119 research outputs found
Supracondylar Osteotomies of Posttraumatic Distal Humeral Deformities in Young Adults - Technique and Results
Relationship between betel quid chewing and radiographic alveolar bone loss among Taiwanese aboriginals: a retrospective study
Alpha-mangostin from mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana Linn.) pericarp extract reduces high fat-diet induced hepatic steatosis in rats by regulating mitochondria function and apoptosis
The impact of temperature and Wolbachia infection on vector competence of potential dengue vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in the transmission of dengue virus serotype 1 in southern Taiwan
Role of seminal plasma in the anti-HIV-1 activity of candidate microbicides
BACKGROUND: Evaluation of microbicides for prevention of HIV-1 infection in macaque models for vaginal infection has indicated that the concentrations of active compounds needed for protection by far exceed levels sufficient for complete inhibition of infection in vitro. These experiments were done in the absence of seminal plasma (SP), a vehicle for sexual transmission of the virus. To gain insight into the possible effect of SP on the performance of selected microbicides, their anti-HIV-1 activity in the presence, and absence of SP, was determined. METHODS: The inhibitory activity of compounds against the X4 virus, HIV-1 IIIB, and the R5 virus, HIV-1 BaL was determined using TZM-bl indicator cells and quantitated by measuring ÎČ-galactosidase induced by infection. The virucidal properties of cellulose acetate 1,2-benzene-dicarboxylate (CAP), the only microbicide provided in water insoluble, micronized form, in the presence of SP was measured. RESULTS: The HIV-1 inhibitory activity of the polymeric microbicides, poly(naphthalene sulfonate), cellulose sulfate, carrageenan, CAP (in soluble form) and polystyrene sulfonate, respectively, was considerably (range â 4 to â 73-fold) diminished in the presence of SP (33.3%). Formulations of micronized CAP, providing an acidic buffering system even in the presence of an SP volume excess, effectively inactivated HIV-1 infectivity. CONCLUSION: The data presented here suggest that the in vivo efficacy of polymeric microbicides, acting as HIV-1 entry inhibitors, might become at least partly compromised by the inevitable presence of SP. These possible disadvantages could be overcome by combining the respective polymers with acidic pH buffering systems (built-in for formulations of micronized CAP) or with other anti-HIV-1 compounds, the activity of which is not affected by SP, e.g. reverse transcriptase and zinc finger inhibitors
Validation of a deep-learning-based retinal biomarker (Reti-CVD) in the prediction of cardiovascular disease: data from UK Biobank
BackgroundCurrently in the United Kingdom, cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment is based on the QRISK3 score, in which 10% 10-year CVD risk indicates clinical intervention. However, this benchmark has limited efficacy in clinical practice and the need for a more simple, non-invasive risk stratification tool is necessary. Retinal photography is becoming increasingly acceptable as a non-invasive imaging tool for CVD. Previously, we developed a novel CVD risk stratification system based on retinal photographs predicting future CVD risk. This study aims to further validate our biomarker, Reti-CVD, (1) to detect risk group of â„â10% in 10-year CVD risk and (2) enhance risk assessment in individuals with QRISK3 of 7.5-10% (termed as borderline-QRISK3 group) using the UK Biobank.MethodsReti-CVD scores were calculated and stratified into three risk groups based on optimized cut-off values from the UK Biobank. We used Cox proportional-hazards models to evaluate the ability of Reti-CVD to predict CVD events in the general population. C-statistics was used to assess the prognostic value of adding Reti-CVD to QRISK3 in borderline-QRISK3 group and three vulnerable subgroups.ResultsAmong 48,260 participants with no history of CVD, 6.3% had CVD events during the 11-year follow-up. Reti-CVD was associated with an increased risk of CVD (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-1.52) with a 13.1% (95% CI, 11.7-14.6%) 10-year CVD risk in Reti-CVD-high-risk group. The 10-year CVD risk of the borderline-QRISK3 group was greater than 10% in Reti-CVD-high-risk group (11.5% in non-statin cohort [nâ=â45,473], 11.5% in stage 1 hypertension cohort [nâ=â11,966], and 14.2% in middle-aged cohort [nâ=â38,941]). C statistics increased by 0.014 (0.010-0.017) in non-statin cohort, 0.013 (0.007-0.019) in stage 1 hypertension cohort, and 0.023 (0.018-0.029) in middle-aged cohort for CVD event prediction after adding Reti-CVD to QRISK3.ConclusionsReti-CVD has the potential to identify individuals with â„â10% 10-year CVD risk who are likely to benefit from earlier preventative CVD interventions. For borderline-QRISK3 individuals with 10-year CVD risk between 7.5 and 10%, Reti-CVD could be used as a risk enhancer tool to help improve discernment accuracy, especially in adult groups that may be pre-disposed to CVD
Transferability of Type 2 Diabetes Implicated Loci in Multi-Ethnic Cohorts from Southeast Asia
Recent large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple loci
which harbor genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D),
many of which encode proteins not previously suspected to be involved in the
pathogenesis of T2D. Most GWAS for T2D have focused on populations of European
descent, and GWAS conducted in other populations with different ancestry offer a
unique opportunity to study the genetic architecture of T2D. We performed
genome-wide association scans for T2D in 3,955 Chinese (2,010 cases, 1,945
controls), 2,034 Malays (794 cases, 1,240 controls), and 2,146 Asian Indians
(977 cases, 1,169 controls). In addition to the search for novel variants
implicated in T2D, these multi-ethnic cohorts serve to assess the
transferability and relevance of the previous findings from European descent
populations in the three major ethnic populations of Asia, comprising half of
the world's population. Of the SNPs associated with T2D in previous GWAS,
only variants at CDKAL1 and
HHEX/IDE/KIF11 showed the strongest
association with T2D in the meta-analysis including all three ethnic groups.
However, consistent direction of effect was observed for many of the other SNPs
in our study and in those carried out in European populations. Close examination
of the associations at both the CDKAL1 and
HHEX/IDE/KIF11 loci provided some evidence of locus and
allelic heterogeneity in relation to the associations with T2D. We also detected
variation in linkage disequilibrium between populations for most of these loci
that have been previously identified. These factors, combined with limited
statistical power, may contribute to the failure to detect associations across
populations of diverse ethnicity. These findings highlight the value of
surveying across diverse racial/ethnic groups towards the fine-mapping efforts
for the casual variants and also of the search for variants, which may be
population-specific
H2B ubiquitylation is part of chromatin architecture that marks exon-intron structure in budding yeast
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The packaging of DNA into chromatin regulates transcription from initiation through 3' end processing. One aspect of transcription in which chromatin plays a poorly understood role is the co-transcriptional splicing of pre-mRNA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we provide evidence that H2B monoubiquitylation (H2BK123ub1) marks introns in <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</it>. A genome-wide map of H2BK123ub1 in this organism reveals that this modification is enriched in coding regions and that its levels peak at the transcribed regions of two characteristic subgroups of genes. First, long genes are more likely to have higher levels of H2BK123ub1, correlating with the postulated role of this modification in preventing cryptic transcription initiation in ORFs. Second, genes that are highly transcribed also have high levels of H2BK123ub1, including the ribosomal protein genes, which comprise the majority of intron-containing genes in yeast. H2BK123ub1 is also a feature of introns in the yeast genome, and the disruption of this modification alters the intragenic distribution of H3 trimethylation on lysine 36 (H3K36me3), which functionally correlates with alternative RNA splicing in humans. In addition, the deletion of genes encoding the U2 snRNP subunits, Lea1 or Msl1, in combination with an <it>htb-K123R </it>mutation, leads to synthetic lethality.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that H2BK123ub1 facilitates cross talk between chromatin and pre-mRNA splicing by modulating the distribution of intronic and exonic histone modifications.</p
Nucleation and crystallization in bio-based immiscible polyester blends
Bio-based thermoplastic polyesters are highly promising materials as they combine interesting thermal and physical properties and in many cases biodegradability. However, sometimes the best property balance can only be achieved by blending in order to improve barrier properties, biodegradability or mechanical properties. Nucleation, crystallization and morphology are key factors that can dominate all these properties in crystallizable biobased polyesters. Therefore, their understanding, prediction and tailoring is essential. In this work, after a brief introduction about immiscible polymer blends, we summarize the crystallization behavior of the most important bio-based (and immiscible) polyester blends, considering examples of double-crystalline components. Even though in some specific blends (e.g., polylactide/polycaprolactone) many efforts have been made to understand the influence of blending on the nucleation, crystallization and morphology of the parent components, there are still many points that have yet to be understood. In the case of other immiscible polyester blends systems, the literature is scarce, opening up opportunities in this environmentally important research topic.The authors would like to acknowledge funding by the BIODEST project ((RISE) H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-778092
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