Solar-thermochromism of a hybrid film of VO2 nanoparticles and CoII–Br–TMP complexes

This work reports a VO₂/Co^II–Br–TMP hybrid film with excellent optical performance and an evident temperature-dependent colour change.

Correction of image drift and distortion in a scanning electron microscopy

Continuous research on small-scale mechanical structures and systems has attracted strong demand for ultrafine deformation and strain measurements. Conventional optical microscope cannot meet such requirements owing to its lower spatial resolution. Therefore, high-resolution scanning electron microscope has become the preferred system for high spatial resolution imaging and measurements. However, scanning electron microscope usually is contaminated by distortion and drift aberrations which cause serious errors to precise imaging and measurements of tiny structures. This paper develops a new method to correct drift and distortion aberrations of scanning electron microscope images, and evaluates the effect of correction by comparing corrected images with scanning electron microscope image of a standard sample. The drift correction is based on the interpolation scheme, where a series of images are captured at one location of the sample and perform image correlation between the first image and the consequent images to interpolate the drift-time relationship of scanning electron microscope images. The distortion correction employs the axial symmetry model of charged particle imaging theory to two images sharing with the same location of one object under different imaging fields of view. The difference apart from rigid displacement between the mentioned two images will give distortion parameters. Three-order precision is considered in the model and experiment shows that one pixel maximum correction is obtained for the employed high-resolution electron microscopic system.

The association of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 + 49A/G and CT60 polymorphisms with type 1 diabetes and latent autoimmune diabetes in Chinese adults

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) + 49A/G and CT60 polymorphisms with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) and the genetic differences between LADA, type 1 diabetes (T1DM), and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in a Chinese population.

SUBJECTS

A total of 231 LADA, 402 T1DM, and 330 T2DM patients as well as 482 nondiabetic controls were recruited in the study.

METHODS

CTLA-4 + 49A/G and CT60 polymorphisms were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The level of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADAs) was detected by a radioligand binding assay.

RESULTS

The CTLA-4 + 49A/G risk genotype GG was most frequent in T1DM patients (45.3%), followed by LADA patients (44.2%) and T2DM patients (38.8%). Significantly higher frequencies of the risk genotype GG were observed in the T1DM (OR = 1.532, 95% CI 1.168-2.010, P = 0.002) and LADA patients (OR = 1.464, 95% CI 1.063-2.017, P = 0.019). The frequencies of the CTLA-4 CT60 risk genotype GG were 65.2, 61.9, 58.5, and 56.4% in the T1DM, LADA, T2DM, and control groups, respectively. The CTLA-4 CT60 GG risk genotypes were only associated with T1DM (OR = 1.445, 95% CI 1.1-1.898, P = 0.008). Compared with controls, patients having a high titer of GADA (GADA ≥ 180 IU/ml) had higher frequencies of the GG risk genotype of CTLA-4 + 49 A/G (49.4% vs. 35.1% OR = 1.807, 95% CI 1.125-2.903, P = 0.014), but there was no difference between patients having a low titer of GADA and controls.

CONCLUSION

The CTLA-4 + 49 A/G polymorphism confers genetic susceptibility to LADA and T1DM, while the CTLA-4 CT60 polymorphism is only associated with T1DM in Chinese population. The CTLA-4 + 49 A/G genotype distribution in LADA is associated with the GADA level.

High-resolution anorectal manometry in newborns: normative values and diagnostic utility in Hirschsprung disease

BACKGROUND

Conventional methods of screening for Hirschsprung disease (HD) in newborns (barium enema, BE; anorectal manometry, ARM; rectal suction biopsy, RSB) have limitations and/or are invasive. High-resolution anorectal manometry (HR-ARM) is a minimally invasive technique that has potential to overcome most of these limitations, but normative data and performance characteristics have not been reported in newborns. The aims of our study were to assess anorectal sphincter metrics including resting pressure (RP), anal canal length (ACL), and rectoanal inhibitory reflex (RAIR) in healthy and asymptomatic newborns, and to explore the role of HR-ARM in the diagnosis of HD using these normal parameters.

METHODS

All procedures were performed using solid state HR-ARM equipment (Medical Measurement Systems, Enchede, The Netherland) by a single operator. In the first phase, 180 asymptomatic newborns (term newborns 95, preterm newborns 85) were studied, and anal RP, ACL, and RAIR were measured. In the second phase, 16 newborns with clinical manifestations of HD were studied (9 of whom had histopathologic confirmation), and parameters compared to asymptomatic newborns.

KEY RESULTS

Normative RP values were higher in term newborns compared with preterm newborns (p < 0.05), and correlated with age. Progressive maturation of the anal sphincter was evident with chronologic age, both in preterm and term newborns. RAIR was present in all normal subjects. Using absent RAIR as indicative of HD, HR-ARM had a sensitivity 89% and specificity of 83% compared to RSB; these performance characteristics were better than BE (sensitivity 78%, specificity 17%), with significantly higher diagnostic accuracy (80% vs 53%, respectively, p = 0.009).

CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES

Anorectal sphincter pressure progressively matures with incremental increase in RP during the first months of life. HR-ARM is an effective and safe method that complements the diagnosis of HD in newborns.

Percutaneous vertebroplasty for pain management in spinal metastasis with epidural involvement

Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) has been widely used for the treatment of painful malignant lesions of the spine. Spinal metastasis with epidural involvement, with or without symptoms of neurologic compression, is regarded by some authors as a contraindication or relative contraindication to the procedure. To evaluate safety and effectiveness of PVP in pain management of spinal metastasis with epidural involvement, we retrospectively analyzed PVP in 32 patients with metastatic disease, who presented with at least one vertebral lesion with destruction of the posterior vertebral body wall or epidural extension of tumor. Among these patients, nine had signs of spinal cord or cauda equina compression. Procedural safety was evaluated by any post-procedure adverse events. The PVP analgesic efficacy was evaluated by follow-up neurological examination. Pain intensity was scored on a visual analog scale scored from 0 (no pain) to 10 (maximum pain intensity). The effective pain relief was defined as at least 50% improvement in pain score as compared with pre- procedure baseline. Follow-up assessments were performed at 1 day; 1 week; 1, 3, and 6 months after the procedure. Fifty-three vertebrae in 32 patients were treated in this group. Analgesic efficacy in survival patients was rated at 97% (31/32) at 1day and 1 week, 86.7% (26/30) at 1 month, 82.3% (24/29) at 3 months, and 76.9% (20/26) at 6 months after procedure. Leakage of PMMA was detected in 64% (33/53) treated vertebrae. No systemic complications were observed in all treated patients.

Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat-derived bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells have impaired abilities in proliferation, paracrine, antiapoptosis, and myogenic differentiation

BACKGROUND

Diabetes has been widely recognized as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. With the development of the regenerative medicine, autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), transplantation can effectively improve cardiac function after myocardial infarction. However, the BMSCs used in most previous studies are derived from young or normal donors. Little is know about the biological characters change of BMSCs in diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

BMSCs were taken from the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats and normal control rats. Cell proliferation was evaluated by CCK-8 assay. Production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Apoptosis under hypoxia and serum deprivation culture conditions were detected by Hoechst 33342 stain and flow cytometry. Myogenic differentiation, induced by 5-azacytidine was assessed by using immunocytochemical staining for the expression of sarcomeric α-actin and desmin.

RESULTS

Diabetic rat models were successfully induced by intraperitoneal injection of STZ. The proliferative abilities of BMSCs derived from diabetic rats decreased significantly compared with that from normal rats (P < .05). Similar results were also presented in the cytokines (VEGF and IGF-1) release (P = .02 and P < .01, respectively) that the ability of antiapoptosis and myogenic differentiation decreased obviously between diabetes group and the normal control group (P < .01).

CONCLUSION

BMSCs from STZ-induced diabetic rats could be successfully harvested and expanded in vitro culture condition; their morphology was very similar to normal control group, with minor changes. However, the proliferative and differentiation properties of diabetic BMSCs, as well as cytokine release and antiapoptosis ability, were significantly impaired.

Effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO films: identification of hydrogen donors in ZnO

Wurtzite ZnO has many potential applications in optoelectronic devices, and the hydrogenated ZnO exhibits excellent photoelectronic properties compared to undoped ZnO; however, the structure of H-related defects is still unclear. In this article, the effects of hydrogen-plasma treatment and subsequent annealing on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO films were investigated by a combination of Hall measurement, Raman scattering, and photoluminescence. It is found that two types of hydrogen-related defects, namely, the interstitial hydrogen located at the bond-centered (H(BC)) and the hydrogen trapped at a O vacancy (H(O)), are responsible for the n-type background conductivity of ZnO films. Besides introducing two hydrogen-related donor states, the incorporated hydrogen passivates defects at grain boundaries. With increasing annealing temperatures, the unstable H(BC) atoms gradually diffuse out of the ZnO films and part of them are converted into H(O), which gives rise to two anomalous Raman peaks at 275 and 510 cm(-1). These results help to clarify the relationship between the hydrogen-related defects in ZnO described in various studies and the free carriers that are produced by the introduction of hydrogen.

Broadband external cavity tunable quantum dot lasers with low injection current density

Broadband grating-coupled external cavity laser, based on InAs/GaAs quantum dots, is achieved. The device has a wavelength tuning range from 1141.6 nm to 1251.7 nm under a low continuous-wave injection current density (458 A/cm(2)). The tunable bandwidth covers consecutively the light emissions from both the ground state and the 1st excited state of quantum dots. The effects of cavity length and antireflection facet coating on device performance are studied. It is shown that antireflection facet coating expands the tuning bandwidth up to ~150 nm, accompanied by an evident increase in threshold current density, which is attributed to the reduced interaction between the light field and the quantum dots in the active region of the device.

Germline mutation of microRNA-125a is associated with breast cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that inhibit expression of specific target genes at the posttranscriptional level. MiRNAs are often found to be misregulated in human cancer, and they can act as either potent oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes. Here we show that a germline mutation in mature miR-125a is highly associated with breast cancer tumorigenesis, suggesting that miR-125a is likely to function as a tumour suppressor gene in human cancer.

Comparison of intra-coronary cell transplantation after myocardial infarction: Autologous skeletal myoblasts versus bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Cell transplantation promises restoration of cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI). Comparison of intracoronary cell transplantation with skeletal myoblasts (SMs) versus bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) was carried out in rabbits with MI induced by ligation of the left anterior descending artery. The infarction-affected artery was injected with SMs, BM-MSCs or cell-free medium (control) 24 h post-infarction (n = 15 per group). At baseline, there were no differences in cardiac parameters between the groups. At 4 weeks post-transplantation, left ventricular ejection fraction significantly improved and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was significantly decreased in the cell-treated groups compared with pre-transplantation and the control group. Engrafted cells were found in all of the cell-treated rabbits. The cell-treated animals had significantly higher numbers of neovessels compared with the control. No significant difference was seen between the SM and BM-MSC groups. In conclusion, intra-coronary transplantation of SMs and BM-MSCs induced neoangiogenesis with comparable enhancements of cardiac performance and reduced cardiac remodelling in a rabbit MI model.

Noncoding RNAs in mental retardation

Recent genome-wide interrogations of transcribed RNA have yielded compelling evidence for pervasive and complex transcription throughout a large majority of the human genome. Tens of thousands of noncoding RNA transcripts have been identified, most of which have yet to be functionally characterized. Along with the revelation that noncoding RNAs in the human genome are surprisingly abundant, there has been a surge in molecular and genetic data showing important and diverse regulatory roles for noncoding RNA. In this report, we summarize the potential roles that noncoding RNAs may play in the molecular pathogenesis of different mental retardation disorders. We suspect that these findings are just the tip of the iceberg, with noncoding RNAs possibly being involved in disease pathogenesis at different levels and through multiple distinct mechanisms.

Carboxypeptidase-H autoantibodies differentiate a more latent subset of autoimmune diabetes from phenotypic type 2 diabetes among Chinese adults

This study aimed to investigate whether carboxypeptidase-H antibody (CPH-Ab) can help identify latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). Phenotypic type 2 diabetic (T2D) patients (n= 1296) were studied for CPH Abs and autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD-Abs). CPH-Ab(+) T2D patients also underwent testing for insulinoma protein tyrosine phosphatase (IA-2A). Clinical features were compared among CPH-Ab(+), GAD-Ab(+), and Ab(-) T2D patients. Some of the antibody-positive patients were followed up for 3 years to assess beta cell function. The prevalence of CPH-Abs in T2D patients was 4.8%, significantly higher than that in controls. Double positivity was rare between CPH-Abs and GAD-Abs or IA-2A. Compared to patients with Ab(-) T2D, those with CPH-Ab(+) T2D had lower BMI, lower fasting C-peptide (FCP) levels, and more frequent ketosis, while not as much as did those with GAD-Ab(+) T2D. The mild beta cell dysfunction in patients with CPH-Ab(+) T2D was associated with their longer duration of diabetes. No marked change of C-peptide in the CPH-Ab(+) group was found during follow-up. These findings demonstrated that CPH-Abs may allow discrimination of a more latent subset of adult-onset autoimmune diabetes (LADA) whose features are intermediate between those with classic GAD-Ab(+) LADA and patients with Ab(-) T2D.

Hermodulins: bispecific ligand traps inhibit breast tumor growth and metastasis

Abstract #4127

Signalling by the human EGF (HER) receptor family can induce tumorigenicity and metastasis of cancer cells. Activation of these receptors has been associated with aggressive phenotypes and poor prognosis of breast cancer and other malignancies. Currently approved HER family targeted therapeutics are primarily directed against one member of the HER family.&#x2028; We have engineered a family of bispecific (HER1:HER3) heterodimers comprised of a human IgG1-Fc fragment fused with modified extracellular domains of HER1 and HER3. These compounds, termed Hermodulins, act as “ligand traps” and inhibit ligand-stimulated activity of all members of the HER family. In this study we have shown that Hermodulins can inhibit in vitro growth and motility in breast cancer cell lines, act synergistically with other HER-directed tyrosine kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibody therapeutics in tumor cell antiproliferation assays, and decrease the formation of osteolytic bone metastases in animal models.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 4127.

Realization of extremely broadband quantum-dot superluminescent light-emitting diodes by rapid thermal-annealing process

The first demonstration, to our knowledge, of the creation of ultrabroadband superluminescent light-emitting diodes using multiple quantum-dot layer structure by rapid thermal-annealing process is reported. The device exhibits a 3 dB emission bandwidth of 146 nm centered at 984 nm with cw output power as high as 15 mW at room temperature corresponding to an extremely small coherence length of 6.6 microm.

Herceptin

The biology of the human epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor-2 (HER2) has been reviewed numerous times and provides an excellent example for developing a targeted cancer therapeutic. Herceptin, the FDA-approved therapeutic monoclonal antibody against HER2, has been used to treat over 150,000 women with breast cancer. However, the developmental history of Herceptin, the key events within the program that created pivotal decision points, and the reasons why decisions were made to pursue the monoclonal antibody approach have never been adequately described. The history of Herceptin is reviewed in a way which allows the experience to be shared for the purposes of understanding the drug discovery and development process. It is the objective of this review to describe the pivotal events and explain why critical decisions were made that resulted in the first therapeutic to successfully target tyrosine kinases in cancer. New approaches and future prospects for therapeutics targeting the HER family are also discussed.

Effect of the growth mode on the two- to three-dimensional transition of InAs grown on vicinal GaAs(001) substrates

Some differences were observed between conventional molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) and mobility enhanced epitaxy (MEE) of InAs on a vicinal GaAs(001) substrate in the variation of the number density N of the InAs islands, with additional InAs coverage (θ-θ(c)) after the critical InAs coverage θ(c) during the two- to three-dimensional (2D-3D) transition. For MBE the variation was consistent with the power law N(θ)∼(θ-θ(c))(α); while for MEE, the linear relation [Formula: see text] was observed. The difference is discussed in terms of the randomness in the nucleation of the InAs islands.