Total neoadjuvant therapy in rectal cancer: a network meta-analysis of randomized trials.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) for rectal carcinoma in comparison with conventional chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

Methods: A systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was done using NetMetaXL and WinBUGS.

Novel Antimicrobial Peptides from the Arctic Polychaeta Provide New Molecular Insight into Biological Role of the BRICHOS Domain.

Endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are among the earliest molecular factors in the evolution of animal innate immunity. In this study, novel AMPs named nicomicins were identified in the small marine polychaeta in the Maldanidae family. Full-length mRNA sequences encoded 239-residue prepropeptides consisting of a putative signal sequence region, the BRICHOS domain within an acidic proregion, and 33-residue mature cationic peptides.

Breaking the carboxyl rule: lysine 96 facilitates reprotonation of the Schiff base in the photocycle of a retinal protein from Exiguobacterium sibiricum.

A lysine instead of the usual carboxyl group is in place of the internal proton donor to the retinal Schiff base in the light-driven proton pump of Exiguobacterium sibiricum (ESR). The involvement of this lysine in proton transfer is indicated by the finding that its substitution with alanine or other residues slows reprotonation of the Schiff base (decay of the M intermediate) by more than 2 orders of magnitude. In these mutants, the rate constant of the M decay linearly decreases with a decrease in proton concentration, as expected if reprotonation is limited by the uptake of a proton from the bulk.

The pH-dependent induction of lipid membrane ionic permeability by N-terminally lysine-substituted analogs of gramicidin A.

Insertion of charged groups at the N-terminus of the gramicidin A (gA) amino acid sequence is considered to be fatal for peptide channel-forming activity because of hindrance to the head-to-head dimer formation. Here the induction of ionic conductivity in planar bilayer lipid membranes (BLM) was studied with gA analogs having lysine either in the first ([Lys1]gA) or the third ([Lys3]gA) position. If added to the bathing solution at neutral or acidic pH, these analogs, being protonated and thus positively charged, were unable to induce ionic current across BLM.

Large unselective pore in lipid bilayer membrane formed by positively charged peptides containing a sequence of gramicidin A.

Ion-channel activity of a series of gramicidin A analogues carrying charged amino-acid sequences on the C-terminus of the peptide was studied on planar bilayer lipid membranes and liposomes. It was found that the analogue with the positively charged sequence GSGRRRRSQS forms classical cationic pores at low concentrations and large unselective pores at high concentrations. The peptide was predominantly in the right-handed beta(6.