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- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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- Huang, Qi, et al.
(author)
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Effective photocatalytic sterilization based on composites of Ag/InVO4/BiOBr : Factors, mechanism and application
- 2023
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In: Separation and Purification Technology. - 1383-5866 .- 1873-3794. ; 327
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We hypothesized that photocatalysts with a low band gap could be useful in the sterilization of ceramic tiles in the natural environments of toilets using natural light in those settings. Certain photocatalysts can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) under light illumination, which in turn are bactericidal. The properties of the BiOBr-containing photocatalysts were tuned by creating junctions and heterostructures with Ag and InVO4 and studied with respect to their bactericidal effect in dispersion. The bactericidal mechanism was studied through experiments in which active species were captured and via electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. At an optimal dosage of 0.5 g/L, the Ag/InVO4/BiOBr composite had a sterilization efficacy of 99.9999 % in 30 min under visible light illumination of 1000 W. It retained a sterilization efficacy of 99.999 % after four cycles. Anions such as Cl−, SO42−, and NO3− were shown to have no negative impact on sterilization efficacy. It was shown that the holes in the composite photocatalyst and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) were mechanistically critical for the sterilization. The photocatalysts were also studied in the field in the natural environment of a restroom, where they were loaded on ceramic tiles. Samples were collected from the surface of the ceramic tiles and analyzed for bacterial cultures and microbial diversity. The results were compared in the scope of the sterilization ability of various agents at the microbial level. The ceramic tiles loaded with Ag/InVO4/BiOBr showed the least amount of bacteria on their surfaces, and the microbial community richness was also the lowest.
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- Wang, Tingting, et al.
(author)
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Prevalence and influencing factors of wheeze and asthma among preschool children in Urumqi city : a cross-sectional survey
- 2023
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To investigate the prevalence and indoor environmental influencing factors of wheeze and asthma among preschool children in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China to provide a strong basis for prevention and control. In August 2019, a cross-sectional study involving 8153 preschool children was conducted in 60 kindergartens in Urumqi. The ALLHOME-2 questionnaire was used for childhood wheeze and asthma survey, and the dampness in buildings and health (DBH) questionnaire was used for the childhood home dwelling and living environment survey. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression was then used to analyze the potential influencing factors of childhood asthma and wheeze. The prevalence of wheeze and asthma in children was 4.7% and 2.0%, respectively. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression results suggested that ethnicity other than the Han Chinese (odds ratio (OR) 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.84), caesarean section (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.00-1.53), family history of asthma (OR 5.00, 95% CI 3.36-7.44), carpet or floor bedding at home (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.05-1.87), purchasing new furniture in the mother's residence during pregnancy (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.06-2.36), pet keeping in the residence at aged 0-1 year (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.13-2.13), passive smoking by child in the current residence (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.01-1.80), and having mould or hygroma in the child's residence at aged 0-1 year (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.12-2.64) were risk factors for wheeze. In addition, Girls (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.90) was a protective factor for wheeze. Caesarean section (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.06-2.00), family history of asthma (OR 7.06, 95% CI 4.33-11.53), carpet or floor bedding at home (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.50-3.23), and pet keeping in the residence at aged 0-1 year (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.04-1.83) were risk factors for asthma, whereas Girls (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.42-0.80) was a protective factor for asthma. This survey indicates that the purchase of new furniture, the placement of carpet or floor bedding in the child's residence, the pets keeping, room dampness or moldy phenomena, and passive smoking may all contribute to an elevated risk of wheeze or asthma in children.
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- Zhao, Li-Juan, et al.
(author)
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Lysine demethylase LSD1 delivered via small extracellular vesicles promotes gastric cancer cell stemness
- 2021
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In: EMBO Reports. - : EMBO. - 1469-221X .- 1469-3178. ; 22:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several studies have examined the functions of nucleic acids in small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). However, much less is known about the protein cargos of sEVs and their functions in recipient cells. This study demonstrates the presence of lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), which is the first identified histone demethylase, in the culture medium of gastric cancer cells. We show that sEVs derived from gastric cancer cells and the plasma of patients with gastric cancer harbor LSD1. The shuttling of LSD1-containing sEVs from donor cells to recipient gastric cancer cells promotes cancer cell stemness by positively regulating the expression of Nanog, OCT4, SOX2, and CD44. Additionally, sEV-delivered LSD1 suppresses oxaliplatin response of recipient cells in vitro and in vivo, whereas LSD1-depleted sEVs do not. Taken together, we demonstrate that LSD1-loaded sEVs can promote stemness and chemoresistance to oxaliplatin. These findings suggest that the LSD1 content of sEV could serve as a biomarker to predict oxaliplatin response in gastric cancer patients.
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- Barucca, G., et al.
(author)
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Study of excited Ξ baryons with the P¯ ANDA detector
- 2021
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In: European Physical Journal A. - : Springer Nature. - 1434-6001 .- 1434-601X. ; 57:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The study of baryon excitation spectra provides insight into the inner structure of baryons. So far, most of the world-wide efforts have been directed towards N∗ and Δ spectroscopy. Nevertheless, the study of the double and triple strange baryon spectrum provides independent information to the N∗ and Δ spectra. The future antiproton experiment P¯ANDA will provide direct access to final states containing a Ξ¯ Ξ pair, for which production cross sections up to μb are expected in p¯p reactions. With a luminosity of L= 10 31 cm- 2 s- 1 in the first phase of the experiment, the expected cross sections correspond to a production rate of ∼106events/day. With a nearly 4 π detector acceptance, P¯ANDA will thus be a hyperon factory. In this study, reactions of the type p¯p → Ξ¯ +Ξ∗ - as well as p¯p → Ξ¯ ∗ +Ξ- with various decay modes are investigated. For the exclusive reconstruction of the signal events a full decay tree fit is used, resulting in reconstruction efficiencies between 3 and 5%. This allows high statistics data to be collected within a few weeks of data taking.
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- Barucca, G., et al.
(author)
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The potential of Λ and Ξ- studies with PANDA at FAIR
- 2021
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In: European Physical Journal A. - : Springer Nature. - 1434-6001 .- 1434-601X. ; 57:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The antiproton experiment PANDA at FAIR is designed to bring hadron physics to a new level in terms of scope, precision and accuracy. In this work, its unique capability for studies of hyperons is outlined. We discuss ground-state hyperons as diagnostic tools to study non-perturbative aspects of the strong interaction, and fundamental symmetries. New simulation studies have been carried out for two benchmark hyperon-antihyperon production channels: p¯ p→ Λ¯ Λ and p¯ p→ Ξ¯ +Ξ-. The results, presented in detail in this paper, show that hyperon-antihyperon pairs from these reactions can be exclusively reconstructed with high efficiency and very low background contamination. In addition, the polarisation and spin correlations have been studied, exploiting the weak, self-analysing decay of hyperons and antihyperons. Two independent approaches to the finite efficiency have been applied and evaluated: one standard multidimensional efficiency correction approach, and one efficiency independent approach. The applicability of the latter was thoroughly evaluated for all channels, beam momenta and observables. The standard method yields good results in all cases, and shows that spin observables can be studied with high precision and accuracy already in the first phase of data taking with PANDA.
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- Chong, Hui, et al.
(author)
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Organo-ptii complexes for potent photodynamic inactivation of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the influence of configuration
- 2024
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In: Advanced Science. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2198-3844. ; 11:14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PtII based organometallic photosensitizers (PSs) have emerged as novel potent photodynamic inactivation (PDI) reagents through their enhanced intersystem crossing (ISC) processes. Currently, few PtII PSs have been investigated as antibacterial materials, with relatively poor performances reported and with structure-activity relationships not well described. Herein, a pair of configurational isomers are reported of Bis-BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-boradizaindacene) embedded PtII PSs. The cis-isomer (cis-BBP) displayed enhanced 1O2 generation and better bacterial membrane anchoring capability as compared to the trans-isomer (trans-BBP). The effective PDI concentrations (efficiency > 99.9%) for cis-BBP in Acinetobacter baumannii (multi-drug resistant (MDR)) and Staphylococcus aureus are 400 nM (12 J cm−2) and 100 nM (18 J cm−2), respectively; corresponding concentrations and light doses for trans-BBP in the two bacteria are 2.50 µM (30 J cm−2) and 1.50 µM (18 J cm−2), respectively. The 50% and 90% minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC50 and MIC90) ratio of trans-BBP to cis-BBP is 22.22 and 24.02 in A. baumannii (MDR); 21.29 and 22.36 in methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), respectively. Furthermore, cis-BBP displays superior in vivo antibacterial performance, with acceptable dark and photoinduced cytotoxicity. These results demonstrate cis-BBP is a robust light-assisted antibacterial reagent at sub-micromolecular concentrations. More importantly, configuration of PtII PSs should be an important issue to be considered in further PDI reagents design.
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10. |
- He, Mao Qiang, et al.
(author)
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Phylogenomics, divergence times and notes of orders in Basidiomycota
- 2024
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In: Fungal Diversity. - 1560-2745 .- 1878-9129. ; 126, s. 127-406
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Basidiomycota is one of the major phyla in the fungal tree of life. The outline of Basidiomycota provides essential taxonomic information for researchers and workers in mycology. In this study, we present a time-framed phylogenomic tree with 487 species of Basidiomycota from 127 families, 47 orders, 14 classes and four subphyla; we update the outline of Basidiomycota based on the phylogenomic relationships and the taxonomic studies since 2019; and we provide notes for each order and discuss the history, defining characteristics, evolution, justification of orders, problems, significance, and plates. Our phylogenomic analysis suggests that the subphyla diverged in a time range of 443–490 Myr (million years), classes in a time range of 312–412 Myr, and orders in a time range of 102–361 Myr. Families diverged in a time range of 50–289 Myr, 76–224 Myr, and 62–156 Myr in Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina, and Ustilaginomycotina, respectively. Based on the phylogenomic relationships and divergence times, we propose a new suborder Mycenineae in Agaricales to accommodate Mycenaceae. In the current outline of Basidiomycota, there are four subphyla, 20 classes, 77 orders, 297 families, and 2134 genera accepted. When building a robust taxonomy of Basidiomycota in the genomic era, the generation of molecular phylogenetic data has become relatively easier. Finding phenotypical characters, especially those that can be applied for identification and classification, however, has become increasingly challenging.
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