Poly[[diaqua­bis­(μ3-isonicotinato-κ3 N:O:O′)bis­(μ2-isonicotinato-κ2 N:O)gadolinium(III)disiliver(I)] nitrate monohydrate]

In the title compound, {[Ag2Gd(C6H4NO2)4(H2O)2]NO3·H2O}n, the GdIII ion is coordinated by eight O atoms from six isonicotinate ligands and two water mol­ecules in a distorted square anti­prismatic geometry. Two AgI ions are each bonded to two N atoms from two isonicotinate ligands in a linear or bow-like fashion [N—Ag—N angles = 178.6 (2) and 147.1 (2)°]. These metal ions are connected by the isonicotin­ate ligands into a layer parallel to (010). O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds donated by the coordinated and uncoordinated water mol­ecules and intra­layer π–π stacking inter­actions between the pyridine rings [centroid–centroid distances = 3.551 (4) and 3.555 (4) Å] are observed. The layers inter­act with each other by inter­layer Ag⋯O(aqua) contacts [2.731 (4) Å] and π–π stacking inter­actions between the pyridine rings [centroid–centroid distances = 3.466 (3) and 3.516 (3) Å], resulting in the formation of a three-dimensional supra­molecular structure

Iodido(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)(piperine-1-carbodithioato-κ2 S,S′)copper(II)

In the title compound, [Cu(C6H10NS2)I(C12H8N2)], the CuII ion is coordinated by one iodide ion, two N atoms of the phenanthroline ligand and two S atoms from the piperidyl­dithio­carbamate ligand in a distorted square-pyramidal environment

Poly[diaqua­tris(μ4-isophthalato)dilanthanum(III)]

In the title coordination polymer, [La2(C8H4O4)3(H2O)2]n, there are two independent LaIII atoms which are coordinated differently in slightly distorted penta­gonal-bipyramidal and slightly disorted bicapped trigonal-prismatic environments. The LaIII ions are bridged by μ4-isophthalate ligands, forming two-dimensional layers. In the crystal structure, these layers are connected by inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into a three-dimensional network

(2,2′-Bipyridine-κ2 N,N′)iodido(pyrrol­idine-1-dithio­carboxyl­ato-κ2 S,S′)copper(II)

In the title compound, [Cu(C5H8NS2)I(C10H8N2)], the CuII ion is coordinated by one iodide ion, two N atoms of the bipyridine ligand and two S atoms from the pyrrolidine-1-dithio­carboxyl­ate ligand in a distorted square-pyramidal environment

(N,N-Diethyl­dithio­carbamato-κ2 S,S′)iodido(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)copper(II)

The copper(II) atom in the title compound, [Cu(C5H10NS2)I(C12H8N2)], is chelated by the N-heterocycle and the dithio­carbamate anion in a slightly distorted tetragonal coordination. The tetragonal-pyramidal coorination is completed by the iodine atom in the apical position. One ethyl group is disordered over two positions with site occupancies of 0.31 (2) and 0.69 (2)

Retinal pigment epithelial cells secrete neurotrophic factors and synthesize dopamine: possible contribution to therapeutic effects of RPE cell transplantation in Parkinson's disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>New strategies for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) are shifted from dopamine (DA) replacement to regeneration or restoration of the nigro-striatal system. A cell therapy using human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells as substitution for degenerated dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons has been developed and showed promising prospect in clinical treatment of PD, but the exact mechanism underlying this therapy is not fully elucidated. In the present study, we investigated whether the beneficial effects of this therapy are related to the trophic properties of RPE cells and their ability to synthesize DA.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We evaluated the protective effects of conditioned medium (CM) from cultured RPE cells on the DAergic cells against 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)- and rotenone-induced neurotoxicity and determined the levels of glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) released by RPE cells. We also measured the DA synthesis and release. Finally we transplanted microcarriers-RPE cells into 6-OHDA lesioned rats and observed the improvement in apomorphine-induced rotations (AIR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report here: (1) CM from RPE cells can secret trophic factors GDNF and BDNF, and protect DAergic neurons against the 6-OHDA- and rotenone-induced cell injury; (2) cultured RPE cells express L-dopa decarboxylase (DDC) and synthesize DA; (3) RPE cells attached to microcarriers can survive in the host striatum and improve the AIR in 6-OHDA-lesioned animal model of PD; (4) GDNF and BDNF levels are found significantly higher in the RPE cell-grafted tissues.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings indicate the RPE cells have the ability to secret GDNF and BDNF, and synthesize DA, which probably contribute to the therapeutic effects of RPE cell transplantation in PD.</p

Progress and Opportunities of Foundation Models in Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics has witnessed a paradigm shift with the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly through the adoption of foundation models (FMs). These AI techniques have rapidly advanced, addressing historical challenges in bioinformatics such as the scarcity of annotated data and the presence of data noise. FMs are particularly adept at handling large-scale, unlabeled data, a common scenario in biological contexts due to the time-consuming and costly nature of experimentally determining labeled data. This characteristic has allowed FMs to excel and achieve notable results in various downstream validation tasks, demonstrating their ability to represent diverse biological entities effectively. Undoubtedly, FMs have ushered in a new era in computational biology, especially in the realm of deep learning. The primary goal of this survey is to conduct a systematic investigation and summary of FMs in bioinformatics, tracing their evolution, current research status, and the methodologies employed. Central to our focus is the application of FMs to specific biological problems, aiming to guide the research community in choosing appropriate FMs for their research needs. We delve into the specifics of the problem at hand including sequence analysis, structure prediction, function annotation, and multimodal integration, comparing the structures and advancements against traditional methods. Furthermore, the review analyses challenges and limitations faced by FMs in biology, such as data noise, model explainability, and potential biases. Finally, we outline potential development paths and strategies for FMs in future biological research, setting the stage for continued innovation and application in this rapidly evolving field. This comprehensive review serves not only as an academic resource but also as a roadmap for future explorations and applications of FMs in biology.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

PlanarTrack: A Large-scale Challenging Benchmark for Planar Object Tracking

Planar object tracking is a critical computer vision problem and has drawn increasing interest owing to its key roles in robotics, augmented reality, etc. Despite rapid progress, its further development, especially in the deep learning era, is largely hindered due to the lack of large-scale challenging benchmarks. Addressing this, we introduce PlanarTrack, a large-scale challenging planar tracking benchmark. Specifically, PlanarTrack consists of 1,000 videos with more than 490K images. All these videos are collected in complex unconstrained scenarios from the wild, which makes PlanarTrack, compared with existing benchmarks, more challenging but realistic for real-world applications. To ensure the high-quality annotation, each frame in PlanarTrack is manually labeled using four corners with multiple-round careful inspection and refinement. To our best knowledge, PlanarTrack, to date, is the largest and most challenging dataset dedicated to planar object tracking. In order to analyze the proposed PlanarTrack, we evaluate 10 planar trackers and conduct comprehensive comparisons and in-depth analysis. Our results, not surprisingly, demonstrate that current top-performing planar trackers degenerate significantly on the challenging PlanarTrack and more efforts are needed to improve planar tracking in the future. In addition, we further derive a variant named PlanarTrack$_{\mathbf{BB}}$ for generic object tracking from PlanarTrack. Our evaluation of 10 excellent generic trackers on PlanarTrack$_{\mathrm{BB}}$ manifests that, surprisingly, PlanarTrack$_{\mathrm{BB}}$ is even more challenging than several popular generic tracking benchmarks and more attention should be paid to handle such planar objects, though they are rigid. All benchmarks and evaluations will be released at the project webpage.Comment: Tech. Repor

The Effect of Bradykinin B2 Receptor Polymorphisms on the Susceptibility and Severity of Osteoarthritis in a Chinese Cohort

Background. The B2-bradykinin receptor (BDKRB2) has been reported to associate with onset and development of Osteoarthritis (OA); however, the role of BDKRB2 genetic polymorphisms in OA remains unknown. Method. A total of 245 patients with primary knee OA and 264 healthy volunteer were recruited. BDKRB2 gene polymorphisms, −58T/C and +9/−9 bp polymorphisms, were genotyped. Results. The genotype distributions and allele frequencies of +9/−9 bp polymorphisms significantly differed between OA and control subjects. Logistic regression analysis showed carriers with −9/−9 genotype had a significantly increased risk for knee OA compared with the +9/+9 genotype (adjusted , ). The OR for −9 allele carriage was significantly higher than +9 allele carriage (adjusted , ). The +9/−9 bp polymorphisms also determined the OA radiographic severity. The presence of −9 bp was associated with severer OA. The −58T/C polymorphisms did not affect OA risk and severity. Conclusion. The +9/−9 bp polymorphisms of BDKRB2 gene may be used as a genetic marker for the susceptibility and severity of OA

Preparation of PPI-TA-MD microcapsules by Pickering emulsion method and its effect on oxidation stability of pumpkin seed oil

Objective: This study aimed to improve the oxidation, exploitation, and utilization of pumpkin seed oil (PSO). Methods: Pea protein isolate (PPI) -Tannic acid (TA) stabilized Pickering emulsion with Maltodextrin (MD) was used as the filling material, and prepared pumpkin seed oil microcapsules by spray drying. Results: After spray drying the Pickering emulsion, the smooth surface of the medium shell structure of microcapsule powder can be obtained. By increasing TA concentration, microcapsules showed smaller particle size [(32.00±0.28) μm], lower moisture content [(1.970±0.043)%], and higher bulk density [（0.725±0.014) g/cm3]. The FFA release rate of pumpkin seed oil microcapsules with different TA content was in the range of 39.63%~69.91%, and it slowed down when TA concentration increased. Compared with the PSO encapsulated in PPI, the PPI-TA composite used as the shell material improved the thermal stability, oxidation resistance and oxidation stability of PSO. Conclusion: These results indicated that PPI-TA-MD microencapsulation technology can improve the antioxidant capacity and oxidation stability of PSO