mRNA knockdown by single strand RNA is improved by chemical modifications

While RNAi has traditionally relied on RNA duplexes, early evaluation of siRNAs demonstrated activity of the guide strand in the absence of the passenger strand. However, these single strands lacked the activity of duplex RNAs. Here, we report the systematic use of chemical modifications to optimize single-strand RNA (ssRNA)-mediated mRNA knockdown. We identify that 2′F ribose modifications coupled with 5′-end phosphorylation vastly improves ssRNA activity both in vitro and in vivo. The impact of specific chemical modifications on ssRNA activity implies an Ago-mediated mechanism but the hallmark mRNA cleavage sites were not observed which suggests ssRNA may operate through a mechanism beyond conventional Ago2 slicer activity. While currently less potent than duplex siRNAs, with additional chemical optimization and alternative routes of delivery, chemically modified ssRNAs could represent a powerful RNAi platform

Supervisory controller synthesis and implementation for safety PLCs

The development of supervisory controllers for cyber-physical systems is a laborious and error-prone process. Supervisor synthesis enables control designers to automatically synthesize a correct-by-construction supervisor from a model of the plant combined with a model of the control requirements. From the supervisor model, controller code can be generated which is suitable for the implementation on a programmable logic controller (PLC). Supervisors for industrial systems that operate in close proximity to humans have to adhere to strict safety standards. To achieve these standards, safety PLCs (SPLCs) are used. For SPLC implementation, the supervisor has to be split into a regular part and a safety part. In previous work, a method is proposed to automatically split a supervisor model for this purpose. The method assumes that the provided plant model is a collection of finite automata. In this paper, the extension to extended finite automata is described. Additionally, guidelines are provided for modeling the plant and the requirements to achieve a favorable splitting. A case study on a rotating bridge is elaborated which has been used to validate the method. The case study spans all development steps, including the implementation of the resulting supervisor to control the real bridge

Level of awareness and extent of utilization of barangay health care services among residents of Carmona, Cavite

This research utilized correlational research design. Using purposive sampling technique, 397 residents of the three (3) barangays were chosen. This study used a self-made questionnaire to find out the level of awareness and extent of utilization of barangay health care services among respondents. Data was analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test for independent means, ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation. The results of the study were the following: (1) most of the respondents were 36 to 55 years old, female, married, and from Barangay Milagrosa; (2) the respondents have high level of awareness of barangay health care services; (3) the barangay health care services are often utilized by the respondents; (4) there are significant differences in the level of awareness of barangay health care services when the respondents were grouped according to age, gender, civil status, and locality. Respondents who are middle adults, female, married, and from barangay Milagrosa have the highest level of awareness of barangay health care services; (5) there are significant differences in the extent of utilization of barangay health care services when the respondents were grouped according to age, gender, civil status, and locality. The respondents who are middle-aged adults, females, married, and from barangay Poblacion I have the highest extent of utilization; (6) there is significant relationship between the level of awareness and extent of utilization of barangay health care services among residents of Carmona, Cavite; (7) the respondents recommend that more free medicine should be provided, cheaper medicine that can be afforded by the poor, equality in health services, more programs for the elders, priority for the poor and other emergency cases, programs for the mentally challenged individuals and programs that will educate the people on family planning and how they can prevent the accumulation of diseases

On the intrinsic moisture permeation rate of remote microwave plasma-deposited silicon nitride layers

We report on a low substrate temperature (110 °C) remote microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process of silicon nitride barrier layers against moisture permeation for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and other moisture sensitive devices such as organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). Specifically, the influence of the SiH4/NH3 gas flow ratio on the layer composition and intrinsic moisture barrier performance is investigated, as inferred from Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) analysis, and the calcium test. Since the presence of extrinsic factors for barrier failure such as pinholes and contamination particles (defects) is largely determined by the substrate conditioning and environment, the focus in this research is on the intrinsic permeability of the silicon nitride films, as measured by monitoring the homogeneous degradation of defect (e.g. pinholes and contamination particles)-free calcium regions. The investigated films have tunable chemical composition and optical properties and moderate residual strain levels varying from tensile to compressive. Despite this variation in film properties, the intrinsic water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) is found to be constant at a level of 1 · 10- 5 g/m2 day at 20 °C/50%RH conditions for films deposited at 0.1–0.5 nm/s. When the total gas flow rate is increased in order to achieve higher growth rate processing (0.2–1.0 nm/s), a higher permeability is measured at increased SiH4/NH3 ratio. The development of high surface roughness in the silicon nitride layer, as shown by AFM analysis, suggests cluster/dust formation in the plasma and powder inclusion during film deposition. This eventually leads to higher water vapor transmission rate of the deposited layers