PlasmidMaker is a versatile, automated, and high throughput end-to-end platform for plasmid construction.

Plasmids are used extensively in basic and applied biology. However, design and construction of plasmids, specifically the ones carrying complex genetic information, remains one of the most time-consuming, labor-intensive, and rate-limiting steps in performing sophisticated biological experiments. Here, we report the development of a versatile, robust, automated end-to-end platform named PlasmidMaker that allows error-free construction of plasmids with virtually any sequences in a high throughput manner.

Advanced Age Does Not Negatively Impact Health-Related Quality of Life in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is significantly impacted in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Many studies have assessed HRQoL in patients of all ages, and few focus on the elderly.

Aim: To determine the influence of advanced age (> 65 years) and age at diagnosis on patients with IBD.

Eradication Rate of on the US-Mexico Border Using the Urea Breath Test.

Objectives: is prevalent worldwide, especially in Latin America. Triple and quadruple antibiotic therapies have been relatively effective; however, resistance has emerged in recent years. The treatment success rate of these regimens on the border of the United States and Mexico is unknown.

Dynamic differences in oxidative stress and the regulation of metabolism with age in visceral versus subcutaneous adipose.

Once thought only as storage for excess nutrients, adipose tissue has been shown to be a dynamic organ implicated in the regulation of many physiological processes. There is emerging evidence supporting differential roles for visceral and subcutaneous white adipose tissue in maintaining health, although how these roles are modulated by the aging process is not clear. However, the proposed beneficial effects of subcutaneous fat suggest that targeting maintenance of this tissue could lead to healthier aging.

Duplication cysts: Diagnosis, management, and the role of endoscopic ultrasound.

Gastrointestinal tract duplication cysts are rare congenital gastrointestinal malformation in young patients and adults. They consist of foregut duplication cysts, small bowel duplication cysts, and large bowel duplication cysts. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has been widely used as a modality for the evaluation and diagnosis of duplication cysts.

Cholangiocarcinoma and high-grade dysplasia in young patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Introduction: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is very often an adulthood disease with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) as one of the risk factors. It is rarely seen in the pediatric population, and when it is diagnosed before adulthood, it can be associated with PSC as well as HIV infection, biliary atresia, radiation therapy, and choledochal cyst. Although there have been some case reports of pediatric CCA, cases of childhood CCA associated with PSC are still relatively rare.

Transgenic analysis of the physiological functions of Mahogunin Ring Finger-1 isoforms.

Mahogunin Ring Finger-1 (Mgrn1) null mutant mice have a pleiotropic phenotype that includes the absence of yellow hair pigment, abnormal head shape, reduced viability, and adult-onset spongiform neurodegeneration. Mgrn1 encodes a highly conserved E3 ubiquitin ligase with four different isoforms which are differentially expressed and predicted to localize to different subcellular compartments. To test whether loss of specific isoforms causes different aspects of the mutant phenotype, we generated transgenes for each isoform and bred them onto the null mutant background.

Image-based crystal detection: a machine-learning approach.

The ability of computers to learn from and annotate large databases of crystallization-trial images provides not only the ability to reduce the workload of crystallization studies, but also an opportunity to annotate crystallization trials as part of a framework for improving screening methods. Here, a system is presented that scores sets of images based on the likelihood of containing crystalline material as perceived by a machine-learning algorithm. The system can be incorporated into existing crystallization-analysis pipelines, whereby specialists examine images as they normally would with the exception that the images appear in rank order according to a simple real-valued score.

Genetic and phenotypic studies of the dark-like mutant mouse.

The dark-like (dal) mutant mouse has a pleiotropic phenotype that includes dark dorsal hairs and reproductive degeneration. Their pigmentation phenotype is similar to Attractin (Atrn) mutants, which also develop vacuoles throughout the brain. In further characterizing the testicular degeneration of dal mutant males, we found that they had reduced serum testosterone and developed vacuoles in their testes.

Targeting the neurotoxic species in Alzheimer's disease: inhibitors of Abeta oligomerization.

In the past two decades, a large body of evidence has established a causative role for the beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, recent debate has focused on whether amyloid fibrils or soluble oligomers of Abeta are the main neurotoxic species that contribute to neurodegeneration and dementia. Considerable early evidence has indicated that amyloid fibrils are toxic, but some recent studies support the notion that Abeta oligomers are the primary neurotoxins.