The Diurnal Variation on Cardiovascular Endurance Performance of Secondary School Athlete Student

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Eel osmotic stress transcriptional factor 1 (Ostf1) is highly expressed in gill mitochondria-rich cells, where ERK phosphorylated

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osmotic stress transcriptional factor 1 (Ostf1) was firstly identified in tilapia in 2005. Then numerous studies have investigated its regulation and expression profile in fish gill tissues in related to osmoregulation. Generally, hyperosmotic stress induced <it>ostf1 </it>mRNA expression level, however there is no report studying the cellular localization of Ostf1 expression in any osmoregulatory tissue. In this study immunohistochemical (IHC) approach was used to study the cellular localization of Ostf1 in gill cells of Japanese eels.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Ostf1 protein was found to be localized in branchial mitochondria-rich/chloride cell (MRC/CC) as revealed by Naα5 and CFTR co-localization. The protein was detectable at day 3 after fresh water to seawater transfer and was mainly localized in MRCs. Moreover, elevated levels of extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation was observed at day 3 of the transfer and was co-localized with MRCs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data identified Ostf1 expression in gill MRCs. The observation supports the role of Ostf1 in osmosensing and/or osmoregulation in fish gills, particularly its functional relationship with MRCs. The observation of the co-expression of pERK and Ostf1 in MRCs suggests a cross-talk mechanism between the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and Ostf1 in response to hyperosmotic challenge. To summarize, this report has addressed the cellular localization of Ostf1 and provides evidence to illustrate the involvement of Ostf1 and ERK on osmosensing and osmoregulatory function of gill MRCs.</p

Comparison of the acute ocular manifestations of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in Chinese eyes: a 15-year retrospective study

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Design of superconducting MRI surface coil by using method of moment

A method of moment with an enhanced model to design high-temperature superconductor (HTS) RF surface coils for magnetic resonant image (MRI) is presented. The resonant frequency and quality factor (Q) of HTS RF spiral coils are simulated using this method. The agreements of resonant frequencies and Qs between the simulation and measurement are excellent with differences less than 1% and 3%, respectively. The 0.2-μ m-thick YBaCuO (YBCO) thin films are deposited onto single side of 0.508-mm-thick LaAlO 3 (LAO) and sapphire substrate and patterned into a spiral shape. To accurately analyze the resonant frequency and Q of a coil, an enhanced two-fluid model is employed. HTS RF coils with diameter of 65 mm for 0.2T and 1.5T MRI systems are designed and fabricated with the measured Q of 19 K and 23 K, respectively. In addition, the shift of resonant frequency due to the mutual coupling between two HTS spiral coils is predicted by this method, which is important for design of HTS coil arrays in an MRI system.published_or_final_versio

A Variational Method in Out of Equilibrium Physical Systems

A variational principle is further developed for out of equilibrium dynamical systems by using the concept of maximum entropy. With this new formulation it is obtained a set of two first-order differential equations, revealing the same formal symplectic structure shared by classical mechanics, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, it is obtained an extended equation of motion for a rotating dynamical system, from where it emerges a kind of topological torsion current of the form $\epsilon_{ijk} A_j \omega_k$, with $A_j$ and $\omega_k$ denoting components of the vector potential (gravitational or/and electromagnetic) and $\omega$ is the angular velocity of the accelerated frame. In addition, it is derived a special form of Umov-Poynting's theorem for rotating gravito-electromagnetic systems, and obtained a general condition of equilibrium for a rotating plasma. The variational method is then applied to clarify the working mechanism of some particular devices, such as the Bennett pinch and vacuum arcs, to calculate the power extraction from an hurricane, and to discuss the effect of transport angular momentum on the radiactive heating of planetary atmospheres. This development is seen to be advantageous and opens options for systematic improvements.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure, submitted to review, added one referenc

Numerical simulations for a typical train fire in China

Author name used in this publication: W. K ChowAuthor name used in this publication: N. K. Fong2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Metabolomic profiling of Burkholderia pseudomallei using UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS reveals specific biomarkers including 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol and unique thiamine degradation pathway

© 2015 Lau et al.Background: Burkholderia pseudomallei is an emerging pathogen that causes melioidosis, a serious and potentially fatal disease which requires prolonged antibiotics to prevent relapse. However, diagnosis of melioidosis can be difficult, especially in culture-negative cases. While metabolomics represents an uprising tool for studying infectious diseases, there were no reports on its applications to B. pseudomallei. To search for potential specific biomarkers, we compared the metabolomics profiles of culture supernatants of B. pseudomallei (15 strains), B. thailandensis (3 strains), B. cepacia complex (14 strains), P. aeruginosa (4 strains) and E. coli (3 strains), using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS). Multi- and univariate analyses were used to identify specific metabolites in B. pseudomallei. Results: Principal component and partial-least squares discrimination analysis readily distinguished the metabolomes between B. pseudomallei and other bacterial species. Using multi-variate and univariate analysis, eight metabolites with significantly higher levels in B. pseudomallei were identified. Three of the eight metabolites were identified by MS/MS, while five metabolites were unidentified against database matching, suggesting that they may be potentially novel compounds. One metabolite, m/z 144.048, was identified as 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol, a degradation product of thiamine (vitamin B1), with molecular formula C6H9NOS by database searches and confirmed by MS/MS using commercially available authentic chemical standard. Two metabolites, m/z 512.282 and m/z 542.2921, were identified as tetrapeptides, Ile-His-Lys-Asp with molecular formula C22H37N7O7 and Pro-Arg-Arg-Asn with molecular formula C21H39N11O6, respectively. To investigate the high levels of 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol in B. pseudomallei, we compared the thiamine degradation pathways encoded in genomes of B. pseudomallei and B. thailandensis. While both B. pseudomallei and B. thailandensis possess thiaminase I which catalyzes degradation of thiamine to 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol, thiM, which encodes hydroxyethylthiazole kinase responsible for degradation of 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol, is present and expressed in B. thailandensis as detected by PCR/RT-PCR, but absent or not expressed in all B. pseudomallei strains. This suggests that the high 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol level in B. pseudomallei is likely due to the absence of hydroxyethylthiazole kinase and hence reduced downstream degradation. Conclusion: Eight novel biomarkers, including 4-methyl-5-thiazoleethanol and two tetrapeptides, were identified in the culture supernatant of B. pseudomallei.published_or_final_versio

De novo large rare copy-number variations contribute to conotruncal heart disease in Chinese patients

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Metabolomic Profiling of Plasma from Melioidosis Patients Using UHPLC-QTOF MS Reveals Novel Biomarkers for Diagnosis

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.To identify potential biomarkers for improving diagnosis of melioidosis, we compared plasma metabolome profiles of melioidosis patients compared to patients with other bacteremia and controls without active infection, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the metabolomic profiles of melioidosis patients are distinguishable from bacteremia patients and controls. Using multivariate and univariate analysis, 12 significant metabolites from four lipid classes, acylcarnitine (n = 6), lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LysoPE) (n = 3), sphingomyelins (SM) (n = 2) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) (n = 1), with significantly higher levels in melioidosis patients than bacteremia patients and controls, were identified. Ten of the 12 metabolites showed area-under-receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) >0.80 when compared both between melioidosis and bacteremia patients, and between melioidosis patients and controls. SM(d18:2/16:0) possessed the largest AUC when compared, both between melioidosis and bacteremia patients (AUC 0.998, sensitivity 100% and specificity 91.7%), and between melioidosis patients and controls (AUC 1.000, sensitivity 96.7% and specificity 100%). Our results indicate that metabolome profiling might serve as a promising approach for diagnosis of melioidosis using patient plasma, with SM(d18:2/16:0) representing a potential biomarker. Since the 12 metabolites were related to various pathways for energy and lipid metabolism, further studies may reveal their possible role in the pathogenesis and host response in melioidosis.published_or_final_versio