As cancer continues to take millions of lives worldwide, the need to create effective therapeutics for the disease persists. The kinesin Eg5 assembly motor protein is a promising target for cancer therapeutics as inhibition of this protein leads to cell cycle arrest. Monastrol, a small dihydropyrimidine-based molecule capable of inhibiting the kinesin Eg5 function, has attracted the attention of medicinal chemists with its potency, affinity, and specificity to the highly targeted loop5/α2/α3 allosteric binding pocket. In this work, we employed high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS) to identify potential small molecule Eg5 inhibitors from a designed set of novel dihydropyrimidine analogs structurally similar to monastrol.
Each year, over 100,000 patients die from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). A reliable seizure warning system can help patients stay safe. This work presents a comprehensive, comparative analysis of three different signal processing algorithms for automated seizure/ictal detection. The experimental results show that the proposed methods can be effective for accurate automated seizure detection and monitoring in clinical care.
This article investigates the study methodologies, learning strategies, and motives of spelling bee participants. The authors identify several important educational implications of this work.
Numerous organisms, including the marine bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri, produce light. This bioluminescence is involved in many important symbioses and may one day be an important source of light for humans. In this study, the authors investigated ways to increase bioluminescence production from the model organism E. coli.
Have you ever wondered what contributes to the popping ability of popcorn? In this study, the authors use Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping to identify genes that may contribute to specific popping characteristics including kernel size and popping expansion volume (PEV).
With climate change and rising sea levels, south Brooklyn is exposed to massive flooding and intense precipitation. Previous research discovered that flooding shifts plant species distribution, decreases soil pH, and increases salt concentration, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels. The authors predicted a decreasing trend from Zone 1 to 6: high-pH, high-salt, and high-nutrients in more flood-prone areas to low-pH, low-salt, and low-nutrient in less flood-prone regions. They performed DNA barcoding to identify plant species inhabiting flood zones with expectations of decreasing salt tolerance and moisture uptake by plants' soil from Zones 1-6. Furthermore, they predicted an increase in invasive species, ultimately resulting in a decrease in biodiversity. After barcoding, they researched existing information regarding invasiveness, ideal soil, pH tolerance, and salt tolerance. They performed soil analyses to identify pH, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) levels. For N and P levels, we discovered a general decreasing trend from Zone 1 to 6 with low and moderate statistical significance respectively. Previous studies found that soil moisture can increase N and P uptake, helping plants adopt efficient resource-use strategies and reduce water stress from flooding. Although characteristics of plants were distributed throughout all zones, demonstrating overall diversity, the soil analyses hinted at the possibility of a rising trend of plants adapting to the increase in flooding. Future expansive research is needed to comprehensively map these trends. Ultimately, investigating trends between flood zones and the prevalence of different species will assist in guiding solutions to weathering climate change and protecting biodiversity in Brooklyn.
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has a mortality rate of up to 30% in developing countries. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if enzymatic and volatile compound-based approaches would perform more quickly in comparison to existing S. aureus diagnostic methods and to evaluate these novel methods on accuracy. Ultimately, this device provided results in less than 30 seconds, which is much quicker than existing methods that take anywhere from 10 minutes to 48 hours based on approach. Statistical analysis of accuracy provides preliminary confirmation that the device based on enzymatic and volatile compound-based approaches can be an accurate and time-efficient tool to detect pathogenic S. aureus.
This study compares the voltage output of two potential alternative energy sources: water drops hitting a piezoelectric surface and water flowing through a hydroelectric turbine. The findings of this study suggest that harnessing kinetic energy from falling raindrops may be a viable alternative energy source.
The study discusses the relationship between bacterial species and the human gut microbiome, emphasizing the role of quorum sensing molecules in bacterial communication and its implications for health. Authors investigated the impact of bacterial supernatants from Escherichia coli (E. coli) on the growth of new E. coli and Enterobacter aerogenes (E. aerogenes) cultures.
Microwave energy (ME) is used in the medical field to denature protein structures, resulting in inactivation or destruction of abnormal cells. Identifying the extent of destruction of abnormal tissue (cancer tissue or tissue with abnormal electrical activity) is essential for accomplishing successful therapy and reducing collateral damage. Our study was an ex vivo assessment of the changes on ultrasound scans (US) in chicken tissue exposed to ME. We hypothesized that any changes in tissue structures would be recognized on the reflected ultrasound waves. Ultrasound scans of tissues change with exposure to microwaves with increasing reflection of ultrasound waves. With exposure to microwaves, surface level brightness on the ultrasound scans increases statistically significantly. The findings could be used in heat related (ME and radiofrequency) procedures where clinicians would be able to actively assess lesions in real-time. Further studies are required to assess changes in tissue during active exposure to different types of energies.
