A Semi-analytical Model for Remote Sensing Retrieval of Suspended Sediment Concentration in the Gulf of Bohai, China

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Identification and Expression Profiling of MicroRNAs in the Brain, Liver and Gonads of Marine Medaka (Oryzias melastigma) and in Response to Hypoxia

The marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) has been increasingly used as a fish model for detecting environmental stresses and chemical contaminants in the marine environment. Recent mammalian studies have shown that environmental stresses can alter the expression profiles of microRNAs (miRNAs), leading to transgenerational effects. Here, we use high-throughput Illumina RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) for miRNA transcriptome analysis of brain, liver, and gonads from sexually mature male and female marine medaka. A total of 128,883,806 filtered sequence reads were generated from six small RNA libraries, identifying a total of 2,125,663 non-redundant sequences. These sequences were aligned and annotated to known animal miRNAs (miRBase) using the BLAST method. A total of 223 distinct miRNA types were identified, with the greatest number expressed in brain tissue. Our data suggested that 55 miRNA types from 34 families are common to all tested tissues, while some of the miRNAs are tissue-enriched or sex-enriched. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis further demonstrated that let-7a, miR-122, and miR-9-3p were downregulated in hypoxic female medaka, while miR-2184 was specifically upregulated in the testis of hypoxic male fish. This is the first study to identify miRNAs in O. melastigma using small RNA deep sequencing technology. Because miRNA expression is highly conserved between marine medaka and other vertebrates, marine medaka may serve as a good model for studies on the functional roles of miRNAs in hypoxia stress response and signaling in marine fish.published_or_final_versio

From design to implementation - The Joint Asia Diabetes Evaluation (JADE) program: A descriptive report of an electronic web-based diabetes management program

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Joint Asia Diabetes Evaluation (JADE) Program is a web-based program incorporating a comprehensive risk engine, care protocols, and clinical decision support to improve ambulatory diabetes care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The JADE Program uses information technology to facilitate healthcare professionals to create a diabetes registry and to deliver an evidence-based care and education protocol tailored to patients' risk profiles. With written informed consent from participating patients and care providers, all data are anonymized and stored in a databank to establish an Asian Diabetes Database for research and publication purpose.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The JADE electronic portal (e-portal: <url>http://www.jade-adf.org</url>) is implemented as a Java application using the Apache web server, the mySQL database and the Cocoon framework. The JADE e-portal comprises a risk engine which predicts 5-year probability of major clinical events based on parameters collected during an annual comprehensive assessment. Based on this risk stratification, the JADE e-portal recommends a care protocol tailored to these risk levels with decision support triggered by various risk factors. Apart from establishing a registry for quality assurance and data tracking, the JADE e-portal also displays trends of risk factor control at each visit to promote doctor-patient dialogues and to empower both parties to make informed decisions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The JADE Program is a prototype using information technology to facilitate implementation of a comprehensive care model, as recommended by the International Diabetes Federation. It also enables health care teams to record, manage, track and analyze the clinical course and outcomes of people with diabetes.</p

The Complexity of Vascular and Non-Vascular Complications of Diabetes: The Hong Kong Diabetes Registry

Diabetes is a complex disease characterized by chronic hyperglycemia and multiple phenotypes. In 1995, we used a doctor-nurse-clerk team and structured protocol to establish the Hong Kong Diabetes Registry in a quality improvement program. By 2009, we had accrued 2616 clinical events in 9588 Chinese type 2 diabetic patients with a follow-up duration of 6 years. The detailed phenotypes at enrollment and follow-up medications have allowed us to develop a series of risk equations to predict multiple endpoints with high sensitivity and specificity. In this prospective database, we were able to validate findings from clinical trials in real practice, confirm close links between cardiovascular and renal disease, and demonstrate the emerging importance of cancer as a leading cause of death. In addition to serving as a tool for risk stratification and quality assurance, ongoing data analysis of the registry also reveals secular changes in disease patterns and identifies unmet needs

High-dose clevudine impairs mitochondrial function and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in INS-1E cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clevudine is a nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor that exhibits potent antiviral activity against hepatitis B virus (HBV) without serious side effects. However, mitochondrial myopathy has been observed in patients with chronic HBV infection taking clevudine. Moreover, the development of diabetes was recently reported in patients receiving long-term treatment with clevudine. In this study, we investigated the effects of clevudine on mitochondrial function and insulin release in a rat clonal β-cell line, INS-1E.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number and the mRNA levels were measured by using quantitative PCR. MTT analysis, ATP/lactate measurements, and insulin assay were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both INS-1E cells and HepG2 cells, which originated from human hepatoma, showed dose-dependent decreases in mtDNA copy number and cytochrome c oxidase-1 (Cox-1) mRNA level following culture with clevudine (10 μM-1 mM) for 4 weeks. INS-1E cells treated with clevudine had reduced total mitochondrial activities, lower cytosolic ATP contents, enhanced lactate production, and more lipid accumulation. Insulin release in response to glucose application was markedly decreased in clevudine-treated INS-1E cells, which might be a consequence of mitochondrial dysfunction.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data suggest that high-dose treatment with clevudine induces mitochondrial defects associated with mtDNA depletion and impairs glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in insulin-releasing cells. These findings partly explain the development of diabetes in patients receiving clevudine who might have a high susceptibility to mitochondrial toxicity.</p

Rapid semi-automated quantitative multiplex tandem PCR (MT-PCR) assays for the differential diagnosis of influenza-like illness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Influenza A, including avian influenza, is a major public health threat in developed and developing countries. Rapid and accurate detection is a key component of strategies to contain spread of infection, and the efficient diagnosis of influenza-like-illness is essential to protect health infrastructure in the event of a major influenza outbreak.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We developed a multiplexed PCR (MT-PCR) assay for the simultaneous diagnosis of respiratory viruses causing influenza-like illness, including the specific recognition of influenza A haemagglutinin subtypes H1, H3, and H5. We tested several hundred clinical specimens in two diagnostic reference laboratories and compared the results with standard techniques.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The sensitivity and specificity of these assays was higher than individual assays based on direct antigen detection and standard PCR against a range of control templates and in several hundred clinical specimens. The MT-PCR assays provided differential diagnoses as well as potentially useful quantitation of virus in clinical samples.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>MT-PCR is a potentially powerful tool for the differential diagnosis of influenza-like illness in the clinical diagnostic laboratory.</p

Bioinformatics research in the Asia Pacific: a 2007 update

We provide a 2007 update on the bioinformatics research in the Asia-Pacific from the Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet), Asia's oldest bioinformatics organisation set up in 1998. From 2002, APBioNet has organized the first International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB) bringing together scientists working in the field of bioinformatics in the region. This year, the InCoB2007 Conference was organized as the 6th annual conference of the Asia-Pacific Bioinformatics Network, on Aug. 27–30, 2007 at Hong Kong, following a series of successful events in Bangkok (Thailand), Penang (Malaysia), Auckland (New Zealand), Busan (South Korea) and New Delhi (India). Besides a scientific meeting at Hong Kong, satellite events organized are a pre-conference training workshop at Hanoi, Vietnam and a post-conference workshop at Nansha, China. This Introduction provides a brief overview of the peer-reviewed manuscripts accepted for publication in this Supplement. We have organized the papers into thematic areas, highlighting the growing contribution of research excellence from this region, to global bioinformatics endeavours

Large-scale Synthesis of β-SiC Nanochains and Their Raman/Photoluminescence Properties

Although the SiC/SiO2 nanochain heterojunction has been synthesized, the chained homogeneous nanostructure of SiC has not been reported before. Herein, the novel β-SiC nanochains are synthesized assisted by the AAO template. The characterized results demonstrate that the nanostructures are constructed by spheres of 25–30 nm and conjoint wires of 15–20 nm in diameters. Raman and photoluminescence measurements are used to explore the unique optical properties. A speed-alternating vapor–solid (SA-VS) growth mechanism is proposed to interpret the formation of this typical nanochains. The achieved nanochains enrich the species of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures and may hold great potential applications in nanotechnology

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente