Single-crystalline MFe(2)O(4) nanotubes/nanorings synthesized by thermal transformation process for biological applications.

We report a general thermal transformation approach to synthesize single-crystalline magnetic transition metal oxides nanotubes/nanorings including magnetite Fe(3)O(4), maghematite gamma-Fe(2)O(3), and ferrites MFe(2)O(4) (M = Co, Mn, Ni, Cu) using hematite alpha-Fe(2)O(3) nanotubes/nanorings template. While the straightforward reduction or reduction-oxides process was employed to produce Fe(3)O(4) and gamma-Fe(2)O(3), the alpha-Fe(2)O(3)/M(OH)(2) core/shell nanostructure was used as precursor to prepare MFe(2)O(4) nanotubes via MFe(2)O(4-x) (0 < x < 1) intermediate. The transformed ferrites nanocrystals retain the hollow structure and single-crystalline nature of the original templates.

Supraresolution imaging in brain slices using stimulated-emission depletion two-photon laser scanning microscopy.

Two-photon laser scanning microscopy (2PLSM) has allowed unprecedented fluorescence imaging of neuronal structure and function within neural tissue. However, the resolution of this approach is poor compared to that of conventional confocal microscopy. Here, we demonstrate supraresolution 2PLSM within brain slices.

A predictive mathematical model of muscle forces for children with cerebral palsy.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if our previously developed muscle model could be used to predict forces of the quadriceps femoris and triceps surae muscles of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP).

Method: Twenty-two children with CP (12 males, 10 females; mean age 10y, SD 2y, range 7-13y; Gross Motor Function Classification System levels II and III) participated. A physiologically based mathematical model with four free parameters is presented.

Global gene expression analysis reveals evidence for decreased lipid biosynthesis and increased innate immunity in uninvolved psoriatic skin.

Psoriasis is a genetically determined inflammatory skin disease. Although the transition from uninvolved into lesional skin is accompanied by changes in the expression of multiple genes, much less is known about the difference between uninvolved skin from psoriatic patients as opposed to skin from normal individuals. Multiple biochemical and morphological changes were reported decades ago in uninvolved psoriatic skin but remain poorly understood.

[A case-control study on family environment related factors in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with anxiety disorder].

Objective: To study the family rearing pattern of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with or without anxiety disorder and to explore its risk factors.

Methods: 9495 children and their parents were sampled at random in Hunan province, using two-stage investigation. Those who were diagnosed ADHD and the normal control filled out Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran and family adaptability and cohesion scale by themselves.

[Isolation and identification of arboviruses from mosquito pools in some regions of Liaoning province, China].

Objective: To isolate and identify arboviruses from mosquito pools in some regions of Liaoning province.

Methods: Mosquitoes were collected from Shenyang, Yingkou, Panjin, Jinzhou and Dandong cities of Liaoning province in 2006. Viruses were isolated by inoculating the specimens onto C6/ 36 and BHK-21cells.

Microgel iron oxide nanoparticles for tracking human fetal mesenchymal stem cells through magnetic resonance imaging.

Stem cell transplantation for regenerative medicine has made significant progress in various injury models, with the development of modalities to track stem cell fate and migration post-transplantation being currently pursued rigorously. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows serial high-resolution in vivo detection of transplanted stem cells labeled with iron oxide particles, but has been hampered by low labeling efficiencies. Here, we describe the use of microgel iron oxide (MGIO) particles of diameters spanning 100-750 nm for labeling human fetal mesenchymal stem cells (hfMSCs) for MRI tracking.

Microfluidic culture of single human embryonic stem cell colonies.

We have developed a miniaturized microfluidic culture system that allows experimentation on individual human embryonic stem cell (hESC) colonies in dynamic (flow applied) or static (without flow) conditions. The system consists of three inlet channels that converge into a cell-culture channel and provides the capability to spatially and temporally deliver specific treatments by using patterned laminar fluid flow to different parts of a single hESC colony. We show that microfluidic culture for 96 h with or without flow results in similar maintenance of hESC self-renewal, the capability to differentiate into three germ cell lineages, and to maintain a normal karyotype, as in standard culture dishes.

HnRNP U mediates the long-range regulation of Shh expression during limb development.

Transcriptional modulation may be mediated by cis-regulatory elements distant from their target genes. Mutations in a conserved locus about 1 Mb upstream of the Shh coding region often affect Shh expression and are associated with preaxial polydactyly (PPD) defects. To understand the molecular mechanism, we analyzed a novel mouse PPD model with a T-to-A point mutation in this distant locus.

Immunogenicity of a DNA vaccine expressing the Neospora caninum surface protein NcSRS2 in mice.

The immunogenicity of a DNA vaccine expressing the surface protein NcSRS2 of Neospora caninum was studied in BALB/c mice. The NcSRS2-encoding DNA was obtained by PCR amplification of the NcSRS2 ORF gene from the p43 plasmid encoding the N. caninum surface protein NcSRS2, ligated to the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3.

Expression of the tandem enhanced yellow fluorescent marker gene in Toxoplasma gondii.

Fluorescent protein is a useful tool for monitoring gene expression and studying biological processes of organisms including parasites. To improve the transfection efficiency and fluorescent intensity in Toxoplasma gondii, a new transient expression vector, RGES, containing the tandem enhanced yellow fluorescent protein gene, EYFP-EYFP, under the control of the parasite dense granule protein 1 (GRA1) promoter was constructed. The RGES plasmid was introduced into T.

One-pot synthesis of water-stable ZnO nanoparticles via a polyol hydrolysis route and their cell labeling applications.

ZnO nanoparticles have been identified as a new generation of biofriendly cell labeling agents since they are nontoxic, less expensive, and chemically stable in air. However, ZnO nanoparticles show poor water stability due to high equilibrium concentration of Zn species in water in a wide pH range. In this work, a one-pot polyol hydrolysis method was developed for synthesizing water-stable ZnO nanoparticles with blue emission.

A facile one-step route to synthesize cage-like silica hollow spheres loaded with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in their shells.

Cage-like silica hollow spheres loaded with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles incorporated in their macroporous shells are synthesized in a facile manner through a one-step oil-in-diethylene glycol (DEG) microemulsion route.

Genome-wide scan reveals association of psoriasis with IL-23 and NF-kappaB pathways.

Psoriasis is a common immune-mediated disorder that affects the skin, nails and joints. To identify psoriasis susceptibility loci, we genotyped 438,670 SNPs in 1,409 psoriasis cases and 1,436 controls of European ancestry. We followed up 21 promising SNPs in 5,048 psoriasis cases and 5,041 controls.

(2,6-Difluoro-benzophenone)tris-(trimethyl-phosphine)cobalt(0).

In the title compound, [Co(C(13)H(8)F(2)O)(C(3)H(9)P)(3)], the cobalt(0) atom is coordinated by three trimethyl-phosphine ligands and a π-coordinated carbonyl group of the 2,6-difluoro-benzo-phenone ligand in a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. The Co-O and Co-C distances are 1.896 (2) and 2.

Pax6 haploinsufficiency causes abnormal metabolic homeostasis by down-regulating glucagon-like peptide 1 in mice.

Heterozygosity for the Pax6 allele is associated with impaired glucose tolerance in humans. With a Pax6 mutant mouse model, we found many of the metabolic abnormalities were consistent with the effects of down-regulating the expression of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). In addition to impaired glucose tolerance, adult heterozygous mutant mice (Pax6(m/+)) secreted less insulin responding to glucose and arginine administration compared with control mice.

Classification of bioaccumulative and non-bioaccumulative chemicals using statistical learning approaches.

The present work aimed at developing in silico models allowing for a reliable prediction of bioaccumulative compounds and non-bioaccumulative compounds based on the definition of Bioconcentration Factor (BCF) using a diverse data set of 238 organic molecules. The partial least squares analysis (PLS), C4.5, support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF) algorithms were applied, and their performance classifying these compounds in terms of their quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) was evaluated and verified with 5-fold cross-validation and an independent evaluation data set.

Engineering inorganic hybrid nanoparticles: tuning combination fashions of gold, platinum, and iron oxide.

Multistep colloidal chemical routes were employed to synthesize Pt/Au, Pt/iron oxide (IO), and Au/Pt/IO hybrid nanoparticles (NPs). The starting templates, Pt NPs, were synthesized by controlling the decomposition kinetics of platinum acetylacetonate in oleylamine. The morphologies of binary metal Pt/Au hybrid NPs were modulated by controllable attachment of Au nanoscale domains to Pt templates.

Trypanosoma evansi: Paraflagellar rod protein 1 and 2 are similar but lack common B cell epitopes.

In an attempt to identify invariant proteins with vaccine potential against African trypanosomes, we investigated the existence of PFR1 protein in Trypanosoma evansi and compared its B cell epitope with that of PFR2 protein of T. evansi using Western blotting and immuno-precipitation assays. The PFR1 gene of T.

Analysis of the factors that limit the ability of feeder cells to maintain the undifferentiated state of human embryonic stem cells.

Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) culture is routinely performed using inactivated mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) as a feeder cell layer (FL). Although these cells maintain pluripotency of hESCs, the molecular basis for this is unknown. Objectives of this study were to determine whether timing between MEF inactivation and their use as a FL influenced hESC growth and differentiation, and to begin defining the mechanism(s) involved.

Lack of evidence for activation of the hedgehog pathway in psoriasis.

Recent reports have suggested that the hedgehog (Hh) pathway is activated in lesional psoriatic skin, and that treatment with the Hh pathway antagonist cyclopamine may lead to rapid resolution of the disease. To assess Hh pathway activity in psoriasis, we isolated RNA from lesional and uninvolved skin of 58 psoriatic patients, and from 63 normal control subjects, and subjected these samples to global gene expression profiling on Affymetrix HU133 Plus 2.0 gene arrays.

Prediction of binding affinity for estrogen receptor alpha modulators using statistical learning approaches.

The estrogen receptor (ER), an important drug target for the therapy of breast cancers, received a great deal of attention during recent years. This work aimed at finding more potent and selective ER modulators through the investigations of multiple ligand-receptor interactions by exploring the relationship between the experimental and predicted pIC50 values using in silico methods. A Bayesian-regularized neural network combined with principal component analysis has been conducted on a set of ERalpha modulators (127 molecules), resulting in the correlation coefficients of 0.

Immunoprotection of chickens against Eimeria acervulina by recombinant alpha-tubulin protein.

Tubulins are heterodimeric molecules responsible for the polymerization of microtubules in apicomplexan parasites. The alpha-tubulin, a subcellular structural protein of Eimeria acervulina, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli as an alpha-tubulin-GST fusion protein. Immunogenicity of the recombinant protein was studied in chickens by subcutaneous injection of 50, 100, or 150 microg of the protein with or without Freund's adjuvant.

[Genotype 1 JEV was isolated again from Liaoning Province, China, 2007].

Objective: To isolate Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) from mosquitoes collected in Liaoning province and analysis the genotype of new isolated JEV strains and the characters of nucleotide and amino acid in the E gene.

Methods: Collected mosquitoes in Dandong Liaoning Province in August, 2006. Virus isolation was using issue culture cells.