Curcumin derivatives as ferroptosis inducers: design, synthesis and anti breast cancer activity evaluation.

Curcumin (CUR) is a natural product isolated from Curcuma longa L., which has become a research hotspot due to its significant anti-tumor activity by inducing tumor cell apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation. This study designed and synthesized 20 CUR derivatives containing 1,2,3-triazoles and heterocycles by modifying the methylene group between two carboxyl groups of CUR and hybridizing with aldehyde containing fragments.

ALK5 kinase inhibitors in drug discovery: Structural insights and therapeutic applications.

Activin receptor-like kinase-5 (ALK5), a pivotal component of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway, plays a critical role in tumorigenesis, inflammation, and fibrosis. The development of selective ALK5 inhibitors with antitumor and antifibrotic properties has emerged as a promising strategy in cancer therapeutics. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in ALK5 inhibitor research, focusing on clinical candidates, synthetic and natural compounds, and their structure-activity relationships (SARs).

The HOG signal pathway contributes to survival strategies of the piezo-tolerant fungus DM1 in hadal sediments.

Unlabelled: The hadal zone, one of Earth's most extreme ecosystems, harbors diverse and unique microbial communities adapted to its harsh environmental conditions, including high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and low temperatures. Within these communities, deep-sea fungi play a critical role in geochemical cycling and marine ecosystem functioning; however, research on their cultivable strains and adaptation mechanism remains scarce. In this study, the piezo-tolerant fungus DM1, isolated from the Mariana Trench sediments (10,898 m), was selected as a representative strain.

A novel multi-modal retrieval framework for tracking vehicles using natural language descriptions.

Recent advances in multimodal and contrastive learning have significantly enhanced image and video retrieval capabilities. This fusion provides numerous opportunities for multi-dimensional and multi-view retrieval, especially in multi-camera surveillance scenarios in traffic environments. This paper introduces a novel Multi-modal Vehicle Retrieval (MVR) system designed to retrieve the trajectories of tracked vehicles using natural language descriptions.

From west to east: dissecting the global shift in inflammatory bowel disease burden and projecting future scenarios.

Background: The epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has changed dramatically worldwide. This survey analyzed patterns and trends in the burden of IBD to aid future decision making.

Methods: The incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life year data for IBD were derived from the GBD (Global Burden of Disease) study.

The invisible threat: A 30-year review of air pollution's impact on diarrhoea from the global burden of disease study 2021.

Background: Diarrhoea remains a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality among children younger than 5 years. This study aims to provide an updated assessment of diarrhoea deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to air pollution from 1990 to 2021.

Methods: The deaths and DALYs data for diarrhoea attributable to air pollution were derived from the 2021 Global Burden of Diseases Study (GBD).

Development of novel broad-spectrum amphipathic antimicrobial peptides against multidrug-resistant bacteria through a rational combination strategy.

Introduction: In recent years, cationic amphipathic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have shown great promise in combating antibiotic resistance on account of their distinctive membrane-disruptive mechanism. However, the clinical application of AMPs is restricted by their unsatisfactory stability and safety. Although attempts have been made to improve the stability and safety of AMPs, many of them are accompanied by a decline in their antimicrobial activity and bacterial selectivity.

Synthesis and antimicrobial activity evaluation of pyrazole derivatives containing imidazothiadiazole moiety.

Aim: The purpose of this work was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of pyrazole derivatives (21a - i and 23a - o) synthesized.

Materials & Methods: The pyrazole derivatives were synthesized, molecular docked and tested for their antimicrobial activity, cytotoxicity, and hemolysis rate.

Results: Most of the target compounds showed high selective inhibitory activity against multi-drug resistance compared with other strains.

Droplet-based microfluidics for drug delivery applications.

The microfluidic method primainly utilizes two incompatible liquids as continuous phase and dispersed phase respectively. It controls the formation of droplets by managing the microchannel structure and the flow rate ratio of the two phases. Droplet-based microfluidics is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary research field encompassing physics, biochemistry, and Microsystems engineering.

Optimal design and analysis of a space lightweight mirror with a directionally oriented 2.5D-CVT structure.

Reflective mirrors are the key imaging components of space-borne telescopes, which require a high lightweight ratio integrated with excellent optical properties. In this context, a novel, to our knowledge, 2.5D centroidal Voronoi tessellation (CVT) generation methodology is proposed for designing and optimizing a lightweight mirror structure.

Effect of smoking-related features and 731 immune cell phenotypes on esophageal cancer: a two-sample and mediated Mendelian randomized study.

Introduction: Numerous observational studies have indicated that smoking is a substantial risk factor for esophageal cancer. However, there is a shortage of research that delves into the specific causal relationship and potential mediators between the two. Our study aims to validate the correlation between smoking-related traits and esophageal cancer while exploring the possible mediating effects of immune factors.

Microstructure Formation and Characterization of Long-Acting Injectable Microspheres: The Gateway to Fully Controlled Drug Release Pattern.

Long-acting injectable microspheres have been on the market for more than three decades, but if calculated on the brand name, only 12 products have been approved by the FDA due to numerous challenges in achieving a fully controllable drug release pattern. Recently, more and more researches on the critical factors that determine the release kinetics of microspheres shifted from evaluating the typical physicochemical properties to exploring the microstructure. The microstructure of microspheres mainly includes the spatial distribution and the dispersed state of drug, PLGA and pores, which has been considered as one of the most important characteristics of microspheres, especially when comparative characterization of the microstructure (Q3) has been recommended by the FDA for the bioequivalence assessment.

Sufficient driving force for quinoidal isoindigo-based diradicaloids with tunable diradical characters.

Stable organic π-conjugated diradcialoids with tunable diradical characters can profoundly affect emerging technology. Over the past years, great efforts have been devoted to studying the structure-diradical character relationship in diradicaloids. Herein, a series of quinoidal isoindigo (IID) compounds with different attached terminal end groups were designed.

Research on the Design and Alignment Method of the Optic-Mechanical System of an Ultra-Compact Fully Freeform Space Camera.

As space resources become increasingly constrained, the major space-faring nations are establishing large space target monitoring systems. There is a demand for both the number and the detection capability of space-based optical monitoring equipment. The detection range (i.

Multifunctional gene delivery vectors containing different liver-targeting fragments for specifically transfecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.

Gene therapy is a promising strategy for HCC treatment, but it commonly faces the problem of low specificity in gene transfection. In this study, we designed and synthesized a series of peptide-based gene delivery vectors (H-01 to H-18) containing varied HCC cell-targeting fragments for specifically binding different receptors highly expressed on HCC cell membranes. The physicochemical properties of peptide vectors or peptide/DNA complexes were characterized, and the gene delivery abilities of peptide vectors were evaluated in HepG2 cell lines.

Synthesis and Evaluation of Imidazole Derivatives Bearing Imidazo[2,1-b] [1,3,4]thiadiazole Moiety as Antibacterial Agents.

Background: Drug-resistant infections kill hundreds of thousands of people globally every year. In previous work, we found that tri-methoxy- and pyridine-substituted imidazoles show strong antibacterial activities.

Objective: The aim of this work was to investigate the antibacterial activities and bacterial resistances of imidazoles bearing an aromatic heterocyclic, alkoxy, or polycyclic moiety on the central ring.

High hydrostatic pressure harnesses the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites via the regulation of polyketide synthesis genes of hadal sediment-derived fungi.

Deep-sea fungi have evolved extreme environmental adaptation and possess huge biosynthetic potential of bioactive compounds. However, not much is known about the biosynthesis and regulation of secondary metabolites of deep-sea fungi under extreme environments. Here, we presented the isolation of 15 individual fungal strains from the sediments of the Mariana Trench, which were identified by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis as belonging to 8 different fungal species.

Synthesis and antimicrobial activity evaluation of pyrazole derivatives containing the imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole moiety.

Four series of novel pyrazole derivatives (compounds 17a-m, 18a-m, 19a-g, and 20a-g) were synthesized, and their antibacterial and antifungal activities were evaluated. Most of the target compounds (17a-m, 18k-m, and 19b-g) showed strong antifungal activity and high selectivity relative to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Among them, compounds 17l (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] = 0.

Respiratory infections in X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome with CD40LG mutation: a case series of seven children in China.

Background: X-linked hyper-immunoglobulin M (XHIGM), a primary immunodeficiency syndrome caused by mutations in the CD40 ligand gene(CD40LG), presents with recurrent respiratory infections in pediatric patients. We aimed to evaluate the spectrum of clinical features and respiratory pathogens in pediatric patients with XHIGM in China.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed seven pediatric patients who were diagnosed with XHIGM and received follow-up treatment at the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center between January 2010 and January 2021.

Anti-Toxoplasma gondii agent isolated from Orostachys malacophylla (Pallas) Fischer.

Botanical medicinal plants have aroused our interest to deal with Toxoplasmosis which can causes serious public health problems. Nipagic acid, gallic acid, ethyl gallate, phloretic acid, protocatechuic acid, methyl p-coumarate, arbutin, and homoprotocatechuic acid are first isolated from Orostachys malacophylla (Pallas) Fischer, their inhibition rate, survival rate, biochemical and viscera index are evaluated using gastric epithelia strain-1(GES-1). Among them, arbutin can effectively prolong the survival time of mice acutely infected with T.