Transflective liquid crystal display using separate transmissive and reflective liquid crystal cells and materials with single cell gap

A transflective liquid crystal display (TLCD) using separate transmissive (T) and reflective (R) cells in which two liquid crystal materials with different birefringence changes are used. The birefringence change of the R region is half of the birefringence change of the T region. In this case, a single cell gap is possible and identical transmittance and reflectance for R and T is obtained. It is applicable to various reflective LC modes, and the fabrication methods are simple

A Transmissive X-ray Polarimeter Design For Hard X-ray Focusing Telescopes

The X-ray Timing and Polarization (XTP) is a mission concept for a future space borne X-ray observatory and is currently selected for early phase study. We present a new design of X-ray polarimeter based on the time projection gas chamber. The polarimeter, placed above the focal plane, has an additional rear window that allows hard X-rays to penetrate (a transmission of nearly 80% at 6 keV) through it and reach the detector on the focal plane. Such a design is to compensate the low detection efficiency of gas detectors, at a low cost of sensitivity, and can maximize the science return of multilayer hard X-ray telescopes without the risk of moving focal plane instruments. The sensitivity in terms of minimum detectable polarization, based on current instrument configuration, is expected to be 3% for a 1mCrab source given an observing time of 10^5 s. We present preliminary test results, including photoelectron tracks and modulation curves, using a test chamber and polarized X-ray sources in the lab

Development of Ag/MnCeOx catalysts synthesized with ethanol or water for HCHO decomposition at ambient temperature

Formaldehyde, one of important pollutants in the indoor air, has received increasing attention due to damage to human health. To mitigate formaldehyde pollution, MnCeOx mixed oxides were synthesized by solvothermal method with different solvents and complexing agents, including water or ethanol, and citric acid or glycol, and these catalysts were investigated to catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde at ambient temperature under a real indoor environment, as a super low concentration of indoor formaldehyde (1.0 ± 0.5 mg/m3) and the air under static condition. The result indicated that the MnCeOx catalysts prepared with ethanol exhibited higher activities than samples synthesized with H2O. Structure and performance analysis by BET, XRD, SEM, TEM, TG, Raman, XPS, H2-TPR, and O2-TPD displayed that the MnCeOx oxides synthesized with ethanol (instead of using water) greatly promoted the structure and reducibility, resulting in a high activity for HCHO degradation. More than 90% conversion for HCHO degradation was finished at 36 h and no deactivation could be detected by a series of tests. More importantly, the MnCeOx oxides supported by an increasing of Ag exhibited the increased activity. Promoting effect of Ag over the MnCeOx oxides indicated a strong interplay between Ag and MnCeOx greatly affected the property of Ag/MnCeOx catalysts. The HCHO concentration could be decreased to less than 0.08 mg/m3 at 24 h over 2.0 wt%Ag/MnCeOx (E/G). The performance improvement was ascribed to the high reducibility and high distribution of metallic silver, which could increase the surface active oxygen species and improve the oxygen mobility, and also could weaken the surface Mn–O bond

Role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in the transient release of IL-1β induced by monosodium urate crystals in human fibroblast-like synoviocytes

Background: To investigate whether monosodium urate (MSU) crystals induce interleukin (IL)-1β in human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS), and whether the NLRP3 inflammasome is involved in the inflammatory mechanism. Methods: Human FLS isolated from explants of synovial tissue were stimulated with MSU crystals (0.001 to 0.5 mg/ml) for different time course (6 hours to 48 hours). The expressions of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and NLRP3 were evaluated with ELISA, Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR. Results: Exposure of FLS to MSU crystals transiently induced a significant increase in IL-1β expression in culture medium with a peak at 6 h. The mRNA level of IL-1β in the FLS cells had a similar pattern at this time point. Changes in IL-6 and TNF-α expression were not observed. Simultaneously, intercellular pro-IL-1β was detected at 6 h. Furthermore, MSU crystals also induced NLRP3 mRNA and protein expression at 6 h to 48 h after MSU treatment. Conclusions: MSU crystals directly increased IL-1β and intercellular NLRP3 expression in FLS cells. It is suggested that the NLRP3 inflammasome may be associated with IL-1β in FLS treated with MSU. Altogether, MSU could induce production and release of IL-1β through the NLRP3 inflammasome in human synoviocytes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12950-015-0070-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Establishment and characterization of immortalized human eutopic endometrial stromal cells.

PROBLEM(#br)The application of primary eutopic endometrial cells from endometriosis patients in research is restricted for short life span, dedifferentiation of hormone responsiveness.(#br)METHOD OF STUDY(#br)Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)-induced immortalized cells (iheESCs) were infected by lentivirus. mRNA level was examined by qRT-PCR, and protein expression was quantified by Western blot. CCK-8 and EdU assay were assigned to assess the proliferation. The migration and invasion of cells were assessed by transwell assay. Clone formation assay and nude mouse tumorigenicity assay were used to evaluate colony-formation and tumorigenesis abilities.(#br)RESULTS(#br)hTERT mRNA and protein were significantly expressed higher in iheESCs compared to primary cells. iheESCs grew without morphological change for 42 passages which is much longer than 18 passages of primary cells. There was no obvious difference between primary cells and iheESCs in growth, mobility, and chromosome karyotype. Furthermore, the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and estrogen/progesterone receptors remained unchanged. The decidualization of iheESCs could be induced by progesterone and cAMP. Estrogen increased the proliferation and mobility of iheESCs, and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induced the IL-1β and IL-6 promoting inflammatory response. The colony-forming ability of iheESCs, like primary cells, was lower than Ishikawa cells. In addition, tumorigenicity assay indicated that iheESCs were unable to trigger tumor formation in BALB/c nude mouse.(#br)CONCLUSIONS(#br)This study established and characterized iheESCs that kept the cellular physiology of primary cells and were not available with tumorigenic ability. Thus, iheESCs would be useful as in vitro cell model to investigate pathogenesis of endometriosis

Cardioprotective effect of Shenxiong glucose injection on acute myocardial infarction in rats via reduction in myocardial intracellular calcium ion overload

Purpose: To explore the cardioprotective effects and potential mechanisms of Shenxiong Glucose Injection (SGI) in rat acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods: AMI model was created by ligating left anterior descending coronary artery. After 7 days’ consecutive intravenous administration of SGI, serum samples were used to conduct biochemical analysis while hearts were excised and processed for infraction size, enzyme activity, histopathology and qPCR studies. Intracellular Ca2+ {(Ca2+)i} overload in H9c2 cells was measured by laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM).Results: In AMI rats, pretreatment with SGI significantly ameliorated myocardial histopathologic damage. It exerted cardioprotective effect by decreasing myocardial infarct size, electrocardiogram (ECG) ST segment elevation, and CK, cTnI, BNP levels in serum. In addition, SGI significantly decreased calmodulin (CaM) and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMK II) mRNA expression, but increased Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase and Na+-K+-ATPase activities in myocardium. In doxorubicin (DOX)- induced H9c2 cells injury model, SGI reversed (Ca2+)i overload to protect cells.Conclusion: The results demonstrate SGI exerts cardioprotective effect by decreasing myocardial infarct size, restoring ST segment and reversing (Ca2+)i overload. It suggests that SGI may be a new clinical candidate to treat myocardial infarction.Keywords: Shenxiong glucose injection, Tanshinol, Ligustrazine, Myocardial infarction, Intracellular Ca2+ overload, Calmodulin, Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I

Breast cancer stage at diagnosis and area-based socioeconomic status: a multicenter 10-year retrospective clinical epidemiological study in China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although socioeconomic status (SES) has been focused on as a key determinant of cancer stage at diagosis in western countries, there has been no systemic study on the relationship of SES and breast cancer stage at diagnosis in China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The medical charts of 4,211 eligible breast cancer patients from 7 areas across China who were diagnosed between 1999 and 2008 were reviewed. Four area-based socioeconomic indicators were used to calculate area-based SES by cluster analysis. The associations between area-based SES and stage at diagnosis were analyzed by trend chi-square tests. Binary logistic regression was performed to estimate odds ratios for individual demographic characteristics' effects on cancer stages, stratified by area-based SES.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The individual demographic and pathologic characteristics of breast cancer cases were significantly different among the seven areas studied. More breast cancer cases in low SES areas (25.5%) were diagnosed later (stages III & IV) than those in high (20.4%) or highest (14.8%) SES areas (<it>χ</it>²for trend = 80.79, <it>P </it>< 0.001). When area-based SES is controlled for, in high SES areas, cases with less education were more likely to be diagnosed at later stages compared with more educated cases. In low SES areas, working women appeared to be diagnosed at earlier breast cancer stages than were homemakers (OR: 0.18-0.26).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In China, women in low SES areas are more likely to be diagnosed at later breast cancer stages than those in high SES areas.</p

Characterization of the Multi-Drug Resistance Gene cfr in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Strains Isolated From Animals and Humans in China

We investigated cfr-positive and -negative MRSA strains isolated from animals and humans in different geographical areas of China, from 2011 to 2016. Twenty cfr-positive strains (15.6%) were identified from 128 MRSA strains including 17 from food animals and three from humans. The resistance rates and prevalence of the tested antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the cfr-positive MRSA isolates were higher than that in the cfr-negative MRSA isolates. All cfr-positive MRSA isolates were co-carrying fexA and ermC, and had significantly higher optrA incidence rate vs. the cfr-negative isolates (P &lt; 0.05). In addition, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) assays showed that ST9 and spa-type t899 were the most prevalent ST and spa types in the study strains. However, all of the 20 cfr-positive and 10 randomly selected cfr-negative MRSA isolates were clonally unrelated as determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analyses. Importantly, the cfr gene was successfully transferred to a recipient Staphylococcus aureus strain RN4220 from 13 of the 20 cfr-positive MRSA isolates by electroporation. Among these 13 cfr-positive MRSA isolates, two different genetic contexts surrounding cfr were determined and each was associated with one type of cfr-carrying plasmids. Of note, the predominant genetic context of cfr was found to be a Tn558 variant and locate on large plasmids (∼50 kb) co-harboring fexA in 11 of the 13 MRSA isolates. Furthermore, the cfr gene was also identified on small plasmids (∼ 7.1 kb) that co-carried ermC in two of the 13 MRSA isolates. Our results demonstrated a high occurrence of multi-drug resistance in cfr-positive MRSA isolates, and the spread of cfr might be attributed to horizontal dissemination of similar cfr-carrying transposons and plasmids