cfDNA hydroxymethylcytosine profiling for detection metastasis and recurrence of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: A blood-based approach to monitor metastasis and recurrence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains undeveloped. This study aimed to establish a dependable model utilizing cfDNA 5-hydroxymethylcytosines (5hmC) signatures to detect these conditions in ESCC.

Methods: The 5hmC-Seal technique was employed to generate comprehensive 5hmC profiles from the plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of 122 ESCC patients, classified into 72 with metastasis, 50 without metastasis, 30 with recurrence, and 92 without recurrence.

The therapeutic effect and mechanism of carnosic acid in Aspergillus fumigatus keratitis.

Fungal keratitis is a vision-threatening corneal infectious disease. However, clinically therapeutic medicines cannot attain ideal efficacy due to limited control of fungal virulence and excessive inflammatory response. Carnosic acid (CA) is a phenolic diterpene, which has been reported to have multiple abilities including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

Synergizing oxygen vacancy engineering and f-Electron doping to Promote dynamics of Rare-Earth-Doped bismuth Oxyhalides for photocatalysis.

Efficient exciton dissociation and surface molecular oxygen activation are crucial for advancing photocatalysis in energy and environmental applications. However, photocatalytic performance is often limited by complex electron-nuclear interactions and strong exciton binding energies, primarily due to significant exciton effects. In this work, we introduce a novel strategy to enhance exciton dissociation by doping samarium (Sm) into bismuth oxoiodide (BiOI) to modulate the concentration of oxygen vacancies (Ov).

Naturally inspired chimeric quinolone derivatives to reverse bacterial drug resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance poses an urgent threat to global health, underscoring the critical need for new antibacterial drugs. Ciprofloxacin, a third-generation quinolone antibiotic, is used to treat different types of bacterial infections; however, it often results in the rapid emergence of resistance in clinical settings. Inspired by low susceptibility to antimicrobial resistance of natural antimicrobial peptides, we herein propose a host defense peptide-mimicking strategy for designing chimeric quinolone derivatives which may reduce the likelihood of antibacterial resistance.

Protective functions of liver X receptor α on calcified aortic valve: involvement of regulating endoplasmic reticulum-mediated osteogenic differentiation.

Aims: Effective therapeutic drugs for calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) are lacking, although its incidence has been increasing over the past decade, and is predicted to continue rising in the future. This study aimed to explore the role and potential mechanisms of liver X receptor α (LXRα) in CAVD, which offers a promising approach for treating CAVD.

Methods And Results: Osteogenic stimulation was performed following which a substantial downregulation of LXRα was observed in human calcific aortic valves and in valvular interstitial cells.