Phenotype variability in diet-induced obesity and response to (-)-epigallocatechin gallate supplementation in a Diversity Outbred mouse cohort: A model for exploring gene x diet interactions for dietary bioactives.

The flavan-3-ol (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) blunts obesity in inbred mice, but human clinical trials have yielded mixed results. Genetic homogeneity in preclinical models may explain translational disconnect between rodents and humans. The Diversity Outbred (DO) mouse model provides genotype and phenotype variability for characterization of gene x environment (i.

Diribonuclease activity eliminates toxic diribonucleotide accumulation.

RNA degradation is a central process required for transcriptional regulation. Eventually, this process degrades diribonucleotides into mononucleotides by specific diribonucleases. In Escherichia coli, oligoribonuclease (Orn) serves this function and is unique as the only essential exoribonuclease.

Characterization of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway in catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen responsible for a subset of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). In a murine model of CAUTI, we previously demonstrated that urea within urine suppresses quorum sensing and induces the Entner-Doudoroff (E-D) pathway. The E-D pathway consists of the genes , , , and .

Characterization of the Entner-Douderoff Pathway in Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections.

is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen responsible for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). In a murine model of CAUTI, we previously demonstrated that urea within urine suppresses quorum sensing and induces the Entner-Douderoff (E-D) pathway. The E-D pathway consists of the genes , , , and .

Comparative evaluation of filtration and imaging properties of analytical filters for microplastic capture and analysis.

Pollution by microplastics (MPs) is a growing problem that is now well-recognized, as concerning levels of MPs have been found in drinking water, food, and even human tissues. Given the evolving understanding of their toxicological effects on human health, MPs are an area of concern requiring further study. Consequently, there is a need for greater understanding of the performance characteristics of common MP analytical methods and where possible, for standardizing methods and reporting practices.

Perceptual warping exposes categorical representations for speech in human brainstem responses.

The brain transforms continuous acoustic events into discrete category representations to downsample the speech signal for our perceptual-cognitive systems. Such phonetic categories are highly malleable, and their percepts can change depending on surrounding stimulus context. Previous work suggests these acoustic-phonetic mapping and perceptual warping of speech emerge in the brain no earlier than auditory cortex.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection by progresses through acute and chronic phases of infection.

Healthcare-associated infections are major causes of complications that lead to extended hospital stays and significant medical costs. The use of medical devices, including catheters, increases the risk of bacterial colonization and infection through the presence of a foreign surface. Two outcomes are observed for catheterized patients: catheter-associated asymptomatic bacteriuria and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).

Nonlinear dynamics in auditory cortical activity reveal the neural basis of perceptual warping in speech categorization.

Surrounding context influences speech listening, resulting in dynamic shifts to category percepts. To examine its neural basis, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during vowel identification with continua presented in random, forward, and backward orders to induce perceptual warping. Behaviorally, sequential order shifted individual listeners' categorical boundary, versus random delivery, revealing perceptual warping (biasing) of the heard phonetic category dependent on recent stimulus history.

Auditory cortex is susceptible to lexical influence as revealed by informational vs. energetic masking of speech categorization.

Speech perception requires the grouping of acoustic information into meaningful phonetic units via the process of categorical perception (CP). Environmental masking influences speech perception and CP. However, it remains unclear at which stage of processing (encoding, decision, or both) masking affects listeners' categorization of speech signals.

Free Standing, Large-Area Silicon Nitride Membranes for High Toxin Clearance in Blood Surrogate for Small-Format Hemodialysis.

Developing highly-efficient membranes for toxin clearance in small-format hemodialysis presents a fabrication challenge. The miniaturization of fluidics and controls has been the focus of current work on hemodialysis (HD) devices. This approach has not addressed the membrane efficiency needed for toxin clearance in small-format hemodialysis devices.

Development of isoporous microslit silicon nitride membranes for sterile filtration applications.

The widely used 0.2/0.22 µm polymer sterile filters were developed for small molecule and protein sterile filtration but are not well-suited for the production of large nonprotein biological therapeutics, resulting in significant yield loss and production cost increases.

One-step genome editing of elite crop germplasm during haploid induction.

Genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 works efficiently in plant cells, but delivery of genome-editing machinery into the vast majority of crop varieties is not possible using established methods. We co-opted the aberrant reproductive process of haploid induction (HI) to induce edits in nascent seeds of diverse monocot and dicot species. Our method, named HI-Edit, enables direct genomic modification of commercial crop varieties.

Label-free microarray-based detection of autoantibodies in human serum.

Multiplex assays for autoantibodies have shown utility both in research towards understanding the basic biology of autoimmune disease, and as tools for clinical diagnosis. New label-free multiplex analysis methods have the potential to streamline both the process of assay development and assay workflow. We report fabrication and testing of a 5-plex autoantigen microarray using the Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry (AIR) platform.

A label-free, multiplex competitive assay for small molecule pollutants.

Understanding the amount of exposure individuals have had to common chemical pollutants critically requires the ability to detect those compounds in a simple, sensitive, and specific manner. Doing so using label-free biosensor technology has proven challenging, however, given the small molecular weight of many pollutants of interest. To address this issue, we report the development of a pollutant microarray based on the label-free arrayed imaging reflectometry (AIR) detection platform.

Functionalized Polymer Microgel Particles Enable Customizable Production of Label-Free Sensor Arrays.

Probe molecule immobilization onto surfaces is a critical step in the production of many analytical devices, including labeled and label-free microarrays. New methods to increase the density and uniformity of probe deposition have the potential to significantly enhance the ultimate limits of detection and reproducibility. Hydrogel-based materials have been employed in the past to provide a 3D protein-friendly surface for deposition of antibodies and nucleic acids.

Transposon based activation tagging in diploid strawberry and monoploid derivatives of potato.

Diploid strawberry and potato transformed with a transposon tagging construct exhibited either global (strawberry) or local transposition (potato). An activation tagged, compact-sized strawberry mutant overexpressed the gene adjacent to Ds. As major fruit and vegetable crops, respectively, strawberry and potato are among the first horticultural crops with draft genome sequences.

Comparative study of solution-phase and vapor-phase deposition of aminosilanes on silicon dioxide surfaces.

The uniformity of aminosilane layers typically used for the modification of hydroxyl bearing surfaces such as silicon dioxide is critical for a wide variety of applications, including biosensors. However, in spite of many studies that have been undertaken on surface silanization, there remains a paucity of easy-to-implement deposition methods reproducibly yielding smooth aminosilane monolayers. In this study, solution- and vapor-phase deposition methods for three aminoalkoxysilanes differing in the number of reactive groups (3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES), 3-aminopropyl methyl diethoxysilane (APMDES) and 3-aminopropyl dimethyl ethoxysilane (APDMES)) were assessed with the aim of identifying methods that yield highly uniform and reproducible silane layers that are resistant to minor procedural variations.

An active ac/ds transposon system for activation tagging in tomato cultivar m82 using clonal propagation.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a model organism for Solanaceae in both molecular and agronomic research. This project utilized Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation and the transposon-tagging construct Activator (Ac)/Dissociator (Ds)-ATag-Bar_gosGFP to produce activation-tagged and knockout mutants in the processing tomato cultivar M82. The construct carried hygromycin resistance (hyg), green fluorescent protein (GFP), and the transposase (TPase) of maize (Zea mays) Activator major transcript X054214.

Development of a rat model of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ).

The purpose of this study was to develop a rat model predictive of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) after exodontias. Thirty female rats were randomized into 2 groups, control and experimental. The experimental group received 2 intravenous injections of zoledronate (20 μg/kg).

Analysis of inflammatory biomarkers by Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry.

Levels of serum cytokines are important markers for a broad range of human health conditions, ranging from infectious disease and cancer, to pollutant exposure and stress. In the interest of developing new rapid label-free methods for profiling serum cytokines, we have examined the utility of Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry (AIR) microarrays for this application. We find that AIR is readily able to profile 14 cytokines and other inflammatory biomarker proteins in a background of buffered bovine serum albumin or 1% bovine serum with performance metrics comparable to singleplex ELISA, but in a multiplex, chip-based, reagentless format.