This is a working overview of Tuftsin, written for readers who want more than a one-paragraph summary but less than a textbook.
Reviewed 2026-04-05. Anything still debated is marked as such rather than presented as settled.
Proposed mechanisms centre on modulation of the GABAergic system, with reports of altered expression of genes related to GABA-A receptor subunits and changed monoamine turnover. Some studies describe inhibition of enkephalinase, the enzyme that degrades endogenous enkephalins, which may prolong opioid peptide signalling. Effects on brain-derived neurotrophic factor and on cytokine expression have also been reported. These findings come largely from animal models and small human studies, and the precise primary target remains unresolved.
Published clinical evidence is limited. Most controlled trials were conducted in Russia, enrolled modest numbers of participants, and appeared in Russian-language journals, which restricts independent verification. Reported outcomes include lower anxiety scores, improved attention and memory measures, and changes in fatigue ratings. Reviews written in English note methodological limitations such as small samples and inconsistent endpoints. Whether the compound produces clinically meaningful benefit relative to established anxiolytics is therefore an open question rather than an established finding.
Reported pharmacological effects center on reduced anxiety-like behavior in animal models and on measures of memory and learning. Proposed contributing mechanisms include modulation of GABAergic signaling, shifts in monoamine turnover, and changes in the activity of enzymes that degrade neuropeptides. Effects on the expression of genes linked to neuroplasticity have also been described. No single molecular target is widely accepted, and whether the behavioral findings arise from one pathway or several remains an open question.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro. It was designed as a stabilized analogue of tuftsin, a naturally occurring tetrapeptide fragment derived from the immunoglobulin heavy chain. The additional Pro-Gly-Pro segment at the carboxyl terminus is intended to slow enzymatic cleavage. The compound is usually described in the literature as a synthetic peptide with anxiolytic and cognitive-related activity, a label that reflects a research context rather than an approved therapeutic category.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C33H57N11O9 | Free peptide form |
| Molecular mass | About 751.9 Da | Calculated average mass |
| Amino acid sequence | Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro | Single-letter form TKPRPGP |
| Structural basis | Tuftsin analogue | Extended version of a natural tetrapeptide |
| Development origin | Russian Academy of Sciences | Work carried out from the 1980s onward |
The compound has a calculated molecular weight near 751.9 daltons and carries a net positive charge at physiological pH because of its arginine residue. It dissolves freely in water and in common aqueous buffers, and typically appears as a white or off-white lyophilized powder. The amide backbone makes the molecule susceptible to peptidases, which limits oral use and favors intranasal or parenteral routes. Nomenclature in the literature varies: the substance is also described by the sequence abbreviation TP-7 and by a Russian trade designation.
Regulatory status differs sharply by region. Selank holds a Russian marketing authorization, where it is supplied mainly as nasal drops, while authorities elsewhere have not approved it for medical use. Material sold internationally is therefore usually labeled as a research chemical rather than a medicine. Peer-reviewed publications come predominantly from Russian laboratories, and sample sizes are generally small. Whether the compound produces comparable effects under independent, well-controlled replication remains an open question that the broader literature has not settled.
Proposed mechanisms center on modulation of the GABA system, but no single molecular target has been confirmed. Rodent studies report changes in GABA-A receptor expression and in the turnover of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in several brain regions. Increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor have also been described after repeated administration. These findings come largely from animal models, and the degree to which they describe human neurochemistry remains an open question. The mechanism is best characterized as multi-system and not fully resolved.
Pharmacokinetic data are limited. Like most short peptides, Selank is vulnerable to plasma and tissue peptidases, and its measured half-life in circulation is short, on a minutes scale. The Pro-Gly-Pro tail slows this degradation but does not eliminate it. Intranasal administration is the route described in most reports, with absorption through the nasal mucosa and a hypothesized path into the central nervous system that avoids the blood-brain barrier. Direct measurements of human brain exposure are unavailable, so distribution claims rest on inference from animal work.
Reported activity for Selank centers on anxiolytic and nootropic effects. Russian clinical reports describe use in anxiety and in cognitive or attention-related complaints. Most of this evidence comes from studies conducted by the same research groups that developed the peptide. Independent replication in other countries remains limited, and no major Western regulatory agency has approved the compound for any indication. The gap between local reports and external verification is a recurring point in discussions of the peptide.
Tuftsin, the parent structure, is a naturally occurring immunomodulatory tetrapeptide released from the Fc region of immunoglobulin G by spleen enzymes. Selank extends this four-residue sequence with three additional amino acids. The stated rationale is that the added tail slows enzymatic breakdown and may influence receptor interactions. How the full heptapeptide behaves at the molecular level is not firmly established, and proposed mechanisms often involve indirect modulation of neurotransmitter or immune signaling rather than a single defined target.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide developed in Russia. Its sequence is Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, a seven-residue chain built around the natural tetrapeptide tuftsin. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences first described the compound in the mid-1990s. The design combined the tuftsin core with an added Pro-Gly-Pro tail, a modification intended to extend the molecule's stability in biological fluids. Published work on the peptide has appeared mainly in Russian-language journals.
=== Apodization in digital audio === An apodizing filter can be used in digital audio processing instead of the more common brick-wall filters, in order to reduce the pre- and post-ringing that the latter introduces.
Market Place (formerly Market Place by Jasons, Jason's Food & Living, and Jasons ichiba) in Hong Kong is a high-end supermarket chain owned by DFI Retail Group. The chain also has a joint venture in mainland China with Beijing Hualian Group called BHG Market Place and formerly ran stores (Jasons Market Place) in Taiwan until they were sold to Carrefour. The Malaysian chain called Mercató (formerly Jasons Food Hall) is owned by Macrovalue Sdn Bhd. after its acquisition of DFI Malaysian food retailing business in 2023. Cold Storage Fresh (formerly Market Place, Jasons, and Jasons Deli) in Singapore is also owned by Macrovalue Sdn Bhd since 2025. The Marketplace (formerly Market Place by Rustan's) in the Philippines has been owned by Robinsons Retail Holdings since 2018, before which it was owned by Rustan Supercenters. DFI also operates further similar supermarkets under the 3hreeSixty and Oliver's The Delicatessen brands in Hong Kong and other supermarkets around Asia with Wellcome.
Hinduism is the majority faith followed by nearly 80% of the population; Islam is the largest minority at over 14%. India also has populations of Christians and Sikhs in the tens of millions, Buddhists and Jains fewer than 10 million, and historical populations of Zoroastrians in the tens of thousands and Jews less than ten thousand. As of the 2011 census, India's last census, Hindus comprised a majority in 28 of India’s 35 states and union territories; this included the four most populous states: Uttar Pradesh (total population: 200 million; Hindu population: 80% of the state's total), Maharashtra (112 million, 80%), Bihar (104 million, 83%) and West Bengal (91 million, 71%). Muslims are in the majority in Lakshadweep Islands (60,000, 97%) and Jammu and Kashmir (8.6 million, 68%). Indian Christians make up about 2.3% of India's population. Saint Thomas Christians number around 8.7 million, whereas Indian Catholics number 11.8 million. Nearly 33% of Adivasi (or Scheduled Tribes of India's Constitution) are Christian. They are concentrated in three hill states of the northeast, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, where they constitute between 70% and 90% of the population. As per the 2011 census, Sikhs comprised less than 2% of India's population, though they were a majority in Punjab state, where more than 87% of Sikhs were farmers. Indian Buddhists number 8.45 million, with 77%, or 6.5 million, living in the state of Maharashtra. Indian Jains number 4.45 million, and Zoroastrians (Parsis), 60,000. As of 2019, there were 3,000 Jews in India, down from 28,000 in 1950.
=== Entomotherapy: Nutritional and Medicinal Benefits === Insects have played a significant role in traditional and modern medicine across various cultures. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Edible Insects Report highlights the nutritional and therapeutic potential of insects, they have high protein content, essential fatty acids, and bioactive compounds. Some traditional healing practices incorporate insects as remedies for inflammatory conditions, infections, and gastrointestinal disorders. In China and other parts of Asia silkworm derived compounds have been used in traditional medicine to treat high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Similarly termites and grasshoppers are utilized in African medicine for their perceived immune boosting effects.
==== United States ==== In April 2020, The Hill reported that markets selling live animals were still operating in the United States and that animal rights activists were calling for the closure of such markets, in addition to their existing calls to close factory farms. Fresh food markets were common in New York City until refrigeration became commonplace in the 20th century. From the 1990s to 2020, the number of live animal markets in New York City nearly doubled. As of 2020, there are more than 80 markets in New York City that stock live animals and slaughter them on-demand for customers. They are mostly poultry markets located in outer-borough immigrant communities where they are culturally significant and pose low public health risks relative to wildlife markets and other types of exotic markets.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
===== Virus-mediated fusion of cancer cells ===== The host organism fights viral infection using various strategies. One such strategy is the production of neutralizing antibodies. In response to this production, viruses have developed their own strategies for spreading the infection and avoiding the inactivation by the host produced neutralizing antibodies. Some viruses, and in particular paramyxoviruses, can produce new virus particles by fusing infected and healthy host cells. This fusion leads to the formation of a large multi-nuclear structure (syncytium). Sendai virus, as a representative of Paramyxoviridae, uses this strategy to spread its infection (see the section "Directed cell fusion" below). The virus can fuse up to 50–100 cells adjacent to one primary infected cell. This multi-nuclear formation, derived from several dozens of cells, survives for several days and subsequently releases functional viral particles. It has been demonstrated that the ability of a virus to destroy tumor cells increases along with an increase in the ability of the virus to form large multi-nuclear structures. The transfer of genes that are responsible for the formation of syncytium from the representative of Paramyxoviridae to the representatives of Rhabdoviridae or Herpesviridae makes the recipient viruses more oncolytic. Moreover, the oncolytic potential of paramyxovirus can be enhanced by mutations in the fusion (F) gene protease-cleavage site, which allows the F-protein to be more efficiently processed by cellular proteases.
Nephelometry is a technique used in immunology to determine the levels of several proteins in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). For example, the total levels of antibody isotypes or classes: Immunoglobulin M, Immunoglobulin G, and Immunoglobulin A. It is important in quantification of free light chains in diseases such as multiple myeloma. Quantification is important for disease classification and for disease monitoring once a patient has been treated (increased skewing of the ratio between kappa and lambda light chains after a patient has been treated is an indication of disease recurrence). It is performed by measuring the scattered light at an angle from the sample being measured. In diagnostic nephelometry, the ascending branch of the Heidelberger-Kendall curve is extended by optimizing the course of the reaction so that most plasma proteins’ (from human blood) measurement signals fall at the left side of the Heidelberger-Kendall curve, even at very high concentrations. This technique is widely used in clinical laboratories because it is relatively easily automated. It is based on the principle that a dilute suspension of small particles will scatter light (usually a laser) passed through it rather than simply absorbing it. The amount of scatter is determined by collecting the light at an angle (usually at 30 and 90 degrees). Antibody and the antigen are mixed in concentrations such that only small aggregates are formed that do not quickly settle to the bottom. The amount of light scatter is measured and compared to the amount of scatter from known mixtures.
== Awards and honors == 2003: USC Renaissance Scholar 2003: USC Chemistry Alumni Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research 2006: Student Travel Award for Australian Peptide Society 2008: Poster Prize, Science at the Interface (University of Chicago) 2010: Collier Award, Gordon Conference, Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity 2012: Vallee Foundation Travel Award 2013: Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award 2013: Young Chemical Biologist Award, International Chemical Biology Society 2013: Sontag Distinguished Scientist Award 2014: NSF CAREER Award 2015: Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry 2015: Novartis Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry 2016: Amgen Young Investigator Award 2018: Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry 2021: Rao Makineni Lectureship, American Peptide Society Source:
"Polish" heroin (also kompot and compote in drug culture slang) is a crude preparation of heroin made from poppy straw. It is an opioid, used recreationally as a psychoactive drug. Poppy straw, like opium, is harvested from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Polish heroin was used mainly in Central and Eastern Europe prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of communist control of the countries of the Warsaw Pact or Eastern Bloc. While related to opium, Polish heroin more nearly resembles poppy tea in its impurity, but can be very potent. This drug was also considered by Eastern Bloc addicts to be one of last resort when refined heroin, morphine, or other similar drugs were unavailable, as was often the case during the 1950s through the end of the Soviet era. Illicit drug trafficking and clandestine drug manufacture within the communist-governed nations of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia itself, and others was on a much smaller scale and the supply far more erratic and unreliable compared to that of Western nations. Opium poppies, by contrast, were widely available and relatively inexpensive. The drug has been known as early as the 1940s. The drug in its finished state is a bitter brown fluid looking like tea or cola in color. Polish heroin contains diacetylmorphine (heroin), 6-monoacetylmorphine (active metabolite of heroin), 3-monoacetylmorphine (less-active metabolite of heroin), morphine and small amounts of codeine.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== History == Catalase was first noticed in 1818 by Louis Jacques Thénard, who discovered hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Thénard suggested its breakdown was caused by an unknown substance. In 1900, Oscar Loew was the first to give it the name catalase, and found it in many plants and animals. In 1937 catalase from beef liver was crystallized by James B. Sumner and Alexander Dounce and the molecular weight was measured in 1938. The amino acid sequence of bovine catalase was determined in 1969, and the three-dimensional structure in 1981.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, biosecurity measures have become a highly visible aspect of border control across the globe. Most notably, quarantine and mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for international travelers. Together with a decreased willingness to travel, the implementation of biosecurity measures has had a negative economic and social impact on the travel industry. Slow travel gained popularity during the pandemic, with tourists visiting fewer destinations on their trips. Biosecurity measures such as restrictions on cross-border travel, the introduction of mandatory vaccination for international travellers, and the adoption of quarantine or mandatory testing measures have helped to contain the spread of COVID-19. While test-based border screening measures may prove effective under certain circumstances, they may fail to detect a significant quantity of positive cases if only conducted upon arrival without follow-up. A minimum 10-day quarantine may help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and may be more effective when combined with additional control measures, such as border screening. A study in Science found that travel restrictions could delay the initial arrival of COVID-19 in a country, but that they produced only modest overall effects unless combined with domestic infection prevention and control measures to reduce transmissions considerably. (That is consistent with prior research on influenza and other communicable diseases.) Travel bans early in the pandemic were most effective for isolated locations, such as small island nations.
phagocyte Any cell capable of phagocytosis, especially any of various cell types of the immune system which engulf and ingest harmful foreign molecules, bacteria, and dead or dying cells, including neutrophils and macrophages.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
It is a seven-amino-acid peptide, Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, produced by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from biological tissue. Its design is based on tuftsin, a natural immunomodulatory tetrapeptide. The C-terminal Pro-Gly-Pro segment is a common stabilising motif in short regulatory peptides.
The core four residues correspond to tuftsin, which occurs naturally as part of immunoglobulin G. The full seven-residue sequence, however, is not a known endogenous peptide. It is a laboratory-designed analogue intended to combine tuftsin-like activity with greater resistance to breakdown.
No single receptor has been confirmed as the primary target. Reports describe involvement of the GABAergic system, interference with enkephalin degradation, and shifts in neurotrophic factor expression. Because these observations come from different models and assays, they have not yet been integrated into one accepted mechanism.
Selank is a synthetic heptapeptide with the sequence Thr-Lys-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gly-Pro, designed as a metabolically stabilized analogue of the endogenous tetrapeptide tuftsin. It has been studied mainly against anxiety-related and cognitive endpoints rather than as an approved medicine in most jurisdictions.