Color Patterning of Luminescent Perovskites via Light-Mediated Halide Exchange with Haloalkanes.

Lead halide perovskite possesses a semiconductor bandgap that is readily tunable by a variation in its halide composition. Here, a photo-activated halide exchange process between perovskite nanocrystals and molecular haloalkanes is reported, which enables the perovskite luminescence to be controllably shifted across the entire visible spectrum. Mechanistic investigations reveal a mutual exchange of halogens between the perovskite crystal surface and a chemisorbed haloalkane, yielding nanocrystals and haloalkanes with mixed halide contents.

Advances toward mapping the full extent of protein site-specific O-GalNAc glycosylation that better reflects underlying glycomic complexity.

Recent advances in mass spectrometry has empowered unbiased global analysis of site-specific O-GalNAc glycosylation. Despite thousands of sites being identified, significant technical hurdles remain, particularly in the delineation of fully extended, larger O-GalNAc glycans on heavily O-glycosylated mucin domain. Current approaches require simplification of the O-GalNAc glycans either by genetic means or glycosidase treatments to allow unambiguous sequencing of the derived O-glycopeptides.

The relationship between diabetic retinopathy and psychosocial functioning: a systematic review.

Importance: Previous work has reported a link between diabetic retinopathy/diabetic macular edema (DR/DME) and psychosocial functioning, although the extent and direction of the association remains uncertain.

Objective: To determine the relationship between DR/DME and psychosocial functioning, the latter an umbrella term used to capture the emotional and social aspects of functioning which may include, for example, depression; depressive disorder; anxiety; vision-specific distress; diabetes-specific distress and emotional and social well-being.

Evidence Review: PubMed, Embase, Medline and the Cochrane Central register were systematically searched for relevant interventional and observational quantitative studies using standardised criteria.

Novel Zebrafish Mono-α2,8-sialyltransferase (ST8Sia VIII): An Evolutionary Perspective of α2,8-Sialylation.

The mammalian mono-α2,8-sialyltransferase ST8Sia VI has been shown to catalyze the transfer of a unique sialic acid residues onto core 1 -glycans leading to the formation of di-sialylated -glycosylproteins and to a lesser extent to diSia motifs onto glycolipids like GD1a. Previous studies also reported the identification of an orthologue of the gene in the zebrafish genome. Trying to get insights into the biosynthesis and function of the oligo-sialylated glycoproteins during zebrafish development, we cloned and studied this fish α2,8-sialyltransferase homologue.

Fine mapping of Rha2 in barley reveals candidate genes for resistance against cereal cyst nematode.

The cereal cyst nematode resistance locus Rha2 was mapped to a 978 kbp region on the long arm of barley chromosome 2H. Three candidate genes are discussed. The cereal cyst nematode (CCN) Heterodera avenae is a soil-borne obligate parasite that can cause severe damage to cereals.

Non-syndromic craniosynostosis treated by frontal orbital advancement: A case report.

Craniosynostosis is a premature pathologic fusion of one or more cranial vault sutures leading to abnormally-shaped skull. It can occur in isolated event (non-syndromic), or it can occur in conjunction with other anomalies in welldefined patterns (syndromic). The diagnosis rests on clinical examination and confirmation is generally on the computed tomography scan.

Systems glycomics of adult zebrafish identifies organ-specific sialylation and glycosylation patterns.

The emergence of zebrafish Danio rerio as a versatile model organism provides the unique opportunity to monitor the functions of glycosylation throughout vertebrate embryogenesis, providing insights into human diseases caused by glycosylation defects. Using a combination of chemical modifications, enzymatic digestion and mass spectrometry analyses, we establish here the precise glycomic profiles of eight individual zebrafish organs and demonstrate that the protein glycosylation and glycosphingolipid expression patterns exhibits exquisite specificity. Concomitant expression screening of a wide array of enzymes involved in the synthesis and transfer of sialic acids shows that the presence of organ-specific sialylation motifs correlates with the localized activity of the corresponding glycan biosynthesis pathways.

Routine use of HbA1c amongst inpatients hospitalised with decompensated heart failure and the association of dysglycaemia with outcomes.

Diabetes is an independent risk factor for development of heart failure and has been associated with poor outcomes in these patients. The prevalence of diabetes continues to rise. Using routine HbA1c measurements on inpatients at a tertiary hospital, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of diabetes amongst patients hospitalised with decompensated heart failure and the association of dysglycaemia with hospital outcomes and mortality.

A locus on barley chromosome 5H affects adult plant resistance to powdery mildew.

Adult plant resistance against plant pathogens is of interest as a means to achieve durable resistance. Prior to this research, the barley lines CLE210 (from Uruguay) and Denar (from the Czech Republic) had been reported to exhibit adult-plant resistance against powdery mildew. Here, populations of doubled haploid lines from crosses of these lines with the susceptible cultivar Baudin were evaluated for powdery mildew resistance in field experiments.

Using routine HbA1c measurements in stroke and the associations of dysglycaemia with stroke outcomes.

Aims: Diabetes is a major risk factor for stroke. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes within a stroke cohort and examine the association of glycaemia status with mortality and morbidity.

Methods: Inpatients aged ≥54 who presented with a diagnosis of stroke had a routine HbA1c measurement as part of the Austin Health Diabetes Discovery Initiative.

Identifying Specific and Differentially Linked Glycosyl Residues in Mammalian Glycans by Targeted LC-MS Analysis.

Glycans, which are widespread in nature, consist of a large number of monosaccharides linked via glycosidic bonds. Due to the complex nature of glycan structures on glycoproteins, assessing the configuration and positions of the glycosidic linkages of a glycan is a subject of considerable interest. In this study, a method for accomplishing this using partially O-methylated alditols (PMAs) from glycans combined with LC-MS analysis is reported.

Metformin Promotes Antitumor Immunity via Endoplasmic-Reticulum-Associated Degradation of PD-L1.

Metformin has been reported to possess antitumor activity and maintain high cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) immune surveillance. However, the functions and detailed mechanisms of metformin's role in cancer immunity are not fully understood. Here, we show that metformin increases CTL activity by reducing the stability and membrane localization of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1).

Increased levels of RECQ5 shift DNA repair from canonical to alternative pathways.

RECQ5 (RECQL5) is one of several human helicases that dissociates RAD51-DNA filaments. The gene that encodes RECQ5 is frequently amplified in human tumors, but it is not known whether amplification correlates with increased gene expression, or how increased RECQ5 levels affect DNA repair at nicks and double-strand breaks. Here, we address these questions.

Distinct substrate specificities of human GlcNAc-6-sulfotransferases revealed by mass spectrometry-based sulfoglycomic analysis.

Sulfated glycans are known to be involved in several glycan-mediated cell adhesion and recognition pathways. Our mRNA transcript analyses on the genes involved in synthesizing GlcNAc-6--sulfated glycans in human colon cancer tissues indicated that GlcNAc6ST-2 () is preferentially expressed in cancer cells compared with nonmalignant epithelial cells among the three known major GlcNAc-6--sulfotransferases. On the contrary, GlcNAc6ST-3 () was only expressed in nonmalignant epithelial cells, whereas GlcNAc6ST-1 () was expressed equally in both cancerous and nonmalignant epithelial cells.

In vitro antidermatophytic activity and cytotoxicity of extracts derived from medicinal plants and marine algae.

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the antidermatophytic activity of 48 extracts obtained from medicinal plants (Cibotium barometz, Melastoma malabathricum, Meuhlenbeckia platyclada, Rhapis excelsa, Syzygium myrtifolium, Vernonia amygdalina) and marine algae (Caulerpa sertularioides, Kappaphycus alvarezii) against Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton interdigitale (ATCC reference strains), and the cytotoxicity using African monkey kidney epithelial (Vero) cells. Active plant extracts were screened for the presence of phytochemicals and tested against clinical isolates of Trichophyton tonsurans.

Methods: Six different extracts (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and water) were obtained from each plant or algae sample using sequential solvent extraction.

The C-terminal p6 domain of the HIV-1 Pr55 precursor is required for specific binding to the genomic RNA.

The Pr55 precursor specifically selects the HIV-1 genomic RNA (gRNA) from a large excess of cellular and partially or fully spliced viral RNAs and drives the virus assembly at the plasma membrane. During these processes, the NC domain of Pr55 interacts with the gRNA, while its C-terminal p6 domain binds cellular and viral factors and orchestrates viral particle release. Gag∆p6 is a truncated form of Pr55 lacking the p6 domain usually used as a default surrogate for wild type Pr55 for in vitro analysis.

The role of triglyceride glucose index in development of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aims: Triglyceride-Glucose (TyG) is an emerging surrogate indicator of insulin resistance. We explored the role of TyG in development of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and elucidated the mechanism for the relationship.

Methods: 4109 subjects without baseline T2DM participated in a community screening programme in 2013-2016.

Antibody-assisted target identification reveals afatinib, an EGFR covalent inhibitor, down-regulating ribonucleotide reductase.

Afatinib, used for the first-line treatment of non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients with distinct epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, inactivates EGFR by mimicking ATP structure and forming a covalent adduct with EGFR. We developed a method to unravel potential targets of afatinib in NSCLC cells through immunoprecipitation of afatinib-labeling proteins with anti-afatinib antiserum and mass spectrometry analysis. Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) is one of target proteins of afatinib revealed by this method.

STT3-dependent PD-L1 accumulation on cancer stem cells promotes immune evasion.

Enriched PD-L1 expression in cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) contributes to CSC immune evasion. However, the mechanisms underlying PD-L1 enrichment in CSCs remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) enriches PD-L1 in CSCs by the EMT/β-catenin/STT3/PD-L1 signaling axis, in which EMT transcriptionally induces N-glycosyltransferase STT3 through β-catenin, and subsequent STT3-dependent PD-L1 N-glycosylation stabilizes and upregulates PD-L1.

Intrastructural Help: Harnessing T Helper Cells Induced by Licensed Vaccines for Improvement of HIV Env Antibody Responses to Virus-Like Particle Vaccines.

Induction of persistent antibody responses by vaccination is generally thought to depend on efficient help by T follicular helper cells. Since the T helper cell response to HIV Env may not be optimal, we explored the possibility of improving the HIV Env antibody response to virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines by recruiting T helper cells induced by commonly used licensed vaccines to provide help for Env-specific B cells. B cells specific for the surface protein of a VLP can internalize the entire VLP and thus present peptides derived from the surface and core proteins on their major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) molecules.

Distinctive and Complementary MS Fragmentation Characteristics for Identification of Sulfated Sialylated N-Glycopeptides by nanoLC-MS/MS Workflow.

High sensitivity identification of sulfated glycans carried on specific sites of glycoproteins is an important requisite for investigation of molecular recognition events involved in diverse biological processes. However, aiming for resolving site-specific glycosylation of sulfated glycopeptides by direct LC-MS sequencing is technically most challenging. Other than the usual limiting factors such as lower abundance and ionization efficiency compared to analysis of non-glycosylated peptides, confident identification of sulfated glycopeptides among the more abundant non-sulfated glycopeptides requires additional considerations in the selective enrichment and detection strategies.

Alterations of the Human Skin - and -Glycome in Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

The glycome of one of the largest and most exposed human organs, the skin, as well as glycan changes associated with non-melanoma skin cancers have not been studied in detail to date. Skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are among the most frequent types of cancers with rising incidence rates in the aging population. We investigated the healthy human skin - and -glycome and its changes associated with BCC and SCC.

How an intrinsic ligand tunes the activity of a potassium channel.

Khoo and Pless examine new work that provides mechanistic insight into the role of the intrinsic ligand in KCNH ion channels.​

Target identification reveals protein arginine methyltransferase 1 is a potential target of phenyl vinyl sulfone and its derivatives.

Phenyl vinyl sulfone (PVS) and phenyl vinyl sulfonate (PVSN) inactivate protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) by mimicking the phosphotyrosine structure and providing a Michael addition acceptor for the active-site cysteine residue of PTPs, thus forming covalent adducts between PVS (or PVSN) and PTPs. We developed a specific antiserum against PVS. This antiserum can be used in general antibody-based assays such as immunoblotting, immunofluorescence staining, and immunoprecipitation.

Eradication of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells by Targeting Glycosylated PD-L1.

Protein glycosylation provides proteomic diversity in regulating protein localization, stability, and activity; it remains largely unknown whether the sugar moiety contributes to immunosuppression. In the study of immune receptor glycosylation, we showed that EGF induces programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and receptor programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) interaction, requiring β-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase (B3GNT3) expression in triple-negative breast cancer. Downregulation of B3GNT3 enhances cytotoxic T cell-mediated anti-tumor immunity.