Control of the strain and magnetoresistance of LaMnO[sub 3+δ] thin films using the magnetostriction of Terfenol-D alloy

Author name used in this publication: Y. WangAuthor name used in this publication: H. L. W. ChanAuthor name used in this publication: C. L. ChoyAuthor name used in this publication: H. S. Luo2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Sequencing Pigeonpea Genome

Availability of draft genome has brought quantum jump in pigeonpea status and facilitated to move it to the league of genomic resource rich crops. It is important to mention that pigeonpea became the first orphan and non-industrial grain legume in 2012 to have the draft genome sequence. An elite pigeonpea genotype Asha (ICPL 87119) was used to develop the draft genome in two different sequencing efforts. The pigeonpea genome sequence effort led by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) used Illumina Genome Analyzer and HiSeq 2000 NGS platform, and a total of 237.2 Gb of sequence was generated. De-novo genome assembly combined with Sanger-based bacterial artificial chromosome end sequences and a genetic map was used to assemble raw reads into scaffolds representing 72.7% (605.78 Mb) of the 833.07 Mb pigeonpea genome. Genome analysis predicted 48,680 genes with an average transcript length of 2348 bp, coding-sequence size of 959.35 bp and 3.59 exons per gene. Analysis of genome assembly for repetitive DNA showed presence of transposable elements (TEs) in 49.61% of assembled genome. The pigeonpea genome sequencing led by National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB) used 454 GS-FLX sequencing chemistry, with mean read lengths of >550 bp and >10-fold genome coverage, was used to assemble ~511 Mb sequence data. In this study, 47,004 protein-coding genes were predicted. This study also reported 1213 disease resistance/defense response genes and 152 abiotic stress tolerance genes. The available pigeonpea draft genome information is expected to facilitate genomics-assisted breeding for the targeted traits that could improve food security in many developing countries

Abnormal phase transitions for tetragonal (1-x)Pb(Mg[sub ⅓]Nb[sub ⅔])O₃-xPbTiO₃ single crystals at low temperature

2004-2005 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Effects of ferroelectric polarization and converse piezoelectric effect induced lattice strain on the electrical properties of La[sub 0.7]Sr[sub 0.3]MnO₃ thin films

Author name used in this publication: R. K. ZhengAuthor name used in this publication: J. WangAuthor name used in this publication: X. Y. ZhouAuthor name used in this publication: Y. WangAuthor name used in this publication: H. L. W. ChanAuthor name used in this publication: C. L. ChoyAuthor name used in this publication: H. S. Luo2005-2006 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Tuning the electrical properties of La[sub 0.75]Ca[sub 0.25]MnO₃ thin films by ferroelectric polarization, ferroelectric-field effect, and converse piezoelectric effect

2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Effects of ferroelectric-poling-induced strain on the quantum correction to low-temperature resistivity of manganite thin films

Author name used in this publication: H. L. W. ChanAuthor name used in this publication: H. S. Luo2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Morphine modulation of pain processing in medial and lateral pain pathways

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the wide-spread use of morphine and related opioid agonists in clinic and their powerful analgesic effects, our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying opioid analgesia at supraspinal levels is quite limited. The present study was designed to investigate the modulative effect of morphine on nociceptive processing in the medial and lateral pain pathways using a multiple single-unit recording technique. Pain evoked neuronal activities were simultaneously recorded from the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), ventral posterolateral thalamus (VPL), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and medial dorsal thalamus (MD) with eight-wire microelectrode arrays in awake rats.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that the noxious heat evoked responses of single neurons in all of the four areas were depressed after systemic injection of 5 mg/kg morphine. The depressive effects of morphine included (i) decreasing the neuronal response magnitude; (ii) reducing the fraction of responding neurons, and (iii) shortening the response duration. In addition, the capability of cortical and thalamic neural ensembles to discriminate noxious from innocuous stimuli was decreased by morphine within both pain pathways. Meanwhile, morphine suppressed the pain-evoked changes in the information flow from medial to lateral pathway and from cortex to thalamus. These effects were completely blocked by pre-treatment with the opiate receptor antagonist naloxone.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that morphine exerts analgesic effects through suppressing both sensory and affective dimensions of pain.</p

Effects of substrate-induced strain on transport properties of LaMnO[sub 3+δ] and CaMnO₃ thin films using ferroelectric poling and converse piezoelectric effect

Author name used in this publication: H. L. W. ChanAuthor name used in this publication: C. L. Choy2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Ferroelectric poling and converse-piezoelectric-effect-induced strain effects in La₀.₇Ba₀.₃MnO₃ thin films grown on ferroelectric single-crystal substrates

Author name used in this publication: Y. WangAuthor name used in this publication: H. L. W. ChanAuthor name used in this publication: C. L. Choy2008-2009 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

On dynamic network entropy in cancer

The cellular phenotype is described by a complex network of molecular interactions. Elucidating network properties that distinguish disease from the healthy cellular state is therefore of critical importance for gaining systems-level insights into disease mechanisms and ultimately for developing improved therapies. By integrating gene expression data with a protein interaction network to induce a stochastic dynamics on the network, we here demonstrate that cancer cells are characterised by an increase in the dynamic network entropy, compared to cells of normal physiology. Using a fundamental relation between the macroscopic resilience of a dynamical system and the uncertainty (entropy) in the underlying microscopic processes, we argue that cancer cells will be more robust to random gene perturbations. In addition, we formally demonstrate that gene expression differences between normal and cancer tissue are anticorrelated with local dynamic entropy changes, thus providing a systemic link between gene expression changes at the nodes and their local network dynamics. In particular, we also find that genes which drive cell-proliferation in cancer cells and which often encode oncogenes are associated with reductions in the dynamic network entropy. In summary, our results support the view that the observed increased robustness of cancer cells to perturbation and therapy may be due to an increase in the dynamic network entropy that allows cells to adapt to the new cellular stresses. Conversely, genes that exhibit local flux entropy decreases in cancer may render cancer cells more susceptible to targeted intervention and may therefore represent promising drug targets.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables. Submitte