Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is an interesting biomarker finding increased use for detecting long term alcohol abuse with high specificity and sensitivity. Prior to detection, sample preparation is an unavoidable step in the work-flow of PEth analysis and new protocols may facilitate it. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is a versatile sample preparation method widely spread in biomedical laboratories du

The addition of hydrogen to swirl stabilized methane-air flame in gas turbine has gained more and more attentions in recent years. In the current study, flame structures, flame dynamics and lean blowout limits of partially premixed hydrogen-methane-air flames were investigated. The swirling flow, which was generated from the tangential flow injection, was utilized to stabilize the flame. The flow

Although sexual selection and sexual conflict are important evolutionary forces in animals, their significance in plants is uncertain. In hermaphroditic organisms, such as many plants, sexual conflict may occur both between mating partners (interlocus conflict) and between male and female sex roles within an individual (intralocus conflict). We performed experimental evolution, involving lines tha

Glatiramer acetate is used therapeutically in multiple sclerosis but also known for adverse effects including elevated coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. The mechanisms underlying the cardiovascular side effects of the medication are unclear. Here, we made use of the chromosomal variation in the genes that are known to be affected by glatiramer treatment. Focusing on genes and gene products repor

Play is an enigmatic behaviour, the function of which is still debated, despite more than a century of research. We discuss the evolutionary function of play behaviour, focusing on the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a unique species due to its past domestication and current cohabitation with humans. The ultimate function of play in dogs is explored through four main theories: 1) developing motor

The tumour suppressor gene TP53 is mutated in more than 50 % of human tumours, making it one of the most important cancer genes. We have investigated the role of TP53 in cytochrome P450 (CYP)-mediated metabolic activation of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a panel of isogenic colorectal HCT116 cells with differing TP53 status. Cells that were TP53(+/+), TP53(+/-), TP53(-/-), TP53(

2'-Deoxy-N(6)-methyladenosine (N(6)mdA) is frequently found in prokaryotic and unicellular eukaryotic genomes. Although methylated bases represent only a minor fraction of the genome, they, however, exhibit strong biological effects. Here, we report a fast and sensitive method for the quantification of global adenine methylation in DNA. The method is based on a recently developed procedure consist

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) genes form a highly conserved gene cluster at the lung cancer susceptibility locus 15q25.1. In this study, we show that the CHRNalpha3 gene encoding the nAChRalpha3 subunit is a frequent target of aberrant DNA hypermethylation and silencing in lung cancer, whereas the adjacent CHRNbeta4 and CHRNalpha5 genes exhibit moderate and no methylation, respectively.

The transverse momentum (pT) spectra and elliptic flow coefficient (v2) of deuterons and anti-deuterons at mid-rapidity (| y| < 0.5) are measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN = 2.76 TeV. The measurement of the pTspectra of (anti-)deuterons is done up to 8 GeV/ c in 0–10% centrality class and up to 6 GeV/ c in 10–20% and 20–40% centrality classes. The v2is measured

The likelihood that females will breed or how much they invest in reproduction can depend on the characters of their male partners. Such differential allocation may enhance or limit gene flow between hybridizing lineages, in particular when the lineages have diverged in sexually selected characters. Populations of the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) in some regions of Italy exhibit striking