The impact of developmental stage, tissue type, and sex on DNA double-strand break repair in Drosophila melanogaster.

Accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity, as failure to repair DSBs can result in cell death. The cell has evolved two main mechanisms for DSB repair: non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homology-directed repair (HDR), which includes single-strand annealing (SSA) and homologous recombination (HR). While certain factors like age and state of the chromatin are known to influence DSB repair pathway choice, the roles of developmental stage, tissue type, and sex have yet to be elucidated in multicellular organisms. To examine the influence of these factors, DSB repair in various embryonic developmental stages, larva, and adult tissues in Drosophila melanogaster was analyzed through molecular analysis of the DR-white assay using Tracking across Indels by DEcomposition (TIDE). The proportion of HR repair was highest in tissues that maintain the canonical (G1/S/G2/M) cell cycle and suppressed in both terminally differentiated and polyploid tissues. To determine the impact of sex on repair pathway choice, repair in different tissues in both males and females was analyzed. When molecularly examining tissues containing mostly somatic cells, males and females demonstrated similar proportions of HR and NHEJ. However, when DSB repair was analyzed in male and female premeiotic germline cells utilizing phenotypic analysis of the DR-white assay, there was a significant decrease in HR in females compared to males. This study describes the impact of development, tissue-specific cycling profile, and, in some cases, sex on DSB repair outcomes, underscoring the complexity of repair in multicellular organisms.

Facile Synthesis of Sprayed CNTs Layer-Embedded Stretchable Sensors with Controllable Sensitivity.

Flexible electronic devices have gained significant interest due to their different potential applications. Herein, we report highly flexible, stretchable, and sensitive sensors made of sprayed CNT layer, sandwiched between two polymer layers. A facile fabrication process was employed in which the CNT solution was directly sprayed onto a patterned bottom polymer layer, above which a second polymer layer was casted to get a sandwiched composite structure. Varying amounts of CNT solution (i.e., 10, 25, 40, 70, and 100 mL) were sprayed to get conductive CNT layers of different thicknesses/densities. The physical characteristics of the conductive CNT layers were studied through SEM and optical images. The starting electrical resistance values (without strain) as well as the changes in electrical resistance against human body motions were monitored. The synthesized samples exhibited good response against finger and wrist bending. The conductivity of the samples increased with increase of CNT solution volume while the sensitivity followed the inverse relation, suggesting that the sensors with controlled sensitivity could be fabricated for targeted strain ranges using the proposed method.

Fuzzy logic color detection: Blue areas in melanoma dermoscopy images.

Fuzzy logic image analysis techniques were used to analyze three shades of blue (lavender blue, light blue, and dark blue) in dermoscopic images for melanoma detection. A logistic regression model provided up to 82.7% accuracy for melanoma discrimination for 866 images. With a support vector machines (SVM) classifier, lower accuracy was obtained for individual shades (79.9-80.1%) compared with up to 81.4% accuracy with multiple shades. All fuzzy blue logic alpha cuts scored higher than the crisp case. Fuzzy logic techniques applied to multiple shades of blue can assist in melanoma detection. These vector-based fuzzy logic techniques can be extended to other image analysis problems involving multiple colors or color shades.