Oriented immobilization of nanobodies using SpyCatcher/SpyTag significantly enhances the capacity of affinity chromatography.

The use of nanobodies (Nbs) in affinity chromatography for biomacromolecule purification is gaining popularity. However, high-performance Nb-based affinity resins are not readily available, mainly due to the lack of suitable immobilization methods. In this study, we explored an autocatalytic coupling strategy based on the SpyCatcher/SpyTag chemistry to achieve oriented immobilization of Nb ligands.

Validation of CDC45 as a novel biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of gastric cancer.

Background: Cell division cycle protein 45 (CDC45) has been demonstrated to play vital roles in the progression of various malignancies. However, the clinical significance of CDC45 in gastric cancer (GC) remains unreported.

Method: In this study, we employed the TCGA database and the TCGA & GTEx dataset to compare the mRNA expression levels of CDC45 between gastric cancer tissues and adjacent or normal tissues ( < 0.

Preparation and characterization of a novel humanized collagen III with repeated fragments of Gly300-Asp329.

Recombinant human collagens have attracted intensive interest in the past two decades, demonstrating considerable potential in medicine, tissue engineering, and cosmetics. Several humanized recombinant collagens have been produced, exhibiting similar characteristics as the native species. To get insight into the structural and bioactive properties of different parts of collagen, in this study, the segment of Gly300-Asp329 of type III collagen was first adopted and repeated 18 times to prepare a novel recombinant collagen (named rhCLA).

Appendicitis combined with Meckel's diverticulum obstruction, perforation, and inflammation in children: Three case reports.

Background: Meckel's diverticulum is a common congenital malformation of the small intestine, with the three most common complications being obstruction, perforation, and inflammation. To date, only a few cases have been reported worldwide. In children, the clinical symptoms are similar to appendicitis.

Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Capacity Comparison of Wild-Type and Yellow-Leaf Mutant of .

Background: The yellow-leaf mutant of exhibits an altered phenylpropanoid metabolism pathway compared to wild-type (WT). However, details on the metabolites associated with leaf color variation, including color-specific metabolites with bioactive constituents, are not fully understood.

Methods: Chemical and metabolomics approaches were used to compare metabolite composition and antioxidant capacity between the mutant and WT leaves.

Hierarchically Porous Carbon Rods Derived from Metal-Organic Frameworks for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Hybrid Capacitors.

Aqueous zinc-ion hybrid capacitors (ZIHCs), as ideal candidates for high energy-power supply systems, are restricted by unsatisfied energy density and poor cycling durability for further applications. The construction of a surface-functionalized carbon cathode is an effective strategy for improving the performance of ZIHCs. Herein, a high-performance ZIHC is achieved using oxygen-rich hierarchically porous carbon rods (MDPC-X) prepared by the pyrolysis of a metal-organic framework (MOF) assisted by KOH activation.

Olive Leaves-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon as Cathode Material for Anti-Self-Discharge Zinc-Ion Hybrid Capacitor.

As a promising low-cost and high-safety energy storage candidate, zinc-ion hybrid capacitors (ZIHCs) have received extensive attention. For maximizing the advantages of ZIHC with high energy density and high power density, the structural engineering of the porous carbon materials is the crucial and effective strategy. Herein, an oxygen-enriched hierarchical porous carbon has been fabricated from the pyrolysis of olive leaves combing the chemical activation.

Synergetic interaction of capsid proteins for virus-like particles assembly of foot-and-mouth disease virus (serotype O) from the inclusion bodies.

Recombinant virus-like particles (VLP) with single capsid protein have been successfully produced through prokaryotic system, but for those with multiple capsid proteins such as the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), this approach is more challenging. In this study, in vitro assembly of FMDV VLP was investigated with its capsids VP1, VP2 and VP3 separately expressed as inclusion bodies. After extraction and solubilization, three capsids were purified in denatured state through a flow-through model, increasing its purity to 90%.

Analysis of the tumor microenvironment and mutation burden identifies prognostic features in thymic epithelial tumors.

Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are one of the rarest adult malignancies in the anterior mediastinum. Thymic carcinomas (TCs) are less prevalent among TETs, but they are more clinically aggressive. Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for refractory TETs, even though chemotherapy remains the conventional treatment for the advanced disease.

Conversion of recombinant human ferritin light chain inclusion bodies into uniform nanoparticles in for facile production.

Prokaryotic expression systems are widely used to produce many types of biologics because of their extreme conveniences and unmatchable cost. However, production of recombinant human ferritin light chain (rhFTL) protein is largely restrained because its expression in tends to form inclusion bodies (IBs). In this study, a prokaryotic expression vector (FTL-pBV220) harboring the rhFTL gene was constructed using a pBV220 plasmid.

Production of Recombinant Human Hybrid Ferritin with Heavy Chain and Light Chain in and its Characterization.

Background: Natural human ferritin generally contains 24 subunits with different ratios of heavy chain to light chain, and the ratio of both subunits varies depending on tissue distribution and pathological conditions. However, the production of recombinant hybrid ferritin with both subunits is more challenging.

Objective: This study aimed to prepare the recombinant hybrid ferritin for prokaryotic expression and characterize its structure and physicochemical properties.

Modeling on Social Health Literacy Level Prediction.

Nowadays, the health level of residents has become the focus of people's attention. Under the background of the development of health service from "disease-centered" to "health-centered," it is very important to improve the level of urban health and clarify the factors affecting urban health. Therefore, this paper quantifies the relationship between residents' health literacy level and environment, average life expectancy, infectious disease mortality, and other indicators by selecting appropriate indicators and establishing a mathematical model.

Mechanism Study of Thermally Induced Anti-Tumor Drug Loading to Engineered Human Heavy-Chain Ferritin Nanocages Aided by Computational Analysis.

Diverse drug loading approaches for human heavy-chain ferritin (HFn), a promising drug nanocarrier, have been established. However, anti-tumor drug loading ratio and protein carrier recovery yield are bottlenecks for future clinical application. Mechanisms behind drug loading have not been elaborated.

Non-stenting strategy is not inferior to stent implantation in patients with acute ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction and high thrombus burden and intermediate stenotic culprit lesion.

Background: According to European Society of Cardiology (ESC) as well as American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines, primary stenting is recommended for patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI); however, in-stent thrombosis is a life-threatening early adverse event that could lead to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or even cardiac death. On the other hand, in-stent restenosis is a late adverse event that could result in recurrent readmission and revascularization. We compared a non-stenting (NS) strategy to a stenting (S) strategy in terms of incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) for patients with acute STEMI and high thrombus burden.

The impact of COVID-19 on the ride-sharing industry and its recovery: Causal evidence from China.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented disruptions to many industries, and the transportation industry is among the most disrupted ones. We seek to address, in the context of a ride-sharing platform, the response of drivers to the pandemic and the post-pandemic recovery. We collected comprehensive trip data from one of the leading ride-sharing companies in China from September 2019 to August 2020, which cover pre-, during-, and post-pandemic phases in three major Chinese cities, and investigate the causal effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on driver behavior.

Development of purification process for dual-function recombinant human heavy-chain ferritin by the investigation of genetic modification impact on conformation.

Ferritin is a promising drug delivery platform and has been functionalized through genetic modifications. This work has designed and expressed a dual-functional engineered human heavy-chain ferritin (HFn) with the inserted functional peptide PAS and RGDK to extend half-life and improve tumor targeted drug delivery. A facile and cost-effective two-step purification pathway for recombinant HFn was developed.

Confined Crystallization and Melting Behaviors of 3-Pentadecylphenol in Anodic Alumina Oxide Nanopores.

To explore the effects of end groups on the confined crystallization of an alkyl chain, 3-pentadecylphenol (PDP) was infiltrated into the anodic aluminum oxide template (AAO) to investigate the melting and crystallization behaviors of PDP in a nanoconfined environment. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) found that the solid-solid phase transition of PDP occurred under confined conditions, and the absence of the (00L) reflections indicated that the stacking of the end groups of the alkyl chain layered structure was seriously disturbed. Thermal analysis (TG) showed that the thermal stability of the confined samples decreased due to the confinement effect, and the introduction of end groups made the confinement effect more obvious.

Engineered Human Heavy-Chain Ferritin with Half-Life Extension and Tumor Targeting by PAS and RGDK Peptide Functionalization.

Ferritin, one of the most investigated protein nanocages, is considered as a promising drug carrier because of its advantageous stability and safety. However, its short half-life and undesirable tumor targeting ability has limited its usage in tumor treatment. In this work, two types of functional peptides, half-life extension peptide PAS, and tumor targeting peptide RGDK (Arg-Gly-Asp-Lys), are inserted to human heavy-chain ferritin (HFn) at C-terminal through flexible linkers with two distinct enzyme cleavable sites.

Stent placement combined with intraluminal radiofrequency ablation and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy for advanced biliary tract cancers with biliary obstruction: a multicentre, retrospective, controlled study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of stent placement combined with intraluminal radiofrequency ablation (intra-RFA) and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) for patients with advanced biliary tract cancers (Ad-BTCs) and biliary obstruction (BO).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data for patients with Ad-BTCs and BO who underwent stent placement with or without intra-RFA and HAIC in three centres between November 2013 and November 2018. The stent patency time (SPT), overall survival (OS), and adverse events (AEs) were analysed.

Adaptation of endothelial cells to shear stress under atheroprone conditions by modulating internalization of vascular endothelial cadherin and vinculin.

Background: Endothelial cells play a pivotal role in cardiovascular physiology and pathology by providing a barrier to the bloodstream. In the current study, we investigated the phenotype and barrier function of endothelial cells in response to shear stress under pro-atherogenic conditions.

Methods: Endothelial cells were exposed to laminar shear stress (LSS) in a parallel-plate flow chamber containing oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in the perfusion solution, or remained static.

Genomic origin and intratumor heterogeneity revealed by sequencing on carcinomatous and sarcomatous components of pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma.

Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) contains carcinomatous component (CaC) and sarcomatous component (SaC). Herein, we explored the genomic origin and intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) of PSC. We collected 31 resected PSC tumors and obtained CaC and SaC by laser capture microdissection for next-generation sequencing.

IRF7 suppresses hematopoietic regeneration under stress via CXCR4.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) maintain quiescence under steady state; however, they are compelled to proliferate and expand to replenish the blood system under stress. The molecular basis underlying stress hematopoiesis remains to be fully understood. In this study, we reported that IRF7 represents an important regulator of stress hematopoiesis.

Treatment Patterns and Survival Outcomes of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Initially Diagnosed With Brain Metastases in Real-World Clinical Practice.

Background: This study aimed to comprehensively analyze the characteristics, treatment patterns, and survival outcomes of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients initially diagnosed with brain metastases (BMs) in real-world practice.

Methods: We enrolled NSCLC patients initially diagnosed with BMs between Jan 2004 and Jan 2018 in our institution. Patient demographics, treatment modalities, and survival outcomes were then analyzed.