CRISPR/Cas9 assisted gene targeting efficiently inhibits bovine herpesvirus-1 replication

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/ CRISPR associated protein (cas) are now being accepted as a highly specific method of gene editing. Among many other applications, CRISPR/cas has an immense potential to be used as antivirals. In this study, we successfully demonstrated CRISPR/Cas9 mediated inhibition of Bovine Herpes virus -1 (BHV-1) replication. BHV-1 causes economically important diseases in bovines with establishment of latency. Six essential genes and one non-essential gene of BHV-1 were targeted to assess the impact on virus replication. Inhibition of UL52, circ, and UL27 genes showed promising results, whereas the other three genes US6, UL18, and UL34 resulted in lower level of inhibition. Non-specific gene editing in host and virus was in-silico evaluated and was demonstrated by inhibition of virus induced apoptosis. Successful editing of one viral non-essential gene without any alterations in virus replication demonstrated the potential of CRISPR/Cas9 in replicating viral genome. Complete abrogation of virus replication was observed transiently (~24 hours post-transfection/hpt) when transfected with short lived in-vitro transcribed sgRNAs. Whereas, under constant expression of sgRNAs through plasmid, complete inhibition of virus replication was observed till ~72 hours post-infection. Complete inhibition of replication was also observed with in-vitro transcribed sgRNA when booster dose of sgRNA was trasnfected at 24hpt. It has been speculated that constant expression with plasmid based delivery may result in off-target activity which can be ruled out with short lived in-vitro transcribed sgRNA.

TRANSFORMATION OF PHRASEOLOGIES IN THE LANGUAGE OF MASMEDIA (ON THE EXAMPLE OF GERMAN ASTROLOGICAL FORECASTS)

The aim of the research was to study phraseological transformation in the context of mass media discourse. It is found that the study of phraseology is comprehensive, which allows to study it in different aspects, taking into account the system-linguistic, linguistic and cultural, linguistic and cognitive and functional areas. Today the research of phraseological transformations which are considered as relevant changes in lexical structure, syntactic structure, semantics of a constant expression acquires special urgency. It is necessary to distinguish between simple and analytical forms of transformation, where the first is to change / delete only the word / words in the structure of phraseology, which causes partial changes in the semantics of the language unit, and the second is to change not only the structure but also the semantics of permanent expression.syntactic, lexical, morphological changes. The study is based on two German women’s magazines BRIGITTE, GLAMOUR, which in the German media space are particularly popular by relevant topics: fashion, career, beauty, trends and lifestyle, relationships and partnerships. It is established that the texts of astrological predictions belong to the address and reference subcontinent, the main purpose of which is to interest the reader, the promotion of key ideas of the publication, the formation of worldview. On the example of German astrological predictions, the most productive types of phraseological transformation are analyzed and its main functions are established, namely: emotionality, expressiveness, expressiveness, accuracy, etc. It is found that the most part of transformations take place both in the structure and in the semantics of a stable expression.

Constant expression of somatostatin receptor 2a in minute pulmonary meningothelial-like nodules

AimsAlthough ultrastructural studies showed that minute pulmonary meningothelial-like nodules (MPMNs) cells closely resembled meningothelial cells, their immunophenotype has not been well characterised, partly due to their rarity.MethodsSomatostatin receptor 2a (SSTR2a) and other markers of meningioma, including epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), progesterone receptor (PR) and S100, were analysed retrospectively in 19 MPMN cases from two institutions in China.ResultsThe median age of patients with MPMNs was 62.5 years (32–73 years), with a male-to-female ratio of 1:8.5. Most (15/19) patients with MPMNs had coexisting diseases, including adenocarcinomas (12 cases), bronchiectasis (1 case) and tuberculosis (2 cases). Just over half of the cases (10/19) were multifocal lesions (2–5 lesions). An additional 53 cases with 123 lesions from the literature were reviewed with reported immunophenotype information. In total, 162 lesions were included in the analysis. The size of nodules was 1–4 mm. All MPMN lesions (39/39) in the 19 cases showed strong and diffuse cytoplasmic expression of SSTR2a. The expression rate of SSTR2a was higher than that of conventional markers of meningioma, including EMA (86/138), PR (32/68) and S100 (1/125).ConclusionsOur observations expand the spectrum of recognised SSTR2a-positive lesions and once again demonstrated that MPMNs show immunohistochemical characteristics similar to meningothelial cells.

Analisis Bentuk Musik atas Kesenian Laras Madya dan Resistensinya dalam Budaya Jawa

The Laras madya is a development form of Santiswaran music from the time of Pakubuwono X (1893-1930) in Kasunanan Surakarta. This is a Javanese-Islamic cultures blend of music that its song lyric is based on the Serat Wulangreh text written by Pakubuwono IV. The Laras Madya instrumentation is generally utilized traditional percussions such as the kendang, the terbang dhana, the terbang gong, and the two-pitches saron, to accompany the Bowo (solo singer), and the Gerong (accompanist singer). This study discusses the uniqueness of Larasa Madya’s musical form and its resistance from the domination of mass culture. Therefore, this research is aimed to describe and analyze the Laras madya’s musical form, and the resistance. This study applies interdisciplinary approaches to musicology, cultural studies, and socio-anthropology, through qualitative methods. This study result indicates that the Laras madya is a form of Javanese ensemble which characterized by rhythm repetition, the use of the Slendro pentatonic melody, constant expression, and moderate-andante tempo. To resist from the hegemony of mass culture, the Laras Madya owns some efforts to form such public opinion/ campaign through cultural festival media, as its open resistance characteristic, and also to raise rumors on the negative image of mass culture as a class domination that is conducted bt individuals, as the trait of closed resistance.

Optical transmission singularities in light propagation through double active barrier structure

Propagation of the electromagnetic wave through a system with complex permittivity is investigated. The system consists of two media, one is passive and surrounds the two barrier slabs made out of the second material with complex dielectric constant. Expression for transmission probability is obtained along with equation which allows calculation of the resonant frequency. Analytical expressions for reflection and absorption probabilities are acquired as well. It will be shown, if the frequency is given, that the transmission probability (along with reflection and absorption probabilities) approaches infinity for one particular value of the dielectric constant with negative imaginary part, which is used to describe active media. Furthermore, conditions for appearance of these transmission singularities are obtained.

Gibberellin Control of Reproductive Transitions in Brassica oleracea Curd Development

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and broccoli (B. oleracea var. italica) differ in the developmental stage of the reproductive meristem at harvest. A cauliflower head is formed by arrest at the inflorescence meristem stage and broccoli at the flower bud stage, and the horticultural value of the crop depends on synchronous development across the head. In other plant species, gibberellin (GA) can promote floral development and is therefore a candidate for providing the early developmental cues that shape the curd morphology. This research investigated the effect of GAs on the two horticulturally important transitions of the reproductive meristem: initiation of the inflorescence meristem and initiation of floral primordia on the proliferated inflorescence meristems. GA is known to affect the former in many species, but effects on the latter have not been determined. It is also not known whether one or both active forms produced by the two GA biosynthetic pathways is involved in the reproductive transitions in this crop. GAs from the early-13 hydroxylation pathway (GA3) and the non-13 hydroxylation pathway (GA4+7) were applied to the shoot apical meristems of cauliflower and broccoli at three developmental stages: adult-vegetative, curd initiation, and curd enlargement. GAs applied during the adult vegetative stage caused the curd to form faster and after fewer additional nodes in both cauliflower and broccoli. GAs applied to the inflorescence meristem did not cause floral primordia to form nor did the expression of transition-associated genes change. Integrator genes BoLFY and SOC1 had constant expression over 24 hours, and meristem-identity genes BoAP1-a and BoAP1-c remained undetectable. However, GAs applied early during the reproductive phase increased bract development in cauliflower curds. This study shows that GAs from both pathways can trigger the vegetative-to-reproductive transition in both cauliflower and broccoli, resulting in earlier curd formation. However, GAs did not advance the inflorescence-meristem-to-floral-primordium transition; on the contrary, they increased bract incidence in cauliflower, a sign of reversion toward the vegetative stage, suggesting that another pathway is responsible for this second transition in cauliflower and broccoli.