Effects of genetic variants of ST8SIA2 and NCAM1 genes on seasonal mood changes and circadian preference in the general population

ST8SIA2 and NCAM1 are functionally related genes forming polysialic acid (PSA) - neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) complex in suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the regulating site of circadian biological rhythm. In this study, the relationship of ST8SIA2 and NCAM1 with circadian and seasonal rhythms of human behavior was explored. Subjects were 261 healthy Korean adults who were free of any history of clinically significant psychiatric symptoms. The phenotypes were circadian preference and seasonal change of mood and behavior (seasonality) measured by the Composite Scale of Morningness and the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire, respectively. Thirty-four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the ST8SIA2 region and 15 SNPs of NCAM1 were analyzed. A nominally significant association with seasonality and circadian preference was observed in 21 variants of both genes. After corrections for multiple testing, associations of 8 SNPs of ST8SIA2 and 2 SNPs of NCAM1 with seasonality remained significant. Some of these SNPs were also associated with psychiatric disorders in previous studies. This study demonstrated a meaningful and/or suggestive evidence of association between behavioral phenotypes reflecting human biological rhythm and two interplaying genes involved in the plasticity of SCN’s neuronal network.     

Enhanced production of human interferon-gamma by the use of a combination of inducers--phytohemagglutinin, picibanil and tumor promoting agent

Phytohemagglutinin (PHA), picibanil (OK432) and tumor promoting agent (TPA) were tested in various combinations for optimal induction of human interferon-gamma (HuIFN-gamma). It was found that the use of a mixture of all 3 inducers resulted in IFN production 2-3 times higher than either PHA (10 micrograms/ml) in combination with TPA (5 ng/ml) or picibanil (10 micrograms/ml) alone. The IFN was produced by T lymphocytes and could be neutralized by specific IFN-gamma antiserum. It was pH 2.0 labile and species specific.     

SiteSeek: Post-translational modification analysis using adaptive locality-effective kernel methods and new profiles

Background  

Post-translational modifications have a substantial influence on the structure and functions of protein. Post-translational phosphorylation is one of the most common modification that occur in intracellular proteins. Accurate prediction of protein phosphorylation sites is of great importance for the understanding of diverse cellular signalling processes in both the human body and in animals. In this study, we propose a new machine learning based protein phosphorylation site predictor, SiteSeek. SiteSeek is trained using a novel compact evolutionary and hydrophobicity profile to detect possible protein phosphorylation sites for a target sequence. The newly proposed method proves to be more accurate and exhibits a much stable predictive performance than currently existing phosphorylation site predictors.     

Graphene films show stable cell attachment and biocompatibility with electrogenic primary cardiac cells

Graphene has attracted substantial attention due to its advantageous materialistic applicability. In the present study, we tested the biocompatibility of graphene films synthesized by chemical vapor deposition with electrogenic primary adult cardiac cells (cardiomyocytes) by measuring the cell properties such as cell attachment, survival, contractility and calcium transients. The results show that the graphene films showed stable cell attachment and excellent biocompatibility with the electrogenic cardiomyocytes, suggesting their useful applications for future cell biology studies.