Heat-induced structural and chemical changes to a computationally designed miniprotein.

The de novo design of miniprotein inhibitors has recently emerged as a new technology to create proteins that bind with high affinity to specific therapeutic targets. Their size, ease of expression, and apparent high stability makes them excellent candidates for a new class of protein drugs. However, beyond circular dichroism melts and hydrogen/deuterium exchange experiments, little is known about their dynamics, especially at the elevated temperatures they seemingly tolerate quite well. To address that and gain insight for future designs, we have focused on identifying unintended and previously overlooked heat-induced structural and chemical changes in a particularly stable model miniprotein, EHEE_rd2_0005. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies suggest the presence of dynamics on multiple time and temperature scales. Transiently elevating the temperature results in spontaneous chemical deamidation visible in the NMR spectra, which we validate using both capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (MS) experiments. High temperatures also result in greatly accelerated intrinsic rates of hydrogen exchange and signal loss in NMR heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectra from local unfolding. These losses are in excellent agreement with both room temperature hydrogen exchange experiments and hydrogen bond disruption in replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations. Our analysis reveals important principles for future miniprotein designs and the potential for high stability to result in long-lived alternate conformational states.

UK homecare providers' views about, and experiences of, digitalisation: A national survey.

Objective: Using digital systems to support the management and delivery of social care is a priority for UK governments. This study explored progress towards, and experiences of, digitalisation in the homecare sector and providers' views on contributing client data to a national policy/research dataset. Methods: Over 150 UK homecare providers completed an on-line survey (October-December 2022). The survey was hosted on Qualtrics and comprised fixed- and free-text response questions. The recruited sample aligned with the profile of UK homecare providers in terms of use of digital systems, organisation type and size. Results: Almost all respondents (95.5%) were using digital systems, in part or exclusively, to support care delivery. However, many (42.7%) reported a desire to further digitalise or a dissatisfaction with existing systems. Findings highlight the time and work involved in choosing a a software system, with the decision regarded as relatively high risk. Over 50 different software systems were being used across the sample. Most respondents (72.5%) supported the creation of a national dataset on homecare users. However, support and recompense are likely to needed to secure buy-in from what is a predominantly private sector context. Conclusions: Findings suggest a complex and changing situation, with numerous different digital systems being used and the sector at different stages of digitalisation. The high-pressure, low margin context of UK homecare appeared to be exerting an influence on progress towards digitalisation. Evaluations of government strategies to stimulate and support digitalisation in this diverse and predominantly private sector context will be valuable.

Pain/Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Neurodevelopment in Preterm Infants.

Introduction Preterm infants experience tremendous early life pain/stress during their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization, which impacts their neurodevelopmental outcomes. Mitochondrial function/dysfunction may interface between perinatal stress events and neurodevelopment. Nevertheless, the specific proteins or pathways linking mitochondrial functions to pain-induced neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants are remain unidentified. Our study aims to investigate the associations among pain/stress, proteins associated with mitochondrial function/dysfunction, and neurobehavioral responses in preterm infants. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study, enrolling 33 preterm infants between September 2017 and July 2022 at two affiliated NICUs located in Hartford and Farmington, CT. NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) datasets were evaluated to explore potential association with neurobehavioral outcomes. The daily pain/stress experienced by infant's during their NICU stay was documented. At 36-38 weeks post-menstrual age (PMA), neurobehavioral outcomes were evaluated using the NNNS and buccal swabs were collected for further analysis. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics was conducted on epithelial cells obtained from buccal swabs to evaluate protein expression level. Lasso statistical methods were conducted to study the association between protein abundance and infants' NNNS summary scores. Multiple linear regression and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analyses were performed to examine how clinical characteristics and neurodevelopmental outcomes may be associated with protein levels and underlying molecular pathways. Results During NICU hospitalization, preterm premature rupture of membrane (PPROM) were negatively associated with neurobehavioral outcomes. The protein functions including leptin receptor binding activity, glutathione disulfide oxidoreductase activity and response to oxidative stress, lipid metabolism, phosphate and proton transmembrane transporter activity were negatively associated with neurobehavioral outcomes, in the contrast, cytoskeletal regulation, epithelial barrier and protection function were found to be associated with the optimal neurodevelopmental outcomes. In addition, mitochondrial function associated proteins including SPRR2A, PAIP1, S100A3, MT-CO2, PiC, GLRX, PHB2, and BNIPL-2 demonstrated positive association with favorable neurodevelopmental outcomes, while proteins of ABLIM1, UNC45A, Keratins, MUC1, and CYB5B showed positive association with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Conclusion Mitochondrial function-related proteins were observed to be associated with early life pain/stress and neurodevelopmental outcomes in infants. Large-scale studies with longitudinal datasets are warranted. Buccal proteins could be used to predict potential neurobehavioral outcomes.