Viral Envelope Membrane: A Special Entry Pathway and a Promising Drug Target.

Enveloped viruses belong to a large class of pathogens responsible for multiple serious diseases. Their spread into new territories has been the cause of major epidemics throughout human history, including the Spanish flu in 1918 and the latest COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to their outer membrane, consisting essentially of host lipids, enveloped viruses are more resistant to enzymes and are also less susceptible to host immune defenses than their naked counterparts.

The HIRA histone chaperone complex subunit UBN1 harbors H3/H4- and DNA-binding activity.

The HIRA histone chaperone complex is composed of the proteins HIRA, UBN1, and CABIN1 and cooperates with the histone chaperone ASF1a to specifically bind and deposit H3.3/H4 into chromatin. We recently reported that the UBN1 Hpc2-related domain (HRD) specifically binds to H3.

Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Coupled to Top- and Middle-Down Mass Spectrometry Reveals Histone Tail Dynamics before and after Nucleosome Assembly.

Until recently, a major limitation of hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) was that resolution of deuterium localization was limited to the length of the peptide generated during proteolysis. However, electron transfer dissociation (ETD) has been shown to preserve deuterium label in the gas phase, enabling better resolution. To date, this technology remains mostly limited to small, already well-characterized proteins.

The scaffolding protein JADE1 physically links the acetyltransferase subunit HBO1 with its histone H3-H4 substrate.

The human enzyme histone acetyltransferase binding to ORC1 (HBO1) regulates DNA replication, cell proliferation, and development. HBO1 is part of a multiprotein histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complex that also contains inhibitor of growth family member (ING) 4/5, MYST/Esa1-associated factor (MEAF) 6, and the scaffolding proteins Jade family PHD finger (JADE) 1/2/3 or bromodomain and PHD finger-containing protein (BRPF) 2/3 to acetylate histone H4 H4K5/8/12 or H3K14, respectively. Within this four-protein complex, JADE1 determines histone H4 substrate specificity of the HBO1-HAT complex.

Two-dimensional spectroscopy of coupled vibrations with the optimized mean-trajectory approximation.

The optimized mean-trajectory (OMT) approximation is a semiclassical representation of the nonlinear vibrational response function used to compute multidimensional infrared spectra. In this method, response functions are calculated from a sequence of classical trajectories linked by discontinuities representing the effects of radiation-matter interactions, thus providing an approximation to quantum dynamics using classical inputs. This approach was previously formulated and assessed numerically for a single anharmonic degree of freedom.

An optimized semiclassical approximation for vibrational response functions.

The observables of multidimensional infrared spectroscopy may be calculated from nonlinear vibrational response functions. Fully quantum dynamical calculations of vibrational response functions are generally impractical, while completely classical calculations are qualitatively incorrect at long times. These challenges motivate the development of semiclassical approximations to quantum mechanics, which use classical mechanical information to reconstruct quantum effects.

Transcranial ultrasound (TUS) effects on mental states: a pilot study.

Background/objective: Transcranial ultrasound (TUS) can modulate brain function. To assess possible TUS modulation of mental states, we investigated effects on subjective reports of pain and mood of sub-thermal TUS versus placebo applied to frontal scalp and brain of chronic pain patient volunteers.

Methods: With IRB approval and informed consent, subjects with chronic pain completed two visual analog scales for pain (NRS) and mood (VAMS/Global Affect), and their vital signs were recorded 10 min prior to, and 10 min and 40 min following exposure to either subthermal TUS (8 MHz) or placebo (in a double blind crossover study) using the 12L-RS probe of a LOGIQe ultrasound imaging machine (General Electric, USA).

Evaluation of hemostasis in flowing blood.

Hemostasis and thrombosis are now increasingly recognized as integrally related to blood rheology and blood flow. Platelets, for example, are known to access the vessel wall in ways which depend upon the small-scale motions of neighboring erythrocytes, and access one another via collisions driven by gradients in blood flow velocity. In this context, flow devices have become a subject of great interest in the clinical assessment of bleeding disorders, especially platelet function defects and von Willebrand disease.

Comparative epigenomics of human and mouse mammary tumors.

Gene silencing by aberrant epigenetic chromatin alteration is a well-recognized event contributing to tumorigenesis. Although genetically engineered tumor-prone mouse models have proven a powerful tool in understanding many aspects of carcinogenesis, to date few studies have focused on epigenetic alterations in mouse tumors. To uncover epigenetically silenced tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) in mouse mammary tumor cells, we conducted initial genome-wide screening by combining the treatment of cultured cells with the DNA demethylating drug 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-azadC) and the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) with expression microarray.