Poly(sulfur-random-(1,3-diisopropenylbenzene)) Based Mid-Wavelength Infrared Polarizer: Optical Property Experimental and Theoretical Analysis

Development of polymer based mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) optics has been limited mainly due to high optical loss of organic polymers used in general optical components. In this study, a MWIR polarization grating based on a sulfuric polymer poly(sulfur-random-(1,3-diisopropenylbenzene)) with a low loss in the MWIR range was fabricated using a simple two-step process: imprint and metal deposition. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy measurement showed that this polymeric MWIR polarizer selectively transmitted the polarized IR in transverse magnetic (TM) mode over the transverse electric (TE) mode at normal incidence. The measured extinction ratios (  = The ratio of transmissions in TM and TE) were 208, 176, and 212 at the wavelength of 3, 4, and 5 μm, respectively. The computational simulation and analytical model confirmed that the enhanced TM transmission efficiency and followed a Fabry-Pérot (FP) resonance mode within the created sulfuric polymer film. This polymeric MWIR polarizer demonstrated a great potential for broader applications in IR photonics to realize low-cost and durable optical components

Subtle changes in the flavour and texture of a drink enhance expectations of satiety

Background: The consumption of liquid calories has been implicated in the development of obesity and weight gain. Energy-containing drinks are often reported to have a weak satiety value: one explanation for this is that because of their fluid texture they are not expected to have much nutritional value. It is important to consider what features of these drinks can be manipulated to enhance their expected satiety value. Two studies investigated the perception of subtle changes in a drink’s viscosity, and the extent to which thick texture and creamy flavour contribute to the generation of satiety expectations. Participants in the first study rated the sensory characteristics of 16 fruit yogurt drinks of increasing viscosity. In study two, a new set of participants evaluated eight versions of the fruit yogurt drink, which varied in thick texture, creamy flavour and energy content, for sensory and hedonic characteristics and satiety expectations. Results: In study one, participants were able to perceive small changes in drink viscosity that were strongly related to the actual viscosity of the drinks. In study two, the thick versions of the drink were expected to be more filling and have a greater expected satiety value, independent of the drink’s actual energy content. A creamy flavour enhanced the extent to which the drink was expected to be filling, but did not affect its expected satiety. Conclusions: These results indicate that subtle manipulations of texture and creamy flavour can increase expectations that a fruit yogurt drink will be filling and suppress hunger, irrespective of the drink’s energy content. A thicker texture enhanced expectations of satiety to a greater extent than a creamier flavour, and may be one way to improve the anticipated satiating value of energy-containing beverages

Relevance of JAK2V617F positivity to hematological diseases - survey of samples from a clinical genetics laboratory

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>JAK2V617F is found in the majority of patients with Ph- myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and has become a valuable marker for diagnosis of MPNs. However, it has also been found in many other hematological diseases, and some studies even detected the presence of JAK2V617F in normal blood samples. This casts doubt on the primary role of JAK2V617F in the pathogenesis of MPNs and its diagnostic value.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the present study, we analyzed JAK2V617F positivity with 232 normal blood samples and 2663 patient blood, bone marrow, and amniotic fluid specimens obtained from a clinical genetics laboratory by using a simple DNA extraction method and a sensitive nested allele-specific PCR strategy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found JAK2V617F present in the majority (78%) of MPN patients and in a small fraction (1.8-8.7%) of patients with other specific hematological diseases but not at all in normal healthy donors or patients with non-hematological diseases. We also revealed associations of JAK2V617F with novel as well as known chromosomal abnormalities.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study suggests that JAK2V617F positivity is associated with specific hematological malignancies and is an excellent diagnostic marker for MPNs. The data also indicate that the nested allele-specific PCR method provides clinically relevant information and should be conducted for all cases suspected of having MPNs as well as for other related diseases.</p

Efficacy of NS-018, a potent and selective JAK2/Src inhibitor, in primary cells and mouse models of myeloproliferative neoplasms

Aberrant activation of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) caused by somatic mutation of JAK2 (JAK2V617F) or the thrombopoietin receptor (MPLW515L) plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), suggesting that inhibition of aberrant JAK2 activation would have a therapeutic benefit. Our novel JAK2 inhibitor, NS-018, was highly active against JAK2 with a 50% inhibition (IC50) of <1 n, and had 30–50-fold greater selectivity for JAK2 over other JAK-family kinases, such as JAK1, JAK3 and tyrosine kinase 2. In addition to JAK2, NS-018 inhibited Src-family kinases. NS-018 showed potent antiproliferative activity against cell lines expressing a constitutively activated JAK2 (the JAK2V617F or MPLW515L mutations or the TEL–JAK2 fusion gene; IC50=11–120 n), but showed only minimal cytotoxicity against most other hematopoietic cell lines without a constitutively activated JAK2. Furthermore, NS-018 preferentially suppressed in vitro erythropoietin-independent endogenous colony formation from polycythemia vera patients. NS-018 also markedly reduced splenomegaly and prolonged the survival of mice inoculated with Ba/F3 cells harboring JAK2V617F. In addition, NS-018 significantly reduced leukocytosis, hepatosplenomegaly and extramedullary hematopoiesis, improved nutritional status, and prolonged survival in JAK2V617F transgenic mice. These results suggest that NS-018 will be a promising candidate for the treatment of MPNs

5-a-day fruit and vegetable food product labels: reduced fruit and vegetable consumption following an exaggerated compared to a modest label.

BACKGROUND: Food product labels based on the WHO 5-a-day fruit and vegetable (FV) message are becoming increasingly common, but these labels may impact negatively on complementary or subsequent FV consumption. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a '3 of your 5-a-day' versus a '1 of your 5-a-day' smoothie product label on subsequent FV consumption. METHODS: Using an acute experimental design, 194 participants (90 males, 104 females) were randomised to consume a smoothie labelled as either '3 of your 5-a-day' (N = 97) or '1 of your 5-a-day' (N = 97) in full, following a usual breakfast. Subsequent FV consumption was measured for the rest of the day using 24-h recall. Usual FV consumption was also assessed via 24-h recall for the day before the study. RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed a significantly lower subsequent FV consumption following smoothies displaying the '3 of your 5-a-day' label compared to the '1 of your 5-a-day' label (Beta = - 0.15, p = 0.04). Secondary analyses revealed these effects to be driven mainly by changes to consumption in usual high FV consumers, in females and in vegetable as opposed to fruit consumption. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate a role for label information in food intake, and the potential negative impacts of an exaggerated food product label on healthy food consumption and healthy dietary profiles

Novel mutations and their functional and clinical relevance in myeloproliferative neoplasms: JAK2, MPL, TET2, ASXL1, CBL, IDH and IKZF1

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) originate from genetically transformed hematopoietic stem cells that retain the capacity for multilineage differentiation and effective myelopoiesis. Beginning in early 2005, a number of novel mutations involving Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), Myeloproliferative Leukemia Virus (MPL), TET oncogene family member 2 (TET2), Additional Sex Combs-Like 1 (ASXL1), Casitas B-lineage lymphoma proto-oncogene (CBL), Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and IKAROS family zinc finger 1 (IKZF1) have been described in BCR-ABL1-negative MPNs. However, none of these mutations were MPN specific, displayed mutual exclusivity or could be traced back to a common ancestral clone. JAK2 and MPL mutations appear to exert a phenotype-modifying effect and are distinctly associated with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and primary myelofibrosis; the corresponding mutational frequencies are ∼99, 55 and 65% for JAK2 and 0, 3 and 10% for MPL mutations. The incidence of TET2, ASXL1, CBL, IDH or IKZF1 mutations in these disorders ranges from 0 to 17% these latter mutations are more common in chronic (TET2, ASXL1, CBL) or juvenile (CBL) myelomonocytic leukemias, mastocytosis (TET2), myelodysplastic syndromes (TET2, ASXL1) and secondary acute myeloid leukemia, including blast-phase MPN (IDH, ASXL1, IKZF1). The functional consequences of MPN-associated mutations include unregulated JAK-STAT (Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription) signaling, epigenetic modulation of transcription and abnormal accumulation of oncoproteins. However, it is not clear as to whether and how these abnormalities contribute to disease initiation, clonal evolution or blastic transformation

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Dost see the angels /

In bound volumes: Copyright Deposits 1820-186

Fleecy cloud, I see thee flying /

In bound volumes: Copyright Deposits 1820-186