A Cross-laboratory Comparison Study of Titan Haze Analogs: Surface Energy

In Titan’s nitrogen-methane atmosphere, photochemistry leads to the production of complex organic particles, forming Titan’s thick haze layers. Laboratory-produced aerosol analogs, or “tholins,” are produced in a number of laboratories; however, most previous studies have investigated analogs produced by only one laboratory rather than a systematic, comparative analysis. In this study, we performed a comparative study of an important material property, the surface energy, of seven tholin samples produced in three independent laboratories under a broad range of experimental conditions, and we explored their commonalities and differences. All seven tholin samples are found to have high surface energies and are therefore highly cohesive. Thus, if the surface sediments on Titan are similar to tholins, future missions such as Dragonfly will likely encounter sticky sediments. We also identified a commonality between all the tholin samples: a high dispersive (nonpolar) surface energy component of at least 30 mJ m−2. This common property could be shared by the actual haze particles on Titan as well. Given that the most abundant species interacting with the haze on Titan (methane, ethane, and nitrogen) are nonpolar in nature, the dispersive surface energy component of the haze particles could be a determinant factor in condensate−haze and haze−lake liquid interactions on Titan. With this common trait of tholin samples, we confirmed the findings of a previous study by Yu et al. that haze particles are likely good cloud condensation nuclei for methane and ethane clouds and would likely be completely wetted by the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan

A Cross-laboratory Comparison Study of Titan Haze Analogs: Surface Energy

In Titan’s nitrogen-methane atmosphere, photochemistry leads to the production of complex organic particles, forming Titan’s thick haze layers. Laboratory-produced aerosol analogs, or “tholins,” are produced in a number of laboratories; however, most previous studies have investigated analogs produced by only one laboratory rather than a systematic, comparative analysis. In this study, we performed a comparative study of an important material property, the surface energy, of seven tholin samples produced in three independent laboratories under a broad range of experimental conditions, and we explored their commonalities and differences. All seven tholin samples are found to have high surface energies and are therefore highly cohesive. Thus, if the surface sediments on Titan are similar to tholins, future missions such as Dragonfly will likely encounter sticky sediments. We also identified a commonality between all the tholin samples: a high dispersive (nonpolar) surface energy component of at least 30 mJ m−2. This common property could be shared by the actual haze particles on Titan as well. Given that the most abundant species interacting with the haze on Titan (methane, ethane, and nitrogen) are nonpolar in nature, the dispersive surface energy component of the haze particles could be a determinant factor in condensate−haze and haze−lake liquid interactions on Titan. With this common trait of tholin samples, we confirmed the findings of a previous study by Yu et al. that haze particles are likely good cloud condensation nuclei for methane and ethane clouds and would likely be completely wetted by the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan

Trans-omics biomarker model improves prognostic prediction accuracy for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma

Limited studies have focused on developing prognostic models with trans-omics biomarkers for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). We performed integrative analysis of clinical information, DNA methylation, and gene expression data using 825 early-stage LUAD patients from 5 cohorts. Ranger algorithm was used to screen prognosis-associated biomarkers, which were confirmed with a validation phase. Clinical and biomarker information was fused using an iCluster plus algorithm, which significantly distinguished patients into high- and low-mortality risk groups (Pdiscovery = 0.01 and Pvalidation = 2.71×10-3). Further, potential functional DNA methylation-gene expression-overall survival pathways were evaluated by causal mediation analysis. The effect of DNA methylation level on LUAD survival was significantly mediated through gene expression level. By adding DNA methylation and gene expression biomarkers to a model of only clinical data, the AUCs of the trans-omics model improved by 18.3% (to 87.2%) and 16.4% (to 85.3%) in discovery and validation phases, respectively. Further, concordance index of the nomogram was 0.81 and 0.77 in discovery and validation phases, respectively. Based on systematic review of published literatures, our model was superior to all existing models for early-stage LUAD. In summary, our trans-omics model may help physicians accurately identify patients with high mortality risk

Synthesis and characterization of cellulose acetate-hydroxyapatite micro and nano composites membranes for water purification and biomedical applications

In this work, we report facile synthesis and characterization of new cellulose acetate-hydroxyapatite membranes for water purification and biomedical applications. The membranes were synthesized from a polymer solution in N, N’-dimethylformamide (12% wt.) where different concentrations of hydroxyapatite (1, 2, 4% wt. based on the amount of polymer) were dispersed using sonication. The synthesis of membranes was carried out by precipitation employing phase inversion using deionized water. The morphological and structural characterization of the synthesized membranes was carried out using SEM, EDS and FT-IR. Thermal characterization (TGA & DTG) and water flows analysis of the synthesized membranes was also carried out. The SEM analysis confirmed the presence of hydroxyapatite micro/nanostructured particles in the membrane as well as significant changes in the morphology of the membranes surface. The presence of inorganic compounds was also found to influence the thermal or hydrodynamic properties of the composite membranes, leading to a more stable hydrodynamic behavior, flow variation in time being much lower compared to the control membrane of cellulose acetate

OGEE: an online gene essentiality database

OGEE is an Online GEne Essentiality database. Its main purpose is to enhance our understanding of the essentiality of genes. This is achieved by collecting not only experimentally tested essential and non-essential genes, but also associated gene features such as expression profiles, duplication status, conservation across species, evolutionary origins and involvement in embryonic development. We focus on large-scale experiments and complement our data with text-mining results. Genes are organized into data sets according to their sources. Genes with variable essentiality status across data sets are tagged as conditionally essential, highlighting the complex interplay between gene functions and environments. Linked tools allow the user to compare gene essentiality among different gene groups, or compare features of essential genes to non-essential genes, and visualize the results. OGEE is freely available at http://ogeedb.embl.de

Tumor Growth Suppressive Effect of IL-4 Through p21-Mediated Activation of STAT6 in IL-4Rα Overexpressed Melanoma Models

To evaluate the significance of interleukin 4 (IL-4) in tumor development, we compared B16F10 melanoma growth in IL-4-overespressing transgenic mice (IL-4 mice) and non-transgenic mice. In IL-4 mice, reduced tumor volume and weight were observed when compared with those of non-transgenic mice. Significant activation of DNA binding activity of STAT6, phosphorylation of STAT6 as well as IL-4, IL-4Rα and p21 expression were found in the tumor tissues of IL-4 mice compared to non-transgenic mice. Higher expression of IL-4, STAT6 and p21 in human melanoma tissue compared to normal human skin tissue was also found. Higher expression of apoptotic protein such as cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-8, cleaved caspase-9, Bax, p53 and p21, but lower expression levels of survival protein such as Bcl-2 were found in the tumor of IL-4 mice. In vitro study, we found that overexpression of IL-4 significantly inhibited SK-MEL-28 human melanoma cell and B16F10 murine melanoma cell growth via p21-mediated activation of STAT6 pathway as well as increased expression of apoptotic cell death proteins. Moreover, p21 knockdown with siRNA abolished IL-4 induced activation of STAT6 and expression of p53 and p21 accompanied with reduced IL-4 expression as well as melanoma cell growth inhibition. Therefore, these results showed that IL-4 overexpression suppressed tumor development through p21-mediated activation of STAT6 pathways in melanoma models

T cell subpopulations in lymph nodes may not be predictive of patient outcome in colorectal cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The immune response has been proposed to be an important factor in determining patient outcome in colorectal cancer (CRC). Previous studies have concentrated on characterizing T cell populations in the primary tumour where T cells with regulatory effect (Foxp3+ Tregs) have been identified as both enhancing and diminishing anti-tumour immune responses. No previous studies have characterized the T cell response in the regional lymph nodes in CRC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Immunohistochemistry was used to analyse CD4, CD8 or Foxp3+ T cell populations in the regional lymph nodes of patients with stage II CRC (n = 31), with (n = 13) or without (n = 18) cancer recurrence after 5 years of follow up, to determine if the priming environment for anti-tumour immunity was associated with clinical outcome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The proportions of CD4, CD8 or Foxp3+ cells in the lymph nodes varied widely between and within patients, and there was no association between T cell populations and cancer recurrence or other clinicopathological characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data indicate that frequency of these T cell subsets in lymph nodes may not be a useful tool for predicting patient outcome.</p

The application of omics in ruminant production: a review in the tropical and sub-tropical animal production context

The demand for animal products (e.g. dairy and beef) in tropical regions is expected to increase in parallel with the public demand for sustainable practices, due to factors such as population growth and climate change. The necessity to increase animal production output must be achieved with better management and production technologies. For this to happen, novel research methodologies, animal selection and postgenomic tools play a pivotal role. Indeed, improving breeder selection programs, the quality of meat and dairy products as well as animal health will contribute to higher sustainability and productivity. This would surely benefit regions where resource quality and quantity are increasingly unstable, and research is still very incipient, which is the case of many regions in the tropics. The purpose of this review is to demonstrate how omics-based approaches play a major role in animal science, particularly concerning ruminant production systems and research associated to the tropics and developing countriesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Comparative Genomics of Helicobacter pylori Strains of China Associated with Different Clinical Outcome

In this study, a whole-genome CombiMatrix Custom oligonucleotide tiling microarray with 90000 probes covering six sequenced Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) genomes was designed. This microarray was used to compare the genomic profiles of eight unsequenced strains isolated from patients with different gastroduodenal diseases in Heilongjiang province of China. Since significant genomic variation was found among these strains, an additional 76 H. pylori strains associated with different clinical outcomes were isolated from various provinces of China. These strains were tested by polymerase chain reaction to demonstrate this distinction. We identified several highly variable regions in strains associated with gastritis, gastric ulceration, and gastric cancer. These regions are associated with genes involved in the bacterial type I, type II, and type III R-M systems. They were also associated with the virB gene, which lies on the well-studied cag pathogenic island. While previous studies have reported on the diverse genetic characterization of this pathogenic island, in this study, we find that it is conserved in all strains tested by microarray. Moreover, a number of genes involved in the type IV secretion system, which is related to horizontal DNA transfer between H. pylori strains, were identified in the comparative analysis of the strain-specific genes. These findings may provide insight into new biomarkers for the prediction of gastric diseases

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum