On the use of adenovirus dodecahedron as a carrier for glycoconjugate vaccines

Glycoconjugate Journal - Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) have been used as immunogenic molecules in numerous recombinant vaccines. VLPs can also serve as vaccine platform to exogenous antigens, usually...     

Screening of Synthetic Isoxazolone Derivative Role in Alzheimer’s Disease: Computational and Pharmacological Approach

Neurochemical Research - Alzheimer's disease (AD) is age-dependent neurological disorder with progressive loss of cognition and memory. This multifactorial disease is characterized by...     

Multifaceted Role of Salicylic Acid in Combating Cold Stress in Plants: A Review

Plants face different types of stresses, including biotic and abiotic stresses. Among various abiotic stress, low-temperature stress alters various morphological, cytological, physiological, and other biochemical processes in plants. To thrive in such condition’s plants must adopt some strategy. Out of various strategies, the approach of using plant growth regulators (PGRs) gained a prominent role in the alleviation of multiple stresses. Salicylic acid, application triggers tolerance to both biotic and abiotic stresses via regulation of various morpho-physiological, cytological, and biochemical attributes. SA is shown to alleviate and regulate the various cold-induced changes. Both endogenous and exogenously applied SA show an imperative role in the alleviation of cold-induced changes by activating multiple signaling pathways like ABA-dependent or independent pathway, Ca²⁺ signaling pathway, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) pathway, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) pathways. Activation of these pathways leads to the amelioration of the cold-induced changes by increasing production of antioxidants, osmolytes, HSPs and other cold-responsive proteins like LEA, dehydrins, AFPs, PR proteins, and various other proteins. This review describes the tolerance of cold stress by SA in plants through the involvement of different stress signaling pathways.

     

Microscale grooves regulate maturation development of hPSC-CMs by the transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels)

The use of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) is limited in drug discovery and cardiac disease mechanism studies due to cell immaturity. Micro-scaled grooves can promote the maturation of cardiomyocytes by aligning them in order, but the mechanism of cardiomyocytes alignment has not been studied. From the level of calcium activity, gene expression and cell morphology, we verified that the W20H5 grooves can effectively promote the maturation of cardiomyocytes. The transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels) also play an important role in the maturation and development of cardiomyocytes. These findings support the engineered hPSC-CMs as a powerful model to study cardiac disease mechanism and partly mimic the myocardial morphological development. The important role of the TRP channels in the maturation and development of myocardium is first revealed.     

Correction to: In Silico Evaluation of Food Derived Bioactive Peptides as Inhibitors of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE)

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - The original version of the article unfortunately contained a typo in co-author name.     

In silico annotation of unreviewed acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in some lepidopteran insect pest species reveals the causes of insecticide resistance

Lepidoptera is the second most diverse insect order outnumbered only by the Coeleptera. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is the major target site for insecticides. Extensive use of insecticides, to inhibit the function of this enzyme, have resulted in the development of insecticide resistance. Complete knowledge of the target proteins is very important to know the cause of resistance. Computational annotation of insect acetylcholinesterase can be helpful for the characterization of this important protein. Acetylcholinesterase of fourteen lepidopteran insect pest species was annotated by using different bioinformatics tools. AChE in all the species was hydrophilic and thermostable. All the species showed lower values for instability index except L. orbonalis, S. exigua and T. absoluta. Highest percentage of Arg, Asp, Asn, Gln and Cys were recorded in P. rapae. High percentage of Cys and Gln might be reason for insecticide resistance development in P. rapae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the AChE in T. absoluta, L. orbonalis and S. exigua are closely related and emerged from same primary branch. Three functional motifs were predicted in eleven species while only two were found in L. orbonalis, S. exigua and T. absoluta. AChE in eleven species followed secretory pathway and have signal peptides. No signal peptides were predicted for S. exigua, L. orbonalis and T. absoluta and follow non secretory pathway. Arginine methylation and cysteine palmotylation was found in all species except S. exigua, L. orbonalis and T. absoluta. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor was predicted in only nine species.     

Foliar application of ascorbic acid enhances salinity stress tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) through modulation of morpho-physio-biochemical attributes,ions uptake,osmo-protectants and stress response genes expression

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a major cereal grain and is known as a halophyte (a halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity). We therefore conducted a pot experiment to explore plant growth and biomass, photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange attributes, stomatal properties, oxidative stress and antioxidant response and their associated gene expression and absorption of ions in H. Vulgare. The soil used for this analysis was artificially spiked at different salinity concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM) and different levels of ascorbic acid (AsA) were supplied to plants (0, 30 and 60 mM) shortly after germination of the seed. The results of the present study showed that plant growth and biomass, photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange parameters, stomatal properties and ion uptake were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced by salinity stress, whereas oxidative stress was induced in plants by generating the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plant cells/tissues compared to plants grown in the control treatment. Initially, the activity of antioxidant enzymes and relative gene expression increased to a saline level of 100 mM, and then decreased significantly (P < 0.05) by increasing the saline level (150 mM) in the soil compared to plants grown at 0 mM of salinity. We also elucidated that negative impact of salt stress in H. vulgare plants can overcome by the exogenous application of AsA, which not only increased morpho-physiological traits but decreased oxidative stress in the plants by increasing activities of enzymatic antioxidants. We have also explained the negative effect of salt stress on H. vulgare can decrease by exogenous application of AsA, which not only improved morpho-physiological characteristics, ions accumulation in the roots and shoots of the plants, but decreased oxidative stress in plants by increasing antioxidant compounds (enzymatic and non-enzymatic). Taken together, recognizing AsA's role in nutrient uptake introduces new possibilities for agricultural use of this compound and provides a valuable basis for improving plant tolerance and adaptability to potential salinity stress adjustment.     

Ubiquilin-1 and protein quality control in Alzheimer disease

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the ubiquilin-1 gene may confer risk for late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD). We have shown previously that ubiquilin-1 functions as a molecular chaperone for the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and that protein levels of ubiquilin-1 are decreased in the brains of AD patients. We have recently found that ubiquilin-1 regulates APP trafficking and subsequent secretase processing by stimulating non-degradative ubiquitination of a single lysine residue in the cytosolic domain of APP. Thus, ubiquilin-1 plays a central role in regulating APP biosynthesis, trafficking and ultimately toxicity. As ubiquilin-1 and other ubiquilin family members have now been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous neurodegenerative diseases, these findings provide mechanistic insights into the central role of ubiquilin proteins in maintaining neuronal proteostasis.     

The Relationship between Media Consumption and Health-Related Anxieties after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Background

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster caused a global panic by a release of harmful radionuclides. In a disaster setting, misusage of contemporary media sources available today can lead to disseminated incorrect information and panic. The study aims to build a scale which examines associations between media and individual anxieties, and to propose effective media usages for future disaster management.

Methods

The University of Tokyo collaborated with the Fukushima local government to conduct a radiation-health-seminar for a total of 1560 residents, at 12 different locations in Fukushima. A 13 item questionnaire collected once before and after a radiation-seminar was used on factor analysis to develop sub-scales for multiple regression models, to determine relationships between the sub-scales and media type consumed. A paired t–test was used to examine any changes in sub-scale of pre- and post-seminar scores.

Results

Three sub-scales were revealed and were associated with different media types: was with rumors, while concern for the future was positively associated with regional-newspapers and negatively with national-newspapers. Anxiety about social-disruption was associated with radio. The seminar had a significant effect on anxiety reduction for all the three sub-scales.

Conclusion

Different media types were associated with various heightened concerns, and that a radiation seminar was helpful to reduce anxieties in the post-disaster setting. By tailoring post-disaster messages via specific media types, i.e., radio, it may be possible to effectively convey important information, as well as to calm fears about particular elements of post-disaster recovery and to combat rumors.     

Dual inhibition of autophagy and the AKT pathway in prostate cancer

Genetic inactivation of PTEN through either gene deletion or mutation is common in metastatic prostate cancer, leading to activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K-AKT) pathway, which is associated with poor clinical outcomes. The PI3K-AKT pathway plays a central role in various cellular processes supporting cell growth and survival of tumor cells. To date, therapeutic approaches to develop inhibitors targeting the PI3K-AKT pathway have failed in both pre-clinical and clinical trials. We showed that a novel AKT inhibitor, AZD5363, inhibits the AKT downstream pathway by reducing p-MTOR and p-RPS6KB/p70S6K. We specifically reported that AZD5363 monotherapy induces G2 growth arrest and autophagy, but fails to induce significant apoptosis in PC-3 and DU145 prostate cancer cell lines. Blocking autophagy using pharmacological inhibitors (3-methyladenine, chloroquine and bafilomycin A₁) or genetic inhibitors (siRNA targeting ATG3 and ATG7) enhances cell death induced by AZD5363 in these prostate cancer cells. Importantly, the combination of AZD5363 with chloroquine significantly reduces tumor volume compared with the control group, and compared with either drug alone in prostate tumor xenograft models. Taken together, these data demonstrate that AKT inhibitor AZD5363, synergizes with the lysosomotropic inhibitor of autophagy, chloroquine, to induce apoptosis and delay tumor progression in prostate cancer models that are resistant to monotherapy, with AZD5363 providing a new therapeutic approach potentially translatable to patients.