Publications by authors named "Nicolai A"

Biological peptides have emerged as promising candidates for data storage applications due to their versatility and programmability. Recent advances in peptide synthesis and sequencing technologies have enabled the development of peptide-based data storage systems for realizing novel information storage technologies with enhanced capacity, durability, and data access speeds. In this study, we performed coarse-grained peptide sequencing of 12 distinct sequences through single-layer MoS solid-state nanopores (SSNs) using molecular dynamics (MD).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obstructive lung diseases (OLD), such as COPD and asthma, are linked in a condition referred to as OLDOSA syndrome, where one disorder can worsen the other.
  • The study involved 101 patients diagnosed with OSA and either asthma or COPD, assessing their lung function and sleep patterns using pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and nighttime monitoring.
  • Findings suggest that those with overlap syndrome (OSA combined with COPD) experience more severe symptoms and a worse impact on breathing during sleep than those with alternative overlap syndrome (OSA combined with asthma), indicating a significant relationship between the two conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to compare the new Mayo transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) score with older diagnostic tools for cardiac amyloidosis (CA) in patients suspected of having the condition.
  • - Analyzing 362 patients, it was found that the ATTR-CM score effectively distinguished between transthyretin CA (ATTR-CA), immunoglobulin light chain CA (AL-CA), and no CA, showing strong diagnostic performance with area under the curve (AUC) values above 0.795.
  • - The results indicated that the ATTR-CM score outperformed previous scoring systems like the increased wall thickness (IWT) and AMYLoidosis Index (AMYLI
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Glutathione transferase (GST) is a superfamily of ubiquitous enzymes, multigenic in numerous organisms and which generally present homodimeric structures. GSTs are involved in numerous biological functions such as chemical detoxification as well as chemoperception in mammals and insects. GSTs catalyze the conjugation of their cofactor, reduced glutathione (GSH), to xenobiotic electrophilic centers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the dimerization interfaces of fly GSTs through sequence alignment. Our investigation revealed GSTE1 as a particularly intriguing target, providing valuable insights into the variations within Delta and Epsilon GST interfaces. The X-ray structure of GSTE1 was determined, unveiling remarkable thermal stability and a distinctive dimerization interface.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Glutathione transferases (GST) are detoxification enzymes that conjugate glutathione to a wide array of molecules. In the honey bee Apis mellifera, AmGSTD1 is the sole member of the delta class of GSTs, with expression in antennae. Here, we structurally and biochemically characterized AmGSTD1 to elucidate its function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The folded structures of proteins can be accurately predicted by deep learning algorithms from their amino-acid sequences. By contrast, in spite of decades of research studies, the prediction of folding pathways and the unfolded and misfolded states of proteins, which are intimately related to diseases, remains challenging. A two-state (folded/unfolded) description of protein folding dynamics hides the complexity of the unfolded and misfolded microstates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Solid tumors are active tissues containing hypoxic regions and producing metabolic acids. By decreasing pH, cancer cells create a hostile environment for surrounding host cells and foster tumor growth and progression. By governing acid/base regulation, carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are involved in several physiological/pathological processes, including tumors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Glutathione transferases (GSTs) are important enzymes that detoxify harmful compounds and are found in the chemosensory organs, which are crucial for detecting chemicals like tastants and odors.
  • - They help protect the body by breaking down these chemicals before they interact with receptors, thus modulating how we perceive smells and tastes.
  • - The review will explore the roles of GSTs in both insects and mammals, highlighting their contributions to chemosensory systems and the evolutionary benefits of linking detoxification and chemosensory processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Since a high proportion of refugees in Germany suffer from mental disorders, culturally adapted treatments are needed that target a broad range of symptoms. There is much evidence for the efficacy of culturally adapted cognitive behavioural therapy (CA-CBT). Given the promising results of CA-CBT, the combination with problem solving training (CA-CBT+) represents a novel approach that potentially improves the refugees' ability to cope actively with psychosocial problems.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

-Synuclein is a 140 amino-acid intrinsically disordered protein mainly found in the brain. Toxic -synuclein aggregates are the molecular hallmarks of Parkinson's disease. studies showed that -synuclein aggregates in oligomeric structures of several 10th of monomers and into cylindrical structures (fibrils), comprising hundred to thousands of proteins, with polymorphic cross--sheet conformations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nowadays, it becomes of paramount societal importance to support many frail-prone groups in our society (elderly, patients with neurodegenerative diseases, etc.) to remain socially and physically active, maintain their quality of life, and avoid their loss of autonomy. Once older people enter the prefrail stage, they are already likely to experience falls whose consequences may accelerate the deterioration of their quality of life (injuries, fear of falling, reduction of physical activity).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Our group recently demonstrated that K858, an inhibitor of motor kinesin Eg5, has important antiproliferative and apoptotic effects on breast cancer, prostatic cancer, melanoma and glioblastoma cells. Since high levels of kinesin Eg5 expression have been correlated with a poor prognosis in laryngeal carcinoma, we decided to test the anticancer activity of K858 toward this tumor, which belongs to the group of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). These cancers are characterized by low responsiveness to therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immune-mediated inflammatory skin diseases are characterized by a complex multifactorial etiology, in which genetic and environmental factors interact both in genesis and development of the disease. Nutrition is a complex and fascinating scenario, whose pivotal role in induction, exacerbation, or amelioration of several human diseases has already been well documented. However, owing to the complexity of immune-mediated skin disease clinical course and breadth and variability of human nutrition, their correlation still remains an open debate in literature.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

-Synuclein is an intrinsically disordered protein occurring in different conformations and prone to aggregate in -sheet structures, which are the hallmark of the Parkinson disease. Missense mutations are associated with familial forms of this neuropathy. How these single amino-acid substitutions modify the conformations of wild-type -synuclein is unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Postural control is often quantified by recording the trajectory of the center of pressure (COP)-also called stabilogram-during human quiet standing. This quantification has many important applications, such as the early detection of balance degradation to prevent falls, a crucial task whose relevance increases with the aging of the population. Due to the complexity of the quantification process, the analyses of sway patterns have been performed empirically using a number of variables, such as ellipse confidence area or mean velocity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A healthy lifestyle plays a strategic role in the prevention of BC. The aim of our prospective study is to evaluate the effects of a lifestyle interventions program based on special exercise and nutrition education on weight, psycho-physical well-being, blood lipid and hormonal profile among BC patients who underwent primary surgery. From January 2014 to March 2017, a multidisciplinary group of oncologists, dieticians, physiatrists and an exercise specialist evaluated 98 adult BC female patients at baseline and at different time points.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) is the most common benign parotid tumor, with a well-known propensity to recur. Many factors have been advocated as prognostic, but there is no consensus on how they affect local control. We studied how PA recurrence-free survival (RFS) may be affected by the most relevant risk factors in a time-to-event analysis, comparing them with those observed in a population of non-PA (NPA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nocodazole is an antineoplastic agent that exerts its effects by depolymerizing microtubules. Herein we report a structural analog of nocodazole, a (1-pyrrol-1-yl)methyl-1-benzoimidazole carbamate ester derivative, named RDS 60. We evaluated the antineoplastic properties of RDS 60 in two human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines and we found that this compound significantly inhibited replication of both HNSCC cell lines without inducing any important cytotoxic effect on human dermal fibroblasts and human keratinocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aging of the population is leading to an increase in the number of people with loss of autonomy, placing a strain on the health care system. Its prevention at early stages such as the frailty stage would allow an improvement in the quality of life of seniors while limiting health care expenses. The "Atout Age" prevention program set up by the health public authorities of Reunion Island for retired people and the new frailty assessment tools based on mathematical machine learning algorithms could improve the ambulatory care of senior citizens.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates how introducing temporary grassland into annual crop rotations impacts five key soil ecosystem services, including soil structure maintenance, water regulation, biodiversity conservation, pathogen regulation, and forage production and quality.
  • - Three different crop rotation schemes were tested over twelve years, varying the percentage of grassland—0%, 50%, and 75%—to observe the effects on soil and ecosystem services.
  • - Results indicated that increasing the grassland proportion improved soil structure and biodiversity but did not significantly affect water regulation, pathogen control, or forage production; higher grassland percentages showed stronger positive impacts on soil maintenance and biodiversity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: As the population ages, loss of autonomy is becoming a priority public health issue. "Atout Age Mobility" prevention interventions for seniors aim to limit frailty, which is a predictive and reversible factor in the loss of autonomy and disability.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to describe the impact of these interventions on the physical performance and quality of life of a pilot sample of participants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anticancer drug resistance is a challenging phenomenon of growing concern which arises from alteration in drug targets. Despite the fast speed of new chemotherapeutic agent design, the increasing prevalence of this phenomenon requires further research and treatment development. Recently, we reported a new aminopyrimidine compound-namely RDS 344-as a potential innovative anticancer agent.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF