1,817 research outputs found
The impact of aging on ciliary function and ultrastructive in human respiratory epithelium
Session - Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine: no. G-RC-8published_or_final_versio
The impact of aging on ciliary function and ultrastructive in human respiratory epithelium
Session - Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine: no. G-RC-8published_or_final_versio
Synthesis and characterization of hybrid organic-inorganic materials based on sulphonated polyamideimide and silica
The preparation of hybrid organic–inorganic
membrane materials based on a sulphonated polyamideimide
resin and silica filler has been studied. The method
allows the sol–gel process to proceed in the presence of a
high molecular weight polyamideimide, resulting in well
dispersed silica nanoparticles (<50 nm) within the polymer
matrix with chemical bonding between the organic and
inorganic phases. Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was used as
the silica precursor and the organosilicate networks were
bonded to the polymer matrix via a coupling agent
aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTrEOS). The structure and
properties of these hybrid materials were characterized via a
range of techniques including FTIR, TGA, DSC, SEM and
contact angle analysis. It was found that the compatibility
between organic and inorganic phases has been greatly
enhanced by the incorporation of APTrEOS. The thermal
stability and hydrophilic properties of hybrid materials have
also been significantly improved
Reduced functional measure of cardiovascular reserve predicts admission to critical care unit following kidney transplantation
Background: There is currently no effective preoperative assessment for patients undergoing kidney transplantation that is
able to identify those at high perioperative risk requiring admission to critical care unit (CCU). We sought to determine if
functional measures of cardiovascular reserve, in particular the anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) could identify these patients.
Methods: Adult patients were assessed within 4 weeks prior to kidney transplantation in a University hospital with a 37-bed
CCU, between April 2010 and June 2012. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), echocardiography and arterial
applanation tonometry were performed.
Results: There were 70 participants (age 41.7614.5 years, 60% male, 91.4% living donor kidney recipients, 23.4% were
desensitized). 14 patients (20%) required escalation of care from the ward to CCU following transplantation. Reduced
anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) was the most significant predictor, independently (OR = 0.43; 95% CI 0.27–0.68; p,0.001) and
in the multivariate logistic regression analysis (adjusted OR = 0.26; 95% CI 0.12–0.59; p = 0.001). The area under the receiveroperating-
characteristic curve was 0.93, based on a risk prediction model that incorporated VO2AT, body mass index and
desensitization status. Neither echocardiographic nor measures of aortic compliance were significantly associated with CCU
admission.
Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective observational study to demonstrate the usefulness of CPET as a
preoperative risk stratification tool for patients undergoing kidney transplantation. The study suggests that VO2AT has the
potential to predict perioperative morbidity in kidney transplant recipients
TEMPRANILLO is a regulator of juvenility in plants
Many plants are incapable of flowering in inductive daylengths during the early juvenile vegetative phase (JVP). Arabidopsis mutants with reduced expression of TEMPRANILLO (TEM), a repressor of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) had a shorter JVP than wild-type plants. Reciprocal changes in mRNA expression of TEM and FT were observed in both Arabidopsis and antirrhinum, which correlated with the length of the JVP. FT expression was induced just prior to the end of the JVP and levels of TEM1 mRNA declined rapidly at the time when FT mRNA levels were shown to increase. TEM orthologs were isolated from antirrhinum (AmTEM) and olive (OeTEM) and were expressed most highly during their juvenile phase. AmTEM functionally complemented AtTEM1 in the tem1 mutant and over-expression of AmTEM prolonged the JVP through repression of FT and CONSTANS (CO). We propose that TEM may have a general role in regulating JVP in herbaceous and woody species
Molecular Valves for Controlling Gas Phase Transport Made from Discrete Angstrom-Sized Pores in Graphene
An ability to precisely regulate the quantity and location of molecular flux
is of value in applications such as nanoscale 3D printing, catalysis, and
sensor design. Barrier materials containing pores with molecular dimensions
have previously been used to manipulate molecular compositions in the gas
phase, but have so far been unable to offer controlled gas transport through
individual pores. Here, we show that gas flux through discrete angstrom-sized
pores in monolayer graphene can be detected and then controlled using
nanometer-sized gold clusters, which are formed on the surface of the graphene
and can migrate and partially block a pore. In samples without gold clusters,
we observe stochastic switching of the magnitude of the gas permeance, which we
attribute to molecular rearrangements of the pore. Our molecular valves could
be used, for example, to develop unique approaches to molecular synthesis that
are based on the controllable switching of a molecular gas flux, reminiscent of
ion channels in biological cell membranes and solid state nanopores.Comment: to appear in Nature Nanotechnolog
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Improved Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Mixing from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, MINOS+, Daya Bay, and Bugey-3 Experiments.
Searches for electron antineutrino, muon neutrino, and muon antineutrino disappearance driven by sterile neutrino mixing have been carried out by the Daya Bay and MINOS+ collaborations. This Letter presents the combined results of these searches, along with exclusion results from the Bugey-3 reactor experiment, framed in a minimally extended four-neutrino scenario. Significantly improved constraints on the θ_{μe} mixing angle are derived that constitute the most constraining limits to date over five orders of magnitude in the mass-squared splitting Δm_{41}^{2}, excluding the 90% C.L. sterile-neutrino parameter space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE observations at 90% CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}<13  eV^{2}. Furthermore, the LSND and MiniBooNE 99% C.L. allowed regions are excluded at 99% CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}<1.6 eV^{2}
Allele-specific miRNA-binding analysis identifies candidate target genes for breast cancer risk
Most breast cancer (BC) risk-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (raSNPs) identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are believed to cis-regulate the expression of genes. We hypothesise that cis-regulatory variants contributing to disease risk may be affecting microRNA (miRNA) genes and/or miRNA binding. To test this, we adapted two miRNA-binding prediction algorithms-TargetScan and miRanda-to perform allele-specific queries, and integrated differential allelic expression (DAE) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data, to query 150 genome-wide significant ( P≤5×10-8 ) raSNPs, plus proxies. We found that no raSNP mapped to a miRNA gene, suggesting that altered miRNA targeting is an unlikely mechanism involved in BC risk. Also, 11.5% (6 out of 52) raSNPs located in 3'-untranslated regions of putative miRNA target genes were predicted to alter miRNA::mRNA (messenger RNA) pair binding stability in five candidate target genes. Of these, we propose RNF115, at locus 1q21.1, as a strong novel target gene associated with BC risk, and reinforce the role of miRNA-mediated cis-regulation at locus 19p13.11. We believe that integrating allele-specific querying in miRNA-binding prediction, and data supporting cis-regulation of expression, improves the identification of candidate target genes in BC risk, as well as in other common cancers and complex diseases.Funding Agency
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
CRESC ALGARVE 2020
European Union (EU)
303745
Maratona da Saude Award
DL 57/2016/CP1361/CT0042
SFRH/BPD/99502/2014
CBMR-UID/BIM/04773/2013
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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