Given a passage, construct a question on the basis of the information present in the passage. Construct the question in such a way that (i) it is unambiguous, (ii) it is answerable from the passage, (iii) its answer is unique (iv) it answer uses text phrases from the passage. Avoid creating questions that (i) can't be answered correctly without actually understanding the passage and (ii) uses the same words or phrases given in the passage.

To fully understand the cytotoxicity of after-degradation QDs, we synthesized CdS QDs and investigated its toxicity mechanism.', 'Biomimetic method was proposed to synthesize cadmium sulfide (CdS) QDs. Thereafter MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay was conducted to evaluate their cytotoxicity. To investigate the toxicity mechanism, we subsequently conducted intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) measurement with DCFH-DA, glutathione (GSH) measurement with DTNB, and cellular cadmium assay using atomic absorption spectrometer. Microsized CdS were simultaneously tested as a comparison.', "MTT assay results indicated that CdS QDs are more toxic than microsized CdS especially at concentrations below 40 microg/ml. While microsized CdS did not trigger ROS elevation, CdS QDs increase ROS by 20-30% over control levels. However, they both deplete cellular GSH significantly at the medium concentration of 20 microg/ml. In the presence of NAC, cells are partially protected from CdS QDs, but not from microsized particles. Additionally, nearly 20% of cadmium was released from CdS nanoparticles within 24h, which also accounts for QDs' toxicity.
Do intracellular oxidative stress and cadmium ions release induce cytotoxicity of unmodified cadmium sulfide quantum dots?

Sprague and Tatum (1942) introduced the concepts of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) to evaluate the breeding parents and F1 hybrid performance, respectively. Since then, the GCA was widely used in cross breeding for elite parent selection. However, the molecular basis of GCA remains to unknown.', 'We studied the transcriptomes of three varieties and three\xa0F1 hybrids using RNA-Sequencing. Transcriptome sequence analysis revealed that the transcriptome profiles of the F1s were similar to the positive GCA-effect parent. Moreover, the expression levels of most differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were equal to the parent with a positive GCA effect. Analysis of the gene expression patterns of gibberellic acid (GA) and flowering time pathways that determine plant height and flowering time in rice validated the preferential transcriptome expression of the parents with positive GCA effect. Furthermore, H3K36me3 modification bias in the Pseudo-Response Regulators (PRR) gene family was observed in the positive GCA effect parents and demonstrated that the phenotype and transcriptome bias in the positive GCA effect parents have been epigenetically regulated by either global modification or specific signaling pathways in rice.
Is the phenotypic predisposition of the parent in F1 hybrid correlated with transcriptome preference of the positive general combining ability parent?

We investigated suspected food intolerances in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) for real-time visualization of structural/functional changes in the intestinal mucosa after food challenge. Patients with functional changes after food challenge (CLE+) were placed on personalized exclusion diets and followed up for long-term symptom relief.', "Thirty-six IBS patients with suspected food intolerance and 10 patients with Barrett's esophagus (controls) without IBS symptoms were examined by CLE at University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel, Germany). Diluted food antigens were administered directly to the duodenal mucosa through the working channel of the endoscope. Epithelial breaks, intervillous spaces, and the number of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) were measured before and after the food challenge. CLE+ patients were placed on exclusion diets, given symptom score questionnaires, and followed up for 1 year; controls resumed their previous diet.", 'CLE showed a real-time response to food antigens in 22 of 36 patients; no responses were observed in 14 of 36 patients (CLE-) or any of the controls. Baseline IELs were significantly higher in CLE+ than CLE- subjects (P\xa0= .004); numbers increased significantly after food challenge (P\xa0= .0008). Within 5 minutes of exposure of CLE+ patients to food antigens, IELs increased, epithelial leaks/gaps formed, and intervillous spaces widened. Epithelial leaks and intervillous spaces also increased significantly in CLE+ vs baseline (both P < .001). The concordance of IELs measured by CLE and conventional histology was 70.6%; they did not correlate (P\xa0= .89; r(2)\xa0= 0.027). Symptom scores improved more than 50% in CLE+ patients after a 4-week exclusion diet and increased to 74% at 12 months; symptoms continued in CLE- patients.

Does confocal endomicroscopy show food-associated changes in the intestinal mucosa of patients with irritable bowel syndrome?