No abstract

Anticancer peptides (ACPs) are a kind of bioactive peptides which could be used as a novel type of anticancer drug that has several advantages over chemistry-based drug, including high specificity, strong tumor penetration capacity, and low toxicity to normal cells. As the number of experimentally verified bioactive peptides has increased significantly, various of in silico approaches are imperative for investigating the characteristics of ACPs. However, the lack of methods for investigating the differences in physicochemical properties of ACPs. In this study, we compared the N- and C-terminal amino acid composition for each peptide, there are three major subtypes of ACPs that are defined based on the distribution of positively charged residues. For the first time, we were motivated to develop a two-step machine learning model for identification of the subtypes of ACPs, which classify the input data into the corresponding group before applying the classifier. Further, to improve the predictive power, the hybrid feature sets were considered for prediction. Evaluation by five-fold cross-validation showed that the two-step model trained with sequence-based features and physicochemical properties was most effective in discriminating between ACPs and non-ACPs. The two-step model trained with the hybrid features performed well, with a sensitivity of 86.75%, a specificity of 85.75%, an accuracy of 86.08%, and a Matthews Correlation Coefficient value of 0.703. Furthermore, the model also consistently provides the effective performance in independent testing set, with sensitivity of 77.6%, specificity of 94.74%, accuracy of 88.99% and the MCC value reached 0.75. Finally, the two-step model has been implemented as a web-based tool, namely iDACP, which is now freely available at http://mer.hc.mmh.org.tw/iDACP/.

BackgroundEpilepsy is a common brain disorder characterized by a chronic predisposition to generate spontaneous seizures. The mechanisms for epilepsy formation remain unknown. A growing body of evidence suggests the involvement of inflammatory processes in epileptogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the involvement of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in aberrant migration of hippocampal progenitors in rats after the insult of status epilepticus (SE).MethodsSE was induced with pilocarpine in Sprague–Dawley rats. Transcriptional expression of MCP-1 in the dentate gyrus (DG) was measured using quantitative real-time PCR. From 1 to 28 days after SE, the temporal profiles of MCP-1 protein expression in DG were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2 (CCR2) expression in doublecortin-positive neuronal progenitors was examined using double-labeling immunohistochemistry. The involvement of MCP-1/CCR2 signaling in aberrant neuronal progenitor migration in the epileptic hippocampus was assessed in the SE rats using a CCR2 antagonist, RS102895, and the ectopic migration of neuronal progenitors was determined using Prox1/doublecortin double immunostaining.ResultsAfter SE, MCP-1 gene was significantly upregulated and its corresponding protein expression in the DG was significantly increased on days 1 and 3. Some hilar ectopic progenitor cells of SE rats expressed the MCP-1 receptor, CCR2. Notably, the ectopic migration of neuronal progenitors into hilus was attenuated by a blockade of the MCP-1/CCR2 interaction with a selective CCR2 inhibitor, RS102895.ConclusionsAn increase in dentate MCP-1 is associated with seizure-induced aberrant migration of neuronal progenitors through the interaction with CCR2. The upregulation of MCP-1 after an insult of SE may play a role in the generation of epilepsy.

Action observation therapy has recently attracted increasing attention; however, the mechanisms through which action observation and execution (AOE) modulate neural activity in stroke patients remain unclear. This study was aimed at investigating the effects of action observation and two types of AOE on motor cortical activations after stroke using magnetoencephalography. Twenty patients with stroke and 20 healthy controls were recruited for the collection of data on the beta oscillatory activity in the primary motor cortex (M1). All participants performed the conditions of resting, observation only, and video observation combined with execution (video AOE). Stroke patients performed one additional condition of affected hand observation combined with execution (affected hand AOE). The relative change index of beta oscillations was calculated, and nonparametric tests were used to examine the differences in conditions. In stroke patients, the relative change index of M1 beta oscillatory activity under the video AOE condition was significantly lower than that under the observation only and affected hand AOE conditions. Moreover, M1 cortical activity did not significantly differ under the observation only and affected hand AOE conditions. For healthy controls, the relative change index under the video AOE condition was significantly lower than that under the observation only condition. In addition, no significant differences in relative change indices were found under the observation only and video AOE conditions between the 2 groups. This study provides new insight into the neural mechanisms underlying AOE, which supports the use of observing videos of normal movements during action observation therapy in stroke rehabilitation.

BackgroundThe involvement of motor cortex and sensorimotor integration in patients with writer's cramp (WC) has been well documented. However, the exact neurophysiological profile within the somatosensory system, including primary somatosensory cortex (SI), contralateral (SIIc), and ipsilateral (SIIi) secondary somatosensory areas remains less understood.MethodsThis study investigated the neuromagnetic cortical activities of median nerve stimulation in 10 patients with WC and 10 healthy controls (HC). To comprehensively explore all the aspects of somatosensory functioning, we analyzed our data with the minimum norm estimate (MNE), the time‐frequency approach with evoked and induced activities, and functional connectivity between SI and SIIc (SI–SIIc), SI and SIIi (SI–SIIi), and SIIc and SIIi (SIIc–SIIi) from theta to gamma oscillations.ResultsNo significant between‐group differences were found in the MNE cortical amplitudes of SI, SIIc, and SIIi. Power strengths of evoked gamma oscillation and induced beta synchronization were also equivalent between WC and HC groups. However, we found significantly reduced theta coherence of SI–SIIi, alpha coherence of SI–SIIi and SIIc–SIIi, as well as beta coherence of SIIc–SIIi in patients with WC.ConclusionOur results suggest the involvement of somatosensory abnormalities, primarily with the form of functional connectivity, in patients with WC.