Comparison of the Standard E TB-Feron ELISA and QuantiFERON-TB Gold PLUS assays: the advantageous use of whole recombinant protein antigens for latent tuberculosis diagnosis.

The laboratory diagnosis of latent tuberculosis is often performed using interferon-gamma release assays. Here, we compared two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based interferon-gamma release assays, namely, the newly developed Standard E TB-Feron enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (STFE) and the QuantiFERON-TB Gold PLUS assay (QFT-GP), using samples from 155 participants. The STFE is based on using whole EAST6 and CFP10 recombinant antigens for latent tuberculosis diagnosis.

The Utility of a real-time polymerase chain reaction kit for differentiating between and the Beijing familythe.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a severe public health challenge in Korea. Of all Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) strains, the Beijing genotype strain reportedly correlates with hypervirulence and drug resistance.

Low molecular weight chitooligosaccharide inhibits infection of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro.

Aims: The discovery of antiviral substances to respond to COVID-19 is a global issue, including the field of drug development based on natural materials. Here, we showed that chitosan-based substances have natural antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro.

Methods And Results: The molecular weight of chitosan-based substances was measured by the gel permeation chromatography analysis.

10-DEBC Hydrochloride as a Promising New Agent against Infection of .

() causes chronic pulmonary infections. Its resistance to current antimicrobial drugs makes it the most difficult non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) to treat with a treatment success rate of 45.6%.

Clomiphene Citrate Shows Effective and Sustained Antimicrobial Activity against .

() causes chronic pulmonary infections and is the most difficult non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) to treat due to its resistance to current antimicrobial drugs, with a treatment success rate of 45.6%. Thus, novel treatment drugs are needed, of which we identified the drug clomiphene citrate (CC), known to treat infertility in women, to exhibit inhibitory activity against .

Copper-Coated Polypropylene Filter Face Mask with SARS-CoV-2 Antiviral Ability.

Face masks will be used to prevent pandemic recurrence and outbreaks of mutant SARS-CoV-2 strains until mass immunity is confirmed. The polypropylene (PP) filter is a representative disposable mask material that traps virus-containing bioaerosols, preventing secondary transmission. In this study, a copper thin film (20 nm) was deposited via vacuum coating on a spunbond PP filter surrounding a KF94 face mask to provide additional protection and lower the risk of secondary transmission.

Etamycin as a Novel Inhibitor.

The increase in drug-resistant , which has become resistant to existing standard-of-care agents, is a major concern, and new antibacterial agents are strongly needed. In this study, we introduced etamycin that showed an excellent activity against . We found that etamycin significantly inhibited the growth of wild-type strain, three subspecies, and clinical isolates in vitro and inhibited the growth of that resides in macrophages without cytotoxicity.

Thiostrepton: A Novel Therapeutic Drug Candidate for Infection.

is a rapid-growing, multidrug-resistant, non-tuberculous mycobacterial species responsible for a variety of human infections, such as cutaneous and pulmonary infections. infections are very difficult to eradicate due to the natural and acquired multidrug resistance profiles of . Thus, there is an urgent need for the development of effective drugs or regimens against infections.

Methylation-dependent loss of RIP3 expression in cancer represses programmed necrosis in response to chemotherapeutics.

Receptor-interacting protein kinase-3 (RIP3 or RIPK3) is an essential part of the cellular machinery that executes "programmed" or "regulated" necrosis. Here we show that programmed necrosis is activated in response to many chemotherapeutic agents and contributes to chemotherapy-induced cell death. However, we show that RIP3 expression is often silenced in cancer cells due to genomic methylation near its transcriptional start site, thus RIP3-dependent activation of MLKL and downstream programmed necrosis during chemotherapeutic death is largely repressed.

Helicobacter pylori CagA promotes Snail-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition by reducing GSK-3 activity.

Cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) is an oncoprotein and a major virulence factor of H. pylori. CagA is delivered into gastric epithelial cells via a type IV secretion system and causes cellular transformation.

20(S)-Ginsenoside Rg3 is a novel inhibitor of autophagy and sensitizes hepatocellular carcinoma to doxorubicin.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. High mortality from HCC is mainly due to widespread prevalence and the lack of effective treatment, since systemic chemotherapy is ineffective, while the targeted agent Sorafenib extends median survival only briefly. The steroidal saponin 20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3 from Panax ginseng C.

A microchip filter device incorporating slit arrays and 3-D flow for detection of circulating tumor cells using CAV1-EpCAM conjugated microbeads.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are rare cells and the presence of these cells may indicate a poor prognosis and a high potential for metastasis. Despite highly promising clinical applications, CTCs have not been investigated thoroughly, due to many technical limitations faced in their isolation and identification. Current CTC detection techniques mostly take the epithelial marker epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), however, accumulating evidence suggests that CTCs show heterogeneous EpCAM expression due to the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

A formulated red ginseng extract upregulates CHOP and increases TRAIL-mediated cytotoxicity in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising anticancer agent because its cytotoxicity is selective for tumor cells. Despite promising outcomes in clinical trials using this ligand, sustained clinical responses have been impeded because cancer cells acquire resistance to TRAIL-based therapies. Ginseng, a well-known food product consumed globally, has been reported to reduce fatigue and possess antioxidant and antitumor activities.