A general approach to high-yield biosynthesis of chimeric RNAs bearing various types of functional small RNAs for broad applications.

RNA research and therapy relies primarily on synthetic RNAs. We employed recombinant RNA technology toward large-scale production of pre-miRNA agents in bacteria, but found the majority of target RNAs were not or negligibly expressed. We thus developed a novel strategy to achieve consistent high-yield biosynthesis of chimeric RNAs carrying various small RNAs (e.g. miRNAs, siRNAs and RNA aptamers), which was based upon an optimal noncoding RNA scaffold (OnRS) derived from tRNA fusion pre-miR-34a (tRNA/mir-34a). Multi-milligrams of chimeric RNAs (e.g. OnRS/miR-124, OnRS/GFP-siRNA, OnRS/Neg (scrambled RNA) and OnRS/MGA (malachite green aptamer)) were readily obtained from 1 l bacterial culture. Deep sequencing analyses revealed that mature miR-124 and target GFP-siRNA were selectively released from chimeric RNAs in human cells. Consequently, OnRS/miR-124 was active in suppressing miR-124 target gene expression and controlling cellular processes, and OnRS/GFP-siRNA was effective in knocking down GFP mRNA levels and fluorescent intensity in ES-2/GFP cells and GFP-transgenic mice. Furthermore, the OnRS/MGA sensor offered a specific strong fluorescence upon binding MG, which was utilized as label-free substrate to accurately determine serum RNase activities in pancreatic cancer patients. These results demonstrate that OnRS-based bioengineering is a common, robust and versatile strategy to assemble various types of small RNAs for broad applications

Hamiltonian type Lie bialgebras

We first prove that, for any generalized Hamiltonian type Lie algebra $L$, the first cohomology group $H^1(L,L \otimes L)$ is trivial. We then show that all Lie bialgebra structures on $L$ are triangular.Comment: LaTeX, 16 page

A Statistical Study on Force-Freeness of Solar Magnetic Fields in the Photosphere

It is an indisputable fact that solar magnetic fields are force-free in the corona, where force free fields means that current and magnetic fields are parallel and there is no Lorentz force in the fields. While the force-free extent of photospheric magnetic fields remains open. In this paper, the statistical results about it is given. The vector magnetograms (namely, $B_{x}$, $B_{y}$ and $B_{z}$ in heliocentric coordinates) are employed, which are deduced and calibrated from Stokes spectra, observed by Solar Magnetic Field Telescope (SMFT) at Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS) are used. We study and calibrated 925 magnetograms calibrated by two sets of calibration coefficients, that indicate the relations between magnetic fields and the strength of Stokes spectrum and can be calculated either theoretically or empirically. The statistical results show that the majority of active region magnetic fields are not consistent with the force-free model.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, has been accepted by PAS

Exploring rural secondary school students' attitude toward the Malayan tapir through salient beliefs

Environmental education programmes in Malaysia have been successful in increasing students' knowledge but not so in changing attitudes. To design educational programmes that changes attitudes, we need to understand the underlying determinant of attitude. The purpose of the study was to explore and elicit rural secondary school students' attitudes towards the Malayan tapir through their salient beliefs. Focusing on the cognitive and affective components of the attitude model, eighty-one secondary school students were asked to elucidate what they knew about the Malayan tapir through pictorial stimulation in focus group discussion. Students were observed to be intrigued by the physical characteristics of the Malayan tapir but knew little about its ecological function, natural habitat and threats while displaying positive and negative emotions in reaction to the pictures. Future research implications include the designing of an environmental education programme based on the observations of this study and measuring the effectiveness of the programme in influencing behaviour

Reducing medical errors in primary care using a pragmatic complex intervention

This study aimed to develop an intervention to reduce medical errors and to determine if the intervention can reduce medical errors in public funded primary care clinics. A controlled interventional trial was conducted in 12 conveniently selected primary care clinics. Random samples of outpatient medical records were selected and reviewed by family physicians for documentation, diagnostic, and management errors at baseline and 3 months post intervention. The intervention package comprised educational training, structured process change, review methods, and patient education. A significant reduction was found in overall documentation error rates between intervention (Pre 98.3% [CI 97.1-99.6]; Post 76.1% [CI 68.1-84.1]) and control groups (Pre 97.4% [CI 95.1-99.8]; Post 89.5% [85.3-93.6]). Within the intervention group, overall management errors reduced from 54.0% (CI 49.9-58.0) to 36.6% (CI 30.2-43.1) and medication error from 43.2% (CI 39.2-47.1) to 25.2% (CI 19.9-30.5). This low-cost intervention was useful to reduce medical errors in resource-constrained settings