Exposure to ultraviolet light can cause inflammation, premature skin aging, and cancer. UV irradiation alters the expression of multiple genes that encode functions to repair DNA damage, arrest cell ...growth, and induce apoptosis. In addition, UV irradiation inhibits protein synthesis, although the mechanism is not known. In this report, we show that UV irradiation induces phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 on the α-subunit (eIF2α) and inhibits protein synthesis in a dosage- and time-dependent manner. The UV-induced phosphorylation of eIF2α was prevented by the overexpression of a non-phosphorylatable mutant of eIF2α (S51A). PERK is an eIF2α protein kinase localized to the endoplasmic reticulum that is activated by the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. Expression of trans- dominant-negative mutants of PERK also prevented eIF2α phosphorylation upon UV treatment and protected from the associated translation attenuation. The luminal domain of dominant-negative mutant PERK formed heterodimers with endogenous PERK to inhibit the PERK signaling pathway. In contrast, eIF2α phosphorylation was not inhibited by overexpression of a trans-dominant-negative mutant kinase, PKR, supporting the theory that UV-induced eIF2α phosphorylation is specifically mediated by PERK. These results support a novel mechanism by which UV irradiation regulates translation via an endoplasmic reticulum-stress signaling pathway.
This paper presents an experimental investigation on the wind-induced vibration of a transmission tower-line system. A discrete stiffness method is applied to design the aero-elastic model on the ...basis of similarity theory. The dynamic characteristics of the single tower and the tower-line system are identified and the displacement responses at different positions are obtained under a variety of wind speeds. The mean and the RMS of the displacements as well as their spectra are discussed. Moreover, the test results and the codal specifications are compared in terms of the wind-induced vibration coefficient. The first natural frequency of the single tower is slightly larger than that of the tower-line system. But the damping ratio of the former is smaller than that of the latter, especially in the direction normal to the conductors. At the wind attack angle of 90°, the conductors significantly increase the longitudinal and lateral displacement RMS as well as the longitudinal mean displacement. And more complicated forms of vibration are aroused by the conductors, especially in the lateral direction. The wind-induced vibration coefficient show a notable rise at the position of cross arm, which cannot be characterized by Chinese code. Besides, the wind-induced vibration coefficient specified by the code is much smaller than test results thus the codal value seems to be unsafe for the UHV transmission tower.
A highly anisotropic etching process with low etch-induced damage is indispensable for advanced HgCdTe (MCT) infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) detectors. The inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ...enhanced reactive ion etching technique has been widely adopted in manufacturing HgCdTe IRFPA devices. An accurately patterned mask with sharp edges is decisive to accomplish pattern duplication. It has been reported by our group that the SiO
2
mask functions well in etching HgCdTe with high selectivity. However, the wet process in defining the SiO
2
mask is limited by ambiguous edges and nonuniform patterns. In this report, we patterned SiO
2
with a mature ICP etching technique, prior to which a thin ZnS film was deposited by thermal evaporation. The SiO
2
film etching can be terminated at the auto-stopping point of the ZnS layer thanks to the high selectivity of SiO
2
/ZnS in SF
6
based etchant. Consequently, MCT etching was directly performed without any other treatment. This mask showed acceptable profile due to the maturity of the SiO
2
etching process. The well-defined SiO
2
pattern and the etched smooth surfaces were investigated with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscope. This new mask process could transfer the patterns exactly with very small etch-bias. A cavity with aspect-ratio (AR) of 1.2 and root mean square roughness of 1.77 nm was achieved first, slightly higher AR of 1.67 was also get with better mask profile. This masking process ensures good uniformity and surely benefits the delineation of shrinking pixels with its high resolution.
The 19F(p, αγ)16O reaction is of crucial importance for Galactic 19F abundances and CNO cycle loss in first generation Population III stars. Due to its extremely small cross sections, the 19F(p, ...αγ)16O reaction has not been measured in the low energy part of the Gamow window(70-200 keV). As a day-one campaign, the experiment was performed under the extremely low cosmicray-induced background environment of the China JinPing Underground Laboratory(CJPL), one of the deepest underground laboratories in the world. The γ-ray yields were measured over Ec.m. =72.4–344 keV, covering the full Gamow window for the first time. The direct experimental data will help people to expound the fluorine over-abundances, energy generation, as well as heavy-element nuclosynthesis scenario in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, with the astrophysical model on the firm ground.
Tumor cell adaptation to hypoxic stress is an important determinant of malignant progression. While much emphasis has been placed on the role of HIF‐1 in this context, the role of additional ...mechanisms has not been adequately explored. Here we demonstrate that cells cultured under hypoxic/anoxic conditions and transformed cells in hypoxic areas of tumors activate a translational control program known as the integrated stress response (ISR), which adapts cells to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Inactivation of ISR signaling by mutations in the ER kinase PERK and the translation initiation factor eIF2α or by a dominant‐negative PERK impairs cell survival under extreme hypoxia. Tumors derived from these mutant cell lines are smaller and exhibit higher levels of apoptosis in hypoxic areas compared to tumors with an intact ISR. Moreover, expression of the ISR targets ATF4 and CHOP was noted in hypoxic areas of human tumor biopsy samples. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that activation of the ISR is required for tumor cell adaptation to hypoxia, and suggest that this pathway is an attractive target for antitumor modalities.
Measurements of mass and Λ binding energy of $^{4}_{Λ}$H and $^{4}_{Λ}$He in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 3 GeV are presented, with an aim to address the charge symmetry breaking (CSB) ...problem in hypernuclei systems with atomic number A = 4. The Λ binding energies are measured to be 2.22±0.06(stat.)±0.14(syst.) MeV and 2.38±0.13(stat.)±0.12(syst.) MeV for $^{4}_{Λ}$H and $^{4}_{Λ}$He, respectively. The measured Λ binding-energy difference is 0.16±0.14(stat.)±0.10(syst.) MeV for ground states. Combined with the γ-ray transition energies, the binding-energy difference for excited states is –0.16±0.14(stat.)±0.10(syst.) MeV, which is negative and comparable to the value of the ground states within uncertainties. These new measurements on the Λ binding-energy difference in A = 4 hypernuclei systems are consistent with the theoretical calculations that result in ΔB$^{4}_{Λ}$($1^{+}_{exc}$) ≈ –ΔB$^{4}_{Λ}$($0^{+}_{g.s.}$) < 0 and present a new method for the study of CSB effect using relativistic heavy-ion collisions.