ooencyrtus fecundus ferriere & voegele (hymenoptera: encyrtidae) is one of the gregarious egg parasitoids of sunn pest that can superparasitize the host. superparasitism has inverse effects on fitness, reproductive potential, competition ability and adult size of gregarious parasitoids. in this study, the effects of superparasitism and its intensity (four levels including singleton, twin, tripl...

Polyethylenimine (PEI) is one of the most potent non-viral vectors. We have developed a lactosylated PEI (Lac-PEI) to enhance cell-specific transfection and have shown that Lac-PEI is more efficient than unsubstituted PEI for gene transfer into immortalized cystic fibrosis airway epithelial SigmaCFTE29o-cells. As both intact PEI/plasmid and Lac-PEI/plasmid complexes are found in the cell nucleu...

Poly(ether imide) (PEI) is being explored as potential biomaterial for cardiovascular applications. Different studies showed that human umbilical venous endothelial cells (HUVEC) are able to adhere and proliferate on PEI membranes (R(q) = 13.20 ± 1.58 nm). A recently published study revealed evidence for much lower platelet adhesion on very smooth PEI-films (R(q) = 2.37 ± 1.40 nm). Therefore, w...

BACKGROUND Ebola virus (EBOV) infection causes a frequently fatal hemorrhagic fever (HF) that is refractory to treatment with currently available antiviral therapeutics. RNA interference represents a powerful, naturally occurring biological strategy for the inhibition of gene expression and has demonstrated utility in the inhibition of viral replication. Here, we describe the development of a p...

AIM To assess whether the effectiveness of a combination of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is superior to TACE alone a randomized controlled trial was performed. METHODS The effect of combination therapy on long-term survival rates and duration of hospitalization was evaluated in 5...

AIMS Delivery of siRNA to the lungs via inhalation offers a unique opportunity to develop a new treatment paradigm for a range of respiratory conditions. However, progress has been greatly hindered by safety and delivery issues. This study developed a high-throughput method for screening novel nanotechnologies for pulmonary siRNA delivery. METHODOLOGY Following physicochemical analysis, the a...

Previous studies have reported exaggerated increases in arterial blood pressure during exercise in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. However, little is known regarding the underlying neural mechanism(s) involved. We hypothesized that T2D patients would exhibit an augmented muscle metaboreflex activation and this contributes to greater pressor and sympathetic responses during exercise. Mean arteri...

Oxidized graphene sheets (OGS) were treated with a hyperbranched polyethylenimine (PEI) under hydrothermal conditions to generate nanocomposites of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) functionalized with PEI (GQD-PEIs). The influence of the reaction temperature and the PEI/OGS feed ratio on the photoluminescence properties of the GQD-PEIs was studied. The obtained GQD-PEIs were characterized by TEM, d...

There is a general necessity to improve the specificity and efficiency of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and exploring the PCR-enhancing mechanism still remains a great challenge. In this paper we report the use of branched polyethyleneimine (PEI)-based derivatives and hybrid nanocomposites as a novel class of enhancers to improve the specificity and efficiency of a nonspecific PCR system...

Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) frequently occurs secondary to exocrine pancreatic disease (e.g. chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, cancer) or pancreatic/gastrointestinal surgery, resulting in the maldigestion of nutrients and consequently malnutrition. Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) is the cornerstone of PEI management. Despite its clinical relevance, the diagnosis of...