The recent surge in interest in the metal-enhanced fluorescence MEF phenomenon and its numerous applications in the biosciences has fueled research into identifying alternative metals to silver which have desirable properties, such as enhanced emission and fluorophore photostability. In this paper, we subsequently study and reveal that tin nanodeposits are a suitable metal for MEF with an elect...

Chemically fixed mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), instead of live feeder cells, were applied to the maintenance of mouse induced pluripotent stem (miPS) cells. Formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde were used for chemical fixation. The chemically fixed MEF feeders maintained the pluripotency of miPS cells, as well as their undifferentiated state. Furthermore, the chemically fixed MEF feeders were r...

Recently, the influence of thermal processes on electrophysiology has clearly been underlined by Bini et al. [2], using a FitzHugh–Nagumo-type (FHN-type) model. When the temperature is raised, the action potential duration (APD) has been shown to shorten, while the action potential (AP) amplitude decreases, and the conduction velocity increases [2]. In the present study, we investigate the effe...

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a fatal demyelinating disease caused by cytolytic destruction of oligodendrocytes, the myelin-producing cells of the central nervous system, by the human neurotropic JC virus (JCV). The early protein of JCV, T antigen, which is produced at the early stage of infection, is important for orchestrating the events leading to viral lytic infection ...

Adipogenesis, in which mesenchymal precursor cells differentiate into mature adipocytes, is a well orchestrated process. In the present study we identified Tudor-SN as a novel co-activator of the transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). We provide the first evidence that Tudor-SN and PPARγ exist in the same complex. Both are up-regulated by the early factor C/E...

This study describes a new simulator that provides haptic biofeedback to help manual wheelchair users gain a more effective propulsion pattern. Propulsion effectiveness is measured using the mechanical effective force (MEF). The simulator implements a dynamic model that replicates overground propulsion conditions. Haptic biofeedback increases the feeling of rolling resistance if the user’s MEF ...

A population often contains distinct sub-populations, thereby increasing the complexity of the overall heterogeneity. However, the cellular origin and biological relevance of sub-populations in cell population have not been clearly identified. Here we demonstrated the novel roles of ISGylation, which is an IFN-induced post-translational modification, controlling heterogeneity at the population ...

In a healthy heart, the mechano-electric feedback (MEF) process acts as an intrinsic regulatory mechanism of the myocardium which allows the normal cardiac contraction by damping mechanical perturbations in order to generate a new healthy electromechanical situation. However, under certain conditions, the MEF can be a generator of dramatic arrhythmias by inducing local electrical depolarization...

Rapid presymptomatic diagnosis of Bacillus anthracis at early stages of infection plays a crucial role in prompt medical intervention to prevent rapid disease progression and accumulation of lethal levels of toxin. To detect low levels of the anthrax protective antigen (PA) exotoxin in biological fluids, we have developed a metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF)-PA assay using a combination of the M...