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normalities in the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) gene are thought to be linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We investigated the association between the single nuclear polymorphisms (SNPs) of TGF-β and the risk of COPD in a case-control study and meta-analysis. We genotyped 160 cases and 177 control subjects in a local hospital using the Mass-Array Technology Platform and then tested the association of four SNPs in TGF-β (rs6957, rs1800469, rs2241712, and rs2241718) with COPD. Plasma TGF-β level measurement was performed later. A database covering all papers published up to October 30, 2010, was then reviewed. Statistical analysis was performed using Revman 5.0 and STATA 11.0 software. No association was found between TGF-β gene SNPs and an increased risk of COPD in Asians. By meta-analysis, the link of two polymorphisms, rs1800469 and rs1982073, was investigated in seven and eight studies, respectively, involving 1508 COPD patients and 2608 control subjects. The results showed that there was no significant association between an increased risk of COPD in carriers of the T allele (TT+TC) versus the CC genotype in rs1800469 and rs1982073. In ethnic subgroup analysis, the risk of COPD associated with the rs1800469 T allele was not significantly elevated among Asians. TGF-β gene polymorphisms are not associated with an increased risk of COPD in the Asian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary  In order to prepare 3D skeletal polymer with low cross-linking density and high hydrophilicity bisphenol A epoxy was cured with diethylenetriamine in the PEG1000/PEG2000 mixing medium. The reaction-induced phase separation of this system was controlled by changing the weight ratio of PEG1000 and PEG2000. The morphology observation of the resulted polymers showed that the connectivity of epoxy phase strongly depended on the content of PEG2000 and was also influenced by the curing temperature. A 3D skeletal polymer with well-controlled macro-through-pores was prepared by using a mixture of PEG1000 and PEG2000 in 7/1 weight ratio as reaction medium and porogen. A unique light-filtrating effect was found in the prepared 3D skeletal polymer that filled with high refractive liquids. The effect most likely resulted from a total reflection mechanism of light in 3D macro-through-pores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Let (X, T) be a topological dynamical system (TDS), Ω(T) be the set of non-wondering points and $${h_{top}^{s}(T)=\sup_{A} h_{top}^A(T)}$$ be the topological sequence entropy. In this paper, an example on a countable compactum X with $${h_{top}^{s}(T)\neq h_{top}^{s}(T|_{\Omega(T)})}$$ is given. Then for TDSs on countable compacta X, it is proved that when d(X) ≤ 1, $${h_{top}^{s}(T)=0}$$; and when d(X) ≥ 2, there exists a homeomorphism T on X such that X d is the sequence entropy set of (X, T), where d(X) and X d are the derived degree of X and the set of all accumulation points of X respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel zinc finger protein (ZFP) gene of the Japanese flounder, Paralichthys olicaceus, has been isolated by differential mRNA display (DD). This technique was utilized to simultaneously compare the mRNA transcript populations from pigmented skins of the ocular side of normal Japanese flounder (termed N1 skin) and non-pigmented skins of the ocular side of albino Japanese flounder (termed A1 skin). A reproducibly differentially expressed band was isolated and cloned from N1 skin tissue. The isolated 917-bp DD fragment (termed EST917) was screened and sequenced. Sequence analysis of EST917 revealed that it contains a complete open reading frame and encodes a polypeptide of 123 amino acids (named ZFP123), with a predicted molecular weight of 13.293 kDa. Expression profile analysis by a reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) technique revealed the expression of the ZFP123 gene in N1 skin and its lack of expression in A1 skin; it was expressed, however, in both blind sides of normal Japanese flounder (termed N2 skin) and the blind side of albino Japanese flounder (termed A2 skin) in a very similar manner. ZFP123 mRNA was found to be highly expressed in muscle, eye, brain and liver, but weakly expressed or undetectable in the gill and fat in both normal and albino Japanese flounders. The ZFP123 of the Japanese flounder shows a high homology to those ZFPs of other species, and the phylogenetic relationship among 14 sequences isolated from other species are illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many works have been devoted to connectivity of ad hoc networks. This is an important feature for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to provide the nodes with the capability of communicating with one or several sinks. In most of these works, radio links are assumed ideal, that is, with no transmission errors. To fulfil this assumption, the reception threshold should be high enough to guarantee that radio links have a low transmission error probability. As a consequence, all unreliable links are dismissed. This approach is suboptimal concerning energy consumption because unreliable links should permit to reduce either the transmission power or the number of active nodes. The aim of this paper is to quantify the contribution of unreliable long hops to an increase of the connectivity of WSNs. In our model, each node is assumed to be connected to each other node in a probabilistic manner. Such a network is modeled as a complete random graph, that is, all edges exist. The instantaneous node degree is then defined as the number of simultaneous valid single-hop receptions of the same message, and finally the mean node degree is computed analytically in both AWGN and block-fading channels. We show the impact on connectivity of two MACs and routing parameters. The first one is the energy detection level such as the one used in carrier sense mechanisms. The second one is the reliability threshold used by the routing layer to select stable links only. Both analytic and simulation results show that using opportunistic protocols is challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Cu(II)-imprinted interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) gel of epoxy-diethylenetriamine and methacrylic acid-acrylamide- N, N′-methylene- bis-(acrylamide) was synthesized by the ionic imprint polymer (IIP) technique. The first polymer network is formed by epoxy gelation with diethylenetriamine. The other is formed by copper methacrylate co- polymerization with acrylamide and cross-linker N, N′-methylene- bis-(acrylamide). The adsorption–desorption characteristics of the IPN gel as a highly selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) and preconcentration adsorbent for Cu2+ from aqueous solution were investigated. The experimental results show that trace Cu2+ ions can be quantitatively enriched at pH 5 with recovery >95%. The maximum static adsorption capacity of the ion-imprinted functionalized gel adsorbent was 76 mg g−1. Comparing with non-imprinted IPN gel, the imprinted IPN gel has higher adsorption capacity and selectivity for Cu2+ by the static adsorption–desorption experiment. Simultaneously, the times of adsorption equilibration and complete desorption were remarkably short. The precision (RSD) for 11 replicate adsorbent extractions of 20 ng mL−1 Cu2+ was 3.4%. The established procedure was applied to two real water samples with satisfactory results. The prepared ion-imprinted IPN gel adsorbent was shown to be promising for solid-phase extraction coupled with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) for the determination of trace copper in real samples. In addition, the coordination interaction of Cu2+ and functional groups of the IPN gel adsorbent was primarily discussed by FT-IR spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]