Abnormal TSH Level as a Predictor of Severe Outcomes Among Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19.

Objective: To assess the association between thyroid dysfunction and mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Design: This is a retrospective multi-center study, which examined all patients admitted with Covid-19 diagnoses, and thyroid function results in absence of known thyroid disease.

Results: 10,933 hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients were included in the study.

Next-generation ABACUS biosensors reveal cellular ABA dynamics driving root growth at low aerial humidity.

The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) accumulates under abiotic stress to recast water relations and development. To overcome a lack of high-resolution sensitive reporters, we developed ABACUS2s-next-generation Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensors for ABA with high affinity, signal-to-noise ratio and orthogonality-that reveal endogenous ABA patterns in Arabidopsis thaliana. We mapped stress-induced ABA dynamics in high resolution to reveal the cellular basis for local and systemic ABA functions.

The Effect of Adding Procalcitonin to the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (Sirs) and Quick Sepsis-Related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) Scoring System in Predicting Sepsis Mortality.

Objective:  The primary objective of this study was to determine if the addition of procalcitonin to the existing systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) scoring systems could improve the predictability of in-hospital sepsis-related mortality. Secondarily, we sought to determine if the addition of procalcitonin could predict the likelihood of ICU admission and discharge home.

Design: This is a retrospective, single-center, observational study that looked at data from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2019.

Discovering cell-active BCL6 inhibitors: effectively combining biochemical HTS with multiple biophysical techniques, X-ray crystallography and cell-based assays.

By suppressing gene transcription through the recruitment of corepressor proteins, B-cell lymphoma 6 (BCL6) protein controls a transcriptional network required for the formation and maintenance of B-cell germinal centres. As BCL6 deregulation is implicated in the development of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, we sought to discover novel small molecule inhibitors that disrupt the BCL6-corepressor protein-protein interaction (PPI). Here we report our hit finding and compound optimisation strategies, which provide insight into the multi-faceted orthogonal approaches that are needed to tackle this challenging PPI with small molecule inhibitors.

Fluorescent biosensors illuminating plant hormone research.

Phytohormones act as key regulators of plant growth that coordinate developmental and physiological processes across cells, tissues and organs. As such, their levels and distribution are highly dynamic owing to changes in their biosynthesis, transport, modification and degradation that occur over space and time. Fluorescent biosensors represent ideal tools to track these dynamics with high spatiotemporal resolution in a minimally invasive manner.

A Rare Case of Intraparenchymal Cerebrospinal Fluid Cyst Associated With Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt in an Adult Patient.

Here we are reporting a rare phenomenon associated with ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt in the adult patient, namely, the development and finding of intraparenchymal pericatheter cerebrospinal fluid cyst. Our patient had a VP shunt placed for idiopathic intracranial hypertension 16 years ago before presentation to the hospital. The patient was admitted to the hospital for headache for past three weeks with the initial CT scan showing encephalomalacia and vasogenic edema.

Achieving Target Depletion through the Discovery and Optimization of Benzimidazolone BCL6 Degraders.

Deregulation of the transcriptional repressor BCL6 enables tumorigenesis of germinal center B-cells, and hence BCL6 has been proposed as a therapeutic target for the treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Herein we report the discovery of a series of benzimidazolone inhibitors of the protein-protein interaction between BCL6 and its co-repressors. A subset of these inhibitors were found to cause rapid degradation of BCL6, and optimization of pharmacokinetic properties led to the discovery of 5-((5-chloro-2-((3,5)-4,4-difluoro-3,5-dimethylpiperidin-1-yl)pyrimidin-4-yl)amino)-3-(3-hydroxy-3-methylbutyl)-1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2-benzo[]imidazol-2-one (CCT369260), which reduces BCL6 levels in a lymphoma xenograft mouse model following oral dosing.

Beta-blockers do not provide survival benefit in a population with angiographic coronary artery disease without myocardial infarction or reduced ejection fraction: A meta-analysis.

Background: While beta-blockers have been widely used for patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), some concerns have been raised that beta blockers do not have survival benefit in this population. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effects of beta blockers on all-cause and cardiac mortality in adults with CAD without previous myocardial infarction (MI) or reduced ejection fraction.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Medline/Ovid and Google Scholar through March 2016 identified 4 studies that reported angiographic CAD without previous myocardial infarction or reduced ejection fraction.

Affinity of a galactose-specific legume lectin from Dolichos lablab to adenine revealed by X-ray cystallography.

Crystal structure analysis of a galactose-specific lectin from a leguminous food crop Dolichos lablab (Indian lablab beans) has been carried out to obtain insights into its quaternary association and lectin-carbohydrate interactions. The analysis led to the identification of adenine binding sites at the dimeric interfaces of the heterotetrameric lectin. Structural details of similar adenine binding were reported in only one legume lectin, Dolichos biflorus, before this study.

Crystal structure of a β-prism II lectin from Remusatia vivipara.

The crystal structure of a β-prism II (BP2) fold lectin from Remusatia vivipara, a plant of traditional medicinal value, has been determined at a resolution of 2.4 Å. This lectin (RVL, Remusatia vivipara lectin) is a dimer with each protomer having two distinct BP2 domains without a linker between them.

Recurrent intra-cardiac thrombosis-A unique presentation of prothrombin G20210 mutation.

We report a 49-year-old female patient with recurrent large left ventricular thrombus on echocardiogram in an apparently normal heart and insignificant cardiac past medical history. She underwent an excision of the left ventricular mass, final biopsy on which proved it to be a thrombus. Postoperative anti-coagulation was initiated with enoxaparin and warfarin and the patient was followed up at a cardiology clinic 6 weeks later.

Modification of the sugar specificity of a plant lectin: structural studies on a point mutant of Erythrina corallodendron lectin.

A mutant of Erythrina corallodendron lectin was generated with the aim of enhancing its affinity for N-acetylgalactosamine. A tyrosine residue close to the binding site of the lectin was mutated to a glycine in order to facilitate stronger interactions between the acetamido group of the sugar and the lectin which were prevented by the side chain of the tyrosine in the wild-type lectin. The crystal structures of this Y106G mutant lectin in complex with galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine have been determined.

Purification, characterization and molecular cloning of a monocot mannose-binding lectin from Remusatia vivipara with nematicidal activity.

A mannose-binding lectin (RVL) was purified from the tubers of Remusatia vivipara, a monocot plant by single-step affinity chromatography on asialofetuin-Sepharose 4B. RVL agglutinated only rabbit erythrocytes and was inhibited by mucin, asialomucin, asialofetuin and thyroglobulin. Lectin activity was stable up to 80 degrees C and under wide range of pH (2.