Fluorescent Probes for Analysis and Imaging of Monoamine Oxidase Activity

Monoamine oxidases catalyze the oxidative deamination of dietary amines and amine neurotransmitters, and assist in maintaining the homeostasis of the amine neurotransmitters in the brain. Dysfunctions of these enzymes can cause neurological and behavioral disorders including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. To understand their physiological roles, efficient assay methods for monoamine oxidases are essential. Reviewed in this Perspective are the recent progress in the development of fluorescent probes for monoamine oxidases and their applications to enzyme assays in cells and tissues. It is evident that still there is strong need for a fluorescent probe with desirable substrate selectivity and photophysical properties to challenge the much unsolved issues associated with the enzymes and the diseases.X1132Ysciescopu

Comparison of intravascular ultrasound guided versus angiography guided drug eluting stent implantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) can be a useful tool during drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation as it allows accurate assessment of lesion severity and optimal treatment planning. However, numerous reports have shown that IVUS guided percutaneous coronary intervention is not associated with improved clinical outcomes, especially in non-complex patients and lesions. METHODS: We searched the literature in Medline, the Cochrane Library, and other internet sources to identify studies that compare clinical outcomes between IVUS-guided and angiography-guided DES implantation. Random-effects model was used to assess treatment effect. RESULTS: Twenty eligible studies with a total of 29,068 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The use of IVUS was associated with significant reductions in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, odds ratios [OR] 0.77, 95 % confidence intervals [CI] 0.71-0.83, P < 0.001), death (OR 0.62, 95 % CI 0.54-0.71, p < 0.001), and stent thrombosis (OR 0.59, 95 % CI: 0.47-0.73, P < 0.001). The benefit was also seen in the repeated analysis of matched and randomized studies. In stratified analysis, IVUS guidance appeared to be beneficial not only in patients with complex lesions or acute coronary syndromes (ACS) but also patients with mixed lesions or presentations (MACE: OR 0.69, 95 % CI: 0.60-0.79, p < 0.001, OR 0.81, 95 % CI 0.74-0.90, p < 0.001, respectively). By employing meta-regression analysis, the benefit of IVUS is significantly pronounced in patients with complex lesions or ACS with respect to death (p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: IVUS guidance was associated with improved clinical outcomes, especially in patients with complex lesions admitted with ACS. Large, randomized clinical trials are warranted to identify populations and lesion characteristics where IVUS guidance would be associated with better outcomes

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Potential new genes for resistance to Mycosphaerella graminicola identified in Triticum aestivum x Lophopyrum elongatum disomic substitution lines.

Lophopyrum species carry many desirable agronomic traits, including disease resistance, which can be transferred towheat by interspecific hybridization. To identify potentially new genes for disease and insect resistance carried by individual Lophopyrum chromosomes, 19 of 21 possible wheat cultivar Chinese Spring 9 Lophopyrum elongatum disomic substitution lines were tested for resistance to barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), cereal yellow dwarf virus (CYDV), the Hessian fly Mayetiola destructor, and the fungal pathogens Blumeria graminis and Mycosphaerella graminicola (asexual stage: Septoria tritici). Low resistance to BYDV occurred in some of the disomic substitution lines, but viral titers were significantly higher than those of two Lophopyrum species tested. This suggested that genes on more than one Lophopyrum chromosome are required for complete resistance to this virus. A potentially new gene for resistance to CYDV was detected on wheatgrass chromosome 3E. All of the substitution lines were susceptible to Mayetiola destructor and one strain of B. graminis. Disomic substitution lines containing wheatgrass chromosomes 1E and 6E were significantly more resistant to M. graminicola compared to Chinese Spring. Although neither chromosome by itself conferred resistance as high as that in the wheatgrass parent, they do appear to contain potentially new genes for resistance against this pathogen that could be useful for future plant-improvement programs

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Trioctylphosphine as Both Solvent and Stabilizer to Synthesize CdS Nanorods

High quality CdS nanorods are synthesized reproducibly with cadmium acetate and sulfur as precursors in trioctylphosphine solution. The morphology, crystalline form and phase composition of CdS nanorods are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD). CdS nanorods obtained are uniform with an aspect ratio of about 5:1 and in a wurtzite structure. The influence of reaction conditions on the growth of CdS nanorods demonstrates that low precursor concentration and high reaction temperature (260 °C) are favorable for the formation of uniform CdS nanorods with 85.3% of product yield

Control of electronic conduction at an oxide heterointerface using surface polar adsorbates

The transfer of electrons between a solid surface and adsorbed atomic or molecular species is fundamental in natural and synthetic processes, being at the heart of most catalytic reactions and many sensors. In special cases, metallic conduction can be induced at the surface of, for example, Si-terminated SiC1, or mixed-terminated ZnO2, in the presence of a hydrogen adlayer. Generally, only the surface atoms are significantly affected by adsorbates. However, remotely changing electronic states far from the adsorbed layer is possible if these states are electrostatically coupled to the surface. Here we show that the surface adsorption of common solvents such as acetone, ethanol, and water can induce a large change (factor of three) in the conductivity at the buried interface between SrTiO3 substrates and LaAlO3 thin films3-8. This phenomenon is observed only for polar solvents. Our result provides experimental evidence that adsorbates at the LaAlO3 surface induce accumulation of electrons at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, suggesting a general polarization-facilitated electronic transfer mechanism, which can be used for sensor applications.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Polymorphisms in the interleukin-10 gene cluster are possibly involved in the increased risk for major depressive disorder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Innate immune inflammatory response is suggested to have a role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Interleukin (IL)-10 family cytokines IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 are all implicated in the inflammatory processes and polymorphisms in respective genes have been associated with various immunopathological conditions. This study was carried out to investigate whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes are also associated with MDD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Case-control association study was performed with seven SNPs from the <it>IL10 </it>gene cluster. 153 patients with MDD and 277 healthy control individuals were recruited.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>None of the selected SNPs were individually associated with MDD. The linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis indicated the existence of two recombination sites in the <it>IL10 </it>gene cluster, thus confirming the formerly established LD pattern of this genomic region. This also created two haplotype blocks, both consisting of three SNPs. Additionally, the haplotype analysis detected a significantly higher frequency of block 2 (<it>IL20 </it>and <it>IL24 </it>genes) haplotype TGC in the patients group compared to healthy control individuals (P = 0.0097).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study established increased risk for MDD related to the <it>IL20 </it>and <it>IL24 </it>haplotype and suggests that cytokines may contribute to the pathogenesis of MDD. Since none of the block 2 SNPs were individually associated with MDD, it is possible that other polymorphisms linked to them contribute to the disease susceptibility. Future studies are needed to confirm the results and to find the possible functional explanation.</p

Single nanowire-based UV photodetectors for fast switching

Relatively long (30 µm) high quality ZnO nanowires (NWs) were grown by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique. Schottky diodes of single NW were fabricated by putting single ZnO NW across Au and Pt electrodes. A device with ohmic contacts at both the sides was also fabricated for comparison. The current-voltage (I-V) measurements for the Schottky diode show clear rectifying behavior and no reverse breakdown was seen down to -5 V. High current was observed in the forward bias and the device was found to be stable up to 12 V applied bias. The Schottky barrier device shows more sensitivity, lower dark current, and much faster switching under pulsed UV illumination. Desorption and re-adsorption of much smaller number of oxygen ions at the Schottky junction effectively alters the barrier height resulting in a faster response even for very long NWs. The NW was treated with oxygen plasma to improve the switching. The photodetector shows high stability, reversibility, and sensitivity to UV light. The results imply that single ZnO NW Schottky diode is a promising candidate for fabricating UV photodetectors

Effects of Proteins from Culture Medium on Surface Property of Silanes- Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles

Monodisperse magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron-oleate and functionalized with silanes bearing various functional groups such as amino group (NH2), short-chain poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and carboxylic group (COOH). Then, silanes-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (silanes-MNPs) were incubated in cell culture medium plus fetal calf serum to investigate the effects of proteins from culture medium on surface property of MNPs. Zeta potential measurements showed that although surface charges of silanes-MNPs were different, they exhibited negative charges at neutral pH and approximate isoelectric points after they were incubated in cell culture medium. The reason was that silanes-MNPs could easily adsorb proteins from culture medium via non-covalent binding, resulting in the formation of protein-silanes-MNPs conjugates. Moreover, silanes-MNPs with various functional groups had different adsorption capacity to proteins, as confirmed by Coomassie blue fast staining method. The in vitro cell experiments showed that protein-silanes-MNPs had higher cellular uptake by cancer cells than silanes-MNPs