Analysis of microRNA signatures using size-coded ligation-mediated PCR

The expression pattern and regulatory functions of microRNAs (miRNAs) are intensively investigated in various tissues, cell types and disorders. Differential miRNA expression signatures have been revealed in healthy and unhealthy tissues using high-throughput profiling methods. For further analyses of miRNA signatures in biological samples, we describe here a simple and efficient method to detect multiple miRNAs simultaneously in total RNA. The size-coded ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction (SL-PCR) method is based on size-coded DNA probe hybridization in solution, followed-by ligation, PCR amplification and gel fractionation. The new method shows quantitative and specific detection of miRNAs. We profiled miRNAs of the let-7 family in a number of organisms, tissues and cell types and the results correspond with their incidence in the genome and reported expression levels. Finally, SL-PCR detected let-7 expression changes in human embryonic stem cells as they differentiate to neuron and also in young and aged mice brain and bone marrow. We conclude that the method can efficiently reveal miRNA signatures in a range of biological samples

A Queue Monitoring System in OpenFlow Software Defined Networks

Real-time traffic characteristic is different and it is very sensitive to delay. To meet traffic specications in real time, monitoring systems are used as an important part of networking. Many monitoring systems are deployed to have an update view of the network QoS parameters and performance. Most of these systems are implemented to measure QoS parameters in links. Here, in this paper, a system for monitoring queues in each link by means of Software Defined Networks is proposed. The monitoring system is implemented by extending Floodlight controller, which uses OpenFlow as southbound protocol. The controller has a centralized view of the network. By the help of OpenFlow it also can provide flow level statistics. Using these advantages, the proposed system can monitor delay and available bandwidth of a queue on a link or path. Despite of monitoring systems in traditional networks, the proposed monitoring system makes a low overhead in network thanks to OpenFlow protocol messages. It is also integrated into the network controller, which enables QoS and trac engineering applications to use the system's reports for automatic traffic management and QoS setup. The experimental results show a 99% accuracy of the proposed system for monitoring of both bandwidth and delay