961 research outputs found
Who Is Caring for the Caregiver? The Role of Cybercoping for Dementia Caregivers
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between dementia caregiversâ communication behaviors (information seeking and forwarding) and their outcomes (coping outcomes: e.g., dealing better with negative feelings or improved medical outcomes). A survey data set of dementia patientsâ caregivers substantiates the effects of communication behaviors about dementia illness on coping outcomes, as well as the mediating role of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping processes. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), this study found positive effects of communication behaviors on outcomes through coping processes. Further, the results indicate that communication behaviors in cyberspace are crucial for caregivers to cope with dementia, both affectively (improvement of caregiversâ emotional control) and physically (health improvement of patients). The implications for the improvement of public health through online health communication behaviors are discussed
Assessment of satellite rainfall nowcasting based on extrapolation technique
PĂłster presentado en: 3rd European Nowcasting Conference, celebrada en la sede central de AEMET en Madrid del 24 al 26 de abril de 2019
Sequential whole cell conversion process for production of D-psicose and D- mannitol from D-fructose
Rare sugars, which exist only limited quantities naturally, have received considerable attention because of its various specific nutritional and biological functions. Likewise, D-psicose (D-ribo-2-hexulose or D-allulose), a C-3 epimer of D-fructose, has many uses which include reducing intra-abdominal fat accumulation, protecting pancreas beta-islets and improving insulin sensitivity. Especially, D-psicose has only 0.3% calories compared to sucrose, while it has 70% relative sweetness. Additionally, in 2012, D-psicose was approved as a food additive and designated as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Despite such abundant advantages, there is no economical way of mass production of D-psicose. Recently, biological production of D-psicose from D-fructose using D-psicose 3-epimerase (DPE) has been developed. However, the conversion yield is below 30%, which causes an undesirable increase of purification cost because of the similar solubility of D-psicose and D-fructose. Thus, we addressed the problem by converting the residual fructose, after the reaction of D-psicose production, to D-mannitol, which has a low solubility. The sequential whole cell conversion reactions for D-psicose and D-mannitol allow a convenient and economic purification of both products. This work was supported by a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (SSAC, grant#: PJ01106201), RDA, Korea.
Reference
1) Carsten BĂ€umchen & Stephanie Bringer-Meyer (2007), Expression of glf Z.m. increases D-mannitol formation in whole cell biotransformation with resting cells of Corynebacterium glutamicum, Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 76(3):545â52.
2) Ortiz, M. E., Bleckwedel, J., Raya, R. R., & Mozzi, F. (2013). Biotechnological and in situ food production of polyols by lactic acid bacteria, Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:4713-4726
3) Park, Y., Oh, E. J., Jo, J., Jin, Y., & Seo, J. (2016). Recent advances in biological production of sugar alcohols. Curr Opin Biotechnol 37:105â113
Iterative Soft Decoding Algorithm for DNA Storage Using Quality Score and Redecoding
Ever since deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was considered as a next-generation
data-storage medium, lots of research efforts have been made to correct errors
occurred during the synthesis, storage, and sequencing processes using error
correcting codes (ECCs). Previous works on recovering the data from the
sequenced DNA pool with errors have utilized hard decoding algorithms based on
a majority decision rule. To improve the correction capability of ECCs and
robustness of the DNA storage system, we propose a new iterative soft decoding
algorithm, where soft information is obtained from FASTQ files and channel
statistics. In particular, we propose a new formula for log-likelihood ratio
(LLR) calculation using quality scores (Q-scores) and a redecoding method which
may be suitable for the error correction and detection in the DNA sequencing
area. Based on the widely adopted encoding scheme of the fountain code
structure proposed by Erlich et al., we use three different sets of sequenced
data to show consistency for the performance evaluation. The proposed soft
decoding algorithm gives 2.3% ~ 7.0% improvement of the reading number
reduction compared to the state-of-the-art decoding method and it is shown that
it can deal with erroneous sequenced oligo reads with insertion and deletion
errors
Antioxidant effect of lidocaine and procaine on reactive oxygen species-induced endothelial dysfunction in the rabbit abdominal aorta
Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce lipid peroxidation and tissue damage in the endothelium. We tested the antioxidant effect of lidocaine and procaine on ROS-induced endothelial damage in the rabbit aorta. Methods: Aortic rings isolated from rabbits were suspended in an organ bath filled with Krebs-Henseleit (K-H) solution bubbled with 5% CO2 and 95% O 2 at 37.5??C. After precontraction with phenylephrine (PE, 10 -6 M), changes in tension were recorded following a cumulative administration of acetylcholine (ACh 3 ?? 10-8 to 10 -6 M). Differences were measured as percentages of ACh-induced relaxation of aortic rings before and after exposure to ROS as generated by electrolysis of the K-H solution. The aortic rings were pretreated with lidocaine or procaine (10-5 M to 3 ?? 10-3 M) to compare their effects, as well as ROS scavengers, catalase, mannitol, sodium salicylate, and deferoxamine, and a catalase inhibitor, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (3AT). Results: Lidocaine and procaine dose-dependently maintained endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by ACh despite ROS activity (P < 0.05 vs control value). The 3AT pretreated procaine (3 ?? 10-3 M) group decreased more significantly than the un-pretreated procaine group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: These findings suggest that lidocaine and procaine dose-dependently preserve endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation against ROS attack, potentially via hydrogen peroxide scavenging. Copyright ?? Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, 2010
Lack of Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Divergence between Two Subspecies of the Siberian Weasel from Korea: Mustela sibirica coreanus from the Korean Peninsula and M. s. quelpartis from Jeju Island
The objective of this study was to determine the degree of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) divergence between two subspecies of Mustela sibirica from Korea (M. s. coreanus on the Korean Peninsula and M. s. quelpartis on Jeju Island) and to examine the taxonomic status of M. s. quelpartis. Thus, we obtained complete sequences of mtDNA cytochrome b gene (1,140 bp) from the two subspecies, and these sequences were compared to a corresponding haplotype of M. s. coreanus, downloaded from GenBank. From this analysis, it was observed that the sequences from monogenic M. s. quelpartis on Jeju Island were identical to the sequences of four M. s. coreanus from four locations across the Korean Peninsula, and that the two subspecies formed a single clade; the average nucleotide distance between the two subspecies was 0.26% (range, 0.00 to 0.53%). We found that the subspecies quelpartis is not genetically distinct from the subspecies coreanus, and that this cytochrome b sequencing result does not support the current classification, distinguishing these two subspecies by pelage color. Further systematic analyses using morphometric characters and other DNA markers are necessary to confirm the taxonomic status of M. s. quelpartis
Generation of Whole-Genome Sequencing Data for Comparing Primary and Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Because castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) does not respond to androgen deprivation therapy and has a very poor prognosis, it is critical to identify a prognostic indicator for predicting high-risk patients who will develop CRPC. Here, we report a dataset of whole genomes from four pairs of primary prostate cancer (PC) and CRPC samples. The analysis of the paired PC and CRPC samples in the whole-genome data showed that the average number of somatic mutations per patients was 7,927 in CRPC tissues compared with primary PC tissues (range, 1,691 to 21,705). Our whole-genome sequencing data of primary PC and CRPC may be useful for understanding the genomic changes and molecular mechanisms that occur during the progression from PC to CRPC
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