Inhibition of aluminum dust explosion by NaHCO with different particle size distributions.

NaHCO with three particle size distributions was employed to determine the minimum inerting concentration (MIC, g/m) for the explosion of 5μm and 30μm aluminum dust in a standard 20L spherical chamber and thus examine the effect of particle size on the inhibition efficiency. Results showed that the MIC significantly increases as the aluminum particle size decreases from 30μm to 5μm. For 30μm aluminum, the MIC dramatically decreased with the reduction in the NaHCO particle size.

Design, crystal structure and atomic force microscopy study of thioether ligated d,l-cyclic antimicrobial peptides against multidrug resistant .

Here we report a new family of cyclic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) targeting MDR strains of . These CAMPs are cyclized a xylene double thioether bridge connecting two cysteines placed at the ends of a linear amphiphilic alternating d,l-sequence composed of lysines and tryptophans. Investigations by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy (AFM) suggest that these peptide macrocycles interact with the membrane to form lipid-peptide aggregates.

Flexible, Stretchable, and Transparent Planar Microsupercapacitors Based on 3D Porous Laser-Induced Graphene.

The graphene with 3D porous network structure is directly laser-induced on polyimide sheets at room temperature in ambient environment by an inexpensive and one-step method, then transferred to silicon rubber substrate to obtain highly stretchable, transparent, and flexible electrode of the all-solid-state planar microsupercapacitors. The electrochemical capacitance properties of the graphene electrodes are further enhanced by nitrogen doping and with conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) coating. With excellent flexibility, stretchability, and capacitance properties, the planar microsupercapacitors present a great potential in fashionable and comfortable designs for wearable electronics.

Chemical space guided discovery of antimicrobial bridged bicyclic peptides against and its biofilms.

Herein we report the discovery of antimicrobial bridged bicyclic peptides (AMBPs) active against , a highly problematic Gram negative bacterium in the hospital environment. Two of these AMBPs show strong biofilm inhibition and dispersal activity and enhance the activity of polymyxin, currently a last resort antibiotic against which resistance is emerging. To discover our AMBPs we used the concept of chemical space, which is well known in the area of small molecule drug discovery, to define a small number of test compounds for synthesis and experimental evaluation.

Biochemical Characterization of a Psychrophilic Phytase from an Artificially Cultivable Morel Morchella importuna.

Psychrophilic phytases suitable for aquaculture are rare. In this study, a phytase of the histidine acid phosphatase (HAP) family was identified in , a psychrophilic mushroom. The phytase showed 38% identity with PhyB, which was the closest hit.

Energy stress-induced lncRNA FILNC1 represses c-Myc-mediated energy metabolism and inhibits renal tumor development.

The roles of long non-coding RNAs in cancer metabolism remain largely unexplored. Here we identify FILNC1 (FoxO-induced long non-coding RNA 1) as an energy stress-induced long non-coding RNA by FoxO transcription factors. FILNC1 deficiency in renal cancer cells alleviates energy stress-induced apoptosis and markedly promotes renal tumor development.

Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry 2017 in Bern, Switzerland.

Sharing capital ideas: The 2017 Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry (FiMC) conference, organized jointly by the German Chemical Society, the German Pharmaceutical Society, and the Swiss Chemical Society, was held at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the University of Bern in February 2017. Herein we summarize the many conference highlights, and look forward to the next FiMC meeting, to be held in Jena (Germany) in March 2018.

ctPath: Demixing pathway crosstalk effect from transcriptomics data for differential pathway identification.

Identifying differentially expressed pathways (DEPs) plays important roles in understanding tumor etiology and promoting clinical treatment of cancer or other diseases. By assuming gene expression to be a sparse non-negative linear combination of hidden pathway signals, we propose a pathway crosstalk-based transcriptomics data analysis method (ctPath) for identifying differentially expressed pathways. Biologically, pathways of different functions work in concert at the systematic level.

Intra- and inter-isolate variation of ribosomal and protein-coding genes in Pleurotus: implications for molecular identification and phylogeny on fungal groups.

Background: The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), and elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1α) are often used in fungal taxonomy and phylogenetic analysis. As we know, an ideal molecular marker used in molecular identification and phylogenetic studies is homogeneous within species, and interspecific variation exceeds intraspecific variation. However, during our process of performing ITS, RPB2, and EF1α sequencing on the Pleurotus spp.

The glutamate/cystine antiporter SLC7A11/xCT enhances cancer cell dependency on glucose by exporting glutamate.

Cancer cells with specific genetic alterations may be highly dependent on certain nutrients for survival, which can inform therapeutic strategies to target these cancer-specific metabolic vulnerabilities. The glutamate/cystine antiporter solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11, also called xCT) is overexpressed in several cancers. Contrasting the established pro-survival roles of SLC7A11 under other stress conditions, here we report the unexpected finding that overexpression enhances cancer cell dependence on glucose and renders cancer cells more sensitive to glucose starvation-induced cell death and, conversely, that deficiency by either knockdown or pharmacological inhibition promotes cancer cell survival upon glucose starvation.

Proteomic Analysis Revealed the Fruiting-Body Protein Profile of Auricularia polytricha.

Auricularia polytricha is one of the most widely cultivated edible mushrooms in China. Many advances have been made to A. polytricha, but there is still no proteomic information of this species.

Acquired Y1248H and D1246N Mutations Mediate Resistance to MET Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

amplification, responsible for 20% of acquired resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), presents an attractive target. Numerous studies have conferred susceptibility of mutations and focal amplification to targeted MET-TKIs. However, the mechanism underlying MET-TKIs-induced resistance remains elusive.

High performance lithium-sulfur batteries for storing pulsed energy generated by triboelectric nanogenerators.

Storing pulsed energy harvested by triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) from ambient mechanical motion is an important technology for obtaining sustainable, low-cost, and green power. Here, we introduce high-energy-density Li-S batteries with excellent performance for storing pulsed output from TENGs. The sandwich-structured sulfur composites with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and polypyrrole serve as cathode materials that suppress the shuttle effect of polysulfides and thus preserve the structural stability of the cathode during Li-ion insertion and extraction.

BAP1 inhibits the ER stress gene regulatory network and modulates metabolic stress response.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is classically linked to metabolic homeostasis via the activation of unfolded protein response (UPR), which is instructed by multiple transcriptional regulatory cascades. BRCA1 associated protein 1 (BAP1) is a tumor suppressor with de-ubiquitinating enzyme activity and has been implicated in chromatin regulation of gene expression. Here we show that BAP1 inhibits cell death induced by unresolved metabolic stress.

Characterization of the single-subunit oligosaccharyltransferase STT3A from Trypanosoma brucei using synthetic peptides and lipid-linked oligosaccharide analogs.

The initial transfer of a complex glycan in protein N-glycosylation is catalyzed by oligosaccharyltransferase (OST), which is generally a multisubunit membrane protein complex in the endoplasmic reticulum but a single-subunit enzyme (ssOST) in some protists. To investigate the reaction mechanism of ssOST, we recombinantly expressed, purified and characterized the STT3A protein from Trypanosoma brucei (TbSTT3A). We analyzed the in vitro activity of TbSTT3A by synthesizing fluorescently labeled acceptor peptides as well as lipid-linked oligosaccharide (LLO) analogs containing a chitobiose moiety coupled to oligoprenyl carriers of distinct lengths (C10, C15, C20 and C25) and with different double bond stereochemistry.

White mold on cultivated morels caused by Paecilomyces penicillatus.

Morchella (morel) includes prized edible and medical mushrooms in the world. Since 2012, commercial cultivation of morels in the field has developed rapidly in China. However, coupled with the rapid expansion of morel cultivation, diseases have been become serious threats to morel production.

A randomized phase 2 study of MK-2206 versus everolimus in refractory renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Activation of the phosphoinisitide-3 kinase (PI3K) pathway through mutation and constitutive upregulation has been described in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), making it an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. We performed a randomized phase II study in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy refractory patients to determine whether MK-2206, an allosteric inhibitor of AKT, was more efficacious than the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor everolimus.

Patients And Methods: A total of 43 patients were randomized in a 2:1 distribution, with 29 patients assigned to the MK-2206 arm and 14 to the everolimus arm.

Ablation of miR-10b Suppresses Oncogene-Induced Mammary Tumorigenesis and Metastasis and Reactivates Tumor-Suppressive Pathways.

The invasive and metastatic properties of many human tumors have been associated with upregulation of the miRNA miR-10b, but its functional contributions in this setting have not been fully unraveled. Here, we report the generation of miR-10b-deficient mice, in which miR-10b is shown to be largely dispensable for normal development but critical to tumorigenesis. Loss of miR-10b delays oncogene-induced mammary tumorigenesis and suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition, intravasation, and metastasis in a mouse model of metastatic breast cancer.

lncRNA NBR2 modulates cancer cell sensitivity to phenformin through GLUT1.

Biguanides, including metformin (widely used in diabetes treatment) and phenformin, are AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activators and potential drugs for cancer treatment. A more in-depth understanding of how cancer cells adapt to biguanide treatment may provide important therapeutic implications to achieve more effective and rational cancer therapies. NBR2 is a glucose starvation-induced long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that interacts with AMPK and regulates AMPK activity upon glucose starvation.

Enhancing the Thermal Resistance of a Novel Acidobacteria-Derived Phytase by Engineering of Disulfide Bridges.

A novel phytase of Acidobacteria was identified from a soil metagenome, cloned, overexpressed, and purified. It has low sequence similarity (<44%) to all the known phytases. At the optimum pH (2.

Comprehensive investigation of aberrant microRNA profiling in bladder cancer tissues.

There has been accumulative evidence that microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in the tumorigenesis and progression of bladder cancer. However, individual studies and small sample size caused discrepant outcomes. Thus, the current study focused on a comprehensive profiling of all differentially expressed miRNAs in a total of 519 bladder cancer tissue samples, based on miRNA microarray data.

NBR2: A former junk gene emerges as a key player in tumor suppression.

NBR2 (neighbor of BRCA1 gene 2) is a non-protein coding gene that resides adjacent to tumor suppressor gene BRCA1, but its role in cancer biology has remained unknown. Our recent study showed that NBR2 encodes a long non-coding RNA and suppresses tumor development through regulation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation.

Long non-coding RNAs in cancer metabolism.

Altered cellular metabolism is an emerging hallmark of cancer. Accumulating recent evidence links long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a still poorly understood class of non-coding RNAs, to cancer metabolism. Here we review the emerging findings on the functions of lncRNAs in cancer metabolism, with particular emphasis on how lncRNAs regulate glucose and glutamine metabolism in cancer cells, discuss how lncRNAs regulate various aspects of cancer metabolism through their cross-talk with other macromolecules, explore the mechanistic conceptual framework of lncRNAs in reprogramming metabolism in cancers, and highlight the challenges in this field.

P2-Type Na0.67Ni0.23Mg0.1Mn0.67O2 as a High-Performance Cathode for a Sodium-Ion Battery.

There is intense interest in sodium-ion batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for electric storage applications because of the low-cost and abundant sodium resources. Na0.67Ni0.