Eighteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic: The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in Southeast Asia and the associated demographic factors.

Mental health has become a growing concern in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to determine the prevalence of mental health symptoms 18 months after the pandemic's declaration. Our cross-sectional study conducted among 18- to 65-year-old adults ( = 33,454) in October 2021 using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) found a high prevalence of severe to extremely severe anxiety (49%), depression (47%) and stress (36%) symptoms in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?

Objective: This cross-sectional observational study summarized the baseline characteristics of subjects who underwent COVID-19 molecular testing in a private medical centre located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia between 1 Oct 2020 and 31 Jan 2021. We compared the baseline characteristics between subjects who were tested positive and negative of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and identified risk factors which may be predictive of SARS-CoV-2 positivity.

Methods And Findings: A total of 36603 subjects who were tested for COVID-19 infection via molecular assays at Sunway Medical Centre between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 31, 2021, and consented to participate in this observation study were included for analysis.

Soft Interactions with Model Crowders and Non-canonical Interactions with Cellular Proteins Stabilize RNA Folding.

Living cells contain diverse biopolymers, creating a heterogeneous crowding environment, the impact of which on RNA folding is poorly understood. Here, we have used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer to monitor tertiary structure formation of the hairpin ribozyme as a model to probe the effects of polyethylene glycol and yeast cell extract as crowding agents. As expected, polyethylene glycol stabilizes the docked, catalytically active state of the ribozyme, in part through excluded volume effects; unexpectedly, we found evidence that it additionally displays soft, non-specific interactions with the ribozyme.

Disparate HDV ribozyme crystal structures represent intermediates on a rugged free-energy landscape.

The hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme is a member of the class of small, self-cleaving catalytic RNAs found in a wide range of genomes from HDV to human. Both pre- and post-catalysis (precursor and product) crystal structures of the cis-acting genomic HDV ribozyme have been determined. These structures, together with extensive solution probing, have suggested that a significant conformational change accompanies catalysis.

Plectosphaeroic acids A, B, and C, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase inhibitors produced in culture by a marine isolate of the fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina.

Laboratory cultures of the fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina obtained from marine sediments collected in Barkley Sound, British Columbia, yielded the novel alkaloids plectosphaeroic acids A (1) to C (3). The alkaloids 1-3 are inhibitors of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO).