The RNA ligation method using modified splint DNAs significantly improves the efficiency of circular RNA synthesis.

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a non-coding RNA with a covalently closed loop structure and usually more stable than messenger RNA (mRNA). However, coding sequences (CDSs) following an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in circRNAs can be translated, and this property has been recently utilized to produce proteins as novel therapeutic tools. However, it is difficult to produce large proteins from circRNAs because of the low circularization efficiency of lengthy RNAs.

Label-Free Quantitative Proteome Profiling of Cerebrospinal Fluid from a Rat Stroke Model with Stem Cell Therapy.

Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) are capable of immunomodulation and regeneration after neural injury. For these reasons, hAMSCs have been investigated as a promising stem cell candidate for stroke treatment. However, noninvasive experiments studying the effects of grafted stem cells in the host brain have not yet been reported.

The Partner Switching System of the SigF Sigma Factor in and Induction of the SigF Regulon Under Respiration-Inhibitory Conditions.

The partner switching system (PSS) of the SigF regulatory pathway in has been previously demonstrated to include the anti-sigma factor RsbW (MSMEG_1803) and two anti-sigma factor antagonists RsfA and RsfB. In this study, we further characterized two additional RsbW homologs and revealed the distinct roles of three RsbW homologs [RsbW1 (MSMEG_1803), RsbW2 (MSMEG_6129), and RsbW3 (MSMEG_1787)] in the SigF PSS. RsbW1 and RsbW2 serve as the anti-sigma factor of SigF and the protein kinase phosphorylating RsfB, respectively, while RsbW3 functions as an anti-SigF antagonist through its protein interaction with RsbW1.

Mannitol Augments the Effects of Systemical Stem Cell Transplantation without Increasing Cell Migration in a Stroke Animal Model.

Background: Mannitol increases blood-brain barrier permeability and can improve the efficiency of systemically administered stem cells by facilitating stem cell entry from the periphery into the injured brain. The aim of this study was to elucidate the neuroprotective effects of a combination of mannitol pretreatment and stem cell transplantation on stroke-induced neural injury.

Methods: The experimental rats were randomly assigned to three groups 24 h after middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion.

Modal Damping Coefficient Estimation of Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Material Considering Temperature Condition.

Excellent mechanical properties of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic material (CFRP) demonstrates many possibilities in industries using lightweight materials, but unlike isotropic materials, such as iron, aluminum, and magnesium, they show direction-sensitive properties, which makes it difficult to apply for them. The sensitivity of a modal damping coefficient of a CFRP material over the direction of carbon fiber was examined on spectral input patterns in recent research, but the effect of temperature was not considered up to now. To overcome this, uniaxial vibration tests were conducted using five simple specimens with different direction of carbon fiber in a CFRP specimen, the frequency response functions were experimentally determined and the modal damping coefficients were calculated.

Milk Fat Globule-Epidermal Growth Factor VIII Ameliorates Brain Injury in the Subacute Phase of Cerebral Ischemia in an Animal Model.

Objective: Milk fat globule-epidermal growth factor VIII (MFG-E8) may play a key role in inflammatory responses and has the potential to function as a neuroprotective agent for ameliorating brain injury in cerebral infarction. This study aimed to determine the role of MFG-E8 in brain injury in the subacute phase of cerebral ischemia in a rat model.

Methods: Focal cerebral ischemia was induced in rats by occluding the middle cerebral artery with the modified intraluminal filament technique.

Dual control of RegX3 transcriptional activity by SenX3 and PknB.

The mycobacterial SenX3-RegX3 two-component system consists of the SenX3 sensor histidine kinase and its cognate RegX3 response regulator. This system is a phosphorelay-based regulatory system involved in sensing environmental P levels and induction of genes required for P acquisition under P-limiting conditions. Here we demonstrate that overexpression of the kinase domain of PknB (PknB-KD) inhibits the transcriptional activity of RegX3 of both and (RegX3 and RegX3, respectively).

Synthetic Mechanism Discovery of Monophase Cuprous Oxide for Record High Photoelectrochemical Conversion of CO to Methanol in Water.

Precise control of the oxidation state of transition-metal oxides, such as copper, is important for high selectivity of CO reduction in an aqueous condition to compete with the reduction of water. The phase of copper oxide nanofibers was controlled by predictive synthesis, which controls the nanoscale gas-solid reaction by considering thermodynamics and kinetics. The driving force of the phase transformation between the different oxidation states of copper oxide is calculated by comparing the Gibbs free energy of each of the oxidation states.

Roles of Alanine Dehydrogenase and Induction of Its Gene in Mycobacterium smegmatis under Respiration-Inhibitory Conditions.

Here we demonstrated that the inhibition of electron flux through the respiratory electron transport chain (ETC) by either the disruption of the gene for the major terminal oxidase ( cytochrome oxidase) or treatment with KCN resulted in the induction of encoding alanine dehydrogenase in A decrease in functionality of the ETC shifts the redox state of the NADH/NAD pool toward a more reduced state, which in turn leads to an increase in cellular levels of alanine by Ald catalyzing the conversion of pyruvate to alanine with the concomitant oxidation of NADH to NAD The induction of expression under respiration-inhibitory conditions in is mediated by the alanine-responsive AldR transcriptional regulator. The growth defect of by respiration inhibition was exacerbated by inactivation of the gene, suggesting that Ald is beneficial to in its adaptation and survival under respiration-inhibitory conditions by maintaining NADH/NAD homeostasis. The low susceptibility of to complex inhibitors appears to be, at least in part, attributable to the high expression level of the quinol oxidase in when the - branch of the ETC is inactivated.

Inhibition of the DevSR Two-Component System by Overexpression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis PknB in Mycobacterium smegmatis.

The DevSR (DosSR) two-component system, which is a major regulatory system involved in oxygen sensing in mycobacteria, plays an important role in hypoxic induction of many genes in mycobacteria. We demonstrated that overexpression of the kinase domain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) PknB inhibited transcriptional activity of the DevR response regulator in Mycobacterium smegmatis and that this inhibitory effect was exerted through phosphorylation of DevR on Thr180 within its DNA-binding domain. Moreover, the purified kinase domain of Mtb PknB significantly phosphorylated RegX3, NarL, KdpE, TrcR, DosR, and MtrA response regulators of Mtb that contain the Thr residues corresponding to Thr180 of DevR in their DNA-binding domains, implying that transcriptional activities of these response regulators might also be inhibited when the kinase domain of PknB is overexpressed.

Controlled Molybdenum Disulfide Assembly inside Carbon Nanofiber by Boudouard Reaction Inspired Selective Carbon Oxidation.

Vertical stacking and lateral growth of molybdenum disulfide (MoS ) are controlled with remarkable precision, and MoS nanotubes are directly converted from nanofibers. Predictive synthesis is enabled by identifying the specific thermodynamic region where the Boudouard reaction becomes favored. It reveals how the chemical potential of each species in the MoSCO system can predict phase behaviors.

A Strain-Insensitive Stretchable Electronic Conductor: PEDOT:PSS/Acrylamide Organogels.

Unlabelled: Organogel-based stretchable electronic conductors exhibit electrical conduction even under a large stretching deformation of 300% without electrochemical reactions at DC voltages. The resistance change with stretching is almost strain-insensitive up to 50% strain and it remains at each deformation up to 1000 fatigue cycle. The polymeric conductive paths of

Pedot: PSS are well preserved during the mechanical deformation.

Comprehensive chromosome analysis of blastocysts before implantation using array CGH.

Background: Chromosomal abnormalities are common in embryos produced in vitro and cause implantation failure, miscarriage, and serious medical problems in infants. Because preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) is increasingly being used to detect aneuploidy in embryos with the purpose of improving implantation rates after IVF (in vitro fertilization), we aimed to validate the usefulness of array CGH for the preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) of embryos at the blastocyst stage of development.

Results: A total of 150 blastocysts were biopsied from couples undergoing IVF and analyzed using array CGH.

The clinical application of array CGH for the detection of chromosomal defects in 20,126 unselected newborns.

Background: Array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a powerful tool for detecting unbalanced chromosomal alterations. To validate the usefulness of array CGH in newborn screening, we examined 20,126 unselected infants. In addition, the number of newborns analyzed with array CGH is the largest one ever reported.

A new hematite photoanode doping strategy for solar water splitting: oxygen vacancy generation.

The enhancement of the electrical conductivity by doping is important in hematite (α-Fe(2)O(3)) photoanodes for efficient solar water oxidation. However, in spite of many successful demonstrations using extrinsic dopants, such as Sn, Ti, and Si, the achieved photocurrent is still lower than the practical requirement. There is still lack of our understanding of how intrinsic oxygen defects can change the photocurrent and interact with the extrinsic dopants.

Lrp acts as both a positive and negative regulator for type 1 fimbriae production in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.

Leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) is known to be an indirect activator of type 1 fimbriae synthesis in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium via direct regulation of FimZ, a direct positive regulator for type 1 fimbriae production. Using RT-PCR, we have shown previously that fimA transcription is dramatically impaired in both lrp-deletion (Δlrp) and constitutive-lrp expression (lrp(C)) mutant strains. In this work, we used chromosomal P(fimA)-lacZ fusions and yeast agglutination assays to confirm and extend our previous results.

Clinical implementation of whole-genome array CGH as a first-tier test in 5080 pre and postnatal cases.

Background: Array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is currently the most powerful method for detecting chromosomal alterations in pre and postnatal clinical cases. In this study, we developed a BAC based array CGH analysis platform for detecting whole genome DNA copy number changes including specific micro deletion and duplication chromosomal disorders. Additionally, we report our experience with the clinical implementation of our array CGH analysis platform.

Gene flow between the Korean peninsula and its neighboring countries.

SNP markers provide the primary data for population structure analysis. In this study, we employed whole-genome autosomal SNPs as a marker set (54,836 SNP markers) and tested their possible effects on genetic ancestry using 320 subjects covering 24 regional groups including Northern (=16) and Southern (=3) Asians, Amerindians (=1), and four HapMap populations (YRI, CEU, JPT, and CHB). Additionally, we evaluated the effectiveness and robustness of 50K autosomal SNPs with various clustering methods, along with their dependencies on recombination hotspots (RH), linkage disequilibrium (LD), missing calls and regional specific markers.

Probing the critical residues for intramolecular fructosyl transfer reaction of a levan fructotransferase.

Levan fructotransferase (LFTase) preferentially catalyzes the transfructosylation reaction in addition to levan hydrolysis, whereas other levan-degrading enzymes hydrolyze levan into a levan-oligosaccharide and fructose. Based on sequence comparisons and enzymatic properties, the fructosyl transfer activity of LFTase is proposed to have evolved from levanase. In order to probe the residues that are critical to the intramolecular fructosyl transfer reaction of the Microbacterium sp.

Dominant role of the cbb3 oxidase in regulation of photosynthesis gene expression through the PrrBA system in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1.

In this study, the H303A mutant form of the cbb(3) oxidase (H303A oxidase), which has the H303A mutation in its catalytic subunit (CcoN), was purified from Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The H303A oxidase showed the same catalytic activity as did the wild-type form of the oxidase (WT oxidase). The heme contents of the mutant and WT forms of the cbb(3) oxidase were also comparable.

Antibacterial activity of medicinal herb extracts against Salmonella.

The therapeutic potentials of twenty-two medicinal herb species traditionally used in Korea to treat gastrointestinal infections were evaluated for the treatment of salmonellosis. Candidates were primarily screened using the disk-agar method for antibacterial activity against three different Salmonella serotypes. Of the herbs tested, the aqueous and methanolic extracts of Schizandrae Fructus exhibited antibacterial activity against all three Salmonella.

Prevalence and characteristics of Escherichia coli O26 and O111 from cattle in Korea.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is an important cause of diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome worldwide. E. coli O26 and O111 are the serotypes most frequently isolated from human EHEC infections in Korea.

MELDB: a database for microbial esterases and lipases.

MELDB is a comprehensive protein database of microbial esterases and lipases which are hydrolytic enzymes important in the modern industry. Proteins in MELDB are clustered into groups according to their sequence similarities based on a local pairwise alignment algorithm and a graph clustering algorithm (TribeMCL). This differs from traditional approaches that use global pairwise alignment and joining methods.

Comparison of allele specific oligonucleotide-polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing for high throughput screening of ABL kinase domain mutations in chronic myeloid leukemia resistant to imatinib.

To identify a fast and sensitive method for screening for mutations in patients with imatinib- resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), we compared allele specific oligonucleotide- polymerase chain reaction (ASO-PCR) assay with conventional direct sequencing. Among the 68 imatinib resistant CML patients studied, 18 amino acid substitutions were detected in 44 patients by two assays. The sensitivity of ASO-PCR was superior to that of direct sequencing as it could detect one mutant allele in 100 approximately 100,000 wild type sequences.