Snapshots for intra- and inter-ocular differences at retinal proteins levels

We attempted to study the intra- and inter-animal variations of protein expressions in chick retina using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE). The posterior retinas of 10 day-old chicks were harvested. The proteins were extracted and 2-DE protein profiles between two eyes of the same individual and among different animals were compared and analysed using Melanie gel analysis software. Computerised Melanie gel analysis showed a high similarity of 83.1 ± 2.1% (mean ± SEM, n=3) between the protein profiles of right and left retinas from the same animal. However, this percentage dropped to 64.1 ± 3.1% (Mean ± SEM, n=3) when comparing between different animal samples. We have shown that there were good similarities in intra-animal comparison but poor in inter-animal comparison. We have documented the caveat in comparing the protein profiles between different animals where apparent differentially display protein could actually be a false positive signal. The finding highlighted the potential usefulness of the proteomic approach in basic eye research where comparison between control and experimental tissues could be carried out in the same animal, rather than using different animals

Mechanical oscillations enhance gene delivery into suspended cells

published_or_final_versio

A comparative study on migratory properties of copper in nickel, cobalt and palladium deposits

2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Study of properties of cobalt-tungsten binary alloy deposit as copper barrier

2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Lipid profile of the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study cohort

published_or_final_versio

Outcomes and Cost Ef-fectiveness of a Respiratory Coordinated Care Program in Patients with Severe or Very Severe COPD

Abstract Multidisciplinary community coordinated care programs are widely adopted to optimise care of chronic disease patients, but there is a need for further evaluation in the setting of COPD. This observational study evaluated 147 patients with severe or very severe COPD who were enrolled in a multidisciplinary community respiratory coordinated care progra

Inhibitory effect of Chinese green tea on cigarette smoke-induced up-regulation of airway neutrophil elastase and matrix metalloproteinase-12 via antioxidant activity

Our recent study has indicated that Chinese green tea (Lung Chen), in which epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) accounts for 60% of catechins, protected cigarette smoke-induced lung injury. We now hypothesized that Lung Chen tea may also have potential effect on lung oxidative stress and proteases/anti-proteases in a smoking rat model. Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to either sham air (SA) or 4% cigarette smoke (CS) plus 2% Lung Chen tea or water by oral gavage. Serine proteases, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their respective endogenous inhibitors were determined in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and lung tissues by gelatin/casein zymography and biochemical assays. Green tea consumption significantly decreased CS-induced elevation of lung lipid peroxidation marker, malondialdehyde (MDA), and CS-induced up-regulation of neutrophil elastase (NE) concentration and activity along with that of α1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) and secretory leukoproteinase inhibitor (SLPI) in BAL and lung. In parallel, significant elevation of MMP-12 activity was found in BAL and lung of the CS-exposed group, which returned to the levels of SA-exposed group after green tea consumption but not CS-induced reduction of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 activity, which was not reversed by green tea consumption. Taken together, our data supported the presence of local oxidative stress and protease/anti-protease imbalance in the airways after CS exposure, which might be alleviated by green tea consumption through its biological antioxidant activity. Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10715762.2012.692786postprin

Overview on the phenomenon of two-qubit entanglement revivals in classical environments

The occurrence of revivals of quantum entanglement between separated open quantum systems has been shown not only for dissipative non-Markovian quantum environments but also for classical environments in absence of back-action. While the phenomenon is well understood in the first case, the possibility to retrieve entanglement when the composite quantum system is subject to local classical noise has generated a debate regarding its interpretation. This dynamical property of open quantum systems assumes an important role in quantum information theory from both fundamental and practical perspectives. Hybrid quantum-classical systems are in fact promising candidates to investigate the interplay among quantum and classical features and to look for possible control strategies of a quantum system by means of a classical device. Here we present an overview on this topic, reporting the most recent theoretical and experimental results about the revivals of entanglement between two qubits locally interacting with classical environments. We also review and discuss the interpretations provided so far to explain this phenomenon, suggesting that they can be cast under a unified viewpoint.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. Chapter written for the upcoming book "Lectures on general quantum correlations and their applications

Ecosystem-Driven Design of In-Home Terminals Based on Open Platform for the

Abstract—In-home healthcare services based on the Internet-of-Things (IoT) have great business potentials. To turn it into reality, a business ecosystem should be established first. Technical solutions should therefore aim for a cooperative ecosystem by meeting the interoperability, security, and system integration requirements. In this paper, we propose an ecosystem-driven design strategy and apply it in the design of an open-platform-based in-home healthcare terminal. A cooperative business ecosystem is formulated by merging the traditiona