Chd8 mediates cortical neurogenesis via transcriptional regulation of cell cycle and Wnt signaling

De novo mutations in CHD8 are strongly associated with autism spectrum disorder, but the basic biology of CHD8 remains poorly understood. Here we report that Chd8 knockdown during cortical development results in defective neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation that ultimately manifests in abnormal neuronal morphology and behaviors in adult mice. Transcriptome analysis revealed that while Chd8 stimulates the transcription of cell cycle genes, it also precludes the induction of neural-specific genes by regulating the expression of PRC2 complex components. Furthermore, knockdown of Chd8 disrupts the expression of key transducers of Wnt signaling, and enhancing Wnt signaling rescues the transcriptional and behavioral deficits caused by Chd8 knockdown. We propose that these roles of Chd8 and the dynamics of Chd8 expression during development help negotiate the fine balance between neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation. Together, these observations provide new insights into the neurodevelopmental role of Chd8.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant UH1-MH106018-03

Micro-light-emitting diodes with quantum dots in display technology

Micro-light-emitting diodes (μ-LEDs) are regarded as the cornerstone of next-generation display technology to meet the personalised demands of advanced applications, such as mobile phones, wearable watches, virtual/augmented reality, micro-projectors and ultrahigh-definition TVs. However, as the LED chip size shrinks to below 20 μm, conventional phosphor colour conversion cannot present sufficient luminance and yield to support high-resolution displays due to the low absorption cross-section. The emergence of quantum dot (QD) materials is expected to fill this gap due to their remarkable photoluminescence, narrow bandwidth emission, colour tuneability, high quantum yield and nanoscale size, providing a powerful full-colour solution for μ-LED displays. Here, we comprehensively review the latest progress concerning the implementation of μ-LEDs and QDs in display technology, including μ-LED design and fabrication, large-scale μ-LED transfer and QD full-colour strategy. Outlooks on QD stability, patterning and deposition and challenges of μ-LED displays are also provided. Finally, we discuss the advanced applications of QD-based μ-LED displays, showing the bright future of this technology

Epidemiology and interactions of Human Immunodeficiency Virus - 1 and Schistosoma mansoni in sub-Saharan Africa.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1/AIDS and Schistosoma mansoni are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and co-infection occurs commonly. Since the early 1990s, it has been suggested that the two infections may interact and potentiate the effects of each other within co-infected human hosts. Indeed, S. mansoni infection has been suggested to be a risk factor for HIV transmission and progression in Africa. If so, it would follow that mass deworming could have beneficial effects on HIV-1 transmission dynamics. The epidemiology of HIV in African countries is changing, shifting from urban to rural areas where the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni is high and public health services are deficient. On the other side, the consequent pathogenesis of HIV-1/S. mansoni co-infection remains unknown. Here we give an account of the epidemiology of HIV-1 and S. mansoni, discuss co-infection and possible biological causal relationships between the two infections, and the potential impact of praziquantel treatment on HIV-1 viral loads, CD4+ counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratio. Our review of the available literature indicates that there is evidence to support the hypothesis that S. mansoni infections can influence the replication of the HIV-1, cell-to-cell transmission, as well as increase HIV progression as measured by reduced CD4+ T lymphocytes counts. If so, then deworming of HIV positive individuals living in endemic areas may impact on HIV-1 viral loads and CD4+ T lymphocyte counts.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Low-dose aspirin does not improve ovarian stimulation, endometrial response, or pregnancy rates for in vitro fertilization

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to determine if low-dose aspirin improved ovarian stimulation, endometrial response, or IVF pregnancy rates in our program. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 316 consecutive IVF cycles from 1995 through 2001. Aspirin 80 mg daily was initiated at the start of luteal leuprolide in 72 cycles. The 244 controls received no aspirin during treatment. RESULTS: The live birth rate in aspirin users was 29%, slightly lower compared to 41% in the no aspirin control group (p = 0.07). Implantation rates were 21% with aspirin and 30% in the control population (p = 0.01). There was no difference in the maximal endometrial thickness between aspirin and non-aspirin groups. The two groups were similar regarding age, gonadotropin ampules, embryos, number of embryos transferred, prior parity, diagnosis, use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and stimulation protocol. CONCLUSION: Low-dose aspirin was not beneficial to IVF patients in our program. Aspirin does not enhance endometrial thickness, augment the ovarian response, or improve pregnancy rates

Neutrinos

229 pages229 pages229 pagesThe Proceedings of the 2011 workshop on Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier. Science opportunities at the intensity frontier are identified and described in the areas of heavy quarks, charged leptons, neutrinos, proton decay, new light weakly-coupled particles, and nucleons, nuclei, and atoms

Evaluation of the prophylactic use of mitomycin-C to inhibit haze formation after photorefractive keratectomy in high myopia: a prospective clinical study

BACKGROUND: To study the effect of prophylactic application of mitomycin-C on haze formation in photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for high myopia. METHODS: Fifty-four eyes of 28 myopic patients were enrolled in this prospective study. All eyes were operated by PRK followed by 0.02% mitomycin-C application for two minutes and washed with 20 ml normal saline afterwards. All eyes were examined thoroughly on the first 7 days and one month after surgery; 48 eyes (88.9%) at 3 and 6 months postoperatively. Hanna grading (in the scale of 0 to 4+) was used for assessment of corneal haze. RESULTS: The mean spherical equivalent refraction (SE) was -7.08 diopters (D) ± 1.11 (SD) preoperatively. Six months after surgery, 37 eyes (77.1%) achieved an uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) of 20/20 or better, all eyes had a UCVA of 20/40 or better and 45 (93.7%) eyes had an SE within ± 1.00D. One month postoperatively, 2 eyes (3.7%) had grade 0.5+ of haze, while at 3 and 6 months after surgery no visited eye had haze at all. All eyes had a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 20/40 or better and there were no lost lines in BCVA by 6 months after surgery. In spatial frequencies of 6 and 12 cycles per degree contrast sensitivity had decreased immediately after PRK and it had increased 1.5 lines by the 6(th )postoperative month compared to the preoperative data. CONCLUSIONS: The results show the efficacy of mitomycin-C in preventing corneal haze after treatment of high myopia with PRK. This method- PRK + mitomycin-C – can be considered an alternative treatment for myopic patients whose corneal thicknesses are inadequate for laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). However, the results should be confirmed in longer follow-ups

The correlation between endometrial thickness and outcome of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) outcome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To evaluate the relationship between endometrial thickness on day of human chorionic gonadotrophin administration (hCG) and pregnancy outcome in a large number of consecutive in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) cycles.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective cohort study including all patients who had IVF-ET from January 2003–December 2005 conducted at a tertiary center.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 2464 cycles were analysed. Pregnancy rate (PR) was 35.8%. PR increased linearly (r = 0.864) from 29.4% among patients with a lining of less than or equal to 6 mm, to 44.4% among patients with a lining of greater than or equal to 17 mm. ROC showed that endometrial thickness is not a good predictor of PR, so a definite cut-off value could not be established (AUC = 0.55).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a positive linear relationship between the endometrial thickness measured on the day of hCG injection and PR, and is independent of other variables. Hence aiming for a thicker endometrium should be considered.</p

Predicting Risky Drinking Outcomes Longitudinally: What Kind of Advance Notice Can We Get?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65954/1/j.1530-0277.2006.00033.x.pd

Minicircle-oriP-IFNγ: A Novel Targeted Gene Therapeutic System for EBV Positive Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

) in which the transgene expression was under the transcriptional regulation of oriP promoter.. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression and the activity of the IFNγ in tumor sections. Our results demonstrated that mc-oriP vectors mediated comparable gene expression and anti-proliferative effect in the EBV-positive NPC cell line C666-1 compared to mc-CMV vectors. Furthermore, mc-oriP vectors exhibited much lower killing effects on EBV-negative cell lines compared to mc-CMV vectors. The targeted expression of mc-oriP vectors was inhibited by EBNA1-siRNA in C666-1. This selective expression was corroborated in EBV-positive and -negative tumor models. as a safe and highly effective targeted gene therapeutic system for the treatment of EBV positive NPC