Correction: Guest-regulated chirality switching of planar chiral pseudo[1]catenanes.

Correction for 'Guest-regulated chirality switching of planar chiral pseudo[1]catenanes' by Ya-Fen Yang et al., Org. Biomol. Chem., 2018, DOI: 10.1039/c8ob00156a.

Guest-regulated chirality switching of planar chiral pseudo[1]catenanes.

pseudo[1]Catenane 3 is in a self-included conformation in chloroform, but in dichloromethane, it exists in an equilibrium between the self-included conformational state and a de-threading one. The planar chirality inversion of 3 can be triggered by the host-guest complexation of 3 with adiponitrile G, but the extent of such chiral switching depends on the length of self-included bis(pyrazin-2-yloxy)alkane chains in 3 - longer chains are more favored than shorter ones in the inversion.

Analysis of Chlorination, Nitration, and Nitrosylation of Tyrosine and Oxidation of Methionine and Cysteine in Hemoglobin from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients by Nanoflow Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

The post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins by endogenous reactive chlorine, nitrogen, and oxygen species is implicated in certain pathological conditions, including diabetes mellitus. Evidence showed that the extents of modifications on a number of proteins are elevated in diabetic patients. Measuring modification on hemoglobin has been used to monitor the extent of exposure. This study develops an assay for simultaneous quantification of the extent of chlorination, nitration, and oxidation in human hemoglobin and to examine whether the level of any of these modifications is higher in poorly controlled type 2 diabetic mellitus patients. This mass spectrometry-based assay used the bottom-up proteomic strategy. Due to the low amount of endogenous modification, we first characterized the sites of chlorination at tyrosine in hypochlorous acid-treated hemoglobin by an accurate mass spectrometer. The extents of chlorination, nitration, and oxidation of a total of 12 sites and types of modifications in hemoglobin were measured by nanoflow liquid chromatography-nanospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry under the selected reaction monitoring mode. Relative quantification of these PTMs in hemoglobin extracted from blood samples shows that the extents of chlorination at α-Tyr-24, nitration at α-Tyr-42, and oxidation at the three methionine residues are significantly higher in diabetic patients (n = 19) than in nondiabetic individuals (n = 18). After excluding the factor of smoking, chlorination at α-Tyr-24, nitration at α-Tyr-42, and oxidation at the three methionine residues are significantly higher in the nonsmoking diabetic patients (n = 12) than in normal nonsmoking subjects (n = 11). Multiple regression analysis performed on the combined effect of age, body-mass index (BMI), and HbA1c showed that the diabetes factor HbA1c contributes significantly to the extent of chlorination at α-Tyr-24 in nonsmokers. In addition, age contributes to oxidation at α-Met-32 significantly in all subjects and in nonsmokers. These results suggest the potential of using chlorination at α-Tyr-24-containing peptide to evaluate protein damage in nonsmoking type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Stability and Application of Reactive Nitrogen and Oxygen Species-Induced Hemoglobin Modifications in Dry Blood Spots As Analyzed by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

Dried blood spot (DBS) is an emerging microsampling technique for the bioanalysis of small molecules, including fatty acids, metabolites, drugs, and toxicants. DBS offers many advantages as a sample format including easy sample collection and cheap sample shipment. Hemoglobin adducts have been recognized as a suitable biomarker for monitoring chemical exposure. We previously reported that certain modified peptides in hemoglobin derived from reactive chlorine, nitrogen, and oxygen species are associated with factors including smoking, diabetes mellitus, and aging. However, the stability of these oxidation-induced modifications of hemoglobin remains unknown and whether they can be formed artifactually during storage of DBS. To answer these questions, globin extracted from the DBS cards was analyzed, and the stability of the modifications was evaluated. After storage of the DBS cards at 4 °C or room temperature up to 7 weeks, we isolated globin from a quarter of the spot every week. The extents of 11 sites and types of post-translational modifications (PTMs), including nitration and nitrosylation of tyrosine and oxidation of cysteine and methionine residues, in human hemoglobin were measured in the trypsin digest by nanoflow liquid chromatography-nanospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-NSI/MS/MS) using selected reaction monitoring. The extents of all these PTMs are stable within 14 days when stored on DBS at room temperature and at 4 °C, while those from direct extraction of fresh blood are stable for at least 8 weeks when stored as an aqueous solution at -20 °C. Extraction of globin from a DBS card is of particular importance for hemolytic blood samples. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the stability of oxidative modifications of hemoglobin on DBSs, which are stable for 14 days under ambient conditions (room temperature, in air). Therefore, it is feasible and convenient to analyze these hemoglobin modifications from DBSs in studies involving large populations.

Construction and analysis of a plant non-specific lipid transfer protein database (nsLTPDB).

BACKGROUND: Plant non-specific lipid transfer proteins (nsLTPs) are small and basic proteins. Recently, nsLTPs have been reported involved in many physiological functions such as mediating phospholipid transfer, participating in plant defence activity against bacterial and fungal pathogens, and enhancing cell wall extension in tobacco. However, the lipid transfer mechanism of nsLTPs is still unclear, and comprehensive information of nsLTPs is difficult to obtain. METHODS: In this study, we identified 595 nsLTPs from 121 different species and constructed an nsLTPs database--nsLTPDB--which comprises the sequence information, structures, relevant literatures, and biological data of all plant nsLTPs http://nsltpdb.life.nthu.edu.tw/. RESULTS: Meanwhile, bioinformatics and statistics methods were implemented to develop a classification method for nsLTPs based on the patterns of the eight highly-conserved cysteine residues, and to suggest strict Prosite-styled patterns for Type I and Type II nsLTPs. The pattern of Type I is C X2 V X5-7 C [V, L, I] × Y [L, A, V] X8-13 CC × G X12 D × [Q, K, R] X2 CXC X16-21 P X2 C X13-15C, and that of Type II is C X4 L X2 C X9-11 P [S, T] X2 CC X5 Q X2-4 C[L, F]C X2 [A, L, I] × [D, N] P X10-12 [K, R] X4-5 C X3-4 P X0-2 C. Moreover, we referred the Prosite-styled patterns to the experimental mutagenesis data that previously established by our group, and found that the residues with higher conservation played an important role in the structural stability or lipid binding ability of nsLTPs. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this research has suggested potential residues that might be essential to modulate the structural and functional properties of plant nsLTPs. Finally, we proposed some biologically important sites of the nsLTPs, which are described by using a new Prosite-styled pattern that we defined.

Multidisciplinary Approach for Full-Mouth Rehabilitation of a Young Adult Patient with Ameloblastoma.

Ameloblastoma is a benign but locally invasive neoplasm of the odontogenic epithelium that tends to grow slowly in the mandible or maxilla. It can be highly destructive to the surrounding dental anatomy and can cause death by progressive spread to nearby vital structures in rare cases. Marginal resection is the most effective method of eliminating the tumor, but treatment can further contribute to oral and dental deformity and malfunction. This clinical report describes the dental rehabilitation of a young adult patient diagnosed with ameloblastoma and underwent preliminary marsupialization, segmental mandibulectomy, and fibula free flap reconstruction, followed by mandibular dental implant placements. Orthodontic and rapid palatal expansion for maxillary arch correction was also performed. The treatment goal of regaining dental function and a satisfactory appearance was accomplished.

Preparation, electrochemical and spectral properties of N-methylated pyridylethynyl porphyrins.

A new series of electron-deficient porphyrins were prepared by attaching one or two N-methylated 2-, 3- or 4-pyridylethynyl groups to the 10,20-meso positions of (5,15-biphenylporphinato)zinc(II). Electrochemical studies showed significant changes in the reduction potentials of these porphyrins, and N-methyl-2-pyridylethyne is the strongest electron-withdrawing substituent in the series. UV-visible spectra demonstrated largely red-shifted absorptions, and N-methyl-4-pyridylethyne has the greatest impact to the porphyrin absorptions. Electrochemical, UV-visible and EPR results concluded that porphyrins Zn2 and Zn6 reversibly undergo two one-electron porphyrin-ring reductions to their anion radicals then dianions. The first reductions of porphyrins Zn1, Zn3, Zn4 and Zn5 were irreversible one-electron transfer processes. The instability of these reduction products was suggested to result from the eletrophilic attacks at the substituents.