Financing new creative enterprise through Blockchain technology: opportunities and policy implications

Blockchain technology represents an emerging source of venture capital crowdfunding for creative ventures, specifically in the music industry

Quality of life of patients with dentofacial deformity

Eddy current testing is currently used to determine the physical characteristics of a conductive specimen and to detect defects by measurements of electrical impedance of an eddy current probe. In this study we developed two systems of coils allowing to determine properties of conductive coatings and foils. A probe contained two plane rectangular coils connected in series and separated by a fixed distance. A coated plate or a foil was placed between the coils and the coil impedance was measured using a digital impedancemeter. The discussed probe had a large length-to-width ratio and was modeled using the simple two-conductor line model, which express solutions in terms of the integrals containing no Bessel but, only common trigonometric functions, which considerably reduces the inversion time. The method allows reproducible measurements on coated conductive sheets. Aluminum 15–45 μm layers have been measured on steel and stainless steel substrates

The utility of ultrasonography for the diagnosis of developmental dysplasia of hip joint in congenital muscular torticollis

Contains fulltext : 117854.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a routine ultrasonography (US) is necessary for diagnosis of developmental dysplasia of hip (DDH), presenting with congenital muscular torticollis (CMT). METHODS: Cases of 133 patients (81 males, 52 females) diagnosed as CMT were reviewed, retrospectively. We reviewed the medical charts and diagnostic examination. We also assessed the coincidence of CMT and DDH, and investigated the clinical features of CMT related to DDH. RESULTS: Twenty (15.0%) patients out of 133 CMT patients were diagnosed as having DDH by US. Of whom, 8 patients were radiographically positive and 4 patients were both clinically and radiographically positive. Nine patients were treated with a harness and 1 of them needed closed reduction and casting. Out of 9 patients treated with a harness, only 4 were clinically positive. The difference and ratio of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle thickness between the normal and abnormal side was significantly greater in DDH patients (p=0.014). Further, receiver operating characteristic analysis showed when the SCM ratio is greater than 2.08 and the SCM difference is greater than 6.1 mm, the efficiency of US for the diagnosis of the DDH was found to be the best (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: To evaluate DDH, physical examination showed low sensitivity and radiologic study has limitation for the child before 4 to 6 months of age. Therefore, we recommend that hip is screened by US for the diagnosis of DDH associated with CMT when physical examination is positive or CMT patients with large SCM difference and high SCM ratio

Modular Endoprosthesis for Mandibular Reconstruction — A Thematic Research Study at the National Dental Centre Singapore

Introduction: A thematic research project was undertaken by the National Dental Centre Singapore to study the feasibility of using a novel modular endoprosthesis for reconstruction of the mandible. Successful application of this technique potentially eliminates the need for a donor site. Methods: Three sub-projects done in a monkey model are presented. In the first two sub-projects, a titanium modular endoprosthesis was inserted in surgically created defects for reconstruction of the ascending ramus and condyle; and body of the mandible respectively. In the third sub-project, a polycaprolactone scaffold with calcium phosphate (CaP) surface coating modular endoprosthesis was used for reconstruction of the body of the mandible. The animals were sacrificed at three to six months. Microcomputed tomographic and histologic analyses were done. Results: At the time of sacrifice, signs of infection were present in a few animals treated either with the titanium or the polycaprolactone endoprosthesis for replacement of the body of the mandible. None of the animals who received the ascending ramus and condyle titanium endoprosthesis had an infection. New bone formation was noted around the stems of the titanium devices and inflammatory reaction was much reduced from three to six months. For the polycaprolactone device, more de novo bone formation was seen in the group using Human-BMP-2. Conclusion: The use of a modular endoprosthesis for mandibular reconstruction seemed to result in a physiologic replacement of the lost part of the mandible, although the biomechanics of the system need further evaluation so as to improve its long term stability

Co-evolution of Bacterial Ribosomal Protein S15 with Diverse mRNA Regulatory Structures

<div><p>RNA-protein interactions are critical in many biological processes, yet how such interactions affect the evolution of both partners is still unknown. RNA and protein structures are impacted very differently by mechanisms of genomic change. While most protein families are identifiable at the nucleotide level across large phylogenetic distances, RNA families display far less nucleotide similarity and are often only shared by closely related bacterial species. Ribosomal protein S15 has two RNA binding functions. First, it is a ribosomal protein responsible for organizing the rRNA during ribosome assembly. Second, in many bacterial species S15 also interacts with a structured portion of its own transcript to negatively regulate gene expression. While the first interaction is conserved in most bacteria, the second is not. Four distinct mRNA structures interact with S15 to enable regulation, each of which appears to be independently derived in different groups of bacteria. With the goal of understanding how protein-binding specificity may influence the evolution of such RNA regulatory structures, we examine whether examples of these mRNA structures are able to interact with, and regulate in response to, S15 homologs from organisms containing distinct mRNA structures. We find that despite their shared RNA binding function in the rRNA, S15 homologs have distinct RNA recognition profiles. We present a model to explain the specificity patterns observed, and support this model by with further mutagenesis. After analyzing the patterns of conservation for the S15 protein coding sequences, we also identified amino acid changes that alter the binding specificity of an S15 homolog. In this work we demonstrate that homologous RNA-binding proteins have different specificity profiles, and minor changes to amino acid sequences, or to RNA structural motifs, can have large impacts on RNA-protein recognition.</p></div

S15 protein conservation.

<p><i>(A)</i> Rate4Site Z-value indicating degree of conservation for each alignment of S15 coding regions. Blue points correspond to values from the Ec-alignment, and green to values from the Gk-alignment. Lower values are more highly conserved positions. Solid arrows indicate positions that are conserved in both the alignments but have different amino acid identities. Open arrows indicate positions that are conserved in one alignment but not in others, red arrows indicate mutation present in Gk-S15-6MUT. <i>(B)</i> Conservation of individual amino acids within each alignment (generated with Weblogo [<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005720#pgen.1005720.ref066" target="_blank">66</a>]). Residue actually present in the Gk-S15 sequence colored in green, residue actually present in the Ec-S15 sequence colored in blue. <i>(C)</i> Secondary structure diagram of S15, indicating looped or alpha-helix regions, and regions that interact with either the three-way junction (red) or the GU/GC motif of rRNA (green). <i>(D)</i> Regulation of Ec-mRNA and Ec-mRNA-M1. In contrast to Gk-S15, Gk-S15-6MUT regulates Ec-mRNA, and this interaction is abolished in Ec-mRNA-M1. (E) Regulation of Gk-mRNA, Gk-mRNA-M1, and Gk-mRNA-M2. GK-S15-6MUT regulates all three of the Gk-mRNA. Error bars represent standard error for three or more replicates. Data for pEMPTY, and Gk-S15 are repeated from <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005720#pgen.1005720.g005" target="_blank">Fig 5</a> for comparison.</p

Native mRNA-S15 regulation is observed for mRNA structures that interact with S15 homologs in different bacterial species.

<p><i>(A)</i> Ec-mRNA from <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> and Ec-mRNA-M1; <i>(B)</i> Rr-mRNA from <i>R</i>. <i>radiobacter</i> and Rr-mRNA-M1<i>; (C)</i> Tt-mRNA from <i>T</i>. <i>thermophilus</i> and Tt-mRNA-M1; <i>(D)</i> Gk-mRNA from <i>G</i>. <i>kaustophilus</i> and Gk-mRNA-M1; <i>(E)</i> Doubling times calculated during logarithmic phase growth for Δ<i>rpsO</i> strain carrying plasmids that express different S15 homologs (pEc-S15, pRr-S15, pTt-S15, pGk-S15) or the vector with no protein insert (pEMPTY) under conditions where protein is expressed (+arabinose) and not expressed (-arabinose). (<i>F</i>) Fold-repression for each mRNA with its native binding partner. Fold-repression corresponds to (β-galactosidase activity (+arabinose))/(β-galactosidase activity (-arabinose)). β-galactosidase units under each condition are in <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005720#pgen.1005720.s002" target="_blank">S2 Fig</a>. Each mRNA is compared to its own mutant (eg. Ec-mRNA and Ec-mRNA-M1 are compared in the same set of bars). Error bars represent standard error across 3 or more biological replicates.</p