Increased expression of circulating miRNA-93 in women with polycystic ovary syndrome may represent a novel, non-invasive biomarker for diagnosis

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a novel class of small noncoding single-stranded RNA molecules that regulate gene expression. There is increasing evidence of their importance in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The objective was to determine if miRNA-93 and miRNA-223 are differentially expressed in the circulation of women with PCOS compared to age matched women. A case–control study comparing women with PCOS (n = 25) to age and weight matched controls (n = 24) without PCOS was performed. MiRNA-93 and miRNA-223 were determined by total RNA reverse transcription. Both miRNA-93 and miRNA-223 were significantly increased relative to the control group (p < 0.01, p = 0.029 respectively). In both groups there was no correlation of either miRNA-93 or miRNA-223 with insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-β or testosterone levels. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for miR-223 and miR-93 was 0.66 and 0.72 respectively, suggesting miR-93 is a more efficient biomarker than miR-223 for diagnosis of PCOS. The combination of the two miRNAs together, tested using multiple logistic regression analysis, did not improve the diagnostic potential. In conclusion, circulating miRNA-93 and miRNA-223 were higher in women with PCOS compared to age and weight matched controls independent of insulin resistance and testosterone levels, and miR-93 may represent a novel diagnostic biomarker for PCOS

Recent Advances in Cockpit Aids for Military Operations

The object of this paper is to review same rccent developmentsin cockpit displays and to suggest thc way irhead in arcas of newtcchnology. There is steady progress in most types of display technology butperhaps the most interesting topic is that of flat panels wheri new display media are promised to compete with the CRT. Thc paper alsocovers aspects of Head Up, Head Down and tlelmet Mounted Displays

Sporopollenin, the least known yet toughest natural biopolymer

© 2015 Mackenzie, Boa, Diego-Taboada, Atkin and Sathyapalan. Sporopollenin is highly cross-linked polymer composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that is extraordinarily stable and has been found chemically intact in sedimentary rocks some 500 million years old. It makes up the outer shell (exine) of plant spores and pollen and when extracted it is in the form of an empty exine or microcapsule. The exines resemble the spores and pollen from which they are extracted, in size and morphology. Also, from any one plant such characteristics are incredible uniform. The exines can be used as microcapsules or simply as micron-sized particles due to the variety of functional groups on their surfaces. The loading of a material into the chamber of the exine microcapsule is via multi-directional nano-diameter sized channels. The exines can be filled with a variety of polar and non-polar materials. Enzymes can be encapsulated within the shells and still remain active. In vivo studies in humans have shown that an encapsulated active substance can have a substantially increased bioavailability than if it is taken alone. The sporopollenin exine surface possesses phenolic, alkane, alkene, ketone, lactone, and carboxylic acid groups. Therefore, it can be derivatized in a number of ways, which has given rise to applications in areas, such as solid supported for peptide synthesis, catalysis, and ion-exchange chromatography. Also, the presence of the phenolic groups on sporopollenin endows it with antioxidant activity

On the Quantum Geometry of Multi-critical CDT

We discuss extensions of a recently introduced model of multi-critical CDT to higher multi-critical points. As in the case of pure CDT the continuum limit can be taken on the level of the action and the resulting continuum surface model is again described by a matrix model. The resolvent, a simple observable of the quantum geometry which is accessible from the matrix model is calculated for arbitrary multi-critical points. We go beyond the matrix model by determining the propagator using the peeling procedure which is used to extract the effective quantum Hamiltonian and the fractal dimension in agreement with earlier results by Ambjorn et al. With this at hand a string field theory formalism for multi-critical CDT is introduced and it is shown that the Dyson-Schwinger equations match the loop equations of the matrix model. We conclude by commenting on how to formally obtain the sum over topologies and a relation to stochastic quantisation.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, improved discussion, some new results regarding Hausdorff dimension, as publishe