A porous membrane filter is one of the key components for sample preparation in lab-on-a-chip applications. However, most of the membranes reported to date have only been used for size-based ...separation since it is difficult to provide functionality to the membrane or improve the performance of the membrane. In this work, as a method to functionalize the membrane filter, controlling the shape of the membrane pores is suggested, and a convenient and mass-producible fabrication method is provided. With the proposed method, membrane filters with round, conical and funnel shape pores were successfully fabricated, and we demonstrated that the sidewall slope of the conical shape pores could be precisely controlled. To verify that the membrane filter can be functionalized by controlled pore shape, we investigated filtration and trapping performance of the membrane filter with conical shape pores. In a filtration test of 1000 cancer cells (MCF-7, a breast cancer cell line) spiked in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution, 77% of the total cancer cells were retained on the membrane, and each cell from among 99.3% of the retained cells was automatically isolated in a single conical pore during the filtration process. Thanks to its engineered pore shape, trapping ability of the membrane with conical pores is dramatically improved. Microparticles trapped in the conical pores maintain their locations without any losses even at a more than 30 times faster external flow rate com-pared with those mounted on conventional cylindrical pores. Also, 78% of the cells trapped in the conical pores withstand an external flow of over 300 μl min−1 whereas only 18% of the cells trapped in the cylindrical pores remain on the membrane after 120 μl min−1 of an external flow is applied.
Despite the successful application of tandem mass tags (TMT) for peptide quantitation, missing reporter ions in higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD) spectra remains a challenge for consistent ...quantitation, especially for peptides with labile post-translational modifications. Ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) is an alternative ion activation method shown to provide superior coverage for sequencing of peptides and intact proteins. Here, we optimized and evaluated 193 nm UVPD for the characterization of TMT-labeled model peptides, HeLa proteome, and N-glycopeptides from model proteins. UVPD yielded the same TMT reporter ions as HCD, at m/z 126–131. Additionally, UVPD produced a wide range of fragments that yielded more complete characterization of glycopeptides and less frequent missing TMT reporter ion channels, whereas HCD yielded a strong tradeoff between characterization and quantitation of TMT-labeled glycopeptides. However, the lower fragmentation efficiency of UVPD yielded fewer peptide identifications than HCD. Overall, 193 nm UVPD is a valuable tool that provides an alternative to HCD for the quantitation of large and highly modified peptides with labile PTMs. Continued development of instrumentation specific to UVPD will yield greater fragmentation efficiency and fulfil the potential of UVPD to be an all-in-one spectrum ion activation method for broad use in the field of proteomics.
BACKGROUNDConventional treatments for warts like cryotherapy are limited by the pain during procedures, especially in pediatric patients. Imiquimod is a topical immune response modifier, but the ...thick stratum corneum of common warts prevents drug permeation through skin.
OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of fractional laser/topical 5% imiquimod cream for the treatment of warts in children.
METHODSEleven pediatric patients with multiple recalcitrant common warts were included. Lesions were treated using an ablative fractional 2,940-nm Er:YAG laser at 1- or 2-week interval. After each laser treatment session, imiquimod 5% cream was self-applied once daily 5 days a week. Response and adverse effects were assessed 2 weekly until complete clearance or up to maximum of 48 weeks. Pain during fractional laser was assessed using a visual analogue scale (0–10).
RESULTSEight of the 11 (72.7%) children experienced complete clearance. Mean duration was 29.7 (16–48) weeks, and the mean number of fractional laser was 17.5 (8–37). No significant adverse effect was observed. Pain visual analogue scale during fractional laser was 2.4 (1–4) compared to 6.2 (5–8) during cryotherapy.
CONCLUSIONThis pilot study indicates that fractional laser-assisted topical imiquimod may provide benefit for recalcitrant warts in children.
Pruritus is a common symptom in psoriasis. However, few studies have assessed the characteristics of pruritus according to morphological phenotypes of psoriasis.
To investigate the characteristics of ...pruritus according to morphological phenotypes of psoriasis and to assess the association with inflammatory mediators related to pruritus.
Psoriasis patients were divided into 2 groups according to clinical phenotype: eruptive inflammatory (EI) and chronic stable (CS). Clinical data of pruritus were assessed by an itch questionnaire. Serum neuropeptides and cytokines including substance P, histamine, vasoactive intestinal peptide, neuropeptide Y, calcitonin gene-related peptide and interleukin-31 (IL-31) were quantitatively measured.
In total, 50 patients with psoriasis (30 male, 20 female; mean age, 45.7 years) were studied (EI, n=15 and CS, n=35). Pruritus was reported by 80% of EI and CS patients. There were no significant differences in prevalence of pruritus, pruritus intensity, severity of psoriasis, serum neuropeptides, or IL-31 between the 2 groups.
The morphological phenotype does not seem to be an important factor affecting the prevalence and characteristics of pruritus in psoriasis.
In this study, we isolated and characterized programmed cell death10 (PDCD10), which is known to be related to apoptosis, from rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus). The full-length rock bream PDCD10 ...(RbPDCD10) cDNA (1459 bp) contains an open reading frame of 633 bp that encodes 210 amino acids. Furthermore, multiple alignments revealed that the six of the α-helix bundles were well conserved among the other PDCD10 sequences tested. RbPDCD10 was significantly expressed in the liver, RBC (red blood cell), gill, intestine, trunk kidney and spleen. RbPDCD10 gene expression was also examined in several tissues, including the kidney, spleen, liver, and gill, under bacterial and viral challenges. Generally, all of the examined tissues from the fish that were infected with Edwardsiella tarda and the red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV) exhibited significant up-regulations of RbPDCD10 expression compared to the controls. However, RbPDCD10 expression exhibited dramatic down-regulations in all of the examined tissues following injections of Streptococcus iniae, which is major bacterial pathogen that is responsible for mass mortality in rock bream. Our results revealed that rock bream PDCD10 may be involved in the apoptotic regulation of rock bream immune responses.
•The programmed cell death10 (RbPDCD10) cDNA was identified from a rock bream.•RbPDCD10 was well-conserved six of the α-helix structure within the aligned sequence.•RbPDCD10 gene was significantly expressed in the liver, RBC, gill and intestine.•RbPDCD10 exhibited dramatic down-regulations following injections of Streptococcus iniae.
Background Little information is available on effective treatments for progressive macular hypomelanosis (PMH). To our knowledge, only one case of narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) therapy as an ...efficient treatment for patients with PMH has been reported in the recent literature. Objective We aimed to investigate the clinical features of PMH in Koreans and to determine the therapeutic efficacy of NB-UVB therapy in the management of PMH. Methods We performed an uncontrolled prospective study designed to evaluate the usefulness of NB-UVB therapy in PMH. A total of 23 patients with PMH were enrolled in the study. Of these, 17 patients underwent treatment with NB-UVB therapy once or twice weekly and were eligible for analysis. The remaining 6 patients were lost to follow-up before completion of the treatment. Repigmentation was evaluated by two dermatologists using photographic documentation. Results In our trial, NB-UVB therapy was used successfully in 9 of 16 patients (56.2%), who showed more than 90% repigmentation. We found that 13 of 16 patients (81.3%) experienced at least 50% repigmentation. The repigmented sites showed an excellent color match. No signs of recurrence have been detected in 11 of these 16 patients (68.7%) up to the present time (13.2 ± 8.2 months of follow-up). Limitations Our study includes a small number of subjects examined, and it was an uncontrolled and non–double-blind study. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that NB-UVB therapy is an effective and safe method for use in the treatment of PMH.
In previous studies, psoriasis has been reported to be associated with metabolic syndrome.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate risk factors for metabolic syndrome in psoriasis patients and to ...compare the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in psoriasis and control groups.
All patients (n=490) and controls (n=682) were investigated for cardiovascular risk factors, including central obesity, hypertension, fasting plasma glucose levels, and blood levels of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
We found no statistical association between psoriasis and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome when controlling for age and gender. Among individual components of metabolic syndrome, only increased triglyceride levels was significantly prevalent in patients psoriasis. The incidence of other factors such as central obesity, hypertension, fasting plasma glucose and HDL in the psoriasis group were similar to or lower than those in the control group. Although psoriasis patients with metabolic syndrome had severe and large plaque-type psoriasis, the association of metabolic syndrome with the severity or clinical subtype of psoriasis was not significant after adjusting for age and gender.
Our results suggest that there is no close correlation between psoriasis and metabolic syndrome in Korean patients.
The rapid haemostasis of fish prevents bleeding or infection that could be caused by physical properties of the aquatic environment. Additionally, the innate immune system is the first line of ...defence against infection and is responsible for the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, which are important for the activation of acquired immune responses. Coagulation factor II (CFII) is an important factor in the coagulation system and is involved in recognition and interaction with various bacterial and extracellular proteins.
In this study, we identified and characterised the gene encoding CFII in rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus) (RbCFII) and analysed its expression in various tissues after a pathogen challenge. The full-length RbCFII cDNA (2079 bp) contained an open reading frame of 1854 bp encoding 617 amino acids. Alignment analysis revealed that a gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-rich domain, two kringle domains, and a trypsin-like serine protease domain of the deduced protein were well conserved. RbCFII was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues examined but, predominantly detected in the liver and skin. RbCFII expression was dramatically up-regulated in the kidney, spleen and liver after infection with Edwardsiella tarda, Streptococcus iniae, or red seabream iridovirus. The recombinant protein RbCFII (rRbCFII) produced using an Escherichia coli expression system was able to bind all examined bacteria. Interestingly, rRbCFII has agglutination activities towards E. coli and E. tarda, while no agglutination was shown toward Vibrio ordalii and S. iniae. These findings indicate that rRbCFII performs an immunological function in the immune response, and might be involved in innate immunity as well as blood coagulation.
•We cloned CFII gene from rock bream.•RbCFII gene was highly expressed in kidney, spleen and liver after pathogens infection.•Recombinant RbCFII was produced by Escherichia coli system.•rRbCFII was binding to all tested bacteria.•rRbCFII has agglutination activities towards E. coli and Edwardsiella tarda.
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