Copyright © 2020 Siyi Wang et al.Cognitive impairment has often been reported in scientific literature as a concern derived from chronic exposure to work-related stress. Organizational factors can contribute to the onset of this concern especially in a susceptible population such as elderly workers. The aim of our study was to review the last five years of scientific literature, focusing on experimental and epidemiological studies, possible mechanisms implicated in the onset of cognitive decline due to work-related stress, and the recent organizational strategies to prevent detrimental effects of stress on cognitive processes. A literature search was performed in scientific platforms Medline and Web of Science, by means of specific string search terms, restricting the search to the years of publication 2014-2019. Thirty-three articles were identified and qualitatively evaluated, reporting narratively the main point of interest. At this stage, six articles were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Only a few articles considered the population of the elderly workers, often with a short follow-up period. Strategies to manage stress with organizational procedures are scarce. Mechanisms implicated in the development of cognitive impairment due to stress are not fully explained and seem to include a chronical decrease in the inhibitory process of neurological pathways. Further research that focused on strategies to manage stress in elderly workers, with the aim of preventing cognitive impairment processes, is warranted. Copyright © 2020 Gabriele Giorgi et al.Enhancement of mitochondrial physiological function prevents sepsis-induced dysfunction. The present study aimed to elucidate the mechanism by which hydrogen (H2) affects mitochondrial function in a wild-type (WT) and homozygous nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) knockout (KO, Nrf2-/-) murine model of sepsis. In myocardial tissues with severe sepsis, H2 gas treatment reduced mitochondrial dysfunction, whereas zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPPIX) negated these beneficial effects. H2 treatment upregulated the protein expression of mitofusin-2 (Mfn2), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), and protein heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in WT mice with severe sepsis but not in their Nrf2-/- counterparts, and this upregulation was inhibited in the presence of ZnPPIX. In conclusion, the mechanism by which H2 limits organ damage in mice with severe sepsis involves HO-1, whereas the mechanism that limits severe sepsis-related mitochondrial dysfunction involves both HO-1 and Nrf2. selleck chemicals llc Copyright © 2020 Yuanyuan Zhang et al.Curcumin has been shown to have anticancer effects in a variety of tumors. However, there are fewer studies on the role of curcumin in endometrial carcinoma (EC). The purpose of this experiment was to examine the inhibitory effect of curcumin on endometrial carcinoma cells and ERK/c-Jun signaling pathway. We first predicted the mechanism of action of curcumin on endometrial carcinoma by network pharmacology. Then, we found that curcumin can decrease the cell viability of Ishikawa cells, inhibit the migration of cancer cells, induce apoptosis, and cause cell cycle arrest in the S phase. For molecular mechanism, curcumin reduced the mRNA expression levels of ERK2 and JUN genes and inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK and c-Jun. This suggests that curcumin inhibits the proliferation of endometrial carcinoma cells by downregulating ERK/c-Jun signaling pathway activity. Copyright © 2019 Zhenxue Zhang et al.Background/Aims. Calpain small subunit 1 (Capn4) is implicated in tumorigenesis and plays a key role in multiple tumors. This study aimed to fully illustrate the prognostic value of Capn4 protein in cancer patients. Methods A systematic search was conducted against several online databases. Hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratio (ORs) were used to investigate the relationship between Capn4 protein expression and prognosis as well as clinical parameters in cancer survivors. Results Eleven studies involving 1775 patients were identified. Overall, the results showed that Capn4 protein was associated with poor prognosis of overall survival (OS) (HR=1.74; 95% CI1.47-2.01; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07; p less then 0.001) and event-free survival (EFS) (HR=1.73; 95% CI1.39-2.07. Conclusions Expression of Capn4 protein is associated with cancer survival and clinicopathologic characteristics in patients. Copyright © 2019 Shubin Tang et al.Virulence-associated traits have frequently been studied in enterococci and are considered to contribute towards the pathogenicity of infections. In the present study, Enterococcus isolates were collected during diagnostic investigations from meat turkeys in Germany. Twenty-eight isolates of three different Enterococcus species were analyzed for five selected putative virulence traits to understand their potential role in the pathogenicity using the chicken embryo lethality assay. Ten E. faecalis, ten E. faecium, and eight E. gallinarum isolates were examined for the presence of common virulence genes and their phenotypic expression, namely, the cytolysin operon, five individual cyl genes (cylL L , cylL S , cylM, cylB, and cylA), gelatinase (gelE), hyaluronidase (hyl Efm ), aggregation substance (asa1), and enterococcal surface protein (esp). The Enterococcus isolates showed significant species-dependent differences in the presence of genotypic traits (p less then 0.001 by Fisher’s exact test; Cramer’s V = ence genes. For the first time, Enterococcus isolates of three different species collected from diseased turkeys were investigated for their virulence properties in comparison. The results differed markedly between the Enterococcus species, with E. faecalis harboring the majority of investigated genes and virulence traits. However, the genotype did not entirely correlate with the phenotype or the isolates’ virulence potential and pathogenicity for chicken embryos. Copyright © 2019 Julia Maasjost et al.