Regenerable Antibacterial Cotton Fabric by Plasma Treatment with Dimethylhydantoin: Antibacterial Activity against S. aureus

published_or_final_versio

A complex network based model for detecting isolated communities in water distribution networks

2013-2014 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Transverse electric field–induced deformation of armchair single-walled carbon nanotube

The deformation of armchair single-walled carbon nanotube under transverse electric field has been investigated using density functional theory. The results show that the circular cross-sections of the nanotubes are deformed to elliptic ones, in which the tube diameter along the field direction is increased, whereas the diameter perpendicular to the field direction is reduced. The electronic structures of the deformed nanotubes were also studied. The ratio of the major diameter to the minor diameter of the elliptic cross-section was used to estimate the degree of the deformation. It is found that this ratio depends on the field strength and the tube diameter. However, the field direction has little role in the deformation

Role of Esrrg in the Fibrate-Mediated Regulation of Lipid Metabolism Genes in Human ApoA-I Transgenic Mice

We have used a new ApoA-I transgenic mouse model to identify by global gene expression profiling, candidate genes that affect lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in response to fenofibrate treatment. Multilevel bioinformatical analysis and stringent selection criteria (2-fold change, 0% false discovery rate) identified 267 significantly changed genes involved in several molecular pathways. The fenofibrate-treated group did not have significantly altered levels of hepatic human APOA-I mRNA and plasma ApoA-I compared with the control group. However, the treatment increased cholesterol levels to 1.95-fold mainly due to the increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The observed changes in HDL are associated with the upregulation of genes involved in phospholipid biosynthesis and lipid hydrolysis, as well as phospholipid transfer protein. Significant upregulation was observed in genes involved in fatty acid transport and β-oxidation, but not in those of fatty acid and cholesterol biosynthesis, Krebs cycle and gluconeogenesis. Fenofibrate changed significantly the expression of seven transcription factors. The estrogen receptor-related gamma gene was upregulated 2.36-fold and had a significant positive correlation with genes of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and mitochondrial functions, indicating an important role of this orphan receptor in mediating the fenofibrate-induced activation of a specific subset of its target genes.National Institutes of Health (HL48739 and HL68216); European Union (LSHM-CT-2006-0376331, LSHG-CT-2006-037277); the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens; the Hellenic Cardiological Society; the John F Kostopoulos Foundatio

Copy number variation in Hong Kong patients with autism spectrum disorder

Oral Free Paper Session: Oral Presentation 6 [best oral presentation]BACKGROUND AND AIMS: When offering chromosomal microarray for patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as according to international standards, copy number variations of uncertain significance (CNV VUS) are frequently identified, which leads to challenges in genetic counselling. We aim to study the CNV findings in children with ASD in Hong Kong, and to gather information for reclassification of recurrent CNV VUS. METHODS: ASD patients from the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine QMH/HKU were recruited if their Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) were done anytime from January 2011 to August 2014 in Prenatal Diagnostic Laboratory, Tsan Yuk Hospital. Diagnosis of ASD was made by developmental paediatricians and clinical psychologists using the criteria from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth or Fifth Edition. NimbleGen CGX-135k oligonucleotide array and Agilent CGX 60k oligonucleotide array were used. Information was summarised from the literature and existing databases to re-classify CNV VUS occurring in our ASD cohort. RESULTS: Among 288 patients with ASD in our cohort, we identified 5 patients with pathogenic CNV (1.74%) and 5 patients with likely pathogenic CNV (1.74%). Among all the CNV VUS, one variant overlapping DPP10 (hg[19] chr2:116,534,689-116,672,358) was recurrently found in Chinese individuals. The frequency of this variant in our ASD cohort was 0.35% (1 in 288), and 0.96% (9 in 935) in our controls. (P=0.467, two-tailed Fisher’s exact test). Similar CNVs were suggested to be ASD-related in previous studies recruiting mainly Caucasians. However, there were Chinese individuals with typical development possessing similar CNVs identified in independent sources (9 from our internal database, 1 from Singapore Genome Variation Project, 24 from The Singapore Prospective Study Program). CONCLUSIONS: Our study explored the CNV findings in Hong Kong paediatric ASD patients. The CNV overlapping DPP10 may be a Chinese-related copy-number variation in Hong Kong Chinese, and we reclassified it to be likely benign in our locality. Our result emphasized the need to account for ethnicity to give the most precise interpretation of aCGH data.published_or_final_versio

A phylogenetic generalized hidden Markov model for predicting alternatively spliced exons

BACKGROUND: An important challenge in eukaryotic gene prediction is accurate identification of alternatively spliced exons. Functional transcripts can go undetected in gene expression studies when alternative splicing only occurs under specific biological conditions. Non-expression based computational methods support identification of rarely expressed transcripts. RESULTS: A non-expression based statistical method is presented to annotate alternatively spliced exons using a single genome sequence and evidence from cross-species sequence conservation. The computational method is implemented in the program ExAlt and an analysis of prediction accuracy is given for Drosophila melanogaster. CONCLUSION: ExAlt identifies the structure of most alternatively spliced exons in the test set and cross-species sequence conservation is shown to improve the precision of predictions. The software package is available to run on Drosophila genomes to search for new cases of alternative splicing

Biocompatibility of Graphene Oxide

Herein, we report the effects of graphene oxides on human fibroblast cells and mice with the aim of investigating graphene oxides' biocompatibility. The graphene oxides were prepared by the modified Hummers method and characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscope and atomic force microscopy. The human fibroblast cells were cultured with different doses of graphene oxides for day 1 to day 5. Thirty mice divided into three test groups (low, middle, high dose) and one control group were injected with 0.1, 0.25, and 0.4 mg graphene oxides, respectively, and were raised for 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days, respectively. Results showed that the water-soluble graphene oxides were successfully prepared; graphene oxides with dose less than 20 μg/mL did not exhibit toxicity to human fibroblast cells, and the dose of more than 50 μg/mL exhibits obvious cytotoxicity such as decreasing cell adhesion, inducing cell apoptosis, entering into lysosomes, mitochondrion, endoplasm, and cell nucleus. Graphene oxides under low dose (0.1 mg) and middle dose (0.25 mg) did not exhibit obvious toxicity to mice and under high dose (0.4 mg) exhibited chronic toxicity, such as 4/9 mice death and lung granuloma formation, mainly located in lung, liver, spleen, and kidney, almost could not be cleaned by kidney. In conclusion, graphene oxides exhibit dose-dependent toxicity to cells and animals, such as inducing cell apoptosis and lung granuloma formation, and cannot be cleaned by kidney. When graphene oxides are explored for in vivo applications in animal or human body, its biocompatibility must be considered

The construction of a Solanum habrochaites LYC4 introgression line population and the identification of QTLs for resistance to Botrytis cinerea

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is susceptible to grey mold (Botrytis cinerea). Partial resistance to this fungus has been identified in accessions of wild relatives of tomato such as Solanum habrochaites LYC4. In a previous F2 mapping study, three QTLs conferring resistance to B. cinerea (Rbcq1, Rbcq2 and Rbcq4a) were identified. As it was probable that this study had not identified all QTLs involved in resistance we developed an introgression line (IL) population (n = 30), each containing a S. habrochaites introgression in the S. lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker genetic background. On average each IL contained 5.2% of the S. habrochaites genome and together the lines provide an estimated coverage of 95%. The level of susceptibility to B. cinerea for each of the ILs was assessed in a greenhouse trial and compared to the susceptible parent S. lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker. The effect of the three previously identified loci could be confirmed and seven additional loci were detected. Some ILs contains multiple QTLs and the increased resistance to B. cinerea in these ILs is in line with a completely additive model. We conclude that this set of QTLs offers good perspectives for breeding of B. cinerea resistant cultivars and that screening an IL population is more sensitive for detection of QTLs conferring resistance to B. cinerea than the analysis in an F2 population

Local Competition Between Foraging Relatives: Growth and Survival of Bruchid Beetle Larvae

Kin selection theory states that when resources are limited and all else is equal, individuals will direct competition away from kin. However, when competition between relatives is completely local, as is the case in granivorous insects whose larval stages spend their lives within a single seed, this can reduce or even negate the kin-selected benefits. Instead, an increase in competition may have the same detrimental effects on individuals that forage with kin as those that forage with non-kin. In a factorial experiment we assessed the effects of relatedness and competition over food on the survival and on fitness-related traits of the bruchid beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. Relatedness of competitors did not affect the survival of larvae. Larval survival substantially decreased with increasing larval density, and we found evidence that beetles maturing at a larger size were more adversely affected by competition, resulting in lower survival rates. Furthermore, females showed a reduction in their growth rate with increasing larval density, emerging smaller after the same development time. Males increased their growth rate, emerging earlier but at a similar size when food was more limited. Our results add to the growing number of studies that fail to show a relationship between relatedness and a reduction in competition between relatives in closed systems, and emphasize the importance of the scale at which competition between relatives occurs