High-density information storage in an absolutely defined aperiodic sequence of monodisperse copolyester

Synthesis of a polymer composed of a large discrete number of chemically distinct monomers in an absolutely defined aperiodic sequence remains a challenge in polymer chemistry. The synthesis has largely been limited to oligomers having a limited number of repeating units due to the difficulties associated with the step-by-step addition of individual monomers to achieve high molecular weights. Here we report the copolymers of ??-hydroxy acids, poly(phenyllactic-co-lactic acid) (PcL) built via the cross-convergent method from four dyads of monomers as constituent units. Our proposed method allows scalable synthesis of sequence-defined PcL in a minimal number of coupling steps from reagents in stoichiometric amounts. Digital information can be stored in an aperiodic sequence of PcL, which can be fully retrieved as binary code by mass spectrometry sequencing. The information storage density (bit/Da) of PcL is 50% higher than DNA, and the storage capacity of PcL can also be increased by adjusting the molecular weight (~38???kDa)

Shamanistic Shakespeare: Korea's Colonization of Hamlet

"Shamanistic Shakespeare: Korea's Colonization of Hamlet" offers a timely reminder about the dangers of imposing a reformulated national myth on international Shakespeare productions. Focusing on a London performance of Korea’s Yohangza Theatre Company’s shamanized Hamlet, this case study invites far broader consideration of the readability of global Shakespeares, and the cultural competence required by Western audiences to appreciate their political, historical, and local complexity. The Korean theatre industry’s colonizing of Hamlet is traced to a Seoul-based nationalist intellectual agenda to reinvent Korea’s mythic identity after a century of cultural oppression. The chapter demonstrates how this concretizing of shamanic symbolism, packaged for Westernized theatregoing consumption, has created a supposedly authentic Koreanized Shakespeare genre that is confusing to local and global audiences alike

Core components for effective infection prevention and control programmes: new WHO evidence-based recommendations

Abstract Health care-associated infections (HAI) are a major public health problem with a significant impact on morbidity, mortality and quality of life. They represent also an important economic burden to health systems worldwide. However, a large proportion of HAI are preventable through effective infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. Improvements in IPC at the national and facility level are critical for the successful containment of antimicrobial resistance and the prevention of HAI, including outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases through high quality care within the context of universal health coverage. Given the limited availability of IPC evidence-based guidance and standards, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to prioritize the development of global recommendations on the core components of effective IPC programmes both at the national and acute health care facility level, based on systematic literature reviews and expert consensus. The aim of the guideline development process was to identify the evidence and evaluate its quality, consider patient values and preferences, resource implications, and the feasibility and acceptability of the recommendations. As a result, 11 recommendations and three good practice statements are presented here, including a summary of the supporting evidence, and form the substance of a new WHO IPC guideline

Bayesian Based Comment Spam Defending Tool

Spam messes up user's inbox, consumes network resources and spread worms and viruses. Spam is flooding of unsolicited, unwanted e mail. Spam in blogs is called blog spam or comment spam.It is done by posting comments or flooding spams to the services such as blogs, forums,news,email archives and guestbooks. Blog spams generally appears on guestbooks or comment pages where spammers fill a comment box with spam words. In addition to wasting user's time with unwanted comments, spam also consumes a lot of bandwidth. In this paper, we propose a software tool to prevent such blog spams by using Bayesian Algorithm based technique. It is derived from Bayes' Theorem. It gives an output which has a probability that any comment is spam, given that it has certain words in it. With using our past entries and a comment entry, this value is obtained and compared with a threshold value to find if it exceeds the threshold value or not. By using this concept, we developed a software tool to block comment spam. The experimental results show that the Bayesian based tool is working well. This paper has the major findings and their significance of blog spam filter.Comment: 14 Pages,4 Figures, International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications (IJNSA), Vol.2, No.4, October 201

Physician and Clinical Integration Among Rural Hospitals

The pressures for closer alignment between physicians and hospitals in both rural and urban areas are increasing. This study empirically specifies independent dimensions of physician and clinical integration and compares the extent to which such activities are practiced between rural and urban hospitals and among rural hospitals in different organizational and market contexts. Results suggest that both rural and urban hospitals practice physician integration, although each emphasizes different types of strategies. Second, urban hospitals engage in clinical integration with greater frequency than their rural counterparts. Finally, physician integration approaches in rural hospitals are more common among larger rural hospitals, those proximate to urban facilities, those with system affiliations, and those not under public control.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72074/1/j.1748-0361.1998.tb00637.x.pd

Influence of lip closure on alveolar cleft width in patients with cleft lip and palate

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The influence of surgery on growth and stability after treatment in patients with cleft lip and palate are topics still under discussion. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of early lip closure on the width of the alveolar cleft using dental casts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 44 clefts were investigated using plaster casts, 30 unilateral and 7 bilateral clefts. All infants received a passive molding plate a few days after birth. The age at the time of closure of the lip was 2.1 month in average (range 1-6 months). Plaster casts were obtained at the following stages: shortly after birth, prior to lip closure, prior to soft palate closure. We determined the width of the alveolar cleft before lip closure and prior to soft palate closure measuring the alveolar cleft width from the most lateral point of the premaxilla/anterior segment to the most medial point of the smaller segment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After lip closure 15 clefts presented with a width of 0 mm, meaning that the mucosa of the segments was almost touching one another. 19 clefts showed a width of up to 2 mm and 10 clefts were still over 2 mm wide. This means a reduction of 0% in 5 clefts, of 1-50% in 6 clefts, of 51-99% in 19 clefts, and of 100% in 14 clefts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Early lip closure reduces alveolar cleft width. In most cases our aim of a remaining cleft width of 2 mm or less can be achieved. These are promising conditions for primary alveolar bone grafting to restore the dental bony arch.</p

Characterization of the Contradictory Chromatin Signatures at the 3′ Exons of Zinc Finger Genes

The H3K9me3 histone modification is often found at promoter regions, where it functions to repress transcription. However, we have previously shown that 3′ exons of zinc finger genes (ZNFs) are marked by high levels of H3K9me3. We have now further investigated this unusual location for H3K9me3 in ZNF genes. Neither bioinformatic nor experimental approaches support the hypothesis that the 3′ exons of ZNFs are promoters. We further characterized the histone modifications at the 3′ ZNF exons and found that these regions also contain H3K36me3, a mark of transcriptional elongation. A genome-wide analysis of ChIP-seq data revealed that ZNFs constitute the majority of genes that have high levels of both H3K9me3 and H3K36me3. These results suggested the possibility that the ZNF genes may be imprinted, with one allele transcribed and one allele repressed. To test the hypothesis that the contradictory modifications are due to imprinting, we used a SNP analysis of RNA-seq data to demonstrate that both alleles of certain ZNF genes having H3K9me3 and H3K36me3 are transcribed. We next analyzed isolated ZNF 3′ exons using stably integrated episomes. We found that although the H3K36me3 mark was lost when the 3′ ZNF exon was removed from its natural genomic location, the isolated ZNF 3′ exons retained the H3K9me3 mark. Thus, the H3K9me3 mark at ZNF 3′ exons does not impede transcription and it is regulated independently of the H3K36me3 mark. Finally, we demonstrate a strong relationship between the number of tandemly repeated domains in the 3′ exons and the H3K9me3 mark. We suggest that the H3K9me3 at ZNF 3′ exons may function to protect the genome from inappropriate recombination rather than to regulate transcription

Reelin Is Involved in Transforming Growth Factor-β1-Induced Cell Migration in Esophageal Carcinoma Cells

Reelin (RELN), which is a glycoprotein secreted by Cajal-Retzius cells of the developing cerebral cortex, plays an important role in neuronal migration, but its role in cell migration and cancer metastasis is largely unclear. Here, we showed that cell motility was significantly increased in KYSE-510 cells by TGF-β1 treatment. Moreover, TGF-β1 decreased RELN mRNA expression and overexpression of Reelin at least partly reversed TGF-β1-induced cell migration in KYSE-30 cells. Furthermore, this negative regulation of Reelin expression by TGF-β1 was through Snail, one transcription factor which was induced by TGF-β1 in KYSE-510 cells. RELN promoter activity was reduced in parallel with the induction of Snail after TGF-β1 treatment and Snail suppressed both RELN promoter activity and expression through binding to E-box sequences in the RELN promoter region in ESCC cells. Knockdown of RELN induced cell migration in KYSE-510 cells, together with the increase of mesenchymal markers expression. Taken together, Reelin is an essential negative regulator in the TGF-β1-induced cell migration process, and is suppressed by TGF-β pathway at the transcriptional level through Snail regulation. Therefore, the correlation of Reelin and TGF-β pathway was critical in cancer metastasis, and Reelin could be one potential anti-metastasis target in future clinical practice

Functional Remineralization of Dentin Lesions Using Polymer-Induced Liquid-Precursor Process

It was hypothesized that applying the polymer-induced liquid-precursor (PILP) system to artificial lesions would result in time-dependent functional remineralization of carious dentin lesions that restores the mechanical properties of demineralized dentin matrix. 140 µm deep artificial caries lesions were remineralized via the PILP process for 7–28 days at 37°C to determine temporal remineralization characteristics. Poly-L-aspartic acid (27 KDa) was used as the polymeric process-directing agent and was added to the remineralization solution at a calcium-to-phosphate ratio of 2.14 (mol/mol). Nanomechanical properties of hydrated artificial lesions had a low reduced elastic modulus (ER = 0.2 GPa) region extending about 70 μm into the lesion, with a sloped region to about 140 μm where values reached normal dentin (18–20 GPa). After 7 days specimens recovered mechanical properties in the sloped region by 51% compared to the artificial lesion. Between 7–14 days, recovery of the outer portion of the lesion continued to a level of about 10 GPa with 74% improvement. 28 days of PILP mineralization resulted in 91% improvement of ER compared to the artificial lesion. These differences were statistically significant as determined from change-point diagrams. Mineral profiles determined by micro x-ray computed tomography were shallower than those determined by nanoindentation, and showed similar changes over time, but full mineral recovery occurred after 14 days in both the outer and sloped portions of the lesion. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray analysis showed similar morphologies that were distinct from normal dentin with a clear line of demarcation between the outer and sloped portions of the lesion. Transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction showed that the starting lesions contained some residual mineral in the outer portions, which exhibited poor crystallinity. During remineralization, intrafibrillar mineral increased and crystallinity improved with intrafibrillar mineral exhibiting the orientation found in normal dentin or bone