Notes

The Epigenetic Point of view about Intra-Tumour Heterogeneity: Story Experience as well as New Problems via Several Fields.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a severe acute respiratory syndrome infection has spread rapidly across the world since its emergence in 2019 and drastically altered our way of life. Patients who have recovered from COVID-19 may still face persisting respiratory damage from the virus, necessitating long-term supervision after discharge to closely assess pulmonary function during rehabilitation. Therefore, developing portable spirometers for pulmonary function tests is of great significance for convenient home-based monitoring during recovery. Here, we propose a wireless, portable pulmonary function monitor for rehabilitation care after COVID-19. It is composed of a breath-to-electrical (BTE) sensor, a signal processing circuit, and a Bluetooth communication unit. The BTE sensor, with a compact size and light weight of 2.5 cm3 and 1.8 g respectively, is capable of converting respiratory biomechanical motions into considerable electrical signals. The output signal stability is greater than 93% under 35%-81% humidity, which allows for ideal expiration airflow sensing. Through a wireless communication circuit system, the signals can be received by a mobile terminal and processed into important physiological parameters, such as forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). The FEV1/FVC ratio is then calculated to further evaluate pulmonary function of testers. Through these measurement methods, the acquired pulmonary function parameters are shown to exhibit high accuracy (>97%) in comparison to a commercial spirometer. The practical design of the self-powered flow spirometer presents a low-cost and convenient method for pulmonary function monitoring during rehabilitation from COVID-19.Influenza viruses are responsible for several pandemics and seasonal epidemics and pose a major public health threat. Even after a major outbreak, the emergence of drug-resistant influenza viruses can pose disease control problems. check details Here we report a novel 6E3 monoclonal antibody capable of recognizing and binding to the H275Y neuraminidase (NA) mutation, which has been associated with reduced susceptibility of influenza viruses to NA inhibitors. The 6E3 antibody had a KD of 72.74 μM for wild-type NA and 32.76 pM for H275Y NA, suggesting that it can identify drug-resistant pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) influenza virus. Molecular modeling studies also suggest the high-affinity binding of this antibody to pH1N1 H275Y NA. This antibody was also subject to dot-blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, bare-eye detection, and lateral flow assay to demonstrate its specificity to drug-resistant pH1N1. Furthermore, it was immobilized on Au nanoplate and nanoparticles, enabling surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based detection of the H275Y mutant pH1N1. Using 6E3 antibody-mediated SERS immunoassay, the drug-resistant influenza virus can be detected at a low concentration of 102 plaque-forming units/mL. We also detected pH1N1 in human nasopharyngeal aspirate samples, suggesting that the 6E3-mediated SERS assay has the potential for diagnostic application. We anticipate that this newly developed antibody and SERS-based immunoassay will contribute to the diagnosis of drug-resistant influenza viruses and improve treatment strategies for influenza patients.In order to define public health policies, simple, inexpensive and robust detection methods for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are vital for mass-testing in resource limited settings. The current choice of molecular methods for identification of SARS-CoV-2 infection includes nucleic acid-based testing (NAT) for viral genetic material and antigen-based testing for viral protein identification. Host exposure is detected using antibody detection assays. While NATs require sophisticated instrument and trained manpower, antigen tests are plagued by their low sensitivity and specificity. Thus, a test offering sensitive detection for presence of infection as a colorimetric readout holds promise to enable mass testing in resource constrained environments by minimally trained personnel. Here we present a novel HRPZyme Assisted Recognition of Infection by Optical Measurement (HARIOM) assay which combines specificity of NATs with sensitivity of enzymatic assays resulting in enhanced signal to noise ratios in an easily interpretable colorimetric readout. Using this assay, we could detect up to 102 copies of synthetic viral RNA spiked in saliva as a detection matrix. Validating our assay on suspected human subjects, we found concordance with PCR based readouts with visible colorimetric distinction between positive and negative samples in less than an hour. We believe that this assay holds the potential to aid in mass screening to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection by facilitating colorimetric detection with minimal resources and less trained personnel.The impact of longitudinal vibration on cross-bridge attachments between myofilaments was investigated in single fibres and intact muscle. Sinusoidal length vibration (frequency 50 Hz, amplitude 5% of fibre length) reduced active force by 40% when fibres were activated by elevation of [Ca2+], but did not alter the force when fibres were in rigor state. When vibrated for 30 min in rigor at pH 5.5 and 38 °C (PSE conditions), the lateral shrinkage of the fibres was significantly reduced, suggesting a potential positive influence of vibration on water-holding capacity. In whole muscle incubated at 38 °C until 8 h post mortem, the progress of rigor onset was accessed by measuring the increase in muscle stiffness. Vibration applied 3-5 h post mortem postponed rigor development, but did not have significant influence on water-holding capacity compared with non-vibrated conditions. In conclusion, the results suggest that muscle vibration can be a future technique to delay rigor development and prevent muscle fibre shrinkage and PSE development after slaughter.As a reviewer of ca. 50 manuscripts per year submitted to various journals, I often come across questionable metabolic data (both over- or under-estimated) mainly in the journals from the section of Environmental Sciences of Web of Science. Though the trends of visibly incorrect metabolite values may be informative (changes in response to applied treatments or environmental factors), absolute values must be precise enough to allow inter-specific comparison and eventual subsequent calculations. Technical correctness of quantification and calculation of such data is therefore often questionable. One problem arises when calculating metabolites concentration (often nmol or μmol/g of biomass) and another problem is the impact of altered water content on metabolite level (then trend per gram of fresh or dry biomass will differ). Recent discrepancies I found when searching for the literature prompted me to write this technical note aimed at focusing attention of researchers on these problems. I exclude any conflict of interest when discussing the quoted published studies.
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