Detection of genetic and epigenetic DNA markers in urine for the early detection of primary and recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Poster presented at American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) meeting in San Francisco California. Objective: Develop a urine test using a panel of select genetic and epigenetic markers for the early detection of primary and recurrent HCC. Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or liver cancer is an aggressive disease and one of the fastest growing cancers by incidence in the United States. Early detection is the key for effective treatment of HCC as the 5-year survival rate is 26% in early stage HCC as compared to only 2% when found after spreading to distant organs. The current marker, alpha-feto protein (AFP) and its fucosylated glycoform, L3, are of limited value with only 40-60% sensitivity.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/gastrohepposters/1000/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of Resistance to Clarithromycin and Virulence Markers in Helicobacter pylori Clinical Isolates from Eastern Taiwan

AbstractObjectiveLittle information is available concerning the relationships between clarithromycin resistance and virulence marker genes (iceA, cagA and vacA) in Helicobacter pylori isolated in Taiwan. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible association between clarithromycin resistance and genotypes of the virulence markers on clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori isolates obtained in eastern TaiwanMaterials and MethodsThe genotypes of the virulence marker genes (iceA, cagA and vacA) were analyzed by PCR, and the 23S rDNA region from 18 clarithromycin-resistant clinical isolates of H. pylori was amplified by PCR and sequenced.ResultsPoint mutations were found to occur in all isolates. Two isolates had A2143G, six had T2182C, one had C2227T, six had A2143G plus T2182C, and three had heterozygous alleles. The latter included a wild-type allele (A2143) plus (i) an A2143G, (ii) an A2143G plus an A2223G, and (iii) an A2143G plus a T2182C. The prevalence of the marker genes cagA, iceA1, iceA2, and both iceA1 and iceA2, in the isolates was 95.5%, 66.9%, 7.5%, and 25.6%, respectively. The vacAs1 allele was detected in all isolates, whereas the m1 and m2 alleles were found in 44.4% and 55.6% of the isolates, respectivelyConclusionThere were no significant associations between clarithromycin resistance and the presence of the cagA gene, vacA allele mosaicism, and the iceA genotypes. The most notable finding of our study was that the C2227T single mutation in 23S rDNA could also be related to the high clarithromycin minimal inhibitory concentrations in clinical isolates from eastern Taiwan

Sensor Fabrication Method for in Situ Temperature and Humidity Monitoring of Light Emitting Diodes

In this work micro temperature and humidity sensors are fabricated to measure the junction temperature and humidity of light emitting diodes (LED). The junction temperature is frequently measured using thermal resistance measurement technology. The weakness of this method is that the timing of data capture is not regulated by any standard. This investigation develops a device that can stably and continually measure temperature and humidity. The device is light-weight and can monitor junction temperature and humidity in real time. Using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), this study minimizes the size of the micro temperature and humidity sensors, which are constructed on a stainless steel foil substrate (40 μm-thick SS-304). The micro temperature and humidity sensors can be fixed between the LED chip and frame. The sensitivities of the micro temperature and humidity sensors are 0.06 ± 0.005 (Ω/°C) and 0.033 pF/%RH, respectively

Development of Shanghai satellite laser ranging station

The topics covered include the following: improvement of the system hardware; upgrading of the software; the observation status; preliminary daylight tracking capability; testing the new type of laser; and future plans

Operation and evaluation of digitalized retail electricity markets under low-carbon transition: recent advances and challenges

With the growth of electricity consumers purchasing green energy and the development of digital energy trading platforms, the role of digitalized retail electricity markets in the low-carbon transition of electric energy systems is becoming increasingly crucial. In this circumstance, the research work on retail electricity markets needs to be further analyzed and expanded, which would facilitate the efficient decision-making of both market players and policymakers. First, this paper introduces the latest developments in the retail electricity market under low-carbon energy transition and analyzes the limitations of the existing research works. Second, from three aspects of power trading strategy, retail pricing methodology, and market risk management, it provides an overview of the existing operation and mechanism design strategies of the retail electricity market; then, it provides a systematic introduction to the evaluation system and monitoring methodology of electricity markets, which is not sufficient for the current digitalized retail electricity markets. Finally, the issues regarding operation evaluation and platform optimization of the current digitalized retail electricity market are summarized, and the research topics worth further investigations are recommended

Simultaneous compression of the passively mode-locked pulsewidth and pulse train

Simultaneous compression of the passively mode-locked pulse width and pulse train have been achieved by using a plano-convex unstable resonator hybrided by a nonlinear Sagnac ring interferometer. The greater than 30 mJ single pulse energy of a lone oscillator and less than or equal to 10 ps pulsewidth have been obtained. Using this system, the LAGEOS and ETALON satellites' laser ranging have been performed successfully

Crown ether decorated silicon photonics for safeguarding against lead poisoning

Lead (Pb2+) toxification in society is one of the most concerning public health crisis that remains unaddressed. The exposure to Pb2+ poisoning leads to a multitude of enduring health issues, even at the part-per-billion scale (ppb). Yet, public action dwarfs its impact. Pb2+ poisoning is estimated to account for 1 million deaths per year globally, which is in addition to its chronic impact on children. With their ring-shaped cavities, crown ethers are uniquely capable of selectively binding to specific ions. In this work, for the first time, the synergistic integration of highly-scalable silicon photonics, with crown ether amine conjugation via Fischer esterification in an environmentally-friendly fashion is demonstrated. This realises a photonic platform that enables the in-situ, highly-selective and quantitative detection of various ions. The development dispels the existing notion that Fischer esterification is restricted to organic compounds, laying the ground for subsequent amine conjugation for various crown ethers. In this work, the platform is engineered for Pb2+ detection, demonstrating a large dynamic detection range of 1 - 262000 ppb with high selectivity against a wide range of relevant ions. These results indicate the potential for the pervasive implementation of the technology to safeguard against ubiquitous lead poisoning in our society

Reply to: Mobility overestimation in MoS2_2 transistors due to invasive voltage probes

In this reply, we include new experimental results and verify that the observed non-linearity in rippled-MoS$_2$ (leading to mobility kink) is an intrinsic property of a disordered system, rather than contact effects (invasive probes) or other device issues. Noting that Peng Wu's hypothesis is based on a highly ordered ideal system, transfer curves are expected to be linear, and the carrier density is assumed be constant. Wu's model is therefore oversimplified for disordered systems and neglects carrier-density dependent scattering physics. Thus, it is fundamentally incompatible with our rippled-MoS$_2$, and leads to the wrong conclusion