EXCLI Journal最新文献

The biopsychosocial model (BPSM) of challenge and threat provides a framework for understanding stress responses in motivated performance situations, including how stress relates to performance. In this model, experiences of challenge - characterized by evaluations of personal coping resources matching or exceeding situational demands - elicit approach-oriented patterns of physiological responding and tend to facilitate performance, whereas threat - characterized by demands exceeding resources - elicit avoidance-oriented patterns of physiological responding and tend to impair performance. Extant systematic reviews and meta-analyses support the idea that challenge facilitates performance relative to threat (Behnke and Kaczmarek, 2018[8]; Hase et al., 2019[50]). The present systematic review and meta-analysis builds on this evidence base by examining whether conclusions replicate in recent research (post-2017), which is important given seismic cultural shifts tied to a worldwide pandemic, civil unrest, and skyrocketing mental health problems tied to stress. The analysis included 62 studies published between 2017 and 2024 (total N = 7,418 participants). The meta-analytic findings indicate that individuals in a challenge state achieve better performance outcomes than those in a threat state across multiple domains (e.g., education, sport). While effect sizes were small, the risk of bias was generally low. These results reaffirm the utility of the BPSM and emphasize the importance of stress responses in influencing performance outcomes. These data also have the potential to inform future research on this topic by shedding light on expectable effect sizes and highlighting potential influences of publication bias and replicability issues.

N(6)-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is the most abundant and prevalent internal modification in eukaryotic mRNAs. The role of m6A modification in cancer has become a hot research topic in recent years and has been widely explored. m6A modifications have been shown to regulate cancer occurrence and progression by modulating different target molecules. This paper reviews the recent research progress of m6A modifications in cancer and provides an outlook on future research directions, especially the development of molecularly targeted drugs. See also the graphical abstract(Fig. 1).

Epithelial ovarian cancer is responsible for the majority of ovarian malignancies, and its highly invasive nature and chemoresistant development have been major obstacles to treating patients with mainstream treatments. In recent decades, the significance of microRNAs (miRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) has been highlighted in ovarian cancer development. This hidden language between these RNAs has led to the discovery of enormous regulatory networks in ovarian cancer cells that substantially affect gene expression. Aside from providing ample opportunities for targeted therapies, circRNA- and lncRNA-mediated ceRNA network components provide invaluable biomarkers. The current study provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the recent findings on the significance of these ceRNA networks in the hallmarks of ovarian cancer oncogenesis, treatment, diagnosis, and prognosis. Also, it provides the authorship with future perspectives in the era of single-cell RNA sequencing and personalized medicine.

The psychological states are essential to maintain a healthy balance and optimize performance, especially in athletes. Sex-related differences in elite athletes are one of the important factors, which are ambiguous. This study aims to explore sex differences in psychological states of 36 professional athletes (12M/24F, 21.6±3.9 y, 166.3±8.9 cm, 56.4±11.3 kg, mean±SD) in the lead-up to a major international competition using objective (quantitative electroencephalogram, QEEG) and subjective measures (Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, ASCI-28). Participants included fifteen gymnasts, eleven swimmers, and ten e-sports players. QEEG measurements were collected during 5 minutes at rest before athletes completed the ASCI-28 scale. Data were obtained during training camp within 3 months before the competition. QEEG data were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed modeling (GLMM) to report the linear predictor of QEEG in brain areas (random) and sex (fixed). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied to ACSI-28 subscales data to compare sex groups. Female athletes exhibited higher EEG activity in the theta power in the parietal and occipital areas and the beta power in the pre-frontal and temporal areas. Furthermore, significant sex differences were found in the coping with adversity (p =0.038) and goal setting/mental preparation subscales of the ACSI-28. The correlations between the QEEG and questionnaire scores were low to moderate correlations for female athletes, and moderate correlations for male athletes. A significant correlation was observed in both male and female athletes between activity in the temporal region within theta and beta frequency bands (QEEG), and the coping with aversity subscale (questionnaire). These findings provide valuable insights for sports psychologists to design appropriate psychological interventions and for future studies examining the impact of differential psychological interventions for male and female athletes to optimize well-being and performance.

Antioxidant compounds have gained current interest as potential protective agents for several therapeutic applications. Antimicrobial drug resistance and infectious diseases also still be concerning globally health issues. Accordingly, the discovery of new antioxidative and antimicrobial agents is essential for human well-being. Thiazole and sulfonamide are privileged scaffolds in drug discovery due to their various bioactive properties. In this study, a series of 2-aminothiazole sulfonamide derivatives (1 - 12) were synthesized and investigated for their antioxidant (i.e., DPPH and SOD-mimic) and antimicrobial activities. Among tested compounds, compound 8 was the most promising one with potent DPPH and SOD (%DPPH = 90.09 %, %SOD = 99.02 %). However, none of these compounds are active antimicrobial agents. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling was performed in which the key findings were further used to guide the rational design of additional derivatives. Two antioxidant QSAR models (i.e., DPPH and SOD) were constructed using multiple linear regression (MLR) with good predictive performance. An additional set of structurally modified compounds were designed based on QSAR findings to finally obtain 112 newly designed compounds in which their activities (DPPH and SOD) were predicted. Most of the modified compounds performed better activities than their prototypes. Mass, polarizability, electronegativity, the presence of C-F bond, van der Waals volume, and structural symmetry were revealed as key properties influencing antioxidant activities. In summary, this study demonstrated the combination used of chemical synthesis, experimental assays, and computer-aided drug design for developing novel antioxidants for potential medicinal applications. See also the graphical abstract(Fig. 1).

Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has dramatically increased the sequencing data output and transformed biomedical investigations. NGS enables the generations of genetic data specific to patients from tumor tissue samples so that targeted therapies can be used. The obtained data further allows the prioritization of effective therapies based on the tumor-specific genotype. Practitioners in the field of clinical genomics can make the best use of testing facilities while lessening the possible off-targets by choosing a priori gene set. Therefore, targeted sequencing has arisen as a more affordable technique for the genomic profiling of tumors. Drug resistance is commonly observed in cancer because of mutations. Thus, precise genetic and molecular profiling of tumors ought to be routinely done prior to the use of targeted therapy or precision cancer therapy. NGS already has the capacity to ameliorate genetic screening in families with previous histories of the high occurrence of various cancer-associated genes, including TP53, APC, BRCA2, and BRCA1. By using NGS system, researchers detected increased variants in cancer cells with greater specificity and sensitivity than conventional diagnostic approaches, which suggest the potential of NGS in diagnosis. The field of precision cancer therapy is continuously growing and because of their specificity at the molecular level has improved the management and treatment of numerous cancers. These therapies are less toxic and more efficient compared to conventional chemotherapies used in cancer treatment. The field of precision cancer therapy is likely to significantly expand as NGS system advances. This review provides extensive information regarding current advances in the NGS field in terms of methods, clinical applications, genomic profiling, and the role of NGS of precision cancer therapy.