Reprogrammable CRISPR/Cas9-based system for inducing site-specific DNA methylation

Advances in sequencing technology allow researchers to map genome-wide changes in DNA methylation in development and disease. However, there is a lack of experimental tools to site-specifically manipulate DNA methylation to discern the functional consequences. We developed a CRISPR/Cas9 DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) fusion to induce DNA methylation at specific loci in the genome. We induced DNA methylation at up to 50% of alleles for targeted CpG dinucleotides. DNA methylation levels peaked within 50 bp of the short guide RNA (sgRNA) binding site and between pairs of sgRNAs. We used our approach to target methylation across the entire CpG island at the CDKN2A promoter, three CpG dinucleotides at the ARF promoter, and the CpG island within the Cdkn1a promoter to decrease expression of the target gene. These tools permit mechanistic studies of DNA methylation and its role in guiding molecular processes that determine cellular fate

Free PCR virus detection via few-layer bismuthene and tetrahedral DNA nanostructured assemblies

In this work we describe a highly sensitive method based on a biocatalyzed electrochemiluminescence approach. The system combines, for the first time, the use of few-layer bismuthene (FLB) as a platform for the oriented immobilization of tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs) specifically designed and synthetized to detect a specific SARS-CoV-2 gene sequence. In one of its vertices, these TDNs contain a DNA capture probe of the open reading frame 1 ab (ORF1ab) of the virus, available for the biorecognition of the target DNA/RNA. At the other three vertices, there are thiol groups that enable the stable anchoring/binding to the FLB surface. This novel geometry/approach enables not only the binding of the TDNs to surfaces, but also the orientation of the capture probe in a direction normal to the bismuthine surface so that it is readily accessible for binding/recognition of the specific SARS-CoV-2 sequence. The analytical signal is based on the anodic electrochemiluminescence (ECL) intensity of luminol which, in turn, arises as a result of the reaction with H2O2, generated by the enzymatic reaction of glucose oxidation, catalyzed by the biocatalytic label avidin-glucose oxidase conjugate (Av-GOx), which acts as co-reactant in the electrochemiluminescent reaction. The method exhibits a limit of detection (LOD) of 4.31 aM and a wide linear range from 14.4 aM to 1.00 μM, and its applicability was confirmed by detecting SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal samples from COVID-19 patients without the need of any amplification processPID2020-116728RB-I00, PID2020-116661RB-I00, PID2020-119352RB-I00, PDC2021-120782-C2, PID2022-138908NB-C31, CTQ2015-71955-REDT, S2018/NMT-434

Karakteristik Geologi Teknik Trase Jalan Lingkar Timur Jatigede Km 08+150 - 17+500, Kecamatan Jatigede, Kabupaten Sumedang, Jawa Barat

Jalan Lingkar Timur Jatigede diproyeksikan sebagai jalan baru penghubung daerah Wado-Tolengas yang terputus akibat penenggelaman oleh genangan waduk akibat pembangunan Bendungan Jatigede. Beberapa penyelidikan tapak, antara lain pengeboran, telah dilakukan oleh konsultan perencana proyek pembangunan Jalan Lingkar Timur Jatigede. Namun, penyelidikan yang dilakukan belum menyeluruh. Makalah ini menampilkan hasil penelitian awal yang dilakukan untuk mengevaluasi karakteristik geologi teknik trase Jalan Lingkar Timur Jatigede KM 08+150 hingga KM 17+500 dan sekitarnya. Penyelidikan karakteristik geologi teknik daerah penelitian dilakukan melalui pemetaan geologi teknik berskala 1:25.000. Karakteristik geologi teknik yang diteliti meliputi karakteristik morfologi beserta proses-proses geomorfik aktif, batuan dan tanah, struktur geologi, dan airtanah di daerah penelitian. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa daerah penelitian terdiri dari satuan morfologi lembah homoklin Sarimekar, punggungan homoklin Mekarasih, lembah homoklin Ciranggem, dan punggungan antiklin Ciranggem. Daerah penelitian terdiri dari litologi batuserpih, breksi andesit, tuf, batupasir-batulempung, dan andesit porfiri. Massa batuan sepanjang trase jalan lingkar umumnya telah mengalami tingkat pelapukan tinggi hingga sempurna dan memiliki kualitas massa batuan buruk. Elevasi muka airtanah relatif dalam. Airtanah umumnya muncul sebagai rembesan pada lereng akibat infiltrasi air hujan. Longsor terjadi pada daerah dengan litologi tuf dan perselang-selingan batupasir-batulempung dengan kualitas massa batuan buruk. Mempertimbangkan jenis dan kualitas massa batuan serta orientasi perlapisan batuan, ketidakstabilan lereng dan konstruksi jalan juga berpotensi terjadi di daerah lain sepanjang trase jalan lingkar. Perancangan geometri lereng dan konstruksi jalan di sepanjang trase Jalan Lingkar Timur Jatigede KM 08+150 hingga KM 17+500 diharapkan mengacu pada hasil penelitian ini

The Application of Mahagony Bark (Swietenia Mahagony L.) for Natural Dyeing

Recently many batik industries owner have switched to using natural dyes because synthetic dyes in the long time have a negative impact on the environment. Natural dyes that are widely used are mahogany (Swietenia Mahagony L.) bark dyes. In the process of coloring batik fabric, there is stage of fixation. Fixation is the stage of binding the color with the fixator. There are three types of fixators used, namely alum (Al2(SO4)3.12H2O), calcium oxide (CaO) and ferrous sulphate (FeSO4) with certain concentrations. The owner of batik industries don't know yet the concentration of a strong and optimal fixator for binding natural dyes in batik fabric. The purpose of this study is to determine the type of strong fixator and optimal concentration of fixator for binding natural mahogany dyes on batik fabric. The owner of batik industries usually use an estimated concentration of 30 g / L to 100 g / L. In this study, the variables are 30 g / L, 60 g / L and 90 g / L in each type of fixator to test the color aging value. and color Fastness to rub wet and dry. Judging from the value of R% (color aging) and color Fastness test against wet and dry rubbing, it can be concluded that alum and calcium oxide are strong fixators that used with mahogany dyes and the most optimal concentration of alum and calcium oxide is 60 g / L

Pengembangan Wisata Halal untuk Kesejahteraan Masyarakat di Kota Mataram

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is one of Indonesia’s leading halal tourist destinations. This makes business opportunities open for the local community and will be able to improve the welfare of the community. All districts participated in the development of halal tourism to increase the number of tourist visits to NTB. The city of Mataram, the capital of the NTB province, is no exception. Mataram is also actively building and developing halal tourism by packaging existing tourist destinations into attractive halal tourist destinations. Seeing the rapid development of halal tourism in NTB, this study was conducted to examine the development of Halal Tourism in the City of Mataram and to determine the contribution of the development of halal tourism to the welfare of the people in Mataram City. This research is a descriptive qualitative study in which the primary data are informants from the City of Mataram Tourism Office, Mataram City Promotion Board, Tourism Actors and tourists that visiting Mataram while secondary data are obtained from various reports, books, publications, websites and others. The results of this study aimed that the development of halal tourism carried out by the Mataram City Government was quite good. This is proven by the increasing number of tourists visiting Mataram City each year. Development of halal tourism is done by improving facilities and infrastructure at tourist destinations, promoting both local and International, providing public transportation that is good enough to access tourist attractions, providing accommodations in accordance with sharia provisions so as to provide comfort for tourists especially Muslim tourists. With various efforts to develop tourist destinations that have been carried out by the Government of the City of Mataram has an impact on improving the welfare of the people of the City of Mataram, which is illustrated through the increase in the HDI index from year to year

A study on the effect of inflation rates on the profitability and the solvency of the top ten life insurance companies in the Philippines for the years 1995-2004

Inflation rate is said to have an effect on the operations of a business entity. It is believed that high inflation rate narrows down profit margins and shoots up cost of liabilities. With the attempt to prove such presumption, a correlation test was conducted to study the effect of inflation rate specifically on the profitability and solvency of the top ten life insurance companies in the Philippines for the years 1995 to 2004. Insurance companies rely heavily on income from its investments to pay for benefits, dividends, and expenses. Since life insurance companies in the Philippines invest in interest sensitive assets, and inflation rates affect movements of interest rates, it is important to take into consideration the effects, if any, of price increases. The effect of inflation rate was determined with the use of profitability and solvency ratios, tested by pearson correlation coefficient, regression, multicollinearity, and the Durbin-Watson statistic for autocorrelation. No significant effects were established due to the fact that the top ten life insurance companies in the Philippines were able to adjust their premiums based on projected movement of interest rates and properly hedge their investments. However, correlation coefficients show that there is not enough reason to neither accept nor reject the null hypothesis. This means that inflation rate could have affected the profitability and the solvency of the Philippines\u27 top ten life insurance companies but the overall impact was not great enough to dent them

Pendampingan dan Pembinaan Manajemen Usaha Bagi Pengusaha Bahan Bangunan di Batu Ringgit Sekarbela Mataram

Pengelolaan dan penataan serta pengembangan ekonomi usaha kecil dimaksudkan untuk penggalian potensi-potensi kemandirian dan pengembangan ekonomi masyarakat melalui pemberdayaan dan pengembangan ekonomi strategis dalam pengelolaan Sumber Daya potensial secara adil dan berkelanjutan. Dengan harapan penguasaan, kontrol dan pengelolaan usaha akan lebih mandiri. Kegaiatan ini dilakukan pada kelompok maupun individu para pelaku usaha Bahan Bangunan di Batu Ringgit Sekarbela Mataram. Pelaksanaan kegiatan penyuluhan ini menggunakan metode ceramah, diskusi dan ramah tamah. Pada prinsipnya pengembangkan ekonomi strategis berbasis potensi lokal berdasarkan akar budaya/local, dan kearifan lokal masyarakat. Sehingga perlu menumbuh-kembangkan model-model pengembangan ekonomi berbasis rakyat kecil atas dasar keswadayaan dan kemandirian. Penguatan–penguatan institusi dan kelembagaan ekonomi masyarakat dalam rangka menumbuhkan sistem perekonomian kolektif dan penguatan permodalan secara swadaya dan mandiri menjadi sangat penting untuk dibangun. Kegiatan pengabdian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan pengetahuan tentang usaha yang mereka jalani, baik secara individu maupun berkelompok agar mereka menyadari perlunya mitra kerja serta kerja kelompok. Demikian juga halnya bagi para pelaku usaha bahan bangunan di Batu Ringgit Sekarbela Mataram. Dalam rangka pemecahan permasalahan yang mereka hadapi, pendekatan kemitraan (usaha bersama) adalah salah satu solusinya, disamping diberikan pengetahuan tentang manajemen usaha dan proses produksinya. Dengan demikian mereka diharapkan lebih baik dan mampu mengelola usahanya dengan baik agar lebih berkembang