15 research outputs found
Identification of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes from porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus matrix protein in BALB/c mice
Twenty-seven nanopeptides derived from the matrix (M) protein of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) were screened for their ability to elicit a recall interferon-γ (IFN-γ) response from the splenocytes of BALB/c mice following DNA vaccination and a booster vaccination with recombinant vaccinia virus rWR-PRRSV-M. We identified two peptides (amino acid residues K93FITSRCRL and F57GYMTFVHF) as CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes. These peptides elicited significant numbers of IFN-γ secreting cells, compared with other M nonapeptides and one irrelevant nonapeptide. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the former is an H-2Kd-restricted CTL epitope, and the latter is an H-2Dd-restricted CTL epitope. Multiple amino acid sequence alignment among different PRRSV M sequences submitted to GenBank indicated that these two CTL epitopes are strongly conserved, and they should therefore be considered for further research on the mechanisms of cellular immune responses to PRRSV
A common variant near TGFBR3 is associated with primary open angle glaucoma
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic
contribution.We performed Exome Array (Illumina) analysis on 3504 POAG cases and 9746 controls with replication of the most
significant findings in 9173 POAG cases and 26 780 controls across 18 collections of Asian, African and European descent. Apart
from confirming strong evidence of association at CDKN2B-AS1 (rs2157719 [G], odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, P = 2.81 × 10−33), we
observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7–TGFBR3 rs1192415, ORG-allele = 1.13, Pmeta = 1.60 × 10−8). This
particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are
regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease
pathogenesis
A common variant near TGFBR3 is associated with primary open angle glaucoma
Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array (Illumina) analysis on 3504 POAG cases and 9746 controls with replication of the most significant findings in 9173 POAG cases and 26 780 controls across 18 collections of Asian, African and European descent. Apart from confirming strong evidence of association at CDKN2B-AS1 (rs2157719 [G], odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, P = 2.81 × 10−33), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7–TGFBR3 rs1192415, ORG-allele = 1.13, Pmeta = 1.60 × 10−8). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis
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Abstract Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a major cause of blindness worldwide, is a complex disease with a significant genetic contribution. We performed Exome Array ), we observed one SNP showing significant association to POAG (CDC7-TGFBR3 rs1192415, OR G-allele = 1.13, P meta = 1.60 × 10 −8 ). This particular SNP has previously been shown to be strongly associated with optic disc area and vertical cup-to-disc ratio, which are regarded as glaucoma-related quantitative traits. Our study now extends this by directly implicating it in POAG disease pathogenesis
Multi-Stage Cortical Plasticity Induced by Visual Contrast Learning
Perceptual learning, the improved sensitivity via repetitive practice, is a universal phenomenon in vision and its neural mechanisms remain controversial. A central question is which stage of processing is changed after training. To answer this question, we measured the contrast response functions and electroencephalography (EEG) before and after ten daily sessions of contrast detection training. Behavioral results showed that training substantially improved visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. The learning effect was significant at the trained condition and partially transferred to control conditions. Event-related potential (ERP) results showed that training reduced the latency in both early and late ERPs at the trained condition. Specifically, contrast-gain-related changes were observed in the latency of P1, N1-P2 complex, and N2, which reflects neural changes across the early, middle, and high-level sensory stages. Meanwhile, response-gain-related changes were found in the latency of N2, which indicates stimulus-independent effect in higher-level stages. In sum, our findings indicate that learning leads to changes across different processing stages and the extent of learning and transfer may depend on the specific stage of information processing
Dynamic Prediction of Mechanical Thrombectomy Outcome for Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients Using Machine Learning
The unfavorable outcome of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) with large vessel occlusion (LVO) is related to clinical factors at multiple time points. However, predictive models used for dynamically predicting unfavorable outcomes using clinically relevant preoperative and postoperative time point variables have not been developed. Our goal was to develop a machine learning (ML) model for the dynamic prediction of unfavorable outcomes. We retrospectively reviewed patients with AIS who underwent a consecutive mechanical thrombectomy (MT) from three centers in China between January 2014 and December 2018. Based on the eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm, we used clinical characteristics on admission (“Admission” Model) and additional variables regarding intraoperative management and the postoperative National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) score (“24-Hour” Model, “3-Day” Model and “Discharge” Model). The outcome was an unfavorable outcome at the three-month mark (modified Rankin scale, mRS 3–6: unfavorable). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and Brier scores were the main evaluating indexes. The unfavorable outcome at the three-month mark was observed in 156 (62.0%) of 238 patients. These four models had a high accuracy in the range of 75.0% to 87.5% and had a good discrimination with AUC in the range of 0.824 to 0.945 on the testing set. The Brier scores of the four models ranged from 0.122 to 0.083 and showed a good predictive ability on the testing set. This is the first dynamic, preoperative and postoperative predictive model constructed for AIS patients who underwent MT, which is more accurate than the previous prediction model. The preoperative model could be used to predict the clinical outcome before MT and support the decision to perform MT, and the postoperative models would further improve the predictive accuracy of the clinical outcome after MT and timely adjust therapeutic strategies
Size Effects of Platinum Colloid Particles on the Structure and CO Oxidation Properties of Supported Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Catalysts
Three supported Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalysts were prepared
by depositing platinum colloids with discrete particle sizes onto
the surface of Fe(OH)<sub>3</sub> powders, which were then calcined
at an elevated temperature. Pt nanoparticle colloids with mean diameters
of 1.1, 1.9, or 2.7 nm were synthesized in order to investigate the
effects of particle size on the structure and CO oxidation properties
of these Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalysts. All Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalysts demonstrated activity in low-temperature
CO oxidation, with the sample containing Pt nanoparticles with a mean
diameter of 1.9 nm (designated Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-b) exhibiting
relatively higher catalytic activity. Compared with the other two
catalysts, Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-b exhibited an increased
ability to activate oxygen and maintain the stability of Pt species,
correlating with its higher catalytic activity. The results of various
characterization techniques revealed that the mean particle size of
the Pt nanoparticles could influence the chemical states of Pt species
and the strength of metal–support interactions of the Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalysts. It was observed that the metal–support
interactions in Pt/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> catalysts were able
to adjust the redox properties and the O<sub>2</sub>-activation abilities
of the catalysts. Finally, it is proposed that the interacting Pt
and Fe species located at the Pt–FeO<sub><i>x</i></sub> interface are the primary active sites for the activation
of CO and O<sub>2</sub>, respectively