ABSTRACT
Visualizing the biodistribution of pesticides inside living cells is great importance for enhancing targeting of pesticides. Here we reported for the first time that gold nanorods (Au NRs) with size of 39.4 nm x 11.3 nm could be used as a fluorescent tracer to examine the distribution of a typical herbicide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), in tobacco bright yellow 2 (BY-2) cells. The nanostructures of hybrid materials were analyzed by using Raman spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), including spectra assignments and electronic property. These data revealed 2,4-D has successfully conjugated MP-Au NRs according to Raman and XPS. The biodistribution of the conjugates inside BY-2 cells was directly examined at 12 and 24 h by the two-photon microscopy. The intensity of two-photon luminescence (TPL) inside cells demonstrated that the conjugates could be localized and excluded by BY-2 cells. Thus, this labeling approach opens up new avenues to the facile and efficient labeling of pesticides.
Subject(s)
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid/pharmacokinetics , Gold/chemistry , Nanoconjugates/chemistry , Nanotubes/chemistry , Nicotiana/metabolism , Cells, Cultured , Crystallization/methods , Materials Testing , Microscopy, Fluorescence/methods , Molecular Imaging/methods , Nanoconjugates/ultrastructure , Nanotubes/ultrastructure , Particle Size , Pesticides/pharmacokinetics , Subcellular Fractions/chemistry , Subcellular Fractions/metabolism , Subcellular Fractions/ultrastructure , Nicotiana/chemistryABSTRACT
Fisher's exact test (FET) is a conditional method that is frequently used to analyze data in a 2 × 2 table for small samples. This test is conservative and attempts have been made to modify the test to make it less conservative. For example, Crans and Shuster (2008) proposed adding more points in the rejection region to make the test more powerful. We provide another way to modify the test to make it less conservative by using two independent binomial distributions as the reference distribution for the test statistic. We compare our new test with several methods and show that our test has advantages over existing methods in terms of control of the type 1 and type 2 errors. We reanalyze results from an oncology trial using our proposed method and our software which is freely available to the reader.
ABSTRACT
To examine the clinical features of male patients with eating disorders in Singapore; and determine the differences in clinical features between the patients across the diagnostic categories. Methods: This is a database analysis of all male cases presenting to the Eating Disorders Clinic at Singapore General Hospital between 2003 and 2012. Results: 72 cases were identified; 36.1% were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, 33.3% had bulimia nervosa and 30.5% had the diagnosis of eating disorder not otherwise specified. The mean presenting age was 19.9 years. 63.9% were heterosexual, while 15.3% were homosexual/bisexual. 61.1% had comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, with depression being the most common. 59.7% recorded premorbid obesity, while 66.7% reported excessive exercise. The patients in the various diagnostic categories had more similarities than differences. Conclusion: With more male cases over the years, it is important to further understand this condition, to better refine prevention, detection and treatment strategies.
