Endogenous nitric oxide production in airways of patients with cystic fibrosis

Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly reactive molecule with physiological and pathological roles in the airways. This thesis first investigated the production of NO in the airways of cystic fibrosis patients compared to normal and asthmatic subjects after validating a method to measure this which excluded known confounding factors. The first finding was that exhaled NO, against expectation were not increased in cystic fibrosis patients, even during infective exacerbations. I hypothesised that this could be due to lack of detection of NO (secondary to removal of NO by reaction with other reactive molecules and/or impedance of diffusion of this gaseous molecule into the airway) or lack of production (secondary to decreased expression of nitric oxide synthase II (NOS II), the gene thought to be responsible for NO production within an inflammatory setting). The thesis thus explored these possibilities by investigating a) exhaled NO levels in patients with bronchiectasis, a group of patients with similar suppurative airway disease to cystic fibrosis b) breath condensate levels of hydrogen peroxide, another highly reactive volatile molecule in cystic fibrosis patients compared to normal subjects c) expression of NOS II in cystic fibrosis and nominal primary epithelial cells and epithelial cell lines at baseline and in response to pro inflammatory stimuli and d) nitrite levels in breath condensate of CF patients. In order to perform the above, methods for measuring hydrogen peroxide and nitrite in breath condensate were developed. The correlation between the levels of these molecules and lung function and circulating leucocytes were also determined. The thesis found that like exhaled gaseous NO, hydrogen peroxide levels were not elevated in exhaled air of patients with CF. However nitrite levels were increased and this correlated with the levels of circulating leucocytes. The expression of NOS II were normal in primary cystic fibrosis epithelial cells and epithelial cell lines in vitro. Therefore, it is concluded that exhaled NO is not helpful as a marker of airways inflammation in chronic suppurative airway diseases of cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. This is likely to be due to lack of detection rather than production of NO from the epithelium. Breath condensate nitrite levels may be a more useful tool for measuring airways inflammation in these conditions and further developments in this area are suggested

Comparison of the Aesthetic Pleasure Design Cultures between the East and the West

From the cultural perspective, aesthetic pleasure is influenced by the implicit and explicit ethnic characteristics. For instance, the triggers of laughter in western and eastern humors are different. The concepts of designing the aesthetic pleasure of a product may also be influenced by human lifestyles. Based on Aesthetic of Reception proposed by Hans Robert Jauss, this study attempted to use the fundamental framework of aesthetic pleasure which includes three perspectives, including creation poiesis , perception aesthesis , and purification catharsis , to examine the difference between western instrumentalism and eastern spiritualism. From the idea that creation is to produce aesthetic experience and is the representation of design, the development of the representation of design in the east and the west could be derived. Perception is the pleasant emotions created after affective reception. It is the perception of design that reflects the perceptions of pleasure in the eastern and the western world. Purification is the result of interactions with aesthetic experience, allowing us to understand the formation of taste and style. Through the fundamental framework of aesthetic pleasure, the difference between the east and the west in aesthetic pleasure can be more easily observed, and a new discourse of design can also be formed from this cultural perspective

Effects of herbicides on fungal phytopathogens

Herbicides are inevitable inputs to control excessive weed in crop land, particularly where modern agricultural practices such as conservation tillage, are opted. Intensive farming has increased the market value of herbicides among the other pesticides. Although herbicides are effective in controlling weed population, administration of this synthetic chemicals may alter the soil microbial community causing potential increase of plant pathogens. Moreover, herbicides may also have nontarget effects on the cultivated crops making them more susceptible to diseases. Actions of herbicides in soil that either stimulate microbial growth or wipe out some microbial population may create space for the thrivial of opportunistic fungi. Previous studies showed that white rot fungi are more tolerant to herbicides as they produce lignin degrading enzymes that are highly oxidative, non-specific and are able to transform a wide range of herbicides. Besides that, this group of fungi can grow on agricultural waste substrates. Influence of these herbicides on soil microbial ecosystem and interactions of plants and pathogenic white rot fungi modulate disease development in plant hosts

Identification of microRNA precursors in Bruguiera spp.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are approximately 22 nt single stranded functional RNAs derived from long stem-loop precursors transcribed by RNA polymerase II. They regulate gene expression through post-transcriptional gene silencing and are important for the regulation of growth, development and stress responses in plants. Mature nucleotide sequences of many miRNA families are highly conserved across the plant kingdom and can be used to identify and annotate homologs and potential miRNA targets. In this study, mature miRNA sequences retrieved from the miRNA registry (miRBase) were used to identify precursor sequences of miRNA orthologs and their potential targets among Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) of the mangrove species Bruguiera cylindrica (L.) Blume, B. gymnorhiza (L.) Lam. and B. sexangula (Lour.) Poir. Candidate miRNA precursors, which potentially belong to the miR156/7, miR396 and miR529 families, had high sequence identity between Bruguiera cylindrica and Bruguiera gymnorhiza, and expression of RNA was confirmed in both species. A number of candidate targets for miR396 and miR529 were also identified among EST from B. gymnorhiza

Prevalence of physical frailty, including risk factors, up to 1 year after hospitalisation for COVID-19 in the UK: a multicentre, longitudinal cohort study.

Background The scale of COVID-19 and its well documented long-term sequelae support a need to understand long-term outcomes including frailty. Methods This prospective cohort study recruited adults who had survived hospitalisation with clinically diagnosed COVID-19 across 35 sites in the UK (PHOSP-COVID). The burden of frailty was objectively measured using Fried's Frailty Phenotype (FFP). The primary outcome was the prevalence of each FFP group—robust (no FFP criteria), pre-frail (one or two FFP criteria) and frail (three or more FFP criteria)—at 5 months and 1 year after discharge from hospital. For inclusion in the primary analysis, participants required complete outcome data for three of the five FFP criteria. Longitudinal changes across frailty domains are reported at 5 months and 1 year post-hospitalisation, along with risk factors for frailty status. Patient-perceived recovery and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were retrospectively rated for pre-COVID-19 and prospectively rated at the 5 month and 1 year visits. This study is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN10980107. Findings Between March 5, 2020, and March 31, 2021, 2419 participants were enrolled with FFP data. Mean age was 57.9 (SD 12.6) years, 933 (38.6%) were female, and 429 (17.7%) had received invasive mechanical ventilation. 1785 had measures at both timepoints, of which 240 (13.4%), 1138 (63.8%) and 407 (22.8%) were frail, pre-frail and robust, respectively, at 5 months compared with 123 (6.9%), 1046 (58.6%) and 616 (34.5%) at 1 year. Factors associated with pre-frailty or frailty were invasive mechanical ventilation, older age, female sex, and greater social deprivation. Frail participants had a larger reduction in HRQoL compared with before their COVID-19 illness and were less likely to describe themselves as recovered. Interpretation Physical frailty and pre-frailty are common following hospitalisation with COVID-19. Improvement in frailty was seen between 5 and 12 months although two-thirds of the population remained pre-frail or frail. This suggests comprehensive assessment and interventions targeting pre-frailty and frailty beyond the initial illness are required. Funding UK Research and Innovation and National Institute for Health Research

Social Media Usage and Influenza Beliefs, Risk Perceptions and Behavioral Intentions Among Students at a University in Southeastern US

Background: To document social media usage for the retrieval of health information among college students; and to understand the beliefs, risk perceptions and behavioral intentions among participants who retrieved CDC influenza information via social media. Methods: We conducted an online survey to a convenience sample of students at a university in Southeastern United States during Spring 2015. The survey was self-administered and every matriculating student received an electronic invitation to participate at least once. Results: A total of 930 students completed the online survey. Most participants (n=905, 97.3%) reported that they had used a social networking site in the previous 12 months. However, only one-third (n=317, 34.1%) reported that they used social networking sites to read CDC health information or messages. Nearly one-fifth of participants (n=172, 18.5%) reported reading CDC influenza information during the 2014-15 influenza season. Among the subset of readers of CDC influenza information during the 2014-15 influenza season (N=153), 77 (50.99%) reported that it was likely they would get the influenza vaccine in the next 12 months. Women reported stronger risk perceptions and behavioral intentions than men. Blacks/African Americans reported more negative influenza-related beliefs and weaker risk perceptions compared to Whites. Conclusions: While social media penetration is high among university students in Southeastern US, only a minority of survey participants retrieved CDC influenza information via social media. Among these individuals, about half reported that they intended to vaccinate against influenza. Further research is needed to enhance CDC social media penetration among college students

Social Media Usage and Influenza Beliefs, Risk Perceptions and Behavioral Intentions Among Students at a University in Southeastern US

Background: To document social media usage for the retrieval of health information among college students; and to understand the beliefs, risk perceptions and behavioral intentions among participants who retrieved CDC influenza information via social media. Methods: We conducted an online survey to a convenience sample of students at a university in Southeastern United States during Spring 2015. The survey was self-administered and every matriculating student received an electronic invitation to participate at least once. Results: A total of 930 students completed the online survey. Most participants (n=905, 97.3%) reported that they had used a social networking site in the previous 12 months. However, only one-third (n=317, 34.1%) reported that they used social networking sites to read CDC health information or messages. Nearly one-fifth of participants (n=172, 18.5%) reported reading CDC influenza information during the 2014-15 influenza season. Among the subset of readers of CDC influenza information during the 2014-15 influenza season (N=153), 77 (50.99%) reported that it was likely they would get the influenza vaccine in the next 12 months. Women reported stronger risk perceptions and behavioral intentions than men. Blacks/African Americans reported more negative influenza-related beliefs and weaker risk perceptions compared to Whites. Conclusions: While social media penetration is high among university students in Southeastern US, only a minority of survey participants retrieved CDC influenza information via social media. Among these individuals, about half reported that they intended to vaccinate against influenza. Further research is needed to enhance CDC social media penetration among college students

Plant DNA Extraction Kit – fasTiP-XTM

Plant DNA extraction is prerequisite to any downstream DNA molecular application. However, the conventional DNA extraction from plant tissues are time consuming, tedious and labour intensive which involve liquid nitrogen and hazardous chemicals, such as CIA and phenol-chloroform. In addition, more than half of the DNA would be lost along this process as well. Hence, the development of rapid DNA extraction method, such as fasTiP-X kit, was greatly needed. fasTiP-X kit is a rapid and efficient plant DNA extraction kit which only involves 3 simple steps before PCR amplification. The basic concept of this kit is touch which is transferring plant samples into the extraction buffer; incubate to lyses the plant cells; and finally the solution can be directly use for further analysis. The detailed technical procedure for operating this kit is first by punching the fresh leaf using Harris micro punch®. Then, 6 punched leaf discs are incubated together with 50 μl of Extraction Buffer for 10 minutes in 95°C. After incubation, the incubated solution is mixed by inverting and tapping. Next, 120 μl of Dilution Buffer is added to the incubated solution. Eventually, the mixture can be directly used for PCR amplification. The overall process for the preparation of DNA for PCR amplification using fasTiP-X Kit can be completed in 20 minutes. Besides, it uses small amount (about 5mm2) of samples which reduces the lost of sample to minimal. This kit is applicable in forestry forensic analysis, genetic diversity study and species and clone identification