This research investigated a non-thermal, dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) plasma-based approach to prepare poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) from acrylic acid in its liquid state at atmospheric temperature and pressure. Neither additives nor solvents were needed, and the polymerization was accomplished both as a film and inside a sheet of mesoporous paper. All prepared samples were characterized and the DBD plasma-initiated kinetics were analyzed for the polymerization of acrylic acid. Using FTIR semi-quantitative analysis, the degree of polymerization was monitored, and the reaction followed an overall second-order kinetic model with respect to the DBD-initiated polymerization. Additionally, the application of a PAA-modified paper as a water retention cloth or ‘wet wipe’ was investigated. The results showed that the PAA-modified paper substrates using DBD plasma increased water retention as a function of plasma treatment time.

Six hundred million cases of disease and roughly 420,000 deaths occur globally each year due to foodborne pathogens. Current methods to screen and identify pathogens in swine, poultry, and cattle products include immuno-based techniques (e.g., immunoassay integrated biosensors), molecular methods (e.g., DNA hybridization and PCR assays), and traditional culturing. These methods are often used in tandem to screen, quantify, and characterize samples, prolonging real-time comprehensive analysis. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a relatively new technology that combines DNA-sequencing chemistry and bioinformatics to generate and analyze large amounts of short- or long-read DNA sequences and whole genomes. The goal of this project was to evaluate the quantitative capabilities of the real-time NGS Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ MinION sequencer through a shotgun-based sequencing approach. This investigation explored the correlation between known amounts of the analyte (lambda DNA as a pathogenic bacterial surrogate) with data output, in both the presence and absence of a background matrix (Bos taurus DNA). A positive linear correlation was observed between the concentration of analyte and the amount of data produced, number of bases sequenced, and number of reads generated in both the presence and absence of a background matrix. In the presence of bovine DNA, the sequenced data were successfully mapped to the NCBI lambda reference genome. Furthermore, the workflow from pre-extracted DNA to target identification took less than 3 h, demonstrating the potential of long-read sequencing in food safety as a rapid method for screening, identification, and quantification.

Primary liver cancer represents a significant global health burden, with limited therapeutic options for advanced disease. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are increasingly found to play crucial roles in hepatic biology and disease progression. Here, we identify FAM99A as a highly liver-enriched lncRNA that is systematically downregulated across liver malignancies, with reduced expression correlating with poor clinical outcomes. FAM99A exhibits remarkable tissue specificity with minimal expression outside the liver, and its levels rapidly decline during primary hepatocyte dedifferentiation in culture. Through isoform analysis, we establish FAM99A-203 as the predominant transcript in normal liver tissue and observe altered isoform distribution in liver cancers. Functionally, FAM99A overexpression inhibits anchorage-independent growth in liver cancer cell lines. Transcriptomic analysis reveals that FAM99A negatively regulates translation-related pathways in both liver cancer cells and primary hepatocytes. This is corroborated by protein synthesis assays showing that FAM99A overexpression substantially reduces global translation rates. Targeted RNase H-mediated extraction coupled with mass spectrometry identifies multiple components of the translation machinery as direct FAM99A binding partners, including eukaryotic translation initiation factors and RNA helicases involved in ribosome biogenesis. Clinical data analysis demonstrates significant inverse correlations between FAM99A expression and ribosomal protein genes in liver cancer patients. Additionally, hepatitis B virus appears to downregulate FAM99A expression, potentially contributing to its oncogenic properties. Our findings establish FAM99A as a liver-enriched translational regulator that exerts tumor-suppressive effects by restraining protein synthesis rates, offering insights into hepatocarcinogenesis and the potential of FAM99A as both a biomarker and agent in new therapeutic avenues.