Screening Bioactive Compounds of Siraitia grosvenorii by Immobilized β-Adrenergic Receptor Chromatography and Druggability Evaluation.

As the first and key step of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-guided drug development, lead discovery necessitates continuous exploration of new methodology for screening bioactive compounds from TCM. This work intends to establish a strategy for rapidly recognizing β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) target compounds from the fruit of (LHG). The method involved immobilization of β-AR onto amino-microsphere to synthesize the receptor column, the combination of the column to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to screen bioactive compounds of LHG, the identification of the compounds by HPLC coupled with mass spectrometry (MS), and the evaluation of druggability through pharmacokinetic examination by HPLC-MS/MS.

Transformation of tetracyclines induced by Fe(III)-bearing smectite clays under anoxic dark conditions.

Smectite clays are widely found in subsurface soils and waters. Although they strongly sequester tetracyclines (TCs), little is known about their reactions with these antibiotics under dark anoxic conditions. This study investigated the interactions between TCs and Fe-bearing smectite clays and the influences of environmental factors.

Sharpin suppresses β1-integrin activation by complexing with the β1 tail and kindlin-1.

Background: Previously sharpin has been identified as an endogenous inhibitor of β1-integrin activation by directly binding to a conserved region in the cytoplasmic tails (CTs) of the integrin β1-associated α subunits.

Methods: Here we employed biochemical approaches and cellular analyses to evaluate the function and molecular mechanism of the sharpin-kindlin-1 complex in regulating β1-integrin activation.

Results: In this study, we found that although the inhibition of sharpin on β1-integrin activation could be confirmed, sharpin had no apparent effect on integrin αIIbβ3 activation in CHO cell system.

Positron emission tomography image reconstruction using feature extraction.

Purpose: To reduce the cost of positron emission tomography (PET) scanning systems, image reconstruction algorithms for low-sampled data have been extensively studied. However, the current method based on total variation (TV) minimization regularization nested in the maximum likelihood-expectation maximization (MLEM) algorithm cannot distinguish true structures from noise resulting losing some fine features in the images. Thus, this work aims to recover fine features lost in the MLEM-TV algorithm from low-sampled data.

A Novel PL9 Pectate Lyase from KF-1: Cloning, Expression, and Its Application in Pectin Degradation.

Pectate lyases play an important role in pectin degradation, and therefore are highly useful in the food and textile industries. Here, we report on the cloning of an alkaline pectate lyase gene () from KF-1. The full-length gene (1350 bp) encodes for a 449-residue protein that belongs to the polysaccharide lyase family 9 (PL9).

Autophagy mediates the secretion of macrophage migration inhibitory factor from cardiomyocytes upon serum-starvation.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an inflammatory cytokine. It is elevated early in the blood of acute myocardial infarction patients. However, it is unclear whether and how MIF is released.

Metabolic disorder in the progression of heart failure.

Heart failure (HF) is a major clinical concern owing to its high prevalence and high mortality. Metabolomics, an effective approach to predict diagnostic biomarkers and to explore the altered metabolic pathways in pathogenesis, has been extensively applied in evaluating the course of diseases. In this study, we used this approach to analyse the abundance of metabolites, with liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer, in plasma samples from rats with transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and patients at different stages of HF.

Cotransformation of Carbon Dots and Contaminant under Light in Aqueous Solutions: A Mechanistic Study.

In this study, the photochemistry of carbon dots (CDs) and their effects on pollutant transformation were systematically examined. Diethyl phthalate (DEP) degradation was strongly enhanced by CDs under UV light, with the observed reaction rate constant ( k) increased by 2.4-15.

Effects of iron (hydr)oxides on the degradation of diethyl phthalate ester in heterogeneous (photo)-Fenton reactions.

This work studied the structural effects of hematite (α-FeO), 2-line ferrihydrite (HFO) and goethite (α-FeOOH) on diethyl phthalate ester (DEP) degradation. The results showed that the degradation of DEP was faster under 365 nm light irradiation than in the dark in the presence of iron (hydr)oxides. The apparent kinetic rates of DEP degradation followed the order HFO > goethite ≈ hematite in the dark and HFO > hematite > goethite under 365 nm light irradiation.

Randomised controlled trial of WISENSE, a real-time quality improving system for monitoring blind spots during esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

Objective: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is the pivotal procedure in the diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal lesions. However, there are significant variations in EGD performance among endoscopists, impairing the discovery rate of gastric cancers and precursor lesions. The aim of this study was to construct a real-time quality improving system, WISENSE, to monitor blind spots, time the procedure and automatically generate photodocumentation during EGD and thus raise the quality of everyday endoscopy.

Effects of psychological care in patients with endometriosis: A systematic review protocol.

Background: This systematic review will be proposed for investigating the effects of psychological care (PC) in patients with endometriosis.

Methods: We will search the following 7 electronic databases from inception to the present: MEDLINE, EMBASE, SinoMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. We will include randomized controlled trials for evaluating the effects of PC in patients with endometriosis.

Engineering of phosphoenolpyruvate: carbohydrate phosphotransferase system increased acetate assimilation in .

Acetate is a potential low-cost carbon source and can be used for microbial production of valuable chemicals in . In this study, separate and simultaneous inactivation of the , and genes involved in the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system was performed in and the effects on cell growth and acetate assimilation were evaluated. The mutant strain with double deletion of and exhibited faster acetate use than the other mutants.

[Tet2 regulates the function of mesenchymal stem cells].

Tet2 (member 2 of the Tet family) plays an important role in DNA demethylation modification, epigenetic regulation, and hematopoiesis. In our previous study, we found that Tet2 knockout mice progressively developed lymphocytic leukemia and myeloid leukemia with aging. However，the role of Tet2 in bone marrow microenvironment is unclear.

Dentin matrix protein 1 correlates with the severity of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and promotes hyper-permeability of endothelial cells infected by Hantaan virus.

Hantaviruses are the major causative agents of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in humans, which is characterized by increased capillary permeability. Dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) has been shown to degrade components of the basal membrane and interendothelial junctions via matrix metalloproteinase-9. To study the changes of serum DMP1 in HFRS, we determined the concentration of DMP1 using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Different performance of mutants with defects in the phosphoenolpyruvate: carbohydrate phosphotransferase system under low glucose condition.

In , the transport and phosphorylation of glucose is mainly accomplished by the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent glucose-specific phosphotransferase system (PTS), which is, therefore, frequently selected as a target for engineering to increase the intracellular level of phosphoenolpyruvate. Here we characterized the effects of a low glucose concentration on the growth, glucose consumption, and acetate secretion of individual strains with a single PTS mutation. We found that most mutants accumulated similar amounts of biomass, consumed glucose at lower rates, and secreted less acetate compared with the wild-type parental strain.

Fe,N-Codoped Graphdiyne Displaying Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity.

On account of the high-cost of platinum, researchers are working to develop a new catalyst that is cheaper and has a catalytic effect equivalent to platinum. Herein, owing to the unique acetylenic bonds in graphdiyne, iron, nitrogen co-doped graphdiyne (Fe-N-GDY) is a promising nonprecious metal catalyst, which has been developed with just a small amount of iron precursor with the plan to substitute it for Pt-based catalysts. The as-synthesized Fe-N-GDY composited catalyst shows excellent catalytic performance with the onset potential of 0.

Screening of a Novel Polysaccharide Lyase Family 10 Pectate Lyase from KF-1: Cloning, Expression and Characterization.

Pectate lyase (EC 4.2.2.

Fate of di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and its impact on soil bacterial community under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

In this study, we examined the influence of oxygen on the degradation of di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), the accumulation of its monoester metabolite mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) and their impact on soil bacterial communities. Soil microcosms artificially contaminated with DEHP (0, 100 and 1000 mg kg) were incubated under aerobic and anaerobic flooded conditions, and sacrificed after 0, 21 and 42 days. The results indicated that DEHP degradation proceeded at similar rates in aerobic and anaerobic flooded soils, but accumulation of metabolite MEHP was more likely to occur in anaerobic soils.

Rheb1 loss leads to increased hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and myeloid-biased differentiation .

Hematopoietic stem cells constitute a unique subpopulation of blood cells that can give rise to all types of mature cells in response to physiological demands. However, the intrinsic molecular machinery that regulates this transformative property remains elusive. In this paper, we demonstrate that small GTPase Rheb1 is a critical regulator of proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells Rheb1 deletion led to increased phenotypic hematopoietic stem cell/hematopoietic progenitor cell proliferation under a steady state condition.

RETRACTED: Long non-coding RNA UCA1 targets miR-185-5p and regulates cell mobility by affecting epithelial-mesenchymal transition in melanoma via Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy).

Evidence for complete nitrification in enrichment culture of tidal sediments and diversity analysis of clade a comammox Nitrospira in natural environments.

Complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), as novel microbial communities, are predicted to play an important role in the nitrogen cycle. Here we reported the presence of complete nitrification in tidal sediments and examined the diversity and abundance of comammox in natural ecosystems. Metagenome and metatranscriptome of the enrichment culture from tidal sediments harbored the genes of comammox.

Excitation-Contraction Coupling Time is More Sensitive in Evaluating Cardiac Systolic Function.

Background: Pressure overload-induced myocardial hypertrophy is a key step leading to heart failure. Previous cellular and animal studies demonstrated that deteriorated excitation-contraction coupling occurs as early as the compensated stage of hypertrophy before the global decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). This study was to evaluate the cardiac electromechanical coupling time in evaluating cardiac systolic function in the early stage of heart failure.

Reductive Hexachloroethane Degradation by SO with Thermal Activation of Persulfate under Anaerobic Conditions.

Despite that persulfate radical (SO) is an important radical species formed from the persulfate (PS) activation process, its reactivity toward contaminant degradation has rarely been explored. In this study, we found that SO efficiently degrades the contaminant hexachloroethane (HCA) under anaerobic conditions, whereas HCA degradation is negligible in the presence of oxygen. We observed dechlorination products such as pentachloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and Cl during HCA degradation, which suggest that HCA degradation is mainly a reductive process under anaerobic conditions.

CTEN induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis in non small cell lung cancer cells.

To explore the effects and mechanism of CTEN (COOH-terminus tensin-like molecule) on EMT, cell migration and invasion of Human lung adenocarcinoma cells. The pCMV-vector, pCMV-CTEN, Control-shRNA, and CTEN-shRNA were transfected into A549 and NCI-H1299 cells by Lipofectamine 2000. Transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) -related biomarkers were detected by eliseand western blot.