This article gives an overview of the discovery of small-molecule bioprecursor prodrugs carrying the para-quinol scaffold on the steroidal A-ring that are preferentially metabolized in the CNS to the corresponding estrogens. Selected examples are shown to illustrate that, independently of the route of administrations and duration of treatments, these agents produce high concentration of estrogens only in the CNS without peripheral hormonal liability. 10β,17β-Dihydroxyestra-1,4-dien-3-one (DHED) has been the best-studied representative of this novel type of prodrugs for brain and retina health. Specific applications in preclinical animal models of centrally-regulated and estrogen-responsive human diseases, including neurodegeneration, menopausal symptoms, cognitive decline and depression, are discussed to demonstrate the translational potential of their prodrug approach for CNS-selective and gender-independent estrogen therapy with inherent therapeutic safety.

Article describes experiment where CCSD(T) methods in conjunction with correlation consistent basis sets were used to predict the pKa for the deprotonation of methane in a 3d metal ion adduct, [M···CH4]+ (M = Sc–Cu), in dimethyl sulfoxide solvent, which is modeled by the SMD continuum solvent model.

This commentary extends a discussion initiated by Toussaint et al. (Sci Rep 6:22125, 2016) concerning the relationship between global patterns of freshwater fish functional diversity (FD) and its vulnerability to human impacts.

This article tests if it is possible to piggyback more than one antisense deoxyoligonucleotide (dO) with one vivo morpholino (VMO). The authors previously developed a piggyback knockdown method that was used to knockdown genes in adult zebrafish. In this article, the authors develop a method to knockdown three genes at one time, and by increasing the concentration of VMO by twofold, could knockdown six genes simultaneously. These multiple gene knockdowns will not only increase the efficiency of the method in whole genome-wide knockdowns but will also be useful to study multifactorial disorders.