Metal-based smart nanosystems in cancer immunotherapy.

Metals are an emerging topic in cancer immunotherapy that have shown great potential in modulating cancer immunity cycle and promoting antitumor immunity by activating the intrinsic immunostimulatory mechanisms which have been identified in recent years. The main challenge of metal-assisted immunotherapy lies in the fact that the free metals as ion forms are easily cleared during circulation, and even cause systemic metal toxicity due to the off-target effects. With the rapid development of nanomedicine, metal-based smart nanosystems (MSNs) with unique controllable structure become one of the most promising delivery carriers to solve the issue, owing to their various endogenous/external stimuli-responsiveness to release free metal ions for metalloimmunotherapy.

Stochastic resonance noise modified decision solution for binary hypothesis-testing under minimax criterion.

In this paper, on the premise that the prior probability is unknown, a noise enhanced binary hypothesis-testing is investigated under the Minimax criterion for a general nonlinear system. Firstly, for lowering the decision risk, an additive noise is intentionally injected to the input and a decision is made under Minimax criterion based on the noise modified output. Then an optimization problem for minimizing the maximum of Bayesian conditional risk under an equality constraint is formulated via analyzing the relationship between the additive noise and the optimal noise modified Minimax decision rule.

Examining the relationship between CDAI and frailty and its manifestation in Parkinson's disease: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Higher intake of antioxidants is associated with reduced risk of various chronic diseases. However, the relationship between composite dietary antioxidants and frailty has not been characterized, especially in neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's disease (PD) where frailty is highly prevalent. This study aimed to investigate the association between composite dietary antioxidant index (CDAI), a composite score reflecting antioxidant vitamin and mineral intakes, and frailty risk in the general United States (US) population and PD patients.

Effect of Vitamin D Level on Female Vaginitis in Xi'an, China.

Background: Vaginitis is a common disease of the reproductive system in women, causing discomfort in daily life. Many reports indicate that the causes of vaginitis are related to vaginal microecological disturbances. Therefore, treatment strategies to restore microecological balance have shown promising results in both basic research and clinical settings.

Heyndrickxia coagulans spore-based nanoparticle generator for improved oral insulin delivery and hypoglycemic therapy.

Due to the two major physiological barriers restricted by mucus penetration and epithelia transport, oral insulin therapy using nano-delivery system remains challenging. Heyndrickxia coagulans spores can survive the harsh conditions of gastrointestinal tract (GIT), and penetrate in the mucus through germination to probiotics with their amphipathic proteinaceous coat shedding in the gut epithelium, which makes it possible to be functionalized with hydrophilic peptide/protein and form nanoparticles (NPs) in vivo. Inspired by the natural physiological properties of spores, novel deoxycholic acid-modified Heyndrickxia coagulans spores loaded with insulin (DA-Spore/Ins) as the generators of autonomous bio-based nanoparticles were designed to solve these absorption barriers to enhance oral insulin delivery.

Substrate specificity study of zearalenone lactonase by analyzing interaction networks of residues near the β6-α6 region.

Recently, how could microbial lactonase react to the mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) and its derivatives such as α-zearalenol (α-ZOL) is still unclear, resulting in limited applications. In this study, the interaction networks of residues near the β6-α6 region in lactonase from Monosporascus sp. GIB2 (ZENM) were analyzed.

Lactylation modification in cardio-cerebral diseases: A state-of-the-art review.

Cardio-cerebral diseases (CCDs), encompassing conditions such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, et al., represent a significant threat to human health and well-being. These diseases are often characterized by metabolic abnormalities and remodeling in the process of pathology.

Fractionation of lignin from corncob with high-yield p - coumaric acid production in deep eutectic solvents followed by pyrolysis to produce monophenols.

Two distinctive aromatic units, p - coumarate and ferulate, exist in corncob lignin, which have the potential to yield p - coumaric acid (pCA) and ferulic acid (FA). Although pCA and FA are primarily extracted from corncob lignin utilizing strong acids and bases, extremely acidic or alkaline conditions result in the disruption of the aromatic unit structure of the residual lignin. Herein, lactic acid coupled with choline chloride was utilized as acidic deep eutectic solvent (DES), while KCO with glycerin was used as alkaline DES, thereby facilitating the extraction of pCA, FA and lignin from corncob in a mild environment.

Scalable Nickel Catalysts for Carbonylative Terpolymerization of Ethylene/α-Olefin with High Efficiency.

The carbonylative polymerization of olefin yields aliphatic polyketones, which are used as engineering plastics in the market due to their excellent mechanical strength, chemical resistance, and surface and barrier properties. However, the usage of precious palladium catalysts has restricted their extensive application as commodity materials. Herein, we present a series of phosphine-sulfonate Ni catalysts with a wide spectrum of electronic and steric substituents on the phosphorus moiety for the carbonylative polymerization of ethylene.

Role of homologous recombination/recombineering on human adenovirus genome engineering: Not the only but the most competent solution.

Adenoviruses typically cause mild illnesses, but severe diseases may occur primarily in immunodeficient individuals, particularly children. Recently, adenoviruses have garnered significant interest as a versatile tool in gene therapy, tumor treatment, and vaccine vector development. Over the past two decades, the advent of recombineering, a method based on homologous recombination, has notably enhanced the utility of adenoviral vectors in therapeutic applications.

Longitudinal Analysis of Binding Antibody Levels Against 39 Human Adenovirus Types in Sera from 60 Regular Blood Donors from Greifswald, Germany, over 5 Years from 2018 to 2022.

Adenoviruses are important human pathogens that are widespread and mainly associated with respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. In a previous study on human adenovirus (HAdV) seroprevalence, we observed reduced binding antibody levels against a range of HAdV types in sera collected from students in 2021 compared to sera collected before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In this follow-up study, we wanted to verify this observation in a cohort of regular blood donors for whom serial samples were available.

Neoantigen-specific mRNA/DC vaccines for effective anticancer immunotherapy.

The development of personalized anticancer vaccines based on neoantigens represents a new direction in cancer immunotherapy. The latest advancement in dendritic cell (DC) tumor vaccine construction involves loading DC with mRNA-encoding neoantigens, which allows for rapid production and is suitable for personalized preparation. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are emerging as biological delivery systems in which negatively charged nucleic acids can be wound onto the cationic CPP backbone to form nanoscale complexes.

Tailored Enzymes for Difructose Anhydrides: From Biosynthesis to Degradation.

Difructose anhydrides (DFAs), distinctive cyclic disaccharides mainly naturally produced by heating (caramelization), serve as potential candidates of functional sugars that modern humans consume on a daily basis due to their remarkable physiological effects. This review explores the complex domain of specialized enzymes implicated in the metabolism of DFAs, covering the entire process from biosynthesis to degradation. We provide a detailed examination of the enzymes responsible for DFA formation and degradation, specifically those classified within the GH91, GH32, and GH172 glycoside hydrolase families.

Improved Technique Reduce Lower Limb Complications After the Traditional No-Touch Technique for Vein Graft Harvesting: A Single-Center Retrospective Historical Controlled Study.

Objective: The employment of the no-touch technique in harvesting the great saphenous vein (GSV) for coronary artery bypass grafting has been associated with a significant improvement in clinical patency rates. Despite these advantages, such grafts may predispose patients to complications in the lower limbs. This study endeavors to evaluate the incidence of complications in the lower extremities by deploying an enhanced protocol for the no-touch harvesting technique.

Highly efficient production of lacto-N-tetraose in plasmid-free Escherichia coli through chromosomal integration of multicopy key glycosyltransferase genes.

Lacto-N-tetraose (LNT) is a functional human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) commercially added to infant formula. Metabolically engineered strains for efficient production of LNT have been widely constructed. However, most of them rely on the use of plasmids, which might bring metabolic burden and the antibiotic issue.

Discovery of a potent anticancer agent against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma targeting FAK with DFG-out state and JAK/Aurora kinases.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a clinically challenging cancer because of the difficulty in diagnosis and its resistance to chemotherapy. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is found overexpressed in PDAC, and targeting FAK has been proved to impede the progress of PDAC. However, most of FAK inhibitors were reported to bind with FAK in a DFG-in conformation, leading to a limited anti-tumor effect in clinical studies.

YTHDF3 rs7464 A > G polymorphism increases Chinese neuroblastoma risk: A multiple-center case-control study.

Neuroblastoma (NB), a rare childhood cancer originating in nerve tissue. YTHDF3, a member of the YTH domain protein family, is involved in RNA m6A modification and cancer progression. Polymorphisms in YTHDF3 may influence its expression and biological function.

GSDMD Mediates Ang II-Induced Hypertensive Nephropathy by Regulating the GATA2/AQP4 Signaling Pathway.

Aim: Hypertensive nephropathy is a common complication of hypertension. However, no effective measures are currently available to prevent the progression of renal insufficiency. Gasdermin D (GSDMD) is a crucial mediator of pyroptosis that induces an excessive inflammatory response.

The aqueous extract of Reynoutria japonica ameliorates damp-heat ulcerative colitis in mice by modulating gut microbiota and metabolism.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Reynoutria japonica has been utilized as a potential treatment for gastrointestinal disorders in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). However, the efficacy and mechanism of its aqueous extracts on damp-heat ulcerative colitis (UC) remains unclear.

Aim Of The Study: Investigating the modulating effect of aqueous extracts of Reynoutria japonica (AERJ) on gut microbiota and fecal metabolisms in mice with damp-heat UC.

Research on virtual reality-based assessment framework and application path in medical education.

While virtual reality(VR) technology enhances learning, it also places new demands on medical learning evaluation. Verifying the occurrence of learning is a primary issue. To design and implement practical and feasible VR-based learning evaluation based on the immersive learning evaluation framework, the Substitution-Augmentation-Modification-Redefinition (SAMR) model, a VR-based learning evaluation framework, was constructed.

Case report: Asymmetric bilateral deep brain stimulation for the treatment of pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration in a patient: a unique case of atypical PKAN with a novel heterozygous PANK2 mutation.

Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare autosomal recessive hereditary neurodegenerative disorder, usually caused by mutations in the pantothenate kinase 2 (PANK2) gene. We report a young female patient with atypical PKAN, harboring a novel heterozygous PANK2 mutation, diagnosed through clinical imaging and genetic analysis. The patient presented with dystonia and motor dysfunction after onset, but early brain MRI showed normal findings.