Identification and verification of disulfidptosis-related genes in sepsis-induced acute lung injury.

Background: Sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI) is a common and serious complication of sepsis that eventually progresses to life-threatening hypoxemia. Disulfidptosis is a newly discovered type of cell death associated with the pathogenesis of different diseases. This study investigated the potential association between sepsis-induced acute lung injury and disulfidptosis by bioinformatics analysis.

Functionalized Cortical Bone-Inspired Composites Adapt to the Mechanical and Biological Properties of the Edentulous Area to Resist Fretting Wear.

Dental implants with long-term success of osseointegration have always been the goal, however, difficulties exist. The accumulation of fretting damage at the implant-bone interface often gets overlooked. Commonly used titanium is approximately 7-fold harder and stiffer than cortical bone.

Organizations of melittin peptides after spontaneous penetration into cell membranes.

The antimicrobial peptide, melittin, is a potential next-generation antibiotic because melittin can spontaneously form pores in bacterial cell membranes and cause cytoplasm leakage. However, the organizations of melittin peptides in cell membranes remain elusive, which impedes the understanding of the poration mechanism. In this work, we use coarse-grained and all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the organizations of melittin peptides during and after spontaneous penetration into DPPC/POPG lipid bilayers.

Computational Design of Extraordinarily Stable Peptide Structures through Side-Chain-Locked Knots.

Extraordinarily stable protein and peptide structures are critically demanded in many applications. Typical approaches to enhance protein and peptide stability are strengthening certain interactions. Here, we develop a very different approach: stabilizing peptide structures through side-chain-locked knots.

Forming a Double-Helix Phase of Single Polymer Chains by the Cooperation between Local Structure and Nonlocal Attraction.

Double-helix structures, such as DNA, are formed in nature to realize many unique functions. Inspired by this, researchers are pursuing strategies to design such structures from polymers. A key question is whether the double helix can be formed from the self-folding of a single polymer chain without specific interactions.

Quantifying the effects of slit confinement on polymer knots using the tube model.

Knots can spontaneously form in DNA, proteins, and other polymers and affect their properties. These knots often experience spatial confinement in biological systems and experiments. While confinement dramatically affects the knot behavior, the physical mechanisms underlying the confinement effects are not fully understood.

Crowding-induced polymer trapping in a channel.

In this work, we report an intriguing phenomenon: crowding-induced polymer trapping in a channel. Using Langevin dynamics simulations and analytical calculations, we find that for a polymer confined in a channel, crowding particles can push a polymer into the channel corner through inducing an effective polymer-corner attraction due to the depletion effect. This phenomenon is referred to as polymer trapping.

Potential Osteoinductive Effects of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles on Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Endothelial Cell Interaction.

Nano-hydroxyapatite (nano-HA) has attracted substantial attention in the field of regenerative medicine. Endothelial cell (EC)-mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) interactions are necessary for bone reconstruction, but the manner in which nano-HA interacts in this process remains unknown. Herein, we investigated the cytotoxicity and osteoinductive effects of HA nanoparticles (HANPs) on MSCs using an indirect co-culture model mediated by ECs and highlighted the underlying mechanisms.

miR-498/DNMT3b Axis Mediates Resistance to Radiotherapy in Esophageal Cancer Cells.

To explore the role of miR-498 in the radiotherapy resistance of esophageal cancer (EC) and its underlying mechanism. models of EC tissues with radioresistance or radiosensitivity were isolated from 72 EC patients who received radiotherapy. models were established after irradiation of KYSE30 cells.

General two-species interacting Lotka-Volterra system: Population dynamics and wave propagation.

The population dynamics of two interacting species modeled by the Lotka-Volterra (LV) model with general parameters that can promote or suppress the other species is studied. It is found that the properties of the two species' isoclines determine the interaction of species, leading to six regimes in the phase diagram of interspecies interaction; i.e.