Recent Advances Research Articles

Recent advances in the study of epitopes, allergens and immunologic cross-reactivity of edible mango

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a tropical fruit that is widely consumed as both fresh fruits and processed products around the world. The high incidence of mango allergy, on the other hand, has sparked widespread concern. Therefore, a summary and analysis of the current status and issues in mango allergen research can guide in-depth study on the mechanism of mango allergy and reveal effective desensitization methods. We described the incidence of fruit allergy, as well as the mechanism and clinical symptoms of mango allergy, in this review. We also looked into the structural properties of mango allergens, the effect of processing methods on mango allergens, prediction methods for mango allergen epitopes, and the current state of research on mango cross-reactive allergens and preventive measures. Finally, the research directions and ideas for the future are proposed and discussed.

Nutritional Fuelling for Microgravity Environment of Space Missions

Abstract: Since the beginning of space missions, the food systems have undergone a sea change with prolonged manned missions and permanent space habitats. We have a better understanding of physiological changes which happen in humans in space and help in adaptation to the space environment. Yet, much remains underexplored and warrants further research. Space missions today involve a considerable number of individuals operating in a microgravity environment for both short and long periods. The provision of food for such missions and managing the physio-pathological changes that affect nutritional requirements continue to be challenging. Food systems (food and beverages) used during every program to date have been shelf‐stable and were composed primarily of rehydratable or thermostabilized food items. Such foods usually have a lower hedonic value than fresh or frozen foods. Consequently, a reliable food system must provide a wide range of palatable and attractive foods as well as the tools to prepare them (through rehydration, heating, and cooling) to enhance the taste sensation of the crew. Adequate nutrition with easily accessible food is essential to this effort. To deliver nutritional recommendations to crew members for long-duration space missions, it is important to understand how nutritional status and general physiology are linked and affected by microgravity exposure. In view of this, it has been pointed out that nutritional countermeasures could rectify the physiological and behavioural anomalies during microgravity exposure. In this comprehensive narrative review, we have provided an overview of a few recent advances such as silkworm protein, good mood-vegan diet, 3-D food printing, and space garden’s produce for onboard support to food systems. It has also been found that exercise could be an addition to nutritional interventions. Areas of space exploration that require more in-depth research using ground-based bed rest models, as well as inflight microgravity conditions, are highlighted.

Recent Advancement in Multicomponent Synthesis of Fused Coumarin Derivatives.

The synthesis of coumarin derivatives has been an essential topic since its discovery in 1820. In bioactive compounds, the coumarin moiety serves as a backbone, as many such bioactive compounds with the coumarin moiety play a significant role in their bioactivities. Given this moiety's relevance, several researchers are developing fused-coumarin derivatives to create new drugs. Mostly the approach done for this purpose was a multicomponent reaction based. Over the years, the multicomponent reaction has gained enormous popularity, and this approach has evolved as a replacement for conventional synthetic methods. Because of all these perspectives, we have reported the various fused-coumarin derivatives synthesized using multicomponent reactions in recent years.

Challenges in Immunomodulation for Psoriasis: Recent Advancements and Need of Therapies

Abstract: Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated skin disorder affecting millions worldwide. The pathogenesis of psoriasis involves dysregulated immune responses characterized by aberrant activation of T cells and proinflammatory cytokines. Immunomodulation has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for managing psoriasis, aiming to restore immune homeostasis. However, despite significant advancements, challenges persist in developing effective immunomodulatory therapies. This abstract reviews recent developments in psoriasis immunomodulation, encompassing novel targets and therapeutic modalities. Advances in biologics targeting interleukins (IL) and their receptors, such as IL-17, IL-23, and IL-12/23, have demonstrated substantial clinical efficacy. Additionally, small molecules that inhibit Janus kinases (JAK) and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) have shown promise in regulating immune responses. Despite these advancements, certain limitations hinder the success of immunomodulatory therapies. Treatment resistance, safety concerns, and high costs remain critical challenges. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of the complex immunopathogenesis of psoriasis is essential for developing targeted and personalized therapies. In conclusion, immunomodulation has revolutionized the management of psoriasis, offering remarkable improvements in patient outcomes. Continued research and innovative therapeutic strategies are needed to overcome current challenges and pave the way for more efficient, safe, and accessible treatments for psoriasis.

Targeted Treatment of Lung Cancer using Nanomaterials: Prospective and Advances

Background: Lung cancer is the second most lethal type of cancer, with a poor survival rate of 5 years. It is one of those malignant tumors that has grown most rapidly in the context of mortality and morbidity. Aim: This review article aims to provide insight into current nanotechnological approaches taken into consideration that provide advantages over conventional chemotherapy. Result and Discussion: After comparing conventional chemotherapy and nanotechnology-based therapies for lung cancer, the results showed that recent advances in nanomaterials proved to be more effective in lung cancer diagnosis, mitigation and treatment. Here, Surface-engineered smart nanocarrier- based inhalations, Bio-nanocarriers for lung cancer, gas plasma nanoparticles, and magnetic nanoparticles are discussed. Conclusion: After summarizing these nanomaterials, investigators concluded that the in-vivo and invitro effectiveness of recently developed nanoparticles was found to be better than that of conventional nanoparticles.

Current Vaccination Practice in Diabetic (Diabetes I) Patients.

The worldwide prevalence of diabetes, an endocrine condition, is rising quickly. The alarming rise of diabetes in recent years has emerged as a major contributor to premature death and illness among persons of working age. The potential use of immunomodulatory drugs to prevent diabetes has been a source of worry in light of recent advances in our understanding of the role of autoimmune responses in the development of diabetes. Vaccines can work in a variety of ways, including by eliminating autoreactive T-cells or by blocking the connections between immune cells. Most diabetes vaccines that have been created so far have only been evaluated in animal models, with just a small number having undergone successful human trials. In this article, the authors also look at the clinical trial research that are currently being conducted to create a prototype diabetes vaccine.

The Impact of Adversarial Attacks on Federated Learning: A Survey.

Federated learning (FL) has emerged as a powerful machine learning technique that enables the development of models from decentralized data sources. However, the decentralized nature of FL makes it vulnerable to adversarial attacks. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive overview of the impact of malicious attacks on FL by covering various aspects such as attack budget, visibility, and generalizability, among others. Previous surveys have primarily focused on the multiple types of attacks and defenses but failed to consider the impact of these attacks in terms of their budget, visibility, and generalizability. This survey aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive understanding of the attacks' effect by identifying FL attacks with low budgets, low visibility, and high impact. Additionally, we address the recent advancements in the field of adversarial defenses in FL and highlight the challenges in securing FL. The contribution of this survey is threefold: first, it provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the current state of FL attacks and defenses. Second, it highlights the critical importance of considering the impact, budget, and visibility of FL attacks. Finally, we provide ten case studies and potential future directions towards improving the security and privacy of FL systems.

Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson high-temperature ferromagnetism in tetragonal transition-metal xenes

Abstract Seminal Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson (GKA) rules provide the inceptive understanding of the superexchange interaction of two magnetic metal ions bridged with an anion, and suggest fostered ferromagnetic interaction for orthogonal bridging bonds. However, there are no examples of two-dimensional (2D) materials with structure that optimizes the GKA arguments towards enhanced ferromagnetism and its critical temperature. Here we reveal that an ideally planar GKA ferromagnetism is indeed stable in selected tetragonal transition-metal xenes (tTMXs), with Curie temperature above 300 K found in CrC and MnC. We provide the general orbitally-resolved analysis of magnetic interactions that supports the claims and sheds light at the mechanisms dominating the magnetic exchange process in these structures. Furthermore, we propose the set of three GKA-like rules that will guarantee room temperature ferromagetnism (FM). With recent advent of epitaxially- grown tetragonal 2D materials, our findings earmark tTMXs for facilitated spintronic and magnonic applications, or as a desirable magnetic constituent of functional 2D heterostructures.

Conductive Peptide-Based MXene Hydrogel as a Piezoresistive Sensor.

Wearable pressure sensors have become increasingly popular for personal healthcare and motion detection applications due to recent advances in materials science and functional nanomaterials. In this study, a novel composite hydrogel is presented as a sensitive piezoresistive sensor that can be utilized for various biomedical applications, such as wearable skin patches and integrated artificial skin that can measure pulse and blood pressure, as well as monitor sound as a self-powered microphone. The hydrogel is composed of self-assembled short peptides containing aromatic, positively- or negatively charged amino acids combined with 2D Ti3C2Tz MXene nanosheets. This material is low-cost, facile, reliable, and scalable for large areas while maintaining high sensitivity, a wide detection range, durability, oxidation stability, and biocompatibility. The bioinspired nanostructure, strong mechanical stability, and ease of functionalization make the assembled peptide-based composite MXene-hydrogel a promising and widely applicable material for use in bio-related wearable electronics.

Recent Advances of Aminopeptidases-Responsive Small-Molecular Probes for Bioimaging.

Aminopeptidases, enzymes with critical roles in human body, are emerging as vital biomarkers for metabolic processes and diseases. Aberrant aminopeptidase levels are often associated with diseases, particularly cancer. Small-molecule probes, such as fluorescent, fluorescent/photoacoustics, bioluminescent, and chemiluminescent probes, are essential tools in the study of aminopeptidases-related diseases. The fluorescent probes provide real-time insights into protein activities, offering high sensitivity in specific locations, and precise spatiotemporal results. Additionally, photoacoustic probes offer signals that are able to penetrate deeper tissues. Bioluminescent and chemiluminescent probes can enhance in vivo imaging abilities by reducing the background. This comprehensive review is focused on small-molecule probes that respond to four key aminopeptidases: aminopeptidase N, leucine aminopeptidase, Pyroglutamate aminopeptidase 1, and Prolyl Aminopeptidase, and their utilization in imaging tumors and afflicted regions. In this review, the design strategy of small-molecule probes, the variety of designs from previous studies, and the opportunities of future bioimaging applications are discussed, serving as a roadmap for future research, sparking innovations in aminopeptidase-responsive probe development, and enhancing our understanding of these enzymes in disease diagnostics and treatment.

Diagnostic performance of EUS-guided tissue acquisition for solid pancreatic lesions ≤10 mm

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives EUS tissue acquisition (EUS-TA) is the standard diagnostic method for solid pancreatic lesions (SPLs); however, there are few reports on EUS-TA results for SPLs ≤10 mm. Furthermore, given the recent advent of fine-needle biopsy, the current diagnostic accuracy of EUS-TA for SPLs ≤10 mm is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and efficacy of EUS-TA for SPLs ≤10 mm. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of 109 patients with SPLs ≤10 mm who underwent EUS-TA. All patients underwent rapid on-site specimen evaluation. Results The median tumor diameter was 8 mm (range, 2.5–10 mm), and the technical success rate was 99.1% (108/109). Adverse events were observed in 3 patients (2.8%). The diagnostic performance was as follows: sensitivity, 90.1% (64/71); specificity, 97.3% (36/37); accuracy, 92.6% (100/108); positive predictive value, 98.5% (64/65); and negative predictive value, 83.7% (36/43). Multivariate analysis revealed that the number of punctures (odds ratio, 7.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.32–37.5; P = 0.023) and tumor type (odds ratio, 11.90; 95% confidence interval, 1.38–102.0; P = 0.024) were independent risk factors for inaccurate EUS-TA results. The diagnostic accuracy of EUS-TA for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was 87.5% (14/16). No EUS-TA–related needle-tract seeding was observed in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma during the observation period. Conclusions EUS-TA for SPLs ≤10 mm showed adequate diagnostic accuracy and was safe for use with rapid on-site specimen evaluation in all cases.

Synthesis of Deuterated Compounds by Flow Chemistry.

Development of the efficient and practical method for the synthesis of deuterated compounds which occupies the broadest area among stable isotopes is one of the most essential issues toward the industrial advance and building a sustainable society. This review describes recent advances in deuteration reactions, where the continuous flow chemistry plays pivotal roles for the successful installation of deuterium atom into diverse organic frameworks, opening new fields of isotope-based synthetic chemistry.

Strategies for the Construction of Multicyclic Phage Display Libraries.

Peptide therapeutics have gained great interest due to their multiple advantages over small molecule and antibody-based drugs. Peptide drugs are easier to synthesize, have the potential for oral bioavailability, and are large enough to target protein-protein interactions that are undruggable by small molecules. However, two major limitations have made it difficult to develop novel peptide therapeutics not derived from natural products, including the metabolic instability of peptides and the difficulty of reaching antibody-like potencies and specificities. Compared to linear and disulfide-monocyclized peptides, multicyclic peptides can provide increased conformational rigidity, enhanced metabolic stability, and higher potency in inhibiting protein-protein interactions. The identification of novel multicyclic peptide binders can be difficult, however, recent advancements in the construction of multicyclic phage libraries have greatly advanced the process of identifying novel multicyclic peptide binders for therapeutically relevant protein targets. This review will describe the current approaches used to create multicyclic peptide libraries, highlighting the novel chemistries developed and the proof-of-concept work done on validating these libraries against different protein targets.

Adversarial Danger Identification on Temporally Dynamic Graphs.

Multivariate time series forecasting plays an increasingly critical role in various applications, such as power management, smart cities, finance, and healthcare. Recent advances in temporal graph neural networks (GNNs) have shown promising results in multivariate time series forecasting due to their ability to characterize high-dimensional nonlinear correlations and temporal patterns. However, the vulnerability of deep neural networks (DNNs) constitutes serious concerns about using these models to make decisions in real-world applications. Currently, how to defend multivariate forecasting models, especially temporal GNNs, is overlooked. The existing adversarial defense studies are mostly in static and single-instance classification domains, which cannot apply to forecasting due to the generalization challenge and the contradiction issue. To bridge this gap, we propose an adversarial danger identification method for temporally dynamic graphs to effectively protect GNN-based forecasting models. Our method consists of three steps: 1) a hybrid GNN-based classifier to identify dangerous times; 2) approximate linear error propagation to identify the dangerous variates based on the high-dimensional linearity of DNNs; and 3) a scatter filter controlled by the two identification processes to reform time series with reduced feature erasure. Our experiments, including four adversarial attack methods and four state-of-the-art forecasting models, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in defending forecasting models against adversarial attacks.

Application of thermoresponsive smart polymers based in situ gel as a novel carrier for tumor targeting.

The temperature-triggered in situ gelling system has been revolutionized by introducing an intelligent polymeric system. Temperature-triggered polymer solutions are initially in a sol state and then undergo a phase transition to form a gel at body temperature due to various parameters like pH, temperature, and so on. These smart polymers offer a number of advantages, including ease of administration, long duration of release of the drug, low administration frequency with good patient compliance, and targeted drug delivery with fewer adverse effects. Polymers such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm), polyethylene glycol (PEG), poly (N, N'-diethyl acrylamide), and polyoxypropylene (PPO) have been briefly discussed. In addition to various novel Drug Delivery Systems (DDS), the smart temperature-triggered polymeric system has various applications in cancer therapy and many other disease conditions. This review focuses on the principals involved in situ gelling systems using various temperature-triggered polymers for chemotherapeutic purposes, using smart DDS, and their advanced application in cancer therapy, as well as available marketed formulations and recent advances in these thermoresponsive sol-gel transforming systems.

The most recent compilation of reactions of enaminone derivatives with various amine derivatives to generate biologically active compounds.

Heterocyclic derivatives serve as the fundamental components of both natural and synthetic drugs. Enaminones play a crucial role as foundational units in the synthesis of numerous bioactive heterocyclic compounds, including pyrazoles, pyridines, oxazoles, isoxazoles, as well as fused heterocyclic structures like indoles, carbazoles, quinolines, acridines, and phenanthridines. These diverse heterocyclic rings are well-known for their various therapeutic activities, encompassing anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidepressant, and antiviral properties. By reacting with nitrogen-based nucleophiles, enaminones can generate bioactive azoles, azines, and their fused systems. This comprehensive review article focuses on the recent advancements in enaminone reactions with (a) nitrogen-based nucleophiles, such as aliphatic amines, derivatives of aniline, heterocyclic amines, hydroxylamine, hydrazine derivatives, guanidine derivatives, urea, and thiourea derivatives, and (b) nitrogen-based electrophiles, such as diazonium salts. These reactions have led to the synthesis of a wide range of bioactive fused heterocyclic compounds from 2010 to the end of 2022.

Conversational AI: An Explication of Few-Shot Learning Problem in Transformers-Based Chatbot Systems

With the recent advancements in conversational artificial intelligence (AI), the practical applications of chatbots have risen significantly in diverse domains such as healthcare, education, e-government, customer support systems, social platforms, and entertainment. The chatbot converses with humans in natural language and responds to their queries with precise and relevant answers. The relevant literature presents several methods for intent classification and slot mapping for chatbot question answering. However, the existing chatbot architectures still suffer from few-shot learning problem (imbalance ratio of class labels over samples) and ineffective dialog management to retain the context and slots mapping. This study aims to introduce the architecture of chatbot by focusing few-shot learning problem and context management in dialog-based conversations. First, to mitigate the few-shot learning problem with chatbots, we propose a novel hybrid intent and slots transformers (HIST) model. The HIST chatbot architecture utilizes transformers and self-attention mechanisms along with bigated recurrent unit and combines conditional random field algorithms for intent classification and slot extraction. Second, to address dialog management, we introduce a hybrid interaction strategy for slots mapping and effective conversational context management. To validate the proposed model’s effectiveness, comprehensive empirical analysis is carried out using three benchmark datasets including airline travel information system (ATIS), banking77, and conversational language interface for natural conversation 150 (CLINC150). The results show that HIST outperforms against the state-of-the-art existing methods with a clear margin and obtained an accuracy of 94.89% and 96.17% for intent classification and slots extraction, respectively. The empirical results confirm the effectiveness of the HIST chatbot for resolving the few-shot learning problem with effective dialog management in chatbot systems.

A State-of-the-Art Review on Direct Welding of Polymer to Metal for Structural Applications: Part 1 — Promising Processes

Structural lightweighting through the effective use of multiple materials has received increasing attention for fulfilling today’s demands for environmental sustainability in transportation systems. Direct dissimilar material joining methods (versus, e.g., traditional adhesive bonding or mechanical fastening) have become increasingly desirable since they offer process simplicity, production efficiency, and hermetic sealing, among others. In this two-part article, we provide a critical assessment of the state-of-the-art research and promising direct dissimilar material joining techniques reported over the last decades, with a particular emphasis on their potential for structural applications in Part I. As such, recent advances in advanced joint design and modeling methods for enabling optimum joint design for jointability and joint performance are presented along with some detailed examples for demonstrating their potential impacts on industrial applications in Part II. Finally, recommendations on future research and development directions are outlined for supporting the industry’s drive towards multi-material lightweighting.

Beyond Natural Immune Repertoires: Synthetic Antibodies.

Synthetic antibody libraries, in which the antigen-binding sites are precisely designed, offer unparalleled precision in antibody engineering, exceeding the potential of natural immune repertoires and constituting a novel generation of research tools and therapeutics. Recent advances in artificial intelligence-driven technologies and their integration into synthetic antibody discovery campaigns hold the promise to further streamline and effectively develop antibodies. Here, we provide an overview of synthetic antibodies. Our associated protocol describes how to develop highly diverse and functional synthetic antibody phage display libraries.

Multiple Natural Polymers in Drug and Gene Delivery Systems.

Natural polymers are organic compounds produced by living organisms. In nature, they exist in three main forms, including proteins, polysaccharides and nucleic acids. In recent years, with the continuous research on drug and gene delivery systems, scholars have found that natural polymers have promising applications in drug and gene delivery systems due to their excellent properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low immunogenicity and easy modification. However, since the structure, physicochemical properties, pharmacological properties and biological characteristics of biopolymer molecules have not yet been entirely understood, further studies are required before large-scale clinical application. This review focuses on recent advances in the representative natural polymers such as proteins (albumin, collagen, elastin), polysaccharides (chitosan, alginate, cellulose) and nucleic acids. We introduce the characteristics of various types of natural polymers, and further outline the characterization methods and delivery forms of these natural polymers. Finally, we discuss possible challenges for natural polymers in subsequent experimental studies and clinical applications. It provides an important strategy for the clinical application of natural polymers in drug and gene delivery systems.