Toward At-Home and Wearable Monitoring of Female Hormones: Emerging Nanotechnologies and Clinical Prospects.

Steroid hormones, especially progesterone (P), estradiol (E), and testosterone (T), are key bioactive regulators in various female physiological processes, including growth and development, ovulation, and the reproductive cycle, as well as metabolism and mental health. As lipophilic molecules produced in sex glands, these steroid female hormones can be transported through blood vessels into various body fluids such as saliva, sweat, and urine. However, the ultralow concentration of steroid hormones down to picomolar (pM) level necessitates great demands for ultrasensitive but low-cost analytic tools to implement accurate, point-of-care or even continuous monitoring in a user-friendly fashion.

A versatile and tunable bio-patterning platform for the construction of various cell array biochips.

In this work, we report a versatile and tunable platform for the construction of various cell array biochips using a simple soft lithographic approach to pattern polydopamine (PDA) arrays via microcontact printing (μCP). Instead of direct polymerization of PDA on the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) tips, dopamine monomers were first printed on the substrate followed by a self-oxidative polymerization step facilitated by ammonia vapor to grow PDA in situ, which greatly reduced the reaction time and prevented the PDMS tips from damaging. The improved robustness and utility of the PDMS tips allows the formation of tunable PDA array chips with controllable PDA feature size and shape.

Dynamic weight routing and optical-code algorithm based on SDN.

Optical transport networks are evolving towards multi-granularity switching and software management but require that the architecture of the existing control plane be adapted to multi-service and network management requirements. So a dynamic weighting algorithm based on optical code resources and the matching degree between service request and channel is proposed for a multi-granularity optical switching system. In which, Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller collects network resource information in real time, dynamically changes the weight of each path and use it for path calculation, provides a more matched path on the premise of load balancing, and combines its channel matching weights for resource allocation.

Comprehensive evaluation of the host responses to infection with differentially virulent classical swine fever virus strains in pigs.

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) infection causes most variable clinical syndromes from chronic or latent infection to acute death, and it is generally acknowledged that the course of disease is affected by both virus and host factors. To compare host immune responses to differentially virulent CSFV strains in pigs, fifteen 8-week-old specific-pathogen-free pigs were randomly divided into four groups and inoculated with the CSFV Shimen strain (a highly virulent strain), the HLJZZ2014 strain (a moderately virulent strains), C-strain (an avirulent strain), and DMEM (mock control), respectively. Infection with the Shimen or HLJZZ2014 strain resulted in fever, clinical signs and histopathological lesions, which were not observed in the C-strain-inoculated pigs, though low viral genome copies were detected in the peripheral blood and tissue samples.

An improved indirect ELISA for specific detection of antibodies against classical swine fever virus based on structurally designed E2 protein expressed in suspension mammalian cells.

Classical swine fever (CSF), which is caused by classical swine fever virus (CSFV), is a highly contagious disease of pigs. CSFV is genetically and serologically related to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a ruminant pestivirus. However, currently available ELISAs based on the full-length E2 protein of CSFV cannot discriminate anti-CSFV from anti-BVDV antibodies.

Fluorescence-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of phenanthrene and its homolog.

A competitive fluorescence-linked immunosorbent assay (FLISA) was developed using rhodamine B isothiocyanate (RBITC) as the model fluorescent dye conjugate monoclonal antibody (McAb) for detection of Phe and its homolog (acenaphthene, fluorene, fluoranthene, pyrene and indeno [1,2,3-cd] pyrene) in water samples. The detection range of the assay for Phe was from 2.10 to 91.

Long Non-Coding RNAs: Emerging and Versatile Regulators in Host-Virus Interactions.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-protein-coding RNA molecules, which are involved in various biological processes, including chromatin modification, cell differentiation, pre-mRNA transcription and splicing, protein translation, etc. During the last decade, increasing evidence has suggested the involvement of lncRNAs in both immune and antiviral responses as positive or negative regulators. The immunity-associated lncRNAs modulate diverse and multilayered immune checkpoints, including activation or repression of innate immune signaling components, such as interleukin (IL)-8, IL-10, retinoic acid inducible gene I, toll-like receptors 1, 3, and 8, and interferon (IFN) regulatory factor 7, transcriptional regulation of various IFN-stimulated genes, and initiation of the cell apoptosis pathways.

Efficacy evaluation of the C-strain-based vaccines against the subgenotype 2.1d classical swine fever virus emerging in China.

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a devastating infectious disease of pigs caused by classical swine fever virus (CSFV). The disease has been controlled following extensive vaccination with the lapinized attenuated vaccine C-strain for decades in China. However, frequent CSF outbreaks occurred recently in a large number of C-strain-vaccinated pig farms in China and a new subgenotype 2.

Development of an updated PCR assay for detection of African swine fever virus.

Due to the current unavailability of vaccines or treatments for African swine fever (ASF), which is caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), rapid and reliable detection of the virus is essential for timely implementation of emergency control measures and differentiation of ASF from other swine diseases with similar clinical presentations. Here, an improved PCR assay was developed and evaluated for sensitive and universal detection of ASFV. Primers specific for ASFV were designed based on the highly conserved region of the vp72 gene sequences of all ASFV strains available in GenBank, and the PCR assay was established and compared with two OIE-validated PCR tests.

A triplex real-time PCR for differential detection of classical, variant and Bartha-K61 vaccine strains of pseudorabies virus.

Pseudorabies (PR), also known as Aujeszky's disease, is an economically important infectious disease of pigs and other animals caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV). Since late 2011, increasing numbers of PR outbreaks have been reported on many Bartha-K61-vaccinated pig farms in China, and emerging PRV variants that differ from classical PRV strains genetically and antigenically have been confirmed to be responsible for the outbreaks. Accordingly, there is a need to differentiate diverse PRV strains co-circulating in the field.

microRNA-18b modulates insulin-like growth factor-1 expression in deer antler cell proliferation by directly targeting its 3' untranslated region.

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a multipromoter gene that has complex biological functions and plays an important role in Chinese sika deer antler cell differentiation and proliferation. microRNAs and their roles in deer antler growth have attracted much attention. In the present study, to investigate the effect of microRNAs on the regulation of IGF-1 during the rapid growth of antlers, miRNA GeneChip analysis and TargetScan Human software were used to screen microRNAs that bind to the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of IGF-1.

A novel immunotoxin - rCCK8PE38 targeting of CCK-R overexpressed colon cancers.

Background: Cholecystokinin (CCK) receptors are overexpressed in numerous human cancers, such as pancreatic, colon and gastric cancers. Previous studies have shown that the specific receptor-binding property of CCK for CCK receptors (CCKRs) can be exploited to produce immunotoxins (ITs) that target cancer cells overexpressing CCK receptors.

Purpose: Construct a new IT-targeting CCKR-overexpressing colon cancers.

A monoclonal antibody based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of phenylethanolamine A in tissue of swine.

Phenylethanolamine A (PEA) is a phenethanolamine member of the family of β-adrenergic agonists compounds illegally used as feed additives for growth promotion. In this study, PEA was covalently linked to carrier protein cationized bovine serum albumin (cBSA) and egg albumin (OVA). A monoclonal antibody specific for PEA was produced and characteristics of monoclonal antibody (McAb) were studied.

Identification of microRNA-18a as a novel regulator of the insulin-like growth factor-1 in the proliferation and regeneration of deer antler.

To investigate the effect of miR-18a on the regulation of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) during growth of antlers in sika deer, miRNA Chip analysis, Target Scan and real-time PCR analysis were used to identify miRNAs that bind to the 3'-UTR of IGF-1. An miR-18a mimic was transfected into antler cartilage cells and the expression levels were quantified by real-time PCR. Dual luciferase assays revealed that miR-18a binds to the 3'-UTR of the IGF-1 gene thus indicating this to be a target gene regulated by miR-18a.

MicroRNA let-7a and let-7f as novel regulatory factors of the sika deer (Cervus nippon) IGF-1R gene.

MicroRNAs and their roles in rapid antler growth and regeneration have attracted much attention. In the present study, we examined the effects of microRNAs let-7a and let-7f on antler cell proliferation. We used a luciferase reporter screen to demonstrate that insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) can be regulated by let-7a and let-7f.

MicroRNA‑1 inhibits the proliferation of Chinese sika deer‑derived cartilage cells by binding to the 3'-untranslated region of IGF‑1.

Insulin‑like growth factor‑1 (IGF‑1) is critical in the proliferation and regeneration of Chinese sika deer antler cells. The regulation of IGF‑1 is complex and remains unclear. In the present study, miRNA GeneChip® and TargetScan Human software were used to identify microRNA‑1 (miR‑1), which binds to the 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) of IGF‑1.