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BackgroundDaily and on-demand pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been well demonstrated to effectively prevent HIV acquisition for men who have sex with men (MSM). More than half of the MSM PrEP users in Taiwan prefer on-demand PrEP; however, on-demand PrEP involves a complicated dosing regimen because it requires precoital and postcoital dosing and sex events are hard to anticipate. Although there are a growing number of mobile apps designed to improve access to HIV prevention services and HIV medication adherence, few mobile apps focus on adherence to PrEP or are designed to accommodate a complicated, on-demand PrEP dosing schedule. ObjectiveThe aim of this project is to evaluate the usability of a newly developed mobile app (UPrEPU) to assist MSM PrEP users to self-monitor their adherence to either daily or on-demand PrEP using a user-centered scheme. MethodsThis research will be conducted in 2 phases: app development and usability study. In the app development phase, we will first conduct formative research with end users and stakeholders through in-depth interviews; the results will provide PrEP users’ and PrEP navigators’ personas as material used in the app conceptualization stage. PrEP navigators are individuals in the health care system that help HIV-negative individuals who need assistance in accessing PrEP care. A low-fidelity prototype of the app feature will be formatted by applying a participatory design approach to engage PrEP users, designers, and app developers in the design process of the app. Then, a high-fidelity prototype of the app will be developed for the usability study and refined iteratively by the multidisciplinary team and new internal testers. Internal testers include the research team consisting of experts in public health, infectious disease, and industrial design and a close network of the research team that is taking PrEP. In the usability study phase, we will enroll 70 MSM PrEP users and follow them up for 4 months. Usability, feasibility, and effectiveness of adherence monitoring will be evaluated. ResultsRefinement of the UPrEPU app is currently ongoing. The usability study commenced in May 2020. ConclusionsThe UPrEPU app is one of the first apps designed to help MSM PrEP users to self-manage their PrEP schedule better regardless of dosing modes. With a design-thinking approach and adapting to the cultural context in Taiwan’s MSM population, this novel app will have substantial potential to be acceptable and feasible and contribute to the reduction of new HIV infections. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04248790; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04248790 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/20360

With the advancement of plant synthetic biology, plastids have emerged as an optimal platform for the heterologous production of numerous commercially valuable secondary metabolites and therapeutic proteins. In comparison on nuclear genetic engineering, plastid genetic engineering offers unique advantages in terms of efficient expression of foreign genes and biological safety. However, the constitutive expression of foreign genes in the plastid system may impede plant growth. Therefore, it is imperative to further elucidate and design regulatory elements that can achieve precise regulation of foreign genes. In this review, we summarize the progress made in developing regulatory elements for plastid genetic engineering, including operon design and optimization, multi-gene coexpression regulation strategies, and identification of new expression regulatory elements. These findings provide valuable insights for future research.

The rational design of high-performance catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) is of great importance for large-scale applications in the field of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells and the green synthesis of H 2 O 2 . The effect of spin states of paramagnetic metal ions on the selectivity of ORRs is significant for single-atom catalysts (SACs). In this work, via spin-polarization density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we systematically investigated the popular paramagnetic metal-nitrogen graphene (M-N 4 -C, M = Mn, Fe, and Co) SACs to mainly focus on the correlation of spin states and catalytic performance ( e.g. activity and selectivity). Both thermodynamically and kinetically, it was found that Co-N 4 -C ( S = 1/2) has excellent 2e - oxygen reduction performance (hydrogen peroxide production) with an ultralow overpotential of 0.03 V, and the hydrogenation of OOH* is the rate-determining step (RDS) with an energy barrier of 1.20 eV. The 4e - ORR tends to occur along the OOH dissociation pathway (O* + OH*) on Co-N 4 -C ( S = 3/2), in which OOH* decomposition is the RDS with an energy barrier of 1.01 eV. It is proved that the spin magnetic moment is the key factor to regulate the ORR property via multi-angle electronic analysis. The spin states of catalysts play a crucial role in the activity and selectivity of ORRs mainly by manipulating the bond strength between OOH and catalysts. This will provide new insights for the rational design of ORR catalysts with magnetic metals.

Eupulcherol A (1), a novel triterpenoid with an unprecedented carbon skeleton, was isolated from Euphorbia pulcherrima. Its structure was determined by comprehensive analysis of spectroscopic data, including HRESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR, and the absolute configuration was defined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Biological studies showed that compound 1 possessed anti-Alzheimer's disease (AD) bioactivity, which could delay paralysis of transgenic AD Caenorhabditis elegans. A plausible biogenetic pathway for eupulcherol A (1) was also proposed.

The electroporation method was performed to transfer plasmid DNA of PBI-1300 carrying GFP gene into Agrobacterium rhizogenes C₅₈C₁ strains. Mediated by A. rhizogenes C₅₈C₁, the GFP gene were transformed into Erigeron breviscapus aseptic leaves by leaf disc method, then the hairy roots were induced and the infected hairy roots were screened by hygromycin resistance. The chromosomal DNA of the hairy root was used as the templates for the PCR amplification with the GFP-specific primers and then the expected amplified DNA bands appeared, the green fluorescent of GFP in the cut hairy roots was observed by two-photon microscope. These results indicated that GFP gene was integrated into the genome of E. breviscapus and was expressed stably. This study laid the groundwork for foreign gene high-efficiency expression inthe genetic transformation system for hairy root culture of E. breviscapus., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

In this study, ecological factors, occurrence records, the essential oil components content were used to predict the potential geographical distribution and quality division of Mentha haplocalyx in China based on the MaxEnt modeling and geographic information system(GIS). The AUC of ROC curve was above 0.950,indicating that the predictive results with the maximum model were highly precise. The results showed that the main environmental factors determining the potential distribution were annual average precipitation (the contribution rate, 45.87%), mean temperature of wettest quarter (11.92%), mean temperature of warmest quarter (7.84%), average monthly precipitation of May (6.80%), standard deviation of seasonal temperature variation (4.42%), mean temperature of the coldest quarter (3.47%) and altitude (2.92%). The environmental variables in the highly potential areas were determined as annual average precipitation around [530,1 465] mm, mean temperature of wettest quarter around [24.5,29] ℃, mean temperature of the warmest quarter around [25.5,29] ℃, average monthly precipitation of May around [67,133] mm, standard deviation of temperature seasonal change around [8 333,9 643], mean temperature of the coldest quarter around [1.7,8.3] ℃ and the altitude around [0,165] mm. The best quality distribution of M. haplocalyx was mainly located in Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang and Heilongjiang. The zoning results basically coincide with the actual situation. The quality division of M. haplocalyx can be used for providing a scientific basis for selection of artificial planting base and guidance of its production., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)