Since the development of the first docking program in 1982, their use in in silico screening for potentially bioactive molecule discovery has become a common strategy in academia and pharmaceutical industry. Up until recently, their use has largely focused on drugs binding to proteins. However, with the relatively recent discovery of promising drug targets in nucleic acids, including RNA riboswitches, DNA G-quadruplexes, and extended repeats in RNA, there has been a greater interest in developing drugs for nucleic acids. However, due to the major biochemical and physical differences in charges, binding pockets, and solvation, existing docking programs, developed for proteins, face difficulties when adopted directly for nucleic acids. In this review, we cover the current field of in silico docking to nucleic acids, available programs, as well as challenges faced in the field.

An efficient method was developed for the desulfitative arylation of indoles with sodium sulfinates using palladium as catalyst and copper chloride dihydrate as oxidant. The direct arylation occurred exclusively in the C-2 position of indoles and proceeded well for a range of different substrates.

A Pd-catalyzed desulfitative Heck-type reaction of aromatic sulfinic acid sodium salts with various olefins is developed with O(2) as the terminal oxidant under mild conditions. The presence of phosphane ligand DPEphos in anisole can significantly enhance the reaction selectivity.

Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) is primarily associated with common cold in children, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Outbreaks caused by HCoV-NL63 are rare. Here we report a cluster of HCoV-NL63 cases with severe lower respiratory tract infection that arose in Guangzhou, China, in 2018. Twenty-three hospitalized children were confirmed to be HCoV-NL63 positive, and most of whom were hospitalized with severe pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Whole genomes of HCoV-NL63 were obtained using next-generation sequencing. Phylogenetic and single amino acid polymorphism analyses showed that this outbreak was associated with two subgenotypes (C3 and B) of HCoV-NL63. Half of patients were identified to be related to a new subgenotype C3. One unique amino acid mutation at I507 L in spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) was detected, which segregated this subgenotype C3 from other known subgenotypes. Pseudotyped virus bearing the I507 L mutation in RBD showed enhanced entry into host cells as compared to the prototype virus. This study proved that HCoV-NL63 was undergoing continuous mutation and has the potential to cause severe lower respiratory disease in humans. Article summary lineThis study reports an outbreak of severe lower respiratory illness caused by two subgenotypes (C3 and B) of human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63). The new subgenotype C3 with enhanced viral entry into host cells accounts for half of patients, which alerted that HCoV-NL63 which consist of multiple subgenotypes, is undergoing continuous mutation, and has the potential to cause large-scale severe infections in humans.

A convenient and efficient method for the synthesis of various symmetrical and non‐symmetrical trans‐stilbene derivatives from benzylic halides in the absence of any transition metals is described. Sodium sulfinates played an important role in this transformation. Various functional groups were well tolerated under the optimized reaction conditions.

Few studies addressed trans-regional differences in allergen sensitization between areas within a similar latitudinal range but with distinct geomorphological features. We investigated specific IgE (sIgE) positivity to common allergens in populations from two southern China provinces. Using a uniformed protocol, serum samples were collected from 2778 subjects with suspected atopy in coastal Guangdong and inland Yunnan. The overall prevalence of sIgE positivity were 57.8% (95% CI: 56.0%, 59.6%) from Guangdong vs 60.9% (95% CI: 59.1%, 62.7%) from Yunnan. House dust mite (d1) was the most common allergen in both regions. Among d1-sensitized subjects, only 35.7% (208/583) in Guangdong and 22.9% (147/642) in Yunnan tested positive for d1 alone. Among those poly-sensitized d1-positive subjects, cockroach was the most common co-sensitizing aeroallergen. 41.9% of the d1-sensitized Guangdong subjects showed high-class sIgE reactivity (≥class 4), in contrast to a very low percentage of such reactivity in Yunnan. However, 36.3% of d1-sensitized subjects in Yunnan were concomitantly positive for tree pollen mix. Surprisingly, Yunnan subjects showed high prevalence of sIgE positivity for crabs and shrimps, either by overall or by age-group analysis, compared with their Guangdong counterparts (both P < 0.05). These findings may add to data about local allergies in China and worldwide.

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The incidence of FA in children in Guangdong Province is higher than that commonly believed. An individual's genetic background is an important risk factor for FA. Hence, mitigation of the impact of lifestyle and environmental factors should be carefully considered to reduce the incidence of childhood FA.