Ultrasensitive Biochemical Sensing Platform Enabled by Directly Grown Graphene on Insulator.

To fabricate label-free and rapid-resulting semiconducting biosensor devices incorporating graphene, it is pertinent to directly grow uniform graphene films on technologically important dielectric and semiconducting substrates. However, it has long been intuitively believed that the nonideal disordered structures formed during direct growth, and the resulted inferior electrical properties will inevitably lead to deteriorated sensing performance. Here, graphene biosensor chips are constructed based on direct plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) grown graphene on a 4-inch silicon wafer with excellent film uniformity and high yield. To surprise, optimal operations of graphene biosensors permit ultrasensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus nucleocapsid protein with dilutions down to sub-femtomolar concentrations. Such impressive limit of detection (LOD) is comparable to or even outperforms that of the state-of-the-art biosensor devices based on high-quality graphene. Further noise spectral characterizations and analysis confirms that the LOD is limited by molecular diffusion and/or known interference signals such as drift and instability of the sensors, rather than the electrical merits of the graphene devices along. Hence, result sheds light on processing directly grown PECVD graphene into high-performance sensor devices with important economic benefits and social significance.

Surgical Treatment of Craniofacial Fibrous Dysplasia With TP53 Gene Mutation.

BACKGROUND: To report the surgical treatment of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia (CFD) with TP53 gene mutation. METHODS: The patient was diagnosed with CFD by surgery at the age of 14 years. At the age of 35 years, the tumor recurred, and the patient took active treatment. The tumor was resected 4 times by neuroendoscopy due to recurrence in a short period. Meanwhile, genetic tests were performed on the patient. The patient's postoperative pathology indicated leiomyosarcoma and genetic testing indicated TP53 gene mutation. RESULTS: Despite the active surgical treatment, the patient finally died of a malignant tumor. The prognosis of patients with CFD malignancy accompanied by TP53 gene mutation is poor, and its treatment is difficult. CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic benefit of surgical treatment for patients with CFD malignancy is limited. It is hoped that more genetic mutations will be identified and reported in patients with CFD malignancy, and long-term follow-up is necessary for patients with current fibrous dysplasia or CFD.

TuRLK1, a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase, is indispensable for stripe rust resistance of YrU1 and confers broad resistance to multiple pathogens.

BACKGROUND: YrU1 is a nucleotide-binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) protein (NLR), with additional ankyrin-repeat and WRKY domains and confers effective resistance to stripe rust fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. Tritici (Pst). YrU1 was positionally cloned in the progenitor species of the A genome of bread wheat, Tricicum urartu, recently. However, the molecular mechanism and components involved in YrU1-mediated resistance are not clear. RESULTS: In this study, we found that the transcript level of TuRLK1, which encodes a novel leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase, was up-regulated after inoculation with Pst in the presence of YrU1, through RNA-seq analysis in T. urartu accession PI428309. TuRLK1 contained only a small number of LRR motifs, and was localized in the plasma-membrane. Transient expression of TuRLK1 induced hypersensitive cell death response in N. benthamiana leaves. Silencing of TuRLK1, using barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV)-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system in PI428309 that contains YrU1, compromised the resistance against stripe rust caused by Pst CY33, indicating that TuRLK1 was required for YrU1-activated plant immunity. Furthermore, overexpression of TuRLK1 could enhance powdery mildew resistance in bread wheat and Arabidopsis thaliana after inoculating with the corresponding pathogens. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that TuRLK1 is required for immune response mediated by the unique NLR protein YrU1, and likely plays an important role in disease resistance to other pathogens.

Diversity and similarity of wheat powdery mildew resistance among three allelic functional genes at the Pm60 locus.

Cultivated wheat is continually exposed to various pathogens. Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt) causes powdery mildew disease and significant yield loss. Pm60 was cloned from Triticum urartu and confers race-specific powdery mildew resistance in wheat. Pm60a and Pm60b are allelic variants of Pm60 and have two leucine-rich repeat motifs deletions and insertions, respectively, which were detected in other T. urartu accessions. Through map-based cloning, virus-induced gene silencing, and stable transformation assays, we demonstrated that Pm60a and Pm60b conferred Bgt E09 resistance resembling that provided by Pm60. However, the homozygous Pm60a (but not Pm60 or Pm60b) transformants driven by the native promoters lacked race-specific resistance when they were inoculated with Bgt E18. As all three T. urartu accessions contained the three foregoing alleles, they had high resistance to Bgt E18. Pyramiding Pm60a with either of the allelic genes in F1 plants did not cause mutual allele suppression or interference with Bgt E18 resistance. Deletion (but not insertion) of the two leucine-rich repeat motifs in Pm60a substantially narrowed the resistance spectrum. In T. urartu accession PI428210, we identified another locus adjacent to Pm60a and resistant to Bgt E18. Characterization of the alleles at the Pm60 locus revealed their diversity and similarity and may facilitate wheat breeding for resistance to powdery mildew disease caused by B. graminis f. sp. tritici.

[Case-control study on three spinal rotation manipulations for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of three different spinal rotation manipulations for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. METHODS: From September 2011 to April 2013,180 patients diagnosed as lumbar disc herniation were randomly divided into seat fixed rotation group (A), lateral position rotation group (B) and supine position rotation group (C) by using a digital table. Finally 10 patients were excluded and dropped, 170 patients were included in the study. There were 57 patients in group A, 57 patients in group B and 56 patients in group C. Baseline demographic characteristics of patients, clinical findings and indexes of health status had no statistically differences among three groups (P > 0.05). The manipulation was performed every other day, and the treatment duration for all patients was 3 weeks. Body pain (BP), Physical function (PF) in SF-36, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and adverse reactions were observed statistically 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, one year and two years after finishing treatment. RESULTS: BP, PF scores in 3 groups were significantly improved and ODI scores were significantly lower than those before treatment and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05); However, there was no significant difference among three groups in the BP, PF and ODI scores (P > 0.05). There were no obvious and serious adverse reactions among these groups. CONCLUSION: Based on the theory of dislocation of bone joints in TCM, three kinds of spinal rotation manipulations can be used safely for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation, and the efficacy was similar.

Separation mechanism of oleanane and ursane pentacyclic triterpenoid isomers by coordination chromatography.

This paper focuses on the study of the separation mechanism of oleanane and ursane pentacyclic triterpenoid isomers by a coordination chromatographic method. Based on the calculation analysis, beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and its derivatives were selected as the suitable agents. The experimental results showed that the resolution of madecassoside isomers with the addition of glucosyl-beta-cyclodextrin (Glu-beta-CD) to the mobile phase (11.95) was higher than that of the addition of beta-CD (9.61) or dimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin (DM-beta-CD) (9.89). The formation of 1:1 inclusion complexes was assumed. The apparent formation constants (K(F)) of pentacyclic triterpenes with beta-CD were determined by HPLC method. For asiaticoside-B, the K(F) value with the addition of Glu-beta-CD (2 534 L/mol) was larger than that with the addition of beta-CD (1 467 L/mol) or DM-beta-CD (1 373 L/mol). According to the infrared characteristic absorbing peaks and simulation, the methyl part of asiaticoside-B might enter into beta-CD cavity while the carbonyl group of asiaticoside-B might not enter into the cavity of beta-CD, and the large glycoside parts were kept outside, forming hydrogen-bond interaction with the exterior of beta-CD cavity. The results of the separation of oleanane and ursane pentacyclic triterpenoid isomers by coordination chromatography indicated that, the separation mechanism might be attributed to the steric differences (the place of methyl group in E cyclic), which lead to different chromatographic behaviors.

Exome sequencing and linkage analysis identified tenascin-C (TNC) as a novel causative gene in nonsyndromic hearing loss.

In this study, a five-generation Chinese family (family F013) with progressive autosomal dominant hearing loss was mapped to a critical region spanning 28.54 Mb on chromosome 9q31.3-q34.3 by linkage analysis, which was a novel DFNA locus, assigned as DFNA56. In this interval, there were 398 annotated genes. Then, whole exome sequencing was applied in three patients and one normal individual from this family. Six single nucleotide variants and two indels were found co-segregated with the phenotypes. Then using mass spectrum (Sequenom, Inc.) to rank the eight sites, we found only the TNC gene be co-segregated with hearing loss in 53 subjects of F013. And this missense mutation (c.5317G>A, p.V1773M ) of TNC located exactly in the critical linked interval. Further screening to the coding region of this gene in 587 subjects with nonsyndromic hearing loss (NSHL) found a second missense mutation, c.5368A>T (p. T1796S), co-segregating with phenotype in the other family. These two mutations located in the conserved region of TNC and were absent in the 387 normal hearing individuals of matched geographical ancestry. Functional effects of the two mutations were predicted using SIFT and both mutations were deleterious. All these results supported that TNC may be the causal gene for the hearing loss inherited in these families. TNC encodes tenascin-C, a member of the extracellular matrix (ECM), is present in the basilar membrane (BM), and the osseous spiral lamina of the cochlea. It plays an important role in cochlear development. The up-regulated expression of TNC gene in tissue repair and neural regeneration was seen in human and zebrafish, and in sensory receptor recovery in the vestibular organ after ototoxic injury in birds. Then the absence of normal tenascin-C was supposed to cause irreversible injuries in cochlea and caused hearing loss.

[Effects of fuzheng jianpi decoction combined chemotherapy on the quality of life and the survival time of children with solid tumor].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of Fuzheng Jianpi Decoction (FJD) combined chemotherapy on the quality of life (QOL) and the survival time of children with solid tumor. METHODS: Recruited were 167 solid tumor children patients at Department of Tumor, Beijing Children's Hospital from Jan. 2005 to Jan. 2008. They were randomly assigned to the treatment group (83 cases) and the control group (84 cases) according to the random digit table. All had chemotherapy. Those in the treatment group additionally took FJD, 50 -100 mL each time, twice daily. After chemotherapy those in the treatment group took modified FJD. The WBC, Hb, and PLT were detected in all patients before treatment, 6 months after treatment, and 1 year after treatment. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year QOL, 3-year survival rate, and the survival life of dead children patients were observed. RESULTS: Compared with the control group of the same period, the 6-month and 1-year WBC and Hb increased, the 1-year PLT increased in the treatment group, showing statistical difference (P<0.05, P<0.01). Compared with 1-year treatment in the treatment group, the 2-and 3-year psychological functions and the general symptoms scores decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01). Compared with the control group of the same period, the 2-and 3-year somatic functions, psychological functions, and the general symptoms scores decreased in the treatment group; the 2-year somatic functions and psychological functions decreased in the treatment group; the 3-year psychological functions and the general symptoms scores decreased in the treatment group, all with statistical difference (all P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the death number decreased, the survival rate increased, the life span of dead children was prolonged in the treatment group, showing statistical difference (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: FJD combined chemotherapy could effectively improve the QOL of solid tumor children patients, elevate their survival rate, and prolong their life spans.