Magnetic and Optical properties of strained films of multiferroic GdMnO3

The effects of strain on a film of mulitferroic GdMnO3 are investigated using both magnetometry and magneto-optic spectroscopy. Optical spectra, in the energy range 1.5eV - 3.5eV, were taken in Faraday geometry in an applied magnetic field and also at remanence. This yielded rich information on the effects of strain on the spin ordering in these films. Epitaxial films of GdMnO3 were grown on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates. The LaAlO3 was twinned and so produced a highly strained film whereas the strain was less for the film grown on SrTiO3. The Ne\'el temperatures and coercive fields were measured using zero field data and hysteresis loops obtained using a SQUID magnetometer. Optical absorption data agreed with earlier work on bulk materials. The two well known features in the optical spectrum, the charge transfer transition between Mn d states at ~2eV and the band edge transition from the oxygen p band to the d states at ~3eV are observed in the magnetic circular dichroism; however they behaved very differently both as a function of magnetic field and temperature. This is interpreted in terms of the magnetic ordering of the Mn spins.Comment: 9 pages of text including figure

Pilot study of DNA extraction from archival unstained bone marrow slides: comparison of three rapid methods

DNA can be isolated from a variety of human sample sources including anti-coagulant whole blood, bloodstains, hairs, tissue samples and buccal epithelial cells. The purpose of this study was to compare yield and quality of DNA samples obtained with the use of three different methods. The ability of these procedures to provide DNA for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification from archival unstained bone marrow slides was tested on 35 different patients’ slides. Boiling in distilled water (A), proteinase K/Tween 35 method coupled with simplified phenol/chloroform isoamyl alcohol protocol (B) and modified commercial nucleon extraction and purification protocol (C, Amersham Life Science) gave extraction efficiencies of 57, 74 and 100% respectively. Our results demonstrate that rough DNA extraction methods have decreased efficiencies compared to complete DNA extraction protocols and that the latter are required to ensure highly reproducible results from archival unstained bone marrow slides.Key words: DNA, polymerase chain reaction, bone marrow slides, reagent ki

MicroRNA-34a: A Key Regulator in the Hallmarks of Renal Cell Carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) incidence has increased over the past two decades. Recent studies reported microRNAs as promising biomarkers for early cancer detection, accurate prognosis, and molecular targets for future treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-34a and 11 of its bioinformatically selected target genes and proteins to test their potential dysregulation in RCC. Quantitative real-time PCR for miR-34a and its targets; MET oncogene; gene-regulating apoptosis (TP53INP2 and DFFA); cell proliferation (E2F3); and cell differentiation (SOX2 and TGFB3) as well as immunohistochemical assay for VEGFA, TP53, Bcl2, TGFB1, and Ki67 protein expression have been performed in 85 FFPE RCC tumor specimens. Clinicopathological parameter correlation and in silico network analysis have also implicated. We found RCC tissues displayed significantly higher miR-34a expression level than their corresponding noncancerous tissues, particularly in chromophobic subtype. MET and E2F3 were significantly upregulated, while TP53INP2 and SOX2 were downregulated. ROC analysis showed high diagnostic performance of miR-34a (AUC = 0.854), MET (AUC = 0.765), and E2F3 (AUC = 0.761). The advanced pathological grade was associated with strong TGFB1, VEGFA, and Ki67 protein expression and absent Tp53 staining. These findings indicate miR-34a along with its putative target genes could play a role in RCC tumorigenesis and progression

Sequencing, Analysis, and Annotation of Expressed Sequence Tags for Camelus dromedarius

Despite its economical, cultural, and biological importance, there has not been a large scale sequencing project to date for Camelus dromedarius. With the goal of sequencing complete DNA of the organism, we first established and sequenced camel EST libraries, generating 70,272 reads. Following trimming, chimera check, repeat masking, cluster and assembly, we obtained 23,602 putative gene sequences, out of which over 4,500 potentially novel or fast evolving gene sequences do not carry any homology to other available genomes. Functional annotation of sequences with similarities in nucleotide and protein databases has been obtained using Gene Ontology classification. Comparison to available full length cDNA sequences and Open Reading Frame (ORF) analysis of camel sequences that exhibit homology to known genes show more than 80% of the contigs with an ORF>300 bp and ~40% hits extending to the start codons of full length cDNAs suggesting successful characterization of camel genes. Similarity analyses are done separately for different organisms including human, mouse, bovine, and rat. Accompanying web portal, CAGBASE (http://camel.kacst.edu.sa/), hosts a relational database containing annotated EST sequences and analysis tools with possibility to add sequences from public domain. We anticipate our results to provide a home base for genomic studies of camel and other comparative studies enabling a starting point for whole genome sequencing of the organism

Sequencing, Analysis, and Annotation of Expressed Sequence Tags for \u3ci\u3eCamelus dromedarius\u3c/i\u3e

Despite its economical, cultural, and biological importance, there has not been a large scale sequencing project to date for Camelus dromedarius. With the goal of sequencing complete DNA of the organism, we first established and sequenced camel EST libraries, generating 70,272 reads. Following trimming, chimera check, repeat masking, cluster and assembly, we obtained 23,602 putative gene sequences, out of which over 4,500 potentially novel or fast evolving gene sequences do not carry any homology to other available genomes. Functional annotation of sequences with similarities in nucleotide and protein databases has been obtained using Gene Ontology classification. Comparison to available full length cDNA sequences and Open Reading Frame (ORF) analysis of camel sequences that exhibit homology to known genes show more than 80% of the contigs with an ORF\u3e300 bp and ~40% hits extending to the start codons of full length cDNAs suggesting successful characterization of camel genes. Similarity analyses are done separately for different organisms including human, mouse, bovine, and rat. Accompanying web portal, CAGBASE (http://camel.kacst.edu.sa/), hosts a relational database containing annotated EST sequences and analysis tools with possibility to add sequences from public domain. We anticipate our results to provide a home base for genomic studies of camel and other comparative studies enabling a starting point for whole genome sequencing of the organism

Preparation and Preliminary Dielectric Characterization of Structured C\u3csub\u3e60\u3c/sub\u3e-Thiol-Ene Polymer Nanocomposites Assembled Using the Thiol-Ene Click Reaction

Fullerene-containing materials have the ability to store and release electrical energy. Therefore, fullerenes may ultimately find use in high-voltage equipment devices or as super capacitors for high electric energy storage due to this ease of manipulating their excellent dielectric properties and their high volume resistivity. A series of structured fullerene (C60) polymer nanocomposites were assembled using the thiol-ene click reaction, between alkyl thiols and allyl functionalized C60 derivatives. The resulting high-density C60-urethane-thiol-ene (C60-Thiol-Ene) networks possessed excellent mechanical properties. These novel networks were characterized using standard techniques, including infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The dielectric spectra for the prepared samples were determined over a broad frequency range at room temperature using a broadband dielectric spectrometer and a semiconductor characterization system. The changes in thermo-mechanical and electrical properties of these novel fullerene-thiol-ene composite films were measured as a function of the C60 content, and samples characterized by high dielectric permittivity and low dielectric loss were produced. In this process, variations in chemical composition of the networks were correlated to performance characteristics

ABCB1 variants C3435T and T129C are not associated with colorectal cancer risk

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers in Saudi Arabia that is highly characterized with poor survival rate and advanced metastasis. Many studies contribute this poor outcome to the expression of ABC transporters on the surface of cancer cells. Objectives: In this study, two ABCB1 variants, C3435T and T129C, were examined to evaluate their contribution to CRC risk. Methods: 125 subjects (62 CRC patients and 63 healthy controls) were involved. The DNA was isolated and analyzed with PCR-RFLP to determine the different genotypes. The hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was performed to determine genotype distribution and allele frequencies. Fisher\u2019s exact test (two-tailed) was used to compare allele frequencies between patients and control subjects. Results: The study showed that for SNP C3435T, the population of both CRC patients and controls were out of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genotype distribution for CRC patients was (Goodness of fit \u3c72 = 20, df= 1, P 640.05), whereas, for the controls the genotype distribution was (Goodness of fit \u3c72 = 21, df =1, P 640.05). For SNP T129C, all subjects showed normal (TT) genotype. Conclusion: There was no significant association between ABCB1 3435C>T and 129T>C polymorphisms with CRC risk

Prognostic model development and molecular subtypes identification in bladder urothelial cancer by oxidative stress signatures

Background: Mounting studies indicate that oxidative stress (OS) significantly contributes to tumor progression. Our study focused on bladder urothelial cancer (BLCA), an escalating malignancy worldwide that is growing rapidly. Our objective was to verify the predictive precision of genes associated with overall survival (OS) by constructing a model that forecasts outcomes for bladder cancer and evaluates the prognostic importance of these genetic markers. Methods: Transcriptomic data were obtained from TCGA-BLCA and GSE31684, which are components of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), respectively. To delineate distinct molecular subtypes, we employed the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF)method. The significance of OS-associated genes in predicting outcomes was assessed using lasso regression, multivariate Cox analysis, and univariate Cox regression analysis. For external validation, we employed the GSE31684 dataset. CIBERSORT was utilized to examine the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). A nomogram was created and verified using calibration and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, which are based on risk signatures. We examined variations in clinical characteristics and tumor mutational burden (TMB) among groups classified as high-risk and low-risk. To evaluate the potential of immunotherapy, the immune phenomenon score (IPS) was computed based on the risk score. In the end, the pRRophetic algorithm was employed to forecast the IC50 values of chemotherapy medications. Results: In our research, we examined the expression of 275 genes associated with OS in 19 healthy and 414 cancerous tissues of the bladder obtained from the TCGA database. As a result, a new risk signature was created that includes 4 genes associated with OS (RBPMS, CRYAB, P4HB, and PDGFRA). We found two separate groups, C1 and C2, that showed notable variations in immune cells and stromal score. According to the Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients classified as high-risk experienced a considerably reduced overall survival in comparison to those categorized as low-risk (P<0.001). The predictive capability of the model was indicated by the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve surpassing 0.6. Our model showed consistent distribution of samples from both the GEO database and TCGA data. Both the univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses validated the importance of the risk score in relation to overall survival (P < 0.001). According to our research, patients with a lower risk profile may experience greater advantages from using a CTLA4 inhibitor, whereas patients with a higher risk profile demonstrated a higher level of responsiveness to Paclitaxel and Cisplatin. In addition, methotrexate exhibited a more positive outcome in patients with low risk compared to those with high risk. Conclusions: Our research introduces a novel model associated with OS gene signature in bladder cancer, which uncovers unique survival results. This model can assist in tailoring personalized treatment approaches and enhancing patient therapeutic effect in the management of bladder cancer

Structural, morphological, optical and electrochemical characterization of Ag2O/ZnO and ZnO/Ag2O nanocomposites

In this paper, well-crystalline Ag2O/ZnO and ZnO/Ag2O nanocomposites were prepared by a facile chemical method. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the nanocomposite were studied using various advanced characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Visible (UV-Vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The Ag2O and ZnO were clearly identified in the composite from SEM and TEM. Significant shifting observed in the both UV-Vis and PL spectroscopy. In addition, electrocatalytic activity of the Ag2O/ZnO and ZnO/Ag2O nanocomposites studied by an electrochemical workstation. The ZnO/Ag2O nanocomposites showed better optical and electrochemical properties due to decorating the low-band gap Ag2O on the surface of hexagonal structure ZnO nanoparticles. © 2022, S.C. Virtual Company of Phisics S.R.L. All rights reserved.RSP-2021/293; King Saud University, KSU: 40/is2Dr. G. Murugadoss would like to acknowledge to the management of Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India for provided lap facilities. The author (Wahidah H. Al-Qahtani) thank and This work was funded by the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSP-2021/293) King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. One of author (Manavalan Rajesh Kumar) thanks to the contract no. 40/is2