In May 2022, WHO reported an outbreak of Mpox in several European countries which were previously Mpox free. Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is a zoonotic viral disease endemic in Central and West Africa. The sudden emergence of Mpox outside Africa and its subsequent rapid spread lead the WHO to declare the outbreak as Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As of May 15, 2023, a total of 87,704 confirmed cases and 140 deaths had been reported from 111 countries and territories worldwide. Looking back on this outbreak one year later, several important questions have arisen. Here, we address these questions using the classic five Ws: What, When, Where, Who and Why? We discuss these questions and outline what needs to be done to prevent, or at least minimize, outbreaks from emerging and re-emerging viral infection.

Trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs) are a family of G protein-coupled receptors present in mammals in the brain and in several peripheral organs. Apart from its olfactory role, TAAR5 is expressed in the major limbic brain areas and regulates brain serotonin functions and emotional behaviors. However, most of its functions remain undiscovered. Given the role of serotonin and limbic regions in some aspects of cognition, we used a temporal decision-making task to unveil a possible role of TAAR5 in cognitive processes. We found that TAAR5 knock-out (KO) mice showed a generally better performance due to a reduced number of errors and displayed a greater rate of improvement at the task than WT littermates. However, task-related parameters, such as time accuracy and uncertainty have not changed significantly. Overall, we show that TAAR5 modulates specific domains of cognition, highlighting a new role in brain physiology.

To characterize the mechanisms by which the highly-conserved exocyst trafficking complex regulates eye physiology in zebrafish and mice, we focused on exoc5 (aka sec10), a central exocyst component. We analyzed both exoc5 zebrafish mutants and retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE)-specific Exoc5 knockout mice. Exoc5 is present in both the non-pigmented epithelium of the ciliary body and in the RPE. In this study we set out to establish an animal model to study the mechanisms underlying the ocular phenotype and to establish if loss of visual function is induced by postnatal RPE Exoc5-deficiency. Exoc5-/- zebrafish showed smaller eyes, with decreased number of melanocytes in the RPE and shorter photoreceptor outer segments. At 3.5 days post fertilization, loss of rod and cone opsins were observed in zebrafish Tg:exoc5 mutants. Mice with postnatal RPE-specific loss of Exoc5 showed retinal thinning associated with compromised visual function, and loss of visual photoreceptor pigments. This retinal phenotype in Exoc5-/- mice was present at 20-weeks, and the phenotype was more severe at 27-weeks, indicating progressive disease phenotype. We previously showed that the exocyst is necessary for photoreceptor ciliogenesis and retinal development. Here, we report that exoc5 mutant zebrafish and mice with RPE-specific genetic ablation of Exoc5 develop abnormal RPE pigmentation, resulting in retinal cell dystrophy and loss of visual pigments associated with compromised vision. As RPE cells are “downstream” of photoreceptor cells in the visual process, these data suggest exocyst-mediated retrograde communication and dependence between the RPE and photoreceptors.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) due to diabetes mellitus remains difficult to treat despite advances in pharmacotherapeutic approaches in the field. Therefore, this study investigated the erectogenic effect of the methanolic extract of Maytenus procumbens roots on type 2 diabetes in rats. The fructose-streptozotocin model was used to induce type 2 diabetes-linked ED in male rats. The sexually active male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into two major groups; normal group and high fructose fed group for 120 days. After 120 days, the high fructose fed group rats were given a single intraperitoneal injection of a freshly prepared streptozotocin solution (30 mg/kg). The diabetic ED rats were orally administered with the extract at 250 mg/kg, daily for 28 days. The serum, brain and penile tissues were removed for biochemical analysis and protein expression. Increased testosterone level, mounting frequency, reduced blood glucose level and serum fructosamine content was observed after 28 days of treatment in diabetic rats. Methanolic extract also exhibited an inhibitory effect on arginase, AChE, and ACE activities. The crude extract further downregulated proteins PDE-5, RhoA and increased expression of eNOS in the diabetic ED treated rats. The results obtained indicate that the methanolic extract of Maytenus procumbens roots ameliorates erectile dysfunction in type 2 diabetes-induced erectile dysfunction in rats.

Liver receptor homolog-1 (LRH-1) has emerged as a regulator of hepatic glucose, bile acid, and mitochondrial metabolism. However, the functional mechanism underlying the effect of LRH-1 on lipid mobilization has not been addressed. This study investigated the regulatory function of LRH-1 in lipid metabolism during fasting. The wild-type (WT) and LRH-1 liver-specific knockout (LKO) mice were either fed or fasted for 24 h, and the liver and serum were isolated. During fasting, the LRH-1 LKO mice showed greater accumulation of triglycerides in the liver compared to that in WT mice. Interestingly, LRH-1 LKO liver decreased the perilipin 5 (PLIN5) expression and genes involved in β-oxidation. Additionally, the LRH-1 agonist dialauroylphosphatidylcholine also enhanced PLIN5 expression in human cultured HepG2 cells. To identify new target genes of LRH-1, these findings directed to analyze the PLIN5 promoter sequence, which revealed −1620/−1614 to be a putative binding site for LRH-1. This was confirmed by promoter activity and chromatin immuno-precipitation assays. Moreover, fasted WT primary hepatocytes showed increased co-localization of PLIN5 in lipid droplets (LDs) compared to that in fasted LRH-1 LKO primary hepatocytes. Overall, these findings suggest that PLIN5 might be a novel target of LRH-1 to mobilize LDs and manage the cellular needs.

A single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic and serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) agonist, may be associated with antidepressant effects. The mechanism behind its antidepressive action is unknown but could be linked to increased synaptogenesis and down-regulation of cerebral 5-HT2AR. Here, we investigate if a single psychedelic dose of psilocybin changes synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) and 5-HT2AR density in the pig brain. Twenty-four awake pigs received either 0.08 mg/kg psilocybin or saline intravenously. Twelve pigs (n=6/intervention) were euthanized one day post-injection, while the remaining twelve pigs were euthanized seven days post-injection (n=6/intervention). We performed autoradiography on hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) sections with [3H]UCB-J (SV2A), [3H]MDL100907 (5-HT2AR antagonist) and [3H]Cimbi-36 (5-HT2AR agonist). One day post psilocybin injection, we observed 4.4% higher hippocampal SV2A density and lowered hippocampal and PFC 5-HT2AR density (-15.21% to -50.19%). These differences were statistically significant in the hippocampus for all radioligands and in PFC for [3H]Cimbi-36 only. Seven days post-intervention, there was still significantly higher SV2A density in hippocampus (+9.24%) and PFC (+6.1%) whereas there were no longer any differences in 5-HT2AR density. Our findings suggest that psilocybin’s antidepressive actions are linked to increased persistent synaptogenesis and possibly also to an acute decrease in 5-HT2AR density.

After the increasing number of SARS-CoV-2 infections all over the world, researchers and clinicians are struggling to find a vaccine or innovative therapeutic strategies to treat this viral infection. The SARS-CoV infection that occurred in 2002, MERS and other more common infectious diseases such as HCV, led to the discovery of many RNA-based drugs. Among them, siRNAs and antisense LNAs have been demonstrated to have effective antiviral effects both in animal models and humans. Owing to the high genomic homology of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV (80-82%) the use of these molecules could be employed successfully also to target this emerging coronavirus. Trying to translate this approach to treat COVID-19, we analyzed the common structural features of viral 5’UTR regions that can be targeted by non-coding RNAs and we also identified miRNAs binding sites suitable for designing RNA-based drugs to be employed successfully against SARS-CoV-2.

CrHZSM-5 was placed in an electric field with appropriate strength in a quartz packed bed reactor with CO2 as oxidant to analyze its catalytic activity. Olefin yield increases with decrease in band gap since lattice oxygen mobility increases by reducing band gap. Fermi level change at the catalyst surface affects the catalytic activity. One way to change Fermi level is use electric field. In high voltage electric field, energy band was curved, bending of the energy band promoted the activity and Fermi level position is increasing. The CCD experiments were carried out with Design-Expert 7.3 software to determine the interaction between four operating variables, namely: temperature, electrical current, gap distance and metal loading. The levels of the independent variables were: temperature (550-700 °C), electrical current (0-12 mA), gap distance (6-14 mm), metal loading (0.5-7.5 %wt.). The conversion of LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) was greatly increased by weak and effective application of an electric field to the catalyst bed. The obtained results indicated that the maximum yield value (46.94%) can be achieved under 673.66 °C, input electrical current of 11.01 mA, gap distance of 6.55 mm and metal loading of 3.98 wt.%.

Lung cancer is almost the most common cause of cancer death in the world. Clinically, the conventional therapy to eradicate the cancer cells is chemotherapy but a better drug remains required. In this study, the effects of three bufadienolides, kalantuboside B, kalantuboside A and bryotoxin C, isolated from Kalanchoe tubiflora (Harvey) were evaluated and characterized in CL1-5 highly metastatic human lung cancer cells. Contrary to the apoptosis-promoting activity in other cancer cells, these three bufadienolides did not induce apoptosis in CL1-5 cancer cells. Instead, they activated an autophagy pathway, as indicated by the increase of autophagosomes formation. The induction of autophagy by these three bufadienolides was demonstrated to link to down-regulation of p-mTOR as well as up-regulation of LC3-II, ATG5, ATG7, Beclin-1. Moreover, among these three compounds, kalantuboside B in which a monosaccharide is attached at the bufadienolide aglycon, exhibited a better autophagy induction. Our findings revealed an alternative mechanism of drug action by bufadienolides in lung cancer cells and provided evidence for the possibility of treating highly metastatic human lung cancer through an autophagy pathway.

Lower respiratory infections (LRI), upper respiratory infections (URI), and nutritional deficiency (ND) in under-5 children from low-middle-income countries has been at a high level for decades, despite efforts that have been realized in some countries. The study used data extracted from the global burden of diseases (GBD) to analyze the trends behavior between 1990 and 2019, and evaluate their association with maternal factors. Between 1990 and 2019, the incidence of LRI decreased between 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent (1.2-1.3%) in different female age groups, and by nearly 1 to 1.3% in those of the male gender. The incidence of URI did not decrease (0.0%) in any of their age groups. ND incidence declined around 0.7 to 4.9% in the under-5 children. LRI declined mostly in the female age groups (1.2 to 1.3%), while ND decreased more in the male gender (0.9 to 4.9%). Maternal risk factors were strongly associated to the incidence of the three conditions with over 90 percent. Maternal prevalence of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis positively impacted the incidence of LRI, URI, and ND in Chadian under-5 children. Although the incidence of LRI and ND declined, URI incidence remained steady between 1990 and 2019 in Chadian under-5 children. To improve the health and provide a healthy growth of under-5 children, the maternal prevalence of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis infection should be strongly addressed for a prompt accomplishment of the sustainable development goals.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by widespread inflammation and multi-organ damage. Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR-7) and autophagy have been implicated in SLE pathogenesis. Rice husk silica liquid (RHSL) has shown potential for modulating inflammatory responses, but its effects on SLE have not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to evaluate the impact of RHSL on immune responses and autophagy in an in vitro model of SLE, focusing on its effects on TLR-7 signaling, cytokine production, and autophagy modulation. RAW264.7 cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors and SLE patients were used. Cells were stimulated with LPS or TLR-7 agonists and treated with RHSL. Cell viability was assessed, and cytokine levels (TNF-α and IL-6) were measured by ELISA. Autophagy-related proteins (LC3II, ATG5-ATG12) were analyzed by Western blotting. The effect of autophagy inhibition was studied using 3-methyladenine (3-MA). RHSL did not affect cell viability but significantly reduced TNF-α production in LPS- and TLR-7 agonist-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and PBMCs. RHSL enhanced autophagy, as evidenced by increased LC3II and ATG5-ATG12 conjugation in both RAW264.7 cells and SLE patient-derived PBMCs. The reduction in TNF-α production by RHSL was attenuated by 3-MA, indicating that autophagy plays a role in this process. RHSL also inhibited the translocation of phosphorylated NF-κB into the nucleus, suggesting a mechanism for its anti-inflammatory effects. RHSL exhibits potential as an immunomodulatory agent in SLE by enhancing autophagy and modulating TLR-7 signaling pathways. These findings suggest that RHSL could offer therapeutic benefits for managing inflammatory responses in SLE and warrant further investigation into its clinical applications.

Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles produced by almost all cell types in the human body and exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that are known to serve as important biomarkers for diseases such as cancer. Given that the upregulation of miR-106b is closely associated with several types of malignancies, the sensitive and accurate detection of miR-106b is important but difficult. In this study, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) biosensor was developed to detect miR-106b isolated from the cancer cells based on immunoaffinity separation technique using our unique paddle screw device. Our novel SAW biosensor could detect a miR-106b concentration as low as 0.024 pM in a linear range from 0.1 pM to 1.0 μM with a correlation coefficient of 0.9939. Additionally, we were able to successfully detect miR-106b in total RNA extracted from the exosomes isolated from the MCF-7 cancer cell line, a model system for human breast cancer, with performance comparable to commercial RT-qPCR methods. Therefore, the exosome isolation by paddle screw method and the miRNA detection using the SAW biosensor has the potential to be used in basic biological research and clinical diagnosis as an alternative to RT-qPCR.

Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in innate immunity, particularly in combating infections and tumors. However, in hematological cancers, NK cells often exhibit impaired functions. Therefore, it is very important to activate its endosomal toll-like receptors (TLRs) as a potential strategy to restore its antitumor activity. We stimulate NK cells from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells from children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and NK cells isolated, the NK cells were stimulated with specific TLR ligands (Poly I:C, Imiquimod, R848, and ODN2006) and evaluated changes in IFN-γ, CD107a, NKG2D, NKp44 expression, Granzyme B secretion, cytokine/chemokine release, and cytotoxic activity. Results revealed that Poly I:C and Imiquimod enhanced activation of both immunoregulatory and cytotoxic NK cells, increasing IFN-γ, CD107a, NKG2D, and NKp44 expression. R848 activated immunoregulatory NK cells, while ODN2006 boosted CD107a, NKp44, NKG2D, and IFN-γ secretion in cytotoxic NK cells. R848 also increased secretion of various cytokines/chemokines. Importantly, R848 and ODN 2006 significantly improved cytotoxicity against leukemic cells. Overall, TLR stimulation enhances NK cell activation, suggesting TLR8 (R848) and TLR9 (ODN 2006) ligands as promising candidates for antitumor immunotherapy.

The importance of frailty in older people is getting constant recognition as an important aspect both in terms of public health, as well in personal level for the appropriate management of an older person health condition. This is reflected by the continuously increasing number of research studies carried out in several settings across different countries. Sometimes this is very solid, but in other cases there is a considerable gap in terms of accurate and well grounded documentation of frailty status. This is the case in Greece, where we are missing clinically validated tools to approach frailty. We are missing frailty screening tools, such as for instance PRISMA 7, the gold standard tool of Fried criteria is somehow problematic since the question referring to physical activity originates from a questionnaire that has not been translated and validated, while Clinical Frailty Scale has been validated for the translation but not for the capacity to detect frailty. Aim of this study is to validate these tools for their accuracy to detect frailty by using a measurable index of frailty, previously proposed for use in clinical studies: the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). 74 male and female participants have been evaluated for their frailty status using different tools. We observed that PRISMA 7 translation detects frailty only when one question is removed at a cut-off of ≥ 2 and indicated a sensitivity of 88.1%, and specificity of 99.9% with a good correlation with SPPB measurements (r = 0.858; p < 0.001). When CFS was validated using SPPB it demonstrated a very good correlation (r = -0.838; p < 0.001 respectively) as it was the case for the modified Fried Criteria (r = -0.725; p < 0.001). All items demonstrated a good correlation between them. We can here propose that we can accurately assess frailty status in the community setting by using a modified version of Fried criteria, Clinical Frailty Scale translation in Greek and we can screen for frailty by using the Greek translation of PRISMA 7 only after removing the item 6 of the questionnaire.

The gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes, containing a combination of 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (iPr) and the corresponding 7-azaindole derivative (HL1-4), were prepared and structurally characterized. The complexes of the composition of [Au(iPr)(HLn)], where n = 1–4 for 5-fluoro-7-azaindole (1), 5-bromo-7-azaindole (2), 3-chloro-7-azaindole (3) and 3-iodo-7-azaindole (4), were further evaluated for their in vitro anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activities. The results showed that complexes (1–4) behave as considerably cytotoxic against human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 (with IC50 = 4–9 mircoM) and cisplatin-resistant cell line A2780R (with IC50 = 5–8 microM, except for 2 with IC50 > 25 microM), providing significantly higher cytotoxicity than anticancer drug cisplatin. Moreover, they also revealed a relatively good selectivity over normal cells (MRC-5), with the values of selectivity index, SI > 2.5. The complex 4 was further studied for its cellular effects in A2780 cells by cell cycle analysis, induction of apoptosis, intracellular ROS production, activation of caspases 3/7 and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. The ability of complexes (1–4) to influence the activity of pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB and secretion of TNF-α were evaluated, showing that complex 4 reveals comparable effects as the inflammatory drug Auranofin.

In 2019, Chinese government implemented the first round of National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP) pilot (so-called "4+7" policy) in mainland China, achieved a prominent price reduction of 52% on average for 25 bidding winning products. Under cross-price elasticity theory, the price behavior of pharmaceutical enterprises for policy-related drugs might change. This study used drug purchasing data from the Centralized Drug Procurement Survey in Shenzhen 2019, and applied single-group Interruption Time Series (ITS) design to examine the impact of "4+7" policy on the drug price index (DPI) of policy-related drugs. The ITS analysis showed that the DPI of winning (-0.183 per month, p<0.0001) and non-winning (-0.034 per month, p=0.046) products significantly decreased after the implementation of "4+7" policy. No significant difference was found for the immediate change of DPI for alternative drugs (p=0.537), while a significant decrease in change trend was detected in the post-"4+7" policy period (-0.003 per month, p=0.014). The DPI of the overall policy-related drugs significantly decreased (-0.261 per month, p<0.0001) after "4+7" policy. These findings indicate that the price behavior of pharmaceutical enterprises changed under NCDP policy, while the price linkage effect is still limited. It is necessary to further expand the scope of centralized purchased drugs and strengthen the monitoring of related drugs regarding price change and consumption structure.

A multicenter retrospective analysis of 408 patients diagnosed with onychomycosis and attended at three tertiary care Spanish hospitals was conducted to assess the effectiveness and safety of a combined treatment with ciclopirox 8% hydroxypropyl chitosan (CPX 8% HPCH) nail lacquer and oral antifungal agents (terbinafine, itraconazole, and fluconazole). Data were extracted and analyzed using the EHRead® technology based on natural language processing and machine learning and using SNOMED CT terminology. The median age was 51 years with a ratio male: female close to 1. Repeated nail trauma was the most common risk factor (7.1%). More than half of patients (56.6%) underwent fungal culture. Terbinafine was used in 67.7% of patients, itraconazole in 20.8%, and fluconazole in 11.5%. Treatment synchronicity distribution revealed that 59.1% of patients started concomitant treatment with CPX 8% HPCH and oral antifungals, 27.9% had initial oral antifungals, and 13% had initial nail lacquer. The response to treatment (positive response 15.7%, presumed positive 59.8%) was unrelated to treatment synchronicity or type of antifungal agent. Erythema (5.6%), diarrhea (4.9%) and fever (4.2%) were the most frequently registered potential adverse events. The present findings provide valuable insights for physicians paving the way for better management of patients with onychomycosis.

Wheat and barley are among the primary food resources of the world population; therefore, their growth and observation are essential in farms to enhance food security worldwide. On top of that, careful observation of the product is essential to find solutions for the issues faced during their production and to reduce the impacts of weather changes. With the advancement of Remote Sensing technology, the observation and estimation process has increased. In this study, numbers of spectral vegetation indices was used along with canopy biophysical properties ( LAI ) and biochemical properties (chlorophyll), there calculated from (Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2) satellite data. The wheat and barley samples were collected before were be ready for harvest, and a relation with the vegetarian indices was established using the Multi-Linear Regression module, in which the equations used in predicting the harvest were developed and used to create a graph for expected harvest. The result indicated that there is a strong relationship between the vegetation indices of Sentinel-2 and Landsat images and the actual grain yield with R² of 0.77 and 0.71, respectively. The results show that the strongest correlation is observed between the LAI data obtained from Sentinel data and cereal yield data, with an R² 0.68, and the highest correlation for the indices of Landsat images is observed in the NDWI with R² 0.59 and the lowest degree of error was in the root mean square error (RMSE) for the Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 with 0.57 and 1.54. In addition, this study also showed that the least relationship for grain yield prediction was observed between the NDRI for Sentinel-2 (R² 0.1) and SAVI for Landsat image (R² 0.47).

Detailed built-up area information is valuable for mapping complex urban environments. Although a large number of classification algorithms about built-up areas have been developed, they are rarely tested from the perspective of feature engineering and feature learning. Therefore we launched a unique investigation to provide a full test of the OLI imagery for 15-m resolution built-up area classification in 2015, in Beijing, China. Training a classifier requires many sample points, and we propose a method based on the ESA's 38-meter global built-up area data of 2014, Open Street Map and MOD13Q1-NDVI to achieve rapid and automatic generation of a large number of sample points. Our aim is to examine the influence of a single pixel and image patch under traditional feature engineering and modern feature learning strategies. In feature engineering, we consider spectra, shape and texture as the input features, and SVM, random forest (RF) and AdaBoost as the classification algorithms. In feature learning, the convolution neural network (CNN) is used as the classification algorithm. In total, 26 built-up land cover maps were produced. Experimental results show that: (1) the approaches based on feature learning are generally better than those based on feature engineering in terms of classification accuracy, and the performance of ensemble classifiers e.g., RF, is comparable to that of CNN. Two dimensional CNN and the 7 neighborhood RF have the highest classification accuracy of nearly 91%. (2) Overall, the classification effect and accuracy based on image patches are better than those based on single pixels. The features that can highlight the information of the target category (for example, PanTex and EMBI) can help improve classification accuracy.

We aimed at analyzing Chlorophyll-a and CDOM dynamics from field measurements and at assessing the potential of multispectral satellite data for retrieving water-quality parameters in three small surface reservoirs in the Brazilian semiarid region. More specifically, this work comprises i) analysis of Chl-a and trophic dynamics; ii) characterization of CDOM; iii) estimation of Chl-a and CDOM from OLI/Landsat-8 and RapidEye imagery. The monitoring lasted 20 months within a multi-year drought, which contributed to water-quality deterioration. Chl-a and trophic state analysis showed a highly eutrophic status for the perennial reservoir during the entire study period, while the non-perennial reservoirs ranged from oligotrophic to eutrophic, with changes associated with the first events of the rainy season. CDOM characterization suggests that the perennial reservoir is mostly influenced by autochthonous sources, while allochthonous sources dominate the non-perennial ones. Spectral-group classification assigned the perennial as CDOM-moderate and highly eutrophic reservoir, whereas the non-perennial ones were assigned as CDOM-rich and oligotrophic-dystrophic reservoirs. The remote sensing initiative was partially successful: the Chl-a was best modelled using RapidEye for the perennial; whereas CDOM performed best with Landsat-8 for non-perennial reservoirs. This investigation showed high potential for retrieving water quality parameters in dry areas with small reservoirs.

In this contribution, the propylamine-functionalized cellulose (Cell-Pr-NH2) was employed as the catalyst in the three-component reaction between hydroxylamine hydrochloride, various type of aryl/heteroaryl aldehydes, ethyl acetoacetate/ethyl 4-chloroacetoacetate/ or ethyl 3-oxohexanoate. The results of these experiments were the formation of 3,4-disubstituted isoxazol-5(4H)-one heterocycles. The desired five-membered heterocyclic compounds were obtained in good to high yields at room temperature. The investigation of different solvents led us to the conclusion that water is the best solvent to perform the current one-pot, three-component reactions. Attempts to find the optimum catalyst loading clearly showed that 14 mg of Cell-Pr-NH2 seems to be sufficient to carry out the reactions. This method has highlighted some principles of green chemistry including less waste generation, atom economy, use of water as an environmentally friendly solvent, and energy saving. Purification without chromatographic methods, mild reaction conditions, simple work-up, low-cost reaction medium, saving time, and obtainable precursors are other notable features of this one-pot fashion.

RNA-seq faces persistent challenges due to the ongoing expanding array of data processing workflows, none of which have yet achieved standardization to date. It is imperative to determine which method most effectively preserves biological facts. Shannon entropy serves as a tool for depicting the biological status of a system. Thus, we assessed the measurement of Shannon entropy by several RNA-seq workflow approaches, employing RPKM and median normalization on paired samples of 475 TCGA RNA-seq datasets spanning eight different cancer types with 5-year overall survival rates ranging from 30% to 98%. Our analysis revealed that the RPKM normalization coupled with a threshold of log2 fold change ≥1 for indentifying differentially expressed genes, yielded the best results with a correlation coefficient of 0.91. We propose that Shannon entropy can serve as an objective metric for refining the optimization of RNA-seq workflows.

The occurrence of ovarian dysfunction is often due to the imbalance between the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the (in)effectiveness of the antioxidative defense mechanisms. Primary sources of ROS are the respiratory electron transfer and the activity of NADPH oxidases (NOX), while Superoxide dismutases (SOD) are the main key reg-ulators that control the levels of ROS and reactive nitrogen species intra- and extracel-lularly. Because of their central role, SODs are the subject of research on human ovarian dysfunction, but the sample acquisition is low. The high degree of cellular and molecular similarity between Drosophila melanogaster ovaries and human ovaries provides this model organism with the best conditions for analyzing the role of ROS during ovarian function. In this study, we clarify the localization of the ROS producing enzyme dNox within ovaries of Drosophila melanogaster and by a tissue specific knockdown, we show that dNox derived ROS are involved in the chorion hardening process. Furthermore, we analyze the dSod3 localization and show that reduced activity of dSod3 impacts egg laying behavior, but not the chorion hardening process.

This is a SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiological study in pediatric population(0-16 years) during BA.5 Omicron predominance period in Athens metropolitan area. Serum samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies(Abs-N), representing natural infection during three sub-periods of BA.5 predominance: 01/05/2022-31/08/2022(period A), 01/09/2022-31/12/2022(period B) and July 2023(period C) and epidemiological data were collected. Additionally in period C Abs-N seronegative samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies(Abs-S). A total of 878 children were tested (males:51.3%) with median age(IQR): 108(36-156) months and seropositivity during the 3 subperiods was: A:292/417(70%), B:288/356(80.9%), C:89/105(84.8%), P-value<0.001. SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity increased for from period A to C for 0-1-year (P-value: 0.044), 1-4 years (P-value: 0.028) and 6-12 years children (P-value: 0.003). Children 6-12y had the highest seroposi-tivity rates in all subperiods (A: 77.3%, B: 91.4% and C: 95.8%). A significant correlation of monthly SARS-CoV-2 median antibody titers with monthly seropositivity rates was detected (rs:0.812, P-value:0.008). During period C, an additional 12/105 (11.4%) Abs-S seropositive and Abs-N ser-onegative samples were detected and total seropositivity was estimated at 96.2% (101/105). The increased SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity detected in current seroepidemiology study illustrates a high exposure rate during BA.5 predominance period. These data could guide public health decisions regarding immunization strategies and protection measures.

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) plays pivotal roles in synaptic and neuronal functioning by sealing the space between adjacent microvascular endothelial cells. BBB breakdown is present in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer disease (AD). Claudin-5 (CLDN-5) is a tetra-spanning protein essential for sealing the intercellular space between adjacent endothelial cells in the BBB. In this study, we developed a blood-based assay for CLDN-5 and investigated its diagnostic utility by using 100 cognitively normal (control) subjects, 100 patients with MCI, and 100 patients with AD. Plasma CLDN-5 levels were increased in patients with AD (3.08 ng/mL) compared with controls (2.77 ng/mL). Plasma levels of phosphorylated tau (pTau181), a biomarker of pathological tau, were elevated in patients with MCI or AD (2.86 and 4.20 pg/mL, respectively) compared with control subjects (1.81 pg/mL). In patients with MCI or AD, plasma levels of CLDN-5—but not pTau181—decreased with age, suggesting some age-dependent BBB changes in MCI and AD. These findings suggest that plasma CLDN-5 may a potential biochemical marker for the diagnosis of MCI and AD.

In the realm of the five-category classification endeavor, there has been limited exploration into applied techniques for classifying Arabic text. These methods have primarily leaned on singletask learning, incorporating manually crafted features that lack robust sentence representations. Recently, the Transformer paradigm has emerged as a highly promising alternative. However, when these models are trained using single-task learning, they often face challenges in achieving outstanding performance and generating robust latent feature representations, especially when dealing with small datasets. This issue is particularly pronounced in the context of the Arabic dialect, which has a scarcity of available resources. Given these constraints, this study introduces an innovative approach to dissecting sentiment in Arabic text. This approach combines Inductive Transfer (INT) with the Transformer paradigm to augment the adaptability of the model and refine the representation of sentences. By employing self-attention SE-A and feed-forward sub-layers as a shared Transformer encoder for both the five-category and three-category Arabic text classification tasks, this proposed model adeptly discerns sentiment in Arabic dialect sentences. The empirical findings underscore the commendable performance of the proposed model, as demonstrated in assessments of the Hotel Arabic-Reviews Dataset, the Book Reviews Arabic Dataset, and the LARB dataset.

Transketolase (TKT) is an essential thiamine diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme of the non-oxidative branch of pentose phosphate pathway, with the glucose-6P flux through the pathway regulated in various medically important conditions. Here, we characterize the brain TKT regulation by acylation in rats with perturbed thiamine-dependent metabolism, known to occur in neurodegenerative diseases. The perturbations are modelled by administration of oxythiamine inhibiting ThDP-dependent enzymes in vivo, or by reduced thiamine availability in the presence of metformin and amprolium, inhibiting intracellular thiamine transporters. Compared to control rats, chronic administration of oxythiamine does not significantly change the modification level of the two detected TKT acetylation sites (K6 and K102), but doubles malonylation of TKT K499, concomitantly decreasing 1.7-fold the level of demalonylase sirtuin 5. The inhibitors of thiamine transporters do not change average levels of TKT acylation or sirtuin 5. TKT structures indicate that the acylated residues are distant from the active sites. The acylations-perturbed electrostatic interactions may be involved in conformational shifts and/or formation of TKT complexes with other proteins or nucleic acids. Acetylation of K102 may affect the active site entrance/exit and subunit interactions. Correlation analysis reveals that the action of oxythiamine is characterized by significant negative correlations of K499 malonylation or K6 acetylation with TKT activity, not observed upon the action of the inhibitors of thiamine transport. However, the transport inhibitors induce significant negative correlations between the TKT activity and K102 acetylation or TKT expression, absent in the oxythiamine group. Thus, perturbations in the ThDP-dependent catalysis or thiamine transport manifest in the insult-specific patterns of the brain TKT malonylation and acetylations.

Cannabidiol, is the first cannabis-derived drug approved for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), Dravet syndrome (DS), and Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC). The current study performed a descriptive analysis followed by a disproportionality analysis of potential adverse events caused by CBD extracted from the database VigiBase®. Further, biological plausibility of the association between CBD and the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor, as possible cause of adverse events was analyzed and discussed. Data were extracted from VigiBase® database using VigiLyze® signal detection and signal management tool. Adverse events in VigiBase® reports were coded using MedDRA, version 19 of Preferred Terms (PTs). Data were uploaded into SPSS software and analyzed via disproportionality analysis. Statistically significant disproportionality signals for CBD were found for “weight decreased” 5.19 (95% CI: 4.54 - 5.70), “hypophagia” 3.68 (95% CI: 3.22 - 5.27), and “insomnia” 1.6 (95% CI: 1.40 - 1.83). Positive IC025 values were found for “weight decreased” (2.2), “hypophagia” (1.3), and “insomnia” (0.5), indicating a surplus of reported cases. CBD’s interactions with 5-HT1A serotonin receptors may offer a potential biological explanation for the occurrence of insomnia in patients. It is noteworthy that the risk profiles mentioned in the prescribing information for CBD as antiepileptic agent by regulatory agencies showed disparities specifically related to the adverse event “insomnia”.

In the face of the current energy and environment problems, the full use of biomass resources instead of fossil energy to produce a series of high-value chemicals has great application prospects. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which can be synthesized from lignocellulose as raw material, is an important biological platform molecule. Its preparation and catalytic oxidation of subsequent products have important research significance and practical value. In the actual production process, porous organic polymer (POPs) catalysts are highly suitable for biomass catalytic conversion due to its high efficiency, low cost, good designability, and environmentally friendly features. Here, we briefly described the application of various types of POPs (including COFs、PAFs、HCPs、CMPs) in the preparation and catalytic conversion of HMF from lignocellulosic biomass, and analyzed the influence of the structural properties of catalysts for the catalytic performance. Finally, we summarized some challenges that POPs catalysts will face in biomass catalytic conversion, and prospected the important research directions in future. This review would provide valuable references for the efficient conversion of biomass resources into high-value chemicals in practical applications.

Synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite from OSDA-free systems has been a very interesting alternative method because it can avoid the usage of organic templates and consequent calcination step. However, in opened reports, organic substance such as alcohol is more or less involved. In the present work, a calcined commercial ZSM-5 zeolite was used as a seed, sodium aluminate as an aluminum source, silica sol as a silicon source, which ensures that there is no any organics (template) in the synthesis system, and polycrystalline ZSM-5 aggregates consisting of rod-like nanocrystals are successfully prepared in a completely OSDA-free system. The effects of seed (chemical component, dosage) and crystallization conditions on the synthesis of ZSM-5 were systematically investigated. The results show that highly crystallinity ZSM-5 aggregate consisting of primary nano-sized crystals with a size of less than 100 nm can be yielded from a gel precursor with 5.6 wt.% seed after hydrothermal treatment for 48 h. The results also shows that the chemical composition of the seeds had little effect on the topological structure and pore structure of the synthesized samples, but the seed with a low Si/Al ratio is more conducive to the rapid crystallization of zeolite and to the improvement of the acid, especially the strong acid centers of the catalyst.

Viruses can induce the fusion of infected and neighboring cells, leading to the formation of syncytia. Cell-cell fusion is mediated by viral fusion proteins on the plasma membrane of infected cells that interact with cellular receptors on neighboring cells. Viruses use this mechanism to spread rapidly to adjacent cells or escape host immunity. For some viruses, syncytium formation is a hallmark of infection and a known pathogenicity factor. For others, the role of syncytium formation in viral dissemination and pathogenicity remains poorly understood. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant patients and the leading cause of congenital infections. Clinical HCMV isolates have broad cell tropism but differ in their ability to induce cell-cell fusions, and little is known about the molecular determinants. We developed a system to analyze HCMV glycoprotein B (gB) variants in a defined genetic background. HCMV strains TB40/E and TR were used as vectors to compare the fusogenicity of six gB variants from congenitally infected fetuses with those from three laboratory strains. Five of them conferred the ability to induce fusion of MRC-5 human embryonic lung fibroblasts to one or both backbone strains, as determined by a split GFP-luciferase reporter system. The same gB variants were not sufficient to induce syncytia in infected ARPE-19 epithelial cells, suggesting that additional factors are involved. The system described here allows a systematic comparison of the fusogenicity of viral envelope glycoproteins and may help to clarify whether fusion-promoting variants are associated with increased pathogenicity.

A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 virus has displaced all previous variants of the virus around the world. Preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of drugs for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 requires the availability of infection models in animals. In this study, we characterize the infection model SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 and its progeny sublineage BE.1 in hACE2-transgenic mice and in Syrian hamsters. Both sublineages turned out to be pathogenic for animals – the challenged animals showed weight loss, a high level of viral load and acute inflammation in the lungs. Part of BA.5-infected mice died after virus challenge, indicating that this virus variant is more pathogenic than the previous BA.1 variant but less pathogenic than Wuhan variant.

CRISPR-Cas allows us to introduce desired genome editing, including mutations, epitopes, and deletions with unprecedented efficiency. The development of CRISPR-Cas has progressed to such an extent that it is now applicable in various fields with the help of model organisms. C. elegans is one of the pioneering animals in which numerous CRISPR-Cas strategies have been rapidly es-tablished over the past decade. Ironically, the emergence of numerous methods makes the right choice of method difficult. Choosing an appropriate selection or screening approach is the first step in planning a genome modification. This report summarizes the key features and applications of CRISPR-Cas methods using C. elegans and illustrates key strategies. Our overview of significant advances in CRISPR-Cas will help readers to understand current advances in genome editing and navigate various methods of CRISPR-Cas genome editing.

This study focused on the impact of the treatment with the hypomethylating agent 5-Azacitidine on the redox status and inflammation in 24 MDS patients. Clinical and genetic features of MDS patients were recorded and peripheral blood samples were used to determine the activity of the endogenous antioxidant defense system (superoxide dismutase, SOD, catalase, CAT, glutathion peroxidase, GPx, and reductase, GRd, activities), markers of oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation, LPO, and advanced oxidation protein products, AOPP). Moreover, pro-inflammatory cytokines and plasma nitrite plus nitrate levels as markers of inflammation, and CoQ10 plasma levels, were also measured. Globally, MDS patients showed less redox status in terms of a reduction in the GSSG/GSH ratio and in the LPO levels, and increased CAT activity compared with healthy subjects, with not changes in SOD, GPx and GRd activities, and AOPP levels. When analyzed the evolution from early- to advanced stages of the disease, the GPx activity, GSSG/GSH ratio, LPO and AOPP increased, with a reduction in CAT. GPx changes were related with the presence of risk factors such as high-risk IPSS-R or mutational score. Besides, there was an increase in IL-2, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α plasma levels, with further increase of IL-2 and IL-10 from early to advanced stage of the disease. However, we did not observe any association between inflammation and oxidative stress. Finally, 5-azacitidine treatment generates oxidative stress in MDS patients, without affecting inflammation levels, suggesting that oxidative status and inflammation are two independent processes.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictive measures implemented may considerably affect people’s lives. This study aimed to assess the well-being of Vietnamese people after COVID-19 lockdown measures were lifted and life gradually returned to normal. An online survey was organized from 21st to 25th April 2020 among Vietnamese residents aged 18 and over. Besides collecting socio-demographic and COVID-19-related data, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (scored 0–25) was used to score participants’ well-being. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine the predictors of well-being. A total of 1922 responses were analyzed (mean age: 31 years; 30.5% male). Mean well-being score was 17.35±4.97. Determinants of high well-being score (≥13) included older age, eating healthy food, practising physical exercise, working from home, and adhering to the COVID-19 preventive measures. Female participants, persons worried about their relatives’ health, and smokers were more likely to have a low well-being score. In conclusion, after the lockdown measures were lifted, the Vietnamese people continued to follow COVID-19 preventive measures and most of them scored high on the well-being scale. Waiting to achieve large scale COVID-19 vaccine coverage, promoting preventive COVID-19 measures remains important, together with strategies to guarantee the well-being of the Vietnamese people.

Skeletal myopathy encompasses both atrophy and dysfunction and is a prominent event in cancer and chemotherapy-induced cachexia. Here, we investigate the effects of chemotherapeutic agent, 5-fluorouracil (5FU), on skeletal muscle mass and function, and whether small molecule therapeutic candidate, BGP-15, could be protective against the chemotoxic challenge exerted by 5FU. Additionally, we explore the molecular signature of 5FU treatment. Male Balb/c mice received metronomic tri-weekly intraperitoneal delivery of 5FU (23 mg/kg), with and without BGP-15 (15 mg/kg), 6 times in total over a 15-day treatment period. We demonstrated that neither 5FU, nor 5FU combined with BGP-15, affected body composition indices, skeletal muscle mass or function. Adjuvant BGP-15 treatment did, however, prevent the 5FU-induced phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and p65 NF-κB subunit, signalling pathways involved in cell stress and inflammatory signalling, respectively. This as associated with mitoprotection. 5FU reduced the expression of the key cytoskeletal proteins, desmin and dystrophin, which was not prevented by BGP-15. Combined, these data show that metronomic delivery of 5FU does not elicit physiological consequences to skeletal muscle mass and function but is implicit in priming skeletal muscle with a molecular signature for myopathy. BGP-15 has modest protective efficacy against the molecular changes induced by 5FU.

Characterised by the growth of benign tumours, fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a debilitating disease that predominantly afflicts the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas). A growing body of histological and molecular evidence has consistently associated FP tumours with Chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5 (ChHV5), leading this virus to be considered the most likely aetiological agent of FP. However, a recent study which detected both ChHV5 and Chelonia mydas papillomavirus 1 (CmPV1) DNA in FP tumour tissues has challenged this hypothesis. The present study aimed to establish the wider prevalence of CmPV1 and co-occurrence with ChHV5 in marine turtles in waters adjacent to the east coast of Queensland, Australia. This comprehensive molecular survey screened a total of 353 samples from 275 foraging turtles using probe-based qPCR. Three sample categories were used in this study: Group A (FP tumours), Group B (non-tumoured skin from turtles with FP tumours) and Group C (non-tumoured skin from turtles without FP tumours). Concurrent detection of ChHV5 and CmPV1 DNA is reported for all three categories, with the highest rate of concurrent detection reported for Group A samples (43.5%). Collectively, these results pivot the way we think about FP; as an infectious disease where two separate viruses may be at play.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a form of brain dysfunction that is specifically caused by liver insufficiency and/or portal-systemic shunt. The exact nature of HE is debated, so that conflicting uses of the term HE may cause inconsistencies in its detection and, in turn, issues with its management. This review highlights the meaning of the term HE on the basis of both its historical origins and current consensus. It also provides criteria for the diagnosis of the condition, on the basis of its phenotypes and the risk factors for its occurrence. The procedure for differential diagnosis from other conditions which result in similar phenotypes is considered, together with precipitants and confounders. Finally, the current multidimensional approach for the correct clinical recording of HE episodes is discussed.

A supramolecular host-guest interaction and sensing between cationic pillar[5]arenes (CP5) and L-carnitine were developed by the competitive host-guest recognition for the first time. The fluorescence sensing platform was constructed by CP5 functionalized Au nanoparticles (PP5@Au-NPs) as receptor and probe (rhodamine 123, R123), which shown a high sensitivity and selectivity to L-carnitine detection. Due to the property of the negative charge and molecular size of L-carnitine, it can be highly captured by the CP5 via electrostatic interactions and hydrophobic interactions. The mechanism of host-guest between PP5 and L-carnitine was studied by ¹H NMR and molecular docking, which indicated more affinity binding force of PP5 with L-carnitine. Therefore, a selective and sensitive fluorescent method was developed. It has a linear response of 0.1–2.0 and 2.0–25.0 μM and a detection limit of 0.067 μM (S/N = 3) for L-carnitine. The fluorescent sensing platform was also used to detect L-carnitine in human serum and milk samples, which provided potential applications of detection drugs of abuse, and had path for guarding a serious food safety issues.

Today, non-expensive remote sensing (RS) data from different sensors and platforms can be obtained at short intervals and be used for assessing several kinds of forest characteristics at the level of plots, stands and landscapes. Methods such as composite estimation and data assimilation can be used for combining the different sources of information to obtain up-to-date and precise estimates of the characteristics of interest. In composite estimation a standard procedure is to assign weights to the different individual estimates inversely proportional to their variance. However, in case the estimates are correlated, the correlations must be considered in assigning weights or otherwise a composite estimator may be inefficient and its variance be underestimated. In this study we assessed the correlation of plot level estimates of forest characteristics from different RS datasets, between assessments using the same type of sensor as well as across different sensors. The RS data evaluated were SPOT-5 multispectral data, 3D airborne laser scanning data, and TanDEM-X interferometric radar data. Studies were made for plot level mean diameter, mean height, and growing stock volume. All data were acquired from a test site dominated by coniferous forest in southern Sweden. We found that the correlation between plot level estimates based on the same type of RS data were positive and strong, whereas the correlations between estimates using different sources of RS data were not as strong, and weaker for mean height than for mean diameter and volume. The implications of such correlations in composite estimation are demonstrated and it is discussed how correlations may affect results from data assimilation procedures.

Neuroinflammation, defined as inflammatory reactions mediated by cytokines, chemokines, reactive oxygen species, and secondary messengers in the central nervous system (CNS) including the brain and spinal cord is the basis of many neurological disorders. Recently, erythropoietin (EPO) has been considered and studied as a modulator of neuroinflammation. On this article minireview of pathophysiology of neuroinflammation and the neuroprotective effects of EPO is discussed and a case of subacute huge subdural hematoma with double mydriasis operated urgently, treated with low daily dose (vs high dose once or twice a month in the literature) of EPO and recovered fully and discharged home with good consciousness is reported. In addition, the probable unfavorable outcome of erythropoietin administration in patients with neuroinflammation in COVID-19 is considered.

Tumor cells display abnormal growth and division, avoiding the natural process of cell death. These cells can be benign (non-cancerous growth) or malignant (cancerous growth). Over the past few decades, numerous in vitro or in vivo tumor models have been employed to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with tumorigenesis in diverse aspects. However, our comprehension of how non-tumor cells transform into tumor cells at molecular and cellular levels remains incomplete. The nematode C. elegans has emerged as an excellent model organism for exploring various phenomena, including tumorigenesis. Although C. elegans does not naturally develop cancer, it serves as a valuable platform for identifying oncogenes and the underlying mechanisms within a live organism. In this review, we describe three distinct germline tumor models in C. elegans, highlighting their associated mechanisms and related regulators. Given the conservation of many of the regulators implicated in C. elegans tumorigenesis, it is proposed that these unique models hold significant potential for enhancing our comprehension of the broader control mechanisms governing tumorigenesis.

Employing remote sensing techniques to evaluate crop residue cover (CRC) enables rapid mapping of tillage practices over large cropland areas, which has significant practical implications for monitoring the implementation of conservation tillage practices. This research utilized Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat-8 OLI remotely sensed data, various spectral indices were calculated and the datasets were correlated with the field-measured CRC data. Selected spectral indices, highly significantly correlated, were chosen to build a correlation model between the indices and the CRC. Considering Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat 8 OLI remotely sensed data variations in spectral and spatial scales, the accuracy of CRC models was evaluated using R2 and RMSE values. From the results, it's evident that all six spectral indices, including STI, NDTI, SRNDR, NDI5, NDI7 and NDSVI, registered correlation coefficients with the CRC exceeded 0.3 in the study area. STI and NDTI showed a stronger correlation to CRC, with coefficients of 0.810 and 0.803, respectively. For the Landsat 8 data, the lowest correlation obtained was for NDSVI with the Landsat 8 data with a correlation coefficient of 0.358. Applying the linear regression technique, STI and NDTI obtained higher accuracy compared to other indices in the Sentinel-2 MSI data. For NDTI and STI, The R2 values were 0.650 and 0.665, respectively, while their corresponding RMSE values were 3.96% and 4.03%. The highest model accuracy was obtained for the STI and NDTI constructed from the Landsat 8 OLI data (R2 values 0.41 and 0.40; RMSE values 5.25% and 5.27%, respectively). The CRC model built using partial least squares regression (PLSR) exhibited greater precision when applied to the Sentinel-2 MSI data (R2 value 0.894; RMSE value 2.18%) in comparison to the Landsat 8 OLI data (R2 value 0.695; RMSE value 3.70%). PLSR has the potential to enhance the precision of the model. In addition, the study area shows that the estimation of the CRC is better in the one-dimensional linear regression model and the PLSR model created with the Sentinel-2 MSI optical data compared to the Landsat 8 OLI optical remotely sensed data. The validation suggests that the CRC estimation in the study area is more precise when using the model relying on Sentinel-2 satellite imagery rather than the Landsat 8 OLI imagery.

Water quality is the measure of chemical, physical and biological suitability of water in relation to natural effects and intended purpose which may affect human health and aquatic life. Assessment of water quality is very essential for the management of water resources and human health. Traditionally, in-situ measurements have been used to obtain the water quality parameters of the water bodies. However, with the availability of satellite images, researchers have shown that satellite images are a reliable tool that can be used to estimate water quality. Satellite image-derived water quality parameters provide extensive spatial extent and large temporal variations when compared to traditional in situ sample collection and laboratory measurements. The present work estimated several parameters for quality of water in the Kamuzu reservoir of Lilongwe River for the 2013-2020 period using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 satellite images. The band ratio algorithms were used to retrieve Chlorophyll a (Chl-a), Turbidity, Total Suspended Matter (TSM), Secchi depth, Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM), and Cyanobacteria from the reservoir. Turbidity and TSM were compared with the in-situ data collected over the same period. The comparison indicated R² of 0.9 and 0.69 for TSM and Turbidity respectively from Sentinel-2 images whereas R² of 0.56 and 0.61 was obtained using Landsat 8 images which are quite encouraging. The other set of results included the spatial distribution maps of water quality parameters using Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 satellite data. It was observed that the spatial distribution of water quality parameters, except for CDOM and Cyanobacteria, showed very good distribution and matches with the theoretical results. However, for CDOM and Cyanobacteria, the distribution was almost similar for the entire study area and the band ratio algorithm may not be able to estimate them quite reasonably. This research reiterates the need for the use of remote sensing in estimating the water quality parameters and may be a substitute to the in-situ data, in terms of spread and frequency, which is very common to most of the water bodies, across the globe.

This study is aimed at demonstrating application of vegetation spectral techniques for detection and monitoring of impact of oil spills on vegetation. Vegetation spectral reflectance from Landsat 8 data were used in the calculation of five vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), adjusted resistant vegetation index 2 (ARVI2), green-infrared index (G/NIR) and green-shortwave infrared (G/SWIR) from the spill sites (SS) and non-spill (NSS) sites in 2013 (pre-oil spill), 2014 (oil spill date) and 2015 (post-oil spill) for statistical comparison. The result shows that NDVI, SAVI, ARVI2, G/NIR and G/SWIR indicated certain level difference between vegetation condition at the SS and the NSS were significant with p-value <0.5 in December 2013. In December 2014 vegetation conditions indicated higher level of significant difference between the vegetation at the SS and NSS as follows where NDVI, SAVI and ARVI2 with p-value 0.005, G/NIR - p-value 0.01 and GSWIR p-value 0.05. Similarly, in January 2015 a very significant difference with p-value <0.005. Three indices NDVI, ARVI2 and G/NIR indicated highly significant difference in vegetation conditions with p-value <0.005 between December 2013 and December 2014 at the same sites. Post—spill analysis show that NDVI and ARVI2 indicated low level of significance difference p-value <0.05 suggesting subtle change in vegetation conditions between December 2014 and January 2015. This technique is essential for real time detection, response and monitoring of oil spills from pipelines for mitigation of pollution at the affected sites in the mangrove forest.

1) Landsat operational land imager (OLI) data and consequent laboratory measurements were used to predict Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration and the trophic states for an inland lake within the East Kolkata Wetland, India; 2) The most suitable band ratio was identified by performing Pearson correlation analysis between Chl-a concentrations and possible OLI band and band ratios from the study points; 3) The results showed highest correlation coefficient from the band ratio OLI5/OLI4 with an R value of 0.85. The prediction model was then developed by applying regression analysis between the band ratio OLI5/OLI4 and Chl-a concentration of the study points. The reflectance ratios of the validation points were given as input on the prediction model and the model output was considered as predicted Chl-a values of the validation points to check the efficiency of the prediction model. The regression model between laboratory-derived Chl-a value and model-fitted Chl-a value of the validation points revealed a high correlation with an R² value of 0.78. Trophic State Index (TSI) of the lake was also calculated from laboratory-derived Chl-a value and model-fitted Chl-a value of the validation points. The study presented a high correlation of TSI determined from predicted data with TSI from laboratory reference data (R = 0.88). The TSI values of the lake ranged from 65 to 75 which indicate that the lake is appeared to be eutrophic to hypereutrophic conditions. 4) This empirical study showed that Landsat 8 OLI imagery can be effectively applied to estimate Chl-a levels and trophic states for inland lakes.

The present research focuses on the endogenous development theory and investigates the relationship between economic growth (dependent variable) and renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and export diversification (independent variables) in seven emerging economies known as the E-7. Previous studies have examined these factors individually but have not explored their combined impact on the E-7 economies. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing literature on the effects of renewable energy consumption, technological advancement, and export diversification on economic development. The study analyses the dynamic connection among these variables in seven selected emerging countries: Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. Panel data from 1990 to 2022 is utilized, and various methodologies, including panel cointegration, the PMG-ARDL estimator, and robustness tests such as FMOLS and DOLS, are employed. Empirical inferences are drawn using the Dumitrescu-Hurlin Panel Causality (DHC) test, and the long-run relationships among the variables are validated using the Westerlund residual cointegration tests. The results from the PMG-ARDL estimator show that renewable energy consumption, technological advancement, and export diversification have a significant and positive impact on economic expansion, confirming the validity of the endogenous growth model in the E-7 countries. The control variable of the financial sector has a positive but insignificant effect on economic growth, while trade openness has a negative and significant effect. The DHC test results indicate a neutral feedback effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth. The findings also reveal a unidirectional causal relationship between technological innovation and economic growth. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for economic policymakers in the E-7 countries. By removing barriers to renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and export diversification, policymakers can promote sustainable economic development.

Background P53 gene mutation is a very common event in human neoplasia, and genetic mutations in the P53 gene in a single allele are responsible for a hereditary cancer susceptibility syndrome (Li Fraumeni). These variants encode distinct isoforms of the p53 protein, which may disrupt its transcriptional activity. These point mutant proteins are more stable than the normal protein and the mutant product accumulates at a high level that allows obtaining important information about p53 gene expression in malignant cells, especially in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, (CLL). By Enzyme Linked Immune-Absorbent Assay method, (ELISA), was analyzed the frequency of p53 protein expression to 20 eligible patients diagnosed with CLL for to investigate the relationship of this protein in the stages of the disease and the impact on treatment response and survival. In ELISA technique was used the specific antibodies for isoform p53 protein, PAb 240 antibodies. These antibodies bind specifically to denatured p-53 protein. Species reactivity is for human in conformity with the prospect from Manual, Catalog No. LS-F174, Bio-Rad. Results The average concentrations of p53 proteins in 17 of 20 cases were found 16.76 μg / dl, with CV = 0.5% and the probability index p = 0.034. Very high pathological values in the 3 cases of isoform p53 protein were calculated in 2 men, (PM) in the value of 60 µg / dL, respectively at 40 µg / dL and in the case of females, (PW), in 40 µg / dL value, with the transformation into Diffuse Large Lymphoma, (DLL). Conclusion This ELISA method has proven to be a useful prognostic tool for the application of personalized treatment of on-immune therapy, in cases diagnosed with the type B-CLL.

Transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels are calcium channels with diverse expression profiles and physiological implications in the retina. Neurons and glial cells of rat retinas with photoreceptor degeneration caused by retinitis pigmentosa (RP) exhibit basal calcium levels that are above those detected in healthy retinas. Inner retinal cells are the last to degenerate and are responsible for maintaining the activity of the visual cortex even after complete loss of photoreceptors. We considered the possibility that TRPC1 and TRPC5 channels might be associated with both the high calcium levels and the delay in inner retinal degeneration. TRPC1 is known to mediate protective effects in neurodegenerative processes, while TRPC5 promotes cell death. In order to comprehend the implications of these channels in RP, the co-localization and subsequent physical interaction between TRPC1 and TRPC5 in healthy retina (Sprague-Dawley rats) and degenerating (P23H-1, a model of RP) retina were detected by immunofluorescence and proximity ligation assays. There was an overlapping signal in the innermost retina of all animals where TRPC1 and TRPC5 physically interacted. This interaction increased significantly as photoreceptor loss progressed. Both channels function as TRPC1/5 heteromers in the healthy and damaged retina, with a marked function of TRPC1 in response to retinal degenerative mechanisms. Furthermore, our findings support that TRPC5 channels also function in partnership with STIM1 in Müller and retinal ganglion cells. These results suggest that increase in TRPC1/5 heteromers may contribute to slowing of the degeneration of the inner retina during the outer retinal degeneration.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer mortality worldwide, and innovative drugs for the treatment of colorectal cancer are continually being revealed. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a common clinical chemotherapeutic drug. Acquired resistance to 5-FU is a clinical challenge in colorectal cancer. Parecoxib is a selective COX-2-specific inhibitor, which has been demonstrated to inhibit metastasis in colorectal cancers in our previous study. This study aimed to investigate the synergistic antimetastatic activities of parecoxib to 5-FU in human colorectal cancer cells and determine the underlying mechanism. parecoxib and 5-FU synergistically suppressed metastasis in colorectal cancer cells. Treatment with the parecoxib /5-FU combination induced an increase in E-cadherin and decrease in β-catenin. The parecoxib/5-FU combination could inhibit MMP-9 and MMP-2 expression and MMP-9 activity, and the NF-κB pathway might be suppressed as well. Mechanistic analysis denoted that the parecoxib/5-FU combination hindered the essential molecules of the PI3K/Akt route to obstruct metastatic colorectal cancer. Furthermore, the parecoxib/5-FU combination could inhibit reactive oxygen species. Our work showed the antimetastatic capacity of the parecoxib/5-FU combination for colorectal cancers via targeting the PI3K/Akt /NF-κB pathway.

Despite substantial evidence supporting the efficacy of prebiotics for promoting host health and stress resilience, few experiments present evidence documenting the dynamic changes in microbial ecology and fecal microbial-modified metabolites across time. Furthermore, the literature reports a lack of reproducible effects of prebiotics on specific bacteria and bacterial-modified metabolites. The current experiments examined whether consumption of diets enriched in prebiotics (galactooligosaccharides, GOS and polydextrose, PDX) compared to control diet, would consistently impact the gut microbiome and microbial-modified bile acids across time and between two research sites. Male Sprague Dawley rats were fed control or prebiotic diets for several weeks, and their gut microbiome and metabolome were examined using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and untargeted LC-MS/MS analysis. Dietary prebiotics altered beta diversity, relative abundances of bacterial genera, and microbially modified bile acids across time. PICRUSt2 analyses identified four inferred functional metabolic pathways modified by prebiotic diet. Correlational network analyses between inferred metabolic pathways and microbial-modified bile acids revealed deoxycholic acid as a potential network hub. All these reported effects were consistent between the two research sites supporting the conclusion that dietary prebiotics robustly changed the gut microbial ecosystem. Consistent with our previous work demonstrating that GOS/PDX reduces the negative impacts of stressor exposure, we propose that ingesting a diet enriched in prebiotics facilitates the development of a health-promoting gut microbial ecosystem.

With the inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in both the DSM-5 and ICD-11, understanding the prevalence and diagnostic discrepancies is crucial for developing appropriate interventions. This study presents a meta-analysis of the prevalence of IGD based on two diagnostic criteria. We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science databases. 17 studies were included in the final analysis, The analysis incorporated studies employing the DSM-5 and ICD-11 criteria and focused on the impact of various factors, including study location, sample size, and quality score, on the reported prevalence rates using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity and publication bias were analyzed using an I2 test and Galbraith plots , The prevalence of IGD varied among the selected studies, with a general pooled prevalence of 5% (95% CI: 3%–7%). Subgroup analysis indicated that the prevalence rates of IGD (DSM-5 criteria) and GD (ICD-11 criteria) do not show significant differences. DSM-5-based scales yielded varied results, while heterogeneity among the studies was high (I2 = 98.50). In contrast, ICD-11-based scales produced more consistent and less variable findings. Our findings highlight that assessment scales, not diagnostic criteria, impact IGD prevalence. This underscores the importance of adopting standardized methodologies to guide public health interventions. However, given the limited research based on ICD-11 diagnostic criteria, further investigation is necessary to determine the variations in prevalence rates of IGD under different diagnostic standards.

This report provides a comprehensive overview of occupational asthma and respiratory hypersensitivity, focusing on some chemicals used in the workplace Includes numerous case studies and research papers related to occupational exposure methacrylates, such as HEMA-HPMA, and respiratory hypersensitivity are discussed And the relationship is explored The book also examines asthma pathophysiology, emerging drug delivery systems used to treat asthma, and the potential of nanoparticles , dendrimers and micellar systems have to improve pulmonary drug delivery in detail The worldwide prevalence of asthma is highlighted, with higher rates in high-GDP countries. The book highlights the need to improve asthma diagnosis, treatment and biomarkers, particularly in rural and low-income countries where the disease is often underdiagnosed and inadequately treated, and discusses the role of inflammation in asthma, in particular secondary inflammation characterized by specific cytokines and inflammation cells In addition, the paper explores various drug delivery methods, such as parenteral and parenteral drugs, pressurized inhalers (pMDIs), dry powder inhalers ( DPIs), nebulizers, nanoparticles, liposomes, micellar systems, microparticles , dendrimers, and gene therapy . These systems aim to increase pulmonary delivery of drugs and improve clinical outcomes. The potential of dendrimer bilirubin-based nanoparticles and micellar systems in the treatment of asthma and lung inflammatory diseases, including asthma, has been discussed in summary, this paper provides an overview of occupational asthma and respiratory hypersensitivity, and this discussion highlights the association between methacrylate exposure and respiratory hypersensitivity.

Cirrhosis is a chronic disease with multiple etiologies, multiple manifestations, and multi-organ involvement. Affects about 200 million people worldwide. Its main complication is Portal hypertension (PHT). Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is a consequence of PHT, with heart failure (HF) being the main manifestation. On the other hand, for people with cardiopathy due to other reasons beyond cirrhosis, the presence of the last could act as a trigger to acute HF. Finally, when HF and cirrhosis coexist, the renal system suffers the most, originating from type-5 cardio-renal syndrome, a complex entity with many challenges in diagnosis and treatment. This entity was recently defined and there is a lack of data on the epidemiology of this syndrome. A 77-year-old woman, with cardiovascular risk factors; heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), secondary ischemic and valvular cardiopathy, chronic Kidney disease (CKD), and stable decompensated cirrhosis, went to the emergency department after progressive abdominal perimeter augmentation, legs’ edema and hematochezia. It was assumed acute decompensated cirrhosis and acute decompensated chronic kidney disease, had triggered digestive bleeding and the patient stayed hospitalized. Intravenous diuretic therapy was started but, the ascites and kidney function got worse, the Nt pro-BNP grew until 1125000 pg/ml, and a transthoracic echocardiography showed important signs of congestion, isolated right ventricular dysfunction, with normal cardiac output. After teamwork’s discussion, a type-5 cardio-renal syndrome was assumed deciding not to act on tricuspid regurgitation due to the maladaptive RV remodeling. Hepatorenal syndrome treatment was begun (oral terlipressin and intravenous albumin), followed by decongestion therapy, resulting in a marked improvement in clinical presentation. The kidney, heart, and liver recovered to these basal states. With this clinical case, the authors want to show how multidisciplinary management is important to face tricuspid regurgitation and right ventricular dysfunction.

The intricacies of translational strategies make this stage of the implementation of genetic information one of the most difficult to understand and, at the same time, perhaps the most interesting. It also becomes clear that all this variety of strategies is not just a consequence of a long evolutionary history but is of paramount importance for fine-tuning gene expression and metabolic modulation. This is especially true for those organisms that demonstrate predominantly biochemical and physiological reactions with a lack of behavioural ones. Plants are just such a group of organisms. Overcoming unfavourable environmental conditions occupies a key place in plant physiology. This is especially true with the changing conditions of global warming and the irretrievable loss or depletion of natural ecosystems. Conceptually, the response of plants to abiotic stress is a set of complex and intricate strategies. This is dictated both by a variety of abiotic factors that provoke stressful conditions and by a variety of molecular genetic mechanisms that make it possible to fine-tune the metabolic pathways through which the plant organism overcomes non-standard and non-optimal conditions. In the presented review, we tried to focus on the state-of-the-art in the field of translational regulation in plants under abiotic stress conditions. Various regulatory elements and patterns are considered in relative chronological order. We also considered it necessary to pay attention to key high-performance methods for studying the dynamics of genetic information at the stage of translation.

Jacobian theta function identities are related to the Addition formula for the Weierstrass 1 Sigma function. In this paper, from the Addition formula for Weierstrass Sigma function, new and 2 simple proofs of four square sums theorem are given. Using the addition formula of the theta func- 3 tions, we also give simple proofs of two square sums and eight square sums theorem.

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic, triggered by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has resulted in over 160 million infections and 3.5 million fatalities worldwide. Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 presence in the highly vascularized penile tissue and the established correlation between COVID-19 and subsequent erectile dysfunction (ED) has emerged. Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is a popular procedure for prostate cancer because of its reliability and swift recovery rate. However, the ED prevalence post-surgery is believed to be comparable to open surgery, and postoperative ED significantly affects the patient's quality of life. Our study aimed to explore the effect of COVID-19 on ED recovery in patients undergoing bilateral nerve preservation during RARP. Materials and Methods We conducted a retrospective study on 85 patients who underwent bilateral nerve-sparing RARP (nsRARP) at our institution between December 2017 and May 2021. Chart reviews and the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) questionnaire facilitated the analysis. Our objective was to contrast ED recovery after surgery between SARS-CoV-2–infected and non-infected patients using preoperative IIEF-5 scores and scores at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery. We defined successful ED recovery as an IIEF-5 score of 17 or higher and successful sexual intercourse. We also compared ED recovery rates between the two groups, regardless of the timing of COVID-19 diagnosis. IBM's SPSS version 18.0 assisted in the statistical analysis, with Fisher's exact test and chi-square test used for comparing categorical variables. Independent t-tests determined mean differences between baseline and postoperative IIEF-5 scores. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results From December 2017 to May 2021, our institution executed 213 RARP cases, with 185 of these involving nerve preservation. Among these patients, 133 had an IIEF-5 score of 17 or higher during preoperative EF assessment. We included 85 patients with consistent IIEF-5 records before surgery and at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery in this study. Of these, 44 and 41 patients comprised the COVID-19–positive and COVID-19–negative groups, respectively. The COVID-19–positive group had a higher proportion of diabetes mellitus (DM) patients (24 (54.55%) vs. 7 (17.07%), p<0.001). There was no significant difference in preoperative IIEF-5 scores or scores up to 6 months after surgery between the two groups. However, the IIEF-5 scores of the COVID-19–positive group were statistically lower after 12 and 24 months post-surgery. Additionally, the COVID-19–negative group showed a more considerable score increase between 6 and 12 months post-surgery, and the EF recovery rate was lower in the COVID-19–positive group starting from the 12th month after surgery. Within the COVID-19–positive group, no statistically significant difference in IIEF-5 scores was found between single infection and multiple reinfection groups. Conclusions Principal component analysis revealed the impact of COVID-19 on ED recovery in patients who underwent nsRARP. The most substantial changes in IIEF-5 scores occurred between 6 and 12 months. From 12 months onwards, the COVID-19–positive group had significantly lower scores, and fewer patients had IIEF-5 scores above 17. However, the number of COVID-19 diagnoses did not significantly affect the IIEF-5 scores.

Depressive disorder is a disease that causes a decrease in daily function, and the prevalence of depressive disorder in Korea is the highest among OECD countries. However, due to lack of manpower and negative social awareness, timely treatment is not being performed properly. As a solution to this, AI counseling chatbots are emerging, and it is essential to use labeled datasets to create chatbots. Currently, many countries around the world, including Korea, use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, DSM-5, but there are no nine labeled datasets according to the DSM-5 depression disorder diagnosis criteria. This study collects sympathetic datasets, analyzes morphemes using Kind Korean Morpheme Analyzer and augments and builds a word dictionary using Word2Vec. As a result, we have labeled the dataset with nine criteria for diagnosing DSM-5 depressive disorder, which will enhance the performance of the counseling chatbot.

The presence of azo dyes in textile effluents is an issue of major concern due to their potential impact on the environment and human health. In this study we investigate the photocatalytic degradation under visible light of Reactive Violet 5 (RV5), an azo dye widely used in the textile industry. A preliminary screening of different titania-based catalysts was carried out to identify the best candidate for RV5 removal. The selected catalyst was then tested in a stirred and aerated lab-scale reactor illuminated with a light LED source (λmax = 460 nm). The effects of pH, catalyst load and hydrogen peroxide additions on the efficiency of dye removal were evaluated. Under the best conditions (pH 10, 3 g/L of catalyst and 60 mM hydrogen peroxide), the dye solution was completely decolorized in about 2 h. Overall, the results obtained suggest that the proposed process may represent a suitable method for the removal of RV5 from textile effluents.

Drug functionalization through formation of hydrophilic groups is the norm in phase I metabolism of drugs for modification of drug action. The reactions involved are mainly oxidative catalyzed mostly by CYP isoenzymes. The benzene ring, as phenyl or fused with other rings, is the most common hydrophobic pharmacophoric moiety in drug molecules. On the other hand the alkoxy group (mainly methoxy) bonded to the benzene ring assumes an important and sometimes essential pharmacophoric status in some drug classes. Upon metabolic oxidation, both moieties, i.e. the benzene ring and the alkoxy group, produce hydroxy groups; the products are arenolic in nature. Through a pharmacokinetic effect, the hydroxy group enhances the water solubility and elimination of the metabolite with the consequent termination of drug action. However, through hydrogen bonding, the hydroxy group may modify the pharmacodynamics of the interaction of the metabolite with the site of parent drug action (i.e. the receptor). Accordingly, the expected pharmacologic outcome will be enhancement, retaining, attenuation, or loss of activity of the metabolite relative to the parent drug. All the above issues have been presented and discussed in this review using selected members of different classes of drugs with inferences regarding mechanisms, drug design and drug development.

Using qRT-PCR analysis, the LcIL-8 expression level indicated broad expression in most detected tissues, with the most predominant expression in whole blood at 6 to 24 h after infection with S. iniae at concentrations of 105 colony-forming unit (CFU)/fish (p &lt; 0.05). After immersion with F. covae, the LcIL-8 transcript was upregulated in the gills, liver and intestine, with the highest expression level found in the gills. However, LcIL-8 was downregulated in all tested tissues at 48 and 96 h after infection with the two pathogenic strains, indicating that Lc-IL8 has a short half-life during the early immune responses to pathogens. MIC analysis of rLcIL-8 protein against S. iniae was 10.42 ± 3.61 µg/mL. Furthermore, the functional analyses clearly demonstrated that 10 and 100 µg of rLcIL-8 protein efficiently enhanced the phagocytic activity of Asian seabass phagocytes in vitro (p &lt; 0.05). Additionally, in vivo injection of S. iniae following the rLcIL-8 protein indicated that 50 and 100 µg of rLc-IL-8 were highly effective in protecting fish from the tested pathogen (p &lt; 0.001). These results indicate that rLcIL-8 plays a crucial role in the defense mechanisms against bacterial infections in the target fish.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been reported to cause oxidative stress in metabolic processes. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between exposure to PAHs, including benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and 1-nitropyrene (1-NP), in the atmosphere and oxidative stress levels in the human body. This study included 44 Korean adults who lived in Cheongju, South Korea. Atmospheric BaP and 1-NP concentrations and urinary 6-hydroxy-1-nitropyrene (6-OHNP), N-acetyl-1-aminopyrene (1-NAAP), and 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) concentrations were measured. The oxidative stress level was assessed by measuring urinary thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) concentrations. Urinary TBARS and 6-OHNP concentrations significantly differed between winter and summer. BaP exposure was significantly associated with urinary 8-OHdG concentrations in summer. However, atmospheric 1-NP did not show a significant correlation with oxidative stress marker concentrations. Urinary 1-NAAP concentration was a significant determinant for urinary 8-OHdG concentration in summer. Oxidative stress in the body increases in proportion to inhalation exposure to BaP, and more 8-OHdG is produced in the body as the amount of 1-NP, which is metabolized to 1-AP or 1-NAAP, increases.

The aim of this study was to build a tool to analyze, using artificial intelligence, the sentiment perception of users who answered two questions from the CSQ – 8 questionnaires with raw Spanish free-text. Their responses are related to mindfulness, which is a novel technique used to control stress and anxiety caused by different factors in daily life. As such, we proposed an online course where this method was applied in order to improve the quality of life of health care professionals in COVID 19 pandemic times. We also carried out an evaluation of the satis-faction level of the participants involved, with a view to establishing strategies to improve fu-ture experiences. To automatically perform this task, we used Natural Language Processing (NLP) models such as swivel embedding, neural networks and transfer learning, so as to classify the inputs into the following 3 categories: negative, neutral and positive. Due to the lim-ited amount of data available - 86 registers for the first and 68 for the second - transfer learning techniques were required. The length of the text had no limit from the user’s standpoint, and our approach attained a maximum accuracy of 93.02 % and 90.53 % respectively based on ground truth labeled by 3 experts. Finally, we proposed a complementary analysis, using com-puter graphic text representation based on word frequency, to help researchers identify relevant information about the opinions with an objective approach to sentiment. The main conclusion drawn from this work is that the application of NLP techniques in small amounts of data using transfer learning is able to obtain enough accuracy in sentiment analysis and text classification stages

Kaposi’s sarcoma associated-herpesvirus (KSHV, also known as human herpesvirus-8) is a gammaherpesvirus that establishes life-long infection in human B lymphocytes. KSHV infection is typically asymptomatic but immunosuppression can predispose KSHV-infected individuals to primary effusion lymphoma (PEL); a malignancy driven by aberrant proliferation of latently infected B lymphocytes, and supported by pro-inflammatory cytokines and angiogenic factors produced by cells that succumb to lytic viral replication. Here, we report the development of the first in vivo model for a virally-induced lymphoma in zebrafish, whereby KSHV-infected PEL tumour cells engraft and proliferate in the yolk sac of zebrafish larvae. Using a PEL cell line engineered to produce the viral lytic switch protein RTA in the presence of doxycycline, we demonstrate drug-inducible reactivation from KSHV latency in vivo, which enabled real-time observation and evaluation of latent and lytic phases of KSHV infection. In addition, we developed a sensitive droplet digital PCR method to monitor latent and lytic viral gene expression and host cell gene expression in xenografts. The zebrafish yolk sac is not well-vascularized and using fluorogenic assays we confirmed that this site provides a hypoxic environment that may mimic the microenvironment of some human tumors. We found that PEL cell proliferation in xenografts was dependent on the host hypoxia-dependent translation initiation factor, eukaryotic initiation factor 4E2 (eIF4E2). This demonstrates that the zebrafish yolk sac is a functionally hypoxic environment and xenografted cells must switch to dedicated hypoxic gene expression machinery to survive and proliferate. The establishment of the PEL xenograft model enables future studies that exploit the innate advantages of the zebrafish as a model for genetic and pharmacologic screens.

Remote sensing data and techniques utilized for various purposes including natural disasters such as earthquake as well as flood. The research aims to consume liberates Landsat 8 images for investigating crashed airplanes such as MH370. Overall approximately 300 Landsat images with less than 10% clouds utilized in addition processed through Google Engine Platform. Due to the materials as well as the color of airplane body different from the area which is a plane crashed there, moreover, it should be the characteristics of the plane shapefile different in terms of albedo, temperature as well as vegetation index value. The research observed Landsat 8 data as well as methods utilized in this research, especially, NDVI, albedo in addition to band 4, capable to distinguish between the plane and its surrounding green area. Therefore, our result confirms during the research period, there was no plane on the location as well as MH370 not crashed in this site.

Surface water distribution extracted from remote sensing data has been used in water resource assessment, coastal management, and environmental change studies. Traditional manual methods for extracting water bodies cannot satisfy the requirements for mass processing of remote sensing data; therefore, accurate automated extraction of such water bodies has remained a challenge. The histogram bimodal method (HBM) is a frequently used objective tool for threshold selection in image segmentation. The threshold is determined by seeking twin peaks, and the valley values between them; however, automatically calculating the threshold is difficult because complex surfaces and image noise which lead to not perfect twin peaks (single or multiple peaks). We developed an operational automated water extraction method, the modified histogram bimodal method (MHBM). The MHBM defines the threshold range of water extraction through mass static data; therefore, it does not require the identification of twin histogram peaks. It then seeks the minimum values in the threshold range to achieve automated threshold. We calibrated the MHBM for many lakes in China using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images, for which the relative error (RE) and squared correlation coefficient (R2) for threshold accuracy were found to be 2.1% and 0.96, respectively. The RE and root-mean-square error (RMSE) for the area accuracy of MHBM were 0.59% and 7.4 km2. The results show that the MHBM could easily be applied to mass time-series remote sensing data to calculate water thresholds within water index images and successfully extract the spatial distribution of large water bodies automatically.

Breast cancer treatment mostly revolved around radiation therapy and surgical interventions, these treatments doesn’t provide satisfactory relief to the patients and carry unmanageable side-effects. Nanomaterials show promising results in treating cancer cells and have many advantages such as high biocompatibility, bioavailability and effective therapeutic capabilities. Interestingly, fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles have been used in many biological and diagnostic applications, but there is no report of use of fluorescent magnetic submicronic polymer nanoparticles (FMSP-nanoparticles) in the treatment of human breast cancer cells. In the present study, we have tested the effect FMSP-nanoparticles on human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). We have tested different concentrations (1.25µg/1mL, 12.5µg/mL and 50µg/1mL) of FMSP-nanoparticles in MCF-7 cells and evaluated the nanoparticles response morphometrically. Our results revealed that FMSP-nanoparticles produced a concentration dependent effect on the cancer cells, dose of 1.25µg/mL produced no significant effect on the cancer cell morphology and cell death, whereas dosages of 12.5µg/mL and 50µg/mL respectively showed significant nuclear augmentation, disintegration, chromatic condensation followed by dose dependent cell death. Our results demonstrate FMSP-nanoparticles have ability to induce cell death in MCF-7 cells and may be considered as a potential anti-cancer agent for breast cancer treatments.

Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors are widely used in the treatment of various conditions, including erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. Despite their clinical efficacy, these drugs quite often cause visual disturbances due to off-target effects on Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE6) in the retina. This review explores the application of a general intermolecular binding affinity calculator (GIBAC)-based binding selectivity strategy in the design of PDE5 inhibitors, aiming to enhance binding selectivity and minimize visual side effects. This GIBAC strategy integrates computational structural biological approaches to iteratively refine drug-target binding affinities, thereby improving target specificity and the structural biophysical limit for the efficacy-safety balance of PDE5 inhibitors. Through detailed analysis of PDE5’s and PDE6’s biological role and the molecular mechanisms underlying visual disturbances, this article underscores the necessity of target binding selectivity in PDE5 inhibitor design in future. Additionally, this article discusses the practical applications of GIBAC in computational drug discovery and design, along with the future directions and the potential for GIBAC to transform PDE5 inhibitor development, ultimately enhancing therapeutic outcomes and patient safety. Finally, this article calls for a GIBAC-based paradigm shift in computational drug discovery and design towards the continued development of the pharmaceutical industry.

The aim of this study was to determine the microbial stability, challenge to L. monocytogenes, and some physicochemical properties of turkey breast meat by alginate-based coating enriched with postbiotics (8% concentration, CFS) of Bifidobacterium bifidum DSM 20456 and Bifidobacterium bifidum BB12 strains. For this purpose, firstly, some antimicrobial and total phenolic matter, flavonoid, and DPPH activity values of postbiotics were determined. In addition, FTIR analysis was performed to see the intermolecular interactions of the biological coating agent. As a result of the study, alginate solution with postbiotic showed significant differences in pH, a*, b*, yeast-mold values of turkey meat during storage (7 days), while L* value, total aerobic mesophilic bacteria count (TMAP), psychrotrophic bacteria (PAB), lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Listeria monocytogenes count were not effective (p&gt;0.05).

(1) Background: The aim of study was to investigate the salt consumption by children and adolescents from the Silesian Province (Poland), taking into account the region’s dietary traditions and number of years of school education. (2) Methods : 300 students aged 10–18 from different types of schools, were enrolled in the study and divided into groups in terms of: school, sex, the state of nutrition. The survey questionnaire about dietary habits, including the frequency and serving size with respect to 12 salty products was used. On the basis of the frequency and the amount of consumed products, as well as the data on salt content, the amount of total daily intake of salt was estimated.; (3) Results: The mean daily intake of salt by children and adolescents was 1.083 g ( 0.433 g of sodium); children aged 10–12 consumed the highest amount of salt (1.296 g/day) compared to pupils aged 13–15 (1.131 g of sodium) and adolescents aged 16–18 (0.863 g/day); (4) Conclusions: With age, as a result of various factors, the consumption of salt declines. The parents impact and the familial socio-environmental factors begin to wane, and other factors start to have influence, e.g. school education of healthy lifestyle, health behavior of peers.

Results showed that mulberry leaves could significantly reduce backfat thickness (P&lt;0.05) and increase intramuscular fat (IMF) content (P&lt;0.05). Lipidomics analysis showed that mulberry leaves improved lipid profile composition and increased the proportion of triglycerides (TG). Interestingly, IMF content was positively correlated with acyl C18:2 and negatively correlated with C18:1 of differential TGs. In addition, cecal microbiological analysis showed that mulberry leaves could increase the abundance of bacteria such as UCG−005, Muribaculaceae_norank, Prevotellaceae_NK3B31_group, Limosilactobacillus, and so on. At the same time improve the L-tyrosine-baton rouge ester, Oleic acid methyl ester, 21-deoxycortisol, N-acetyldihydrosphingosine, Mulberrin relative abundance. In this study, we found that mulberry leaves could extremely significantly increasing the mRNA relative expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) and peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) in muscle (P＜0.01), significantly increasing mRNA relative expression of diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) (P＜0.05) and significantly decreasing the mRNA relative expression of acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC) (P＜0.05), and aignificantly upregulated hormone-sensitive triglyceride lipase (HSL), peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor α (PPARα) mRNA relative expression (P＜0.05) in backfat. In addition mulberry leaves could increased serum leptin and adiponectin (P＜0.01). Ultimately lead to up-regulation of IMF and down-regulation of backfat.

This paper explores the ethical considerations surrounding the research on echinoderms, a group of invertebrates that has recently garnered attention in the scientific community. We emphasize the importance of responsible animal handling and the need for an ethical framework that encompasses echinoderms. The 3R's principle, advocating for the replacement of conscious living vertebrates with non-sentient material in research, is discussed as a guiding tool in current animal research practices. As invertebrates are generally classified as non-sentient animals, the Replacement dimension tends to favor them as prevalent models in experimental research. While we currently lack the means to assess the mental states of invertebrates, there is undeniable evidence of social behavior in many species, suggesting that a lack of interactions with these organisms could potentially adversely affect their well-being. In the last few years, considerable progress has been made in developing an ethical framework that takes invertebrates into account, particularly cephalopods, crustaceans, and echinoderms. In this context, we discuss the development of a broader conceptual framework of 5R’s that includes Responsibility and Respect, which may guide practices ensuring welfare in echinoderms, even in the absence of any particular normative.

The vascular endothelium is key target for immune, and thrombotic responses that has to be controlled in successful xenotransplantation. Several genes were identified that if induced or overexpressed help to regulate the inflammatory response and preserve the transplanted organ function and metabolism. However, few studies addressed combined expression of such genes. The aim of this work was to evaluate in vivo the effects of the simultaneous expression of a three human genes in a mouse generated using the multi-cistronic F2A technology. Male 3-month-old mice that express human heme oxygenase 1 (hHO-1), ecto-5’-nucleotidase (hE5NT), and ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase 1 (hENTPD1) (Transgenic) were compared to wild-type FVB mice (Control). Background analysis include extracellular nucleotide catabolism enzymes profile on the aortic surface, blood nucleotide concentration and serum L-arginine metabolites. Furthermore, inflammatory stress induced by LPS in transgenic and control mice was used to characterize interleukin 6 (IL-6) and adhesion molecules endothelium permeabil-ity responses. Transgenic mice had significantly higher rates of extracellular adenosine triphosphate and adenosine monophosphate hydrolysis on the aortic surface in comparison to control. Increased levels of blood AMP and adenosine were also noticed in transgenics. Moreover, transgenic ani-mals demonstrated the decrease in serum monomethyl-L-arginine level and a higher L-arginine/ monomethyl-L-arginine ratio. Importantly, significantly decreased serum IL-6, and adhesion mol-ecule levels were observed in transgenic mice in comparison to control after LPS treatment. Fur-thermore, reduced endothelial permeability in the LPS-treated transgenic mice was noted as com-pared to LPS-treated control. The human enzymes (hHO-1, hE5NT, hENTPD1) simultaneously encoded in transgenic mice demonstrated benefits in sev-eral biochemical and functional aspects of endothelium. This is consistent in use of this approach in the context of xenotransplantation.

Cancer is a complex disease, considered a major public health problem worldwide. Among the types of cancer, melanoma, and leukemias present high mortality rates in Brazil and worldwide. Currently, conventional cytotoxic treatments cause severe side effects by the non-selectivity between normal cells and cancer cells. Therefore, molecules of natural origin with more efficient anticancer properties and that present fewer adverse effects are of extreme importance for cancer therapy and improvement in patients’ quality of life. This study isolated, identified, and characterized the chemical structure of a new anthraquinone present in the extract of the roots of Senna velutina. In addition, we sought to evaluate the anticancer potential of this molecule against melanoma and leukemic cell lines and identify the pathways of cell death involved. To this end, a novel anthraquinone was isolated from the barks of the roots of S. velutina, analyzed by HPLC-DAD, and its molecular structure was determined by NMR. Subsequently, their cytotoxic activity was evaluated by the MTT method against non-cancerous, melanoma, and leukemic cells. The migration of melanoma cells was evaluated by the scratch assay. By flow cytometry technique, the apoptosis process, caspase-3 activation, analysis of mitochondrial membrane potential, and measurement of ROS were evaluated. In addition, the pharmacological cell death inhibitors NEC-1, RIP-1, BAPTA, Z-VAD, and Z-DEVD were used to confirm the related cell death mechanisms. With the results, it was possible to elucidate the novel compound characterized as 2'-OH-Torosaol I. In normal cells, the compound showed no cytotoxicity in PBMC but reduced the cell viability of all melanoma and leukemic cell lines evaluated. 2'-OH-Torosaol I inhibited chemotaxis of B16F10-Nex2, SK-Mel-19, SK-Mel28 and SK-Mel-103. The cytotoxicity of the compound was induced by apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway with reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, increased levels of reactive oxygen species, and activation of caspase-3. In addition, the inhibitors demonstrated the involvement of necroptosis and CA+ in the death process and confirmed caspase-dependent apoptosis death as one of the main programmed-cell death pathways induced by 2'-OH-Torosaol I. Taken together, the data characterize the novel anthraquinone 2'-OH-Torosaol I, demonstrating its anticancer activity and potential application in cancer therapy.

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv) is an important food and forage crop that is well adapted to nutrient-poor soils. However, little is known about how foxtail millet adapts to low nitrogen (LN) at the physiological and molecular levels. In the present study, two foxtail millet varieties with contrasting low nitrogen (LN) tolerance properties were investigated through integrative analyses of physiological featureparameters and transcriptomics. The physiological results showed that JG20 (high tolerance to LN) had higher biomass accumulation, nitrogen content and nitrogen use efficiency compared with JG22 (low tolerancesensitive to LN) under LN. JG20 had higher soluble sugar and soluble protein concentration in shoots compared with JG22 under LN, while contcentrations of soluble sugar and soluble protein contents were higher in the roots of JG22. Higher levels of CTK contentzeatin concentration were found in the shoots of JG20 com-pared with JG22, and a higher ABA contcentration was found in both the shoots and roots of JG22 compared with JG20 under LN. In the transcriptomics results, JG20 had more differentially ex-pressed genes (DEGs) than JG22 both in shoots and roots in response to LN. These LN-responsive genes were enriched in glycolysis, starch and sucrose metabolism, photosynthesis, biosynthesis of amino acids, hormone metabolism and nitrogen metabolism. Furthermore, the high-affinity nitrate transporter gene, SiNRT2.1, and glutamine synthetase gene, SiGS5, chlorophyll apoprotein of photosystem II gene, SiPsbQ, ATP synthase subunit gene, b, auxin-responsive protein gene, SiIAA25, and aldose 1-epimerase gene, SiAEP, in shoots, and high-affinity nitrate transporter gene, SiNRT2.3, SiNRT2.4, and glutamate synthase gene, SiGOGAT2, auxin-responsive protein gene, SiIAA4, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase gene, SiAEP5, in root, were important genes in-volved in the LN tolerance of foxtail millet. These results provide a detailed description of the physiological and transcriptome response of foxtail millet under LN condition.

Here we present an overview of speleothem δ18O records from South America, which mostly are available in the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL_v1) database. South American tropical and subtropical δ18O time series are primarily interpreted as being driven by the amount effect and, consequently show the past history of the convection intensity of convergence zones such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the South America Monsoon System. We investigate past hydroclimate scenarios in South America related to the South American Monsoon System in three different time scales: Late Pleistocene, Holocene and the last two millennia. The precession driven insolation is the main driver of convective variability over the continent during the last 250 kyrs, including the Holocene period. However a dipole is observed between the west and east portions of the continent. Records located in the central region of Brazil appear to be weakly affected by insolation driven variability and more susceptible to the South Atlantic Convergence Zone. Cold episodic events in Northern Hemisphere increase the activity of the South American Monsoon System on all time scales, in turn increasing rainfall amounts in South America, as was documented during Heinrich events in the late Pleistocene and Bond events in the Holocene, as well as during the Little Ice Age.

We have previously reported that 60% sucrose diet-fed ChREBP knockout mice (KO) showed body weight loss resulting in lethality. We aimed to elucidate whether sucrose and fructose metabolism are impaired in KO. Wild type mice (WT) and KO were fed a diet containing 30% sucrose with/without 0.08% miglitol, an α-glucosidase inhibitor, and these effects on phenotypes were tested. Furthermore, we compared metabolic changes of oral and peritoneal fructose injection. Thirty percent sucrose diet feeding did not affect phenotypes in KO. However, miglitol induced lethality in 30% sucrose-fed KO. Thirty percent sucrose plus miglitol diet-fed KO showed increased cecal contents, increased fecal lactate contents, increased growth of lactobacillales and Bifidobacterium and decreased growth of clostridium cluster XIVa. ChREBP gene deletion suppressed the mRNA levels of sucrose and fructose related genes. Next, oral fructose injection did not affect plasma glucose levels and liver fructose contents; however, intestinal sucrose and fructose related mRNA levels were increased only in WT. In contrast, peritoneal fructose injection increased plasma glucose levels in both mice; however, the hepatic fructose content in KO was much higher owing to decreased hepatic Khk mRNA expression. Taken together, KO showed sucrose intolerance and fructose malabsorption owing to decreased gene expression.

Genome-wide epigenetic changes in plants are being reported during the development and environmental stresses, which are often correlated with gene expression at the transcriptional level. Sum total of the biochemical changes in nuclear DNA, post-translational modifications in histone proteins and variations in the biogenesis of non-coding RNAs in a cell is known as epigenome. These changes are often responsible for variation in expression of the gene without any change in the underlying nucleotide sequence. The changes might also cause variation in chromatin structure resulting into the changes in function/activity of the genome. The epigenomic changes are dynamic with respect to the endogenous and/or environmental stimuli which affect phenotypic plasticity of the organism. Both, the epigenetic changes and variation in gene expression might return to the pre-stress state soon after withdrawal of the stress. However, a part of the epigenetic changes may be retained which is reported to play role in acclimatization, adaptation as well as in the evolutionary processes. Understanding epigenome-engineering for improved stress tolerance in plants has become essential for better utilization of the genetic factors. This review delineates the importance of epigenomics towards possible improvement of plant’s responses to environmental stresses for climate resilient agriculture.

Borneol and menthol were two terpenes wildly used as penetrate enhancer in transdermal drug delivery. To explore their penetration enhancement effect towards hydrophilic drug, 5-FU was selected as model drug. A method combined vitro permeation studies and coarse grain molecular dynamics was used to investigate their penetration enhancement effect towards 5-FU. As a result, although both borneol and menthol showed a penetration enhancement effect towards 5-FU, they differed a lot in the penetration enhancement mechanism, which was also thought to account for their different penetration enhancement effect. As for menthol, SC bilayer disrupting effect seemed to be its main mechanism. While for borneol, its mechanism seemed to be more complicated. Except for disrupting the SC bilayer, it could also increase the permeation of 5-FU by enhancing the diffusion rate of 5-FU or inducing the formation of transient pore. All of this enable us a molecular understanding of borneol and menthol’s penetration enhancement effect towards hydrophilic drug, which might provide some guidance in the latter research and application.

Several studies suggests that ghrelin (GHRL) has neurobiological effects that extend beyond control of food intake. Our previous results confirmed that GHRL modulates the secretory activity of the pineal gland (PG) through nocturnal melatonin (MEL) secretion in sheep, the seasonally reproductive animals. Here we investigated the effects of GHRL (10 ng/ml) on the expression of enzymes limiting synthesis of MEL, including tryptophan 5-hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), serotonin N-acetyltransferase (AA-NAT) and its phosphorylated form p31T-AA-NAT in sheep PG explants (n = 72) during the 4-hour incubation in a gas-liquid interface, at a short (SD) and long (LD) photoperiods. After each hour of incubation selected explants were frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C for subsequent analysis (real-time PCR, western-blotting, ELISA). Results show that GHRL regulates nightly MEL secretion in a TPH1-independent manner. The factor modulating GHRL activity was photoperiod. During SD photoperiod GHRL significantly reduced the expression of p31T-AA-NAT, AA-NAT and inhibited MEL secretion from PG explants. Whereas, during LD photoperiod no effect of GHRL on MEL secretion and expression of examined enzymes was noted. Studies indicate that GHRL directly affects PG under in vitro conditions and causes MEL secretion in animals which exhibit seasonality in reproductive and metabolic processes.

Despite the availability of effective vaccines against COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread worldwide, pressing the need for new vaccines with improved breadth and durability. We developed an adjuvanted subunit vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 using recombinant receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike with synthetic adjuvants targeting TLR7/8 (INI-4001) and TLR4 (INI-2002), co-delivered with aluminum hydroxide (AH) or aluminum phosphate (AP). The formulations were characterized for the quantities of RBD, INI-4001, and INI-2002 adsorbed onto the respective aluminum salts. Results indicated that at pH 6, the uncharged RBD (5.73 ± 4.2 mV) did not efficiently adsorb to the positively charged AH (22.68 ± 7.01 mV), whereas it adsorbed efficiently to the negatively-charged AP (-31.87 ± 0.33 mV). Alternatively, pre-adsorption of the TLR ligands to AH converted it to a negatively-charged particle, allowing for the efficient adsorption of RBD. RBD could also be directly adsorbed to AH at a pH of 8.1, which changed the charge of the RBD to negative. INI-4001 and INI-2002 efficiently to AH. Following vaccination in C57BL/6 mice, both aluminum salts promoted Th2-mediated immunity when used as the sole adjuvant. Co-delivery with TLR4 and/or TLR7/8 ligands efficiently promoted a switch to Th1-mediated immunity instead. Measurements of viral neutralization by serum antibodies demonstrated that the addition of TLR ligands to alum also greatly improved the neutralizing antibody response. These results indicate that the addition of a TLR7/8 and/or TLR4 agonist to a subunit vaccine containing RBD antigen and alum is a promising strategy for driving a Th1 response and neutralizing antibody titers targeting SARS-CoV-2.

This paper presents ensemble learning of multi-source satellite sensors dataset to obtain better predictive performance of the forest biomass. Spectral, spectral-indices, and spectral-textural features were generated from two optical satellite sensors, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI). In addition, two radar satellite sensors, Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (CSAR), and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS-2) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR-2) were utilized to generate backscattering and backscattering-textural features. The plot-wise above ground biomass data available from five forests in New England region were utilized. Ensemble learning of multi-source satellite sensors dataset was carried out by employing four machine learning regressors namely, Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forests (RF), Gradient Boosting (GB), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). A five-fold cross-validation method was used to evaluate predictive performance of the multi-source satellite sensors. The integration of multi-source satellite features, comprising of spectral, spectral-indices, backscattering, spectral-textural, and backscattering-textural information, through ensemble learning and cross-validation approach implemented in the research showed promising results (R² = 0.81, RMSE = 46.2 Mg/ha) for the estimation of plots-level forest biomass in New England region.

Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation has been studied for several purposes, while the optimal method of estimating the LST has not been criticized yet. This research explores the optimum method in Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation using LANDSAT-8 imagery data. Four different LST retrieval approaches, the Radiative Transfer Equation-based method (RTE), the Improved Mono-Window method (IMW), the Generalized Single-Channel method (GSC), and the Split-Window algorithm (SW), were calculated to present the LSTs over Buriram Town Municipality, Thailand. The calculated LSTs from these four methods were compared with the ground-based temperature data, taken on the same date and time of the employed LANDSAT-8 images. For this reason, the optimum method of the LST calculation was justified by considering the lowest normalized root means square error (NRMSE) values. As a result, the SW algorithm presents an optimum method in LST estimation. Regarding the SW, this algorithm requires not only the atmospheric profiles during satellite acquisition but also the retrieval of several coefficients. Besides, the LST retrieval method based on the SW algorithm is sensitive to water vapor content and coefficients. Although the SW algorithm is an optimum method explored in this study, it is emphasized that the adjustable values of coefficient response to the atmospheric state may be recommended. With these conditions, the SW algorithm can generate the land-surface temperature over the mixed land-use and land cover on the LANDSAT-8 images.

Salinity intrusion is one of the most serious consequences of climate change coupled with rising sea level that significantly affects agricultural activities in many parts of the world. This phenomenon has increasingly become more serious and frequently occurred in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. As a result, Vietnam has been ranked among top five countries where have been devastatingly impacted by climate change, in particular, its Tra Vinh Province characterized by coastal plain and alluvial deposit. In addition, this area is of the tropical monsoon zone of long rainy season with source of salt brought from the sea by the tides and sea level rise. Regions that are contaminated by salt are located in lowland and often suffer from floods linking to tidal effects with salty water from river systems and channels. Soil salinity evaluation is critical for coastal protection, restoration, and agricultural planning since it can be considered as an agricultural indicator to evaluate quality of soil. Here, we attempt to estimate the soil salinity in Tra Vinh Province, in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Landsat 8 OLI images are utilized to derive indices for soil salinity evaluation including single bands, Vegetation Soil Salinity Index (VSSI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Normalized Difference Salinity Index (NDSI). Subsequently, satistical analysis between soil salinity, electrical conductivity (EC, dS/m), and environmental indices derived from Landsat 8 OLI image is performed. Results indicate that spectral value of Near Infrared (NIR) band and VSSI are highly correlated with EC (R2 = 0.7779 and R2 = 0.6957, respectively) in comparison with the other indices. Comparative results show that soil salinity derived from Landsat 8 is consistent with in situ data. Findings of this study demonstrate that Landsat 8 OLI images reveal a high potential for spatiotemporally monitoring the magnitude of soil salinity at the top soil layer. Outcomes of this study are useful for agricultural activities, planners, and farmers by providing the base map of soil salinity contamination for better selection of accomodating crop types to reduce economical lost in the context of climate change. Our proposed method that estimates soil salinity using satellite-derived variables can be applied in the other regions.

This article reviews all the major stages in the origins of life. From the emergence of matter in the initial Big Bang to the modern, civilized human being. On an immaterial level, it is proposed and explained how consciousness necessarily takes precedence over matter. Next, we explain how consciousness, with its ability to process information, selected the water molecule to breathe life into the periodic table of elements. We also explain why the notion of entropy allows us to evolve: "Die Entropie der Welt strebt einem Maximum zu" (second principle) and, therefore, takes precedence over the notion of energy, which, on the contrary, encourages us to preserve what we have: "Die Energie der Welt bleibt konstant" (first principle). This is followed by a discussion of the importance of quantum coherence and the need to rely on a second quantization formalism for a proper understanding of the physical-biochemical properties of water. Moreover, throughout the argument developed on the best and most fundamental things science has to offer, care is taken to link this knowledge to the great philosophies of the West (Greece), the East (China, India) or even to practices of a shamanic nature (Africa, America). Hence, finally, the proposal to reconsider all musical practice within the framework of the diapason of water at a frequency of 429.62 Hz, as well as all therapeutic practice on the basis of seven clearly identified and established frameworks of thought.

Triphenylphosphonium (TPP) derivatives of a decapeptide related to sequences of bactenecin 7 (Bac7) and oncocin (Onc112) were synthesized and studied as potential antimicrobial compounds using various biochemical and microbiological assays. It was shown that while the reduction of the Bac7 length to 10 a.a. residues dramatically decreases the affinity to bacterial ribosomes, the modification of peptide with alkyl-TPP moieties leads to an increase in the affinity. New analogs which structure combines a decapeptide related to Bac7 and Onc112 — Bac(1-10, R/Y) — and TPP, attached to the C-terminal amino acid residue through alkylamide linkers, inhibit translation in vitro and are found to be more selective inhibitors of bacterial translation as compared with eukaryotic translation, than Onc112 and Bac7. Triphenylphosphonium analogs of a decapeptide related to Bac7 and Onc112 suppress the growth of both gram-negative bacteria, similar to Onc112 and Bac7, and gram-positive ones as alkyl-TPP derivatives, and also act against some resistant laboratory strains. Bac(1-10, R/Y)-C2-TPP, containing a short alkylamide linker between the decapeptide and TPP, is transferred into the E. coli cells via the SbmA transporter protein. TPP derivatives of the decapeptide Bac(1-10, R/Y) containing either decylamide or ethylamide linker cause B. subtilis membrane depolarization, similar to alkyl-TPP. The Bac(1-10, R/Y)-C2-TPP analog is proved to be non-toxic for mammalian cells by MTT-test.

The evolution of even and odd Schrödinger cat states of the inverted oscillator is obtained in the center-of-mass tomographic probability description of the two-mode oscillator.The notion of entangled probability distribution is reviewed. Evolution equations describing the time-dependence of probability distributions identified with quantum system states are discussed.The connection with the Schrödinger equation and the von Neumann equation is clarified.

The genetic transformation of Coffea arabica L. is an alternative strategy for obtaining plants with agronomic traits of interest that is less time-consuming than conventional breeding methods. Given the importance of coffee cultivation in Colombia, this study evaluated the main factors interfering with the genetic transformation of C. arabica using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. An effi-cient and reproducible method was accordingly established that involved the propagation of “early” embryogenic tissue in a liquid proliferation medium, supplemented with 3 mg l−1 BAP for eight months, which was subsequently sonicated for 300 sec in a suspension of LBA4405 OD600 of 0.5 harboring pC1301 and incubated in this same suspension for 1 hr. This plasmid contained the uidA gene under control of the 35S promoter. The Agrobacterium suspen-sion was subsequently removed from the embryogenic tissue using a micropipette, after which the tissue was deposited on filter paper to remove the remaining Agrobacterium suspension. The embryogenic tissue was co-cultured for four days in a solid differentiation medium supple-mented with 100 µM acetosyringone on filter paper. Subsequently, the tissue was post-cultured for four days in liquid differentiation medium under orbital shaking at 100 rpm with 300 mg l−1 Claforan (Hoechst), followed by selection with 50 mg l-1 hygromycin at 26 °C in the dark, with subcultures at 20-day intervals until somatic embryos were formed for subsequent culturing in germination medium. Molecular analysis confirmed the presence of the uidA gene in coffee seedlings transformed with strains LBA4405 and EHA105 and vectors pC1301 and pC2301. This method successfully enables the stable integration of genes of interest in the coffee plant ge-nome

The development of a rapid, sensitive, specific method for detecting foodborne pathogens is paramount in supplying safe food to enhance public health safety. Despite the significant improvement in pathogen detection methods, key issues are still associated with rapid methods, such as distinguishing living cells from dead, pathogenic potential or health risk of the analyte at the time of consumption, detection limit, and sample-to-result. The mammalian cell-based assays analyze pathogens' interaction with the host cells and are responsive to only live pathogens or active toxins. In this study, a human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell line expressing Toll-Like Receptor 5 (TLR-5) and chromogenic reporter system (HEK dual hTLR5) was used for the detection of viable Salmonella in a 96-well tissue culture plate. This cell line responds to low concentrations of TLR5 agonist flagellin. Stimulation of TLR5 ligand activates nuclear factor-kB (NF-κB) - linked alkaline phosphatase (AP-1) signaling cascade inducing the production of secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase (SEAP). With the addition of a ρ-nitrophenyl phosphate as a substrate, a colored end product representing a positive signal is quantified. The assay's specificity was validated with the top 20 Salmonella enterica serovars and 19 non-Salmonella spp. The performance of the assay was also validated with spiked food samples. The total detection time (sample-to-result), including shortened pre-enrichment (4 h) and selective enrichment (4 h) steps with artificially inoculated outbreak-implicated food samples (chicken, peanut kernel, peanut butter, black pepper, mayonnaise, and peach) was 15 h when inoculated at 1–100 CFU/25 g sample. These results show the potential of HEK-DualTM hTLR5 cell-based functional biosensors for rapid screening of Salmonella.

Introduction: Carcinoid heart disease is a rare cause of right-sided valvular dysfunction, an important complication in patients with carcinoid syndrome. Objectives: We aim to present our own experience regarding early myocardial dysfunction in patients with carcinoid syndrome. Methods: 64 patients (35-90 year old, 62,5% female, 37,5% male patients) with carcinoid syndrome were evaluated be-tween October 2017 and June 2021. All patients underwent two-dimensional echocardiography with additional tissue Doppler and speckle-tracking techniques. For all patients there were measured urinary level of 5- hydroxyindolacetic acid, serotonin and NT-proBNP values. Results: The following echocardiographic features: global longitudinal strain of both ventricles, mean systolic velocity of the left ventricle, systolic velocity of the free wall of right ventricle, correlated with high values of specific biomarkers: serotonin, and urinary 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid, and also with the presence of hepatic metastases and poorly differentiated tumors. Discussion: In this study we identified several patients with early myocardial dysfunction due to carcinoid syndrome, representing a predictive model of poor prognosis, requiring further investigations. Conclusion: Echocardiographic assessment based on the measurement of systolic velocities, as well as the global longitudinal strain of both ventricles, together with specific biomarkers may contribute to better recognition of carcinoid heart disease in clinical practice, but this needs validation through further studies enrolling larger number of patients.

children is challenging. An important advance is the 15-questions Pictorial Personality Traits Questionnaire for Children. A study on students from 10 to 13 years old in Poland validated the questionnaire but with some observations. Thus, there is a need for replication and stronger evi-dence in this age group. In Chile, we replicated the study with 3,423 4th-graders (9 to 12 years old). Teachers, in regular sessions, applied the questionnaire to their entire classes. We found similar results, including that asexual pictograms worked well in both genders. We also found positive relationships between conscientiousness, openness, and extraversion with mathematical performance. Furthermore, a combination of these three traits has a relationship with math performance twice as big as each trait alone. Moreover, students with the lowest scores in this combination of personality traits (6.6% of students) have 0.27 standard deviations less in mathematical performance than those with the highest score, which is 74.3% of students. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a study finds a strong relationship between a combination of personality traits gathered with a 15-question questionnaire and fourth-graders´ math perfor-mances.

Stress is one of the important factors affecting the growth and development of plants. In recent years, a large body of data on transcriptional changes in response to stress in plants has been obtained. Despite the fact that the important role of the regulation of translation in response to stress has been proven in plants, knowledge in this area remains extremely scarce. In this review, we focused on mRNA translation in the cytoplasm of higher plants. Most of the current research on the effects of translation has been done in yeast and mammalian systems. Translation factors and mechanisms are mostly conserved among eukaryotes; however, some differences are known to exist among plants. A comprehensive understanding of the complex apparatus of translation and its regulation in plants is required. In this work, we have tried to update modern ideas about the regulation of translation under conditions of abiotic stress.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), also known as chronic lung disease, is the most common respiratory morbidity in preterm infants. "Old" or "Classic" BPD, as per the original description, is less common now. "New BPD," which presents with distinct clinical and pathological features, is more frequently observed in the current era of advanced neonatal care, where extremely premature infants are surviving due to medical advancements. The pathogenesis of BPD is complex and multifactorial and involves both genetic and environmental factors. This review provides an overview of the pathology of BPD and discusses the influence of several prenatal and postnatal factors on its pathogenesis, such as maternal factors, genetic susceptibility, ventilator-associated lung injury, oxygen toxicity, sepsis, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), and nutritional deficiencies. This in-depth review draws on existing literature to explore these factors and their potential contribution to the development of BPD.

Exposure to predator scent (PS) has been used as a model of stress associated with danger to life and body integrity. We tested the hypothesis that repeated PS exposure alters the excitability of serotonin (5-HT) neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus. To study the mechanisms involved, we approached serum and adrenal corticosterone and aldosterone concentrations, as well as cortical brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to PS for ten minutes daily for ten consecutive days. Two weeks after the last exposure, electrophysiological and biochemical assessments were performed. Measurements by in vivo electrophysiology showed increased spontaneous firing activity of 5-HT neurons in rats exposed to PS. PS exposure resulted in reduced serum corticosterone and aldosterone concentrations. Concentrations of both corticosteroids in the adrenal glands, as well as the relative weight of the adrenals, were unaffected. The gene expression of hippocampal BDNF of rats exposed to PS remained unaltered. In conclusion, repeated exposure of rats to PS leads to enhanced firing activity of 5-HT neurons accompanied by reduced serum, but not adrenal aldosterone and corticosterone concentrations. Reduced corticosteroid concentrations in the blood appear to be the result of increased metabolism and/or tissue uptake rather than altered steroidogenesis. The decrease in circulating corticosterone in rats experienced repeated PS may represent part of the mechanisms leading to increased excitability of 5-HT neurons. The increase in 5-HT neuronal firing activity might be an important compensatory mechanism designated to diminish the harmful effects of the repeated PS exposure on the brain.

Ischemic neuron loss contributes to brain dysfunction in patients with cardiac arrest (CA). Histidine–tryptophan–ketoglutarate (HTK) solution is a preservative used during organ transplantation. Can HTK also protect neurons from severe hypoxia (SH) following CA? We isolated rat primary cortical neurons and induced SH with or without HTK. Changes in caspase-3, hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α), and NADPH oxidase-4 (NOX4) expression were evaluated at different time points till 72 h. Using a rat asphyxia model, we induced CA-mediated brain damage and then completed resuscitation. HTK or sterile saline was administered into the left carotid artery. Neurological deficit scoring and mortality were evaluated for 3 days. Then the rats were sacrificed for evaluating NOX4 and H2O2 level in blood and brain. In the in vitro study, HTK attenuated SH- and H2O2-mediated cytotoxicity in a volume- and time-dependent manner, associated with persisted HIF-1α expression, reductions in procaspase-3 activation and NOX4 expression. The inhibition of HIF-1α abrogated HTK’s effect on NOX4. In the in vivo study, neurological scores were significantly improved by HTK. H2O2 level, NOX4 activity and NOX4 gene expression were all decreased in the brain specimen of HTK-treated rats. Our results suggest that HTK acts as an effective neuroprotective solution.

Relationship between the results of penile duplex doppler ultrasound (PDDU) and response to vardenafil was investigated in patients diagnosed with erectile dysfunction (ED). Data of 148 patients with ED were analysed retrospectively. Patients who did not respond to therapy were classified as Group I (n = 32), those responded partially were classified as Group II (n = 40) and complete responders were classified as Group III (n = 76). Age, comorbid diseases, vascular and penile pathology were compared among the three groups. While diabetes mellitus (DM) and dyslipedimia positivity adversely affect the response to treatment, the presence of hypertension (HT), peyronie's disease and priapism increase the therapeutic response to the treatment (p < 0.05). Arterial insufficiency was present in 20(30.3%), 25(37,9%) and 21(31.8%) of the patients in Group I, Group II and Group III, respectively (p = 0.001). Venous insufficiency was observed in 3(14.3%) patients in Group I and in 8(85.7%) patients in Group III (p = 0.001). Arterial/venous insufficiency was seen in 9(30%), 14(46.7%) and 7(23.3%) of the patients in Group I, Group II and Group III, respectively (p = 0.001). Response rate to treatment was highest in normal patients according to PDDU, followed by patients with venous insuffiency. Besides, it was found that DM decreased the response to treatment, whereas response was increased in cases with HT, priapism and Peyronie’s disease.

We performed the accuracy assessment of three different Normalized Difference Water Indices (NDWIs) in water bodies during April 2019, a period in which floods occurred in a large proportion of the Southwest of the Buenos Aires Province (Argentina). The accuracy of the estimations using spaceborne medium-resolution multi-spectral imaging, and the reliability of three NDWIs to highlight shallow water features in satellite images, was evaluated using a high resolution airbone imagery as ground-truth. It is shown that these indices computed using Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 imagery are only loosely correlated to the actual flooded area in shallow waters. Indeed, NDWI values vary significantly depending on the satellite mission used and the type of index computed.

Protein O-GlcNAcylation has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer´s disease (AD). O-GlcNAcylation of Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) regulates both the trafficking and the processing of the APP through the amyloidogenic pathway, resulting in the release and aggregation of the Aβ1-42 peptide. Microglia clear Aβ aggregates and dead cells to maintain brain homeostasis. Here, using LC-MS/MS we reveal that the Aβ1-42 peptide modifies the microglia O-GlcNAcome. We have identified 55 proteins, focusing our research on Galectin-1 protein, since it is a very versatile protein from a functional point of view. Combining biochemical with genetic approaches we demonstrate that Aβ1-42 peptide specifically targets Galectin-1S8 O-GlcNAcylation via OGT. In addition, this Gal-1-O-GlcNAcylated form, in turn, controls human microglia migration. Given the importance of microglia migration in the progression of AD, this study reports the relationship between Aβ1-42 peptide and Serine 8- O-GlcNAcylation of Galectin to drive microglial migration

In the remote sensing domain, it is crucial to complete semantic segmentation on the raster images, e.g., river, building, forest, etc, on raster images. A deep convolutional encoder--decoder (DCED) network is the state-of-the-art semantic segmentation method for remotely sensed images. However, the accuracy is still limited, since the network is not designed for remotely sensed images and the training data in this domain is deficient. In this paper, we aim to propose a novel CNN for semantic segmentation particularly for remote sensing corpora with three main contributions. First, we propose applying a recent CNN called a global convolutional network (GCN), since it can capture different resolutions by extracting multi-scale features from different stages of the network. Additionally, we further enhance the network by improving its backbone using larger numbers of layers, which is suitable for medium resolution remotely sensed images. Second, "channel attention'' is presented in our network in order to select the most discriminative filters (features). Third, "domain-specific transfer learning'' is introduced to alleviate the scarcity issue by utilizing other remotely sensed corpora with different resolutions as pre-trained data. The experiment was then conducted on two given datasets: (i) medium resolution data collected from Landsat-8 satellite and (ii) very high resolution data called the ISPRS Vaihingen Challenge Dataset. The results show that our networks outperformed DCED in terms of $F1$ for 17.48% and 2.49% on medium and very high resolution corpora, respectively.

Many studies have demonstrated hydrogen's therapeutic and preventive effects on various diseases. Its selective antioxidant properties against hydroxyl radicals, which are responsible for the indirect effects of ionizing radiation, may make it worthy of attention as a new radio-protector. We recently developed new hydrogen water that is more stable and has higher antioxidant activity by using ultra-fine bubbles. In this study, female C57BL/6J mice given ad libitum access to ultra-fine bubble hydrogen water (UBHW) were subjected to whole-body irradiation (WBI) with X-rays, and the radio-protective effect of UBHW was evaluated. Sub-lethal WBI resulted in a 30-day survival rate of 100% in UBHW-fed mice, compared with 37% in control mice. In the case of lethal WBI, while the control mice died out in about 3 weeks, the 30-day survival rate improved to 40% by UBHW due to the high scavenging activity of hydroxy radicals. Twenty-six serum proteins involved in inflammatory and immune responses were significantly identified in UBHW-fed mice by proteomics, and UBHW may enhance and regulate these functions, resulting in reduced damage in mice exposed to WBI. We conclude that UBHW has good potential in radio-protection, with evidence that warrants further research efforts in this field.