Altered levels of serum haptoglobin and apo A-I in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric syndrome that affects 1% of the world’s population. Abnormalities in immune functions and role of inflammatory markers have been widely described in schizophrenia. With the alarming high prevalence, this study aims to investigate the association of acute phase proteins with schizophrenia. We investigated the serum proteome of 20 schizophrenic patients and 20 healthy controls using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. The spots were analysed using Image Master 2D Platinum software. In total, we have detected 774 protein spots in human serum and found that three of them showed altered changes in schizophrenic patients, as compared to healthy controls. Among these acute phase proteins, haptoglobin (p = 0.003) and two isoforms of apolipoprotein A-I (p = 0.004, p = 0.003) were found to be significantly decreased in patients, as compared to controls. Our findings support the hypothesis that inflammatory response system is linked to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia

Biosensor potentiometrik untuk penentuan urea dan ketoksikan logam berat

Kajian reka bentuk biosensor potentiometrik untuk penentuan urea telah dilakukan dengan menggunakan membran metakrilat-akrilat sebagai matriks pemegunan. Dua jenis membran telah digunakan iaitu membran metakrilat­akrilat dengan komposisi metil metakrilat: n-butil akrilat = 2:8 yang digunakan dalam pemegunan ionofor H+ untuk pengesanan ion hidrogen dan membran polihidroksil etilmetakrilat yang digunakan untuk pemegunan enzim urease. Penggandingan kedua-dua membran ini dengan transduser potentiometrik dapat menghasilkan biosensor urea yang boleh digunakan untuk penentuan urea dalam pelbagai julat kepekatan bergantung kepada muatan larutan penimbal yang digunakan. Di samping itu, kajian terhadap kemungkinan biosensor urea dapat digunakan dalam analisis logam berat dan ketoksikan logam di persekitaran turut dilakukan

Influence of Methacrylic-Acrylic Copolymer Composition on Plasticiser-free Optode Films for pH Sensors

In this work we have examined the use of plasticiser-free polymeric films incorporating a proton selective chromoionophore for optical pH sensor. Four types of methacrylic-acrylic copolymers containing different compositions of n-butyl acrylate (nBA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were synthesised for use as optical sensor films. The copolymers were mixed with appropriate amounts of chromoionophore (ETH5294) and a lipophilic salt before spin coated on glass slides to form films for the evaluation of pH response using spectrophotometry. Co-polymer films with high nBA content gave good response and the response time depended on the film thickness. A preliminary evaluation of the optical films of high nBA content with pHs from 2 - 14 showed distinguishable responses from pH 5 - 9. However, the adhesion of the pH sensitive film was good for copolymers with higher content of MMA but not for films with high nBA

Neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) and its susceptibility to schizophrenia: a case- control study and meta-analysis

a b s t r a c t Neuregulin-1 is widely investigated due to its hypothesised association with schizophrenia. Singlenucleotide polymorphisms rs764059, rs2954041 and rs3924999 were investigated (417 patients with schizophrenia and 429 controls). We failed to demonstrate a significant association between rs2954041 and rs3924999 with schizophrenia in the three ethnic groups studied (Malay, Chinese, and Indian), while rs764059 was found to be monomorphic

Whole-Genome and Epigenomic Landscapes of Etiologically Distinct Subtypes of Cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a hepatobiliary malignancy exhibiting high incidence in countries with endemic liver-fluke infection. We analysed 489 CCAs from 10 countries, combining whole-genome (71 cases), targeted/exome, copy-number, gene expression, and DNA methylation information. Integrative clustering defined four CCA clusters - Fluke-Positive CCAs (Clusters 1/2) are enriched in ERBB2 amplifications and TP53 mutations, conversely Fluke-Negative CCAs (Clusters 3/4) exhibit high copy-number alterations and PD-1/PD-L2 expression, or epigenetic mutations (IDH1/2, BAP1) and FGFR/PRKA-related gene rearrangements. Whole-genome analysis highlighted FGFR2 3'UTR deletion as a mechanism of FGFR2 upregulation. Integration of non-coding promoter mutations with protein-DNA binding profiles demonstrates pervasive modulation of H3K27me3-associated sites in CCA. Clusters 1 and 4 exhibit distinct DNA hypermethylation patterns targeting either CpG islands or shores - mutation signature and subclonality analysis suggests that these reflect different mutational pathways. Our results exemplify how genetics, epigenetics and environmental carcinogens can interplay across different geographies to generate distinct molecular subtypes of cancer

Cohort profile: Singapore Preconception Study of Long-Term Maternal and Child Outcomes (S-PRESTO)

10.1007/s10654-020-00697-2European Journal of EpidemiologyEJEP