Comparative study of methods for quantifying wood smoke in the UK atmosphere

The thesis investigates the inorganic aerosol concentrations and wood smoke tracer potassium and levoglucosan concentrations in Birmingham, UK. Also a multi-wavelength aethalometer was utilized as a carbonaceous aerosol detector to directly measure the local wood smoke PM mass and traffic PM mass. To achieve this, daily PM2.5 inorganic ions sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, nitrate, sulphate, and organic compound levoglucosan were measured over a period of more than one and half years at four sampling locations. There were: (1) Elms road, University of Birmingham; (2) North Kilworth Mill Observatory Site; (3) Churchill Pumping Station Site; and (4) Budbrooke, Warwick Sampling Site. Correlation analysis, regression analysis, and seasonal variation were examined for those inorganic and organic elements and compounds. The results were used to provide comprehensive spatial and temporal distributions, intra-site and inter-site comparison differentiations. Wood smoke potassium and levoglucosan were used as wood smoke tracer to determine the local resident wood smoke PM mass concentrations in this thesis. Budbrooke, Warwick Sampling Site for example, a mean value of 62ng m-3 wood smoke potassium was measured at winter periods but the mean value of only 17ng m-3 was measured during summer periods. This significant difference demonstrated a frequent wood smoke activity in this area during winter periods. Also a multi-wavelength aethalometer was used as wood smoke mass detector to measure the local resident wood smoke PM mass and local traffic PM mass concentrations. These three methods have their unique processes of acquiring the wood smoke mass concentrations, thus the results from these method have considerable variations. Therefore these three methods have inter-compared with each other to achieve better wood smoke concentrations results in order to obtain the best method of measuring local wood smoke mass

Current and Emerging Technologies for Rapid Detection of Pathogens

Foodborne diseases, caused by pathogenic bacteria, have become an important social issue in the field of food safety. It presents a widespread and growing threat to human health in both developed and developing countries. As such, techniques for the detection of foodborne pathogens and waterborne pathogens are urgently needed to prevent the occurrence of human foodborne infections. Although traditional culture-based bacterial isolation and identification are the “gold standard” methods with high preciseness, their drawbacks in time-consuming are inadequate for rapid detection of pathogen to reduce foodborne disease occurrence. Fortunately, with the development of biotechnologies and nanotechnologies, various kinds of new technologies for rapid detection of pathogens have been developed so far, such as nucleic acid-based methods, antibody-based methods, and aptamer-based assays. In this chapter, we summarized the principles and the application of some recent rapid detection technologies for pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of the established and emerging rapid detection methods are addressed here

A Two Step Synthesis Route of WC Nanopowders

Here, a novel molten salt route to synthesize ceramic WC nanopowders was presented. Compared to the traditional synthesis procedures, this method is relatively low cost involving two-step synthesis route. In the argon atmosphere at 650 oC, the powders were the mixed WC and W2C phases. These synthesized powders were transferred to a small crucible (30 mL) containing molten salt, which were put into a 500 mL crucible with some carbon powder in it as reducing atmosphere, followed by maintaining the reaction temperature at 1100 °C for 1 h. The phase purity and composition were characterized by the powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD). It was found that W2C was transformed thoroughly into WC, which indicated the successful synthesis of WC powders using this method. The mechanism of the reaction process in molten salt has been discussed finally. The thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the as-prepared samples showed good thermal stability and oxidation resistance in high temperature. The methodology reported in this work was fundamentally important, which may find potential industrial applications

OneStopRNAseq: A Web Application for Comprehensive and Efficient Analyses of RNA-Seq Data

Over the past decade, a large amount of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data were deposited in public repositories, and more are being produced at an unprecedented rate. However, there are few open source tools with point-and-click interfaces that are versatile and offer streamlined comprehensive analysis of RNA-seq datasets. To maximize the capitalization of these vast public resources and facilitate the analysis of RNA-seq data by biologists, we developed a web application called OneStopRNAseq for the one-stop analysis of RNA-seq data. OneStopRNAseq has user-friendly interfaces and offers workflows for common types of RNA-seq data analyses, such as comprehensive data-quality control, differential analysis of gene expression, exon usage, alternative splicing, transposable element expression, allele-specific gene expression quantification, and gene set enrichment analysis. Users only need to select the desired analyses and genome build, and provide a Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) accession number or Dropbox links to sequence files, alignment files, gene-expression-count tables, or rank files with the corresponding metadata. Our pipeline facilitates the comprehensive and efficient analysis of private and public RNA-seq data

Treatment of human hepatocellular carcinoma by the oncolytic herpes simplex virus G47delta

Background: Oncolytic herpes simplex virus (HSV) can replicate in and kill cancer cells while sparing the adjacent normal tissue. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is amongst the most common and lethal cancers, especially in Third World countries. In this study, the cytotoxicity of a third-generation oncolytic HSV, G47Δ, was investigated in different human HCC cell lines and in an immortalized human hepatic cell line. Additionally, subcutaneous models of HCC were established to evaluate the in vivo anti-tumor efficacy of G47Δ. Methods: The HepG2, HepB, SMMC-7721, BEL-7404, and BEL-7405 human HCC cell lines and the HL-7702 human hepatic immortalized cell lines were infected with G47Δ at different multiplicities of infection (MOIs). The viability of infected cells was determined, and the G47Δ replication was identified by X-gal staining for LacZ expression. Two subcutaneous (s.c.) HCC tumor models of HCC were also established in Balb/c nude mice, which were intratumorally(i.t.) treated with either G47Δ or mock virus. Tumor volume and mouse survival times were documented. Results: More than 95% of the HepG2, Hep3B,and SMMC-7721 HCC cells were killed on by day 5 after infection with a MOI’s of 0.01. For the HL-7702 human hepatic immortalized cells, 100% of the cells were killed on by day 5 after infection with a MOI’s of 0.01. The BEL-7404 HCC cell line was less susceptible with about 70% cells were killed by day 5 after infection with a MOI’s of 0.01. Whereas the BEL-7405 HCC cells were the least susceptible, with only 30% of the cells were killed. Both the SMMC-7721 and BEL-7404 cells form aggressive sc tumor models. G47Δ replicates in the tumors, such that most of the tumors regressed after the G47Δ-treatment, and treated tumor-bearing mice survived much longer than the control animals. Conclusions: G47Δ effectively kills human HCC cells and an immortalized hepatic cell line at low MOI. Intra-tumor injection of G47Δ can induce a therapeutic effect and prolong the survival of treated mice bearing SMMC-7721 and BEL-7404 subcutaneously (s.c.) tumors. Thus, G47Δ may be useful as a novel therapeutic agent for HCC

Protective effect of dehydroandrographolide on obstructive cholestasis in bile duct-ligated mice

Background: Dehydroandrographolide (DA) is the main contributor to the therapeutic properties of the medicinal plant Andrographis paniculata (AP). However, it is unknown whether DA has a hepatoprotective effect on obstructive cholestasis in mice and humans. Methods: We administered DA to mice for 5 days prior to bile duct ligation (BDL) and for the 7 days. Liver function markers, liver histology and necrosis, compensatory responses of hepatocytes, liver fibrosis and the expression of hepatic fibrogenesis markers were evaluated in BDL mice and/or human LX-2 cells. Results: Mice treated with DA demonstrated lower levels of serum alanine transarninase (ALT), milder liver damage, liver necrosis and fibrosis formation than in vehicle control with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) mice after BDL. DA treatment also enhanced the Mrp3 expression of hepatocytes but not Mrp4 following BDL. Further, DA treatment in BDL mice significantly reduced liver mRNA and/or protein expression of Tgf-β, Col1a1, α-Sma and Mmp2. This result was also supported by hydroxyproline analysis. The molecular mechanisms of DA treatment were also assessed in human hepatic stellate cell line (LX-2 cell). DA treatment significantly inhibited Tgf-β-induced Col1a1, Mmp2 and α-Sma expression in human LX-2 cells. These data suggested that DA treatment reduced liver damage through development of a hepatic adaptive response and inhibition of the activation of HSCs, which led to a reduction in liver fibrosis formation in BDL mice. Conclusions: DA treatment protected against liver damage and fibrosis following BDL and might be an effective therapy for extrahepatic cholestasis due to bile duct obstruction

Mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomal miR-653-5p suppresses laryngeal papilloma progression by inhibiting BZW2

Objectives: Although miR-653-5p has been validated to participate in the progression of multiple types of cancer, the functional role of exosomal miR-653-5p derived from Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) in Laryngeal Papilloma (LP) has still remained elusive. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the role of MSCs-derived exosomal miR-653-5p in LP. Methods: LP tissues (n = 15) and adjacent normal tissues (n = 10) were collected to examine the expression level of miR-653-5p. The expression level of miR-653-5p in LP cells and normal cells was also detected. Then, miR-653-5p was overexpressed or silenced to explore its effects on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of LP cells. Thereafter, the effects of exosomal miR-653-5p derived from MSCs on LP cell progression and the potential regulatory mechanism of miR-653-5p were assessed. Results: It was revealed that the expression level of miR-653-5p was downregulated in LP tissues and cells. In addition, miR-653-5p suppressed the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of LP cells. Exosomes derived from MSCs played a suppressive role in LP development and mediated the transmission of miR-653-5p to LP cells. Further exploration identified Basic leucine Zipper and W2 domains 2 (BZW2) as the target of miR-653-5p. More importantly, the rescue experiments revealed that MSCs-secreted exosomal miR-653-5p efficiently inhibited the aggressive phenotypes of LP cells, which could be significantly reversed by BZW2 overexpression in LP cells. Conclusion: MSCs-derived exosomal miR-653-5p exerted inhibitory effects on LP progression through targeting BZW2, which provided a novel idea for the therapy of LP. Clinical Trial registration number: chictr-ior-17011021