We demonstrate control of the carrier-envelope phase of ultrashort periodic waveforms that are synthesized from a Raman-generated optical frequency comb. We generated the comb by adiabatically ...driving a molecular vibrational coherence with a beam at a fundamental frequency plus its second harmonic. Heterodyne measurements show that full interpulse phase locking of the comb components is realized. The results set the stage for the synthesis of periodic arbitrary waveforms in the femtosecond and subfemtosecond regimes with full control.
Steroid fears in children with eczema Hon, Kam-Lun Ellis; Kam, Wai-Yan Christy; Leung, Ting-Fan ...
Acta Paediatrica,
November 2006, Letnik:
95, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Background: Topical glucocorticoids (GCs) are the mainstay of treatment for eczema, but GC phobia and fears are very common among the parents of paediatric patients. Aim: To survey the nature and ...extent of “fears” of GC use, and to evaluate if disease severity is associated with such fears. Methods: Patients with eczema managed in the paediatric dermatology outpatient clinic of a university hospital were recruited in this survey. Disease severity and various aspects of belief and practices of GC use were assessed with the Nottingham Eczema Severity Score and a questionnaire. Results: GC “fears” were present in two fifths of informants with non‐eczematous skin disease and mild eczema, but three fifths in moderate‐to‐severe disease. Requests for steroid‐sparing medications (such as tacrolimus or pimecrolimus) had been made in nearly 50% of cases with moderate‐to‐severe eczema, and many parents would wait until eczema had worsened or apply GC only as a last resort to avoid potential side effects. “Fears” were predominantly interpersonal and rarely iatrogenic in nature. Skin problems (in particular skin thinning) and adverse effects on growth were the side effects of GC of most concern. However, fewer than half of the informants had discussed their concerns with doctors.
Conclusion: Our results suggest the importance of understanding the nature and extent to which GC fears, regardless of eczema severity, are prevalent so that sound advice can be offered in a timely manner to parents and patients.
To provide a comprehensive database of gene regulation and compare differentially regulated molecular networks in human tissues of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and spontaneous intestinal ...perforation (SIP).
Both NEC and SIP are devastating surgical emergencies associated with high morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. Their pathophysiology and molecular mechanisms remain unclear.
Differential whole genome microarray analysis was performed on intestinal tissues collected from NEC (n = 15) and SIP (n = 12) infants and compared with tissues collected from surgical-control patients with noninflammatory intestinal conditions (n = 14). Validation of 52 target gene expressions was performed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Regulatory networks of significantly affected genes were constructed according to functional pathways.
Extensive and significant changes of gene expression were observed in NEC tissues, which comprised multiple pathways of angiogenesis, arginine metabolism, cell adhesion and chemotaxis, extracellular matrix remodeling, hypoxia and oxidative stress, inflammation, and muscle contraction. These dysregulated genes could be networked downstream of key receptors, TLR2, TLR4, and TREM1, and mediated via NF-κB, AP-1, and HIF1A transcription factor pathways, indicating predominant microbial and inflammatory involvement. In contrast, SIP tissues exhibited much milder and less diversified expressional changes, with target genes significantly associated with G-protein-mediated muscle contraction and extracellular matrix remodeling.
The molecular evidence suggests that NEC and SIP are likely 2 different diseases caused by distinct etiology and pathophysiology. This first comprehensive database on differential gene expression profiles of human NEC and SIP tissues could lead to development of disease-specific diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and new therapeutic strategies for improving outcomes.
This paper presents a novel system framework for interactive, three-dimensional, stylized, abstract painterly rendering. In this framework, the input models are first represented using 3D point sets ...and then this point-based representation is used to build a multiresolution bounding sphere hierarchy. From the leaf to root nodes, spheres of various sizes are rendered into multiple-size strokes on the canvas. The proposed sphere hierarchy is developed using multiscale region segmentation. This segmentation task assembles spheres with similar attribute regularities into a meaningful region hierarchy. These attributes include colors, positions, and curvatures. This hierarchy is very useful in the following respects: 1) it ensures the screen-space stroke density, 2) controls different input model abstractions, 3) maintains region structures such as the edges/boundaries at different scales, and 4) renders models interactively. By choosing suitable abstractions, brush stroke, and lighting parameters, we can interactively generate various painterly styles. We also propose a novel scheme that reduces the popping effect in animation sequences. Many different stylized images can be generated using the proposed framework.
We report the demonstration of strained p-channel multiple-gate transistors or FinFETs with a novel liner-stressor material comprising diamond-like carbon (DLC). In this work, a DLC film with very ...high intrinsic compressive stress up to 6 GPa was employed. For FinFET devices having a 20 nm thin DLC liner stressor, more than 30% enhancement in saturation drain current I Dsat is observed over FinFETs without a DLC liner. The performance enhancement is attributed to the coupling of compressive stress from the DLC liner to the channel, leading to hole mobility improvement. Due to its extremely high intrinsic stress value, significant I Dsat enhancement is observed even when the thickness of the DLC film deposited is less than 40 nm. The DLC liner stressor is a promising stressor material for performance enhancement of p-channel transistors in future technology nodes.
Genetic interaction has been considered as a hallmark of the genetic architecture of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Based on two independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on Chinese ...populations, we performed a genome-wide search for genetic interactions contributing to SLE susceptibility.
The study involved a total of 1 659 cases and 3 398 controls in the discovery stage and 2 612 cases and 3 441 controls in three cohorts for replication. Logistic regression and multifactor dimensionality reduction were used to search for genetic interaction.
Interaction of CD80 (rs2222631) and ALOX5AP (rs12876893) was found to be significantly associated with SLE (OR_int=1.16, P_int_all=7.7E-04 at false discovery rate<0.05). Single nuclear polymorphism rs2222631 was found associated with SLE with genome-wide significance (P_all=4.5E-08, OR=0.86) and is independent of rs6804441 in CD80, whose association was reported previously. Significant correlation was observed between expression of these two genes in healthy controls and SLE cases, together with differential expression of these genes between cases and controls, observed from individuals from the Hong Kong cohort. Genetic interactions between BLK (rs13277113) and DDX6 (rs4639966), and between TNFSF4 (rs844648) and PXK (rs6445975) were also observed in both GWAS data sets.
Our study represents the first genome-wide evaluation of epistasis interactions on SLE and the findings suggest interactions and independent variants may help partially explain missing heritability for complex diseases.
The present study investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the alpha-protein kinase 1 (ALPK1) gene are associated with gout in aboriginal and Han Chinese Taiwanese.
A total of ...1351 aborigines from the community (511 cases and 840 controls) and 511 Han people from hospital (104 cases and 407 controls) were recruited. SNPs in potentially functional regions of the 38 genes within 4q25 were identified and genotypes determined by direct sequencing. Quantitation of blood ALPK1 mRNA expression levels and luciferase assay of gout-associated rs231253 pGL3-SNP constructs cotransfected with hsa-miR-519e were examined.
We found that ALPK1 gene was the most determinant of gout. Three SNPs of rs11726117 M861T C, rs231247 G and rs231253 G were most associated with gout risk odd ratios (OR) ≥1.44, P ≤ 3.78 × 10(-6)) in aborigines. A replication set using Han people had risk at rs11726117 and rs231247 (OR ≥1.72, P ≤ 4.08 × 10(-3)). From pooled analysis (Breslow-Day test, P > 0.33) assuming an additive model, each increasing copy of the risk allele of rs11726117 C, rs231247 G and rs231253 G showed significantly elevated OR for gout ≥1.42 (P ≥ 1.53 × 10(-6)). Consistently, the composite homozygous of linked 3 SNPs (versus wild-type, OR = 1.83, P = 8.21 × 10(-4)) had strong associations with ALPK1 mRNA expression. Luciferase showed reduced hybridization between hsa-miR-519e and construct carrying gout-associated rs231253 G than the wild-type C (P = 6.19 × 10(-4)).
Our study found that a newly identified ALPK1 gene can effectively interfere with microRNA target recognition and modulates the mRNA expression; and the varying distribution of the implicated SNPs among cases and controls in the two studied populations suggests a significant role in gout susceptibility.
As of 27 October 2020, there have been 57,980 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Singapore, with 28 fatalities. To summarise the Singapore experience in managing and containing COVID-19 based on ...available published data and from relevant sources, a review of literature using research databases such as PubMed and OVID Medline, along with non-peer-reviewed articles and other sources, was conducted with the search terms 'COVID-19' and 'Singapore'. Research conducted in Singapore has provided insight into the clinical manifestations and period of infectivity of COVID-19, demonstrated evidence of pre-symptomatic transmission, linked infection clusters using serological tools, and highlighted aspects of hospital-based environmental contamination. It has also provided guidance for diagnostic testing and has described immune and virologic correlates with disease severity. Evidence of effectiveness of containment measures such as early border control, rigorous contact training, and calibrated social distancing measures have also been demonstrated. Singapore's multipronged strategy has been largely successful at containing COVID-19 and minimising fatalities, but the risk of re-emergence is high.
PDF
