Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are among the most poisonous known biological substances, and therefore the availability of reliable, easy-to use tools for BoNT detection are important goals for food safety and human and animal health. The reference me...
Sperm cryo-tolerance resulted in significant variations in post-thaw semen quality among breeds and individual boars. In the present study, semen samples from thirty-seven large white boars were cryopreserved to select individuals with strong and wea...
Durability is crucial for reinforced concrete, directly influencing the service life of structures. The presence of aggressive agents, especially chloride ions, significantly impacts durability. This study investigates the differences between ASTM C1...
Botulinum neurotoxin subtype A4 (BoNT/A4) is ~1000-fold less potent than BoNT/A1. This study addresses the basis for low BoNT/A4 potency. Utilizing BoNT/A1-A4 and BoNT/A4-A1 Light Chain-Heavy Chain (LC-HC) chimeras, HC-A4 was responsible for low BoNT...
Cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase II (NT5C2) is a highly regulated enzyme involved in the maintenance of intracellular purine and the pyrimidine compound pool. It dephosphorylates mainly IMP and GMP but is also active on AMP. This enzyme is highly expr...
The cluster of genes determining the production of botulinum toxins is an attribute of not only the Clostridium botulinum species. This cluster is also found in other members of the Clostridium genus, such as C. baratii, C. butyricum, and C. sporogen...
Botulinum toxins or neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most potent neurotoxins known, and are currently extensively studied, not only for their potential lethality, but also for their possible therapeutic and cosmetic uses. Currently, seven types of antigen...
Data regarding the prognostic value of cardiac biomarkers in patients suffering from sepsis or septic shock is scarce. Studies investigating the prognostic role of cardiac biomarkers in patients with sepsis and septic shock were commonly published pr...
Oxidative stress (OS) has been implicated as a pathophysiological mechanism of drug-resistant epilepsy, but little is known about the relationship between OS markers and clinical parameters, such as the number of drugs, age onset of seizure and frequ...
Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with higher cardiovascular mortality risk. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are well-characterized prognostic cardiac markers. We aimed to descri...
Background: Cardiac involvement is a key prognostic factor in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious inflammatory condition that typically occurs 2–6 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is characterized by fe...
Clinical data indicate that patients with C-reactive protein (CRP) levels higher than 2 mg per liter suffer from persistent inflammation, which is associated with high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We determined whether a panel of biomarkers...
Background: The clinical significance of inflammatory phenotypes and their temporal relationship with natriuretic peptide dynamics in acute heart failure (AHF) remain poorly defined. We investigated admission inflammatory phenotypes, in-hospital C-re...
Background/Objectives. Bovine botulism, although relatively rare, presents significant economic losses due to high mortality rates and restrictions on livestock product trade. Vaccination remains the most effective strategy for preventing botulism-re...
Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is a late-onset, treatment-resistant inflammatory myopathy. Approximately half of IBM patients develop autoantibodies against cytosolic
Background: Post-procedural infection worsens outcomes in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). High-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) reflects myocardial injury, but its utility for infection risk prediction after percutaneous coronary intervention (PC...
Background: Biomarkers, electrocardiogram (ECG) and Holter ECG are basic, accessible and feasible cardiac investigations. The combination of their results may lead to a more complex predictive model that may improve the clinical approach in acute hea...
Feeble cellular responses induced by T cell-based vaccines are a major challenge for the development of an effective vaccine against Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. To address this challenge, the potential of N-terminal fragment of gp96 heat shock...
Background: Acute heart failure (AHF) is a major cause of hospitalization and mortality worldwide. Early and accurate diagnosis, as well as effective risk stratification, are essential for optimizing clinical management and improving patient outcomes...
Background and Objectives: Diastolic dysfunction (DD) is a frequent complication following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), potentially contributing to adverse outcomes. This study aimed to inve...
Background and Objectives: The commissural nucleus of the tractus solitarius (cNTS) not only responds to glucose levels directly, but also receives afferent signals from the liver, and from the carotid chemoreceptors (CChR). In addition, leptin, thro...
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a genetically heterogeneous disease where current clinical practice guidelines remain focused on traditional cytogenetic markers. Despite recent advances demonstrating excellent diagnostic accuracy for gene expre...
Background and Objectives: Inflammatory activation and left atrial remodelling may capture complementary dimensions of residual risk in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). This study evaluated the prognostic value of routinely avail...
I started my research career (in 1965) on interferon by identifying polyacrylic acid (PAA) as an interferon inducer. Poly(I).poly(C), discovered by Maurice Hilleman’s group, proved to be more potent as an interferon inducer, and through its mRN...
Background/Objectives: Iron deficiency (ID) is a critical comorbidity in chronic heart failure (CHF) that impairs myocardial energy metabolism and clinical outcomes. Despite its significance, data regarding ID prevalence in Southeast Asian CHF popula...
This study aimed to assess associations between serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (sCOMP) and phenotypic characteristics in late-stage hip and knee Osteoarthritis (OA) as well as its correlation with further serum markers of possible comorbid...
c-MET pathway over-activation is the signature of malignancy acquisition or chemotherapy resistance of many cancers. We recently demonstrated that type II Testicular Germ Cell Tumours (TGCTs) express c-MET receptor. In particular, we elucidated that...
Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in dogs can be treated with transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (TEER), an emerging minimally invasive surgical technique. However, reports on prognostic markers for preoperative evaluation remain lim...
Serum biomarkers such as N-terminal prohormone of the brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponins are elevated in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). At present, it is not clear if these markers are associated with distin...
Risk stratification among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) is of considerable interest to potentially guide secondary preventive therapies. Cardiac troponins as well as C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and natriuretic peptides have emerged as bi...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) are the most potent toxins in the world. They are produced by a few dozens of strains within several clostridial species. The toxin that they produce can cause botulism, a flaccid paralysis in humans and other animals. Wi...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains the leading cause of long-term disability, which annually involves millions of individuals. Several studies on mammals reported that neurotrophins could play a significant role in both protection and recovery of f...
Cytosolic nucleotidases (cNs) catalyze dephosphorylation of nucleoside 5’-monophosphates and thereby contribute to the regulation of nucleotide levels in cells. cNs have also been shown to dephosphorylate several therapeutically relevant nucleo...
Background: Myocardial fibrosis (MF) is a dynamic remodeling process characterized by excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, fibroblast activation, and dysregulated matrix turnover. Although initially reparative, persistent fibrotic remodel...
Irrigation is being initiated on large areas of traditionally rainfed land to meet increasing global demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel. However, the consequences of this transition on soil quality (SQ) have scarcely been studied. Therefore, after...
Pulmonary thromboembolism (PE) is a life-threatening condition that often leads to right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, a key determinant of prognosis and clinical management. Biomarkers play a crucial role in the early detection and risk stratificati...
Critical care medicine is a highly complex field where diagnosing diseases and selecting effective therapies pose daily challenges for clinicians. In critically ill patients, biomarkers can play a crucial role in identifying and addressing clinical p...
Background: Post-infarction heart failure (HF) remains a major contributor to morbidity and mortality despite advances in reperfusion and pharmacological management. However, the combined influence of clinical background, myocardial injury, neuro-hor...
Tetanus neurotoxins (TeNT) and botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are closely related ~150 kDa protein toxins that together comprise the group of clostridial neurotoxins (CNTs) expressed by various species of Clostridia. While TeNT is expressed as a singl...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are a family of highly dangerous bacterial toxins, with seven major serotypes (BoNT/A-G). Members of BoNTs, BoNT/A1 and BoNT/B1, have been utilized to treat an increasing number of medical conditions. The clinical trials...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) exhibit extraordinary potency due to their exquisite neurospecificity, which is achieved by dual binding to complex polysialo-gangliosides and synaptic vesicle proteins. The luminal domain 4 (LD4) of the three synaptic v...
Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), produced by Clostridium botulinum, cleaves proteins involved in neurotransmitter release, thereby triggering flaccid paralyses, which are responsible for botulism. BoNT is classified into seven serotypes (BoNT/A-G); BoNT/...
The presence of Ti3+ in the structure of TiO2 nanotube arrays (NTs) has been shown to enhance the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting performance of these NTs, leading to improved results compared to pristine anatase TiO2 NTs. To further impro...
Botulinum neurotoxins E (BoNT/E) and A (BoNT/A) act by cleaving Synaptosome-Associated Protein 25 (SNAP25) at two different C-terminal sites, but they display very distinct durations of action, BoNT/E being short acting and BoNT/A long acting. We inv...
A low level of Neurotrophins (NTs), their Tyrosine Kinase Receptors (Trks), Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGFs) and their receptors, mainly VEGFR1 and VEGFR2, characterizes AD brains. The use of NTs and VEGFs as drugs presents different issue...
No-tillage (NT) management is considered a leading approach for sustaining crop production and improving soil and environmental quality. Based on a long-term no-tillage experiment in a rice–oilseed rape cropping system, we examined differences...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) are the most potent known toxins. The mouse LD50 assay is the gold standard for testing BoNT potency, but is not sensitive enough to detect the extremely low levels of neurotoxin that may be present in the serum of sensit...
Human botulism can be caused by botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) serotypes A to G. Here, we present an antibody-based antitoxin composed of four human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against BoNT/C, BoNT/D, and their mosaic toxins. This work built on our suc...
(111)-oriented nanotwinned Cu ((111)nt-Cu) has shown its high surface diffusion rate and better oxidation resistance over common polycrystalline Cu (C-Cu). The application of (111)nt-Cu as an interface metallization layer in Ag-sintered technology un...
Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are highly toxic proteins that require high-affinity immunocapture reagents for use in endopeptidase-based assays. Here, 30 novel and 2 earlier published llama single-domain antibodies (VHHs) against the veterinary-relev...
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