Quantitative Control of Oxygen Non-Stoichiometry and Negative Raman Chemical Shift During Topotactic Phase Transition in a Ca-Doped BiFeO Thin-Film.

Controlling the non-stoichiometry is an effective way to tune physicochemical properties of functional oxides and explore novel physical phenomena in complex oxides. Therefore, quantitative control of oxygen non-stoichiometry in perovskite oxides plays an important role in understanding the mechanism of topotactic phase transition and improving the applicability of electrochemical devices. Here, an electrochemical titration cell is fabricated to control the oxygen non-stoichiometry of a BiCaFeO thin film grown on yttria-stabilized zirconia substrate.

Streptooctatin A induces autophagy and promotes α-synuclein clearance by directly binding to SUMO2 and inhibiting SUMOylation.

Autophagy is a self-degradative process that is essential for cellular homeostasis and survival. Discovery of autophagy-modulatory compounds and the subsequent investigation of their mode of action can provide essential information to understand the factors associated with autophagy and autophagy-related diseases. In this study, we reported a novel autophagy regulator, Streptooctatin A (STR A), which sequentially induces autophagy.

Comparison of Two Quinupristin-dalfopristin Susceptibility Testing Methods and Two Interpretive Criteria for Bloodstream Isolates from Korean Hospitals.

, particularly in its multidrug-resistant forms, causes invasive nosocomial infections. Given the limited data comparing the effectiveness of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) and the CLSI clinical breakpoints (CBPs) for quinupristin-dalfopristin (QD) resistance and the need to evaluate their practical application, we retrospectively investigated the susceptibility patterns of 287 bloodstream isolates from Korean hospitals to QD using the updated EUCAST and CLSI CBPs and two antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods: disk diffusion (DD) and Sensititre broth microdilution (Sensititre). QD resistance rates were 5.

Failure to repair damaged NAD(P)H blocks de novo serine synthesis in human cells.

Background: Metabolism is error prone. For instance, the reduced forms of the central metabolic cofactors nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), can be converted into redox-inactive products, NADHX and NADPHX, through enzymatically catalyzed or spontaneous hydration. The metabolite repair enzymes NAXD and NAXE convert these damaged compounds back to the functional NAD(P)H cofactors.

Cancer Organoids as reliable disease models to drive clinical development of novel therapies.

On September 23-24 (2024) the 6th Workshop IRE on Translational Oncology, titled "Cancer Organoids as Reliable Disease Models to Drive Clinical Development of Novel Therapies," took place at the IRCCS Regina Elena Cancer Institute in Rome. This prominent international conference focused on tumor organoids, bringing together leading experts from around the world.A central challenge in precision oncology is modeling the dynamic tumor ecosystem, which encompasses numerous elements that evolve spatially and temporally.

Nosocomial transmission of fluconazole-resistant bloodstream isolates revealed by whole-genome sequencing.

Unlabelled: The clonal transmission of fluconazole-resistant isolates within hospitals has seldom been analyzed by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). We performed WGS on 79 . isolates, comprising 31 isolates from three premature infants with persistent bloodstream infection despite antifungal treatment in the same neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in 2022 and 48 (27 fluconazole-resistant and 21 fluconazole-susceptible dose-dependent) bloodstream isolates from 48 patients in 15 South Korean hospitals from 2010 to 2022.

Identification of human host factors required for beta-defensin-2 expression in intestinal epithelial cells upon a bacterial challenge.

The human intestinal tract is colonized with microorganisms, which present a diverse array of immunological challenges. A number of antimicrobial mechanisms have evolved to cope with these challenges. A key defense mechanism is the expression of inducible antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), such as beta-defensins, which rapidly inactivate microorganisms.

Prediction of TKI response in EGFR-mutant lung cancer patients-derived organoids using malignant pleural effusion.

Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) are valuable in predicting response to cancer therapy. PDOs are ideal models for precision oncologists. However, their practical application in guiding timely clinical decisions remains challenging.

Virulence Traits and Azole Resistance in Korean Isolates.

We analyzed the virulence traits and azole resistance mechanisms of 104 isolates collected from 13 Korean hospitals from 1996 to 2022. Of these 104 isolates, 96 (5 blood and 91 ear isolates) belonged to clade II, and 8 (6 blood and 2 other isolates) belonged to clade I. Fluconazole resistance (minimum inhibitory concentration ≥32 mg/L) was observed in 68.

Revealing invisible cell phenotypes with conditional generative modeling.

Biological sciences, drug discovery and medicine rely heavily on cell phenotype perturbation and microscope observation. However, most cellular phenotypic changes are subtle and thus hidden from us by natural cell variability: two cells in the same condition already look different. In this study, we show that conditional generative models can be used to transform an image of cells from any one condition to another, thus canceling cell variability.

Observation of Hidden Polar Phases and Flux Closure Domain Topology in BiWO Thin Films.

Topological textures of ferroelectric polarizations have promise as alternative devices for future information technology. A polarization rotation inevitably deviates from the stable orientation in axial ferroelectrics, but local energy losses compromise the global symmetry, resulting in a distorted shape of the topological vortex or inhibiting the vortex. Easy planar isotropy helps to promote rotating structures and, accordingly, to facilitate access to nontrivial textures.

High-content phenotyping of Parkinson's disease patient stem cell-derived midbrain dopaminergic neurons using machine learning classification.

Combining multiple Parkinson's disease (PD) relevant cellular phenotypes might increase the accuracy of midbrain dopaminergic neuron (mDAN) in vitro models. We differentiated patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with a LRRK2 G2019S mutation, isogenic control, and genetically unrelated iPSCs into mDANs. Using automated fluorescence microscopy in 384-well-plate format, we identified elevated levels of α-synuclein (αSyn) and serine 129 phosphorylation, reduced dendritic complexity, and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Patient-Derived Tumor Organoids for Guidance of Personalized Drug Therapies in Recurrent Glioblastoma.

An obstacle to effective uniform treatment of glioblastoma, especially at recurrence, is genetic and cellular intertumoral heterogeneity. Hence, personalized strategies are necessary, as are means to stratify potential targeted therapies in a clinically relevant timeframe. Functional profiling of drug candidates against patient-derived glioblastoma organoids (PD-GBO) holds promise as an empirical method to preclinically discover potentially effective treatments of individual tumors.

Personalized functional profiling using patient-derived spheroids points out the potential of an antiangiogenic treatment in a patient with a metastatic lung atypical carcinoid.

Lung carcinoids are neuroendocrine tumors representing 1 to 2% of lung cancers. This study outlines the case of a patient with a metastatic lung atypical carcinoid who presented with a pleural effusion and progression of liver metastases after developing resistance to conventional treatments. Personalized functional profiling (PFP), i.

Gene-corrected p.A30P SNCA patient-derived isogenic neurons rescue neuronal branching and function.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterised by the degeneration of A9 dopaminergic neurons and the pathological accumulation of alpha-synuclein. The p.A30P SNCA mutation generates the pathogenic form of the alpha-synuclein protein causing an autosomal-dominant form of PD.

Dynamics and Predictors of Mortality Due to Candidemia Caused by Different Species: Comparison of Intensive Care Unit-Associated Candidemia (ICUAC) and Non-ICUAC.

We investigated mortality and predictors of mortality due to intensive care unit-associated candidemia (ICUAC) versus non-ICUAC by species. This study included all candidemia cases in 11 hospitals from 2017 to 2018 in South Korea. The all-cause mortality rates in all 370 patients with ICUAC were approximately twofold higher than those in all 437 patients with non-ICUAC at 7 days (2.

CXCL10 Is an Agonist of the CC Family Chemokine Scavenger Receptor ACKR2/D6.

Atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs) are important regulators of chemokine functions. Among them, the atypical chemokine receptor ACKR2 (also known as D6) has long been considered as a scavenger of inflammatory chemokines exclusively from the CC family. In this study, by using highly sensitive β-arrestin recruitment assays based on NanoBiT and NanoBRET technologies, we identified the inflammatory CXC chemokine CXCL10 as a new strong agonist ligand for ACKR2.

Integrated, automated maintenance, expansion and differentiation of 2D and 3D patient-derived cellular models for high throughput drug screening.

Patient-derived cellular models become an increasingly powerful tool to model human diseases for precision medicine approaches. The identification of robust cellular disease phenotypes in these models paved the way towards high throughput screenings (HTS) including the implementation of laboratory advanced automation. However, maintenance and expansion of cells for HTS remains largely manual work.

Evaluation of a Fully Automated Antinuclear Antibody Indirect Immunofluorescence Assay in Routine Use.

Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using HEp-2 cells as a substrate is the gold standard for detecting antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in patient serum. However, the ANA IFA has labor-intensive nature of the procedure and lacks adequate standardization. To overcome these drawbacks, the automation has been developed and implemented to the clinical laboratory.

Patient-derived organoids and orthotopic xenografts of primary and recurrent gliomas represent relevant patient avatars for precision oncology.

Patient-based cancer models are essential tools for studying tumor biology and for the assessment of drug responses in a translational context. We report the establishment a large cohort of unique organoids and patient-derived orthotopic xenografts (PDOX) of various glioma subtypes, including gliomas with mutations in IDH1, and paired longitudinal PDOX from primary and recurrent tumors of the same patient. We show that glioma PDOXs enable long-term propagation of patient tumors and represent clinically relevant patient avatars that retain histopathological, genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic features of parental tumors.

Effects of 1,2-dioleoyl--glycero-3-phosphocholine on moisture content and oxidative stability in soybean oil-water system at different interfaces.

Effects of 1,2-dioleoyl--glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) on the oxidative stability were determined in soybean oil-water system at different locations including at the interface of air-oil, in the middle of oil, and at the interface of oil-water. Also, profile changes of tocopherols were determined during UV irradiation for 18 days. Although no significant changes in tocopherol profiles were observed at three different locations irrespective of DOPC from 0 to 1250 μmol/kg oil, addition of DOPC increased total tocopherols, α-tocopherol, and δ-tocopherol whereas content of β + γ tocopherols did not increase at any locations.

RNAi Screening-based Identification of USP10 as a Novel Regulator of Paraptosis.

Accumulating reports demonstrate that apoptosis does not explain all the effects of cancer therapy due to the innate and acquired apoptotic resistance of malignant cancer cells. Recently, paraptosis, a type of programmed cell death accompanied by dilation of mitochondria and/or the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), has garnered interest in cancer research as an alternative way to kill apoptosis-resistant cancers. We describe here the adaptation and validation of a high-content cell-based assay to screen and identify novel paraptotic regulators employing the malignant breast cancer cells undergoing curcumin-induced paraptosis.