Discovery of highly active kynureninases for cancer immunotherapy through protein language model.

Tailor-made enzymes empower a wide range of versatile applications, although searching for the desirable enzymes often requires high throughput screening and thus poses significant challenges. In this study, we employed homology searches and protein language models to discover and prioritize enzymes by their kinetic parameters. We aimed to discover kynureninases as a potentially versatile therapeutic enzyme, which hydrolyses L-kynurenine, a potent immunosuppressive metabolite, to overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in anticancer therapy.

Prevalence and outcomes of nonmass lesions detected on screening breast ultrasound based on ultrasound features.

Purpose: To determine how often non-mass lesions are seen in screening breast ultrasounds, and analyze their ultrasound features according to the ultrasound lexicon to find features suggestive of malignant non-mass lesions.

Methods: This study is a single center retrospective study for nonmass lesions on screening breast ultrasound. Among 21,604 patients who underwent screening breast US, there were 279 patients with nonmass lesions.

Nonmass Lesions on Breast Ultrasound: Interreader Agreement and Associations With Malignancy.

Nonmass lesions (NMLs) on breast ultrasound lack clear definition and encompass a broad range of benign and malignant entities. Given anticipated inclusion of NMLs in the BI-RADS 6th edition, thorough understanding of these lesions will be critical for optimal management. To evaluate interreader agreement for classification of lesions on breast ultrasound as NMLs and to identify imaging features associated with malignancy in these lesions.

Development of an Improved Thiosulfate-Utilizing Denitrifying Bacteria-Based Ecotoxicity Test with High Detection Sensitivity and Reproducibility.

Microorganism-based ecotoxicity assessment has been widely used as a reliable tool showing direct biochemical impacts of contaminants on ecosystems and the environment. The present study aimed at developing a thiosulfate-utilizing denitrifying bacteria (TUDB)-based ecotoxicity test with high detection sensitivity and favorable reproducibility. To achieve this goal, existing TUDB toxicity tests were improved by employing a pure culture of ATCC 8158 and optimizing test conditions, particularly in terms of inoculated microbial biomass, incubating temperature, and operational pH.