First Record of the Genus Paragrandidierella (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Aoridae) from Korea

A newly recorded aorid species, Paragrandidierella minima Ariyama, 2002, from Korean waters is reported with a description and illustrations, and its generic features are considered. This species is characterized by the carpochelate gnathopod 1 in matured male, the posterodistal protrusion on peduncle 5 of antenna 2, the absence of the apical spine on inner plate of maxilliped, the minute apical projection on inner lobe of lower lip, the acute posteroproximal extension on the basis of each pereopod 5 and 6, the shape of uropods and telson, and the large inter-ramal process of uropod 1. This is the first report of the genus Paragrandidierella from Korea

Au-SN Flip-Chip Solder Bump for Microelectronic and Optoelectronic Applications

As an alternative to the time-consuming solder pre-forms and pastes currently used, a co-electroplating method of eutectic Au-Sn alloy was used in this study. Using a co-electroplating process, it was possible to plate the Au-Sn solder directly onto a wafer at or near the eutectic composition from a single solution. Two distinct phases, Au5Sn and AuSn, were deposited at a composition of 30at.%Sn. The Au-Sn flip-chip joints were formed at 300 and 400 degrees without using any flux. In the case where the samples were reflowed at 300 degrees, only an (Au,Ni)3Sn2 IMC layer formed at the interface between the Au-Sn solder and Ni UBM. On the other hand, two IMC layers, (Au,Ni)3Sn2 and (Au,Ni)3Sn, were found at the interfaces of the samples reflowed at 400 degrees. As the reflow time increased, the thickness of the (Au,Ni)3Sn2 and (Au,Ni)3Sn IMC layers formed at the interface increased and the eutectic lamellae in the bulk solder coarsened.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Solitary Necrotic Nodules of the Liver Mimicking Hepatic Metastasis: Report of Two Cases

We present two cases of solitary necrotic nodules of the liver which on radiologic images mimicked hepatic metastasis. Solitary necrotic nodule of the liver is a rare but benign entity which histopathologically consists of an outer fibrotic capsule with inflammatory cells and a central core of amorphous necrotic material. The lesion was seen on contrast-enhanced CT as an ovoid-shaped hypoattenuating nodule; on CT during hepatic arteriography as enhancing nodule; on intraoperative US as a target-appearing hypoechoic nodule; on T2WI as a hyperintensity nodule, and on dynamic MR as a subtle peripheral enhancing nodule. Although the radiologic features are not specific, solitary necrotic nodule of the liver should be included in the differential diagnosis of hepatic metastasis

Tap: A Novel Cellular Protein That Interacts with Tip of Herpesvirus Saimiri and Induces Lymphocyte Aggregation

AbstractTip of herpesvirus saimiri associates with Lck and down-regulates Lck-mediated activation. We identified a novel cellular Tip-associated protein (Tap) by a yeast two-hybrid screen. Tap associated with Tip following transient expression in COS-1 cells and stable expression in human Jurkat-T cells. Expression of Tip and Tap in Jurkat-T cells induced dramatic cell aggregation. Aggregation was likely caused by the up-regulated surface expression of adhesion molecules including integrin α, L-selectin, ICAM-3, and H-CAM. Furthermore, NF-κB transcriptional factor of aggregated cells had approximately 40-fold higher activity than that of parental cells. Thus, Tap is likely to be an important cellular mediator of Tip function in T cell transformation by herpesvirus saimiri

Super-resolution imaging of fluorescently labeled, endogenous RNA Polymerase II in living cells with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing

Live cell imaging of mammalian RNA polymerase II (Pol II) has previously relied on random insertions of exogenous, mutant Pol II coupled with the degradation of endogenous Pol II using a toxin, α-amanitin. Therefore, it has been unclear whether over-expression of labeled Pol II under an exogenous promoter may have played a role in reported Pol II dynamics in vivo. Here we label the endogenous Pol II in mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system. Using single-molecule based super-resolution imaging in the living cells, we captured endogenous Pol II clusters. Consistent with previous studies, we observed that Pol II clusters were short-lived (cluster lifetime ~8 s) in living cells. Moreover, dynamic responses to serum-stimulation, and drug-mediated transcription inhibition were all in agreement with previous observations in the exogenous Pol II MEF cell line. Our findings suggest that previous exogenously tagged Pol II faithfully recapitulated the endogenous polymerase clustering dynamics in living cells, and our approach may in principle be used to directly label transcription factors for live cell imaging.National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Award DP2CA195769)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physic

Toward Green Synthesis of Graphene Oxide Using Recycled Sulfuric Acid via Couette-Taylor Flow

Developing eco-friendly and cost-effective processes for the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) is essential for its widespread industrial applications. In this work, we propose a green synthesis technique for GO production using recycled sulfuric acid and filter-processed oxidized natural graphite obtained from a Couette-Taylor flow reactor. The viscosity of reactant mixtures processed from Couette-Taylor flow was considerably lower (???200 cP at 25 ??C) than that of those from Hummers' method, which enabled the simple filtration process. The filtered sulfuric acid can be recycled and reused for the repetitive GO synthesis with negligible differences in the as-synthesized GO qualities. This removal of sulfuric acid has great potential in lowering the overall GO production cost as the amount of water required during the fabrication process, which takes a great portion of the total production cost, can be dramatically reduced after such acid filtration. The proposed eco-friendly GO fabrication process is expected to promote the commercial application of graphene materials into industry shortly

Correlation of hypoxia inducible transcription factor in breast cancer and SUVmax of F-18 FDG PET/CT

BACKGROUND: Tumor hypoxia induces the expression of several genes via the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1 alpha (HIF-1a). It is associated with the prognosis of several cancers. We studied the immunohistochemical expression of HIF-1a in patients with invasive ductal cancer (IDC) of the breast and the possible correlation with the maximum standardized uptake value of the primary tumor (pSUVmax) as well as other biological parameters. Prognostic significance of pSUVmax and expression of HIF-1a for the prediction of progression-free survival (PFS) was also assessed. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two-hundred seven female patients with IDC who underwent pretreatment fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-18 FDG PET/CT) were enrolled. The pSUVmax was compared with clinicopathological parameters including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), axillary lymph node (LN) metastasis, stage and HIF-1a expression. The prognostic value of pSUVmax for PFS was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: pSUVmax was significantly higher in patients with HIF-1a expression ≥ 2 compared to patients with HIF-1a expression < 2 (5.2 ± 4.5 vs. 3.7 ± 3.1, p = 0.008). pSUVmax was also significantly higher in higher stage (p < 0.000001), ER-negative tumors (p < 0.0001), PR-negative tumors (p = 0.0011) and positive LN metastasis (p = 0.0013). pSUVmax was significantly higher in patients with progression compared to patients who were disease-free (6.8 ± 4.4 vs. 4.1 ± 3.7, p = 0.0005). A receiver-operating characteristic curve demonstrated a pSUVmax of 6.51 to be the optimal cutoff for predicting PFS (sensitivity: 53.6%, specificity: 86.0%). Patients with high pSUVmax (> 6.5) had significantly shorter PFS compared to patients with low pSUVmax (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: pSUVmax on pretreatment F-18 FDG PET/ CT reflect expression of HIF-1a and can be used as a good surrogate marker for the prediction of progression in patients with IDC. The amount of FDG uptake is determined by the presence of glucose metabolism and hypoxia in breast cancer cell

Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Tenosynovitis in the Hand: Two Case Reports with the MR Imaging Findings

Nontuberculous mycobacterial infections can cause destructive tenosynovitis of the hand. We report on and discuss the clinical course and distinctive radiologic findings of two patients with hand tenosynovitis secondary to M. marinum and intracellulare infection, which are different from those of the nontuberculous mycobacterial infections reported in the previous literature