Characterizing the roles of long non-coding RNA in rat alcohol preference

Alcohol is one of the major threats to health in United States. With the emerging of next-generation sequencing technology, the association between alcohol preference and the variants and expression of genes has been investigated. However, the roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) in alcohol preference remains unclear. In this study, we identified 37 novel lncRNAs that differentially expressed across alcohol preferring (P) and non-preferring (NP) rats. The functional study on these lncRNAs demonstrates that they are associated with gene regulation, as well as neural functions. This suggests that these lncRNAs may contribute to the alcohol preference behaviors

Cloaking and imaging at the same time

In this letter, we propose a conceptual device to perform subwavelength imaging with positive refraction. The key to this proposal is that a drain is no longer a must for some cases. What's more, this device is an isotropic omnidirectional cloak with a perfect electric conductor hiding region and shows versatile illusion optical effects. Numerical simulations are performed to verify the functionalities.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy and facies analysis of Cambrian Series 2 – Series 3 boundary strata in northwestern Scotland

Globally, the Series 2 – Series 3 boundary of the Cambrian System coincides with a major carbon isotope excursion, sea-level changes and trilobite extinctions. Here we examine the sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy and carbon isotope record of this interval in the Cambrian strata (Durness Group) of NW Scotland. Carbonate carbon isotope data from the lower part of the Durness Group (Ghrudaidh Formation) show that the shallow-marine, Laurentian margin carbonates record two linked sea-level and carbon isotopic events. Whilst the carbon isotope excursions are not as pronounced as those expressed elsewhere, correlation with global records (Sauk I – Sauk II boundary and Olenellus biostratigraphic constraint) identifies them as representing the local expression of the ROECE and DICE. The upper part of the ROECE is recorded in the basal Ghrudaidh Formation whilst the DICE is seen around 30m above the base of this unit. Both carbon isotope excursions co-occur with surfaces interpreted to record regressive–transgressive events that produced amalgamated sequence boundaries and ravinement/flooding surfaces overlain by conglomerates of reworked intraclasts. The ROECE has been linked with redlichiid and olenellid trilobite extinctions, but in NW Scotland, Olenellus is found after the negative peak of the carbon isotope excursion but before sequence boundary formation

Double Doping of a Low-Ionization-Energy Polythiophene with a Molybdenum Dithiolene Complex

Doping of organic semiconductors is crucial for tuning the charge-carrier density of conjugated polymers. The exchange of more than one electron between a monomeric dopant and an organic semiconductor allows the polaron density to be increased relative to the number of counterions that are introduced into the host matrix. Here, a molybdenum dithiolene complex with a high electron affinity of 5.5 eV is shown to accept two electrons from a polythiophene that has a low ionization energy of 4.7 eV. Double p-doping is consistent with the ability of the monoanion salt of the molybdenum dithiolene complex to dope the polymer. The transfer of two electrons to the neutral dopant was also confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy since the monoanion, but not the dianion, of the molybdenum dithiolene complex features an unpaired electron. Double doping allowed an ionization efficiency of 200% to be reached, which facilitates the design of strongly doped semiconductors while lessening any counterion-induced disruption of the nanostructure

Reexamining B→ππ,πK B\to \pi\pi,\pi K Decays in QCD Factorization Approach

Motivated by the recent experimental data, we have revisited the $B\to \pi K,\pi \pi$ decays in the framework of QCD factorization, with inclusion of the important strong penguin corrections of order $\alpha_s^2$ induced by $b\to D g^\ast g^\ast$ ($D=d$ or $s$ and $g^\ast$ denotes an off-shell gluon) transitions. We find that these higher order strong penguin contributions can provide $\sim 30$ enhancement to the penguin-dominated $B\to \pi K$ decay rates, and such an enhancement can improve the consistency between the theoretical predictions and the experimental data significantly, while for the tree-dominated $B\to \pi\pi$ decays, these higher order contributions play only a minor role. When these strong penguin contributions are summed, only a small strong phase remains and the direct CP asymmetries get small corrections. We also find patterns of the ratios between the CP-averaged branching fractions remain nearly unaffected even after including these higher order corrections and the $\pi K$ puzzle still persists. Our results may indicate that to resolve the puzzle one would have to resort to new physics contributions in the electroweak penguin sector as found by Buras {\it et al}.Comment: 43 pages, 19 eps figures. Typos corrected. Final version published in PRD72, 074007(2005

Sequence Stratigraphy, Chemostratigraphy and Facies Analysis of Cambrian Series 2 - Series 3 Boundary Strata in Northwestern Scotland

Globally, the Series 2 - Series 3 boundary of the Cambrian System coincides with a major carbon isotope excursion, sea-level changes and trilobite extinctions. Here we examine the sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy and carbon isotope record of this interval in the Cambrian strata (Durness Group) of NW Scotland. Carbonate carbon isotope data from the lower part of the Durness Group (Ghrudaidh Formation) show that the shallow-marine, Laurentian margin carbonates record two linked sea-level and carbon isotopic events. Whilst the carbon isotope excursions are not as pronounced as those expressed elsewhere, correlation with global records (Sauk I - Sauk II boundary and Olenellus biostratigraphic constraint) identifies them as representing the local expression of the ROECE and DICE. The upper part of the ROECE is recorded in the basal Ghrudaidh Formation whilst the DICE is seen around 30m above the base of this unit. Both carbon isotope excursions co-occur with surfaces interpreted to record regressive-transgressive events that produced amalgamated sequence boundaries and ravinement/flooding surfaces overlain by conglomerates of reworked intraclasts. The ROECE has been linked with redlichiid and olenellid trilobite extinctions, but in NW Scotland, Olenellus is found after the negative peak of the carbon isotope excursion but before sequence boundary formation

Identification of transcription factor and microRNA binding sites in responsible to fetal alcohol syndrome

This is a first report, using our MotifModeler informatics program, to simultaneously identify transcription factor (TF) and microRNA (miRNA) binding sites from gene expression microarray data. Based on the assumption that gene expression is controlled by combinatorial effects of transcription factors binding in the 5'-upstream regulatory region and miRNAs binding in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR), we developed a model for (1) predicting the most influential cis-acting elements under a given biological condition, and (2) estimating the effects of those elements on gene expression levels. The regulatory regions, TF and miRNA, which mediate the differential genes expression in fetal alcohol syndrome were unknown; microarray data from alcohol exposure paradigm was used. The model predicted strong inhibitory effects of 5' cis-acting elements and stimulatory effects of 3'-UTR under alcohol treatment. Current predictive model derived a key hypothesis for the first time a novel role of miRNAs in gene expression changes associated with abnormal mouse embryo development after alcohol exposure. This suggests that disturbance of miRNA functions may contribute to the alcohol-induced developmental deficiencies

Visualisation of individual dopants in a conjugated polymer: sub-nanometre 3D spatial distribution and correlation with electrical properties

While molecular doping is ubiquitous in all branches of organic electronics, little is known about the spatial distribution of dopants, especially at molecular length scales. Moreover, a homogeneous distribution is often assumed when simulating transport properties of these materials, even though the distribution is expected to be inhomogeneous. In this study, electron tomography is used to determine the position of individual molybdenum dithiolene complexes and their three-dimensional distribution in a semiconducting polymer at the sub-nanometre scale. A heterogeneous distribution is observed, the characteristics of which depend on the dopant concentration. At 5 mol% of the molybdenum dithiolene complex, the majority of the dopant species are present as isolated molecules or small clusters up to five molecules. At 20 mol% dopant concentration and higher, the dopant species form larger nanoclusters with elongated shapes. Even in case of these larger clusters, each individual dopant species is still in contact with the surrounding polymer. The electrical conductivity first strongly increases with dopant concentration and then slightly decreases for the most highly doped samples, even though no large aggregates can be observed. The decreased conductivity is instead attributed to the increased energetic disorder and lower probability of electron transfer that originates from the increased size and size variation in dopant clusters. This study highlights the importance of detailed information concerning the dopant spatial distribution at the sub-nanometre scale in three dimensions within the organic semiconductor host. The information acquired using electron tomography may facilitate more accurate simulations of charge transport in doped organic semiconductors

An invisibility cloak using silver nanowires

In this paper, we use the parameter retrieval method together with an analytical effective medium approach to design a well-performed invisible cloak, which is based on an empirical revised version of the reduced cloak. The designed cloak can be implemented by silver nanowires with elliptical cross-sections embedded in a polymethyl methacrylate host. This cloak is numerically proved to be robust for both the inner hidden object as well as incoming detecting waves, and is much simpler thus easier to manufacture when compared with the earlier proposed one [Nat. Photon. 1, 224 (2007)].Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 table