Semiconductor Electronic Label-Free Assay for Predictive Toxicology.

While animal experimentations have spearheaded numerous breakthroughs in biomedicine, they also have spawned many logistical concerns in providing toxicity screening for copious new materials. Their prioritization is premised on performing cellular-level screening in vitro. Among the screening assays, secretomic assay with high sensitivity, analytical throughput, and simplicity is of prime importance. Here, we build on the over 3-decade-long progress on transistor biosensing and develop the holistic assay platform and procedure called semiconductor electronic label-free assay (SELFA). We demonstrate that SELFA, which incorporates an amplifying nanowire field-effect transistor biosensor, is able to offer superior sensitivity, similar selectivity, and shorter turnaround time compared to standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We deploy SELFA secretomics to predict the inflammatory potential of eleven engineered nanomaterials in vitro, and validate the results with confocal microscopy in vitro and confirmatory animal experiment in vivo. This work provides a foundation for high-sensitivity label-free assay utility in predictive toxicology

An adaptive finite element method based on Superconvergent Cluster Recovery for the Cahn-Hilliard equation

In this study, we construct an error estimate for a fully discrete finite element scheme that satisfies the criteria of unconditional energy stability, as suggested in [1]. Our theoretical findings, in more detail, demonstrate that this system has second-order accuracy in both space and time. Additionally, we offer a powerful space and time adaptable approach for solving the Cahn-Hilliard problem numerically based on the posterior error estimation. The major goal of this technique is to successfully lower the calculated cost by controlling the mesh size using a Superconvergent Cluster Recovery (SCR) approach in accordance with the error estimation. To demonstrate the effectiveness and stability of the suggested SCR-based algorithm, numerical results are provided

The compensation incentive effect of athletes: A structural equation model

This study explores the compensation incentive effect of athletes. Based on the related literature, we proposed theoretical hypotheses on the compensation incentive effect and established an assessment index system of the compensation incentive effect for athletes. A structural equation model was used to test the survey data of 352 athletes in six provinces to discover the truth of the compensation incentive effect. The results suggested that direct economic compensation satisfaction, direct non-economic compensation satisfaction, and indirect non-economic compensation satisfaction had significant positive effects on the compensation incentive effect of athletes, while indirect economic compensation satisfaction showed no significant effect. Moreover, the evaluation results of athletes’ compensation incentive effect showed that direct economic compensation satisfaction contributed the most to the influence factor of the compensation incentive effect. Therefore, the evaluation of athletes’ compensation incentive effect should focus on variables of direct economic compensation satisfaction, i.e., basic compensation satisfaction, bonus income satisfaction, and subsidy satisfaction. Finally, some strategies and recommendations were suggested to improve the compensation design for athletes

Complex I deficiency in m.3243A>G fibroblasts is alleviated by reducing NADH accumulation

Introduction: Mitochondrial disease is a spectrum of debilitating disorders caused by mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or nuclear DNA that compromises the respiratory chain. Mitochondrial 3243A>G (m.3243 A>G) is the most common mutation showing great heterogeneity in phenotype. Previous studies have indicated that NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) deficiency accompanied by a decreased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)/reduced NAD+ (NADH) ratio may play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of m.3243A>G mutation.Methods: To evaluate the potential effects of strategies targeting the imbalanced NAD+/NADH ratio in m.3243A>G mutation, we treated fibroblasts derived from patients with the m.3243 A>G mutation using nicotinamide riboside (NR) or mitochondria-targeted H2O-forming NADH oxidase (mitoLbNOX).Results: M.3243 A>G fibroblasts showed a significant reduction in complex I core subunit 6, complex I enzymatic activity, complex I-dependent oxygen consumption rate (OCR), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production compared to the controls. The NAD+/NADH ratio was also significantly reduced in m.3243 A>G fibroblasts, and, using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, we also found that the NADH level was elevated in m.3243 A>G fibroblasts. After NR treatment, the NAD+/NADH ratio, complex I-dependent OCR, and ATP levels increased, whereas NADH levels remained unchanged. More excitingly, after treatment with mitoLbNOX, the NAD+/NADH ratio, complex I-independent OCR, and ATP levels increased more pronouncedly compared with the NR treatment group, accompanied by significantly reduced NADH levels.Discussion: The present study suggests that compared with repletion of NAD+ alone, the combination of this therapeutic modality with alleviation of NADH overload may amplify the treatment effect of restoring NAD+/NADH balance in m.3243A>G fibroblasts

Effects of Ultrasonic Atomization of Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water on the Circulation and Shelf Quality of Postharvest Baby Cabbage

To check the effect of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) on the shelf quality of postharvest baby cabbage, the effects of ultrasonic atomization fumigation of SAEW with different concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 150 mg/L) on the postharvest preservation of baby cabbage were analyzed under low temperature circulation (4±1) ℃and shelf conditions (25±1) ℃. The results showed that, compared with the control and other concentrations of SAEW (50 and 150 mg/L), the ultrasonic atomization fumigation treatment of SAEW at 100 mg/L treatment significantly suppressed the increase in malondialdehyde content and the decrease in total glucosinolate content of baby cabbage at the 6th and 9th days of shelf life (P<0.05). Further circulation and shelf simulation results indicated that, compared with the control, the 100 mg/L SAEW ultrasonic atomization fumigation treatment reduced the total number of colonies by 17.04% and increased the total glucosinolate content by 30.11% in baby cabbage; In addition, this treatment significantly inhibited the accumulation of nitrite and malondialdehyde content (P<0.05), delayed the decline of soluble sugar, soluble protein, total phenol, ascorbic acid and isothiocyanate content, and increased the activity of myrosinase in postharvest baby cabbage. It was clear that ultrasonic atomization fumigation treatment of SAEW at 100 mg/L could not only effectively inhibit the growth of the total number of colonies in baby cabbage during circulation and shelf life, but also effectively slow down the degradation of nutritional quality in baby cabbage during this process, thus improving the preservation effect of baby cabbage

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio