Atypical focal cortical dysplasia in a patient with Cowden syndrome

published_or_final_versio

Difference in the color stability of direct and indirect resin composites

Indirect resin composites are generally regarded to have better color stability than direct resin composites since they possess higher conversion degree. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed at comparing the changes in color (ΔE) and color coordinates (ΔL, Δa and Δb) of one direct (Estelite Sigma: 16 shades) and 2 indirect resin composites (BelleGlass NG: 16 shades; Sinfony: 26 shades) after thermocycling. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Resins were packed into a mold and light cured; post-curing was performed on indirect resins. Changes in color and color coordinates of 1-mm-thick specimens were determined after 5,000 cycles of thermocycling on a spectrophotometer. RESULTS: ΔE values were in the range of 0.3 to 1.2 units for direct resins, and 0.3 to 1.5 units for indirect resins, which were clinically acceptable (Δ

Controlled release from zein matrices: Interplay of drug hydrophobicity and pH

Purpose: In earlier studies, the corn protein zein is found to be suitable as a sustained release agent, yet the range of drugs for which zein has been studied remains small. Here, zein is used as a sole excipient for drugs differing in hydrophobicity and isoelectric point: indomethacin, paracetamol and ranitidine. Methods: Caplets were prepared by hot-melt extrusion (HME) and injection moulding (IM). Each of the three model drugs were tested on two drug loadings in various dissolution media. The physical state of the drug, microstructure and hydration behaviour were investigated to build up understanding for the release behaviour from zein based matrix for drug delivery. Results: Drug crystallinity of the caplets increases with drug hydrophobicity. For ranitidine and indomethacin, swelling rates, swelling capacity and release rates were pH dependent as a consequence of the presence of charged groups on the drug molecules. Both hydration rates and release rates could be approached by existing models. Conclusion: Both the drug state as pH dependant electrostatic interactions are hypothesised to influence release kinetics. Both factors can potentially be used factors influencing release kinetics release, thereby broadening the horizon for zein as a tuneable release agent

AlzPharm: integration of neurodegeneration data using RDF

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuroscientists often need to access a wide range of data sets distributed over the Internet. These data sets, however, are typically neither integrated nor interoperable, resulting in a barrier to answering complex neuroscience research questions. Domain ontologies can enable the querying heterogeneous data sets, but they are not sufficient for neuroscience since the data of interest commonly span multiple research domains. To this end, e-Neuroscience seeks to provide an integrated platform for neuroscientists to discover new knowledge through seamless integration of the very diverse types of neuroscience data. Here we present a Semantic Web approach to building this e-Neuroscience framework by using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and its vocabulary description language, RDF Schema (RDFS), as a standard data model to facilitate both representation and integration of the data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have constructed a pilot ontology for BrainPharm (a subset of SenseLab) using RDFS and then converted a subset of the BrainPharm data into RDF according to the ontological structure. We have also integrated the converted BrainPharm data with existing RDF hypothesis and publication data from a pilot version of SWAN (Semantic Web Applications in Neuromedicine). Our implementation uses the RDF Data Model in Oracle Database 10g release 2 for data integration, query, and inference, while our Web interface allows users to query the data and retrieve the results in a convenient fashion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Accessing and integrating biomedical data which cuts across multiple disciplines will be increasingly indispensable and beneficial to neuroscience researchers. The Semantic Web approach we undertook has demonstrated a promising way to semantically integrate data sets created independently. It also shows how advanced queries and inferences can be performed over the integrated data, which are hard to achieve using traditional data integration approaches. Our pilot results suggest that our Semantic Web approach is suitable for realizing e-Neuroscience and generic enough to be applied in other biomedical fields.</p

Soft pneumatic actuators: a review of design, fabrication, modeling, sensing, control and applications

Soft robotics is a rapidly evolving field where robots are fabricated using highly deformable materials and usually follow a bioinspired design. Their high dexterity and safety make them ideal for applications such as gripping, locomotion, and biomedical devices, where the environment is highly dynamic and sensitive to physical interaction. Pneumatic actuation remains the dominant technology in soft robotics due to its low cost and mass, fast response time, and easy implementation. Given the significant number of publications in soft robotics over recent years, newcomers and even established researchers may have difficulty assessing the state of the art. To address this issue, this article summarizes the development of soft pneumatic actuators and robots up until the date of publication. The scope of this article includes the design, modeling, fabrication, actuation, characterization, sensing, control, and applications of soft robotic devices. In addition to a historical overview, there is a special emphasis on recent advances such as novel designs, differential simulators, analytical and numerical modeling methods, topology optimization, data-driven modeling and control methods, hardware control boards, and nonlinear estimation and control techniques. Finally, the capabilities and limitations of soft pneumatic actuators and robots are discussed and directions for future research are identified

Considering scores between unrelated proteins in the search database improves profile comparison

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Profile-based comparison of multiple sequence alignments is a powerful methodology for the detection remote protein sequence similarity, which is essential for the inference and analysis of protein structure, function, and evolution. Accurate estimation of statistical significance of detected profile similarities is essential for further development of this methodology. Here we analyze a novel approach to estimate the statistical significance of profile similarity: the explicit consideration of background score distributions for each database template (subject).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using a simple scheme to combine and analytically approximate query- and subject-based distributions, we show that (i) inclusion of background distributions for the subjects increases the quality of homology detection; (ii) this increase is higher when the distributions are based on the scores to all known non-homologs of the subject rather than a small calibration subset of the database representatives; and (iii) these all known non-homolog distributions of scores for the subject make the dominant contribution to the improved performance: adding the calibration distribution of the query has a negligible additional effect.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The construction of distributions based on the complete sets of non-homologs for each subject is particularly relevant in the setting of structure prediction where the database consists of proteins with solved 3D structure (PDB, SCOP, CATH, etc.) and therefore structural relationships between proteins are known. These results point to a potential new direction in the development of more powerful methods for remote homology detection.</p

Opposing Regulation of PROX1 by Interleukin-3 Receptor and NOTCH Directs Differential Host Cell Fate Reprogramming by Kaposi Sarcoma Herpes Virus

Lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) are differentiated from blood vascular endothelial cells (BECs) during embryogenesis and this physiological cell fate specification is controlled by PROX1, the master regulator for lymphatic development. When Kaposi sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV) infects host cells, it activates the otherwise silenced embryonic endothelial differentiation program and reprograms their cell fates. Interestingly, previous studies demonstrated that KSHV drives BECs to acquire a partial lymphatic phenotype by upregulating PROX1 (forward reprogramming), but stimulates LECs to regain some BEC-signature genes by downregulating PROX1 (reverse reprogramming). Despite the significance of this KSHV-induced bidirectional cell fate reprogramming in KS pathogenesis, its underlying molecular mechanism remains undefined. Here, we report that IL3 receptor alpha (IL3Rα) and NOTCH play integral roles in the host cell type-specific regulation of PROX1 by KSHV. In BECs, KSHV upregulates IL3Rα and phosphorylates STAT5, which binds and activates the PROX1 promoter. In LECs, however, PROX1 was rather downregulated by KSHV-induced NOTCH signal via HEY1, which binds and represses the PROX1 promoter. Moreover, PROX1 was found to be required to maintain HEY1 expression in LECs, establishing a reciprocal regulation between PROX1 and HEY1. Upon co-activation of IL3Rα and NOTCH, PROX1 was upregulated in BECs, but downregulated in LECs. Together, our study provides the molecular mechanism underlying the cell type-specific endothelial fate reprogramming by KSHV

A New bis(rhodamine)-Based Fluorescent Chemosensor for Fe3+

A new bis(rhodamine)-based fluorescent probe 4 was synthesized, and it exhibited high selectivity for Fe3+ over other commonly coexistent metal ions in both 50% ethanol and Tris–HCl buffer. Upon the addition of Fe3+, the spirocyclic ring of 4 was opened and a significant enhancement of visible color and fluorescence in the range of 500–600 nm was observed

Tuberculosis associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing and non-Beijing genotypes: a clinical and immunological comparison

BACKGROUND: The Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing genotype is biologically different from other genotypes. We aimed to clinically and immunologically compare human tuberculosis caused by Beijing and non-Beijing strains. METHODS: Pulmonary tuberculosis patients were prospectively enrolled and grouped by their M. tuberculosis genotypes. The clinical features, plasma cytokine levels, and cytokine gene expression levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were compared between the patients in Beijing and non-Beijing groups. RESULTS: Patients in the Beijing group were characterized by significantly lower frequency of fever (odds ratio, 0.12, p = 0.008) and pulmonary cavitation (odds ratio, 0.2, p = 0.049). Night sweats were also significantly less frequent by univariate analysis, and the duration of cough prior to diagnosis was longer in Beijing compared to non-Beijing groups (medians, 60 versus 30 days, p = 0.048). The plasma and gene expression levels of interferon (IFN) γ and interleukin (IL)-18 were similar in the two groups. However, patients in the non-Beijing group had significantly increased IL-4 gene expression (p = 0.018) and lower IFN-γ : IL-4 cDNA copy number ratios (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Patients with tuberculosis caused by Beijing strains appear to be less symptomatic than those who have disease caused by other strains. Th1 immune responses are similar in patients infected with Beijing and non-Beijing strains, but non-Beijing strains activate more Th2 immune responses compared with Beijing strains, as evidenced by increased IL-4 expression