Construction of QSAR model based on cysteine-containing dipeptides and screening of natural tyrosinase inhibitors.

Considering that natural products as tyrosinase inhibitors are considered to be safe, with little or no toxic side effects and friendly to the environment, it is urgent to develop a new recognition strategy for natural tyrosinase inhibitors. In current study, an integrated computational analysis was conducted on Cys-containing dipeptides with high tyrosinase inhibitory activity. Firstly, molecular fingerprint similarity (FS) clustering analysis was performed on the target molecule using machine learning.

Sestrin2 Is Increased in Calcific Aortic Disease and Inhibits Osteoblastic Differentiation in Valvular Interstitial Cells via the Nuclear Factor E2-related Factor 2 Pathway.

Sestrin2 (Sesn2) is involved in the progression of cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension and myocardial infarction. This study aimed to examine Sesn2 expression in human calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) and explore its possible mechanisms by which Sesn2 participates in this process. CAVD and normal aortic valves were collected.

Metal-organic frameworks as a therapeutic strategy for lung diseases.

Lung diseases remain a global burden today. Lower respiratory tract infections alone cause more than 3 million deaths worldwide each year and are on the rise every year. In particular, with coronavirus disease raging worldwide since 2019, we urgently require a treatment for lung disease.

Double vitrification-warming cycles, coupled with blastocyst biopsy, impair live birth but do not affect neonatal outcomes.

Objective: To identify whether the transfer of blastocysts that have been vitrified, thawed, biopsied, revitrified, and subsequently rethawed affects clinical outcome and neonatal outcome.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a single assisted reproduction technology center from September 2016 to March 2021. Women undergoing single frozen euploid blastocysts transfer were stratified into two groups based on number of vitrification-thawing cycles: single vitrification coupled with single biopsy (group A, n = 177) and double vitrification coupled with single biopsy (group B, n = 30).

Health care worker occupational experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Health care workers treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients experience burnout and stress due to overwork and poor working conditions.

Aim: To investigate the work experiences of frontline health care workers in Wuhan city and Qinghai province, China, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a self-reported questionnaire was designed to evaluate work experiences of medical staff throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

DFT insights into the selective NHsensing mechanism of two dimensional ZnTe monolayer.

Exploring novel NHsensing materials is crucial in chemical industries, fertilizing plants and medical fields. Herein, for the first time, the NHsensing behaviors and sensing mechanisms of two dimensional (2D) ZnTe monolayer are systematically investigated by density functional theory calculations. It is shown that 2D ZnTe monolayer exhibits excellent selective NHsensing properties.

Phaeohyphomycosis in China.

Background: Due to more attentions paid to melanized fungi over the past few decades and under the background of the global coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19) the fact that the virus itself and the immunosuppressive agents such as glucocorticoids can further increase the risk of infections of deep mycoses, the number of patients with phaeohyphomycosis (PHM) has a substantial increase. Their spectrum is broad and the early diagnosis and treatments are extremely sticky. This study aims to more comprehensively understand the clinical features of phaeohyphomycosis in China over 35 years and to establish a more applicable systematical classification and severity grades of lesions to guide treatments and prognosis.

Sequence-Dependent Tyrosine-Containing Peptide Nanoassemblies for Sensing Tyrosinase and Melanoma.

Tyrosine-containing peptide nanoassemblies have received tremendous attention because of their potential applications in biomedicine and nanomaterial fields. However, a current outstanding challenge is to direct the equilibrium between oxidative polymerization of precursors and the noncovalent assembly to precisely tune their specific nanostructures and functionalities through the rational design of peptide sequences. With a simple library of tripeptides containing tyrosine, glycine, and lysine, here we demonstrate how amino acid sequence encodes the property of tripeptide nanoassemblies by modulating the enzymatic oxidation of tyrosinase with the accompanied self-assembly, and thus select the pathways toward fluorescent or melanin-like nanoassemblies.

The effect of the NLRP1 inflammasome on methamphetamine-induced cognitive impairment in rats.

Methamphetamine (METH) use disorder has been shown to be in high comorbidity with cognitive deficits. METH-induced cognitive deficits are accompanied by neurotoxicity which could result from neuroinflammation. The potential role of NLRP1 inflammasome (NLRP1) and the downstream signalling pathway in METH-induced cognitive impairment was explored in the current study.

Involvement of LIN28A in Wnt-dependent regulation of hippocampal neurogenesis in the aging brain.

Hippocampal neurogenesis declines with aging. Wnt ligands and antagonists within the hippocampal neurogenic niche regulate the proliferation of neural progenitor cells and the development of new neurons, and the changes of their levels in the niche mediate aging-associated decline of neurogenesis. We found that RNA-binding protein LIN28A remained existent in neural progenitor cells and granule neurons in the adult hippocampus and that it decreased with aging.

Divergent EGFR/MAPK-Mediated Immune Responses to Clinical Pathogens in Vulvovaginal Candidiasis.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is characterized by symptomatic inflammatory responses in the vagina caused by and non-albicans (NAC) species. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) -mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway has been linked to immune responses of oral mucosa after exposure, but whether this pathway plays a similar response in vaginal epithelial cells is not known. Here, we observed that phosphorylation of EGFR and p38 was continuously activated in vaginal epithelial cells by strain SC5314.

A Feasibility Study of Deep Learning-Based Auto-Segmentation Directly Used in VMAT Planning Design and Optimization for Cervical Cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the dosimetric impact on target volumes and organs at risk (OARs) when unmodified auto-segmented OAR contours are directly used in the design of treatment plans.

Materials And Methods: A total of 127 patients with cervical cancer were collected for retrospective analysis, including 105 patients in the training set and 22 patients in the testing set. The 3D U-net architecture was used for model training and auto-segmentation of nine types of organs at risk.

Investigation on the Controllable Synthesis of Colorized and Magnetic Polystyrene Beads With Millimeter Size Suspension Polymerization.

A series of colorized and magnetic polystyrene/FeO (PS/FeO) composite beads with millimeter size are successfully synthesized by introducing hydrophobic FeO suspension polymerization of styrene for the first time. Effects of the hydrophobic FeO content, stirring speed, and surfactant dosage on the macromorphology and particle size of PS/FeO beads are systematically investigated to realize the controllable synthesis. Moreover, three kinds of hydrophobic pigments are also employed to synthesize colorized polystyrene, which demonstrates the versatility, simplicity, and wide applicability of the proposed method.

1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition of polycyclic azomethine ylide to norcorroles: towards dibenzoullazine-fused derivatives.

A 1,3-cycloaddition reaction of 2-(-butyl)-8-isoquinolino[4,3,2-]phenanthridin-9-ium chloride to Ni norcorrole in the presence of base is shown to produce a family of chiral derivatives of polycyclic system(s) fused with pyrrole subunit(s) of the macrocycle. Dehydrogenation of the cycloaddition products gave rise to dibenzoullazine -fused antiaromatic porphyrinoids.

Efficacy and Safety Evaluation of Sintilimab for Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Meta analysis was used to explore the efficacy and safety of Sintilimab in the treatment of cancer. The databases of CNKI, VIP, Wanfang Data, PubMed, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library and EMBASE were searched by computer to collect the randomized controlled trials published as of March 2022. The retrieval work was completed by two researchers alone.

Green Fluorescent Tripeptide Nanostructures: Synergetic Effects of Oxidation and Hierarchical Assembly.

Peptide-based fluorescent materials hold promise for applications in energy harvesting and biomedicine. One remaining challenge is to overcome the barrier of fluorescence red shift, especially for peptide probes merely made of natural amino acids. Here we demonstrated an about 100 nm fluorescence red shift using a tripeptide GYK.

Insights on isomeric emitters with thermally activated delayed fluorescence: Comparison between solvent and crystal state.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties have attracted great attention in recent studies. In this study, three isomeric emitters DPAC-4PYPM, DPAC-TRZ and DPAC-6PYPM with TADF are studied in toluene and crystal with the combination of polarizable continuum model (PCM) and quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) method. Results show that tiny difference of intramolecular interaction is induced due to the variation in the acceptor group, thus similar geometries and stacking patterns in crystal are obtained for three molecules.

Therapeutic potential of 1,2,3-triazole hybrids for leukemia treatment.

Leukemia, a hematological malignancy originating from the bone marrow, is the principal cancer of childhood. In recent decades, improved remission rates and survival of patients with leukemia have been achieved due to significant breakthroughs in the treatment. However, chemoresistance and relapse are common, creating an urgent need for the search for novel pharmaceutical interventions.

Hydroxyacid Oxidase 2 (HAO2) Inhibits the Tumorigenicity of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Is Negatively Regulated by miR-615-5p.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common kind of cancer worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer mortality. Although a few studies have shown that hydroxyacid oxidase 2 (HAO2) may prevent HCC development, the molecular mechanism is unclear.

Methods: We examined the levels of HAO2 expression in 23 pairs of HCC/paracancerous tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and evaluated HAO2's expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

Integrative chemical and omics analyses reveal copper biosorption and tolerance mechanisms of Bacillus cereus strain T6.

A comprehensive understanding of the cellular response of microbes to metal stress is necessary for the rational development of microbe-based biosorbents for metal removal. The present study investigated the copper (Cu) sorption and resistance mechanism of Bacillus cereus strain T6, a newly isolated Cu-resistant bacterium, by integrative analyses of physiochemistry, genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. The growth inhibition assay and biosorption determination showed that this bacterium exhibited high tolerance to Cu, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 4.

Exploring the Effect of Enbrel Softgels on PWI Indicators in VCIND Patients.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Enbrel softgels on the head nuclear magnetic (PWI) indices in patients with vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia (vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia, VCIND).

Methods: Patients with confirmed VCIND hospitalized in the Department of Neurology of the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University from April 2017 to April 2019 were included in the study, and they were divided into experimental and control groups (30 patients in each group) according to the difference of interventions. The PWI examination and neuropsychological assessment were performed at the beginning of the experiment, 12 w after treatment, and 48 w after treatment in the two groups.

Inhibitory Effects against Alpha-Amylase of an Enriched Polyphenol Extract from Pericarp of Mangosteen ().

The pericarp of mangosteen, a by-product of the mangosteen, is rich in polyphenols. In this study, an efficient and environmentally friendly method for preparative enrichment of polyphenols from mangosteen pericarp (MPPs) was developed, and the inhibitory effects on starch digestion were also evaluated. It was found that the optimal extract method of MPPs was at a solid to solvent ratio of 1:50 g/mL, pH of 2, and at 80 °C for 2 h.

Sevoflurane inhibits the malignant phenotypes of glioma through regulating miR-146b-5p/NFIB axis.

Purpose: Sevoflurane is a common used inhaled anesthetic that was reported to regulate the progression of multiple cancers. Here, we aimed to investigate the function and regulatory mechanism underlying sevoflurane in glioma cells.

Methods: A172 and U251 cells were treated with different concentrations of sevoflurane.

Identification and evaluation of circulating small extracellular vesicle microRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers for patients with indeterminate pulmonary nodules.

Background: The identification of indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) following a low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) is a major challenge for early diagnosis of lung cancer. The inadequate assessment of IPNs' malignancy risk results in a large number of unnecessary surgeries or an increased risk of cancer metastases. However, limited studies on non-invasive diagnosis of IPNs have been reported.