The role of Neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in MS and AQP4-NMOSD: Advancing clinical applications.

Fluid biomarkers such as Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and Neurofilament Light (NfL) play important roles in the diagnosis, monitoring, and evaluation of therapeutic responses in conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Aquaporin-4 Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (AQP4-NMOSD). These biomarkers offer key insights into the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of these diseases, enabling effective follow-up and personalized treatment approaches, which are essential for improving patient outcomes. Herein, we synthesize the structural attributes, functional roles, and clinical significance of GFAP and NfL in the context of MS and AQP4-NMOSD.

Serum Vitamin D Level Correlates Significantly With Leptin and Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha in Overweight Postmenopausal Women With Hypertension.

Background: Association of serum vitamin D (vitD) with leptin (Lep) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is not precisely known in overweight hypertensive (OW-HT) postmenopausal (PMP) women. Hence, the present study was carried out to investigate the body mass index (BMI)-based correlation of serum vitD with Lep and TNF-α in OW-HT PMP women.

Methods: Women subjects in their early PMP (n = 346, age: 51 - 60 years) categorized into three groups had main inclusion criteria of specified range of age, BMI and blood pressure (BP).

Recent development of micro-nano carriers for oral antineoplastic drug delivery.

Chemotherapy is widely recognized as a highly efficacious modality for cancer treatment, involving the administration of chemotherapeutic agents to target and eradicate tumor cells. Currently, oral administration stands as the prevailing and widely utilized method of delivering chemotherapy drugs. However, the majority of anti-tumor medications exhibit limited solubility and permeability, and poor stability in harsh gastrointestinal environments, thereby impeding their therapeutic efficacy for chemotherapy.

Caspase-4 Has Potential Utility as a Colorectal Tissue Biomarker for Dysplasia and Early-Stage Cancer.

Background And Aims: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most deadly cancer globally. The rapidly rising incidence rate of CRC, coupled with increased diagnoses in individuals <50 years, indicates that early detection of CRC, and those at an increased risk of CRC development, is paramount to improve the survival rates of these patients. Here, we profile caspase-4 expression across 2 distinct CRC development pathways, sporadic CRC (sCRC) and inflammatory bowel disease-associated CRC (IBD-CRC), to examine its utility as a novel biomarker for CRC risk and diagnosis.

Computationally Assisted Noncanonical Amino Acid Incorporation.

Genetic encoding of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) with desired functionalities is an invaluable tool for the study of biological processes and the development of therapeutic drugs. However, existing ncAA incorporation strategies are rather time-consuming and have relatively low success rates. Here, we develop a virtual ncAA screener based on the analysis and modeling of the chemical properties of all reported ncAA substrates to virtually determine the recognition potential of candidate ncAAs.

Post-processing enhances protein secondary structure prediction with second order deep learning and embeddings.

Protein Secondary Structure Prediction (PSSP) is regarded as a challenging task in bioinformatics, and numerous approaches to achieve a more accurate prediction have been proposed. Accurate PSSP can be instrumental in inferring protein tertiary structure and their functions. Machine Learning and in particular Deep Learning approaches show promising results for the PSSP problem.

Zinc Doped Akermanite: A Promising Biomaterial for Orthopedic Application with Enhanced Bioactivity, Mechanical Strength, and Bacterial Study.

Incorporating zinc into biocompatible materials has been identified as a potential strategy for promoting bone regeneration and osteogenic activity during hard tissue regeneration. This work aimed to investigate the impact of zinc doping on the structure of akermanite, which was synthesized using the sol-gel combustion method, with the goal of improving the biological response. Powder XRD and FT-IR analysis confirmed the phase purity and the respective functional groups associated with Zn-doped akermanite.

Evolutionary patterns of the SSU rRNA (V4 region) secondary structure in genus (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea): insights into cryptic species and primitive traits.

The genus , a group of ciliated protists, has attracted attention as a model organism due to its widespread distribution and ease of cultivation. This study examines the evolutionary patterns of the SSU rRNA secondary structure within this genus, aiming to elucidate its role in supporting evolutionary relationships and uncovering cryptic species. By predicting the secondary structure of SSU rRNA and applying the CBC (Compensatory Base Change) concept analysis, we examined 69 species of the genus , with 57 SSU rRNA gene sequences retrieved from GenBank and 12 newly sequenced specimens from South Korea.

Sympathetic innervation of interscapular brown adipose tissue is not a predominant mediator of Oxytocin (OT)-elicited reductions of body weight gain and adiposity in male diet-induced obese rats.

Recent studies indicate that central administration of oxytocin (OT) reduces body weight (BW) in high fat diet-induced obese (DIO) rodents by reducing energy intake and increasing energy expenditure (EE). Previous studies in our lab have shown that administration of OT into the fourth ventricle (4V; hindbrain) elicits weight loss and stimulates interscapular brown adipose tissue temperature (T) in DIO rats. We hypothesized that OT-elicited stimulation of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation of IBAT contributes to its ability to activate BAT and reduce BW in DIO rats.

Experimental adaptation to singular pathogen challenge reduces susceptibility to novel pathogens in .

Hosts often encounter and must respond to novel pathogens in the wild, that is pathogens that they have not encountered in recent evolutionary history, and therefore are not adapted to. How hosts respond to these novel pathogens and the outcome of such infections can be shaped by the host's evolutionary history, especially by how well adapted the host is to its native pathogens, that is pathogens they have evolved with. Host adaptation to one pathogen can either increase its susceptibility to a novel pathogen, due to specialization of immune defenses and trade-offs between different arms of the immune system, or can decrease susceptibility to novel pathogens by virtue of cross-resistance.

From contamination to detection: The growing threat of heavy metals.

Heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic are environmental pollutants that accumulate in ecosystems and pose significant health risks to humans and wildlife, primarily through food chain contamination where plants absorb heavy metals, affecting their growth and threatening consumer health. Cognitive and cardiovascular functions are particularly affected by exposure to heavy metals even at low concentrations through the induction of oxidative stress. Various analytical techniques are used in measuring heavy metals in different environmental and biological samples.

Lipidomics-based natural products for chronic kidney disease treatment.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is by far the most prevalent disease in the world and is now a major global public health problem because of the increase in diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Traditional biomarkers of kidney function lack sensitivity and specificity for early detection and monitoring of CKD progression, necessitating more sensitive biomarkers for early diagnostic intervention. Dyslipidemia is a hallmark of CKD.

: A treasure trove of phytochemicals, nutritional benefits, and biological activities.

The increasing impact of climate change and growing consumer interest in healthful foods have forced a reconsideration of indigenous plants as sustainable food resources. popularly known as Mobola plum, is a prominent African underutilized plant whose natural habitat stretches from West to Southern Africa. It is an important source of food and ethnomedicines across Africa, a status boosted by the rich content of nutrients and phytochemicals in its different plant parts.

Human head and neck cancer cell lines response to cold atmospheric plasma activated media is affected by the chemistry of culture media.

Survival rate of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) patients are still to date very poor, and the application of innovative clinical approaches are urgently needed. Cold atmospheric plasmas (CAPs) are partially ionized gases that have shown anti-tumor effectiveness over a wide range of cancer types with potential application into clinics. However, the comprehension of the mechanisms underlying indirect CAP effects plays a key role for the prediction of treatment outcomes.

In-vitro study of hybrid silver nanoparticles with humic acid extracted from cow dung against pathogens.

Recently, researchers have used silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) coupled with humic acid (HA) as antimicrobial agents. Herein, AgNPs were prepared and coupled with humic acid for their antimicrobial activities. The as-prepared AgNPs coupled with humic acid (HA) were characterized by an atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), zeta potential, zeta sizer, Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and UV-VIS spectrophotometer.

Risk assessment and photo-disinfection of antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in water sources from Ede, Nigeria.

Environmental antibiotic residues (EARs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) are known to contribute to global antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This study investigated EAR levels in selected wells, river, abattoir wastewater, bottled water and sachet water from Ede, Nigeria. Ecological risk quotient (RQ) and health risk (Hazard quotient) of the levels of these EARs, ARB and multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDR) with their antibiotic resistance were calculated.

Computational epitope-based vaccine design with bioinformatics approach; a review.

The significance of vaccine development has gained heightened importance in light of the pandemic. In such critical circumstances, global citizens anticipate researchers in this field to swiftly identify a vaccine candidate to combat the pandemic's root cause. It is widely recognized that the vaccine design process is traditionally both time-consuming and costly.

Effect of nanoemulsion carbonated hydroxyapatite-statin administration on Acp 5 and Runx-2 expression during orthodontic relapse in rats.

Background: Retention is an essential element of orthodontic treatment. In the past two decades, numerous biological treatments have been developed to alleviate orthodontic relapse. Pharmacologic bone modulation is a viable approach to mitigate relapse.

Halotolerant bacterial endophyte s CBE mediates abiotic stress tolerance with minimal transcriptional modifications in .

Nitrogen and water are the primary resources limiting agricultural production worldwide. We have demonstrated the ability of a novel halotolerant bacterial endophyte, s CBE, to induce osmotic stress tolerance in under nitrogen-deprived conditions. Additionally, we aimed to identify the molecular factors in plants that contribute to the beneficial effects induced by CBE in .

Insights on Bmi-1 therapeutic targeting in head and neck cancers.

The B lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 homolog (Bmi-1) protein of the polycomb complex is an essential mediator of the epigenetic transcriptional silencing by the chromatin structure. It has been reported to be crucial for homeostasis of the stem cells and tumorigenesis. Though years of investigation have clarified Bmi-1's transcriptional regulation, post-translational modifications, and functions in controlling cellular bioenergetics, pathologies, and DNA damage response, the full potential of this protein with so many diverse roles are still unfulfilled.

Once a day administration of R(+) propranolol is sufficient to block vasculogenesis in a xenograft model of infantile hemangioma.

Objectives: Infantile hemangioma (IH) is a benign vascular tumor that occurs in 5% of infants, predominantly in female and preterm neonates. Propranolol is the mainstay of treatment for IH. Given the short half-life of propranolol regarding β-adrenergic receptor inhibition as well as its side effects, propranolol is administered to infants 2-3 times daily with 1 mg/kg/dose.

A single entomopathogenic nematode infection assay for larvae.

The entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) Steinernema carpocapsae and Steinernema hermaphroditum can efficiently infect the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The EPN infective juvenile (IJ) stage is the free-living and non-feeding stage that seeks out suitable insects to infect. While previous studies have described successful infection of melanogaster larvae with a standard amount of 100 IJs, the pathogenicity of a single IJ nematode towards insects remains poorly understood.

Catalytic reduction of NAD(P) to NAD(P)H.

1,4-Dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and its phosphate ester (NADPH) are essential cofactors required for all living cells, playing pivotal roles in multiple biological processes such as energy metabolism and biosynthesis. NADPH is produced during photosynthesis by the combination of photosystem II, where water is oxidised, and photosystem I, where NADP is reduced. This review focuses on catalytic NAD(P) (and its analogues) reduction to generate 1,4-NAD(P)H without formation of other regioisomers and the dimer.

Prioritizing Brain Health in Youth: Bringing Neuroscience to Society and Informing Policy, Lessons Learnt from the European Brain Council Expert Meeting Held at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum 2024.

Good brain health plays a significant role in an individual's well-being and profoundly impacts the collective economy and society. Brain development does not stop at birth, and some aspects continue throughout childhood and adolescence, allowing the full development of cognitive functions. Different determinants related to physical health, healthy environments, safety and security, life-long learning and social connection as well as access to quality services influence the way our brains develop, adapt and respond to stress and adversity.