Advances in Disease Mechanisms and Translational Technologies: Clinicopathologic Significance of Inflammasome Activation in Autoimmune Diseases

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154483/1/art41127.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154483/2/art41127_am.pd

On the use of GNSS-derived PWV for Predicting the Path of Typhoon: Case Studies for Soulik and Kongrey in 2018

A typhoon is a highly destructive weather event, causing severe damage and losses to the economy and lives. The impacts of typhoons can be mitigated by adequately predicting their path in advance. The progress of a typhoon can be investigated by analyzing the significant changes in Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) in a given region. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have been utilized to monitor the changes in PWV since GNSS meteorology was introduced in the early 1990s. In this study, PWV variations of two typhoons, Soulik and Kongrey in 2018, are investigated based on GNSS derived PWV (GNSS-PWV). The variations in GNSS-PWV are used for predicting the typhoon path, provided that the movement direction of PWV corresponds to that of a typhoon. In the study area, GNSS stations are densely distributed like an array so that the array enables to monitor the variations of PWV over the region more sensibly than a conventional PWV monitoring method, which is the radiosonde based PWV observations (RS-PWV). Comparing the results of GNSS-PWV to the RS-PWV, GNSS-PWV is proved to be comparable and even provides better spatiotemporal resolution. It should be noted that the GNSS-PWV is investigated with meteorological parameters together during a typhoon event. The pattern of GNSS-PWV showed the opposite pattern of air pressure, which is one of the essential factors in conventional typhoon forecast methods. As the GNSS-PWV and the pressure are strongly correlated, this study only focused on the GNSS-PWV for analyzing the meteorological variations and predicting the path of typhoons. To predict the typhoon’s subsequent location, the research proposes the concept of Predicted Location of Typhoon (PLT). PLT is calculated as follows: 1) estimated all the GNSS-PWV in the study area during a typhoon event. 2) The top five GNSS stations showing the highest PWV are selected. 3) The 2-dimension mean position of them is calculated. 4) This position indicates the PLT corresponding to the process of the typhoon. The research model predicted a typhoon’s subsequent location approximately 5 hours in advance with an average distance discrepancy of 14 km in two experiments. When the typhoon approaches the landfall point, the research model managed to predict the landfall point, approximately 5.3 hours in advance, with an average distance discrepancy from the actual path of 13.19 km in two experiments. Although the proposed method used only GNSS-PWV using existing GNSS stations, it still yielded comparable results of typhoon paths, comparing those issued by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), who considerably applied the conventional and certified method for forecasts. These results imply that GNSS-PWV is promising for the prediction of the typhoon path seamlessly in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner, and it can be used for the supplementary information for the current typhoon forecast. Keywords: GNSS meteorology, PWV, Typhoon, Predicted Location of Typhoo

Occurrence and Distribution of Root-Knot Nematodes in Kiwifruit Orchard

The study was conducted to investigate the infestation and distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes on kiwi orchards in Korea. Plant parasitic nematodes genus and densities were investigated at a total of 102 sites in Jeollanam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Jeju-do, which are the main production areas of domestic kiwi orchards. Plant parasitic nematodes detected were of 9 genera, including root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), spiral nematodes (Helicotylenchus spp.), and needle nematodes (Paratylenchus spp.), and 56% of the 102 plantations were infected with root-knot nematodes. Root-knot nematodes were found to be the most important plant parasitic nematode in domestic kiwi orchards. The average density of root-knot nematodes is 97 per 300 cm3 soil, and there is concern about the kiwi yield reduction. As a result of identifying the root-knot nematode species: M. arenaria, M. hapla, M. incognita, and M. javanica. Among them, M. arenaria is the most dominant. As the plant parasitic nematode infection route in fruit trees is often spread through the transplantation of infected seedlings, attention should be paid to the production of nematode-free plants during the production and supply of kiwifruit plants

Simultaneous detection of microsatellite repeats and SNPs in the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) gene by thin-film biosensor chips and application to rural field studies

Microsatellite repeat and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are abundant sources of genetic variation, but existing methodologies cannot simultaneously detect these variants in a facile or inexpensive way. We describe herein a thin-film biosensor chip based on an allele-discriminating oligonucleotide array that enables genotyping for both microsatellite repeats and SNPs in a single analysis. We validated this methodology for the functionally polymorphic −794 CATT(5–8) repeat and −173 G/C SNP present in the promoter of the human gene for macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF). In a comparison of 30 samples collected at a rural hospital in Zambia, we observed a 100% concordance for both the CATT repeat and G/C SNP between the biosensor methodology and the conventional capillary electrophoresis. The biosensor chips are low in cost and once printed, they are robust and require no instrumentation for analysis. When combined with multiple displacement amplification, this methodology can be utilized in primitive settings for the genotyping of nanogram quantities of DNA present in blood, dried and stored on filter paper samples. We applied this methodology to a field study of MIF genotype in children with malaria, and provide first evidence for a potential association between MIF alleles and malaria infection. We also present data supporting significant population stratification of the low- versus high-expression forms of MIF that may bear on the role of this gene in infectious diseases

Differentially Expressed Potassium Channels Are Associated with Function of Human Effector Memory CD8+T cells

The voltage-gated potassium channel, Kv1.3, and the Ca2+-activated potassium channel, KCa3.1, regulate membrane potentials in T cells, thereby controlling T cell activation and cytokine production. However, little is known about the expression and function of potassium channels in human effector memory ( EM) CD8+ T cells that can be further divided into functionally distinct subsets based on the expression of the interleukin ( IL)-7 receptor alpha ( IL-7R alpha) chain. Herein, we investigated the functional expression and roles of Kv1.3 and KCa3.1 in EM CD8+ T cells that express high or low levels of the IL-7 receptor alpha chain ( IL-7R alpha(high) and IL-7R alpha(low), respectively). In contrast to the significant activity of Kv1.3 and KCa3.1 in IL-7Rahigh EM CD8+ T cells, IL-7Ralow EM CD8+ T cells showed lower expression of Kv1.3 and insignificant expression of KCa3.1. Kv1.3 was involved in the modulation of cell proliferation and IL-2 production, whereas KCa3.1 affected the motility of EM CD8+ T cells. The lower motility of IL-7Ralow EM CD8+ T cells was demonstrated using transendothelial migration and motility assays with intercellular adhesion molecule 1-and/or chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1 alpha-coated surfaces. Consistent with the lower migration property, IL-7Ralow EM CD8+ T cells were found less frequently in human skin. Stimulating IL-7Ralow EM CD8+ T cells with IL-2 or IL-15 increased their motility and recovery of KCa3.1 activity. Our findings demonstrate that Kv1.3 and KCa3.1 are differentially involved in the functions of EM CD8+ T cells. The weak expression of potassium channels in IL-7Ralow EM CD8+ T cells can be revived by stimulation with IL-2 or IL-15, which restores the associated functions. This study suggests that IL-7Rahigh EM CD8+ T cells with functional potassium channels may serve as a reservoir for effector CD8+ T cells during peripheral inflammation.112Ysciescopu

Detoxification: A Novel Function of BRCA1 in Tumor Suppression?

Our studies found that BRCA1 levels negatively correlate with DNA adducts induced by Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Pulse-chase experiments showed that the increase in BaP-induced DNA adducts in BRCA1 knockdown cells may not be associated with BRCA1’s function in nucleotide excision repair activity; rather, it may be associated with its function in modulating transcriptional regulation. BRCA1 knockdown in MCF-10A cells significantly attenuated the induction of CYP1A1 following BaP treatment indicating that the increase in BaP-induced adducts in BRCA1 knockdown cells is not CYP1A1 dependent. However, our study shows that BRCA1 defective cells may still be able to biotransform BaP by regulating other CYP enzymes, including CYP1B1. Knockdown of BRCA1 also severely affected the expression levels of two types of uridine diphosphate glucorunyltransferase (UGT1A1 and UGT1A9) and NRF2. Both UGTs are known as BaP-specific detoxification enzymes, and NRF2 is a master regulator of antioxidant and detoxification genes. Thus, we concluded that the increased amount of BaP-induced DNA adducts in BRCA1 knockdown cells is strongly associated with its loss of functional detoxification. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that BRCA1 is recruited to the promoter/enhancer sequences of UGT1A1, UGT1A9, and NRF2. Regulation of UGT1A1 and UGT1A9 expression showed that the induction of DNA adducts by BaP is directly affected by their expression levels. Finally, overexpression of UGTs, NRF2, or ARNT significantly decreased the amount of BaP-induced adducts in BRCA1-deficient cells. Overall, our results suggest that BRCA1 protects cells by reducing the amount of BaP-induced DNA adducts possibly via transcriptional activation of detoxification gene expression

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