LEXICAL STRUCTURE AND SEMANTIC CHANGES OF THE NOMENCLATURE OF BODY TERMS IN XAINJU WU

This study aims to document the body part vocabulary of Xianju Wu with contributions to the preservation of the language. It serves as a starting point for this documentation work by analyzing the nomenclature of body terms within the language. This consists of two discussions, namely those concerning the lexical structure and semantic changes. With regard to lexical structure, the present study aims to test Cecil H. Brown’s 7 rules of partonomy, finds out the hierarchical ranks and lexical structure of Xianju Wu body lexemes. As a result, the study comes out with five hierarchical ranks, which support the partonomy principles. Besides, three lexical categories are determined. Among which, the secondary lexemes usually consist of two bound lexemes as the head, followed by another constituent indicating the superordinate or subordinate relations. Through this, I establish that disyllabic bound structure is the basic form of nomenclature of primary lexical structure concerning Xianju Wu body lexemes. This lexical structure that distinguished from Mandarin may not have been influenced by Mandarin yet. With regard to semantic changes, the study aims to evaluate the occurring semantic changes and shift of Xianju Wu. Through the apparent-time method, the comparative study shows that Xianju Wu body terms are undergoing semantic changes and shift through analogy and deletion. The analysis of metaphors and metonymies discloses that most polysemies in Xianju Wu are extended through interfield metaphors. This evidence does not support David Wilkins’ (1996) model for tendencies of change in the domain of parts of the body. The data analyzed in the study was collected during Summer 2019 with 5 speakers from 5 age groups completing surveys and providing the body terms studied in this research.Master of Art

A systems approach to mapping transcriptional networks controlling surfactant homeostasis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pulmonary surfactant is required for lung function at birth and throughout life. Lung lipid and surfactant homeostasis requires regulation among multi-tiered processes, coordinating the synthesis of surfactant proteins and lipids, their assembly, trafficking, and storage in type II cells of the lung. The mechanisms regulating these interrelated processes are largely unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We integrated mRNA microarray data with array independent knowledge using Gene Ontology (GO) similarity analysis, promoter motif searching, protein interaction and literature mining to elucidate genetic networks regulating lipid related biological processes in lung. A Transcription factor (TF) - target gene (TG) similarity matrix was generated by integrating data from different analytic methods. A scoring function was built to rank the likely TF-TG pairs. Using this strategy, we identified and verified critical components of a transcriptional network directing lipogenesis, lipid trafficking and surfactant homeostasis in the mouse lung.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Within the transcriptional network, SREBP, CEBPA, FOXA2, ETSF, GATA6 and IRF1 were identified as regulatory hubs displaying high connectivity. SREBP, FOXA2 and CEBPA together form a common core regulatory module that controls surfactant lipid homeostasis. The core module cooperates with other factors to regulate lipid metabolism and transport, cell growth and development, cell death and cell mediated immune response. Coordinated interactions of the TFs influence surfactant homeostasis and regulate lung function at birth.</p

Strategies in activating lymphatic system on symptom distress and health-related quality of life in patients with heart failure: secondary analysis of a pilot randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAbnormal interstitial fluid accumulation remains the major cause for patients with heart failure (HF) to endure a myriad of distressing symptoms and a decline in their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The lymphatic system is essential in regulating fluid balance within the interstitial compartment and has recently been recognized as an important target for the prevention and mitigation of congestion. This study aimed to investigate the effects of exercises in activating lymphatic system on symptom distress and HRQoL among patients with HF.Methods and resultsThis was a pre-determined, secondary analysis of the TOLF-HF [The-Optimal-Lymph-Flow for Heart Failure (TOLF-HF)] study, a two-arm pilot randomized controlled trial evaluating the preliminary effects of the lymphatic exercise intervention in enhancing interstitial decongestion among patients with HF. Participants were randomized to receive either a four-week TOLF-HF program in addition to standard care or standard care alone. The Chinese version of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) was employed to measure symptom distress and HRQoL before and after the intervention. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, the independent sample t-test, Pearson’s chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and covariance analysis. Of the 66 patients enrolled, 60 completed the study. The study results exhibited that the TOLF-HF intervention were effective in alleviating both physical and psychological symptom distress. The intervention group yielded significantly lower MLHFQ total scores in comparison to the control group. The odd ratio of achieving meaningful improvement in HRQoL in TOLF-HF group was 2.157 times higher than those in the control group.ConclusionsThe TOLF-HF program focusing on activating lymphatic system was effective in alleviating physical and psychological symptom distress as well as improving HRQoL for patients with HF. The tolerability, feasibility, and effectiveness of the TOLF-HF intervention make it a promising intervention for patients to manage HF.Clinical Trial Registrationhttp://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx, identifier (ChiCTR2000039121)

Investigating the predictability of essential genes across distantly related organisms using an integrative approach

Rapid and accurate identification of new essential genes in under-studied microorganisms will significantly improve our understanding of how a cell works and the ability to re-engineer microorganisms. However, predicting essential genes across distantly related organisms remains a challenge. Here, we present a machine learning-based integrative approach that reliably transfers essential gene annotations between distantly related bacteria. We focused on four bacterial species that have well-characterized essential genes, and tested the transferability between three pairs among them. For each pair, we trained our classifier to learn traits associated with essential genes in one organism, and applied it to make predictions in the other. The predictions were then evaluated by examining the agreements with the known essential genes in the target organism. Ten-fold cross-validation in the same organism yielded AUC scores between 0.86 and 0.93. Cross-organism predictions yielded AUC scores between 0.69 and 0.89. The transferability is likely affected by growth conditions, quality of the training data set and the evolutionary distance. We are thus the first to report that gene essentiality can be reliably predicted using features trained and tested in a distantly related organism. Our approach proves more robust and portable than existing approaches, significantly extending our ability to predict essential genes beyond orthologs

Profiling antibody epitopes induced by mRNA-1273 vaccination and boosters

BackgroundCharacterizing the antibody epitope profiles of messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 can aid in elucidating the mechanisms underlying the antibody-mediated immune responses elicited by these vaccines.MethodsThis study investigated the distinct antibody epitopes toward the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein targeted after a two-dose primary series of mRNA-1273 followed by a booster dose of mRNA-1273 or a variant-updated vaccine among serum samples from clinical trial adult participants.ResultsMultiple S-specific epitopes were targeted after primary vaccination; while signal decreased over time, a booster dose after &gt;6 months largely revived waning antibody signals. Epitope identity also changed after booster vaccination in some subjects, with four new S-specific epitopes detected with stronger signals after boosting than with primary vaccination. Notably, the strength of antibody responses after booster vaccination differed by the exact vaccine formulation, with variant-updated mRNA-1273.211 and mRNA-1273.617.2 booster formulations inducing significantly stronger S-specific signals than a mRNA-1273 booster.ConclusionOverall, these results identify key S-specific epitopes targeted by antibodies induced by mRNA-1273 primary and variant-updated booster vaccination

Investigating the validity of current network analysis on static conglomerate networks by protein network stratification

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A molecular network perspective forms the foundation of systems biology. A common practice in analyzing protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks is to perform network analysis on a conglomerate network that is an assembly of all available binary interactions in a given organism from diverse data sources. Recent studies on network dynamics suggested that this approach might have ignored the dynamic nature of context-dependent molecular systems.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we employed a network stratification strategy to investigate the validity of the current network analysis on conglomerate PPI networks. Using the genome-scale tissue- and condition-specific proteomics data in <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>, we present here the first systematic investigation into this question. We stratified a conglomerate <it>A. thaliana </it>PPI network into three levels of context-dependent subnetworks. We then focused on three types of most commonly conducted network analyses, i.e., topological, functional and modular analyses, and compared the results from these network analyses on the conglomerate network and five stratified context-dependent subnetworks corresponding to specific tissues.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We found that the results based on the conglomerate PPI network are often significantly different from those of context-dependent subnetworks corresponding to specific tissues or conditions. This conclusion depends neither on relatively arbitrary cutoffs (such as those defining network hubs or bottlenecks), nor on specific network clustering algorithms for module extraction, nor on the possible high false positive rates of binary interactions in PPI networks. We also found that our conclusions are likely to be valid in human PPI networks. Furthermore, network stratification may help resolve many controversies in current research of systems biology.</p

HacA-Independent Functions of the ER Stress Sensor IreA Synergize with the Canonical UPR to Influence Virulence Traits in Aspergillus fumigatus

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is a condition in which the protein folding capacity of the ER becomes overwhelmed by an increased demand for secretion or by exposure to compounds that disrupt ER homeostasis. In yeast and other fungi, the accumulation of unfolded proteins is detected by the ER-transmembrane sensor IreA/Ire1, which responds by cleaving an intron from the downstream cytoplasmic mRNA HacA/Hac1, allowing for the translation of a transcription factor that coordinates a series of adaptive responses that are collectively known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). Here, we examined the contribution of IreA to growth and virulence in the human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Gene expression profiling revealed that A. fumigatus IreA signals predominantly through the canonical IreA-HacA pathway under conditions of severe ER stress. However, in the absence of ER stress IreA controls dual signaling circuits that are both HacA-dependent and HacA-independent. We found that a ΔireA mutant was avirulent in a mouse model of invasive aspergillosis, which contrasts the partial virulence of a ΔhacA mutant, suggesting that IreA contributes to pathogenesis independently of HacA. In support of this conclusion, we found that the ΔireA mutant had more severe defects in the expression of multiple virulence-related traits relative to ΔhacA, including reduced thermotolerance, decreased nutritional versatility, impaired growth under hypoxia, altered cell wall and membrane composition, and increased susceptibility to azole antifungals. In addition, full or partial virulence could be restored to the ΔireA mutant by complementation with either the induced form of the hacA mRNA, hacAi, or an ireA deletion mutant that was incapable of processing the hacA mRNA, ireAΔ10. Together, these findings demonstrate that IreA has both HacA-dependent and HacA-independent functions that contribute to the expression of traits that are essential for virulence in A. fumigatus

Investigation of multi-layer organic photovoltaic devices

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 2012.This thesis is an investigation of the fabrication, characterization, and performances of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices with fullerenes as the primary light absorber. Various device architectures have been examined, including Schottky-barrier structure, bilayer heterojunction, bulk heterojunction, and tandem structures. Major accomplishments are summarized as follows. The performance of indium tin oxide/molybdenum oxide/fullerene (ITO/MoOx/C60) Schottky-barrier photovoltaic cells is highly sensitive to the method of depositing MoOx film. The highest open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current density (Jsc) are obtained using in-situ thermally evaporated MoOx. XPS and UPS analyses indicate that pristine thermally evaporated MoOx has a high work function of 6.8 eV and Mo+6 oxidation state. In contrast, cells with MoOx prepared by sputtering and exposed to air produce lower efficiencies due to reduced work function. The effect of HOMO energy level offset between a donor and an acceptor in a heterojunction, ΔEHOMO, on OPV cells has been investigated using a Donor/C60 structure, where C60 is the acceptor and the donor is chosen from a set of amines with various HOMO energy levels. The distinct features of the photovoltaic cells are: the Voc decreases with ΔEHOMO; the Jsc and fill factor increase with ΔEHOMO, reaching a maximum around ~ 0.7 eV; and all three photovoltaic parameters decrease with further increase in ΔEHOMO. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of bilayer heterojunction OPV cells based on a Donor/C60 structure are investigated. Through variation of the layer thickness and composition, specifically chemical doping donor with MoOx, we show that the hole-transport limitation in the donor layer is the determining factor in shaping the I-V characteristics of Donor/C60 cells. Highly efficient OPV cells have been obtained using a unique bulk donor/acceptor heterojunction (BHJ) structure where the donor component is present in low concentration (< 10%) and with MoOx serving as a high work function Schottky barrier contact. With C60 or C70 as the acceptor, Voc (~ 0.9 V) has been universally achieved with a wide variety of donor materials, including the prototypical donor, TAPC. Enhancement in efficiency has been achieved in tandem OPV cells using identical BHJ subcells based on TAPC doped C60 in series connection

Tandem photovoltaic cells based on low-concentration donor doped C 60

We demonstrate that enhanced efficiency can be achieved in organic tandem photovoltaic cells using identical bulk heterojunction subcells based on 1,1-bis-(4-bis(4-methyl-phenyl)-amino-phenyl)-cyclohexane doped C 60 in series. Power conversion efficiencies greater than 4% have been achieved in 2- and 3-stack tandem cells, an improvement of at least 30% over the single-stack cell. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved