Identification of body fluid-specific DNA methylation markers for use in forensic science

Park, J.L.,Kwon, O.H.,Kim, J.H.,Yoo, H.S.,Lee, H.C.,Woo, K.M.,Kim, S.Y.,Lee, S.H.,Kim, Y.S. Elsevier Science 2014 FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL GENETICS Vol.13 No.-

DNA methylation, which occurs at the 5'-position of the cytosine in CpG dinucleotides, has great potential for forensic identification of body fluids, because tissue-specific patterns of DNA methylation have been demonstrated, and DNA is less prone to degradation than proteins or RNA. Previous studies have reported several body fluid-specific DNA methylation markers, but DNA methylation differences are sometimes low in saliva and vaginal secretions. Moreover, specific DNA methylation markers in four types of body fluids (blood, saliva, semen, and vaginal secretions) have not been investigated with genome-wide profiling. Here, we investigated novel DNA methylation markers for identification of body fluids for use in forensic science using the Illumina HumanMethylation 450K bead array, which contains over 450,000 CpG sites. Using methylome data from 16 samples of blood, saliva, semen, and vaginal secretions, we first selected 2986 hypermethylated or hypomethylated regions that were specific for each type of body fluid. We then selected eight CpG sites as novel, forensically relevant DNA methylation markers: cg06379435 and cg08792630 for blood, cg26107890 and cg20691722 for saliva, cg23521140 and cg17610929 for semen, and cg01774894 and cg14991487 for vaginal secretions. These eight selected markers were evaluated in 80 body fluid samples using pyrosequencing, and all showed high sensitivity and specificity for identification of the target body fluid. We suggest that these eight DNA methylation markers may be good candidates for developing an effective molecular assay for identification of body fluids in forensic science.

Structural dynamics of keyword networks: Liquid crystal display and plasma display panel cases

Yang, H.,Jung, W.S. Elsevier Science Publishers 2016 Journal of Engineering and Technology Management Vol.40 No.-

<P>This study focuses on understanding scientific evolution by using keyword co-occurrence networks, where keywords appearing in a scientific article are linked with a weight equal to the number of co-occurrences. To characterize structural changes of the network, we examine distributions of sums of weights by node over time. In particular, a change of power-law behavior is utilized to explore scientific evolution, such as emerging scientific paradigms and advancing normal science. As an illustration of the method used, the development of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) and Plasma Display Panels (PDPs) is tracked. We detect two-tiered power-law distributions in the initial stage of scientific growth in both technologies due to differences in research intensity between two groups. The groups of keywords more likely to attract researchers' interest than others are incrementally developed until the mid-2000s to overtake those prior. Finally, we can capture a merging point of the dichotomous structure of PDPs but LCDs maintain the structural separation throughout the adjustment area. We expect that this structural investigation of keyword co-occurrence networks provides an indicator to diagnose the research evolution in that field. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.</P>

Parasitic robot system for waypoint navigation of turtle

Kim, Dae-Gun,Lee, Serin,Kim, Cheol-Hu,Jo, Sungho,Lee, Phill-Seung Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam 2017 JOURNAL OF BIONICS ENGINEERING Vol.14 No.2

<P>In research on small mobile robots and biomimetic robots, locomotion ability remains a major issue despite many advances in technology. However, evolution has led to there being many real animals capable of excellent locomotion. This paper presents a 'parasitic robot system' whereby locomotion abilities of an animal are applied to a robot task. We chose a turtle as our first host animal and designed a parasitic robot that can perform 'operant conditioning'. The parasitic robot, which is attached to the turtle, can induce object-tracking behavior of the turtle toward a Light Emitting Diode (LED) and positively reinforce the behavior through repeated stimulus-response interaction. After training sessions over five weeks, the robot could successfully control the direction of movement of the trained turtles in the waypoint navigation task. This hybrid animal-robot interaction system could provide an alternative solution to some of the limitations of conventional mobile robot systems in various fields, and could also act as a useful interaction system for the behavioral sciences.</P>

Orbital hybridization mechanism for the enhanced photoluminescence in edge-functionalized sp² carbon clusters

Kang, B.,Choi, Y.,Kim, B.S.,Youn, I.S.,Lee, G. Pergamon Press ; Elsevier Science Ltd 2016 Carbon Vol.109 No.-

<P>Using the first principles methods, we performed systematic study on the effect of edge-functional groups on the electronic energy levels and the optical properties of sp(2) carbon clusters. It is found that the intrinsic pi and pi* orbitals are weakly altered by oxygen-bearing functional groups, but it is significantly disrupted by pyrrolic groups. Thereby the oscillator strength of the lowest-energy transition is found to be much stronger for the pyrrolic group functionalized cluster than for the carboxyl group. From our results being consistent with the experimental reports, we suggest that the photoluminescence enhancement is caused by a perturbation of the intrinsic, frontier molecular orbitals by edge groups. (C) 2016 Elsevier. Ltd. All rights reserved.</P>

Effects of the degree of polymerization on the structure of sodium silicate and aluminosilicate glasses and melts: An ¹⁷O NMR study

Lee, S.K.,Stebbins, J.F. Pergamon Press ; Elsevier Science Ltd 2009 Geochimica et cosmochimica acta Vol.73 No.4

Revealing the atomic structure and disorder in oxide glasses, including sodium silicates and aluminosilicates, with varying degrees of polymerization, is a challenging problem in high-temperature geochemistry as well as glass science. Here, we report <SUP>17</SUP>O MAS and 3QMAS NMR spectra for binary sodium silicate and ternary sodium aluminosilicate glasses with varying degrees of polymerization (Na<SUB>2</SUB>O/SiO<SUB>2</SUB> ratio and Na<SUB>2</SUB>O/Al<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> ratio), revealing in detail the extent of disorder (network connectivity and topological disorder) and variations of NMR parameters with the glass composition. In binary sodium silicate glasses [Na<SUB>2</SUB>O-k(SiO<SUB>2</SUB>)], the fraction of non-bridging oxygens (NBOs, Na-O-Si) increases with the Na<SUB>2</SUB>O/SiO<SUB>2</SUB> ratio (k), as predicted from the composition. The <SUP>17</SUP>O isotropic chemical shifts (<SUP>17</SUP>O δ<SUB>iso</SUB>) for both bridging oxygen (BO) and NBO increase by about 10-15ppm with the SiO<SUB>2</SUB> content (for k=1-3). The quadrupolar coupling products of BOs and NBOs also increase with the SiO<SUB>2</SUB> content. These trends suggest that both NBOs and BOs strongly interact with Na; therefore, the Na distributions around BOs and NBOs are likely to be relatively homogenous for the glass compositions studied here, placing some qualitative limits on the extent of segregation of alkali channels from silica-enriched regions as suggested by modified random-network models. The peak width (in the isotropic dimension) and thus bond angle and length distributions of Si-O-Si and Na-O-Si increase with the SiO<SUB>2</SUB> content, indicating an increase in the topological disorder with the degree of polymerization. In the ternary aluminosilicate glasses [Na<SUB>2</SUB>O]<SUB>x</SUB>[Al<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB>]<SUB>1-x</SUB>SiO<SUB>2</SUB>, the NBO fraction decreases while the Al-O-Si and Al-O-Al fractions apparently increase with increasing Al<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> content. The variation of oxygen cluster populations suggests that deviation from ''Al avoidance'' is more apparent near the charge-balanced join (Na/Al=1). The Si-O-Si fraction, which is closely related to the activity coefficient of silica, would decrease with increasing Al<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> content at a constant mole fraction of SiO<SUB>2</SUB>. Therefore, the activity of silica may decrease from depolymerized binary silicates to fully polymerized sodium aluminosilicate glasses at a constant mole fraction of SiO<SUB>2</SUB>.

WITHDRAWN: Spectroscopic characterization of selected functionalized fullerenes - IR absorption and Raman scattering studies

Lewandowska, K.,Barszcz, B.,Graja, A.,Nam, S.Y.,Han, Y.S.,Kim, T.D.,Lee, K.S. Elsevier Science Publishers 2014 Materials chemistry and physics Vol.148 No.3

The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published in <Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 118, (2014) 204 - 209>, http://dx.doi.org/<10.1016/j.saa.2013.08.102>. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.

Population pharmacokinetics of moxifloxacin, cycloserine, p-aminosalicylic acid and kanamycin for the treatment of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis

Chang, M.J.,Jin, B.,Chae, J.w.,Yun, H.y.,Kim, E.S.,Lee, Y.J.,Cho, Y.J.,Yoon, H.I.,Lee, C.T.,Park, K.U.,Song, J.,Lee, J.H.,Park, J.S. Elsevier Science Publishers ; Elsevier Science Pub 2017 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS Vol.49 No.6

Control of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) requires extensive, supervised chemotherapy because second-line anti-TB drugs have a narrower therapeutic range than first-line drugs. This study aimed to develop population pharmacokinetic (PK) models for second-line drugs in patients with MDR-TB, evaluate the recommended dosage regimens and, if necessary, suggest new dosage regimens. A prospective, single-centre PK study was performed on second-line anti-TB drugs in patients with MDR-TB. Moxifloxacin, cycloserine, p-aminosalicylic acid (PAS), kanamycin and other second-line drugs were administered to the patients. Plasma concentrations were analysed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Population PK models were developed using non-linear mixed effect modelling (NONMEM, Version 7.30; ICON Development Solutions, Ellicott City, MD, USA). Simulations were performed using the calculated PK parameters. The respective absorption rate constant, apparent clearance and apparent volume of distribution values were as follows: 0.305/h, 9.37@?L/h and 56.7@?L for moxifloxacin; 0.135/h, 1.38@?L/h and 10.5@?L for cycloserine; 0.510/h, 30.8@?L/h and 79.4@?L for PAS; and 1.67/h, 3.75@?L/h and 15.2@?L for kanamycin. The simulations showed that the following dosage regimens were more likely to be within the recommended concentration ranges than the raw data in this study: 200@?mg of moxifloxacin once daily (QD) (patient weight <50@?kg) and 400@?mg of moxifloxacin QD (patient weight ≥50@?kg), 500-750@?mg of cycloserine QD, 4.95-6.6@?g of PAS twice daily and 750-1000@?mg of intramuscular kanamycin QD. These findings indicate that the recommended doses should be revised to improve the clinical outcomes of MDR-TB treatment.

An intelligent game by Pushkin: Plot structure and the thematic unity of The 'Tales of Belkin'

김상현 ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV 2006 RUSSIAN LITERATURE Vol.60 No.2

Genome-wide mRNA profiling and multiplex quantitative RT-PCR for forensic body fluid identification

Park, S.M.,Park, S.Y.,Kim, J.H.,Kang, T.W.,Park, J.L.,Woo, K.M.,Kim, J.S.,Lee, H.C.,Kim, S.Y.,Lee, S.H. Elsevier Science 2013 Forensic science international. Genetics Vol.7 No.1

In forensic science, identifying a tissue where a forensic specimen was originated is one of the principal challenges. Messenger RNA (mRNA) profile clearly reveals tissue-specific gene expression patterns that many attempts have been made to use RNA for forensic tissue identification. To systematically investigate the body-fluid-specific expression of mRNAs and find novel mRNA markers for forensic body fluid identification, we performed DNA microarray experiment with 24 Korean body fluid samples. Shannon entropy and Q-values were calculated for each gene, and 137 body-fluid-specific candidate genes were selected. By applying more stringent criteria, we further selected 28 candidate genes and validated them by RT-PCR and qRT-PCR. As a result, we suggest a novel combination of four body-fluid-specific mRNA makers: PPBP for blood, FDCSP for saliva, MSMB for semen and MSLN for vaginal secretion. Multiplex qRT-PCR assay was designed using the four mRNA markers and DNA/RNA co-extraction method was tested for forensic use. This study will provide a thorough examination of body-fluid-specifically expressed mRNAs, which will enlarge the possibility of practical use of RNA for forensic purpose.

Warehouse capacity sharing via transshipment for an integrated two-echelon supply chain

Feng, X.,Moon, I.,Ryu, K. Elsevier Science Ltd ; Pergamon ; Elsevier Science 2017 TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANS Vol.104 No.-

<P>Warehouse capacity constraint has been one obstacle to achieving the channel-wide optimal decision in inventory management. We studied an integrated inventory model consisting of a single vendor and multiple buyers with warehouse capacity sharing via transshipment. We proposed an optimal transshipment policy by developing nonlinear programming models and genetic algorithms as well as obtaining Karush-Kuhn-Tucker points. This inventory policy can significantly reduce the channel-wide cost and the performance is influenced by the consideration of fixed transshipment costs. Sensitivity analyses show that parameters have different impacts on the channel-wide cost and the performances of the algorithms. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.</P>