Jamming transition in a highly dense granular system under vertical vibration

The dynamics of the jamming transition in a three-dimensional granular system under vertical vibration is studied using diffusing-wave spectroscopy. When the maximum acceleration of the external vibration is large, the granular system behaves like a fluid, with the dynamic correlation function G(t) relaxing rapidly. As the acceleration of vibration approaches the gravitational acceleration g, the relaxation of G(t) slows down dramatically, and eventually stops. Thus the system undergoes a phase transition and behaves like a solid. Near the transition point, we find that the structural relaxation shows a stretched exponential behavior. This behavior is analogous to the behavior of supercooled liquids close to the glass transition.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improve Wound Healing In Vivo via Early Activation of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

We investigated the effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on wound healing using a three-dimensional (3D) collagen gel scaffold. Three circular full-thickness skin defects were created on the back of Sprague-Dawley rats. One site was covered with a 3D collagen gel containing 2 × 106 MSCs (MSCs+/3D collagen+). Another site was replaced with a 3D collagen gel without MSCs and the third site was left empty. The wound size was significantly reduced in the MSCs+/3D collagen+ sites. MSCs+/3D collagen+ sites exhibited the most neovascularization. FISH showed that Y-chromosome possessing cells were found within the dermis of MSCs+/3D collagen+ sites. Gelatin zymography revealed that the most intense expression of MMP-9 was detected early in the MSCs+/3D collagen+ sites. Our results indicate that MSCs upregulate the early expression of MMP-9 which induces the early mobilization of VEGF. Thus, MSCs appear to accelerate significantly wound healing via early activation of MMP-9 and VEGF

Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Moyamoya Disease

Moyamoya disease is an occlusive intracranial arteriopathy owing to intimal hyperplasia with formation of abnormal cerebrovascular collateral networks; however, the etiology remains unclear. Although this disease is known to be associated with renovascular hypertension, it is extremely rare for it to be associated with stenoses of the coronary arteries. We herein described a case of a 56-year-old female with angina and asymptomatic moyamoya disease. We performed off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) to avoid cardiopulmonary bypass and the risk of intraoperative hypotension. Conventional coronary artery bypass grafting has a potential risk of brain ischemia in moyamoya patients, but OPCAB may avoid this perioperative cerebral ischemic complication

Effect Of Nitric-Oxide Post-Oxidation Annealing On High-Temperature Oxidized 4H SiC.

Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor FETs using 4H-SiC have been investigated intensively because 4H-SiC semiconductor has excellent physical properties for power-device applications

Vulvar Skin Metastasis of Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma

In this study, we examined a case where lung cancer metastasized to the vulvar area. A 79-year-old woman that was a heavy smoker was referred to our department with a short (two-week) history of dyspnea, and with a painful nodule on her right labium majora, which she had noticed almost three years earlier. Histopathologically, the specimen appeared as a poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The chest X-ray, chest computerized tomography scan, and percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy via bronchoscopy revealed squamous cell carcinoma in the right upper lobe of the lung. Based on these clinical and histopathological findings, we concluded that her condition was skin metastasis at the right labium majora from the lung cancer, which occurs very rarely

Integrated analysis of global proteome, phosphoproteome, and glycoproteome enables complementary interpretation of disease-related protein networks

Multi-dimensional proteomic analyses provide different layers of protein information, including protein abundance and post-translational modifications. Here, we report an integrated analysis of protein expression, phosphorylation, and N-glycosylation by serial enrichments of phosphorylation and N-glycosylation (SEPG) from the same tissue samples. On average, the SEPG identified 142,106 unmodified peptides of 8,625 protein groups, 18,846 phosphopeptides (15,647 phosphosites), and 4,019 N-glycopeptides (2,634 N-glycosites) in tumor and adjacent normal tissues from three gastric cancer patients. The combined analysis of these data showed that the integrated analysis additively improved the coverages of gastric cancer-related protein networks; phosphoproteome and N-glycoproteome captured predominantly low abundant signal proteins, and membranous or secreted proteins, respectively, while global proteome provided abundances for general population of the proteome. Therefore, our results demonstrate that the SEPG can serve as an effective approach for multi-dimensional proteome analyses, and the holistic profiles of protein expression and PTMs enabled improved interpretation of disease-related networks by providing complementary information.1

The Role of Alcoholics' Insight in Abstinence from Alcohol in Male Korean Alcohol Dependents

This study was performed to examine the relationship between the abstinence results of alcohol dependents after discharge and the level of insight at the time of discharge. 117 male Korean alcohol dependents discharged from a community-based alcohol treatment center were followed up to determine the initial months of abstinence on a successive basis (IMA), total months of abstinence during 12-month period (TMA), and complete abstinence for one full year after discharge. Analyses of abstinence results with adjustment for the differences in baseline characteristics were performed for subjects' insight levels (poor, fair and good). The mean IMA of patients with good insight was significantly (p<0.01) longer than that of patients with poor insight and TMA of patients with good insight was significantly (p<0.001) longer than that of others. Using patients with good insight as the reference, patients with poor insight showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 0.07 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.01-0.75, p<0.05) for complete abstinence for one full year after discharge and patients with fair insight, adjusted OR of 0.17 (95% CI=0.03-0.81, p<0.05). These results suggest that alcohol dependents' insight could be regarded as a factor related with abstinence