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Introduction: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a prevalent metabolic disorder linked to chronic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, which contributes to the development of microvascular complications (MVCs) such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic neuropathy (DN). Genetic factors, including variations in the ABO gene, may influence these complications. This study aimed to investigate the association between the ABO rs2073823 polymorphism and the risk of MVCs in patients with T2D, as well as its impact on inflammatory biomarkers, endothelial markers, and lipid profiles., Materials and Methods: We conducted an exploratory study involving 96 T2D Iraqi patients (Asian Arabic), examining the distribution of the ABO rs2073823 polymorphism and its correlation with MVCs. We assessed levels of inflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-6, sE-selectin, sP-selectin), glycemic markers, renal function biomarkers, and lipid profiles. Adjustment was made for confounding factors including age, gender, body mass index, duration of diabetes, and hypertension., Results: Among the participants, 75% had MVCs, including DR (42%) and DN (65%). The ABO rs2073823 "A/A" genotype was associated with a reduced risk of MVCs under co-dominant (OR=0.16, p=0.045) and recessive models (OR=0.14, p=0.031). This protective effect remained significant after adjusting for confounding factors (OR=0.11, p=0.022). The "A/A" genotype was also linked to lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and sP-selectin. Patients with MVCs exhibited significantly higher levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and sP-selectin., Conclusion: The ABO rs2073823 polymorphism, particularly the "A/A" genotype, is associated with a decreased risk of MVCs in T2D patients and influences lipid metabolism and inflammatory markers. These findings suggest a genetic basis for the susceptibility to MVCs and highlight the role of the ABO gene in modulating inflammation and endothelial function in T2D. Further research is needed to validate these associations and explore potential therapeutic implications., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are promising candidates for cartilage repair therapy due to their self-renewal, chondrogenic, and immunomodulatory capacities. It is widely recognized that a shift from fetal bovine serum (FBS)-containing medium toward a fully chemically defined serum-free (SF) medium would be necessary for clinical applications of MSCs to eliminate issues such as xeno-contamination and batch-to-batch variation. However, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding the evaluation of the chondrogenic ability of SF-expanded MSCs (SF-MSCs). In this study, we compared the in vivo regeneration effect of FBS-MSCs and SF-MSCs in a rat osteochondral defect model and found poor cartilage repair outcomes for SF-MSCs. Consequently, a comparative analysis of FBS-MSCs and SF-MSCs expanded using two SF media, MesenCult™-ACF (ACF), and Custom StemPro™ MSC SFM XenoFree (XF) was conducted in vitro. Our results show that SF-expanded MSCs constitute variations in morphology, surface markers, senescence status, differentiation capacity, and senescence/apoptosis status. Highly proliferative MSCs supported by SF medium do not always correlate to their chondrogenic and cartilage repair ability. Prior determination of the SF medium's ability to support the chondrogenic ability of expanded MSCs is therefore crucial when choosing an SF medium to manufacture MSCs for clinical application in cartilage repair.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are promising therapeutic agents for cartilage regeneration, including the potential of cells to promote chondrogenesis in vivo. However, process development and regulatory approval of MSCs as cell therapy products benefit from facile in vitro approaches that can predict potency for a given production run. Current standard in vitro approaches include a 21 day 3D differentiation assay followed by quantification of cartilage matrix proteins. We propose a novel biophysical marker that is cell population-based and can be measured from in vitro monolayer culture of MSCs. We hypothesized that the self-assembly pattern that emerges from collective-cell behavior would predict chondrogenesis motivated by our observation that certain features in this pattern, namely, topological defects, corresponded to mesenchymal condensations. Indeed, we observed a strong predictive correlation between the degree-of-order of the pattern at day 9 of the monolayer culture and chondrogenic potential later estimated from in vitro 3D chondrogenic differentiation at day 21. These findings provide the rationale and the proof-of-concept for using self-assembly patterns to monitor chondrogenic commitment of cell populations. Such correlations across multiple MSC donors and production batches suggest that self-assembly patterns can be used as a candidate biophysical attribute to predict quality and efficacy for MSCs employed therapeutically for cartilage regeneration., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Makhija et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Immune signatures measured at baseline and immediately prior to vaccination may predict the immune response to vaccination. Such pre-vaccine assessment might allow not only population-based, but also more personalized vaccination strategies ('precision vaccination'). If baseline immune signatures are predictive, the underlying mechanism they reflect may also determine vaccination outcome. Thus, baseline signatures might contribute to identifying interventional targets to be modulated prior to vaccination in order to improve vaccination responses. This concept has the potential to transform vaccination strategies and usher in a new approach to improve global health., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

A novel approach toward the [5-7]fused bicyclic core of thapsigargin, a subnanomolar inhibitor of the endo/sarcoplasmic calcium ATPase (SERCA), is presented. The synthetic route includes an original Ti(II)-mediated hydroxy-directed reductive coupling of an enantiomerically enriched propargylic alcohol and an intramolecular Rh(I)-catalyzed cyclocarbonylation reaction as key steps. Interestingly, through the first experiments of titanocene-mediated reductive cyclization of a 1,8-enyne, a seven-membered cycle was isolated as a unique product with a total diastereoselectivity.

Aims: Recent data showed an alarming rise of new dialysis cases secondary to diabetic nephropathy despite the growing usage of RAAS blockers. Primary objective of this study is to explore the prevalence of RAAS blockers usage among type II diabetic patients, secondary objectives are to compare the prescribing pattern of RAAS blocker between primary and tertiary care center and to explore if the dose of RAAS blocker prescribed was at optimal dose as suggested by trials., Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted at one public tertiary referral hospital and one public health clinic in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia., Results: RAAS blockers in T2DM patients was found to be 65%. In primary care, 14.3% of the RAAS blockers prescribed was ARB. Tertiary care had higher utilization of ARB, which was 42.9%. In primary care setting, the most commonly used ACEI were perindopril (92.4%) followed by enalapril (7.6%), meanwhile perindopril was the only ACEI being prescribed in tertiary care. The most prescribed ARB was irbesartan (63.6%) and telmisartan (54.2%) respectively in primary and tertiary care. Overall, 64.9% of RAAS blockers prescribed by both levels of care were found to be achieving the target dose as recommended in landmark trials. Crude odd ratio of prescribing RAAS blocker in primary care versus tertiary care was reported as 2.70 (95% CI: 1.49 to 4.91)., Conclusion: RAAS blockers usage among T2DM patients was higher in primary care versus tertiary care settings. Majority of the patients did not receive optimal dose of RAAS blockers., (Copyright © 2017 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An efficient catalytic room-temperature direct α-amidoalkylation of carbonyl donors, that is, ketones and aldehydes with unbiased N,O-acetals, is described. Sn(NTf2 )4 is an optimal catalyst to promote this challenging transformation at low loading and the reaction shows promising scope. A comprehensive and rational evaluation of this reaction has led to the establishment of an empirical scale of nucleophilic reactivity for a broad set of ketones that should be helpful in the synthetic design and development of carbonyl α-functionalization methods., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The peptides derived from envelope proteins have been shown to inhibit the protein-protein interactions in the virus membrane fusion process and thus have a great potential to be developed into effective antiviral therapies. There are three types of envelope proteins each exhibiting distinct structure folds. Although the exact fusion mechanism remains elusive, it was suggested that the three classes of viral fusion proteins share a similar mechanism of membrane fusion. The common mechanism of action makes it possible to correlate the properties of self-derived peptide inhibitors with their activities. Here we developed a support vector machine model using sequence-based statistical scores of self-derived peptide inhibitors as input features to correlate with their activities. The model displayed 92% prediction accuracy with the Matthew's correlation coefficient of 0.84, obviously superior to those using physicochemical properties and amino acid decomposition as input. The predictive support vector machine model for self- derived peptides of envelope proteins would be useful in development of antiviral peptide inhibitors targeting the virus fusion process.

Neorogioltriol is a tricyclic brominated diterpenoid isolated from the organic extract of the red algae Laurencia glandulifera. In the present study, the anti-inflammatory effects of neorogioltriol were evaluated both in vivo using carrageenan-induced paw edema and in vitro on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated Raw264.7 macrophages. The in vivo study demonstrated that the administration of 1 mg/kg of neorogioltriol resulted in the significant reduction of carregeenan-induced rat edema. In vitro, our results show that neorogioltriol treatment decreased the luciferase activity in LPS-stimulated Raw264.7 cells, stably transfected with the NF-κB-dependent luciferase reporter. This effect on NF-κB activation is not mediated through MAPK pathways. The inhibition of NF-κB activity correlates with decreased levels of LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) present in neorogioltriol treated supernatant cell culture. Further analyses indicated that this product also significantly inhibited the release of nitric oxide and the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in LPS-stimulated Raw264.7 cells. These latter effects could only be observed for neorogioltriol concentrations below 62.5 μM. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing a molecule derived from Laurencia glandulifera with anti-inflammatory activity both in vivo and in vitro. The effect demonstrated in vitro may be explained by the inhibition of the LPS-induced NF-κB activation and TNFα production. NO release and COX-2 expression may reinforce this effect.

[reaction: see text] In situ formed N-trialkylsilyl bistrifluoromethanesulfonimides (R3SiNTf2) species have been shown to efficiently catalyze the nucleophilic substitution reactions of chiral 5-oxypyrrolidin-2-ones by silicon-based nucleophiles. The reaction rates were significantly accelerated in comparison to the cases where the usual triflate catalysts are used. Adducts were obtained in high yields and usual stereoselectivities within short reaction times, and the process was compatible with a semipreparative scale.

[reaction: see text] Nucleophilic substitution reactions of racemic and chiral 5-acetoxy-, 5-ethoxy-, and 5-methoxypyrrolidin-2-ones by silicon-based nucleophiles were efficiently catalyzed by TIPSOTf. This process was found to be general and accommodates a broad range of substrate-nucleophile combinations.