Current rectification by asymmetric molecules: An ab initio study

We study current rectification effect in an asymmetric molecule HOOC-C$_6$H$_4$-(CH$_2$)$_n$ sandwiched between two Aluminum electrodes using an {\sl ab initio} nonequilibrium Green function method. The conductance of the system decreases exponentially with the increasing number $n$ of CH$_2$. The phenomenon of current rectification is observed such that a very small current appears at negative bias and a sharp negative differential resistance at a critical positive bias when $n\ge 2$. The rectification effect arises from the asymmetric structure of the molecule and the molecule-electrode couplings. A significant rectification ratio of $\sim$38 can be achieved when $n=5$.Comment: to appear in J. Chem. Phy

HoughFeature, a novel method for assessing drug effects in three-color cDNA microarray experiments

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Three-color microarray experiments can be performed to assess drug effects on the genomic scale. The methodology may be useful in shortening the cycle, reducing the cost, and improving the efficiency in drug discovery and development compared with the commonly used dual-color technology. A visualization tool, the hexaMplot, is able to show the interrelations of gene expressions in normal-disease-drug samples in three-color microarray data. However, it is not enough to assess the complicated drug therapeutic effects based on the plot alone. It is important to explore more effective tools so that a deeper insight into gene expression patterns can be gained with three-color microarrays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Based on the celebrated Hough transform, a novel algorithm, HoughFeature, is proposed to extract line features in the hexaMplot corresponding to different drug effects. Drug therapy results can then be divided into a number of levels in relation to different groups of genes. We apply the framework to experimental microarray data to assess the complex effects of Rg1 (an extract of Chinese medicine) on Hcy-related HUVECs in details. Differentially expressed genes are classified into 15 functional groups corresponding to different levels of drug effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study shows that the HoughFeature algorithm can reveal natural cluster patterns in gene expression data of normal-disease-drug samples. It provides both qualitative and quantitative information about up- or down-regulated genes. The methodology can be employed to predict disease susceptibility in gene therapy and assess drug effects on the disease based on three-color microarray data.</p

Lysosomal acid lipase in mesenchymal stem cell stimulation of tumor growth and metastasis

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an important participant in the tumor microenvironment, in which they promote tumor growth and progression. Here we report for the first time that depletion of lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) in MSCs impairs their abilities to stimulate tumor growth and metastasis both in allogeneic and syngeneic mouse models. Reduced cell viability was observed in LAL-deficient (lal-/-) MSCs, which was a result of both increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation due to cell cycle arrest. The synthesis and secretion of cytokines and chemokines that are known to mediate MSCs' tumor-stimulating and immunosuppressive effects, i.e., IL-6, MCP-1 and IL-10, were down-regulated in lal-/- MSCs. When tumor cells were treated with the conditioned medium from lal-/- MSCs, decreased proliferation was observed, accompanied by reduced activation of oncogenic intracellular signaling molecules in tumor cells. Co-injection of lal-/- MSCs and B16 melanoma cells into wild type mice not only induced CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, but also decreased accumulation of tumor-promoting Ly6G+CD11b+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which may synergistically contribute to the impairment of tumor progression. Furthermore, lal-/- MSCs showed impaired differentiation towards tumor-associated fibroblasts. In addition, MDSCs facilitated MSC proliferation, which was mediated by MDSC-secreted cytokines and chemokines. Our results indicate that LAL plays a critical role in regulating MSCs' ability to stimulate tumor growth and metastasis, which provides a mechanistic basis for targeting LAL in MSCs to reduce the risk of cancer metastasis

Exact solution of gyration radius of individual's trajectory for a simplified human mobility model

Gyration radius of individual's trajectory plays a key role in quantifying human mobility patterns. Of particular interests, empirical analyses suggest that the growth of gyration radius is slow versus time except the very early stage and may eventually arrive to a steady value. However, up to now, the underlying mechanism leading to such a possibly steady value has not been well understood. In this Letter, we propose a simplified human mobility model to simulate individual's daily travel with three sequential activities: commuting to workplace, going to do leisure activities and returning home. With the assumption that individual has constant travel speed and inferior limit of time at home and work, we prove that the daily moving area of an individual is an ellipse, and finally get an exact solution of the gyration radius. The analytical solution well captures the empirical observation reported in [M. C. Gonz`alez et al., Nature, 453 (2008) 779]. We also find that, in spite of the heterogeneous displacement distribution in the population level, individuals in our model have characteristic displacements, indicating a completely different mechanism to the one proposed by Song et al. [Nat. Phys. 6 (2010) 818].Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Tracing blastomere fate choices of early embryos in single cell culture

Blastomeres of early vertebrate embryos undergo numerous fate choices for division, motility, pluripotency maintenance and restriction culminating in various cell lineages. Tracing blastomere fate choices at the single cell level in vitro has not been possible because of the inability to isolate and cultivate early blastomeres as single cells. Here we report the establishment of single cell culture system in the fish medaka, enabling the isolation and cultivation of individual blastomeres from 16- to 64-cell embryos for fate tracing at the single cell level in vitro. Interestingly, these blastomeres immediately upon isolation exhibit motility, lose synchronous divisions and even stop dividing in &#x2265;50% cases, suggesting that the widely accepted nucleocytoplasmic ratio controlling synchronous divisions in entire embryos does not operate on individual blastomeres. We even observed abortive division, endomitosis and cell fusion. Strikingly, ~5% of blastomeres in single cell culture generated extraembryonic yolk syncytial cells, embryonic stem cells and neural crest-derived pigment cells with timings mimicking their appearance in embryos. We revealed the maternal inheritance of key lineage regulators and their differential expression in cleavage embryos. Therefore, medaka blastomeres possess the accessibility for single cell culture, previously unidentified heterogeneity in motility, division, gene expression and intrinsic ability to generate major extraembryonic and embryonic lineages without positioning cues. Our data demonstrate the fidelity and potential of the single cell culture system for tracking blastomere fate decisions under defined conditions in vitro