Contrastive learning for enhancing feature extraction in anticancer peptides.

Cancer, recognized as a primary cause of death worldwide, has profound health implications and incurs a substantial social burden. Numerous efforts have been made to develop cancer treatments, among which anticancer peptides (ACPs) are garnering recognition for their potential applications. While ACP screening is time-consuming and costly, in silico prediction tools provide a way to overcome these challenges.

Critical transition and reversion of tumorigenesis.

Cancer is caused by the accumulation of genetic alterations and therefore has been historically considered to be irreversible. Intriguingly, several studies have reported that cancer cells can be reversed to be normal cells under certain circumstances. Despite these experimental observations, conceptual and theoretical frameworks that explain these phenomena and enable their exploration in a systematic way are lacking.

Association of Pre- and Post-Donation Renal Function with Midterm Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate in Living Kidney Donors: A Retrospective Study.

Purpose: The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at 6 months after donation (eGFR) is strongly associated with the risk of end-stage renal disease in living kidney donors. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m² (eGFR <60) and identify the risk factors that can predict the occurrence of eGFR <60 in living kidney donors.

Outer retinal degeneration in a non-human primate model using temporary intravitreal tamponade with N-methyl-N-nitrosourea in cynomolgus monkeys.

The main objective of this study was to induce and evaluate drug-dose-dependent outer retinal degeneration in cynomolgus monkeys by application of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU).Intravitreal temporary tamponade induced outer retinal degeneration with MNU solutions (2-3 mg ml) after vitrectomy in five cynomolgus monkeys. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), full-field electroretinography (ffERG), and visual evoked potentials (VEP) were performed at baseline and weeks 2, 6, and 12 postoperatively.

A propensity score-adjusted analysis of efficacy of high-flow nasal oxygen during awake tracheal intubation.

Oxygen supplementation is crucial for awake tracheal intubation (ATI) using a flexible bronchoscope in patients with an anticipated difficult airway. However, the modality of optimal oxygen delivery remains unclear. This retrospective study compared high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) and conventional low-flow oxygen supply during ATI.

Effects of intraoperative dexmedetomidine infusion on renal function in elective living donor kidney transplantation: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: Ischemia-reperfusion injury is inevitable during donor organ harvest and recipient allograft reperfusion in kidney transplantation, and affects graft outcomes. Dexmedetomidine, an α2-adrenoreceptor agonist, has renoprotective effects against ischemia-reperfusion injury. We investigated the effects of intraoperative dexmedetomidine infusion on renal function and the development of delayed graft function after elective living donor kidney transplantation in a randomized controlled trial.

Normative Data of Ocular Biometry, Optical Coherence Tomography, and Electrophysiology Conducted for Cynomolgus Macaque Monkeys.

Purpose: To present normative data of optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters, electrophysiological tests, and optical biometry conducted for cynomolgus monkeys.

Methods: Multimodal examinations were performed for 11 adult cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis, weighing 2.6-7.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation to Uncover the Mechanisms of Protein Instability During Freezing.

Freezing is a common process applied in the pharmaceutical industry to store and transport biotherapeutics. Herewith, multi-scale molecular dynamics simulations of Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) protein in phosphate buffer with/without ice formation performed to uncover the still poorly understood mechanisms and molecular details of protein destabilization upon freezing. Both fast and slow ice growing conditions were simulated at 243 K from one or two-side of the simulation box, respectively.

Realizing Cancer Precision Medicine by Integrating Systems Biology and Nanomaterial Engineering.

Many clinical trials for cancer precision medicine have yielded unsatisfactory results due to challenges such as drug resistance and low efficacy. Drug resistance is often caused by the complex compensatory regulation within the biomolecular network in a cancer cell. Recently, systems biological studies have modeled and simulated such complex networks to unravel the hidden mechanisms of drug resistance and identify promising new drug targets or combinatorial or sequential treatments for overcoming resistance to anticancer drugs.

Adrenal insufficiency in systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS): A systematic review.

Background: Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The aim of this systematic review was to enhance diagnostic approaches and summarize therapeutic strategies in the management of AI in patients with systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).

Methods: A literature search of PubMed and Medline databases was performed and 91 publications containing 105 cases were included for the final analysis.

Combined Positive and Negative Feedback Allows Modulation of Neuronal Oscillation Frequency during Sensory Processing.

A key step in sensory information processing involves modulation and integration of neuronal oscillations in disparate frequency bands, a poorly understood process. Here, we investigate how top-down input causes frequency changes in slow oscillations during sensory processing and, in turn, how the slow oscillations are combined with fast oscillations (which encode sensory input). Using experimental connectivity patterns and strengths of interneurons, we develop a system-level model of a neuronal circuit controlling these oscillatory behaviors, allowing us to understand the mechanisms responsible for the observed oscillatory behaviors.

A positive feedback loop bi-stably activates fibroblasts.

Although fibroblasts are dormant in normal tissue, they exhibit explosive activation during wound healing and perpetual activation in pathologic fibrosis and cancer stroma. The key regulatory network controlling these fibroblast dynamics is still unknown. Here, we report that Twist1, a key regulator of cancer-associated fibroblasts, directly upregulates Prrx1, which, in turn, increases the expression of Tenascin-C (TNC).

Percolation transition of cooperative mutational effects in colorectal tumorigenesis.

Cancer is caused by the accumulation of multiple genetic mutations, but their cooperative effects are poorly understood. Using a genome-wide analysis of all the somatic mutations in colorectal cancer patients in a large-scale molecular interaction network, here we find that a giant cluster of mutation-propagating modules in the network undergoes a percolation transition, a sudden critical transition from scattered small modules to a large connected cluster, during colorectal tumorigenesis. Such a large cluster ultimately results in a giant percolated cluster, which is accompanied by phenotypic changes corresponding to cancer hallmarks.

Quantitative evaluation and reversion analysis of the attractor landscapes of an intracellular regulatory network for colorectal cancer.

Background: Cancer reversion, converting the phenotypes of a cancer cell into those of a normal cell, has been sporadically observed throughout history. However, no systematic analysis has been attempted so far.

Results: To investigate this from a systems biological perspective, we have constructed a logical network model of colorectal tumorigenesis by integrating key regulatory molecules and their interactions from previous experimental data.

The reverse control of irreversible biological processes.

Most biological processes have been considered to be irreversible for a long time, but some recent studies have shown the possibility of their reversion at a cellular level. How can we then understand the reversion of such biological processes? We introduce a unified conceptual framework based on the attractor landscape, a molecular phase portrait describing the dynamics of a molecular regulatory network, and the phenotype landscape, a map of phenotypes determined by the steady states of particular output molecules in the attractor landscape. In this framework, irreversible processes involve reshaping of the phenotype landscape, and the landscape reshaping causes the irreversibility of processes.

The hidden switches underlying RORα-mediated circuits that critically regulate uncontrolled cell proliferation.

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is known to have a key role in the development of colorectal cancer, but previous experiments showed its contrasting (i.e. tumor-promoting or tumor-suppressive) roles depending on experimental conditions.

Recurrent connections form a phase-locking neuronal tuner for frequency-dependent selective communication.

The brain requires task-dependent interregional coherence of information flow in the anatomically connected neural network. However, it is still unclear how a neuronal group can flexibly select its communication target. In this study, we revealed a hidden routing mechanism on the basis of recurrent connections.

Impaired coupling of local and global functional feedbacks underlies abnormal synchronization and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Background: Abnormal synchronization of brain oscillations is found to be associated with various core symptoms of schizophrenia. However, the underlying mechanism of this association remains yet to be elucidated.

Results: In this study, we found that coupled local and global feedback (CLGF) circuits in the cortical functional network are related to the abnormal synchronization and also correlated to the negative symptom of schizophrenia.

Small-world networks in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis and first-episode schizophrenia during a working memory task.

Disturbances of functional interaction between different brain regions have been hypothesized to be the major pathophysiological mechanism underlying the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. We investigated the small-world functional networks in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis, first-episode schizophrenia (FESPR) patients, and healthy controls. All participants underwent the electroencephalogram during a control task and a working memory (WM) task.

A design principle underlying the synchronization of oscillations in cellular systems.

Biological oscillations are found ubiquitously in cells and are widely variable, with periods varying from milliseconds to months, and scales involving subcellular components to large groups of organisms. Interestingly, independent oscillators from different cells often show synchronization that is not the consequence of an external regulator. What is the underlying design principle of such synchronized oscillations, and can modeling show that the complex consequences arise from simple molecular or other interactions between oscillators? When biological oscillators are coupled with each other, we found that synchronization is induced when they are connected together through a positive feedback loop.