The Impact of the Dietary Inflammatory Index, Fasting Blood Glucose, and Smoking Status on the Incidence and Survival of Pancreatic Cancer: A Retrospective Case-Control Study and a Prospective Study.

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC), a highly malignant cancer with a poor diagnosis, may be influenced by diet-related inflammation. This study examined the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores and the incidence and prognosis of PC in Korea.

Methods: A total of 55 patients with PC were matched with 280 healthy controls (HCs) by age and sex.

Development and IND-enabling studies of a novel Cas9 genome-edited autologous CD34 cell therapy to induce fetal hemoglobin for sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a common, severe genetic blood disorder. Current pharmacotherapies are partially effective and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is associated with immune toxicities. Genome editing of patient hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to reactivate fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in erythroid progeny offers an alternative potentially curative approach to treat SCD.

Biodegradation of oxidized low density polyethylene by Pelosinus fermentans lipase.

Polyethylene (PE) exhibits high resistance to degradation, contributing to plastic pollution. PE discarded into the environment is photo-oxidized by sunlight and oxygen. In this study, a key enzyme capable of degrading oxidized PE is reported for the first time.

CHANGE-seq-BE enables simultaneously sensitive and unbiased profiling of base editor genome-wide activity.

Base editors ( ) enable programmable conversion of nucleotides in genomic DNA without double-stranded breaks and have substantial promise to become new transformative genome editing medicines. Sensitive and unbiased detection of base editor off-target effects is important for identifying safety risks unique to base editors and translation to human therapeutics, as well as accurate use in life sciences research. However, current methods for understanding the global activities of base editors have limitations in terms of sensitivity or bias.

The extracellular matrix differentially directs myoblast motility and differentiation in distinct forms of muscular dystrophy: Dystrophic matrices alter myoblast motility.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) pathologic remodeling underlies many disorders, including muscular dystrophy. Tissue decellularization removes cellular components while leaving behind ECM components. We generated "on-slide" decellularized tissue slices from genetically distinct dystrophic mouse models.

Delayed treatment of traumatic eyeball dislocation into the maxillary sinus and treatment algorithm: a case report and literature review.

Orbital floor fractures are commonly encountered, but the dislocation of the eyeball into the maxillary sinus is relatively rare. When it does occur, globe dislocation can have serious consequences, including vision loss, enucleation, and orbito-ocular deformity. Immediate surgical intervention is typically attempted when possible.

The super-healing MRL strain promotes muscle growth in muscular dystrophy through a regenerative extracellular matrix.

The Murphy Roths Large (MRL) mouse strain has "super-healing" properties that enhance recovery from injury. In mice, the DBA/2J strain intensifies many aspects of muscular dystrophy, so we evaluated the ability of the MRL strain to suppress muscular dystrophy in the Sgcg-null mouse model of limb girdle muscular dystrophy. A comparative analysis of Sgcg-null mice in the DBA/2J versus MRL strains showed greater myofiber regeneration, with reduced structural degradation of muscle in the MRL strain.

Epstein-Barr Virus Positive Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma with Epidermotropism.

Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphomas are rare diseases comprising nodular to diffuse lymphoid cell infiltration with an overlying grenz zone and no epidermal involvement upon histological analysis. Diagnostics can become challenging when lymphomas exhibit the characteristics of both B and T-cells. Differential diagnoses may include reactive proliferations, cutaneous composite lymphomas, and transformed mycosis fungoides.

Biotechnological Plastic Degradation and Valorization Using Systems Metabolic Engineering.

Various kinds of plastics have been developed over the past century, vastly improving the quality of life. However, the indiscriminate production and irresponsible management of plastics have led to the accumulation of plastic waste, emerging as a pressing environmental concern. To establish a clean and sustainable plastic economy, plastic recycling becomes imperative to mitigate resource depletion and replace non-eco-friendly processes, such as incineration.

Extracellular matrix contribution to disease progression and dysfunction in myopathy.

Myopathic processes affect skeletal muscle and heart. In the muscular dystrophies, which are a subset of myopathies, muscle cells are gradually replaced by fibrosis and fat, impairing muscle function as well as regeneration and repair. In addition to skeletal muscle, these genetic disorders often also affect the heart, where fibrofatty infiltration progressively accumulates in the myocardium, impairing heart function.

The super-healing MRL strain promotes muscle growth in muscular dystrophy through a regenerative extracellular matrix.

Genetic background shifts the severity of muscular dystrophy. In mice, the DBA/2J strain confers a more severe muscular dystrophy phenotype, whereas the Murphy's Roth Large (MRL) strain has "super-healing" properties that reduce fibrosis. A comparative analysis of the null model of Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy in the DBA/2J versus MRL strain showed the MRL background was associated with greater myofiber regeneration and reduced structural degradation of muscle.

Reduced OPA1, Mitochondrial Fragmentation and Increased Susceptibility to Apoptosis in Granular Corneal Dystrophy Type 2 Corneal Fibroblasts.

The progressive degeneration of granular corneal dystrophy type 2 (GCD2) corneal fibroblasts is associated with altered mitochondrial function, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. We investigated whether an imbalance of mitochondrial dynamics contributes to mitochondrial dysfunction of GCD2 corneal fibroblasts. Transmission electron microscopy revealed several small, structurally abnormal mitochondria with altered cristae morphology in GCD2 corneal fibroblasts.

Delineating genotypes and phenotypes of individual cells from long-read single cell transcriptomes.

Single-cell nanopore sequencing of full-length mRNAs (scNanoRNAseq) is transforming singlecell multi-omics studies. However, challenges include computational complexity and dependence on short-read curation. To address this, we developed a comprehensive toolkit, scNanoGPS to calculate same-cell genotypes-phenotypes without short-read guidance.

Glioma progression is shaped by genetic evolution and microenvironment interactions.

The factors driving therapy resistance in diffuse glioma remain poorly understood. To identify treatment-associated cellular and genetic changes, we analyzed RNA and/or DNA sequencing data from the temporally separated tumor pairs of 304 adult patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wild-type and IDH-mutant glioma. Tumors recurred in distinct manners that were dependent on IDH mutation status and attributable to changes in histological feature composition, somatic alterations, and microenvironment interactions.

Facile nanostructured zinc oxide coating technique for antibacterial and antifouling air filters with low pressure drop.

Air filters effectively filtrate external contaminants including pathogenic bioaerosols; however, they also act as culture sites for the pathogenic bacteria captured in nutrient organic pollutants. Although many researchers have applied various antibacterial coatings to filters, the coating application inevitably increased the pressure drop, leading to the low efficiency and high energy consumption of the purification system. Herein, we report a simple nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) coating technique to confer a polypropylene nonwoven filter with superior antibacterial, antifouling and anti-biofilm properties without an additional pressure drop.

Defining genome-wide CRISPR-Cas genome-editing nuclease activity with GUIDE-seq.

Genome-wide unbiased identification of double-stranded breaks enabled by sequencing (GUIDE-seq) is a sensitive, unbiased, genome-wide method for defining the activity of genome-editing nucleases in living cells. GUIDE-seq is based on the principle of efficient integration of an end-protected double-stranded oligodeoxynucleotide tag into sites of nuclease-induced DNA double-stranded breaks, followed by amplification of tag-containing genomic DNA molecules and high-throughput sequencing. Here we describe a detailed GUIDE-seq protocol including cell transfection, library preparation, sequencing and bioinformatic analysis.

A Novel Robot-Assisted Kinematic Measure for Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Preliminary Study.

Objective: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. In contrast to neurocognitive measurements of inattention and impulsivity, there has been limited research regarding the objective measurement of hyperactivity in youths with ADHD. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the clinical effectiveness of a newly developed Robot-assisted Kinematic Measure for ADHD (RAKMA) in children with ADHD.

Development of Non-Ethoxypropanoic Acid Type Cryptochrome Inhibitors with Circadian Molecular Clock-Enhancing Activity by Bioisosteric Replacement.

Circadian dysfunction is closely associated with an increased risk of various diseases. Considering that molecular clock machinery serves as an intrinsic time-keeping system underlying the circadian rhythm of biological processes, the modulation of the molecular clock machinery is an attractive therapeutic target with novel mechanisms of action. Based on the previous structure-activity relationship study of small molecule cryptochrome (CRY) inhibitors possessing an ethoxypropanoic acid moiety, non-ethoxypropanoic acid-type inhibitors have been developed by bioisosteric replacement.

Enhanced Polymerization and Surface Hardness of Colloidal Siloxane Films via Electron Beam Irradiation.

Electron beam (EB) curing is a foldable hard coating process and has attracted significant research attention in the field of flexible electronic devices. In this study, we report a method for enhancing material surface hardness with low-energy EB curing in a short time. The low-energy EB improved the coating hardness of films by inducing cross-linking polymerization of the silicon-containing monomer.

Microswimmer Combing: Controlling Interfacial Dynamics for Open-Surface Multifunctional Screening of Small Animals.

Image-based screening of multicellular model organisms is critical for both investigating fundamental biology and drug development. Current microfluidic techniques for high-throughput manipulation of small model organisms, although useful, are generally complicated to operate, which impedes their widespread adoption by biology laboratories. To address this challenge, this paper presents an ultrasimple and yet effective approach, "microswimmer combing," to rapidly isolate live small animals on an open-surface array.

CHANGE-seq reveals genetic and epigenetic effects on CRISPR-Cas9 genome-wide activity.

Current methods can illuminate the genome-wide activity of CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases, but are not easily scalable to the throughput needed to fully understand the principles that govern Cas9 specificity. Here we describe 'circularization for high-throughput analysis of nuclease genome-wide effects by sequencing' (CHANGE-seq), a scalable, automatable tagmentation-based method for measuring the genome-wide activity of Cas9 in vitro. We applied CHANGE-seq to 110 single guide RNA targets across 13 therapeutically relevant loci in human primary T cells and identified 201,934 off-target sites, enabling the training of a machine learning model to predict off-target activity.