Kinetic Growth Regimes of Hydrothermally Synthesized Potassium Tantalate Nanoparticles

A general mathematical kinetic growth model is proposed on the basis of observed growth regimes of hydrothermally synthesized KTaO₃ nanoparticles from electron microscopy studies on the surface morphology and surface chemistry. Secondary electron imaging demonstrated that there are two dominant growth mechanisms: terrace nucleation, where the surfaces are rough, and terrace growth, where surfaces are smooth. In the proposed model based upon standard step-flow growth, the rates of both mechanisms are established to be dependent on the chemical potential change of the growth environmentterrace nucleation dominates with larger negative chemical potential, and terrace growth dominates with smaller negative chemical potential. This analysis illustrates the importance of ending a synthesis in a regime of low negative chemical potential in order to achieve smooth well-faceted nanoparticles

Self-Assembly of a Diblock Copolymer with Pendant Disulfide Bonds and Chromophore Groups: A New Platform for Fast Release

An amphiphilic block copolymer comprising poly­(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly­(2-(methacryloyl)­oxyethyl-2′-hydroxyethyl disulfide) (PMAOHD) blocks was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Pyrenebutyric acid was conjugated to the block copolymer by esterification, and a block copolymer with pendant disulfide bonds and pyrenyl groups (PEG-<i>b</i>-P­(MAOHD-<i>g</i>-Py)) was obtained. ¹H NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) results demonstrated the successful synthesis of the block copolymer. The cleavage of the disulfide bonds and the degrafting of the pyrenyl groups were investigated in THF and a THF/methanol mixture. Fluorescence spectroscopy, GPC, and ¹H NMR results demonstrated fast cleavage of the disulfide bonds by Bu₃P in THF. Fluorescence results showed the ratio of the intensity of the excimer peak to the monomer peak decreased rapidly within 20 min. GPC traces of the block copolymer moved to a long retention time region after addition of Bu₃P, indicating the cleavage of the disulfide bonds and the degrafting of the pyrenyl groups. PEG-<i>b</i>-P­(MAOHD-<i>g</i>-Py) can self-assemble into micelles with poly­(MAOHD-<i>g</i>-Py) cores and PEG coronae in a mixture of methanol and THF (9:1 by volume). The dissociation of the micelles in the presence of Bu₃P was investigated. After cleavage of the disulfide bonds in the micellar cores, a pyrene-containing small molecular compound and a block copolymer with pendant thiol groups were produced. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and ¹H NMR were employed to track the dissociation of the polymeric micelles. All the techniques demonstrated the dissociation of the micelles and the fast release of pyrenyl groups from the micelles

Additional file 1: Figure S1-S16. of Cellular function reinstitution of offspring red blood cells cloned from the sickle cell disease patient blood post CRISPR genome editing

Function reinstitution of offspring red blood cells cloned from the sickle cell disease patient blood by a clinically practicable CRISPR/Cas9 method. (DOCX 4365 kb

Names and description of splicing factors used in our model.

<p>This table contains 22 splicing factors which are selected to predict the expression levels of differentially expressed isoforms. This table lists their names and some related references. Most of these details are from SpliceAid.</p

Expression ratio of SRSF11’s three isoforms (A), motifs in SRSF11’s isoforms and classical SR proteins (B), RT-PCR results (C) and protein Expression of SRSF11.

<p>(A). Expression ratio of SRSF11’s three isoforms in seven disease sample and control: uc009wbj.1 (light green), uc001deu.2 (light blue) and uc001.dev.3 (light red). They have almost the same total expression levels but very different ratios in MDS (four ) and control (average of five controls), which means the splicing patterns of SRSF11 are switched. (B). This figure demonstrates motifs in SRSF11’s isoforms and classical SR proteins. Different motifs have different bio-function. (C). Three isoforms that are over-expressed in our disease samples are picked up for RT-PCR validation. They are isoforms of three splicing factor, one isoform (uc001deu.2, refseq ID: NM_001190987) of SRSF11, one isoform (uc001xlp.3, refseq ID: NM_006925) of SRSF5 and one isoform (uc003jun.2, refseq ID:NM_080743) of SRSF12. Validation demonstrated that their expression levels in MDS disease are higher than in control. (D). Isofrom uc001deu.2 is translated into protein Q05519 and Q05519 is highly expressed in blood disease according to the Model Organism Protein Expression Database (MOPED); COPD: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.</p

Results of enrichment analysis using KEGG database.

<p>This table lists top enriched KEGG pathways and corresponding networks number.</p

Target genes and corresponding factors in networks 1.

<p>This table lists the target genes and factors that regulate them. The regression coefficients are listed on the right side.</p

Pseudocode of LARS algorithm.

<p>Pseudocode of LARS algorithm.</p

Flowchart of proposed method for constructing regulatory networks.

<p>Flowchart of proposed method for constructing regulatory networks: (A). Process raw RNA-seq data, find out deferentially expressed isoforms using Tophat and Cufflinks and cluster these isoforms to get gene cluster that may be regulated by same TFs and SFs. (B). Construct two dataset, promote region data (PRD) and exon-intron data (EID), for mining the interaction strength of the TF-isoform interactions and SF-isoform interaction. (C). Use interaction strength to predict the expression levels of isoforms in a co-expressed group. (D). Link model-selected TFs and SFs with their target genes.</p

Regulatory networks found by our model.

<p>The first column is differentially expressed isoform groups in our cases, the second and third columns are the Transcription factors and splicing factors predicted by our regression model. Some cells are blank, which means no corresponding factors for that co-expressed group.</p