An efficient algorithm for minimum degeneracy primer selection

Selecting degenerate primers for multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MP-PCR) experiments, called the degenerate primer design problem (DPDP), is an important problem in computational molecular biology and has drawn the attention of numerous researchers in the recent past. Several variants of DPDP were formulated by Linhart and Shamir and proven to be NP-complete. A number of algorithms have been proposed for one such variant, namely, the maximum coverage degenerate primer design problem (MC-DPDP). In this paper, we consider another important variant called the minimum degeneracy degenerate primer design with errors problem (MD-DPDEP), propose an algorithm to design a degenerate primer of minimum degeneracy for a given set of DNA sequences and show experimental results of its performance on random and real biological datasets. Our algorithm combines methodologies in motif discovery and an iterative technique to design the primer     

In vitro biological and tribological properties of transparent magnesium aluminate (Spinel) and aluminum oxynitride (ALON<Superscript>®</Superscript>)

The purpose of this first generation investigation is to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity, cell-materials interactions and tribological performance of Spinel and ALON^® transparent ceramics for potential wear resistant load bearing implant applications. Besides their non-toxicity, the high surface energy of these ceramics significantly enhanced in vitro cell-materials interactions compared to bioinert commercially pure Ti as control. These transparent ceramics with high hardness in the range of 1334 and 1543 HV showed in vitro wear rate of the order of 10^?6 mm³ Nm^?1 against Al₂O₃ ball at a normal load of 20 N.