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Plant U-box E3 ligases (PUBs) are important regulators of responses to various abiotic stress conditions. In this study, we found that wheat (Triticum aestivum. L) PUBs TaPUB2 and TaPUB3 enhanced abscisic acid (ABA) responses and salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. We generated transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing TaPUB2 and TaPUB3 and performed various plant physiological experiments. Overexpression of TaPUB2 and TaPUB3 increased tolerance to salinity stress in an ABA-dependent manner in transgenic plants, as evidenced by germination and survival rates, root length, stomatal aperture regulation, membrane peroxidation, photosynthetic activities, reactive oxygen species scavenging activities and expression of various ABA and salinity stress-related genes. These results demonstrate the functions of PUBs under ABA and salinity stress conditions and provide valuable information for the development of salinity stress-tolerant crop species.

Our aim in this study was to investigate if we could predict perforator localization during ALTF elevation, using information from acoustic Doppler (AD) and computed tomography angiography (CTA).Prospective observational data were collected from HN cancer patients who received reconstruction with ALTF in Ajou University Hospital Cancer Center from June to December, 2021. Total of 21 cases were included in the analysis. Lower extremity angio-CT scans were used to determine the course and depth of the perforator before surgery. During intraoperative design of the ALTF, the possible location of the perforator was identified by AD. After flap elevation, the distance between the actual and Doppler-identified location of the perforator was measured.The average distance from the actual location to the Doppler-identified location was 1.29 ± 1.26 cm. Among 21 cases, almost all perforators (20 cases) were identified in a circle with a radius equivalent to the depth of the perforator. Perforator depth measured by CTA showed a significant positive correlation with the distance from the actual to Doppler-identified location, regardless of skin thickness or body mass index (BMI).A circle with a radius equivalent to the CTA-assessed depth of the perforator successfully predicted the location of the perforator in almost all cases. Depth of the perforator measured by CTA combined with Doppler-identified location can help safely locate the perforator during ALTF harvesting.Level of Evidence: 4.

The objective of the study was to investigate the post-surgical stability of clockwise rotation of the maxillary occlusal plane (MXOP) after Le Fort I osteotomy for posterior impaction and advancement, in skeletal Class III patients who had undergone two-jaw orthognathic surgery (2J-OGS).The sample set consisted of 46 patients (18 males and 28 females). Using lateral cephalograms taken at the initial evaluation (T0), before 2J-OGS (T1), after 2J-OGS (T2) and at debonding (T3), the amount of MXOP change (criterion: 2° in ΔMXOP [between T2 and T3]) was used to assign patients to Group 1 (G1, high relapse, -3.09°) or Group 2 (G2, low relapse, -0.99°). Findings were statistically compared between the groups.Compared with G2, G1 exhibited more severe skeletal Class III relationships and a flatter MXOP at T0, a greater increase in ΔANB, and more clockwise rotation of ΔMXOP and ΔFMA between T1 and T2. G1 also showed a greater decrease in ΔANB, higher counterclockwise rotation of ΔMXOP and upward movement of U1 between T2 and T3. Regression analysis yielded the following equation: MXOP (ΔT2-T3) = -0.37 X MXOP (ΔT1-T2) -0.43.The higher the clockwise rotation of the MXOP during 2J-OGS in skeletal Class III patients, the greater the subsequent relapse (counterclockwise rotation) of the MXOP.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is vital in the meat composition of broilers which is helpful to maintain a healthy diet in humans. The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of DHA from fish oil on growth performance, organ weight, and meat quality along with the blood profile of broilers. A total of 1600, 1-day old, Ross 308 broilers with an average body weight of 43.15 ± 1.35 g were used in 5 weeks trail. Birds were randomly allotted into one of four dietary treatment groups named: control (CON), basal diet; treatment (TRT)1, CON + 0.05% DHA; TRT2, CON + 0.1% DHA; TRT3, CON + 0.15% DHA. Each treatment group consisted of 20 replications with 20 broilers per pen. The experiment was divided into three phases. Phase 1 (Day 1-7), Phase 2 (Day 7-21), and overall phase (Day 21-35). During Phase 1 and 2, no significant changes were observed on body weight gain (BWG) as the DHA levels increased in the diet. However, during Phase 3, broilers fed diet supplemented with DHA at increasing levels linearly increased (p 0.05) BWG and feed intake (FI). Also, water holding capacity was reduced and drip loss percentage on Day 7 was increased linearly (p 0.05) with the increase in DHA supplementation. At the end of trial, pH value of the meat was increased linearly (p 0.05) with DHA levels. Moreover, blood cholesterol level, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein was significantly and linearly (p 0.05) decreased in DHA supplemented groups. Broiler-fed diet with DHA supplement decreased the red blood cell linearly (p 0.05) in blood. The results of the study indicate that DHA supplementation increased BWG with FI. Moreover, it has reduced blood lipid constituents with some adverse effect on meat quality.

Indole is a significant structural moiety and functionalization of the C–H bond in indole-containing molecules expands their chemical space, and modifies their properties and/or activities. Indole prenyltransferases (IPTs) catalyze the direct regiospecific installation of prenyl, C5 carbon units, on indole-derived compounds. IPTs have shown relaxed substrate flexibility enabling them to be used as tools for indole functionalization. However, the mechanism by which certain IPTs target a specific carbon position is not fully understood. Herein, we use structure-guided site-directed mutagenesis, in vitro enzymatic reactions, kinetics and structural-elucidation of analogs to verify the key catalytic residues that control the regiospecificity of all characterized regiospecific C6 IPTs. Our results also demonstrate that substitution of PriB_His312 to Tyr leads to the synthesis of analogs prenylated at different positions than C6. This work contributes to understanding of how certain IPTs can access a challenging position in indole-derived compounds.

It remains unclear whether immunotherapy, which is not generally considered for microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer (CRC), can be used to effectively treat select CRC patients. We investigated the feasibility of obesity-associated MSS CRC patients for immunotherapy based on genomic alterations.We evaluated differences in genomic alteration types and immune signatures between obese and non-obese patients with MSS CRC. We performed genomic analyses using 434 CRC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Patients with MSS CRC were stratified into subgroups based on their BMI and numbers of nonsynonymous single nucleotide variants (nsSNVs) and frameshift insertions and deletions (fs INDELs) using machine learning.The obese subgroup showed higher incidences of single nucleotide variants (SNV) and insertions and deletions (INDELs) in comparison with healthy weight patients with MSS CRC. The subgroup, who had higher numbers of nsSNVs and fs INDLEs, exhibited increased immune signatures, increased number of SNV-derived neoantigens, and had up-regulated two immune checkpoint genes in comparison with healthy weight patients with MSS CRC, reflecting interactions between the cancer genome and immune system.This study suggests that immunotherapy may be suitable for some obesity-associated CRC patients.

Renewed interests in the development of bioenergy, biochemicals, and biomaterials have elicited new strategies for engineering the lignin of biomass feedstock plants. This study shows, for the first time, that 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (DHB) is compatible with the radical coupling reactions that assemble polymeric lignin in plants. We introduced a bacterial 3-dehydroshikimate dehydratase into hybrid poplar (Populus alba × grandidentata) to divert carbon flux away from the shikimate pathway, which lies upstream of lignin biosynthesis. Transgenic poplar wood had up to 33% less lignin with p-hydroxyphenyl units comprising as much as 10% of the lignin. Mild alkaline hydrolysis of transgenic wood released fewer ester-linked p-hydroxybenzoate groups than control trees, and revealed the novel incorporation of cell-wall-bound DHB, as well as glycosides of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA). Two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR) analysis uncovered DHBA-derived benzodioxane structures suggesting that DHB moieties were integrated into the lignin polymer backbone. In addition, up to 40% more glucose was released from transgenic wood following ionic liquid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. This work highlights the potential of diverting carbon flux from the shikimate pathway for lignin engineering and describes a new type of 'zip-lignin' derived from the incorporation of DHB into poplar lignin.

DNA-PAINT enabled super-resolution imaging through the transient binding of fluorescently-labelled single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) imagers to target ssDNA. However, its performance is constrained by imager background fluorescence, resulting in relatively long image acquisition and potential artifacts. We designed a molecular beacon (MB) as the PAINT imager. Unbound MB in solution reduces the background fluorescence due to its natively quenched state. They are fluorogenic upon binding to target DNA to create individual fluorescence events. We demonstrate that MB-PAINT provides localization precision similar to traditional linear imager DNA-PAINT. We also show that MB-PAINT is ideally suited for fast super-resolution imaging of molecular tension probes in living cells, eliminating the potential of artifacts from free-diffusing imagers in traditional DNA-PAINT at the cell-substrate interface.

Since Dr. Kitano introduced laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer in 1994, there have been remarkable advances in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for gastric cancer, including robotic surgery. With the efforts of many clinical researchers and consenting patients, medical knowledge and evidence for laparoscopic surgery in gastric cancer have accumulated. Although many gastric surgeons are comfortable with the clinical application of laparoscopic surgery for early gastric cancer, the adoption of MISs for advanced gastric cancer remains controversial. In this review article, we describe the current status and evidence of MIS from an evidence-based medicine viewpoint and explore the feasibility and effectiveness of MIS for advanced gastric cancer in the real world.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of reducing target volume in definitive radiotherapy for HPV-associated tonsil cancer.A single-institution cohort of 90 patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated tonsil cancer who received definitive radiotherapy with a 5-mm expansion from the gross tumor volume to clinical target volume between 2008 and 2019 were included. The overlapping volume of initial planning target volume and the recurrent tumor was calculated and categorized as one of three failure types: in-field: ≥95%; marginal-field: 50%-94%; and out-field:50%.With a median follow-up of 59.4 months, the 3-year and 5-year local control rates were 94.4% and 92.8%, respectively. A total of seven local failures were identified, of which 4 (4.4%) were in-field, 2 (2.2%) were marginal-field, and 1 (1.1%) was out-field. Grade 3 acute and late toxicities developed in 30 (33.3%) and 5 (5.6%) patients, respectively.Reducing target volume could be an alternative option for selected patients with HPV-associated tonsil cancer.

Bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins are epigenetic readers that regulate gene expression. We investigated whether variants in BET genes are associated with survival outcomes for lung cancer. To do this, the associations between 77 variants in BET family genes and survival outcomes were analyzed in 773 non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who underwent surgery (349 and 424 patients in the discovery and validation cohorts, respectively). We found that six variants were significantly associated with overall survival (OS) in the discovery cohort, and one variant (rs2506711C>T) was replicated in the validation cohort. BRD3 rs2506711C>T is located in the repressed area and has a strong linkage disequilibrium with rs2427964C>T in the promoter region. BRD3 rs2427964C>T was significantly associated with worse OS in the discovery cohort, validation cohort, and combined analysis. In a luciferase assay, promoter activity in the BRD3 rs2427964 T allele was significantly higher than that in the BRD3 rs2427964 C allele, which selectively bound with the transcriptional repressor SIN3A. Knockdown of BRD3 with BRD3‐specific siRNA decreased the proliferation and migration of lung cancer cells while also increasing the rate of apoptosis. These results suggest that BRD3 rs2427964C>T increases BRD3 expression through increased promoter activity, which is associated with poor prognosis for lung cancer., In this study, we investigated the association of BET gene variants with survival of patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We observed that the rs2427964C>T SNP in the BRD3 promoter region was associated with poorer survival outcome. BRD3 promoter activity was higher in rs2427964_T than in rs2427964_C, which selectively bound with the transcriptional repressor SIN3A. Additionally, BRD3 silencing decreased the proliferation and migration of NSCLC cells. Our data suggest that elevated BRD3 expression regulated by rs2427964C>T leads to reduced overall survival in patients with NSCLC.

Mycobacterium tuberoculosis (Mtb) is a contagious pathogen that causes human tuberculosis (TB). TB is a major global health threat that causes 9.6 million illnesses and 1.5 million deaths per year. Recent studies have suggested Mtb-secreted proteins as new candidates for therapeutic drugs and vaccines. LprG is a Mtb-secreted surface glycolipoprotein encoded by lprG (Rv1411c), which forms an operon with Rv1410c, where Rv1410c encodes P55, an efflux pump membrane protein. Various in vitro and in vivo studies have reported on the target-binding activity, cell envelope biosynthesis, and mycobacterial virulence of LprG. However, the anti-inflammatory effect of LprG in macrophages has not yet been investigated. In this study, we demonstrated that LprG can suppress lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in a macrophage model. LprG inhibited LPS-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) production. LprG also suppressed expression of inducible cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) at the transcriptional and protein levels. In addition, LprG decreased mRNA expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Furthermore, LprG attenuated nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) translocation and IκB phosphorylation. Moreover, LprG specifically inhibited phosphorylated kinases such as c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (p-ERK1/2), but not p-p38. Taken together, these results suggest that LprG inhibits LPS-stimulated inflammation via downregulation of NO, COX-2, iNOS, and pro-inflammatory cytokines through the NF-κB, AP-1, and MAPK signaling pathways. The present study will aid in the development of anti-inflammatory medications using Mtb. The organism, which has long been regarded as a human pathogenic or human health-threating agent, can be utilized as a future medical resource.