795 research outputs found
Snapshots for intra- and inter-ocular differences at retinal proteins levels
We attempted to study the intra- and inter-animal variations of protein expressions in chick retina using two-dimensional electrophoresis
(2-DE). The posterior retinas of 10 day-old chicks were harvested. The proteins were extracted and 2-DE protein profiles between two eyes of the same individual and among different animals were compared and analysed using Melanie gel analysis software. Computerised Melanie gel analysis showed a high similarity of 83.1 ± 2.1% (mean ± SEM, n=3) between the protein profiles of right and left retinas from the same animal. However, this percentage dropped to 64.1 ± 3.1% (Mean ± SEM, n=3) when comparing between different animal samples. We have
shown that there were good similarities in intra-animal comparison but poor in inter-animal comparison. We have documented the caveat in comparing the protein profiles between different animals where apparent differentially display protein could actually be a false positive signal. The finding highlighted the potential usefulness of the proteomic approach in basic eye research where comparison between control and experimental tissues could be carried out in the same animal, rather than using different animals
Mechanical oscillations enhance gene delivery into suspended cells
published_or_final_versio
Co-delivery of PD-L1- and EGFR-targeting siRNAs by synthetic PEG12-KL4 peptide to the lungs as potential strategy against non-small cell lung cancer
Background:
Small interfering RNA (siRNA) holds great promise for treating various lung diseases, but the lack of safe and efficient pulmonary siRNA delivery systems has hindered its advance into the clinics. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which promotes cell proliferation, and the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) which plays a crucial role in suppressing cytotoxic T cells activity, are two important targets for treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, we explored the potential of PEG12-KL4, a synthetic peptide, to deliver siRNA to various NSCLC cells and to lung tissues in mice.
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Methods:
PEG12-KL4 was used to transfect siRNAs targeted at both EGFR and PD-L1 into NSCLC cells. Immunoblotting was used to evaluate the siRNA silencing effects in HCC827 and NCI-H1975 NSCLC cells. CD8+ T cell-mediated NSCLC cell killing was employed to demonstrate the functional effects of PD-L1 siRNA knock-down. Fluorescent siRNAs were used to visualise siRNA uptake in cells as well as to enable biodistribution studies in BALB/c mice.
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Results:
Our results showed that PEG12-KL4 was efficient in mediating siRNA knock-down of EGFR and PD-L1 in various NSCLC cells. Importantly, the PEG12-KL4 peptide enabled significantly better siRNA delivery than the commercial Lipofectamine 2000 reagent. We hypothesised that PEG12-KL4 peptide enabled siRNA to either escape from or bypass endosomal degradation as indicated by confocal fluorescence imaging. Notably, combined knock-down of EGFR and PD-L1 in NCI-H1975 cells resulted in better effector T cell-mediated cancer cell killing than knock-down of PD-L1 alone. Moreover, biodistribution of PEG12-KL4/siRNA complexes following intravenous administration revealed poor lung delivery with the fluorescent siRNA accumulating in the liver. In contrast, intratracheal delivery of PEG12-KL4/siRNA complexes resulted in the fluorescent siRNA to be detected in the lung with retarded renal excretion.
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Conclusion:
In conclusion, we demonstrated that the co-delivery of siRNAs targeting EGFR and PD-L1 using PEG12-KL4 is feasible and represents a promising future strategy to treat NSCLC, whereby pulmonary siRNA delivery is favourable to intravenous administration
A comparative study on migratory properties of copper in nickel, cobalt and palladium deposits
2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe
Study of properties of cobalt-tungsten binary alloy deposit as copper barrier
2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe
Outcomes and Cost Ef-fectiveness of a Respiratory Coordinated Care Program in Patients with Severe or Very Severe COPD
Abstract Multidisciplinary community coordinated care programs are widely adopted to optimise care of chronic disease patients, but there is a need for further evaluation in the setting of COPD. This observational study evaluated 147 patients with severe or very severe COPD who were enrolled in a multidisciplinary community respiratory coordinated care progra
Lipid profile of the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study cohort
published_or_final_versio
Inhibitory effect of Chinese green tea on cigarette smoke-induced up-regulation of airway neutrophil elastase and matrix metalloproteinase-12 via antioxidant activity
Our recent study has indicated that Chinese green tea (Lung Chen), in which epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) accounts for 60% of catechins, protected cigarette smoke-induced lung injury. We now hypothesized that Lung Chen tea may also have potential effect on lung oxidative stress and proteases/anti-proteases in a smoking rat model. Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to either sham air (SA) or 4% cigarette smoke (CS) plus 2% Lung Chen tea or water by oral gavage. Serine proteases, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their respective endogenous inhibitors were determined in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and lung tissues by gelatin/casein zymography and biochemical assays. Green tea consumption significantly decreased CS-induced elevation of lung lipid peroxidation marker, malondialdehyde (MDA), and CS-induced up-regulation of neutrophil elastase (NE) concentration and activity along with that of α1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) and secretory leukoproteinase inhibitor (SLPI) in BAL and lung. In parallel, significant elevation of MMP-12 activity was found in BAL and lung of the CS-exposed group, which returned to the levels of SA-exposed group after green tea consumption but not CS-induced reduction of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 activity, which was not reversed by green tea consumption. Taken together, our data supported the presence of local oxidative stress and protease/anti-protease imbalance in the airways after CS exposure, which might be alleviated by green tea consumption through its biological antioxidant activity.
Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10715762.2012.692786postprin
Overview on the phenomenon of two-qubit entanglement revivals in classical environments
The occurrence of revivals of quantum entanglement between separated open
quantum systems has been shown not only for dissipative non-Markovian quantum
environments but also for classical environments in absence of back-action.
While the phenomenon is well understood in the first case, the possibility to
retrieve entanglement when the composite quantum system is subject to local
classical noise has generated a debate regarding its interpretation. This
dynamical property of open quantum systems assumes an important role in quantum
information theory from both fundamental and practical perspectives. Hybrid
quantum-classical systems are in fact promising candidates to investigate the
interplay among quantum and classical features and to look for possible control
strategies of a quantum system by means of a classical device. Here we present
an overview on this topic, reporting the most recent theoretical and
experimental results about the revivals of entanglement between two qubits
locally interacting with classical environments. We also review and discuss the
interpretations provided so far to explain this phenomenon, suggesting that
they can be cast under a unified viewpoint.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. Chapter written for the upcoming book "Lectures
on general quantum correlations and their applications
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