Strategies to increase the robustness of microbial cell factories.

Engineering microbial cell factories have achieved much progress in producing fuels, natural products and bulk chemicals. However, in industrial fermentation, microbial cells often face various predictable and stochastic disturbances resulting from intermediate metabolites or end product toxicity, metabolic burden and harsh environment. These perturbances can potentially decrease productivity and titer.

Real-world Plasma Exposure of Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir in Chinese Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Background: Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir is licensed for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in patients at an increased risk of progression to severe disease. However, data on the real-world plasma exposure to nirmatrelvir/ritonavir remain limited, particularly in Chinese patients. This study aimed to assess the nirmatrelvir/ritonavir trough concentration (Ctrough) and identify its critical factors in hospitalized Chinese patients treated with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir 300 mg/100 mg twice daily over a 5-day course.

Factors Associated With Short- and Long-Term Survival in Metastatic HER2-Positive Breast Cancer.

Background: We sought to evaluate prognostic factors in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and their relationship with short- and long-term overall survival (OS).

Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we evaluated patients with de novo HER2-positive MBC diagnosed from 2010 to 2018. Univariate analyses were performed to determine effect of each variable on OS.

A phytocytokine and its derived peptides in the frass of an insect elicit rice defenses.

Upon recognizing elicitors derived from herbivores, many plants activate specific defenses. Most of the elicitors identified thus far are from the oral secretions and egg-laying fluids of herbivores; in contrast, herbivore fecal excreta have been sparsely studied in this context. In this study, we identified elicitors in the frass of the striped stem borer (SSB; Chilo suppressalis) larvae using a combination of molecular and chemical analyses, bioactivity tests and insect performance bioassays.