Merging Natural Product Structures with Pharmaceutical Leads: Unnatural Enantiomers of Estranes as Glucocorticoid Receptor Modulators That Suppress TNF-α and IL-6 Release.

Natural products are widely recognized as valuable starting points for the development of therapeutics, with synthetic tetracyclic triterpenoids (e.g., steroids) being the most well represented among the drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Estrogen Receptor-Related Orphan Receptors Regulate Autophagy through TFEB.

Autophagy is an essential self-degradative and recycling mechanism that maintains cellular homeostasis. Estrogen receptor-related orphan receptors (ERRs) are fundamental in regulating cardiac metabolism and function. Previously, we showed that ERR agonists improve cardiac function in models of heart failure and induce autophagy.

Medical Interpretation for Emerging Populations: Building a Multi-Modal Interpretation Program for Pashto-Speakers at a Public Safety-Net Health System.

Limited English proficient patients are prone to adverse health care effects compared to English proficient patients, including decreased access to care, lower health literacy, and worse clinical outcomes. This report describes a multi-modal medical interpreter program at a safety-net health system designed for the emerging Afghan population in San Antonio, Texas.

From Functional Fatty Acids to Potent and Selective Natural-Product-Inspired Mimetics via Conformational Profiling.

Fatty acids play important signaling roles in biology, albeit typically lacking potency or selectivity, due to their substantial conformational flexibility. While being recognized as having properties of potentially great value as therapeutics, it is often the case that the functionally relevant conformation of the natural fatty acid is not known, thereby complicating efforts to develop natural-product-inspired ligands that have similar functional properties along with enhanced potency and selectivity profiles. In other words, without structural information associated with a particular functional relationship and the hopelessly unbiased conformational preferences of the endogenous ligand, one is molecularly ill-informed regarding the precise ligand-receptor interactions that play a role in driving the biological activity of interest.