Investigating the role of intratumoral Streptococcus mitis in gastric cancer progression: insights into tumor microenvironment.

Growing evidence implicates that intratumoral microbiota are closely linked to cancer progression; however, research on the role of these microbiota in the development of gastric cancer remains limited. Here, using 16 S rRNA sequencing, tumor tissue proteomics and serum cytokines analysis, we identified enrichment of specific microbial communities within tumors of gastric cancer patients, possibly affecting the tumor microenvironment by immune modulation, metabolic processes, and inflammatory responses. Based on the results of in vivo experiments and intratumoral microbiota analysis, we found that Streptococcus mitis can inhibit gastric cancer progression via suppressing M2 macrophage polarization and infiltration, as well as altering the intratumoral microbial community.

Genotype-driven sensitivity of mice to tick-borne encephalitis virus correlates with differential host responses in peripheral macrophages and brain.

Background: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is the most common tick-borne viral infection in Eurasia. Outcomes range from asymptomatic infection to fatal encephalitis, with host genetics likely playing a role. BALB/c mice have intermediate susceptibility to TBE virus (TBEV) and STS mice are highly resistant, whereas the recombinant congenic strain CcS-11, which carries 12.

Toll-Like Receptor 4-Mediated Neuroinflammation: Updates on Pathological Roles and Therapeutic Strategies in Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion.

Neuroinflammation has been acknowledged as being one of the main pathologies that occur following chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH). Since it significantly contributes to neuronal cell damage and thereby leads to cognitive impairment, the signals related to inflammation in hypoperfusion injury have been extensively investigated over the past few years. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is the key receptor responsible for immune and inflammatory reactions.

Targeting MYC for the treatment of breast cancer: use of the novel MYC-GSPT1 degrader, GT19630.

Background: Since MYC is one of the most frequently altered driver genes involved in cancer formation, it is a potential target for new anti-cancer therapies. Historically, however, MYC has proved difficult to target due to the absence of a suitable crevice for binding potential low molecular weight drugs.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate a novel molecular glue, dubbed GT19630, which degrades both MYC and GSPT1, for the treatment of breast cancer.

Dual modality feature fused neural network integrating binding site information for drug target affinity prediction.

Accurately predicting binding affinities between drugs and targets is crucial for drug discovery but remains challenging due to the complexity of modeling interactions between small drug and large targets. This study proposes DMFF-DTA, a dual-modality neural network model integrates sequence and graph structure information from drugs and proteins for drug-target affinity prediction. The model introduces a binding site-focused graph construction approach to extract binding information, enabling more balanced and efficient modeling of drug-target interactions.

Current insights into molecular mechanisms of environmental stress tolerance in Cyanobacteria.

The photoautotrophic nature of cyanobacteria, coupled with their fast growth and relative ease of genetic manipulation, makes these microorganisms very promising factories for the sustainable production of bio-products from atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, both in nature and in cultivation, cyanobacteria go through different abiotic stresses such as high light (HL) stress, heavy metal stress, nutrient limitation, heat stress, salt stress, oxidative stress, and alcohol stress. In recent years, significant improvement has been made in identifying the stress-responsive genes and the linked pathways in cyanobacteria and developing genome editing tools for their manipulation.

Epidemiology, mechanisms, and clinical impact of bacterial heteroresistance.

Bacterial heteroresistance, a phenomenon where subpopulations within a bacterial strain exhibit significantly reduced antibiotic susceptibility compared to the main population, poses a major challenge in managing infectious diseases. It is considered an intermediate stage in the evolution of bacteria towards full resistance. Heteroresistant strains often have a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) that appears sensitive, making detection and differentiation in clinical settings difficult.

Robust mucosal SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells effectively combat COVID-19 and establish polyfunctional resident memory in patient lungs.

Mucosal antigen-specific T cells are pivotal for pathogen clearance and immune modulation in respiratory infections. Dysregulated T cell responses exacerbate coronavirus disease 2019 severity, marked by cytokine storms and respiratory failure. Despite extensive description in peripheral blood, the characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific T cells in the lungs remain elusive.

Extracellular vesicles in seminal plasma of Sahiwal cattle bulls carry a differential abundance of sperm fertility-associated proteins for augmenting the functional quality of low-fertile bull spermatozoa.

Poor male fertility significantly affects dairy production, primarily due to low conception rates (CR) in bulls, even when cows are inseminated with morphologically normal sperm. Seminal plasma is a key factor in evaluating the fertilizing ability of bull semen. The extracellular vesicles (EVs) in seminal plasma contain fertility-associated proteins like SPAM1, ADAM7, and SP10, which influence sperm function and fertilizing potential.

An integrated approach to predict genetic risk for Mosquito-Borne diseases in the local Population of Tehsil Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Highly variable response shown by individuals against mosquito-borne infections suggests that host genetic factors play an important role in determining mosquito-borne disease onset. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the genetic risk of these diseases in specific populations. The current study aimed to determine the percentage of individuals in the general population carrying mosquito-borne disease susceptibility and protection-related variants.

Isolation of PCSK9-specific nanobodies from synthetic libraries using a combined protein selection strategy.

Nanobodies (Nbs) hold great potential to replace conventional antibodies in various biomedical applications. However, conventional methods for their discovery can be time-consuming and expensive. We have developed a reliable protein selection strategy that combines magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS)-based screening of yeast surface display (YSD) libraries and functional ligand-binding identification by Tat-based recognition of associating proteins (FLI-TRAP) to isolate antigen-specific Nbs from synthetic libraries.

Isolation, identification, and characterisation of the malachite green detoxifying bacterial strain Bacillus pacificus ROC1 and the azoreductase AzrC.

Malachite green (MG) is used as a dye for materials such as wood, cotton, and nylon, and is used in aquaculture to prevent fungal and protozoan diseases. However, it is highly toxic, with carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic properties, resulting in bans worldwide. Despite this, MG is still frequently used in many countries due to its efficacy and economy.

Discovery of two novel Flavobacterium species with potential for complex polysaccharide degradation.

Polysaccharides are recognized for their extensive biological functions, holding significant promise for applications in both medicine and food industries. However, their utilization is frequently constrained by challenges such as high molecular weights and indistinct sugar chain structures. Recently, two novel bacterial strains, N6 and J3, were isolated from the Nakdong River in Korea.

Combined delivery of IL12 and an IL18 mutant without IL18BP-binding activity by an adenoviral vector enhances tumor specific immunity.

Cytokines play pivotal roles in anticancer immune response. We previously reported that adenovirus armed with an IL18 variant (DR18) that overcomes IL18BP neutralizing effect displayed powerful therapeutic effects in local and distant tumors when delivered intratumorally. Here, we tested a combined delivery of IL12 and DR18 in tumor models since IL12 and IL18 are known to act synergistically in potentiating IFNγ production and antitumor immunity.

Neoadjuvant pyrotinib and trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer with no early response (NeoPaTHer): efficacy, safety and biomarker analysis of a prospective, multicentre, response-adapted study.

The potential benefits of pyrotinib for patients with trastuzumab-insensitive, HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer remain unclear. This prospective, multicentre, response-adapted study evaluated the efficacy and safety of adding pyrotinib to the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer patients with a poor response to initial docetaxel plus carboplatin and trastuzumab (TCbH). Early response was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after two cycles of treatment.

Thyroid Endocrine Disrupting Potential of Fluoxetine in Zebrafish Larvae.

Fluoxetine (FLX), a typical selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, has been frequently detected in aquatic environment and wild fish. However, little is known about its effect on thyroid endocrine system. In the present study, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos were exposed to 1, 3, 10, and 30 μg/L of FLX for 6 days.

Enhanced methanol-xylose co-utilization strategy in Komagataella phaffii.

Bio-manufacturing based on non-food carbon sources is conducive to alleviating the global food crisis and greenhouse effect. However, the mechanism of the utilization of methanol and xylose in Komagataella phaffii based on endogenous metabolic pathways has not been fully explored. In this study, transcriptomics revealed a positive correlation between methanol metabolic efficiency and the transcription level of genes related to xylose metabolism and phosphate metabolism.

Therapeutics of bitter plants from Northeast region of India and their pharmacological and phytochemical perspectives.

Natural resources have been used for food and medicine since the beginning of human civilization, and they have always been a low-cost, easily accessible source for individuals. Northeast region of India (NER) represents a significant portion of India's flora and fauna. Marginality, fragility, inaccessibility, ethnicity, and cultural diversity thrived in the region, resulting in the richest reservoir of genetic variation of bioresources.

Bioorganic compounds in quorum sensing disruption: strategies, Mechanisms, and future prospects.

Recent research has shed light on the complex world of bacterial communication through quorum sensing. This sophisticated intercellular signalling mechanism, driven by auto-inducers, regulates crucial bacterial community behaviours such as biofilm formation, expression of virulence factors, and resistance mechanisms. The increasing threat of antibiotic resistance, coupled with quorum sensing mediated response, necessitates alternative strategies to combat bacterial infections.

Spatiotemporal distribution of marine aerosols and gaseous species over the North Pacific Ocean.

Observational studies of marine aerosols are essential for understanding the global aerosol budget and its environmental impacts. This study presents simultaneous in-situ measurements of major ionic components (Cl, NO, SO, NH, K, Ca, Na, and Mg) in aerosols and gaseous species (HCl, HNO, HONO, SO, and NH) over the North Pacific Ocean from July 4 to 15 and September 19 to October 3, 2022. Using high temporal resolution instruments aboard the Republic of Korea's icebreaker research vessel Araon, this study aimed to (1) report the spatial and temporal distributions of aerosols and gaseous species, (2) estimate the source contributions of continental anthropogenic pollutants, and (3) assess the influence of aerosol chemical composition and gaseous species on aerosol acidity and water content.

Detecting IDH and TERTp mutations in diffuse gliomas using H-MRS with attention deep-shallow networks.

Background: Preoperative and noninvasive detection of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and telomerase reverse transcriptase gene promoter (TERTp) mutations in glioma is critical for prognosis and treatment planning. This study aims to develop deep learning classifiers to identify IDH and TERTp mutations using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) and a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) architecture.

Methods: This study included H-MRS data from 225 adult patients with hemispheric diffuse glioma (117 IDH mutants and 108 IDH wild-type; 99 TERTp mutants and 100 TERTp wild-type).

Patch-based dual-domain photon-counting CT data correction with residual-based WGAN-ViT.

Objective: X-ray photon-counting detectors (PCDs) have recently gained popularity due to their capabilities in energy discrimination power, noise suppression, and resolution refinement. The latest extremity photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) scanner leverages these advantages for tissue characterization, material decomposition, beam hardening correction, and metal artifact reduction. However, technical challenges such as charge splitting and pulse pileup can distort the energy spectrum and compromise image quality.

Structural insights into the role of reduced cysteine residues in SOD1 amyloid filament formation.

The formation of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) filaments has been implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Although the disulfide bond formed between Cys57 and Cys146 in the active state has been well studied, the role of the reduced cysteine residues, Cys6 and Cys111, in SOD1 filament formation remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of reduced cysteine residues by determining and comparing cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of wild-type (WT) and C6A/C111A SOD1 filaments under thiol-based reducing and metal-depriving conditions, starting with protein samples possessing enzymatic activity.