Cellular gene expression altered by human cytomegalovirus: global monitoring with oligonucleotide arrays

Mechanistic insights to viral replication and pathogenesis generally have come from the analysis of viral gene products, either by studying their biochemical activities and interactions individually or by creating mutant viruses and analyzing their phenotype. Now it is possible to identify and catalog the host cell genes whose mRNA levels change in response to a pathogen. We have used DNA array technology to monitor the level of approximately 6,600 human mRNAs in uninfected as compared with human cytomegalovirus-infected cells. The level of 258 mRNAs changed by a factor of 4 or more before the onset of viral DNA replication. Several of these mRNAs encode gene products that might play key roles in virus-induced pathogenesis, identifying them as intriguing targets for further study.     

Generation of reactive oxygen species by blood monocytes during acute Plasmodium knowlesi infection in rhesus monkeys

The status and kinetics of monocyte activation during acute P. knowlesi infection was investigated by latex-induced, luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (CL) response. The contribution of various reactive oxygen species (ROS) to CL response was estimated before infection and at peak parasitaemia (day 7 post infection) by using scavengers of ROS (benzoate, catalase and superoxide dismutase). The chemiluminescence index (CLI) was not found to be significantly different from controls on day 2 postinfection, but was significantly higher on days 5 and 7 postinfection. Hydroxyl radical (OH.) production was considerably elevated, whereas superoxide anion (O2-.) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production dropped following infection. These changes in generation of ROS are discussed in relation to the progression of parasitaemia to high levels, immunopathology and immunosuppression during acute P. knowlesi infection.     

Glyco-functionalised quantum dots and their progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment

Despite all major breakthroughs in recent years of research, we are still unsuccessful to effectively diagnose and treat cancer that has express and metastasizes. Thus, the development of a novel approach for cancer detection and treatment is crucial. Recent progress in Glyconanotechnology has allowed the use of glycans and lectins as bio-functional molecules for many biological and biomedical applications. With the known advantages of quantum dots (QDs) and versatility of carbohydrates and lectins, Glyco-functionalised QD is a new prospect in constructing biomedical imaging platform for cancer behaviour study as well as treatment. In this review, we aim to describe the current utilisation of Glyco-functionalised QDs as well as their future prospective to interpret and confront cancer.     

Non-linear optical properties of coloured diamonds: Observations of frequency up conversion and “whispering gallery-like” modes in photoluminescence

Four coloured diamonds, 1.7 MeV e-beam irradiated to a dose of 10¹⁸e per sqcm and annealed around 900–930 °C, were investigated at room temperature using conventional photoluminescence (PL) and excitation spectra, and PL using 514.5 and 785 nm lasers. Interesting new observations are: (i) excitation spectra reveal energy transfer between NV⁰ and NV⁻ centers (ii) frequency up conversion, blue-green emission on excitation in 740–900 nm range, was observed in blue and lemon yellow samples. This appears to be due to two-photon absorption in GR1 centers and energy transfer to N3/H3 centres. (iii) Excitation with 514 nm line of Ar⁺ laser, in pink and purple samples resulted in the appearance of an intense and broad emission at 267 nm with FWHM of 32 nm. This is rather close to 2ν of the exciting line. It is identified as second harmonic generation (SHG) due to a synergistic effect of strain induced birefringence and resonant absorption which facilitated phase matching. The 785 nm excited anti-Stokes PL contained a frequency up converted band in 620 nm region having extensive closely spaced structure like in the case of ‘whispering gallery modes’ due to spheroid inclusions.     

Environmental sciences research in northern Australia, 2000–2011: a bibliometric analysis within the context of a national research assessment exercise

This paper reports on a bibliometric analysis of environmental sciences research in northern Australia between 2000 and 2011. It draws on publications data for Charles Darwin University (CDU) and James Cook University (JCU) researchers to present a bibliometric profile of the journals in which they publish, the citations to their research outputs, and the key research topics discussed in the publications. Framing this analysis, the study explored the relationship between the two universities’ publications and their ‘fit’ with the environmental sciences field as defined by the Australian research assessment model, Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). The Scopus database retrieved more records than Web of Science, although only minor differences were seen in the journals in which researchers published most frequently and the most highly cited articles. Strong growth in publications is evident in the 12 year period, but the journals in which the researchers publish most frequently differ from the journals in which the most highly cited articles are published. Many of the articles by CDU and JCU affiliated researchers are published in journals outside of the environmental sciences category as defined by Scopus and Web of Science categories and the ERA, however, the research conducted at each university aligns closely with that institution’s research priorities.     

The Effect of Four Tablet Binders on the Bioavailability of Frusemide from 40MG Tablets

Tablets containing frusemide 40mg have been prepared using four different binders; polyvinylpyrrolidone, starch mucilage, stearic acid and methylhydroxyethyl cellulose. With the exception of the tablets prepared using stearic acid, all the tablets disintegrated in under 2 minutes and exhibited hardnesses ranging from 12 to 17 s.c.u. The dissolution rate, measured in the B.P. apparatus as the time to achieve 50% solution in distilled water, discriminated more effectively between the tablet batches. Tablets made using polyvinylpyrrolidone and methylhydroxyethyl cellulose had dissolution half lives of 3.65 and 3.30 minutes respectively, whilst tablets incorporating stearic acid and starch mucilage exhibited respective values of greater than 200 minutes and 117 minutes. The bioavailabilities of the four tablet formulations were assessed on a double blind basis in four healthy males aged 18-30 with reference to an oral frusemide solution. The bioavailability of each formulation was determined by two different methods and it was found that polyvinylpyrrolidone and methylhydroxyethyl cellulose rendered frusemide equally bioavailable (71.7% and 71.6% respectively) whilst the starch mucilage formulation rendered frusemide 25% less bioavailable (54.10%). The poorest binding agent was stearic acid which decreased the bioavailability of frusemide by 50% (35.04%). The results indicate that the choice of binding agent can significantly affect the bioavailability of frusemide from tablets and that these bioavailability differences can best be detected in vitro by dissolution rate measurements.     

A dependency annotation scheme for Bangla treebank

Dependency grammar is considered appropriate for many Indian languages. In this paper, we present a study of the dependency relations in Bangla language. We have categorized these relations in three different levels, namely intrachunk relations, interchunk relations and interclause relations. Each of these levels is further categorized and an annotation scheme has been developed. Both syntactic and semantic features have been taken into consideration for describing the relations. In our scheme, there are 63 such syntactico–semantic relations. We have verified the scheme by tagging a corpus of 4167 Bangla sentences to create a treebank (KGPBenTreebank).     

Optical tomographic microscope for quantitative imaging of phase objects

We describe a tomographic microscope, for imaging phase objects, that makes use of the transport-of-intensity equation to estimate the phase of the transmitted light through the object. The wave-front data from optical fibers are reconstructed with an algorithm that incorporates correction for the ray bending. The reconstructed refractive-index cross sections of the fibers are found to be in agreement with the available values specified in the catalogs.