Development of chitosan-based films with invertase enzyme for active packaging: Physicochemical parameters, structure, application, and storage.

The use of active packaging made from biodegradable polymers can contribute to the environment and to the food industry by increasing the shelf life of their products. This study aimed to produce chitosan-based films incorporated with the invertase enzyme (1, 2, 5, 9, and 10 %) as an alternative to avoid sucrose crystallization in the confectionery industry. The optimum activity of the invertase enzyme was observed at 55 °C and pH 5, thus, the films made with the film-forming solution adjusted to pH 5 and dried at 55 °C were compared with those without pH adjustment and dried at room temperature.

Menin orchestrates macrophage reprogramming to maintain the pulmonary immune homeostasis.

Menin is a scaffold protein encoded by the Men1 gene, and it interacts with a variety of chromatin regulators to activate or repress cellular processes. The potential importance of menin in immune regulation remains unclear. Here, we report that myeloid deletion of Men1 results in the development of spontaneous pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP).

Target-agnostic identification of human antibodies to sexual forms reveals cross-stage recognition of glutamate-rich repeats.

Circulating sexual stages of ) can be transmitted from humans to mosquitoes, thereby furthering the spread of malaria in the population. It is well established that antibodies can efficiently block parasite transmission. In search for naturally acquired antibodies targets on sexual stages, we established an efficient method for target-agnostic single B cell activation followed by high-throughput selection of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) reactive to sexual stages of in the form of gametes and gametocyte extracts.

Cadherins and Growth Factor Receptors: ligand selective mechano-switches at cadherin junctions.

This study investigated possible mechanisms underlying differences between heterophilic and homophilic cadherin adhesions that influence intercellular mechanics and multicellular organization. Results suggest that homophilic cadherin ligation selectively activates force-transduction, such that resulting signaling and mechano-transduction amplitudes are independent of cadherin binding affinities. Epithelial (E-) and neural (N-) cadherin cooperate with distinct growth factors to mechanically activate force-transduction cascades.

A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology.

Developmental biologists can perform studies that describe a phenomenon (descriptive work) and/or explain how the phenomenon works (mechanistic work). There is a prevalent perception that molecular/genetic explanations achieved via perturbations of gene function are the primary means of advancing mechanistic knowledge. We believe this to be a limited perspective, one that does not effectively represent the breadth of work in our field.

Reevaluating Anti-Inflammatory Therapy: Targeting Senescence to Balance Anti-Cancer Efficacy and Vascular Disease.

Modulating immune function is a critical strategy in cancer and atherosclerosis treatments. For cancer, boosting or maintaining the immune system is crucial to prevent tumor growth. However, in vascular disease, mitigating immune responses can decrease inflammation and slow atherosclerosis progression.

V-ATPase Disassembly at the Yeast Lysosome-Like Vacuole Is a Phenotypic Driver of Lysosome Dysfunction in Replicative Aging.

Declines in lysosomal acidification and function with aging are observed in organisms ranging from yeast to humans. V-ATPases play a central role in organelle acidification, and V-ATPase activity is regulated by reversible disassembly in many different settings. Using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a replicative aging model, we demonstrate that V-ATPases disassemble into their V and V subcomplexes in aging cells, with release of V subunit C (Vma5) from the lysosome-like vacuole into the cytosol.

Cognitive and Alzheimer's disease biomarker effects of oral nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplementation in older adults with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment.

Introduction: Age-associated depletion in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) concentrations has been implicated in metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative disorders. Supplementation with NAD+ precursors, such as nicotinamide riboside (NR), offers a potential therapeutic avenue against neurodegenerative pathologies in aging, Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias. A crossover, double-blind, randomized placebo (PBO) controlled trial was conducted to test the safety and efficacy of 8 weeks' active treatment with NR (1 g/day) on cognition and plasma AD biomarkers in older adults with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment.

Incidence and Progression of Diastolic Dysfunction in People With HIV in Tanzania: A Comparative Cohort.

Background: People living with HIV (PLWH) have a higher prevalence of diastolic dysfunction and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal data are lacking, especially from Africa.

Objectives: The aim was to examine: 1) the incidence of diastolic dysfunction in PLWH compared to community controls in Tanzania; 2) the progression of diastolic function and LVH in PLWH after antiretroviral therapy initiation; and 3) traditional, endemic, and HIV-specific risk factors for diastolic function and LVH.

Ground Reaction Forces and Joint Moments Predict Metabolic Cost in Physical Performance: Harnessing the Power of Artificial Neural Networks.

Understanding metabolic cost through biomechanical data, including ground reaction forces (GRFs) and joint moments, is vital for health, sports, and rehabilitation. The long stabilization time (2-5 min) of indirect calorimetry poses challenges in prolonged tests. This study investigated using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict metabolic costs from the GRF and joint moment time series.

Minimal change disease in treatment-naïve hepatitis C virus infection: A case report and literature review.

Minimal change disease (MCD) accounts for 10 - 15% of idiopathic nephrotic syndromes in adults. Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is rarely ascribed as a cause of MCD and was previously associated with interferon-based therapy. MCD in treatment-naïve chronic HCV infection is extremely rare, with only 3 cases reported in the literature.

Diagnostic Challenges and Insights Into Granulomatous Mastitis: A Systematic Review.

Granulomatous mastitis (GM) is a chronic inflammatory breast condition that presents significant diagnostic challenges due to its clinical and imaging similarities to malignancies. Accurate diagnosis is crucial to avoid unnecessary interventions and ensure effective management. A total of 1,216 articles were initially identified through a comprehensive database search.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis: Clinical and morphological overview of a rare disease associated with macrophage dysfunction.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disease characterised by excessive accumulation of surfactant components in alveolar macrophages, alveoli, and peripheral airways. The accumulation of surfactant is associated with only a minimal inflammatory response but can lead to the development of pulmonary fibrosis. Three clinical forms of PAP are distinguished - primary, secondary and congenital.

In a visual inverted pendulum balancing task avoiding impending falls gets harder as we age.

Younger adults (YA) and older adults (OA) used a joystick to stabilize an unstable visual inverted pendulum (VIP) with a fundamental frequency (.27 Hz) of half that of bipedal human sway. Their task was to keep the VIP upright and to avoid ± 60° "fall" boundaries.

Lung endothelial cell senescence impairs barrier function and promotes neutrophil adhesion and migration.

Cellular senescence contributes to inflammation and organ dysfunction during aging. While this process is generally characterized by irreversible cell cycle arrest, its morphological features and functional impacts vary in different cells from various organs. In this study, we examined the expression of multiple senescent markers in the lungs of young and aged humans and mice, as well as in mouse lung endothelial cells cultured with a senescence inducer, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), or doxorubicin (DOXO).

A novel human fetal lung-derived alveolar organoid model reveals mechanisms of surfactant protein C maturation relevant to interstitial lung disease.

Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells maintain lung health by acting as stem cells and producing pulmonary surfactant. AT2 dysfunction underlies many lung diseases, including interstitial lung disease (ILD), in which some inherited forms result from the mislocalization of surfactant protein C (SFTPC) variants. Lung disease modeling and dissection of the underlying mechanisms remain challenging due to complexities in deriving and maintaining human AT2 cells ex vivo.

Aromatic side-chain crosslinking in RiPP biosynthesis.

Peptide cyclization is a defining feature of many bioactive molecules, particularly in the ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP) family of natural products. Although enzymes responsible for N- to C-terminal macrocyclization, lanthipeptide formation or heterocycle installation have been well documented, a diverse array of cyclases have been discovered that perform crosslinking of aromatic side chains. These enzymes form either biaryl linkages between two aromatic amino acids or a crosslink between one aliphatic amino acid and one aromatic amino acid.

Correlation between serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and bone mineral density in vitamin D-deficient populations.

Introduction: To investigate the relationship between serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and bone mineral density (BMD) in vitamin D-deficient population.

Materials And Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study. From January to December 2020, 2583 middle-aged and older adult aged 40 and above were randomly selected in the Health Management Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University for health examination and questionnaire survey.

Construction and application of optimized model for mine water inflow prediction based on neural network and ARIMA model.

Mine water influx is a significant geological hazard during mine development, influenced by various factors such as geological conditions, hydrology, climate, and mining techniques. This phenomenon is characterized by non-linearity and high complexity, leading to frequent water accidents in coal mines. These accidents not only impact coal production quality but also jeopardize the safety of mine staff.

Implications for the diagnosis of aspiration and aspergillosis in critically ill patients with detection of galactomannan in broncho-alveolar lavage fluids.

Invasive infections with Aspergillus fumigatus in ICU patients are linked to high morbidity and mortality. Diagnosing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in non-immunosuppressed patients is difficult, as Aspergillus antigen (galactomannan [GM]) may have other causes. This retrospective study analyzed 160 ICU surgical patients with positive GM in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF), classifying them based on AspICU criteria for suspected IPA (pIPA) or aspiration.

Mutated IL-32θ (A94V) inhibits COX2, GM-CSF and CYP1A1 through AhR/ARNT and MAPKs/NF-κB/AP-1 in keratinocytes exposed to PM.

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) in the air harms human health. Most studies on particulate matter's (PM) effects have primarily focused on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, IL-32θ, one of the IL-32 isoforms, has been demonstrated to modulate cancer development and inflammatory responses.

Generalized robust regression techniques and adaptive cluster sampling for efficient estimation of population mean in case of rare and clustered populations.

Situations when field researchers are tempted to deviate from preselected sampling plan and to include nearby or related units in sample, then adaptive cluster sampling (ACS) offers a nearly completion solution. For rare and clustered populations, Thompson introduced ACS as an effective sampling method when data is not contaminated with outliers. However, traditional approaches produce distorted results when data includes outliers.

Chimeric antigen receptor macrophages (CAR-M) sensitize HER2+ solid tumors to PD1 blockade in pre-clinical models.

We previously developed human CAR macrophages (CAR-M) and demonstrated redirection of macrophage anti-tumor function leading to tumor control in immunodeficient xenograft models. Here, we develop clinically relevant fully immunocompetent syngeneic models to evaluate the potential for CAR-M to remodel the tumor microenvironment (TME), induce T cell anti-tumor immunity, and sensitize solid tumors to PD1/PDL1 checkpoint inhibition. In vivo, anti-HER2 CAR-M significantly reduce tumor burden, prolong survival, remodel the TME, increase intratumoral T cell and natural killer (NK) cell infiltration, and induce antigen spreading.

Herpesviruses mimic zygotic genome activation to promote viral replication.

Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) is crucial for maternal to zygotic transition at the 2-8-cell stage in order to overcome silencing of genes and enable transcription from the zygotic genome. In humans, ZGA is induced by DUX4, a pioneer factor that drives expression of downstream germline-specific genes and retroelements. Here we show that herpesviruses from all subfamilies, papillomaviruses and Merkel cell polyomavirus actively induce DUX4 expression to promote viral transcription and replication.

CD131 antagonism blocks inflammation, emphysema and fibrosis in an asthma-COPD overlap mouse model originating in early life.

Background And Objective: Asthma-COPD overlap (ACO) is characterized by patients exhibiting features of both asthma and COPD. Currently, there is no specific treatment for ACO. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of targeting CD131, a shared receptor subunit for IL-3, IL-5 and GM-CSF, in ACO development and in preventing acute viral exacerbations.