Folding Competition and Dynamic Transformation in DNA Origami: Parallel Versus Antiparallel Crossovers.

DNA is a versatile abiomaterial for constructing nanostructures with biomedical and biotechnological applications. Among the methods available, DNA origami is a robust and widely recognized technique. Traditionally, most origami designs adopt antiparallel crossovers in both scaffold and staple strands, with less emphasis on parallel crossovers, which offer advantages like enhanced nuclease resistance and single-strand routing potential.

Reconfigurable DNA Nanocage for Protein Encapsulation and Regulation.

Creating nanomachines capable of precisely capturing, organizing, and regulating the activity of target biomolecules holds profound significance for advancing nanotechnology and therapeutics. Here, we develop a multistage reconfigurable DNA nanocage that can enclose and modulate proteins through multivalent interactions, activated by specific molecular signals. By strategically designing and manipulating the strut architecture of the DNA nanocages, we can achieve precise control over their reconfiguration among pyramid, square, and linear branch shapes.

Esterase-Responsive Floxuridine-Tethered Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Therapy.

Floxuridine is a potential clinical anticancer drug for the treatment of various cancers. However, floxuridine typically causes unfavorable side effects due to its very poor tumor selectivity, and, hence, there is a high demand for the development of novel approaches that permit the targeted delivery of floxuridine into cancerous cells. Herein, the design and synthesis of an esterase-responsive multifunctional nanoformulation for the targeted delivery of floxuridine in esterase-overexpressed cancer cells is reported.

Nivolumab, Pomalidomide, and Elotuzumab Combination Regimens for Treatment of Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma: Results from the Phase 3 CheckMate 602 Study.

Background: Preclinical studies suggest that combining nivolumab, a programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor, with pomalidomide/dexamethasone (Pd) with or without elotuzumab, an antisignaling lymphocytic activation molecule F7 monoclonal antibody, may improve multiple myeloma (MM) treatment efficacy.

Patients And Methods: The phase 3 CheckMate 602 study (NCT02726581) assessed the efficacy and safety of nivolumab plus pomalidomide/dexamethasone (NPd) and NPd plus elotuzumab (NE-Pd). Eligible patients (aged ≥ 18 years) had measurable MM after ≥ 2 prior lines of therapy, that included an immunomodulatory drug (IMiD) and proteasome inhibitor (PI), each for ≥ 2 consecutive cycles, alone or combined, and were refractory to their last line of therapy.

A population-based prospective study on obesity-related non-communicable diseases in northern Iran: rationale, study design, and baseline analysis.

Background: Iran is facing an epidemiological transition with the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity-related disorders and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). We conducted a population-based prospective study to assess the prevalence and incidence rates of CVDs and obesity-related metabolic disorders and to evaluate the predictive ability of various CVD risk assessment tools in an Iranian population.

Method: We enrolled 5,799 participants in Amol, a city in northern Iran, in 2009-2010 and carried out the first repeated measurement (RM) after seven years (2016-2017).

Evaluation of three common scoring systems in COVID-19 patients: neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), and C-reactive protein (CRP).

Background: As SARS-CoV-2 becomes a major global health, the authors aimed to predict the severity of the disease, the length of hospitalization, and the death rate of COVID-19 patients based on The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) criteria, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels to prioritize, and use them for special care facilities.

Methods: In a retrospective study, 369 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in the ICU from March 2021 to April 2022, were evaluated. In addition to the APACHE II score, several of laboratory factors, such as CRP and NLR, were measured.

Self-assembly of DNA parallel double-crossover motifs.

DNA double-crossover motifs, including parallel and antiparallel crossovers, serve as the structural foundation for the creation of diverse nanostructures and dynamic devices in DNA nanotechnology. Parallel crossover motifs have unique advantages over the widely used antiparallel crossover design but have not developed as substantially due to the difficulties in assembly. Here we created 29 designs of parallel double-crossover motifs varying in hybridization pathways, central domain lengths, and crossover locations to investigate their assembly mechanism.

Systematic identification and repurposing of FDA-approved drugs as antibacterial agents against Streptococcus pyogenes: In silico and in vitro studies.

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus - GAS) is a human pathogen causing wide range of infections and toxin-mediated diseases in human beings of all age groups with fatality of 10-30 %. The limited success of antibiotics and the non-availability of vaccines makes GAS a global burden. The multi-subunit RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a validated bacterial therapeutic target as it is involved in transcription and can arrest growth.

The Incidence of Gastrocnemius Tightness Among Clinic Staff in a District Hospital's Clinic in the State of Kedah, Malaysia.

Aim Musculus Gastrocnemius Tightness (MGT) has been linked with common foot and ankle pathologies. These symptoms sometimes are not severe enough for the patient to seek treatment. This study aims to determine the incidence rate of MGT among our clinical personnel and if there is any association between foot and ankle symptoms with MGT.

Antimicrobial stewardship programme implementation in the UAE: perspectives of key stakeholders using Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

Background: Many studies report antimicrobial stewardship programme (ASP) implementation, but these are limited by a lack of theoretical underpinning. This may lead to missing key factors that are likely to influence the successful or unsuccessful implementation.

Aim: To explore key stakeholders' perspectives of ASP implementation in UAE hospitals, with a focus on facilitators and barriers.

F NMR ON/OFF nanoparticles: a universal approach for the specific detection of DNA-binding cancer biomarkers.

A supramolecular approach for the design of assembly-disassembly-driven F ON/OFF nanoparticles, triggered by specific molecular recognition, for the detection of DNA binding cancer biomarkers is reported. The key to our design strategy is the characteristic F NMR signal of the probe, which completely vanishes in the aggregated state due to the shortening of relaxation. However, molecular recognition of DNA by the cancer biomarkers through specific molecular recognition results in the disassembly of the nanoparticles, which causes the restoration of the characteristic F signal of the probe.

Experimental Demonstration of Compact Polymer Mass Transfer Device Manufactured by Additive Manufacturing with Hydrogel Integration to Bio-Mimic the Liver Functions.

In this paper, we designed and demonstrated a stimuli-responsive hydrogel that mimics the mass diffusion function of the liver. We have controlled the release mechanism using temperature and pH variations. Additive manufacturing technology was used to fabricate the device with nylon (PA-12), using selective laser sintering (SLS).

Potential use of bio functionalized nanoparticles to attenuate triple negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231 cells).

This study showed that bio-functional silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were synthesized in aqueous extracts of Gymnema sylvestre leaves and tested for toxicity assessment against triple-negative breast cancer cells (TNBC). Biofunctional nanoparticle (NPs) samples were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, and TEM. The results showed that the phytofabrication of AgNPs resulted in a dark brown, UV-vis maximum absorbance peak at 413 nm.

Pseudouridimycin-A Potent Nucleoside Inhibitor of the RNA Polymerase Beta Prime Subunit of .

(group A streptococcus, GAS), a Gram-positive bacterium, is a major cause of mild to severe life-threatening infections. Antibacterial resistance to penicillin and macrolides poses a major threat in the treatment of GAS and necessitates alternate drugs and newer antibiotics. In this direction, nucleotide-analog inhibitors (NIAs) have emerged as important antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal agents.

Anesthesia Care for Cataract Surgery in Medicare Beneficiaries.

Importance: Cataract surgery in the US is routinely performed with anesthesia care, whereas anesthesia care for other elective, low-risk, outpatient procedures is applied more selectively.

Objective: To identify predictors of anesthesia care in Medicare beneficiaries undergoing cataract surgery and evaluate anesthesia care for cataract surgery compared with other elective, low-risk, outpatient procedures.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based, retrospective observational cohort study included Medicare beneficiaries 66 years or older who underwent cataract surgery in 2017.

The impact of COVID-19 on antimicrobial stewardship programme implementation in hospitals - an exploration informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

Introduction And Objectives: The disruption of antimicrobial stewardship programmes (ASPs) caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been recognized but not explored in depth. This study used a theoretical, qualitative approach to understand the impact of COVID-19 on ASP implementation in hospitals.

Methods: Semi-structured online interviews, informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), were conducted with ASP team members and non-members in hospitals.

High Dimensional Immune Profiling of Smoldering Multiple Myeloma Distinguishes Distinct Tumor Microenvironments.

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of plasma cells that arises from premalignant Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) and often progresses through an asymptomatic Smoldering (SMM) phase. Understanding the interactions between abnormal clonal plasma cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) in the early disease states (MGUS, SMM) may inform risk assessment and therapy.

Patients And Methods: We performed high dimensional immunologic analysis of bone marrow specimens from 73 subjects with SMM by mass cytometry and T cell receptor sequencing of CD138-depleted bone marrow (BM) mononuclear cells, and proteomics and seromic profiling of BM plasma.

Nucleic acid paranemic structures: a promising building block for functional nanomaterials in biomedical and bionanotechnological applications.

Over the past few decades, DNA has been recognized as a powerful self-assembling material capable of crafting supramolecular nanoarchitectures with quasi-angstrom precision, which promises various applications in the fields of materials science, nanoengineering, and biomedical science. Notable structural features include biocompatibility, biodegradability, high digital encodability by Watson-Crick base pairing, nanoscale dimension, and surface addressability. Bottom-up fabrication of complex DNA nanostructures relies on the design of fundamental DNA motifs, including parallel (PX) and antiparallel (AX) crossovers.

Troponin is a useful marker in clinical decision making in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infections.

Background: COVID-19 was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic. The disease manifestations ranges from a mild common cold to severe disease and death. It has a higher mortality rate in people with a history of comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease (CVD) and can also contribute to cardiac injury.

Scoring systems of metabolic syndrome and prediction of cardiovascular events: A population based cohort study.

Background And Aims: Continuous scoring systems were developed versus traditional dichotomous approaches to define metabolic syndrome. The current study was carried out to evaluate the ability of scoring systems to predict fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events.

Materials And Methods: The data of 5147 individuals aged 18 years or more obtained from a population-based cohort study were analyzed.

Serum level of Vitamin D is associated with COVID-19 mortality rate in hospitalized patients.

Background: Due to widespread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, identification of its risk factors and clinical characteristics are important. The aim of the present study was to assess Vitamin D levels in individuals with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-19 infection and to report on its potential as a predictive marker.

Materials And Methods: All patients, diagnosed with COVID-19 infection from February 16 to March 21, 2020, and referred to Firoozgar Hospital, Tehran, Iran, were enrolled in this study.

Comparison of risk assessment tools for cardiovascular diseases: results of an Iranian cohort study.

Objectives: Several popular cardiovascular risk assessment tools have been developed in Western countries; however, the predictive abilities of these tools have not been evaluated in Middle Eastern countries. The present study aimed to determine the abilities of cardiovascular risk assessment tools in a population-based study in Northern Iran.

Study Design: Population-based cohort study in Northern Iran.