An in-line all-fiber etalon, formed by a self-enclosed Fabry-Perot cavity inside an optical fiber fabricated by using 157-nm laser micromachining, is first demonstrated in this paper. This etalon has ...almost perfect sensor characteristics, such as excellent interferometric fringe contrast of up to ~30 dB, low thermal cross-sensitivity, great potential to realize mass-production with good reproducibility, low cost, super capability to operate in harsh environments, etc. The static, quasi-static, and dynamic strain characteristics of the etalon sensor are investigated, which prove that such an etalon could meet versatile applications for strain measurement.
Background. Since the mechanism of comorbidity and mortality in peritoneal dialysis is unclear, a comparison of peritoneal dialysate and normal peritoneal fluid may provide clues to the biological ...and pathological processes involved in peritoneal damage. Methods. Peritoneal dialysate and control samples were collected from five diabetes mellitus (DM) patients and two patients receiving laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-GE). After image analysis, altered gel spots between these two sample groups were subjected to tryptic digestion and mass spectrometry analysis. The results were searched against the NCBI database. Results. A total of 26 protein spots were considered altered in 2D-GE between the two sample groups. After western blotting confirmation, vitamin D-binding protein, haptoglobin and α-2-microglobulin were at higher levels in the DM samples, while complement C4-A and IGK@ protein were at lower levels compared to the control samples. Conclusion. The loss of vitamin D-binding protein, haptoglobin and α-2-microglobulin may be due to a change in the permeability of the peritoneal membrane to middle-sized proteins or leakage from peritoneal inflammation. Lower levels of complement C4-A in dialysate may shed light on the beginning of peritoneal membrane scleroses.
Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is an autoimmune eye disease that affects visual function and appearance, involving pathological remodeling processes of orbital tissue such as inflammatory ...reaction, oxidative stress, lipogenesis, and fibrosis. Current clinical first-line treatment options cannot be effective for all patients. This article summarizes the research on potential therapeutic targets of TAO at home and abroad in recent years, including receptor protein targets, immune cell targets, fat suppression targets, anti-fibrosis targets, transcription factor targets, and metabolic regulatory enzyme targets. Both non-natural compounds and natural compounds are introduced, with a view to providing clinical researchers with reference and ideas in the treatment of TAO and promoting the clinical application of new therapeutic drugs.
Diabetes, a metabolic disease characterized by high blood glucose and other complications, has undefined causes and multiple risk factors, including inappropriate diet, unhealthy lifestyles, and ...genetic predisposition. The two most distinguished types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2 diabetes, resulting from the autoimmune impairment of insulin-generating pancreatic β cells and insulin insensitivity, respectively. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), a cohort of RNAs with little transcriptional value, have been found to exert substantial importance in epigenetic and posttranscriptional modulation of gene expression such as messenger RNA (mRNA) silencing. This review mainly focuses on the pathology of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and ncRNAs as potential biomarkers in T2D development and clinical management. We consolidate the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and current treatments of T2D, and present the existing evidence on changes in multiple types of ncRNAs in response to various pathological changes and dysfunctions in different stages of T2D.
Low voltage selectors are critical for low power operation of high density non-volatile memories. In this work, selectors based on arsenic free chalcogenide materials are demonstrated with record ...high endurance over 10 11 cycles together with threshold voltage ~1.3V and leakage current ~5nA. The enhanced endurance is attributed to suppression of phase separation with more stable amorphous network by proper dopants.
Due to their exceptional mechanical and functional properties, carbon nanotubes are considered by many researchers as one of the most promising reinforcement for the next generation of ...high-performance nanocomposites. Currently, nanotube dispersion is the most critical issue for developing high-performance carbon nanotube-reinforced composites. In this research, considerable improvements of the nanotube dispersion in single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)/SC-15 epoxy resin nanocomposites were obtained through the use of tip sonication and the addition of acetone. Using different dispersion formulations and processing parameters, several nanocomposites samples containing 0.5
wt.% nanotubes were fabricated. Significant improvements in the mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites were illustrated by a 50.8% increase in the storage modulus. The significant improvements of nanotube dispersion and mechanical performance were attributed to the combined use of tip sonication and acetone as dispersion aids during sample processing.
Layered double hydroxide (LDH) has attracted considerable attention as a drug carrier. However, because of its poor in vivo behavior, polyethylene glycolylated (PEGylated) phospholipid must be used ...as a coformer to produce self-assembled core-shell nanoparticles. In the present study, we prepared a PEGylated phospholipid-coated LDH (PLDH) (PEG-PLDH) delivery system. The PEG-PLDH nanoparticles had an average size of 133.2 nm. Their core-shell structure was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In vitro liposome-cell-association and cytotoxicity experiments demonstrated its ability to be internalized by cells. In vivo studies showed that PEGylated phospholipid membranes greatly reduced the blood clearance rate of LDH nanoparticles. PEG-PLDH nanoparticles demonstrated a good control of tumor growth and increased the survival rate of mice. These results suggest that PEG-PLDH nanoparticles can be a useful drug delivery system for cancer therapy.
Dysregulation of interleukin-6 has been reported to be associated with various types of tumors, and interleukin-6 plays an important part in regulating apoptosis in many types of cells. Previously, ...Mcl-1 was shown to be significantly increased in interleukin-6-overexpressed basal cell carcinoma cells and conferred on them anti-apoptotic activity. The aim of this study was to investigate which signaling pathway is involved in the anti-apoptotic effect of interleukin-6 on basal cell carcinoma cells. Here we show that the addition of recombinant 100 ng per ml interleukin-6 to basal cell carcinoma cells induced a 2.3-fold increase in the level of Mcl-1 protein in basal cell carcinoma cells. Transfection with dominant-negative STAT3 (STAT3F) into inter-leukin-6-treated basal cell carcinoma cells caused a decrease of phosphotyrosyl STAT3 but did not alter Mcl-1 protein levels; however, AG490, a Janus tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was capable of inhibiting the interleukin-6-induced elevation of Mcl-1 protein. Next, interleukin-6 stimulation elicited extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation in basal cell carcinoma cells, and the mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor, PD98059, could affect this response without affecting the interleukin-6-medi-ated Mcl-1 upregulation. Use of the two phosphotidyl inositol 3-kinase inhibitors, LY294002 and wortmannin, to check whether this pathway is involved in Mcl-1 upregulation by interleukin-6, we found that the phosphotidyl inositol 3-kinase inhibitors completely attenuated the interleukin-6-induced Mcl-1 upregulation. Furthermore, in the interleukin-6-overexpressing basal cell carcinoma cell clone, dominant-negative Akt also significantly reduced the increased level of Mcl-1. Interestingly, Janus tyrosine kinase inhibitor, AG490, treatment strongly blocked the phosphotidyl inositol 3-kinase pathway activation, as evidenced by the decrease in phospho-Akt level. Blockage of phosphotidyl inositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway abolished the interleukin-6-mediated anti-apoptotic activity in ultraviolet B treated cells. Unexpectedly, without ultraviolet B irradiation, STAT3F transfection also induced a significant apoptosis in basal cell carcinoma/interleukin-6 cells. Taken together, our data suggest that both the phosphotidyl inositol 3-kinase/Akt and STAT3 pathways are potentially involved in interleukin-6-mediated cell survival activity in basal cell carcinoma cells; however, the upregulation of the anti-apoptotic Mcl-1 protein by interleukin-6 is mainly through the Janus tyrosine kinase/phosphotidyl inositol 3-kinase/Akt, but not the STAT3 pathway.
PDF
