Development of HRPzyme-Integrated PCR Platform for Colorimetric Detection of Foodborne Pathogens

In recent years, foodborne illnesses have become the most significant public health issue in both developed and developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in 2010, around 1.8 million people died due to foodborne illness. Therefore, the development of a cost-effective, sensitive, and selective detection method for identifying and monitoring foodborne pathogens is necessary for improved public health. Here, we describe a simple and ultrasensitive colorimetric method for the detection of foodborne pathogens based on HRPzyme-integrated PCR using PC-based ImageJ software. We present insights into different aspects of this method such as the importance of 16S rRNA detection, the modification of traditional PCR primers with a unique functional sequence for generating a color signal, and the application of ImageJ in colorimetric image data acquisition. The performance of the proposed strategy in detecting various foodborne pathogens is comparable to that of the commercial UV-Vis spectrophotometer Tecan Infinite 200 Pro. This detection platform exhibits linearity over wide range, high sensitivity, and high selectivity. The diagnostic capability of this colorimetric system to detect foodborne pathogens was demonstrated with spiked fruit and vegetable samples. This low-cost and effective colorimetric method can be conveniently employed for the analysis of DNA sequences arising from pathogenic bacteria

Explicit CP violation in the Dine-Seiberg-Thomas model

The possibility of explicit CP violation is studied in a supersymmetric model proposed by Dine, Seiberg, and Thomas, with two effective dimension-five operators. The explicit CP violation may be triggered by complex phases in the coefficients for the dimension-five operators in the Higgs potential, and by a complex phase in the scalar top quark masses. Although the scenario of explicit CP violation is found to be inconsistent with the experimental data at LEP2 at the tree level, it may be possible at the one-loop level. For a reasonable parameter space, the masses of the neutral Higgs bosons and their couplings to a pair of $Z$ bosons are consistent with the LEP2 data, at the one-loop level.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Non-Drude Optical Conductivity of (III,Mn)V Ferromagnetic Semiconductors

We present a numerical model study of the zero-temperature infrared optical properties of (III,Mn)V diluted magnetic semiconductors. Our calculations demonstrate the importance of treating disorder and interaction effects simultaneously in modelling these materials. We find that the conductivity has no clear Drude peak, that it has a broadened inter-band peak near 220 meV, and that oscillator weight is shifted to higher frequencies by stronger disorder. These results are in good qualitative agreement with recent thin film absorption measurements. We use our numerical findings to discuss the use of f-sum rules evaluated by integrating optical absorption data for accurate carrier-density estimates.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Alpha-synuclein: a pathological factor with Aβ and tau and biomarker in Alzheimers disease

Abstract Background Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is considered the main pathophysiological protein component of Lewy bodies in synucleinopathies. α-Syn is an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP), and several types of structural conformations have been reported, depending on environmental factors. Since IDPs may have distinctive functions depending on their structures, α-syn can play different roles and interact with several proteins, including amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau, in Alzheimers disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. Main body In previous studies, α-syn aggregates in AD brains suggested a close relationship between AD and α-syn. In addition, α-syn directly interacts with Aβ and tau, promoting mutual aggregation and exacerbating the cognitive decline. The interaction of α-syn with Aβ and tau presented different consequences depending on the structural forms of the proteins. In AD, α-syn and tau levels in CSF were both elevated and revealed a high positive correlation. Especially, the CSF α-syn concentration was significantly elevated in the early stages of AD. Therefore, it could be a diagnostic marker of AD and help distinguish AD from other neurodegenerative disorders by incorporating other biomarkers. Conclusion The overall physiological and pathophysiological functions, structures, and genetics of α-syn in AD are reviewed and summarized. The numerous associations of α-syn with Aβ and tau suggested the significance of α-syn, as a partner of the pathophysiological roles in AD. Understanding the involvements of α-syn in the pathology of Aβ and tau could help address the unresolved issues of AD. In particular, the current status of the CSF α-syn in AD recommends it as an additional biomarker in the panel for AD diagnosis

Biases and Uncertainties in Physical Parameter Estimates of Lyman Break Galaxies from Broad-band Photometry

We investigate the biases and uncertainties in estimates of physical parameters of high-redshift Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), such as stellar mass, mean stellar population age, and star formation rate (SFR), obtained from broad-band photometry. By combining LCDM hierarchical structure formation theory, semi-analytic treatments of baryonic physics, and stellar population synthesis models, we construct model galaxy catalogs from which we select LBGs at redshifts z ~ 3.4, 4.0, and 5.0. The broad-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these model LBGs are then analysed by fitting galaxy template SEDs derived from stellar population synthesis models with smoothly declining SFRs. We compare the statistical properties of LBGs' physical parameters -- such as stellar mass, SFR, and stellar population age -- as derived from the best-fit galaxy templates with the intrinsic values from the semi-analytic model. We find some trends in these distributions: first, when the redshift is known, SED-fitting methods reproduce the input distributions of LBGs' stellar masses relatively well, with a minor tendency to underestimate the masses overall, but with substantial scatter. Second, there are large systematic biases in the distributions of best-fit SFRs and mean ages, in the sense that single-component SED-fitting methods underestimate SFRs and overestimate ages. We attribute these trends to the different star formation histories predicted by the semi-analytic models and assumed in the galaxy templates used in SED-fitting procedure, and to the fact that light from the current generation of star-formation can hide older generations of stars. These biases, which arise from the SED-fitting procedure, can significantly affect inferences about galaxy evolution from broadband photometry.Comment: 85 pages, 34 figures, submittted to ApJ

Revisiting the Color-Color Selection: Submillimeter and AGN Properties of NUV-r-J Selected Quiescent Galaxies

We examine the robustness of the color-color selection of quiescent galaxies (QGs) against contamination of dusty star-forming galaxies using the latest submillimeter data. We selected 18,304 QG candidates out to $z\sim$ 3 using the commonly adopted $NUV-r-J$ selection based on the high-quality multi-wavelength COSMOS2015 catalog. Using extremely deep 450 and 850 $\mu$m catalogs from the latest JCMT SCUBA-2 Large Programs, S2COSMOS, and STUDIES, as well as ALMA submillimeter, VLA 3 GHz, and $Spitzer$ MIPS 24 $\mu$m catalogs, we identified luminous dusty star-forming galaxies among the QG candidates. We also conducted stacking analyses in the SCUBA-2 450 and 850 $\mu$m images to look for less-luminous dusty galaxies among the QG candidates. By cross-matching to the 24 $\mu$m and 3 GHz data, we were able to identify a sub-group of "IR-radio-bright" QGs who possess a strong 450 and 850 $\mu$m stacking signal. The potential contamination of these luminous and less-luminous dusty galaxies accounts for approximately 10% of the color-selected QG candidates. In addition, there exists a spatial correlation between the luminous star-forming galaxies and the QGs at a $\lesssim60$ kpc scale. Finally, we found a high QG fraction among radio AGNs at $z<$ 1.5. Our data show a strong correlation between QGs and radio AGNs, which may suggest a connection between the quenching process and the radio-mode AGN feedback.Comment: This paper is accepted for publication on Ap