Uniaxial strain-modulated conductivity in manganite superlattice (LaMnO₃/SrMnO₃)

Author name used in this publication: Hai-Tao Huang2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Enhanced detection of early hepatocellular carcinoma by serum SELDI-TOF proteomic signature combined with alpha-fetoprotein marker.

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers for accurate diagnosis of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are limited in number and clinical validation. We applied SELDI-TOF-MS ProteinChip technology to identify serum profile for distinguishing HCC and liver cirrhosis (LC) and to compare the accuracy of SELDI-TOF-MS profile and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level in HCC diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from 120 HCC and 120 LC patients for biomarker discovery and validation studies. ProteinChip technology was employed for generating SELDI-TOF proteomic features and analyzing serum proteins/peptides. RESULTS: A diagnostic model was established by CART algorithm, which is based on 5 proteomic peaks with m/z values at 3324, 3994, 4665, 4795, and 5152. In the training set, the CART algorithm could differentiate HCC from LC subjects with a sensitivity and specificity of 98% and 95%, respectively. The results were assessed in blind validation using separate cohorts of 60 HCC and 60 LC patients, with an accuracy of 83% for HCC and 92% for LC patients. The diagnostic odd ratio (DOR) indicated that SELDI-TOF proteomic signature could achieve better diagnostic performance than serum AFP level at a cutoff of 20 ng/mL (AFP(20)) (92.72 vs 9.11), particularly superior for early-stage HCC (87% vs 54%). Importantly, a combined use of both tests could enhance the detection of HCC (sensitivity, 95%; specificity, 98%; DOR, 931). CONCLUSION: Serum SELDI-TOF proteomic signature, alone or in combination with AFP marker, promises to be a good tool for early diagnosis and/screening of HCC in at-risk population with liver cirrhosis

Transgenic expression of the dicotyledonous pattern recognition receptor EFR in rice leads to ligand-dependent activation of defense responses

Plant plasma membrane localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) detect extracellular pathogen-associated molecules. PRRs such as Arabidopsis EFR and rice XA21 are taxonomically restricted and are absent from most plant genomes. Here we show that rice plants expressing EFR or the chimeric receptor EFR::XA21, containing the EFR ectodomain and the XA21 intracellular domain, sense both Escherichia coli- and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo)-derived elf18 peptides at sub-nanomolar concentrations. Treatment of EFR and EFR::XA21 rice leaf tissue with elf18 leads to MAP kinase activation, reactive oxygen production and defense gene expression. Although expression of EFR does not lead to robust enhanced resistance to fully virulent Xoo isolates, it does lead to quantitatively enhanced resistance to weakly virulent Xoo isolates. EFR interacts with OsSERK2 and the XA21 binding protein 24 (XB24), two key components of the rice XA21-mediated immune response. Rice-EFR plants silenced for OsSERK2, or overexpressing rice XB24 are compromised in elf18-induced reactive oxygen production and defense gene expression indicating that these proteins are also important for EFR-mediated signaling in transgenic rice. Taken together, our results demonstrate the potential feasibility of enhancing disease resistance in rice and possibly other monocotyledonous crop species by expression of dicotyledonous PRRs. Our results also suggest that Arabidopsis EFR utilizes at least a subset of the known endogenous rice XA21 signaling components

Reliability characteristics and conduction mechanisms in resistive switching memory devices using ZnO thin films

In this work, bipolar resistive switching characteristics were demonstrated in the Pt/ZnO/Pt structure. Reliability tests show that ac cycling endurance level above 106 can be achieved. However, significant window closure takes place after about 102 dc cycles. Data retention characteristic exhibits no observed degradation after 168 h. Read durability shows stable resistance states after 106 read times. The current transportation in ZnO films is dominated by the hopping conduction and the ohmic conduction in high-resistance and low-resistance states, respectively. Therefore, the electrical parameters of trap energy level, trap spacing, Fermi level, electron mobility, and effective density of states in conduction band in ZnO were identified

Functional Diversity and Structural Disorder in the Human Ubiquitination Pathway

The ubiquitin-proteasome system plays a central role in cellular regulation and protein quality control (PQC). The system is built as a pyramid of increasing complexity, with two E1 (ubiquitin activating), few dozen E2 (ubiquitin conjugating) and several hundred E3 (ubiquitin ligase) enzymes. By collecting and analyzing E3 sequences from the KEGG BRITE database and literature, we assembled a coherent dataset of 563 human E3s and analyzed their various physical features. We found an increase in structural disorder of the system with multiple disorder predictors (IUPred - E1: 5.97%, E2: 17.74%, E3: 20.03%). E3s that can bind E2 and substrate simultaneously (single subunit E3, ssE3) have significantly higher disorder (22.98%) than E3s in which E2 binding (multi RING-finger, mRF, 0.62%), scaffolding (6.01%) and substrate binding (adaptor/substrate recognition subunits, 17.33%) functions are separated. In ssE3s, the disorder was localized in the substrate/adaptor binding domains, whereas the E2-binding RING/HECT-domains were structured. To demonstrate the involvement of disorder in E3 function, we applied normal modes and molecular dynamics analyses to show how a disordered and highly flexible linker in human CBL (an E3 that acts as a regulator of several tyrosine kinase-mediated signalling pathways) facilitates long-range conformational changes bringing substrate and E2-binding domains towards each other and thus assisting in ubiquitin transfer. E3s with multiple interaction partners (as evidenced by data in STRING) also possess elevated levels of disorder (hubs, 22.90% vs. non-hubs, 18.36%). Furthermore, a search in PDB uncovered 21 distinct human E3 interactions, in 7 of which the disordered region of E3s undergoes induced folding (or mutual induced folding) in the presence of the partner. In conclusion, our data highlights the primary role of structural disorder in the functions of E3 ligases that manifests itself in the substrate/adaptor binding functions as well as the mechanism of ubiquitin transfer by long-range conformational transitions. © 2013 Bhowmick et al

Climate Variability and Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome Transmission in Northeastern China

Background: The transmission of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is influenced by climatic variables. However, few studies have examined the quantitative relationship between climate variation and HFRS transmission. ---------- Objective: We examined the potential impact of climate variability on HFRS transmission and developed climate-based forecasting models for HFRS in northeastern China. ---------- Methods: We obtained data on monthly counts of reported HFRS cases in Elunchun and Molidawahaner counties for 1997–2007 from the Inner Mongolia Center for Disease Control and Prevention and climate data from the Chinese Bureau of Meteorology. Cross-correlations assessed crude associations between climate variables, including rainfall, land surface temperature (LST), relative humidity (RH), and the multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI) and monthly HFRS cases over a range of lags. We used time-series Poisson regression models to examine the independent contribution of climatic variables to HFRS transmission. ----------- Results: Cross-correlation analyses showed that rainfall, LST, RH, and MEI were significantly associated with monthly HFRS cases with lags of 3–5 months in both study areas. The results of Poisson regression indicated that after controlling for the autocorrelation, seasonality, and long-term trend, rainfall, LST, RH, and MEI with lags of 3–5 months were associated with HFRS in both study areas. The final model had good accuracy in forecasting the occurrence of HFRS. ---------- Conclusions: Climate variability plays a significant role in HFRS transmission in northeastern China. The model developed in this study has implications for HFRS control and prevention

The Association between ATM IVS 22-77 T>C and Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: It has become increasingly clear that ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated) safeguards genome stability, which is a cornerstone of cellular homeostasis, and ATM IVS 22-77 T>C affects the normal activity of ATM proteins. However, the association between the ATM IVS 22-77 T>C genetic variant and cancer risk is controversial. Therefore, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis to estimate the overall cancer risk associated with the polymorphism and to quantify any potential between-study heterogeneity. METHODS: A total of nine studies including 4,470 cases and 4,862 controls were analyzed for ATM IVS 22-77 T>C association with cancer risk in this meta-analysis. Heterogeneity among articles and their publication bias were also tested. RESULTS: Our results showed that no association reached the level of statistical significance in the overall risk. Interestingly, in the stratified analyses, we observed an inverse relationship in lung and breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Further functional research on the ATM mechanism should be performed to explain the inconsistent results in different cancer types

Production of phi mesons at mid-rapidity in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC

We present the first results of meson production in the K^+K^- decay channel from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV as measured at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX detector at RHIC. Precision resonance centroid and width values are extracted as a function of collision centrality. No significant variation from the PDG accepted values is observed. The transverse mass spectra are fitted with a linear exponential function for which the derived inverse slope parameter is seen to be constant as a function of centrality. These data are also fitted by a hydrodynamic model with the result that the freeze-out temperature and the expansion velocity values are consistent with the values previously derived from fitting single hadron inclusive data. As a function of transverse momentum the collisions scaled peripheral.to.central yield ratio RCP for the is comparable to that of pions rather than that of protons. This result lends support to theoretical models which distinguish between baryons and mesons instead of particle mass for explaining the anomalous proton yield.Comment: 326 authors, 24 pages text, 23 figures, 6 tables, RevTeX 4. To be submitted to Physical Review C as a regular article. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm