Pectic Galactan Polysaccharide-Based Gene Delivery System for Targeting Neuroinflammation

Treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and disorders through manipulation of neuroinflammation functions is being heralded as a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, a novel pectic galactan (PG) polysaccharide based gene therapy approach is developed for targeting reactive gliosis in neuroinflammation. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a cell protein with a high affinity to β-galactoside sugars and is highly expressed in reactive gliosis. Since PG carries galactans, it can target reactive gliosis via specific carbohydrate interaction between galactan and Gal-3 on the cell membrane, and therefore can be utilized as a carrier for delivering genes to these cells. The carrier is synthesized by modifying quaternary ammonium groups on the PG. The resulting quaternized PG (QPG) is found to form complexes with plasmid DNA with a mean diameter of 100 nm and have the characteristics required for targeted gene therapy. The complexes efficiently condense large amounts of plasmid per particle and successfully bind to Gal-3. The in vivo study shows that the complexes are biocompatible and safe for administration and can selectively transfect reactive glial cells of an induced cortical lesion. The results confirm that this PG-based delivery system is a promising platform for targeting Gal-3 overexpressing neuroinflammation cells for treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and neurodegenerative diseases.     

The control of sea lice in Atlantic salmon by selective breeding

Sea lice threaten the welfare of farmed Atlantic salmon and the sustainability of fish farming across the world. Chemical treatments are the major method of control but drug resistance means that alternatives are urgently needed. Selective breeding can be a cheap and effective alternative. Here, we combine experimental trials and diagnostics to provide a practical protocol for quantifying resistance to sea lice. We then combined quantitative genetics with epidemiological modelling to make the first prediction of the response to selection, quantified in terms of reduced need for chemical treatments. We infected over 1400 young fish with Lepeophtheirus salmonis, the most important species in the Northern Hemisphere. Mechanisms of resistance were expressed early in infection. Consequently, the number of lice per fish and the ranking of families were very similar at 7 and 17 days post infection, providing a stable window for assessing susceptibility to infection. The heritability of lice numbers within this time window was moderately high at 0.3, confirming that selective breeding is viable. We combined an epidemiological model of sea lice infection and control on a salmon farm with genetic variation in susceptibility among individuals. We simulated 10 generations of selective breeding and examined the frequency of treatments needed to control infection. Our model predicted that substantially fewer chemical treatments are needed to control lice outbreaks in selected populations and chemical treatment could be unnecessary after 10 generations of selection. Selective breeding for sea lice resistance should reduce the impact of sea lice on fish health and thus substantially improve the sustainability of Atlantic salmon production.     

硬件锁中的无线USB

无线USB的前途似乎无与伦比——它能消除那些把大家桌面弄得像鼠窝一样小小的不怎么灵便的电缆。但事实上,只有需要大量的外设时无线USB设备才有优势,而且它必须非常微型而廉价,否则带来的麻烦远多于缠绕的电缆。因此,插在PC USB端口作为无线基站的硬件锁就必须有尽可能高的集成度。但一片芯片中要包含USB有线接口、控制器、无线基带和RF电路,技术上还无法实现。下面我们将看到一家供应商Wisalr的一种可量产参考设计,它是如何接近于解决这个问题的。     

Biological evaluation of two anomeric glucose analogues iodinated in position 6

Two anomeric analogues of glucose labelled with 123 iodine in position 6, proposed as tracers of glucose transport in vivo, have been synthesized: alpha- and beta-methyl-6-deoxy-6-iodo-D-glucopyranoside (alpha MDIG and beta MDIG). The aim of this study was to determine whether these molecules interact with the glucose transporter and whether they could be used as tracers of glucose transport in vivo. The biodistribution of alpha MDIG and beta MDIG was studied in the mouse in vivo. To determine if these two anomers enter the cell via the glucose transporter, their uptake was measured in isolated perfused rat hearts, in human erythrocytes in suspension, and in cardiomyocytes of neonatal rat in culture. Both alpha MDIG and beta MDIG had similar repartitions in the mouse: myocardial uptake averaged 7% of the injected dose/g of organ at 2 min postinjection and alpha MDIG competed with D-glucose to enter the cells. Insulin produced a 123% increase of its uptake in isolated perfused rat hearts and a 100% increase in cardiomyocytes of neonatal rat in culture. alpha MDIG uptake was lowered in the presence of glucose transport inhibitors in each experimental model. An interaction between beta MDIG and glucose transporters was observed only in human erythrocytes in suspension. Only alpha MDIG interacts with the glucose transporter, and thus could be used to estimate glucose transport in vivo.     

Space-dependent color gamut mapping: a variational approach.

Gamut mapping deals with the need to adjust a color image to fit into the constrained color gamut of a given rendering medium. A typical use for this tool is the reproduction of a color image prior to its printing, such that it exploits best the given printer/medium color gamut, namely the colors the printer can produce on the given medium. Most of the classical gamut mapping methods involve a pixel-by-pixel mapping and ignore the spatial color configuration. Recently proposed spatial-dependent approaches for gamut mapping are either based on heuristic assumptions or involve a high computational cost. In this paper, we present a new variational approach for space-dependent gamut mapping. Our treatment starts with the presentation of a new measure for the problem, closely related to a recent measure proposed for Retinex. We also link our method to recent measures that attempt to couple spectral and spatial perceptual measures. It is shown that the gamut mapping problem leads to a quadratic programming formulation, guaranteed to have a unique solution if the gamut of the target device is convex. An efficient numerical solution is proposed with promising results.