4,780 research outputs found
Enhanced upregulation of smooth muscle-related transcripts by TGF??in asthmatic (myo)fibroblasts
No full textBackground: Transforming growth factor beta (TGFß) upregulates a number of smooth muscle specific genes in (myo)fibroblasts. As asthma is characterised by an increase in airway smooth muscle, we postulated that TGFß? favours differentiation of asthmatic (myo)fibroblasts towards a smooth muscle phenotype.Methods: Primary fibroblasts were grown from bronchial biopsy specimens from normal (n = 6) and asthmatic (n = 7) donors and treated with TGFß? to induce myofibroblast differentiation. The most stable genes for normalisation were identified using RT-qPCR and the geNorm software applied to a panel of 12 "housekeeping" genes. Expression of ?-smooth muscle actin (?SMA), heavy chain myosin (HCM), calponin 1 (CPN 1), desmin, and ?-actin were measured by RT-qPCR. Protein expression was assessed by immunocytochemistry and western blotting.Results: Phospholipase A2 and ubiquitin C were identified as the most stably expressed and practically useful genes for normalisation of gene expression during myofibroblast differentiation. TGFß? induced mRNA expression for all five smooth muscle related transcripts; ?SMA, HCM and CPN 1 protein were also increased but desmin protein was not detectable. Although there was no difference in basal expression, HCM, CPN 1 and desmin were induced to a significantly greater extent in asthmatic fibroblasts than in those from normal controls (p = 0.041 and 0.011, respectively).Conclusions: Although TGFß? induced the transcription of several smooth muscle related genes, not all were translated into protein. Thus, while TGFß? is unable to induce a bona fide smooth muscle cell phenotype, it may "prime" (myo)fibroblasts for further differentiation, especially if the cells are derived from asthmatic airways.Abbreviations: CPN 1, calponin 1; DMEM, Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium; FBS, fetal bovine serum; HCM, heavy chain myosin; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction; SFM, serum free medium; SMA, smooth muscle actin; TGFß, transforming growth factor
Radioactive reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) analysis of strain SSB318 complemented with wt or C238/C239
No full text<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from " and investigation of bacterial type B RNase P interaction with tRNA 3′-CCA"</p><p></p><p>Nucleic Acids Research 2007;35(6):2060-2073.</p><p>Published online 13 Mar 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC1874595.</p><p>© 2007 The Author(s)</p> PCR products were analyzed on a 10% polyacrylamide/8 M urea gel. Lanes 1–30: total RNA from SSB318 complemented with wt (lanes 1–4 and 13-16), C238 (lanes 5–8, 17–20 and 25–30) or C239 (lanes 9–12 and 21–24) grown at 37°C in the absence of IPTG and in the presence of 2% xylose (w/v); amounts of total RNA were 200 ng in lanes 1–24, 26 and 29, 100 ng in lanes 25 and 28, and 400 ng in lanes 27 and 30. P : presence (+) or absence (−) of a xylose-inducible plasmid-encoded gene. Lanes 1–12 and 25–27: primers specific for ; lanes 13–24 and 28–30: primers specific for the mRNA encoding ribosomal protein S18 (S18). AMV: presence (+) or absence (−) of reverse transcriptase. For details on RT-PCR, see the Material and Methods section. Lanes 25–30 document that the amount of RT-PCR product was sensitive to RNA template concentration. The figure illustrates a representative experiment, but the results shown here were reproduced in five individual experiments using three independent total RNA preparations
Prescribing by mental health nurses: the UK perspective
No full textPURPOSE. This article aims to discuss the growth of mental health nurse (MHN) prescribing in the United Kingdom as an exemplar for readers to compare progress in their own countries and context. This study also aims to provide a historical overview of this process in the United Kingdom where MHNs prescribe safely and competently.
CONCLUSIONS. Finally, evidence has shown that MHNs with prescriptive authority are competent when prescribing when compared to psychiatrists.
PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS. Despite organizational barriers and educational concerns, MHN prescribing is becoming embedded in the healthcare context in the United Kingdo
Modular RT-Motion USB Software Framework
No full textPhilips Applied Technologies has developed the RT-Motion USB platform as a compact distributed real-time motion control platform, but the platform can still be improved by developing a more advanced software framework. The goal of this thesis project is to design a modular software framework to complement the RT-Motion USB platform with extendability, flexibility, and configurability. The design focuses on the extendability of the platform by developing foundation building blocks to integrate software extension modules and device drivers easily. The design emphasizes the principle of simplicity to ensure the lowest possible overhead and highest reliability. The firmware is modular, which allows each module to concentrate on its own area. The implementation of the design has been tested and is proved to provide extendability, flexibility, and configurability while incurring low overhead. The improvement to the RT-Motion USB platform is expected to extend the applicability of the RT-Motion USB platform to a broader application range.Microelectronics & Computer EngineeringElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Increasing resilience to cascading events: The M.OR.D.OR. scenario
No full textThe growing complexity of global interconnected risk suggests that a shift has occurred in the way emergency planners need to improve preparedness and response to cascading events. With reference to the literature from the physical, social and political sciences, this paper analyses extreme space weather events and cyberattacks. The goal of this work is to produce a replicable scenario-building process, based on cross-disciplinary understanding of vulnerability, that could be complementary to probabilistic hazard assessment. Our hypothesis is that the technological and human component of critical infrastructure could be the primary vector for the escalation of secondary emergencies. While not themselves having direct implications in terms of loss of life, elements that are common to different risks could provide particular challenges for disaster management. Our findings identify some vulnerable nodes, such as Global Navigation Satellite System technology and remote-control systems, that could act as paths for the escalations of events. We suggest that these paths may be common to various known and unknown threats. We propose two scenarios of Massive, OveRwhelming Disruption of OpeRations (M.OR.D.OR.) that could be used for testing emergency preparedness strategies, and increasing the response to highly complex, unknown events. The conclusions highlight the open challenges of seeking to increase societal resilience. The limitations of this work are described, as are the possible challenges for future research
Exploring the effects od a rigid body on the evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability
No full textThis talk discusses the effects of a rigid solid boundary impeding the evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability. The introduction of an obstacle completely alters the evolution of RT growth, instead of mixing the domain rapidly, a quasi-steady flow, rich in dynamics is established for long periods of time. Using a combination of low Atwood number experiments and ILES simulations, this talk will present a non-dimensional analytical model for a multi-stage mixing process, discussing the effects of the opening size and topology on the density change of each layer, buoyancy driven flux through the opening and mixing efficiency
Small-Scale Properties of Two-Dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor Turbulence
No full textWe report a high-resolution numerical study of small-scale properties of two-dimensional (2D) miscible Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) incompressible turbulence with the Boussinesq approximation at small Atwood number and unit Prandtl number. Our results show that the buoyancy force balances the inertial force at all scales below the integral length scale and thus validate the basic force-balance assumption of the Bolgiano-Obukhov scenario in 2D RT turbulence. We further examine other small-scale properties of 2D RT turbulence, such as temporal evolution of energy and thermal dissipation rates, the emergence of intermittency and anomalous scaling for high order moments of velocity and temperature differences, distributions of local dissipation scales, and so on
ナイジェリア南東部および中南部におけるラッサウイルス検出のためのRT-LAMPアッセイの開発
No full textLassa virus (LASV) causes Lassa fever (LF), a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic in West Africa. LASV strains are clustered into six lineages according to their geographic location. To confirm a diagnosis of LF, a laboratory test is required. Here, a reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay using a portable device for the detection of LASV in southeast and south-central Nigeria using three primer sets specific for strains clustered in lineage II was developed. The assay detected in vitro transcribed LASV RNAs within 23 min and was further evaluated for detection in 73 plasma collected from suspected LF patients admitted into two health settings in southern Nigeria. The clinical evaluation using the conventional RT-PCR as the reference test revealed a sensitivity of 50% in general with 100% for samples with a viral titer of 9500 genome equivalent copies (geq)/mL and higher. The detection limit was estimated to be 4214 geq/mL. The assay showed 98% specificity with no cross-reactivity to other viruses which cause similar symptoms. These results suggest that this RT-LAMP assay is a useful molecular diagnostic test for LF during the acute phase, contributing to early patient management, while using a convenient device for field deployment and in resource-poor settings.長崎大学学位論文 学位記番号:博(医歯薬)甲第1265号 学位授与年月日:令和2年9月18日Author: Christelle M. Pemba, Yohei Kurosaki, Rokusuke Yoshikawa, Olamide K. Oloniniyi, Shuzo Urata, Maki Sueyoshi, Vahid R. Zadeh, Ifeanyi Nwafor, Michael O. Iroezindu, Nnenna A. Ajayi, Chinedu M. Chukwubike, Nneka M. Chika-Igwenyi, Anne C. Ndu, Damian U. Nwidi, Yuki Maehira, Uche S. Unigwe, Chiedozie K. Ojide, Emeka O. Onwe, Jiro YasudaCitation: Journal of Virological Methods, 269, pp.30-37; 201
The relationship between co-authorship, currency of references and author self-citations
No full textThis paper attempts to identify the relationship between co-authorship and the currency of the references and author self-citations in the key journals of environmental engineering. The results show that the self-citation rate of co-authored articles is higher than in single-authored articles. A statistically significant correlation is identified between the numbers of co-authors, the rate of author self-citing and the author self-cited; though it was a low correlation. The value of coefficient correlation between the number of co-authors and the author self-citing rate is slightly higher than that between the number of co-authors and the author self-cited rate, which indicates that the number of co-authors hold a stronger correlation with the self-citing rate than the self-cited rate. Meanwhile, self-citing references are found to be more up-to-date than references to others. The range of publication years of self-citing references is smaller than that of references to others, indicating that researchers tend to preferentially cite their own recent works. There is no significant difference in the latest references between self-citing references and the references to others. It might result from electronic journals that provide an easy access to the most current publications.補正完畢國外SSCIY紙本電子版HU
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