Rational

OBJECTIVE: Antimicrobial resistance can lead to morbidity and mortality in serious infections. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of patients admitted to the outpatient clinics of our hospital about the rational use of antibiotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients who applied to Infectious Diseases and Internal Diseases Polyclinics between August 01, 2021 and February 01, 2022 were included. After obtaining written consent from those who agreed to participate in the study, a face-to-face questionnaire was applied to evaluate their knowledge and attitudes about antibiotic use...

Many enzymes display non-Arrhenius behavior with curved Arrhenius plots in the absence of denaturation. There has been significant debate about the origin of this behavior and recently the role of the activation heat capacity (Δ C P ⧧ ) has been widely discussed. If enzyme-catalyzed reactions occur with appreciable negative values of Δ C P ⧧ (arising from narrowing of the conformational space along the reaction coordinate), then curved Arrhenius plots are a consequence. To investigate these phenomena in detail, we have collected high precision temperature-rate data over a wide temperature interval for a model glycosidase enzyme MalL, and a series of mutants that change the temperature-dependence of the enzyme-catalyzed rate...

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) in the U.S. as well as more serious invasive diseases, including bacteremia, sepsis, endocarditis, surgical site infections, osteomyelitis, and pneumonia. These infections are exacerbated by the emergence of antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), highlighting the need for alternatives to antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. We have previously developed a multi-component toxoid vaccine (IBT-V02) in a liquid formulation with efficacy against multiple strains of Staphylococcus aureus prevalent in the industrialized world...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the present status of self-management behavior and glycemic control in individuals diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D), as well as to examine the impact of health quotient (HQ) and time management skills on both self-management behavior and glycemic control. METHODS: Between October 2022 and March 2023, a purposive sampling method had been utilized to select 215 participants with type T2D. The survey concluded a general information questionnaire, an HQ scale, a diabetes time management questionnaire and a self-management behavior questionnaire...

We generalize the Bush-Mosteller learning, the Roth-Erev learning, and the social learning to include mistakes, such that the nonlinear replicator-mutator equation with either additive or multiplicative mutation is generated in an asymptotic limit. Subsequently, we exhaustively investigate the ubiquitous rock-paper-scissors game for some analytically tractable motifs of mutation pattern for which the replicator-mutator flow is seen to exhibit rich dynamics that include limit cycles and chaotic orbits. The main result of this paper is that in both symmetric and asymmetric game interactions, mistakes can sometimes help the players learn; in fact, mistakes can even control chaos to lead to rational Nash-equilibrium outcomes...

The existence and properties of envelope solitary waves on a periodic traveling-wave background, called traveling breathers, are investigated numerically in representative nonlocal dispersive media. Using a fixed-point computational scheme, a space-time boundary-value problem for bright traveling breather solutions is solved for the weakly nonlinear Benjamin-Bona-Mahony equation, a nonlocal, regularized shallow water wave model, and the strongly nonlinear conduit equation, a nonlocal model of viscous core-annular flows...

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as a major class of gene products that have central roles in cell and developmental biology. Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are an important subset of lncRNAs that are expressed from the opposite strand of protein-coding and non-coding genes and are a genome-wide phenomenon in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In eukaryotes, a myriad of NATs participate in regulatory pathways that affect expression of their cognate sense genes. Recent developments in the study of NATs and lncRNAs and large-scale sequencing and bioinformatics projects suggest that whether NATs regulate expression, splicing, stability or translation of the sense transcript is influenced by the pattern and degrees of overlap between the sense-antisense pair...

Despite their intriguing photophysical and photochemical activities, naturally occurring photoenzymes have not yet been repurposed for new-to-nature activities. Here we engineered fatty acid photodecarboxylases to catalyse unnatural photoredox radical C-C bond formation by leveraging the strongly oxidizing excited-state flavoquinone cofactor. Through genome mining, rational engineering and directed evolution, we developed a panel of radical photocyclases to facilitate decarboxylative radical cyclization with excellent chemo-, enantio- and diastereoselectivities...

Exploitation of noncovalent interactions for recognition of an organic substrate has received much attention for the design of metal catalysts in organic synthesis. The CH-π interaction is especially of interest for molecular recognition because both the C-H bonds and the π electrons are fundamental properties of organic molecules. However, because of their weak nature, these interactions have been less utilized for the control of organic reactions. We show here that the CH-π interaction can be used to kinetically accelerate catalytic C-H activation of arenes by directly recognizing the π-electrons of the arene substrates with a spirobipyridine ligand...

To better understand the role of pHsp90 adjuvant in immune response modulation, we proposed the use of the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV2, the principal candidate in the design of subunit vaccines. We evaluated the humoral and cellular immune responses against RBD through the strategy "protein mixture" (Adjuvant + Antigen). The rRBD adjuvanted with rAtHsp81.2 group showed a higher increase of the anti-rRBD IgG1, while the rRBD adjuvanted with rNbHsp90.3 group showed a significant increase in anti-rRBD IgG2b/2a...

The current state of drug delivery systems allows for the resolution of specific issues like inadequate solubility, limited targeting capabilities, and complex preparation processes, requiring tailored designs for different drugs. Yet, the major challenge in clinical application lies in surmounting these obstacles with a universal carrier that is effective for a variety of anticancer drugs. Herein, with the help of computer simulation, we rationally design ultrashort peptides GY and CCYRGD, which can co-assemble with hydrophobic anticancer drugs into nanoparticles with enhanced solubility, targeting ability and anticancer efficacy...

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology holds tremendous promise as a sustainable power source for underwater off-grid systems. However, research on underwater OPV cells is relatively scarce. Here, we address this gap by focusing on the exploration and development of OPV cells specifically designed for underwater applications. An acceptor, named ITO-4Cl, with excellent water resistance was rationally designed and synthesized. Benefiting from its low energetic disorder and an absorption spectrum well-suited to the underwater environment, the ITO-4Cl-based OPV cell achieves an unprecedented power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 25...

Inherently immunogenic materials offer enormous prospects in enhancing vaccine efficacy. However, the understanding and improving material adjuvanticity remain elusive. Herein we report how the structural presentation of immunopotentiators in a material governs the dynamic dialogue between innate and adaptive immunity for enhanced cancer vaccination. We precisely manipulate the immunopotentiator manganese into six differing structures that resemble the architectures of two types of pathogens (spherical viruses or rod-like bacteria)...

Lithium-rich layer oxide cathodes are promising energy storage materials due to their high energy densities. However, the oxygen loss during cycling limits their practical applications. Here we reveal the essential role of Li content on the topological inhibition of oxygen loss in lithium-rich cathode materials, and the relationship between the migration networks of oxygen ions with the transition metal (TM) component. Utilizing first-principles calculations in combination with percolation theory and Monte Carlo simulations, we find that TM ions can effectively encage the oxidized oxygen species when the TM concentration in TM layer exceeds 5/6, thus hindering the formation of oxygen ion percolation network...

The construction of C(sp3)-N bonds via direct N-centered radical addition with olefins under benign conditions is a desirable but challenging strategy. Herein, we describe an organo-photocatalytic approach to achieve anti-Markovnikov alkene hydroamidation with sulfonyl azides in a highly efficient manner under transition-metal-free and mild conditions. A broad range of substrates, including both activated and unactivated alkenes, are suitable for this protocol, providing a convenient and practical method to construct sulfonylamide derivatives...

Nonaqueous organic redox flow batteries (N-ORFBs) are a promising technology for grid-scale storage of energy generated from intermittent renewable sources. Their primary benefit over traditional aqueous RFBs is the wide electrochemical stability window of organic solvents, but the design of catholyte materials, which can exploit the upper range of this window, has proven challenging. We report herein a new class of N-ORFB catholytes in the form of squaric acid quinoxaline (SQX) and squaric acid amide (SQA) materials...

This article aims to clarify citizens' responses to conspiratorial anti-science beliefs (e.g. "The cure for cancer exists but is hidden from the public by commercial interests"). Based on Eurobarometer 95.2 (Spring 2021, 38 countries), we examine how public opposition or support for conspiratorial anti-science beliefs is related to individual- and country-level variables. There were large differences between the countries in their opposition or support. Controlling for artifacts, the individual-level variables showed associations with science-specific variables, for example, knowledge, preferred communication sources, social evaluations of scientists, attitude toward vaccines, and more general political (dis)satisfaction...

Electroactive filament electrodes were synthesized by wet-spinning of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) followed by femtosecond pulse laser deposition of ZnO (CNF@ZnO). A layer of conducting conjugated polymers was further adsorbed by in situ polymerization of either pyrrole or aniline, yielding systems optimized for electron conduction. The resultant hybrid filaments were thoroughly characterized by imaging, spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance, and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering. For the filaments using polyaniline, the measured conductivity was a result of the synergy between the inorganic and organic layers, while the contribution was additive in the case of the systems containing polypyrrole...

Investigating the relationship of soil aggregate stability with the organic carbon in the aggregate and its response to land use change is conducive to the estimation of soil carbon sink potential, improvement of rocky desertification, and rational land use in karst areas of Southwest China. In order to explore the effects of land use change on the composition and stability of soil aggregate stability as well as the content of aggregate organic carbon, the soil (0-30 cm) of five land use types (secondary forest, pomelo forest, paddy field, pepper forest, and dry land) was selected as the research object...

BACKGROUND: VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors are receiving a lot of attention as prospective anticancer medications in the current drug discovery process. OBJECTIVE: This work aims to explore the PubChem library for novel VEGFR-2 kinase inhibitors. 1H-Indazole-containing drug AXITINIB, or AG-013736 (FDA approved), is chosen as a rational molecule for drug design. This scaffold proved its efficiency in treating cancer and other diseases as well. METHODS: The present study used the virtual screening of the database, protein preparation, grid creation, and molecular docking analyses...