods like high-performance liquid chromatography.
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Objectives: This study aims to investigate and predict the therapeutic agents associated with disulfidptosis in periodontitis.

Design: The dataset GSE10334 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and used to train a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) algorithm to identify genes associated with disulfidptosis in periodontitis. GSE16134 validation sets, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gingival immunofluorescence were used to verify the results.

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This study aimed to investigate how the decomposing scale effect, technique effect and composition effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) impact on carbon dioxide (CO) emissions for 115 nations spanning 1999 to 2019 by employing Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) model. The results indicated that FDI, real GDP per capita, capital-labor ratio, institutional quality and urbanization increase CO emissions while the square of real GDP per capita and trade openness contributed to reducing CO emissions. Also, our findings fail to support Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory.

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists found that a small dose of a substance called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can help protect mice from a serious lung infection caused by a germ called Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
  • The LPS helps boost certain immune cells called neutrophils and macrophages, which are important for fighting off infections by eating bacteria and killing them.
  • In people with serious lung issues, higher levels of a protein called galectin-3, found in survivors, suggest that this protein could play a big role in helping the immune system fight these infections.
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30% of people in the United States have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Many of these individuals will develop diabetic neuropathy as a comorbidity, which is often treated with exogenous opioids like morphine, oxycodone, or tramadol. Although these opioids are effective analgesics, growing evidence indicates that they may directly impact the endocrine pancreas function in human and preclinical models.

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Article Synopsis
  • A 69-year-old woman found out she had a growth in her intestine during a cancer check-up.
  • Doctors tried to remove it using a special tool called endoscopy, but they had trouble seeing it.
  • They used a combination of two types of cameras to successfully take out the growth, and the woman felt better and went home after two days.
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Article Synopsis
  • A 16-year-old girl experienced intermittent epigastric pain for a year, with normal gastroscopy, colonoscopy, and lab results, but showed tenderness in the upper abdomen.
  • A CT scan indicated swelling in the appendix, leading to a diagnosis of suspected appendicitis, prompting the use of endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT).
  • The procedure involved inserting a colonoscope to access the appendix, removing appendicular stones, and the patient was discharged two days later, symptom-free during follow-up.
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