Publications by authors named "Daniel Browne"

The colonial green microalga Botryococcus braunii is well known for producing liquid hydrocarbons that can be utilized as biofuel feedstocks. B. braunii is taxonomically classified as a single species made up of three chemical races, A, B, and L, that are mainly distinguished by the hydrocarbons produced.

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  • The proper collection, cryopreservation, thawing, and culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are crucial for maintaining T cell viability and immunogenicity, yet current protocols are often inconsistently followed.
  • A review of the literature reveals significant variations in technical processes that affect the quality of PBMCs, underscoring the need for more rigorous methodology and transparent reporting to promote reproducibility in research.
  • The authors advocate for adopting the standardized operating procedures (SOPs) established by HANC to enhance consistency in PBMC processing, emphasizing detailed documentation of any variations to improve scientific reliability.
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Introduction: This ex vivo study evaluated the accuracy of the Electronic Apex Locator (EAL) and Automatic Apical Stop (AAS) functions of the E-Connect S+ and Morita Tri Auto ZX2+ cordless apex locators in determining patency length.

Methods: Sixty-four human teeth with a single root were randomly allocated into E-connect or Morita groups (n = 32). The canals were accessed and preflared, after which a size 15 K-file was inserted into the canal to the major foramen and recorded as the actual length (AL).

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  • The study evaluates the stability of twelve commonly used reference genes in RTqPCR analysis following Plasmodium yoelii sporozoite challenge and immunization in mice.
  • It found significant expression changes in six of these genes due to the parasite challenge or immunization, indicating that not all reference genes are suitable for this type of analysis.
  • SDHA and TBP were identified as stable reference genes, leading to the development of a robust RTqPCR protocol that can improve the consistency and reliability of malaria vaccine efficacy studies across different research settings.
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Sequencing high molecular weight (HMW) DNA with long-read and linked-read technologies has promoted a major increase in more complete genome sequences for nonmodel organisms. Sequencing approaches that rely on HMW DNA have been limited to larger organisms or pools of multiple individuals, but recent advances have allowed for sequencing from individuals of small-bodied organisms. Here, we use HMW DNA sequencing with PacBio long reads and TELL-Seq linked reads to assemble and annotate the genome from a single individual feather louse (Brueelia nebulosa) from a European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris).

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Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between serum microRNAs (miRNAs) and diagnosis and growth of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), and to test their diagnostic and prognostic value.

Methods: The expression levels of 800 miRNA tags were assessed in 108 patients with AAA, 12 age and sex matched healthy controls (HCs), and 12 patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) using NanoString technology. Findings were assessed in an independent sample of 66 patients with AAA and 29 age and sex matched HCs by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

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Whole-blood-derived transcriptional profiling is widely used in biomarker discovery, immunological research, and therapeutic development. Traditional molecular and high-throughput transcriptomic platforms, including molecular assays with quantitative PCR (qPCR) and RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), are dependent upon high-quality and intact RNA. However, collecting high-quality RNA from field studies in remote tropical locations can be challenging due to resource restrictions and logistics of post-collection processing.

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  • Current immune assays are sensitive but require a lot of cells and expensive reagents, making them impractical for large-scale testing.
  • A new RT-qPCR-based high-throughput screening assay has been developed, which significantly reduces the need for cell numbers and lowers costs by almost 90% while maintaining sensitivity.
  • This optimized assay can accurately measure immune responses using as few as 50,000 PBMCs, making it ideal for situations where samples are limited and budgets are tight.
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  • Researchers explored using the immunomodulatory properties of helminth proteins, specifically by creating a library of recombinant proteins from hookworms.
  • They identified 20 proteins that showed significant anti-inflammatory effects in a mouse model, which could lead to novel treatments for IBD and other inflammatory diseases.
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  • Nitrogen fertilizers, especially ammonium, are commonly used to boost banana production but can worsen Fusarium wilt, a major disease affecting banana plants.
  • In a greenhouse study, increasing nitrogen rates correlated positively with the growth of non-inoculated banana plants, while plants inoculated with the disease showed increased severity and growth at intermediate nitrogen levels.
  • The research revealed that nitrogen application influenced metabolic pathways in bananas and altered microbial diversity in the soil, with greater disease severity linked to reduced plant defense responses, especially when using ammonium fertilizers.
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  • The study demonstrates the effectiveness of a multiplex microsphere polymerase chain reaction (mmPCR) method for detecting both general and specific genetic targets in a single test.
  • The mmPCR effectively identified various bacterial and fungal isolates using custom primers, achieving accurate results for both general classifications and specific traits such as antibiotic resistance.
  • The findings suggest that mmPCR could enhance clinical diagnostics, though improvements in DNA extraction methods are needed for better sensitivity.
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produce liquid hydrocarbons able to be processed into combustion engine fuels. Depending on the growing conditions, the cell doubling time can be up to 6 days or more, which is a slow growth rate in comparison with other microalgae. Few studies have analyzed the cell cycle of .

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  • Maternal choline supplementation in rats can help counteract some negative effects of alcohol exposure during pregnancy, particularly in terms of fetal growth and placental changes.
  • In an experiment, pregnant rats were given different diets with varying levels of choline and alcohol to assess the impact on fetal and placental development.
  • The results indicated that higher choline levels improved fetal weight and placental efficiency, especially when compared to alcohol exposure, while also causing alterations in DNA methylation patterns in placentas based on the offspring's sex.
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  • Reliable extraction of RNA from human PBMCs is essential for immunology research and clinical diagnostics, but it's challenging due to low sample availability and sensitivity issues.
  • The study evaluates various RNA extraction and quantification kits, finding significant differences in RNA expression and establishing a reliable normalization strategy using absolute quantification based on cell numbers.
  • An optimized RNA extraction and RT-qPCR protocol was developed that enables high sensitivity, sufficient for detecting specific immune responses with minimal PBMCs, making it a promising alternative to traditional protein assays.
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Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) provides curative therapy for leukemia via immunologic graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects. In practice, this must be balanced against life threatening pathology induced by graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Recipient dendritic cells (DC) are thought to be important in the induction of GVL and GVHD.

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  • Bloodstream infections pose a serious threat, especially to patients undergoing treatments like chemotherapy, where timely diagnosis is crucial due to the risks of febrile neutropenia.
  • Traditional blood culture methods for diagnosing these infections can take hours to days, leading to the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics as an immediate response.
  • The study introduces a rapid multiplexed microsphere-PCR assay that can differentiate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in just 3.5 hours, potentially enhancing the speed and accuracy of infection treatment.
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Biofuels derived from microalgal lipids have demonstrated a promising potential as future renewable bioenergy. However, the production costs for microalgae-based biofuels are not economically competitive, and one strategy to overcome this limitation is to develop better-performing microalgal strains that have faster growth and higher lipid content through genetic screening and metabolic engineering. In this work, we present a high-throughput droplet microfluidics-based screening platform capable of analyzing growth and lipid content in populations derived from single cells of a randomly mutated microalgal library to identify and sort variants that exhibit the desired traits such as higher growth rate and increased lipid content.

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We analyzed the reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in the colony-forming green microalga in response to several stress inducers such as NaCl, NaHCO, salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate, and acetic acid. A staining assay using the fluorescent dye CellROX Green was used. CellROX Green is a fluorogenic probe used for measuring oxidative stress in live cells.

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has long been known as a prodigious producer of liquid hydrocarbon oils that can be converted into combustion engine fuels. This draft genome for the B race of will allow researchers to unravel important hydrocarbon biosynthetic pathways and identify possible regulatory networks controlling this unusual metabolism.

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Plants react to biotic and abiotic stresses with a variety of responses including the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which may result in programmed cell death (PCD). The mechanisms underlying ROS production and PCD have not been well studied in microalgae. Here, we analyzed ROS accumulation, biomass accumulation, and hydrocarbon production in the colony-forming green microalga in response to several stress inducers such as NaCl, NaHCO, salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate, and acetic acid.

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Measurement-based quantum computation utilizes an initial entangled resource state and proceeds with subsequent single-qubit measurements. It is implicitly assumed that the interactions between qubits can be switched off so that the dynamics of the measured qubits do not affect the computation. By proposing a model spin Hamiltonian, we demonstrate that measurement-based quantum computation can be achieved on a thermal state with always-on interactions.

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We present a scheme for linear optical quantum computation that is highly robust to imperfect single photon sources and inefficient detectors. In particular we show that if the product of the detector efficiency with the source efficiency is greater than 2/3, then efficient linear optical quantum computation is possible. This high threshold is achieved within the cluster state paradigm for quantum computation.

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We report an experimental demonstration of a complied version of Shor's algorithm using four photonic qubits. We choose the simplest instance of this algorithm, that is, factorization of N=15 in the case that the period r=2 and exploit a simplified linear optical network to coherently implement the quantum circuits of the modular exponential execution and semiclassical quantum Fourier transformation. During this computation, genuine multiparticle entanglement is observed which well supports its quantum nature.

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We introduce a scheme for fault tolerantly dealing with losses (or other "leakage" errors) in cluster state computation that can tolerate up to 50% qubit loss. This is achieved passively using an adaptive strategy of measurement--no coherent measurements or coherent correction is required. Since the scheme relies on inferring information about what would have been the outcome of a measurement had one been able to carry it out, we call this counterfactual error correction.

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We introduce a scheme for linear optics quantum computation, that makes no use of teleported gates, and requires stable interferometry over only the coherence length of the photons. We achieve a much greater degree of efficiency and a simpler implementation than previous proposals. We follow the "cluster state" measurement based quantum computational approach, and show how cluster states may be efficiently generated from pairs of maximally polarization entangled photons using linear optical elements.

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