Legal Interpreters’ Self-perceptions of their Roles and Responsibilities in the British Judicial System

This study investigates legal interpreters’ perception of their roles in the British judicial system through three steps. The exploration began with legal interpreters’ role, which is the vital foundation of legal interpreting. Then, the definition, constitution, and approaches of legal interpreter’s main role, providing accurate and faithful renditions of original utterances, were explored. The investigation ended with the most prominent moral dilemmas and practical difficulties obstructing legal interpreters’ effective delivery of their role. Data is collected through a mixed methods approach using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with qualified interpreters on the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) and written interviews with six legal practitioners. Findings reveal that communication facilitator and faithful renderer of original utterances were the best descriptions of the legal interpreter’s role, according to their own perceptions. However, understanding of this aspect and the establishment of a clear professional status of interpreters have not been achieved across the British judicial system. Interpreters in this study were in general agreement on the concept of accurate interpretation and faithful reflection of the main linguistic content as well as the original pragmatic strength in the target language rendition. However, they reported divided views regarding the treatment of each pragmatic element of speech. Reflections on difficulties fall into five main areas of insufficient contextual information, linguistic challenges, complicated legal procedure, lack of understanding of the interpreting profession and emotional challenges. However, various parties in the current legal context have not recognised these difficulties. Interpreters pointed out the importance of addressing these issues in the training process for both interpreters and legal practitioners and setting up an interpreter support regime. Findings may help to identify gaps in the existing certification process and training courses helping legal interpreters to be equipped with knowledge and solutions to be better prepared for various challenging situations

Multifunctional peptide-assembled micelles for simultaneously reducing amyloid-β and reactive oxygen species.

The excessive production and deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) is one of the most important etiologies of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The interaction between Aβ and metal ions produces aberrant reactive oxygen species (ROS), which induce oxidative stress and accelerate the progression of AD. To reduce Aβ plaques and ROS to maintain their homeostasis is an emerging and ingenious strategy for effective treatment of AD. Herein, we report the rational design of multifunctional micelles (MPGLT) based on a polymer-grafted peptide to simultaneously clear Aβ and ROS for AD therapy. The MPGLT integrating three functional peptides as a ROS scavenger (tk-GSH), β-sheet breaker (LP) and an autophagy activator (TK) respectively, could capture and degrade Aβ. Meanwhile, the tk-GSH on the surface of MPGLT effectively scavenges the intracellular ROS. Consequently, MPGLT reduced the cytotoxicity of Aβ and ROS. In vivo animal studies using an AD mouse model further showed that MPGLT could transport across the blood-brain barrier for decreasing the Aβ plaque and eliminating ROS in vivo. This peptide micelle-based synergistic strategy may provide novel insight for AD therapy

Immunomodulatory ECM-like Microspheres for Accelerated Bone Regeneration in Diabetes Mellitus

Bone repair and regeneration process is markedly impaired in diabetes mellitus (DM) that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. As a chronic inflammatory disease, DM creates a proinflammatory microenvironment in defective sites. Most of the studies on DM-associated bone regeneration, however, neglect the importance of immunomodulation under the DM condition and adopt the same approaches to normal bone healing, leading to limited bone healing. In this study, we developed a unique bioinspired injectable microsphere as an osteoimmunomodulatory biomaterial that modulates macrophages to create a prohealing microenvironment under the DM condition. The microsphere was self-assembled with heparin-modified gelatin nanofibers, and interleukin 4 (IL4) was incorporated into the nanofibrous heparin-modified gelatin microsphere (NHG-MS). IL4 has binding domains with heparin, and the binding of IL4 to heparin stabilizes this cytokine, protects it from denaturation and degradation, and subsequently prolongs its sustained release to modulate macrophage polarization. The IL4-loaded NHG-MS switched the proinflammatory M1 macrophage into a prohealing M2 phenotype, recovered the M2/M1 ratio to a normal level, efficiently resolved the inflammation, and ultimately enhanced osteoblastic differentiation and bone regeneration. The development of osteoimmunomodulatory biomaterials that harness the power of macrophages for immunomodulation, therefore, is a novel and promising strategy to enhance bone regeneration under DM condition

Photodynamic micelles for amyloid β degradation and aggregation inhibition

Polymeric micelles loaded with chlorin e6 and Tanshinone I (TAS) were prepared and employed for photodegrading amyloid β (Aβ) aggregates and inhibiting Aβ fibrillation

Ultrasensitive detection of ribonucleic acid biomarkers using portable sensing platforms based on organic electrochemical transistors

The analysis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) plays an important role in the early diagnosis of diseases and will greatly benefit patients with a higher cure rate. However, the low abundance of RNA in physiological environments requires ultrahigh sensitivity of a detection technology. Here, we construct a portable and smart-phone-controlled biosensing platform based on disposable organic electrochemical transistors for ultrasensitive analysis of microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers within 1 h. Due to their inherent amplification function, the devices can detect miRNA cancer biomarkers from little-volume solutions with concentrations down to 10–14 M. The devices can distinguish blood miRNA expression levels at different cancer stages using a 4T1 mouse tumor model. The technique for ultrasensitive and fast detection of RNA biomarkers with high selectivity opens a window for mobile diagnosis of various diseases with low cost

Versatile prodrug nanoparticles for acid-triggered precise imaging and organelle-specific combination cancer therapy

Integration of chemotherapy with photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been emerging as a novel strategy for treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, the clinical translation of this approach is hindered by the unwanted dark toxicity due to the "always-on" model and low tumor specificity of currently approved photosensitizer (PS). Here, the design of a multifunctional prodrug nanoparticle (NP) is described for precise imaging and organelle-specific combination cancer therapy. The prodrug NP is composed of a newly synthesized oxaliplatin prodrug, hexadecyl-oxaliplatintrimethyleneamine (HOT), an acid-activatable PS, derivative of Chlorin e6 (AC), and functionalized with a targeting ligand iRGD for tumor homing and penetration. HOT displays much higher antitumor efficiency than oxaliplatin by simultaneously inducing mitochondria depolarizing and DNA cross-linking. AC is specifically activated in the orthotopic or metastatic TNBC tumor for fluorescence imaging and PDT, while it remains inert in blood circulation to minimize the dark toxicity. Under the guide of acid-activatable fluorescence imaging, PDT and chemotherapy can be synergistically performed for highly efficient regression of TNBC. Taken together, this versatile prodrug nanoplatform could achieve tumor-specific imaging and organelle-specific combination therapy, which can provide an alternative option for cancer theranostic

Label-Free Colorimetric Protein Assay and Logic Gates Design Based on the Self-assembly of Hemin-Graphene Hybrid Nanosheet

Here we report a label-free colorimetric method for protein assay based on the intrinsic peroxidase-like catalytic activity of DNA-hemin-graphene (DNA-GH) composite. By using aptamers as protein recognition elements, protein-mediated aggregation of the DNA-GH composite leads to the decrease or increase of the colorimetric signal depending on the sandwich or competitive design strategy. Thrombin and PDGF-BB were chosen as model analytes and the detection limits (LOD) by this method were estimated to be 0.5 nM and 5 nM, respectively. Compared to traditional ELISA method for protein detection, this method possesses the advantages of high sensitivity, simplicity, and low cost. In addition, by designing different DNA-modified hemin-graphene (GH) constructs, using proteins as inputs, the “OR” and “INHIBIT” logic gates were built. This procedure does not require chemical modification on the aptamer probes or analytes and circumvents the limitation associated with the number of target binding sites. Given the attractive analytical characteristics and distinct advantages of DNA-GH composite, the universal approach can be widely applied for the detection of diverse proteins and for the design of versatile logic gates

Additional file 1 of The ribosomal protein P0A is required for embryo development in rice

Additional file 1: Fig. S1. Multiple sequence alignment of plant P0 proteins. Fig. S2. The gene expression patterns of OsP0s, OsP1, and OsP2s in rice. The expression data were retrieved from the public RNA-seq database (http://expression.ic4r.org/). Fig. S3. GO enrichment of the co-expression genes of OsP0A. The co-expression genes of OsP0A were predicted by riceFREND (http://ricefrend.dna.affrc.go.jp/), and the top 100 ranking co-expression genes were selected for GO analysis. Fig. S4. The gene expression patterns of AtP0s in Arabidopsis. The expression data were retrieved from the public gene expression database (https://bar.utoronto.ca/efp_arabidopsis/cgi-bin/efpWeb.cgi).Fig. S5. The gene expression patterns of ZmP0s in maize. The expression data were retrieved from the public gene expression database (https://maizemine.rnet.missouri.edu/maizemine/begin.do).Fig S6. Comparison of the OsP0A gene expression in different rice varieties. Root, shoot and leaf tissues were collected from the 5-week-old plants of WYG, NIP and HHZ. The levels of OsP0A transcripts were determined by qRT-PCR using OsUbq5 as internal control. Data are shown as means ± SD (n=3). Table S1. Primers used in this study