Kyungpook National University

Klionsky D.J., Abdel-Aziz A.K., Abdelfatah S., Abdellatif M., Abdoli A., Abel S., Abeliovich H., Abildgaard M.H., Abudu Y.P., Acevedo-Arozena A., Adamopoulos I.E., Adeli K., Adolph T.E., Adornetto A., Aflaki E., et. al.

ABSTRACT In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.

Jeong M., Choi I.W., Go E.M., Cho Y., Kim M., Lee B., Jeong S., Jo Y., Choi H.W., Lee J., Bae J., Kwak S.K., Kim D.S., Yang C.

Operating in wet conditions The high efficiency of the complex organic molecule Spiro-OMeTAD as a hole-transporting material for perovskite solar cells requires the use of hygroscopic dopants that decrease stability. Jeong et al. synthesized hydrophobic fluorinated analogs of Spiro-OMeTAD as hole-transporting materials that have favorable shifting of the electronic state for hole extraction and used them to fabricate perovskite solar cells. A champion device had a certified power conversion efficiency of 24.8% and an open-circuit voltage near the Shockley-Queisser limit. These devices could maintain more than 87% of the original power conversion efficiency under 50% relative humidity for more than 500 hours. Science, this issue p. 1615 Fluorinated hole-transporting layers enhance the efficiency, open-circuit voltage, and stability of perovskite solar cells. Further improvement and stabilization of perovskite solar cell (PSC) performance are essential to achieve the commercial viability of next-generation photovoltaics. Considering the benefits of fluorination to conjugated materials for energy levels, hydrophobicity, and noncovalent interactions, two fluorinated isomeric analogs of the well-known hole-transporting material (HTM) Spiro-OMeTAD are developed and used as HTMs in PSCs. The structure–property relationship induced by constitutional isomerism is investigated through experimental, atomistic, and theoretical analyses, and the fabricated PSCs feature high efficiency up to 24.82% (certified at 24.64% with 0.3-volt voltage loss), along with long-term stability in wet conditions without encapsulation (87% efficiency retention after 500 hours). We also achieve an efficiency of 22.31% in the large-area cell.

Jan R., Asaf S., Numan M., Lubna, Kim K.

Plant secondary metabolites (SMs) play important roles in plant survival and in creating ecological connections between other species. In addition to providing a variety of valuable natural products, secondary metabolites help protect plants against pathogenic attacks and environmental stresses. Given their sessile nature, plants must protect themselves from such situations through accumulation of these bioactive compounds. Indeed, secondary metabolites act as herbivore deterrents, barriers against pathogen invasion, and mitigators of oxidative stress. The accumulation of SMs are highly dependent on environmental factors such as light, temperature, soil water, soil fertility, and salinity. For most plants, a change in an individual environmental factor can alter the content of secondary metabolites even if other factors remain constant. In this review, we focus on how individual environmental factors affect the accumulation of secondary metabolites in plants during both biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Furthermore, we discuss the application of abiotic and biotic elicitors in culture systems as well as their stimulating effects on the accumulation of secondary metabolites. Specifically, we discuss the shikimate pathway and the aromatic amino acids produced in this pathway, which are the precursors of a range of secondary metabolites including terpenoids, alkaloids, and sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds. We also detail how the biosynthesis of important metabolites is altered by several genes related to secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways. Genes responsible for secondary metabolite biosynthesis in various plant species during stress conditions are regulated by transcriptional factors such as WRKY, MYB, AP2/ERF, bZIP, bHLH, and NAC, which are also discussed here.

Khan S., Naushad M., Govarthanan M., Iqbal J., Alfadul S.M.

Wastewater is contaminated water that must be treated before it may be transferred into other rivers and lakes in order to prevent further groundwater pollution. Over the last decade, research has been conducted on a wide variety of contaminants, but the emerging contaminants are those caused primarily by micropollutants, endocrine disruptors (EDs), pesticides, pharmaceuticals, hormones, and toxins, as well as industrially-related synthetic dyes and dye-containing hazardous pollutants. Most emerging pollutants did not have established guidelines, but even at low concentrations they could have harmful effects on humans and aquatic organisms. In order to combat the above ecological threats, huge efforts have been done with a view to boosting the effectiveness of remediation procedures or developing new techniques for the detection, quantification and efficiency of the samples. The increase of interest in biotechnology and environmental engineering gives an opportunity for the development of more innovative ways to water treatment remediation. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of emerging sources of contaminants, detection technologies, and treatment strategies. The goal of this review is to evaluate adsorption as a method for treating emerging pollutants, as well as sophisticated and cost-effective approaches for treating emerging contaminants.

Dayan I., Roth H.R., Zhong A., Harouni A., Gentili A., Abidin A.Z., Liu A., Costa A.B., Wood B.J., Tsai C., Wang C., Hsu C., Lee C.K., Ruan P., Xu D., et. al.

Federated learning (FL) is a method used for training artificial intelligence models with data from multiple sources while maintaining data anonymity, thus removing many barriers to data sharing. Here we used data from 20 institutes across the globe to train a FL model, called EXAM (electronic medical record (EMR) chest X-ray AI model), that predicts the future oxygen requirements of symptomatic patients with COVID-19 using inputs of vital signs, laboratory data and chest X-rays. EXAM achieved an average area under the curve (AUC) >0.92 for predicting outcomes at 24 and 72 h from the time of initial presentation to the emergency room, and it provided 16% improvement in average AUC measured across all participating sites and an average increase in generalizability of 38% when compared with models trained at a single site using that site’s data. For prediction of mechanical ventilation treatment or death at 24 h at the largest independent test site, EXAM achieved a sensitivity of 0.950 and specificity of 0.882. In this study, FL facilitated rapid data science collaboration without data exchange and generated a model that generalized across heterogeneous, unharmonized datasets for prediction of clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19, setting the stage for the broader use of FL in healthcare. Federated learning, a method for training artificial intelligence algorithms that protects data privacy, was used to predict future oxygen requirements of symptomatic patients with COVID-19 using data from 20 different institutes across the globe.

Atchudan R., Edison T.N., Perumal S., Muthuchamy N., Lee Y.R.

Hydrophilic nitrogen-doped carbon dots (HN-CDs) were produced by a simple hydrothermal method from biowaste, dwarf banana peel. XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and HRTEM analyses confirmed the graphitic structure and narrow size distribution of the HN-CDs. Nitrogen-doping to the carbon structure/framework and owing rich hydrophilic groups on HN-CDs surface were confirmed by XPS and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy techniques. HN-CDs emitted strong and tunable fluorescence (FL) and possessed a good quantum yield (23%). Thus this novel HN-CDs applied as a nanoprobe for the detection of metal ion (Fe3+ ion) in aqueous solution by the fluorometric method. Excessive or lesser amounts of Fe3+ ion in human bodies lead to diverse diseases. Additionally, the accumulation of Fe3+ ion in the environment will escort to a great threat. The prepared HN-CDs selectively and sensitively detect Fe3+ ions by the FL quenching of HN-CDs with a limit of detection of 0.66 μM in the range of 5–25 μM. Further, the HN-CDs employed as a biocompatible probe for the multicolor bioimaging in rat liver cells. Also, HN-CDs used as fluorescent ink for drawing and writing. Thus, the biowaste/biomass successfully turned to a useful nanoprobe for environmental protection and health care.

Acter T., Uddin N., Das J., Akhter A., Choudhury T.R., Kim S.

According to data compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, more than two and half million cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a newly discovered virus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), have been confirmed on April 20, 2020 (Nature, 2020b). Since the emergence of this infectious disease in Asia (Wuhan, China) late last year, it has been subsequently span to every continent of the world except Antarctica (Rodríguez-Morales et al., 2020). Along with a foothold in every country, the current disease pandemic is disrupting practically every aspect of life all over the world. As the outbreak are continuing to evolve, several research activities have been conducted for better understanding the origin, functions, treatments, and preventions of this novel coronavirus. This review will be a summa of the key features of novel coronavirus (nCoV), the virus causing disease 2019 and the present epidemic situation worldwide up to April 20, 2020. It is expected that this record will play an important role to take more preventive measures for overcoming the challenges faced during this current pandemic. • Novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). • SARS-CoV-2 has caused for human-to-human transmission worldwide. • Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) can reduce the transmission of COVID-19. • COVID-19 is a crisis for massive health hazard, big humanitarian and development. • The use of research-based evidence, global response and solidarity may be helpful.

Aaltonen T., Amerio S., Amidei D., Anastassov A., Annovi A., Antos J., Apollinari G., Appel J.A., Arisawa T., Artikov A., Asaadi J., Ashmanskas W., Auerbach B., Aurisano A., Azfar F., et. al.

The mass of the W boson, a mediator of the weak force between elementary particles, is tightly constrained by the symmetries of the standard model of particle physics. The Higgs boson was the last missing component of the model. After observation of the Higgs boson, a measurement of the W boson mass provides a stringent test of the model. We measure the W boson mass, M W , using data corresponding to 8.8 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at a 1.96 tera–electron volt center-of-mass energy with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. A sample of approximately 4 million W boson candidates is used to obtain M W = 80 , 433.5 ± 6.4 stat ± 6.9 syst = 80 , 433.5 ± 9.4  MeV / c 2 , the precision of which exceeds that of all previous measurements combined (stat, statistical uncertainty; syst, systematic uncertainty; MeV, mega–electron volts; c , speed of light in a vacuum). This measurement is in significant tension with the standard model expectation.

Li P.K., Chow K.M., Cho Y., Fan S., Figueiredo A.E., Harris T., Kanjanabuch T., Kim Y., Madero M., Malyszko J., Mehrotra R., Okpechi I.G., Perl J., Piraino B., Runnegar N., et. al.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis is a serious complication of PD and prevention and treatment of such is important in reducing patient morbidity and mortality. The ISPD 2022 updated recommendations have revised and clarified definitions for refractory peritonitis, relapsing peritonitis, peritonitis-associated catheter removal, PD-associated haemodialysis transfer, peritonitis-associated death and peritonitis-associated hospitalisation. New peritonitis categories and outcomes including pre-PD peritonitis, enteric peritonitis, catheter-related peritonitis and medical cure are defined. The new targets recommended for overall peritonitis rate should be no more than 0.40 episodes per year at risk and the percentage of patients free of peritonitis per unit time should be targeted at >80% per year. Revised recommendations regarding management of contamination of PD systems, antibiotic prophylaxis for invasive procedures and PD training and reassessment are included. New recommendations regarding management of modifiable peritonitis risk factors like domestic pets, hypokalaemia and histamine-2 receptor antagonists are highlighted. Updated recommendations regarding empirical antibiotic selection and dosage of antibiotics and also treatment of peritonitis due to specific microorganisms are made with new recommendation regarding adjunctive oral N-acetylcysteine therapy for mitigating aminoglycoside ototoxicity. Areas for future research in prevention and treatment of PD-related peritonitis are suggested.

Lee Y., Min P., Lee S., Kim S.