HSPC117 deficiency in cloned embryos causes placental abnormality and fetal death

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has been successfully used in many species to produce live cloned offspring, albeit with low efficiency. The low frequency of successful development has usually been ascribed to incomplete or inappropriate reprogramming of the transferred nuclear genome. Elucidating the genetic differences between normal fertilized and cloned embryos is key to understand the low efficiency of SCNT. Here, we show that expression of HSPC117, which encodes a hypothetical protein of unknown function, was absent or very low in cloned mouse blastocysts. To investigate the role of HSPC117 in embryo development, we knocked-down this gene in normal fertilized embryos using RNA interference. We assessed the post-implantation survival of HSPC117 knock-down embryos at 3 stages: E9 (prior to placenta formation); E12 (after the placenta was fully functional) and E19 (post-natal). Our results show that, although siRNA-treated in vivo fertilized/produced (IVP) embryos could develop to the blastocyst stage and implanted without any difference from control embryos, the knock-down embryos showed substantial fetal death, accompanied by placental blood clotting, at E12. Furthermore, comparison of HSPC117 expression in placentas of nuclear transfer (NT), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and IVP embryos confirmed that HSPC117 deficiency correlates well with failures in embryo development: all NT embryos with a fetus, as well as IVP and ICSI embryos, had normal placental HSPC117 expression while those NT embryos showing reduced or no expression of HSPC117 failed to form a fetus. In conclusion, we show that HSPC117 is an important gene for post-implantation development of embryos, and that HSPC117 deficiency leads to fetal abnormalities after implantation, especially following placental formation. We suggest that defects in HSPC117 expression may be an important contributing factor to loss of cloned NT embryos in vivo. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance of magnesia cements in porous blocks in acid and magnesium environments

The performance of porous blocks containing three different reactive magnesia-based cements - namely magnesia alone, magnesium oxide: Portland cement (PC) in 1:1 ratio, cured in ambient conditions, and magnesia alone, cured at elevated carbon dioxide conditions, in hydrochloric acid and magnesium sulfate solution - was investigated. Different aggressive chemical solution conditions were used, to which the samples were exposed for up to 12 months and then tested for strength and microstructure. The performance was also compared with that of standard PC-based blocks. The results showed the significant resistance to chemical attack offered by magnesia, both alone and with PC blend in the porous blocks when cured under ambient carbon dioxide conditions, and confirmed the much poorer performance of blocks made from PC alone. The blocks of solely magnesia cured in elevated carbon dioxide conditions, at 20% concentration, showed slightly lower resistance to acid attack than PC; however, the resistance to sulfate attack was much higher. © 2012 Thomas Telford Ltd.

Primary antibody deficiency and diagnostic delay.

AIMS: To assess the occurrence of diagnostic delay in primary antibody deficiency in the period 1989-2002, since a similar study in 1989, and to assess the impact of UK national guidelines communicated in 1995. METHODS: A retrospective case note review was performed of 89 consecutive patients with antibody deficiency referred to a regional referral centre for clinical immunology in north west England and north Wales. The delay in diagnosis and the estimated resulting morbidity in terms of infections were assessed. RESULTS: Fifty six of the 89 patients experienced delay in diagnosis. The overall median delay was 2 years (mean, 4.4), resulting in substantial morbidity (equivalent to two major infections and one minor infection). This shows a moderate improvement since the previous study in 1989 and since the introduction of UK national guidelines in 1995. Respiratory infections are the most frequent presenting infections, and respiratory physicians the most common source of referral. CONCLUSIONS: There is still considerable delay in the diagnosis of primary antibody deficiency, but the data suggest an improvement in practice since the previous study in 1989 and the distribution of national guidelines in 1995.

Impact of hydrated magnesium carbonate additives on the carbonation of reactive MgO cements

Reactive magnesia (MgO) cements have emerged as a potentially more sustainable and technically superior alternative to Portland cement due to their lower production temperature and ability to sequester significant quantities of CO2. Porous blocks containing MgO were found to achieve higher strength values than PC blocks. A number of variables are investigated to achieve maximum carbonation and associated high strengths. This paper focuses on the impact of four different hydrated magnesium carbonates (HMCs) as cement replacements of either 20 or 50%. Accelerated carbonation (20 C, 70-90% RH, 20% CO2) is compared with natural curing (20 C, 60-70% RH, ambient CO2). SEM, TG/DTA, XRD, and HCl acid digestion are utilized to provide a thorough understanding of the performance of MgO-cement porous blocks. The presence of HMCs resulted in the formation of larger size carbonation products with a different morphology than those in the control mix, leading to significantly enhanced carbonation and strength. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Outer membrane proteins induced by iron deficiency in Anabaena sp PCC 7120

Iron deficiency can induce cyanobacteria to synthesize siderophore receptor proteins on the outer membrane to enhance the uptake of iron. In this study, an outer membrane of high purity was prepared from Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 based on aqueous polymer two-phase partitioning and discontinuous sucrose density ultra-centrifugation, and the induction of outer membrane proteins by iron deficiency was investigated using 2-D gel electrophoresis. At least. five outer membrane proteins were newly synthesized or significantly up-regulated in cells transferred to iron-deficient conditions, which were all identified to be siderophore receptor proteins according to MALDI-TOF-MS analyses. Bacterial luciferase reporter genes luxAB were employed to monitor the transcription of the encoding genes. The genes were induced by iron deficiency at the transcriptional level in different responsive modes. Luciferase activity expressed from an iron-regulated promoter may be used as a bioreporter for utilizable iron in natural water samples. (C) 2009 National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science in China Press. All rights reserved.

Characterization of light and heavy hydrated magnesium carbonates using thermal analysis

Upon heating, hydrated magnesium carbonates (HMCs) undergo a continuous sequence of decomposition reactions. This study aims to investigate the thermal decomposition of various commercially produced HMCs classified as light and heavy, highlight their differences, and provide an insight into their compositions in accordance with the results obtained from thermal analysis and microstructure studies. An understanding of the chemical compositions and microstructures, and a better knowledge of the reactions that take place during the decomposition of HMCs were achieved through the use of SEM, XRD, and TG/differential thermal analysis (DTA). The quantification of their CO 2 contents was provided by TG and dissolving the samples in HCl acid. Results show that variations exist within the microstructure and decomposition patterns of the two groups of HMCs, which do not exactly fit into the fixed stoichiometry of the known HMCs in the MgO-CO2-H2O system. The occurrence of an exothermic DTA peak was only observed for the heavy HMCs, which was attributed to their high CO2 contents and the relatively delayed decomposition pattern. © 2013 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.

Codoping of magnesium with oxygen in gallium nitride nanowires

Codoping of p-type GaN nanowires with Mg and oxygen was investigated using first-principles calculations. The Mg becomes a deep acceptor in GaN nanowires with high ionization energy due to the quantum confinement. The ionization energy of Mg doped GaN nanowires containing passivated Mg-O complex decreases with increasing the diameter, and reduces to 300 meV as the diameter of the GaN nanowire is larger than 2.01 nm, which indicates that Mg-O codoping is suitable for achieving p-type GaN nanowires with larger diameters. The codoping method to reduce the ionization energy can be effectively used in other semiconductor nanostructures. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics.

Organic light emitting diodes using magnesium doped organic acceptor as electron injection layer and silver as cathode

Organic light emitting diodes employing magnesium doped electron acceptor 3, 4, 9, 10 perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (Mg: PTCDA) as electron injection layer and silver as cathode were demonstrated. As compared to Mg: Ag cathode, the combination of the Mg: PTCDA layer and silver provided enhanced electron injection into tris (8-quinolinolato) aluminium. The device with 1: 2 Mg: PTCDA and Ag showed an increase of about 12% in the maximum current efficiency, mainly due to the improved hole-electron balance, and an increase of about 28% in the maximum power efficiency, as compared to the control device using Mg: Ag cathode. The properties of Mg: PTCDA composites were studied as well.

Organic light-emitting diodes with magnesium doped CuPc as an efficient electron injection layer

Bright organic electroluminescent devices are developed using a metal-doped organic layer intervening between the cathode and the emitting layer. The typical device structure is a glass substrate/indium-tin oxide (ITO)/copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)/NN'-bis-(1-naphthl)-diphenyl-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (NPB)/Tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum(Alq(3))/Mg-doped CuPc/Ag. At a driving voltage of 11 V, the device with a layer of Mg-doped CuPc (1:2 in weight) shows a brightness of 4312 cd/m(2) and a current efficiency of 2.52 cd/A, while the reference device exhibits 514 cd/m(2) and 1.25 cd/A.

Growth of GaN on magnesium aluminate substrate by LP-MOVPE

于2010-11-23批量导入

Modulation magnesium-doping in AlGaN/GaN superlattices

Low resistivity of p-type Mg-doped AlGaN/GaN superlattices (SLs) is demonstrated. The resistivity of the SLs is less than 0.6 Omega .cm. and the measured hole concentration is higher than 1x10(18)cm(-3). The resistivity of SLs is much lower, and the hole concentration of SLs is much higher, than that of bulk GaN and AlGaN, The electrical properties of the SLs are less sensitive than the conventional bulk lavers.