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Two types of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, lisinopril and benazepril HCl, were tested in neuroblastoma cells and found to upregulate low-density lipoprotein-receptor-related protein 1B (LRP1B) and 14-3-3 protein zeta/delta. Additionally, benazepril HCl was found to increase the expression of calreticulin. The upregulation of these proteins by ACE inhibitors may contribute to the amelioration of cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease/dementia, as well as the clinically observed deceleration of functional decline in Alzheimer’s patients. This discovery suggests that the supplementation of ACE inhibitors may promote neuronal cell survival independently of their antihypertensive effect. Overall, these findings indicate that ACE inhibitors may be a promising avenue for developing effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) has recently been observed in recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine. It is unclear whether RP is directly caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. This study aims to investigate the potential causation between RP and COVID-19 vaccination. In this study, we searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science from January 1, 2020, to March 19, 2024. We included the articles with clinical related findings, specifically case reports and case series. Conference abstracts, editorial publications, preprint, and those not specifically related to COVID-19 vaccination are excluded. The refined selection process aimed to ensure a focused and clinically relevant analysis of the association between RP and COVID-19 vaccination. A total of six articles were ultimately included in this study, comprising five case reports and one case series involving 24 patients with RP after vaccination. Baseline characteristics of the studies showed the RP post COVID-19 vaccination frequently occurred with females compared to males (70.83 vs. 29.17 %). Of the patients with RP post COVID-19 vaccination, 87.5 % (21/24) had either a history or possible predisposing factors of RP. Among the patients with detailed information of vaccination (n = 20), the number of vaccine doses was not related to RP development (45 % (1st) vs. 30 % (2nd) vs. 25 % 3rd dose). For types of vaccine, 75 % of RP were found to have received the administration of mRNA vaccine (15/20). The risk of bias was increased due to the uncontrolled study designs and small sample size, making it impossible to attribute causation between RP and COVID-19 vaccination. These few cases may have occurred independently of vaccination. However, physicians should still remain vigilant for RP following COVID-19 vaccination, particularly as the number of vaccinated individuals continues to rise.

Donkey-hide gelatin, also called Ejiao (colla corii asini), is commonly used as a food health supplement and valuable Chinese medicine. Its growing popular demand and short supply make it a target for fraud, and many other animal gelatins can be found as adulterants. Authentication remains a quality concern. Peptide markers were developed by searching the protein database. However, donkeys and horses share the same database, and there is no specific marker for donkeys. Here, solutions are sought following a database-independent strategy. The peptide profiles of authentic samples of different animal gelatins were compared using LC-QTOF-MS/MS. Fourteen specific markers, including four donkey-specific, one horse-specific, three cattle-specific, and six pig-specific peptides, were successfully found. As these donkey-specific peptides are not included in the current proteomics database, their sequences were determined by de novo sequencing. A quantitative LC-QQQ multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method was further developed to achieve highly sensitive and selective analysis. The specificity and applicability of these markers were confirmed by testing multiple authentic samples and 110 batches of commercial Ejiao products, 57 of which were found to be unqualified. These results suggest that these markers are specific and accurate for authentication purposes.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become the global challenge. Reaching global herd immunity will help end the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine shortage and vaccine hesitancy are the obstacles to achieve global herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2. The current homologous vaccine regimen is experimentally switching to heterologous vaccination at several study sites. However, the reactogenicity of heterologous ChAdOx1-S and mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is still unclear. We have conducted a systematic review to summarize the current findings on the safety and immunogenicity of this heterologous vaccination and elucidate their implications against SARS-CoV-2. This systematic review was conducted by the guidelines of PRISMA. Articles were searched from PubMed and other sources (MedRixv and Google scholar) starting from 1 January to 5 September 2021. The search term was heterologous ChAdOx1-S and BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccination. Our review found that participants with ChAdOx1/BNT162b2, ChAdOx1-S/mRNA-1273 or BNT162b2/ChAdOx1-S did not have the serious adverse events seen with homologous vaccination. Participants with the heterologous regimen (ChAdOx1/BNT162b2, ChAdOx1-S/mRNA-1273 or BNT162b2/ChAdOx1-S), compared with those with two doses of ChAdOx1-S, have shown a more robust immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, such as higher levels of responsive antibodies or increased numbers of spike-specific T-cells. Nevertheless, these immune responses were slightly diminished in the recipients of BNT162b2/ChAdOx1-S. Also, the safety study of heterologous ChAdOx1-S/mRNA vaccination was based on small populations. Further studies to enclose diverse categories, such as race/ethnicity or geography, may be necessary. Overall, the heterologous immunization with ChAdOX1-S and the mRNA vaccine may improve the vaccine shortage related slow pace of reaching herd immunity, especially using the heterologous immunization with ChAdOx1-S/BNT162b2.

Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is an expensive health food. There are many adulterants in the market. It remains challenging to discriminate EBN from its adulterants due to a lack of high-specificity markers. Besides, the current markers are confined to soluble fraction of EBN. Here, both soluble and insoluble fractions were analyzed by LC-QTOF-MS/MS. A total of 26 high-specificity peptides that were specific to EBN were selected as qualitative authentication markers. Among them, 10 markers can discriminate EBN from common adulterants, 13 markers discriminate white EBN from grass EBN/common adulterants, and 3 markers discriminate grass EBN from white EBN/common adulterants. Three of them, which showed high signal abundance (Peak area ≥ 106) and satisfactory linearity (R2 ≥ 0.995) with EBN references, were selected as the assay marker; and their peptide sequences were confidently identified by searching database/de novo sequencing. Based on these markers, a qualitative and quantitative analytical method was successfully developed and well-validated in terms of linearity, precision, repeatability, and accuracy. The method was subsequently applied to detect EBN products on the market. The results indicated that more than half of EBN products were not consistent with what the merchants claimed.

Background: Radiolabeled compounds can serve as diagnostic or therapeutic agents depending on the characteristics of the isotopes used. IMPY (6-iodo-2-(4′-dimethylamino)-phenyl-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine) is a lipophilic derivative of thioflavin-T, designed to function as a tracer when labeled with radioactive iodine. While it has been primarily studied for imaging applications, its potential therapeutic effects when labeled with iodine-125 (125I) remain to be explored. Methods: In this study, IMPY was synthesized and labeled with 125I for therapeutic purposes. Three different labeling methods were employed: isotope exchange reaction, redox reaction, and the Iodogen technique. The radiochemical yield of each method was determined to identify the most effective approach. Additionally, the effects of 125I-IMPY on neuroblastoma cells were evaluated by assessing its toxicity and cellular uptake. Results: The radiochemical yields for the isotope exchange reaction, redox reaction, and Iodogen technique were found to be 0.96%, 10.74%, and 96.52%, respectively. The Iodogen technique exhibited the highest yield, exceeding 90% even after 48 h, making it the most efficient method. Furthermore, the impact of 125I-IMPY on neuroblastoma cells was analyzed, revealing significant cellular uptake and potential therapeutic effects. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the Iodogen technique is the most effective method for labeling IMPY with 125I. The high labeling efficiency and observed cellular effects suggest that 125I-IMPY could be considered not only as a tracer but also as a potential therapeutic agent for neuroblastoma. Further studies are needed to explore its full therapeutic potential and mechanism of action.

Preparation of superhydrophobic carbon materials from lignocellulosic biomass waste via one‐step carbonization is very difficult due to the existences of polar functional groups and ashes, which are extremely hydrophilic. Herein, superhydrophobic carbon materials can be facilely synthesized by catalytic pyrolysis of biomass waste using FeCl3 as catalyst. The results show that the surface energy of lignin‐derived char (CharL) is significantly reduced to 19.25 mN m−1 from 73.29 mN m−1, and the water contact angle increased from 0 to 151.5°, by interaction with FeCl3. Multiple characterizations and control experiments demonstrate that FeCl3 can catalyze the pyrolytic volatiles to form a rough graphite and diamond‐like carbon layer that isolates the polar functional groups and ashes on CharL, contributing to the superhydrophobicity of the CharL. The one‐step catalytic pyrolysis is able to convert different natural biomass waste (e.g., lignin, cellulose, sawdust, rice husk, maize straw, and pomelo peel) into superhydrophobic carbon materials. This study contributes new information related to the interfacial chemistry during the sustainable utilization of biomass waste. A facile method of converting biomass waste into superhydrophobic carbon materials is proposed by catalytic fast pyrolysis. The mechanism is attributed to the capping of the carbon deposition on the char coupled with the increased roughness, catalyzed by FeCl3. The superhydrophobic biochar exhibits outstanding stability in harsh environments and excellent performance in oil/water separation and self‐cleaning surfaces.

Gamma-ray irradiation is an effective and clean method of sterilization by inactivating microorganisms. It can also be applied to induce anti-oxidants for future application. In this study, the mung bean (Vigna radiata) was exposed to gamma-ray irradiation under the dose of 0, 5 or 10 kGy. With increasing irradiation doses, the concentrations of malondiadehyde decreased while the levels of total flavonoids and DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity increased. It has been shown that consuming flavonoids can provide protective effects. In addition, proteomic analysis identified several proteins having anti-oxidant activities in the 5 kGy irradiated group. These proteins are Apocytochrome f, Systemin receptor SR 160, DELLA protein DWARF8, DEAD-box ATP-dependent RNA helicase 9, ζ-carotene desaturase (ZDS), and Floral homeotic protein AGAMOUS. Our findings indicate that plants contain a variety of phytochemicals and antioxidant proteins which may effectively prevent oxidative stress caused by irradiated peroxidation.

Mass vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health strategy to control the COVID-19 pandemic. With the increasing number of vaccinations, COVID-19 vaccine-associated lymphadenopathy (C19-VAL) has been frequently reported. Current findings emphasize the characteristics of C19-VAL. The mechanism of C19-VAL is complicated to explore. Accumulated reports separately show that C19-VAL incidence is associated with receiver age and gender, reactive change within lymph nodes (LN), etc. We constructed a systematic review to evaluate the associated elements of C19-VAL and provide the mechanism of C19-VAL. Articles were searched from PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE by using the processing of PRISMA. The search terms included combinations of the COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 vaccination and lymphadenopathy. Finally, sixty-two articles have been included in this study. Our results show that days post-vaccination and B cell germinal center response are negatively correlated with C19-VAL incidence. The reactive change within LN is highly related to C19-VAL development. The study results suggested that strong vaccine immune response may contribute to the C19-VAL development and perhaps through the B cell germinal center response post vaccination. From the perspective of imaging interpretation, it is important to carefully distinguish reactive lymph nodes from metastatic lymph node enlargement through medical history collection or evaluation, especially in patients with underlying malignancy.

Chloroquine (CQ) and its derivative, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), have attracted wide attention for treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, conflicting outcomes have been found in COVID-19 clinical trials after treatment with CQ or HCQ. To date, it remains uncertain whether CQ and HCQ are beneficial antiviral drugs for combating COVID-19. We performed a systematic review to depict the efficacy of CQ or HCQ for the treatment of COVID-19. The guidelines of PRISMA were used to conduct this systematic review. We searched through articles from PubMed, Web of Science and other sources that were published from 1 January 2020 to 31 October 2020. The search terms included combinations of human COVID-19, CQ, and HCQ. Eleven qualitative articles comprising of four clinical trials and seven observation studies were utilized in our systematic review. The analysis shows that CQ and HCQ do not have efficacy in treatment of patients with severe COVID-19. In addition, CQ and HCQ have caused life-threatening adverse reactions which included cardiac arrest, electrocardiogram modification, and QTc prolongation, particularly during the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19. Our systematic review suggested that CQ and HCQ are not beneficial antiviral drugs for curing patients with severe COVID-19. The treatment effect of CQ and HCQ is not only null but also causes serious side effects, which may cause potential cardiotoxicity in severe COVID-19 patients.