Volume 18, Issue 3
Editorial
New Books
Bioinformatics
Splicing Regulatory Elements and mRNA-abundance of dlg1 and capt, Genetically Interacting with dFMRP in Drosophila Brain159-180
Maria Petrova, Emil Molle, Marina Nedelcheva-Veleva, Ginka Genova
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To further understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the disease, we used the Drososphila FraX model and investigated a not well studied role of Drosophila Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (dFMRP) in alternative splicing of neuronal mRNAs to which it binds via a G-quartet sequence. By means of qRT-PCR we established the relative abundance of some isoforms of the gene dlg1, resulting from alternative exon skipping nearby a G-quartet and an exonic ESE-sequence, both acting as exonic splicing enhancers. We also investigated the relative mRNA-abundance of all capt-isoforms and the pre-mRNAs of both genes. We proposed a possible involvement of dFMRP in alternative splicing of genes, interacting with dfmr1. In the absence of dFMRP in larval and pupal brains, we found a change in the mRNA-level of one of the studied isoforms of dlg1 and of its pre-mRNA.We also established previously reported splicing regulatory elements and predicted computationally novel hexamere sequences in the exonic/intronic ends of both genes with p upative regulatory roles in alternative splicing.
Biomedical systems
QRS Complex Detection and Analysis of Cardiovascular Abnormalities: A Review181-194
Akash Kumar Bhoi, Karma Sonam Sherpa
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The ability to evaluate various Electrocardiogram (ECG) waveforms is an important skill for many health care professionals including nurses, doctors, and medical assistants. The QRS complex is a vital wave in any ECG beat. It corresponds to the depolarization of ventricles. The duration, the amplitude and the complex QRS morphology are used for the purpose of cardiac arrhythmias diagnosis, conduction abnormalities, ventricular hypertrophy, myocardial infarction, electrolyte derangements etc. In this review, the different algorithms and methods for QRS complex detection have been discussed. Moreover, this review conceptualizes the challenge by discussing the effect of QRS complex on various critical cardiovascular conditions.
Knee Joint Optimization Design of Intelligent Bionic Leg Based on Genetic Algorithm195-206
Hualong Xie, Shusheng Wang, Fei Li
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Intelligent bionic leg (IBL) is an advanced prosthesis which can maximum functionally simulate and approach the motion trajectory of human leg. Knee joint is the most important bone of human leg and its bionic design has great significance to prosthesis performance. The structural components of IBL are introduced and virtual prototype is given. The advantages of 4-bar knee joint are analyzed and are adopted in IBL design. The kinematics model of 4-bar knee joint is established. The objective function, constraint condition, parameters selection and setting of genetic algorithm are discussed in detail. Based on genetic algorithm, the optimization design of IBL knee joint is done. The optimization results indicate that the 4-bar mechanism can achieve better anthropomorphic characteristics of human knee joint.
Pathological Study of the Lung of Rabbits Exposed to Suspension of Different Crystalline Nano-titanium Dioxide207-216
Huyan An, Shengbin Bai
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Objective. To compare the pathology changes of rabbit lung tissue contaminated by nano and micro TiO2 suspension liquid in different crystal forms. Methods. Each rabbit according to 2.5 ml·kg-1·bw-1 dose, one-time non-exposed pipe drip dye, and put them to death after 21 days. Lung was taken with paraffin embedding, tissue section and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining for observation. Results. In anatase TiO2 nanoparticles group, white single lung nodules could be seen on the surface of the lung. Microscopically, in the center of the nodules, the high density inflammatory lesion is given priority to lymphocytes aggregation. In macrophages, anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were shown brown and granule, which were deposited in pulmonary interstitial. Alveolar septum was widening with edema of alveolar epithelial cells. In rutile TiO2 nanoparticles group, alveolar epithelial cell was swelling and fell off. Alveolar space was narrow, where a large number of nano rutile TiO2 macrophages and neutrophils infiltrations could be seen. Rutile TiO2 nanoparticles could also be seen deposited on the pulmonary interstitial in abundance. Alveolar septum was widening, with fibrosis of chronic inflammation cells and fibroblasts. No significant difference was between the micron rutile and anatase TiO2 groups, while the alveolar structures were clear, with narrow alveolar space, widen alveolar septum, visible fibrosis, angiotelectasis hyperemia, and inflammatory lesion with lymphocytic infiltration predominantly in small bronchial submucosa. Micro rutile and anatase TiO2 were deposited in pulmonary interstitial and devoured by macrophages. The macrophages with foreign body were in black. But no obvious pathological changes were seen in the control group. Conclusion: Both of the TiO2 could lead to the damage to alveolar structure at the experimental doses. For two kinds of crystal types, contamination with nano TiO2 was more serious than micron TiO2, while anatase TiO2 could result in pulmonary nodules.
Bioprocess systems
Express Method for Redox Potential and pH Measuring in Microbial Cultures217-230
Oleksandr Tashyrev, Ievgeniia Prekrasna
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The new modification of potentiometric pH and Eh measuring was developed. The essence of the method is to measure pH and Eh in compact hermetic redox cell. This modification provides reliable and fast pH and Eh measuring with minimum expense of culture liquid (1 cm3 for each measuring). The application of the developed modification in microbiology was shown on the example of bacterial culture Kocuria carniphila isolated from Negev desert soil (Israel). Dynamics of the Eh changing in the growing culture allows establishing the influence of the carbon and energy sources concentration on the microbial growth, the rate of oxygen consumption and character of microbial interaction with toxic compounds. Copiotriphic conditions (800 mg/l C) were shown to be optimal for K. carniphila. It was shown that K. carniphila was resistant to 200 ppm of Cu2+, nevertheless it did not extract Cu2+ out of liquid medium.
Pretreatment of Dioscorea zingiberensis for Microbial Transformation231-240
Tianxiang Zheng, Yuling Zhu
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The influences of five pretreatments on fungal growth and enzyme production during microbial transformation of Dioscorea zingiberensis (DZW) were studied. The biomass, α-rhamnase and β-glucosidase activities in the fermentation system were employed in the study to determine how each method affected the efficiency of microbial transformation. The fungal strain grew better on the substrate which contained easily utilized carbon source. While lack of carbon source induced the strain produce more glucosidase. Among five pretreatment methods, complex enzymatic hydrolyzation can remove 84.3% starch and 76.5% fibre from DZW in form of sugar, which resulted in high α-rhamnase activity of 2.89 IU/mL and β-glucosidase activity of 8.17 IU/mL in fermentation broth.
Isolation and Characterization of a Virulent Bacteriophage φPA-HF17 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa241-250
Fang Han, Jinghua Li, Yinyin Lu, Jianping Wen, Zhe Zhang, Yanbo Sun
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an important causative agent of nosocomial infection, is found throughout the hospital environment in moist reservoirs, and multidrug-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa have been increasingly reported worldwide. Bacteriophages are often considered potential therapeutic candidates in treating infectious diseases. In this study, a novel virulent bacteriophage φPA-HF17, specific infecting clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa, was isolated and characterized from environmental sewage. Transmission electron microscopy showed that phage φPA-HF17 had an icosahedral head with a very short tail, and exhibited characteristics typical of a podovirus. Restriction analysis indicated that phage φPA-HF17 was a double-stranded DNA virus, which might be digested by some restriction endonucleases. Phage φPA-HF17 was highly infectious with a rapid adsorption (>90% adsorbed in 4 min). In a one-step growth experiment, phage φPA-HF17 was shown having a latent period of 10 minute, with corresponding burst sizes of 200 PFU/cell. Furthermore, when φPA-HF17 alone was incubated at different pHs and different temperatures, the phage was stable over a wide pH range (4 to 10) and at extreme temperature (50°C). These results suggest that φPA-HF17 may be candidate therapeutic phage to control P. aeruginosa infection.
Kinetics and Equilibrium Study of Black Krom KJR Dye Sorption by Bone-based Activated Carbon251-264
Aparecido Nivaldo Módenes, Fabiano Bisinella Scheufele, Claudio José Glitz Jr, Andréia Colombo, Fernando Rodolfo Espinoza-Quiñones, Alexander Dimitrov Kroumov
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In this work, the sorption capacity of a bone-based activated carbon for the Black Krom KJR dye removal was investigated in a batch system. Preliminary sorption tests were performed in order to assess the effects of initial pH, sorption temperature, stirring speed and the particle size on the sorption process. The most reliable conditions were used to perform the kinetic and equilibrium tests in duplicate. From the kinetic sorption experiments, an equilibrium time of 24 h was achieved with a sorption capacity of 53 mg·g-1. Kinetic dye sorption data was well represented by both the pseudo second order and Elovich models. Among used isotherm models, the Langmuir model exhibited best fit to the equilibrium sorption data, showing a maximum sorption capacity value of 154±8 mg·g-1 and affinity constant value of 0.0114±0.0012 g·L-1, respectively. Based on these results, it is remarkable the great potential exhibited by the bone-based activated carbon adsorbent for its application in industrial wastewater treatment systems.
Leaf Model Reconstruction and Mechanical Deformation Based on Laser Point Cloud265-280
Ting Yun, Weizheng Li, Yuan Sun, Lianfeng Xue
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In recent years, terrestrial laser scanning has been widely used in complex scene investigation and space object measurement. However, due to the irregular and complex topology of leaves and also multi-view occlusion and interference caused by external environment, reconstructing real 3D leaf model based on the point cloud data is a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a method for leaf surface reconstruction and deformation under external force. Firstly, the polynomial fitting method is designed to locate the accurate leaf boundaries from scanned point cloud. Moreover leaf midvein and lateral veins are delineated by designed skeleton extraction algorithm. Secondly, in order to get lifelike and smoothing leaf surface and eliminate interference caused by leaf jitter in the wind, the generalized tensor product bicubic Bezier surface method is adopted to fit the foliar point cloud data and construct the real 3D leaf model. Thirdly, according to solid mechanics force theory, leaf surface is divided into two parts of mesophyll and vein with different material properties. Then each part is subdivided by tetrahedron mesh, and new stress deformation equations based on the nonlinear finite element are constructed to simulate leaf deformation under various external force. Finally, verified by experimental results, our method is feasible and reasonable to the broad-leaved tree's leaves, and our methodology and simulation process also provide the great potential for further study on evolutions of flowers and leaves under various environmental conditions.

Sponsored by National Science Fund of Bulgaria, Grant No DNP 04-35

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