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Background: There are many similarities in the clinical manifestations of human norovirus and SARS-CoV-2 infections, and nucleic acid detection is the gold standard for diagnosing both diseases. In order to expedite the identification of norovirus and SARS-CoV-2, a quantitative one-step triplex reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) method was designed in this paper., Methods: A one-step triplex RT-qPCR assay was developed for simultaneous detection and differentiation of human norovirus GI (NoV-GI), GII (NoV-GII) and SARS-CoV-2 from fecal specimens., Results: The triplex RT-qPCR assay had high detection reproducibility (CV < 1%) and sensitivity. The lower limits of detection (LLOD95) of the triplex RT-qPCR assay for each target site were 128.5-172.8 copies/mL, and LLOD95 of the singleplex RT-qPCR assay were 110.3-142.0 copies/mL. Meanwhile, among the detection of clinical oropharyngeal swabs and fecal specimens, the results of the singleplex and triplex RT-qPCR assay showed high agreement., Conclusion: The triplex RT-qPCR assay for simultaneous detection of NoV-GI, NoV-GII and SARS-CoV-2 from fecal specimens has high clinical application value., 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., (Copyright © 2024 Yi, Wang, Tan, Ding, Zhang, Wu, Li, Xin and Fan.)

PINK1, as the first reported ubiquitin kinase, can phosphorylate ubiquitin (Ub) at Ser65 site, which regulates the structure and function of Ub monomer. However, the levels of PINK1 and phosphorylated Ub (pUb) are very low in normal cells. Here we show that when proteasome activity is inhibited, the levels of soluble PINK1 (sPINK1) and pUb will increase significantly. Further we show that ubiquitin phosphorylation can inhibit the formation of K48-linked ubiquitin chains in vivo and in vitro, and the retracted state of pUb plays a leading role in the inhibition process. Ubiquitination is a necessary process for substrates degradation. Thus, phosphorylation can regulate proteasomal degradation of substrates., (Copyright 2022 The Author(s).)

Background: Hepatic stellate cell (HSC) hyperactivation is a central link in liver fibrosis development. HSCs perform aerobic glycolysis to provide energy for their activation. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) promotes aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells or fibroblasts, while FAK-related non-kinase (FRNK) inhibits FAK phosphorylation and biological functions., Aim: To elucidate the effect of FRNK on liver fibrosis at the level of aerobic glycolytic metabolism in HSCs., Methods: Mouse liver fibrosis models were established by administering CCl 4 , and the effect of FRNK on the degree of liver fibrosis in the model was evaluated. Transforming growth factor-β1 was used to activate LX-2 cells. Tyrosine phosphorylation at position 397 (pY397-FAK) was detected to identify activated FAK, and the expression of the glycolysis-related proteins monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT-1) and enolase1 (ENO1) was assessed. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to predict putative binding sites for c-myc in the ENO1 promoter region, which were validated with chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and dual-luciferase reporter assays., Results: The pY397-FAK level was increased in human fibrotic liver tissue. FRNK knockout promoted liver fibrosis in mouse models. It also increased the activation, migration, proliferation and aerobic glycolysis of primary hepatic stellate cells (pHSCs) but inhibited pHSC apoptosis. Nevertheless, opposite trends for these phenomena were observed after exogenous FRNK treatment in LX-2 cells. Mechanistically, the FAK/Ras/c-myc/ENO1 pathway promoted aerobic glycolysis, which was inhibited by exogenous FRNK., Conclusion: FRNK inhibits aerobic glycolysis in HSCs by inhibiting the FAK/Ras/c-myc/ENO1 pathway, thereby improving liver fibrosis. FRNK might be a potential target for liver fibrosis treatment., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this study, a novel two-photon photothermal therapy (TP-PTT) agent based on an organic-metal microhybrid with surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) enhanced two-photon absorption (TPA) characteristic was designed and synthesized using a fluorescent cyano-carboxylic derivative 2-cyano-3-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl) -acrylic acid (abbreviated as CECZA) and silver nanoparticles through self-assembly process induced by the interfacial coordination interactions between the O/N atom of CECZA and Ag + ion at the surface of Ag nanoparticles. The coordination interactions caused electron transfer from the Ag nanoparticles to CECZA molecules at the excited state, resulting in a decreased fluorescence quantum yield. The interfacial coordination interactions also enhanced the nonlinear optical properties, including 13 times increase in the TPA cross-section (δ). The decreased fluorescence quantum yield and increased two photon absorption caused by the SPR effect led excellent two-photon photothermal conversion, which was beneficial for the TP-PTT effect on HeLa cancer cells., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)