The separation of proteins via charged electromembrane process

A new method for separation and concentration of protein and other biocolloids such as hemoglobin and albumin was developed by a process called the charged electromembrane (CEM) process. The process is characterized by using a metallic membrane as a filter which can carry either positive or negative electric current. The effect of various factors on the separation coefficient and filtration efficiency were investigated experimentally. These factors include strength of electric field, pH of colloidal solution, electric current through membrane filter and flow rate. It was found out that the thickness of the gel layer formed on the membrane could be largely eliminated by electrophoresis and the expulsive force caused by the negatively charged electromembrane

Obesity and Heart Diseases, a Worsened Epidemic in Recent Decades

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases. Obesity induces serious heart diseases such as hypertension, heart failure, and coronary disease by multiple mechanisms. The endothelial dysfunction and artherosclerosis induced by obesity lead to the result of coronary artery disease. In addition, obesity is a substantial public health crisis worldwide, and internationally, with the prevalence increasing rapidly in numerous industrialized nations. Worldwide, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese. The first choice of treatment is weight loss by life-style modification, such as diet and exercise. Medication and surgery are for moderate obese patients with comorbidity. How to find the appropriate method of weight losing is the most important issue

Multifunctional Micro-Scale Sensors for Water Safety Monitoring with Only Bare Platinum Electrodes

End-point monitoring at home is crucial to secure water safety because water can be contaminated in the drinking water distribution system (DWDS), like the Flint water crisis in 2014. The contamination can come from overgrown algae, pipe corrosion, or even pipe leakage from construction vibration. Though end-point monitoring is crucial, it is still not practical for most users to have home water monitoring device. Water safety analysis involves a number of variables, and a single variable can not represent the quality of water. Thus water monitoring typically performed using multiple sensors, which cost $100 each and the total cost is around thousands. The total size, cost, and the maintenance difficulties of the water sensors are still barriers for most families to secure water safety. This dissertation develops an integrated practical micro-scale sensor for water monitoring. The sensor can measure seven important variables: flow-rate, temperature, ionic conductivity, pH, oxidation-reduction-potential (ORP), lead ions, and other heavy metal ions. The flow-rate, temperature and ionic conductivity sensors are optimized from previous technology. These sensors are simplified for low fabrication cost and easy integration. The flow rate and temperature sensors are capable of measuring 0.5-2.0 GPM in 10-50 ºC. The conductivity sensor can measure 0-8000 µS/cm in 10-50 ºC water. The pH, ORP, lead, and other heavy metal ions sensors are developed with original methods. These sensors require no reference electrodes, sample pre-treatment, surface labeling through chemical reactions, or membrane coating. The sensors measure the targeted ions by controlling the surface reactions on simple platinum electrodes. The pH and ORP sensor can measure pH 4 to 10 and ORP 200 to 800 mV simultaneously with only bare platinum electrodes. The four-electrode heavy metal sensor can distinguish lead from other heavy metals. The sensor is capable of being embedded in the DWDS and detecting Pb at action level (15 ppb). All of the seven sensors presented in this dissertation are composed of only a single layer PVD Ti/Pt. Due to the simple structure and fabrication, the sensors can be easily integrated, and the entire device costs only about 10 cents. This dissertation demonstrates a method to achieve end-point water monitoring at home. The simple structure of these sensors make them promising for long-term applications under strong hydraulic force. The lead and other heavy metal sensors are also operated two months to validate the possibility of long-term monitoring. Though these sensors are not optimized for energy consumption and response time yet, this dissertation presents promising, unique, and practical sensors designed for residential water monitoring.PHDChemical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138497/1/wclin_1.pd

miRExpress: Analyzing high-throughput sequencing data for profiling microRNA expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs of 19 to 25 nt, play important roles in gene regulation in both animals and plants. In the last few years, the oligonucleotide microarray is one high-throughput and robust method for detecting miRNA expression. However, the approach is restricted to detecting the expression of known miRNAs. Second-generation sequencing is an inexpensive and high-throughput sequencing method. This new method is a promising tool with high sensitivity and specificity and can be used to measure the abundance of small-RNA sequences in a sample. Hence, the expression profiling of miRNAs can involve use of sequencing rather than an oligonucleotide array. Additionally, this method can be adopted to discover novel miRNAs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This work presents a systematic approach, miRExpress, for extracting miRNA expression profiles from sequencing reads obtained by second-generation sequencing technology. A stand-alone software package is implemented for generating miRNA expression profiles from high-throughput sequencing of RNA without the need for sequenced genomes. The software is also a database-supported, efficient and flexible tool for investigating miRNA regulation. Moreover, we demonstrate the utility of miRExpress in extracting miRNA expression profiles from two Illumina data sets constructed for the human and a plant species.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We develop miRExpress, which is a database-supported, efficient and flexible tool for detecting miRNA expression profile. The analysis of two Illumina data sets constructed from human and plant demonstrate the effectiveness of miRExpress to obtain miRNA expression profiles and show the usability in finding novel miRNAs.</p

Comparison of photon volumetric modulated arc therapy, intensity-modulated proton therapy, and intensity-modulated carbon ion therapy for delivery of hypo-fractionated thoracic radiotherapy

Purpose The aim of the present study was to compare the dose distribution generated from photon volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), and intensity modulated carbon ion therapy (IMCIT) in the delivery of hypo-fractionated thoracic radiotherapy. Methods and materials Ten selected patients who underwent thoracic particle therapy between 2015 and 2016 were re-planned to receive a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) weighted dose of 60 Gy (i.e., GyE) in 15 fractions delivered with VMAT, IMPT, or IMCIT with the same optimization criteria. Treatment plans were then compared. Results There were no significant differences in target volume dose coverage or dose conformity, except improved D95 was found with IMCIT compared with VMAT (p = 0.01), and IMCIT was significantly better than IMPT in all target volume dose parameters. Particle therapy led to more prominent lung sparing at low doses, and this result was most prominent with IMCIT (p \u3c 0.05). Improved sparing of other thoracic organs at risk (OARs) was observed with particle therapy, and IMCIT further lowered the D1cc and D5cc for major blood vessels, as compared with IMPT (p = 0.01). Conclusion Although it was comparable to VMAT, IMCIT led to significantly better tumor target dose coverage and conformity than did IMPT. Particle therapy, compared with VMAT, improved thoracic OAR sparing. IMCIT, compared with IMPT, may further improve normal lung and major blood vessel sparing under limited respiratory motion

"An Econometric Analysis of SARS and Avian Flu on International Tourist Arrivals to Asia"

This paper compares the impacts of SARS and human deaths arising from Avian Flu on international tourist arrivals to Asia. The effects of SARS and human deaths from Avian Flu will be compared directly according to human deaths. The nature of the short run and long run relationship is examined empirically by estimating a static line fixed effect model and a difference transformation dynamic model, respectively. Empirical results from the static fixed effect and difference transformation dynamic models are consistent, and indicate that both the short run and long run SARS effect have a more significant impact on international tourist arrivals than does Avian Flu. In addition, the effects of deaths arising from both SARS and Avian Flu suggest that SARS is more important to international tourist arrivals than is Avian Flu. Thus, while Avian Flu is here to stay, its effect is currently not as significant as that of SARS.

Usability Evaluation And Correspondence Analysis Of Smartphone Operating Systems

User-centered smartphone interface design is important so that consumers can easily learn about and begin to use newly purchased smartphones. This study first evaluates the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of smartphone interfaces in Taiwan in terms of two representational operating systems: Android and iPhone OS. The usability evaluation includes observational experiments, user questionnaires, and the Wilcoxon sign-rank test. This study then conducts the correspondence analysis to summarize positive/ negative evaluations of usage and specification for smartphone OS. In observational experiments, a total of 48 participants with no previous smartphone experience on using smartphone with Android and iPhone OS are asked to perform five common phone tasks. All experiments are recorded and observed. Results and observations are discussed to attain a closer match between user needs and the performance of smartphone OS