Erp57 facilitates ZIKV-induced DNA damage via NS2B/NS3 complex formation.

It is believed that DNA double-strand breaks induced by Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in pregnant women is a main reason of brain damage (e.g. microcephaly, severe brain malformation, and neuropathy) in newborn babies [1,2], but its underlying mechanism is poorly understood.

Targeting Ser78 phosphorylation of Hsp27 achieves potent antiviral effects against enterovirus A71 infection.

A positive-sense (+) single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) virus (e.g. enterovirus A71, EV-A71) depends on viral polypeptide translation for initiation of virus replication after entry.

Robust noise-aware algorithm for randomized neural network and its convergence properties.

The concept of randomized neural networks (RNNs), such as the random vector functional link network (RVFL) and extreme learning machine (ELM), is a widely accepted and efficient network method for constructing single-hidden layer feedforward networks (SLFNs). Due to its exceptional approximation capabilities, RNN is being extensively used in various fields. While the RNN concept has shown great promise, its performance can be unpredictable in imperfect conditions, such as weight noises and outliers.

Secreted LRPAP1 binds and triggers IFNAR1 degradation to facilitate virus evasion from cellular innate immunity.

The crucial role of interferon (IFN) signaling is well known in the restriction or eradication of pathogen invasion. Viruses take a variety of ways to antagonize host defense through eliminating IFN-signaling intracellularly for decades. However, the way by viruses target IFN-signaling extracellularly has not been discovered.

Microneedles: An Emerging Vaccine Delivery Tool and a Prospective Solution to the Challenges of SARS-CoV-2 Mass Vaccination.

Vaccination is an effective measure to prevent infectious diseases. Protective immunity is induced when the immune system is exposed to a vaccine formulation with appropriate immunogenicity. However, traditional injection vaccination is always accompanied by fear and severe pain.

Outbreak control management: Lessons from SARS-CoV-2 infections in 2020-2022 in Hong Kong, an international municipality with high-frequency travelers.

The control management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections is one of the most challenges in the 21st century. By May 8th, 2022, SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 510 million people with 6.2 million death worldwide and over 1.

Suppressing MDSC Infiltration in Tumor Microenvironment Serves as an Option for Treating Ovarian Cancer Metastasis.

It is still a big puzzle how ovarian cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) attract lymphocytes infiltration for facilitating metastasis, a leading cause of death from gynecological malignancies. Using genome-wide LncRNA microarray assay, here we report that a LncRNA associated with ovarian cancer metastasis (LncOVM) is highly correlated with poor prognosis and survival. LncOVM interacts with and stabilizes PPIP5K2 by suppressing ubiquitinated degradation to promote complement C5 secretion from ovarian cancer cells.

Organocatalytic discrimination of non-directing aryl and heteroaryl groups: enantioselective synthesis of bioactive indole-containing triarylmethanes.

Despite the enormous developments in asymmetric catalysis, the basis for asymmetric induction is largely limited to the spatial interaction between the substrate and catalyst. Consequently, asymmetric discrimination between two sterically similar groups remains a challenge. This is particularly formidable for enantiodifferentiation between two aryl groups without a directing group or electronic manipulation.

The effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on modulating innate immunity and strategies of combating inflammatory response for COVID-19 therapy.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has caused huge causality and unquantifiable loss of social wealth. The innate immune response is the first line of defense against SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, strong inflammatory response associated with dysregulation of innate immunity causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and death.

Targeting m6A modification inhibits herpes virus 1 infection.

The latent infection by herpes virus type 1 (HSV-1) may be lifelong in trigeminal ganglia and a suspected cause of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Whether and how N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification of viral RNAs affects virus infection are poorly understood. Here, we report that HSV-1 infection enhanced the expression of m6A writers (METTL3, METTL14) and readers (YTHDF1/2/3) at the early infection stage and decreased their expression later on, while suppressed the erasers' (FTO, ALBKH5) expression immediately upon infection to facilitate viral replication.

Microsecond interaural time difference discrimination restored by cochlear implants after neonatal deafness.

Spatial hearing in cochlear implant (CI) patients remains a major challenge, with many early deaf users reported to have no measurable sensitivity to interaural time differences (ITDs). Deprivation of binaural experience during an early critical period is often hypothesized to be the cause of this shortcoming. However, we show that neonatally deafened (ND) rats provided with precisely synchronized CI stimulation in adulthood can be trained to lateralize ITDs with essentially normal behavioral thresholds near 50 μs.

Pterostilbene enhances sorafenib's anticancer effects on gastric adenocarcinoma.

Sorafenib has been approved for the treatment of certain cancers in clinic. However, the effects of sorafenib on gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) were still limited. This study aimed to evaluate both in vitro and in vivo efficacy of sorafenib in combination with pterostilbene (PTE) on the treatment of GAC.

Pandemic COVID-19: Current status and challenges of antiviral therapies.

The pandemic COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection, has infected over 12 million individuals and caused more than 55,200 death worldwide. Currently, there is no specific drug to treating this disease. Here we summarized the mechanisms of antiviral therapies and the clinic findings from different countries.

Stress proteins: the biological functions in virus infection, present and challenges for target-based antiviral drug development.

Stress proteins (SPs) including heat-shock proteins (HSPs), RNA chaperones, and ER associated stress proteins are molecular chaperones essential for cellular homeostasis. The major functions of HSPs include chaperoning misfolded or unfolded polypeptides, protecting cells from toxic stress, and presenting immune and inflammatory cytokines. Regarded as a double-edged sword, HSPs also cooperate with numerous viruses and cancer cells to promote their survival.

Lipid metabolism alteration contributes to and maintains the properties of cancer stem cells.

Lipids, the basic components of the cell membrane, execute fundamental roles in almost all the cell activities including cell-cell recognition, signalling transduction and energy supplies. Lipid metabolism is elementary for life sustentation that balances activity between synthesis and degradation. An accumulating amount of data has indicated abnormal lipid metabolism in cancer stem cells (CSCs), and that the alteration of lipid metabolism exerts a great impact on CSCs' properties such as the capability of self-renewal, differentiation, invasion, metastasis, and drug sensitivity and resistance.

Pim1 Impacts Enterovirus A71 Replication and Represents a Potential Target in Antiviral Therapy.

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) infection causes hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) and fatal neurological diseases, and there are no effective treatments. Host factors play key roles in establishing viral infection and determining the disease progression and outcome of antiviral therapies. In this study, we found that the expression of Pim1 was significantly upregulated in EV-A71 infection.

Remnant Effects of Culture Density on Cell Chirality After Reseeding.

Proper muscle function requires specific orientation of myotubes. Cell chirality, a mechanical behavior of cells, may participate in myogenesis and give rise to left-right (LR) orientation of muscle tissue. Thus, it is essential to understand the factors effecting the cell chirality.

Global cytokine/chemokine profile identifies potential progression prediction indicators in hand-foot-and-mouth disease patients with Enterovirus A71 infections.

Objective: New clinical indicators are urgently needed for predicting the progression and complications of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) caused by EV-A71 infections.

Materials And Methods: Serum specimens from 132 EV-A71 HFMD patients and 73 health children were collected during 2012-2014 in Shenzhen, China. The specific cytokines/chemokines were detected with a 274-human cytokine antibody array, followed by a 38-inflammation cytokine array, and further validated by ELISA.

Targeted Transgene Activation in the Brain Tissue by Systemic Delivery of Engineered AAV1 Expressing CRISPRa.

Targeted transcriptional modulation in the central nervous system (CNS) can be achieved by adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery of CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) and interference (CRISPRi) transgenes. To enable AAV packaging, we constructed minimal CRISPRa and CRISPRi transgenes by fusing catalytically inactive Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 (dSaCas9) to the transcriptional activator (VP64 and VP160) and repressor (KRAB and SID4X) domains along with truncated regulatory elements. We then evaluated the performance of these constructs in two reporter assays (bioluminescent and fluorescent), five endogenous genes (Camk2a, Mycn, Nrf2, Keap1, and PDGFRA), and two cell lines (neuro-2a [N2a] and U87) by targeting the promoter and/or enhancer regions.

Automatic 3D reconstruction of SEM images based on Nano-robotic manipulation and epipolar plane images.

This paper reports a new and general 3D reconstruction algorithm by using the light field reconstruction theory to effectively construct 3D SEM images in a large range. Firstly, a nano-robotic system was employed to automatically capture a group of SEM images along a linear path with a fixed step size, which allowed the 3D SEM images to be reconstructed beyond the field of view (FOV) of SEM. Then, the epipolar-plane images (EPI) were generated, and the depth image was reconstructed based on the specific linear structures emerging in EPI and the automatic depth estimation algorithm.

Hsp27 Responds to and Facilitates Enterovirus A71 Replication by Enhancing Viral Internal Ribosome Entry Site-Mediated Translation.

Enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) is a human pathogen that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) and fatal neurological diseases, and no effective treatment is available. Characterization of key host factors is important for understanding its pathogenesis and developing antiviral drugs. Here we report that Hsp27 is one of the most upregulated proteins in response to EV-A71 infection, as revealed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-based proteomics studies.

The special stemness functions of Tbx3 in stem cells and cancer development.

The T-box factors belong to an ancient protein family, which comprises a cluster of evolutionarily-conserved transcription factors that regulate gene expression and that are crucial to embryonic development. T-box transcription factor 3 (Tbx3) is a member of this family, is expressed in some tissues, and is a key regulator in many critical organs, including the heart, mammary gland, and limbs. Overexpression of Tbx3 is associated with a number of cancers, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, gastric, breast, ovary, cervical, pancreatic, bladder and liver cancers, as well as melanoma.

Novel HDAC5-interacting motifs of Tbx3 are essential for the suppression of E-cadherin expression and for the promotion of metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Tbx3, a transcriptional repressor, is essential in the organogenesis of vertebrates, stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, and the carcinogenesis of multiple tumor types. However, the mechanism by which Tbx3 participates in the metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. In this study, we show that Tbx3 was dramatically upregulated in clinical HCC samples and that elevated expression of Tbx3 promoted cancer progression.