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3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (3β-HSDs) catalyze the oxidative conversion of delta (5)-ene-3-beta-hydroxy steroids and ketosteroids. Human 3b-HSD type 2 (HSD3B2) is predominantly expressed in gonadal and adrenal steroidogenic cells for producing all classes of active steroid hormones. Mutations in HSD3B2 gene cause a rare form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia with varying degree of salt wasting and incomplete masculinization, resulting from reduced production of corticoids and androgens. Therefore, evaluation of the HSD3B2 enzymatic activity in both pathways for each steroid hormone production is important for accurately understanding and diagnosing this disorder. Using progesterone receptor (PR)- and androgen receptor (AR)-mediated transactivation, we adapted a method that easily evaluates enzymatic activity of HSD3B2 by quantifying the conversion from substrates [pregnenolone (P5) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] to (progesterone and androstenedione). HEK293 cells were transduced to express human HSD3B2, and incubated medium containing P5 or DHEA. Depending on the incubation time with HSD3B2-expressing cells, the culture media progressively increased luciferase activities in CV-1 cells, transfected with the PR/AR expression vector and progesterone-/androgen-responsive reporter. Culture media from human and other mammalian HSD3B1-expressing cells also increased the luciferase activities. HEK293 cells expressing various missense mutations in the HSD3B2 gene revealed the potential of this system to evaluate the relationship between the enzymatic activities of mutant proteins and patient phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental degradation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region leads to significant challenges regarding economic sustainability and the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). The extensive use of fossil fuels in the region, as well as rapid urbanization and economic growth, has led to significant carbon emissions, together with unprecedented ecological footprints compromising environmental sustainability. The study aims to elucidate the influence exerted by technological innovation, trade openness, and natural resources on environmental sustainability in Turkey and Egypt for the period 1990–2022. In assessing the empirical relations, the study employed the Fourier function incorporate estimation techniques, that is, Fourier ADF for unit root test, Fourier ARDL, and Fourier NARDL for long-run and short-run elasticities of technological innovation (TI), trade openness (TO,) and natural resources rent (NRR) on load capacity factor (LCF) and inverted LCF (ILCF); finally, the directional causality evaluate through Fourier TY causality test. The results revealed that both Turkey and Egypt have severe environmental problems due to their high carbon emissions and ecological footprints. Technological change and international trade separately negatively affect environmental sustainability; however, these negative impacts have mixed character. On the one hand, technology can improve efficiency and reduce ecological footprints by obviating the use of high-impact processes or allowing cleaner production systems. In the same vein, trade openness helps transfer green technologies more quickly, but it can also lead to unsustainable resource extraction and pollution. The findings of the paper propose that in order to move forward, Turkey and Egypt need strategic policy shifts to ensure environmental sustainability, including transitioning towards renewable energy from fossil fuels while bolstering their capacity for energy efficiency. Policymakers must balance economic development with environmental conservation to reduce the harmful effects of climate degradation and help safeguard continued economic survival in the face of increasing climatic instability. This research helps to inform policy and investment decisions about how the SDGs can be achieved and how they are relevant for sustainable development in the MENA region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prototypical toxic dye rhodamine B (RhB) is perhaps one of the most abundant pollutants in industrial wastewater. Its efficient photocatalytic degradation through composite photocatalysts is crucial for environmental remediation. Here, we synthesized quaternary Bi5O7I/Bi(IO3)3/Bi2(IO4)(IO3)3/BiOIO3 bismuth iodate composites through facile hydrothermal and solvothermal methods. The coexistence of multiple bismuth iodate phases was confirmed by x-ray diffraction analysis, room temperature Raman, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The desired chemical states of Bi, I, and O inside the composites were confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Field emission electron microscopy revealed flower-shaped nanosheet morphology for the composite synthesized at 120 °C, whereas randomly shaped nanoparticles with an average size of 80 nm were formed in the composite calcined at 400 °C. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy further corroborated the existence of multiple phases in the composites. The diffuse reflectance spectroscopy confirmed the optical absorption edges of the composites to be located within the visible range of 1.68–3.16 eV. The flower-shaped quaternary bismuth iodate composite demonstrated 100% degradation of RhB dye within 40 min of optical exposure. This quaternary bismuth iodate composite is suitable for solar harvesting-driven toxic dye remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a vector-borne parasitic disease which affects 70 million people worldwide and causes life-long disabilities. In Bangladesh, there are an estimated 44,000 people suffering from clinical conditions such as lymphoedema and hydrocoele, with the greatest burden in the northern Rangpur division. To better understand the factors associated with this distribution, this study examined socio-economic and environmental factors at division, district, and sub-district levels. Methodology: A retrospective ecological study was conducted using key socio-economic (nutrition, poverty, employment, education, house infrastructure) and environmental (temperature, precipitation, elevation, waterway) factors. Characteristics at division level were summarised. Bivariate analysis using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was conducted at district and sub-district levels, and negative binomial regression analyses were conducted across high endemic sub-districts (n = 132). Maps were produced of high endemic sub-districts to visually illustrate the socio-economic and environmental factors found to be significant. Results: The highest proportion of rural population (86.8%), poverty (42.0%), tube well water (85.4%), and primary employment in agriculture (67.7%) was found in Rangpur division. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient at district and sub-district level show that LF morbidity prevalence was significantly (p<0.05) positively correlated with households without electricity (district rs = 0.818; sub-district rs = 0.559), households with tube well water (sub-district rs = 0.291), households without toilet (district rs = 0.504; sub-district rs = 0.40), mean annual precipitation (district rs = 0.695; sub-district rs = 0.503), mean precipitation of wettest quarter (district rs = 0.707; sub-district rs = 0.528), and significantly negatively correlated with severely stunted children (district rs = -0.723; sub-district rs = -0.370), mean annual temperature (district rs = -0.633.; sub-district rs = 0.353) and mean temperature (wettest quarter) ((district rs = -0.598; sub-district rs = 0.316) Negative binomial regression analyses at sub-district level found severely stunted children (p = <0.001), rural population (p = 0.002), poverty headcount (p = 0.001), primary employment in agriculture (p = 0.018), households without toilet (p = <0.001), households without electricity (p = 0.002) and mean temperature (wettest quarter) (p = 0.045) to be significant. Conclusions: This study highlights the value of using available data to identify key drivers associated with high LF morbidity prevalence, which may help national LF programmes better identify populations at risk and implement timely and targeted public health messages and intervention strategies. Author summary: Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) is particularly associated with poverty and living in a rural area, where disease transmitting mosquito vectors thrive. To better understand the socio-economic and environmental factors associated with the LF morbidity prevalence distribution in Bangladesh, this study examined publicly available data and used descriptive, statistical, and mapping methods to highlight key associations. Results found that high risk populations were those living in rural areas, employed in agriculture, with high levels of poverty, and houses without electricity or toilets, and where temperatures in the rainy season were lower than other regions of the country. These findings will help to inform public health messages and implement interventions for people affected by LF morbidity, but also to help reduce any current and future risk of transmission. This will support progress to achieving WHO elimination targets, leading to a future free of suffering for people affected by LF associated morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

French fries (FF) and fried chicken (FC) are known contributors to overweight and obesity among adolescents worldwide. Top selling five brands for both FF and FC were analyzed to determine their health compromising contents, which were sampled from the markets of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sodium (Na) was determined by flame photometry, trans fatty acids (TFAs) by gas chromatography and heavy metals like arsenic (As), lead (Pb), cadmium and chromium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The median concentration of Na, TFA, As and Pb in FF was 0.45 gm/100 gm, 0.11 gm/100 gm, 0.93 mg/kg and 0.03 mg/kg, respectively. Similarly, in FC the median concentration of Na, TFA, As and Pb was 0.46 gm/100 gm, 0.13 gm/100 gm, 0.053 mg/kg and 0.06 mg/kg, respectively. The study findings suggests that consuming FF and FC impose a health risk among the exposed population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the growing health problems among the young population. Secretory defect of insulin is an important cause, and it can be assessed by measuring fasting serum C-peptide level. Aim: The aim of this article is to assess fasting serum C-peptide in young-onset DM individuals. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted in the Department of Endocrinology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) from March 2015 to February 2017. For this purpose, 40 individuals with DM (irrespective of DM type; age range: 11-29 years) were enrolled as case and an equal number of young healthy individuals as control. Demographic profiles, clinical profiles, and serum C-peptide were recorded in a standard and pretested structured datasheet. C-peptide was measured by the chemiluminescent immunometric assay. Results: Median fasting C-peptide was 2.67 [interquartile range (IQR) 1.06-4.07, range 0.12-20.0] ng/mL in diabetes individuals, whereas it was 2.19 (IQR 1.36-2.94, range 0.44-9.85) ng/mL in the control group; the difference was insignificant (P = 0.331). Waist circumference (WC) was significantly higher in the young diabetes group in comparison to that of control subjects and so were the plasma glucose values and diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.05 for all). Diabetic participants with low C-peptide group had significantly lower body mass index (BMI) and WC and higher fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and HbA1c in comparison to others (P < 0.05 for all); whereas the high C-peptide group had opposite body indices (higher BMI and WC) and glycemic parameters (lower FPG and HbA1c) (P < 0.05 for all). The classic hyperglycemic symptoms were more common in the low C-peptide group (P = 0.029). In participants with diabetes, C-peptide positively correlated with BMI and WC, whereas it showed a negative correlation with age (P < 0.05 for all). In the control group, C-peptide positively correlated with WC only (P = 0.018). Conclusion: The level of fasting serum C-peptide in diabetic subjects was similar to healthy controls, and it was higher in those subjects who had higher BMI, WC, and lower age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rigorous theoretical investigation has been made on the nonlinear propagation of dust-ion-acoustic shock waves in a multi-component magnetized pair-ion plasma (PIP) having inertial warm positive and negative ions, inertialess non-thermal electrons and positrons, and static negatively charged massive dust grains. The Burgers' equation is derived by employing the reductive perturbation method. The plasma model supports both positive and negative shock structures in the presence of static negatively charged massive dust grains. It is found that the steepness of both positive and negative shock profiles declines with the increase of ion kinematic viscosity without affecting the height, and the increment of negative (positive) ion mass in the PIP system declines (enhances) the amplitude of the shock profile. It is also observed that the increase in oblique angle raises the height of the positive shock profile, and the height of the positive shock wave increases with the number density of positron. The applications of the findings from the present investigation are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the interaction between financial innovation, human capital development and economic growth in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan for the period of 1981Q1–2016Q4 by applying Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Granger‐causality under error correction model (ECM). Our principal finding confirms long‐run association among financial innovation, human capital development, and economic growth of selected South Asian countries. Also, we found both long‐run and short‐run elasticities from financial innovation and human capital development to economic growth is positive for each country. The study confirms that economic growth of sample countries would positively affect any development in financial innovation and increase in investment for human capital development in future. We also perform a Granger‐causality test to investigate directional causality, and we found bidirectional causality between financial innovation and economic growth, and human capital development and economic growth both in short‐run and long‐run, thus, supporting the feedback hypothesis. The study comes with two recommendations; first, the government should encourage financial innovation in the financial system and formulate fiscal policy in favour of adaption and diffusion of financial innovation. Second, public investment in human capital development should continue and made necessary initiative towards ensuring better implementation of undertaken measures in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To assess fasting C-peptide and insulin indices using homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods. Gestational diabetes mellitus (n = 64, age: 27.02 ± 0.53 years, BMI: 26.3 ± 0.5 kg/m2; mean ± SEM) and normal glucose tolerance NGT (n = 56, age: 26.11 ± 0.55 years, BMI: 24.4 ± 0.4 kg/m2; mean ± SEM) screened according to WHO 2013 criteria. Glucose was measured by oxidase method whereas fasting insulin and C-peptide by ELISA. HOMA-IR, HOMA-B and HOMA-%S were calculated. Results. C-peptide was found higher in GDM compared to NGT without any significant difference (P = 0.465). Fasting insulin (P = 0.063) and HOMA-IR (P < 0.001) were significantly higher while HOMA-B (P = 0.015) and HOMA-%S (P = 0.012) were significantly lower in GDM than those of NGT. BMI, bad obstetric history, multiparity and blood glucose were higher (P = 0.05) in GDM while age, duration of gestation, family history of DM did not differ (P = NS). C-peptide (0.185 ± 0.06 vs 0.331 ± 0.44; P < 0.05), fasting insulin (4.88 ± 0.74 vs 10.37 ± 0.74; P < 0.01) and HOMA-IR (1.04 ± 0.14 vs 2.48 ± 0.18; P < 0.011) as well as HOMA-B were found lower in GDM having BMI < 23 kg/m2 than those of GDM with BMI = 23. Conversely, HOMA-%S (115.52 ± 14.63 vs 50.62 ± 3.39; P < 0.011) was higher in the subgroup with BMI < 23 than the rest. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) (P < 0.01) and fasting insulin (P < 0.05) were independent predictors for GDM. Conclusions. Fasting C-peptide did not differ between GDM and NGT. BMI was positively related with resistance and secretion of insulin but inversely with sensitivity. HOMA model analyses revealed decreased insulin sensitivity and secretory capacity in GDM than NGT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of electronic health or eHealth has revolutionized the healthcare industry to offer better healthcare services at a low and affordable cost. However, it still suffers from security and privacy issues in handling health information. The privacy and security issues in eHealth domain are mainly centered around user authentication, data integrity, data confidentiality, and patient privacy protection. Biometrics technology has considerable opportunities to cope with the above security problems by providing reliable and secure user authentication. However, due to the sensitive nature of health data, the most important challenge lies toward the development of an efficient security model that can guarantee data privacy and reliability, verifying that only authorized personnel can access their corresponding health data. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of biometrics applications in eHealth and propose a robust and efficient scheme for user verification using fingerprint biometrics in order to enhance privacy and security in eHealth information systems. Moreover, additional issues like system complexity and processing time related to the use of biometrics should be taken into consideration. We therefore, emphasize to reduce the computation cost in biometric matching. In this work, we use local minutie features for user authentication and employ a fast stereo matching algorithm to compare the minutiae features of the test (probe) fingerprint with the minutiae features extracted from the gallery fingerprints (fingerprint database) in order to verify a person. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme leads to a compromise between the computation efficiency and the accuracy of the verification process. We believe that, our proposed scheme could be employed in real-time applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piper chaba , a traditional South-east Asian medicinal herb and well-known curry spice, was studied to evaluate its suitability as a source of natural preservatives for beef products. Plant extracts that are high in phenolics and have high antimicrobial and antioxidant activities are likely to be useful as a natural preservative. Therefore, the phytochemical composition and the bioactivities of both ethanolic and methanolic extracts of P. chaba stem were examined first. The study revealed a significant antioxidant activities and potential antibacterial activity of P. chaba extracts. Next we investigated the preservation characteristics of P. chaba by using beef patties as a model system. Beef patties were produced and treated with 0.2 % ethanolic extract (mentioned as PEE) of P. chaba and 0.1 % commercial preservative (mentioned as PCP). They were then assessed for various storage quality parameters under refrigerated (4° C ± 1° C) conditions, including free fatty acid, antioxidant contents, and oxidative stability at 0, 6th, 16th, and 33rd days. No significant variations were observed across the products with regard to proximate composition study such as protein, ash and fat contents. In comparison to both PEE and PCP, the control product had higher free fatty acid values throughout the storage period. This indicates that the fat content of the PEE and PCP degraded at a slower rate than the control over the 33-day storage period. Our study also showed that both PCP and PEE had increased antioxidant capacity, implying that lipid oxidation is minimized. In contrast to the control, the oxidative stability of the P. chaba treated products was also higher. Altogether this study revealed that P. chaba could be utilized commercially, particularly in the food industry to preserve muscle foods. Natural preservatives are becoming more popular as a result of the different carcinogenic and toxic side effects of conventional preservatives. P. chaba, an exquisite culinary herb in Bangladesh, has long been used as a traditional medicine, because of its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This study revealed that P. chaba can be utilized as a food preservative, which opens up new possibilities for its development and use in functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presented herein is a novel headspace single drop microextraction (HS-SDME) based on temperature gradient (TG) for an on-site preconcentration technique of volatile and semivolatile samples. First, an inner vial cap was designed as a cooling device for acceptor droplet in HS-SDME unit to achieve fast and efficient microextraction. Second, for the first time, an in-vial TG was generated between the donor phase in a sample vial at 80 °C and the acceptor droplet under the inner vial cap containing cooling liquid at --20 °C for a TG-HS-SDME. Third, a simple mathematic model and numerical simulations were developed by using heat transfer in fluids, Navier--Stokes and mass balance equations for conditional optimization, and dynamic illumination of the proposed extraction based on COMSOL Multiphysics. Five chlorophenols (CPs) were selected as model analytes to authenticate the proposed method. The comparisons revealed that the simulative results were in good agreement with the quantitative experiments, verifying the design of TG-HS-SDME via the numerical simulation. Under the optimum conditions, the extraction enrichments were improved from 302- to 388-fold within 2 min only, providing 3.5 to 4 times higher enrichment factors as compared to a typical HS-SDME. The simulation indicated that these improvements in the extraction kinetics could be attributed due to the applied temperature gap between the sample matrix and acceptor droplet within the small volume of headspace. Additionally, the experiments demonstrated a good linearity (0.03--100 μg/L, R² > 0.9986), low limit of detection (7--10 ng/L), and fair repeatability (<5.9% RSD, n = 6). All of the simulative and experimental results indicated the robustness, precision, and usefulness of TG-HS-SDME for trace analyses of analytes in a wide variety of environmental, pharmaceutical, food safety, and forensic samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we developed the concept of enzyme catalysis–electrophoresis titration (EC-ET) under ideal conditions, the theory of EC-ET for multiplex enzymatic assay (MEA), and a related method based on a moving reaction boundary (MRB) chip with a collateral channel and cell phone imaging. As a proof of principle, the model enzymes horseradish peroxidase (HRP), laccase and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were chosen for the tests of the EC-ET model. The experiments revealed that the EC-ET model could be achieved via coupling EC with ET within a MRB chip; particularly the MEA analyses of catalysis rate, maximum rate, activity, Km and Kcat could be conducted via a single run of the EC-ET chip, systemically demonstrating the validity of the EC-ET theory. Moreover, the developed method had these merits: (i) two orders of magnitude higher sensitivity than a fluorescence microplate reader, (ii) simplicity and low cost, and (iii) fairly rapid (30 min incubation, 20 s imaging) analysis, fair stability (＜5.0% RSD) and accuracy, thus validating the EC-ET method. Finally, the developed EC-ET method was used for the clinical assay of MPO activity in blood samples; the values of MPO activity detected via the EC-ET chip were in agreement with those obtained by a traditional fluorescence microplate reader, indicating the applicability of the EC-ET method. The work opens a window for the development of enzymatic research, enzyme assay, immunoassay, and point-of-care testing as well as titration, one of the oldest methods of analysis, based on a simple chip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly efficient three-phase single drop microextraction (SDME) method is presented by using an organic–aqueous compound droplet. A coupling microdevice is designed to produce compound droplets in different sizes conveniently. In this way, the volume ratio of organic phase to aqueous phase in a compound droplet can be significantly reduced. Good operability and droplet stability were observed during extraction under vigorous stirring conditions. Five statins were used as model compounds and spiked in river water and human serum samples to evaluate the analytical performance of the proposed method. By using a 1.2 μL toluene–aqueous compound droplet (volume ratio 0.2 : 1), a 350 to 1712 fold enrichment of statins was obtained within 4 minutes. The results indicate that the proposed method is a very rapid and efficient sample pretreatment method, and is promising for automated and high-throughput applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, a simple assembly was designed via a capillary and a funnel-like cap to achieve liquid–gas compound pendant drop (CPD) microextraction with great convenience. Due to the increased contact area and adhesion force between the capillary tip and the drop, the proposed method provides considerable flexibility in producing CPDs with different air bubble sizes. Four pesticides were chosen as model analytes to evaluate the proposed method. By using a 1 μL chlorobenzene droplet containing a 1 μL air bubble at a stirring rate of 700 rpm, a 70 to 135-fold enrichment of pesticides was obtained within 3.4 minutes. As compared with a typical SDME, the proposed method showed a 2-fold increase of enrichment factors and a 4-fold decrease of extraction time. Improvement of the extraction efficiency could be ascribed to the increased surface area of the droplet, and the thin film phenomena further improved the extraction kinetics through effective agitation. The results indicate that CPD microextraction could serve as a promising sample pretreatment method for automated high-throughput analyses in a wide variety of research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ring-shaped electroeluter (RSE) was designed for protein recovery from polyacrylamide gel matrix. The RSE was designed in such a way that a ring-shaped well was used to place gel slices and an enrichment well was used to collect eluted protein samples. With HSA as model protein, the electroelution time was less than 30 min with 80% recovery rate, and the concentration of recovered protein was 50 times higher than that of conventional method. The RSE could be reused at least ten times. The developed device makes great advance towards economic electroelution of biomolecules (such as proteins) from gel matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) enzyme inhibition is a therapeutic modality for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, its activity is insufficiently explored yet in youth-onset T2DM. Objective The objective of this study is to measure serum DPP4 enzyme activities in youth-onset T2DM and compare them with those in patients with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Methods This cross-sectional study comprised 29 young participants with newly diagnosed untreated T2DM (age 24.5±4.5 years, range 13-30 years, 51.7% female) and an equal number of young participants with NGT (age 26.5±2.9 years, 48.3% female) screened by a two-sample 75gm oral glucose tolerance test. The relevant history of each participant was obtained, and the waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI) were measured according to the standard procedure and recorded in the data collection sheet. Plasma glucose was measured using the glucose oxidase method, and serum DPP4 activity was measured using the colorimetry method. Results Participants with DM exhibited significantly higher serum DPP4 activity than NGT (DM vs. NGT: 481.4±70.4 pmol/min. vs. 420.3±49.2 pmol/min, mean±SD; p<0.001). A multivariate linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and hypertension, found DM as an independent predictor for DPP4 activity (β=0.63.5, 95% CI 28.7-98.4, p=0.022). Conclusion DPP4 activity was significantly elevated in young participants with newly diagnosed T2DM. There might be a pathophysiological implication of DPP4 activity in young-onset T2DM., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) issued approval BSMMU/2017/6490. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Mahmood et al.)

3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (3β-HSDs) catalyze the oxidative conversion of delta (5)-ene-3-beta-hydroxy steroids and ketosteroids. Human 3β-HSD type 2 (HSD3B2) is predominantly expressed in gonadal and adrenal steroidogenic cells for producing all classes of active steroid hormones. Mutations in HSD3B2 gene cause a rare form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia with varying degree of salt wasting and incomplete masculinization, resulting from reduced production of corticoids and androgens. Therefore, evaluation of the HSD3B2 enzymatic activity in both pathways for each steroid hormone production is important for accurately understanding and diagnosing this disorder. Using progesterone receptor (PR)- and androgen receptor (AR)-mediated transactivation, we adapted a method that easily evaluates enzymatic activity of HSD3B2 by quantifying the conversion from substrates [pregnenolone (P5) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] to (progesterone and androstenedione). HEK293 cells were transduced to express human HSD3B2, and incubated medium containing P5 or DHEA. Depending on the incubation time with HSD3B2-expressing cells, the culture media progressively increased luciferase activities in CV-1 cells, transfected with the PR/AR expression vector and progesterone-/androgen-responsive reporter. Culture media from human and other mammalian HSD3B1-expressing cells also increased the luciferase activities. HEK293 cells expressing various missense mutations in the HSD3B2 gene revealed the potential of this system to evaluate the relationship between the enzymatic activities of mutant proteins and patient phenotype., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Yazawa, Watanabe, Yokohama, Imamichi, Hasegawa, Nakajima, Kitano, Ida, Sato, Islam, Umezawa, Takahashi, Kato, Jahan and Kawabe.)

The wide band gap γ-Bi 2 MoO 6 (BMO) has tremendous potential in emergent solar harvesting applications. Here we present a combined experimental-first-principles density functional theory (DFT) approach to probe physical properties relevant to the light sensitivity of BMO like dynamic and structural stability, Raman and infrared absorption modes, value and nature of band gap (i.e., direct or indirect), dielectric constant, and optical absorption, etc. We solvothermally synthesized wide band gap Pca 2 1 phase pure BMO (≳3 eV) for two different pH values of 7 and 9. The structural parameters were correlated with the stability of BMO derived from elastic tensor simulations. The desired dynamical stability at T = 0 K was established from the phonon vibrational band structure using a finite difference-based supercell approach. The DFT-based Raman modes and phonon density of states (DOS) reliably reproduced the experimental Raman and infrared absorption. The electronic DOS calculated from Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof HSE06 with van der Waals (vdW) and relativistic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) corrections produced a good agreement with the band gap obtained from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The optical absorption obtained from the complex dielectric constant for the HSE06+SOC+vdW potential closely resembled the DRS-derived absorption of BMO. The BMO shows ∼43% photocatalytic efficiency in degrading methylene blue dye under 75 min optical illumination. This combined DFT-experimental approach may provide a better understanding of the properties of BMO relevant to solar harvesting applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of endocrine hypertension and is often underdiagnosed. This condition is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in comparison to age and blood pressure matched individuals with essential hypertension (EH). The diagnostic pathway for PA consists of three phases: screening, confirmatory testing, and subtyping. The lack of specificity in the screening step, which relies on the aldosterone to renin ratio, necessitates confirmatory testing. The Endocrine Society's clinical practice guideline suggests four confirmatory tests, including the fludrocortisone suppression test (FST), saline suppression test (SST), captopril challenge test (CCT), and oral sodium loading test (SLT). There is no universally accepted choice of confirmatory test, with practices varying among centers. The SST and FST are commonly used, but they can be resource-intensive, carry risks such as volume overload or hypokalemia, and are contraindicated in severe/uncontrolled HTN as well as in cardiac and renal impairment. In contrast, CCT is a safe and inexpensive alternative that can be performed in an outpatient setting and can be applied when other tests are contraindicated. Despite its simplicity and convenience, the variability in captopril dose, testing posture, and diagnostic threshold limit its widespread use. This narrative review evaluates the diagnostic accuracy of the CCT across different populations, addresses controversies in its usage, and proposes recommendations for its use in the diagnosis of PA. Furthermore, suggestions for future research aimed at promoting the wider utilization of the CCT as a simpler, safer, and more cost-effective diagnostic test are discussed.

Here we synthesized Bi 2 WO 6 (BWO) using both solid-state reaction (SBWO) and hydrothermal (HBWO-U and HBWO-S) methods. The orthorhombic Pca 2 1 phase purity in all samples is confirmed from Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The HBWO-U and HBWO-S morphology revealed rectangular, spherical, and rod-like features with an average particle size of 55 nm in field emission scanning electron micrographs. A high-resolution transmission electron micrograph showed spherical-shaped particles in the HBWO-U sample with an average diameter of ∼10 nm. The diffuse reflectance-derived indirect electronic band gaps lie within the 2.79-3.23 eV range. The BWO electronic structure is successfully modeled by Hubbard interaction U d and U p corrected Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation GGA-PBE+ U d + U p with van der Waals (vdW) force in effect. The optimized ( U d , U p ) values are further justified by tuning the Hartree-Fock (HF) exact-exchange mixing parameter α HF from 25% in Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE06) to 20% in the PBE-HF20% functional. Moreover, no inconsistencies were seen in the GGA-PBE+ U d + U p +vdW simulated crystallographic parameters, and the elastic tensor, phonon, and linear optical properties. Overall, the computationally cheap GGA-PBE+ U d + U p with vdW force may have successfully probed the physical properties of BWO., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)