Vav1 inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption

Vav1 is a Rho/Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor primarily expressed in hematopoietic cells. In this study, we investigated the potential role of Vav1 in osteoclast (OC) differentiation by comparing the ability of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) obtained from Vav1-deficient (Vav1−/−) and wild-type (WT) mice to differentiate into mature OCs upon stimulation with macrophage colony stimulating factor and receptor activator of nuclear kappa B ligand in vitro. Our results suggested that Vav1 deficiency promoted the differentiation of BMMCs into OCs, as indicated by the increased expression of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, cathepsin K, and calcitonin receptor. Therefore, Vav1 may play a negative role in OC differentiation. This hypothesis was supported by the observation of more OCs in the femurs of Vav1−/− mice than in WT mice. Furthermore, the bone status of Vav1−/− mice was analyzed in situ and the femurs of Vav1−/− mice appeared abnormal, with poor bone density and fewer number of trabeculae. In addition, Vav1-deficient OCs showed stronger adhesion to vitronectin, an αvβ3 integrin ligand important in bone resorption. Thus, Vav1 may inhibit OC differentiation and protect against bone resorption

Symmetries of SU(2) Skyrmion in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian approaches

We apply the Batalin-Fradkin-Tyutin (BFT) method to the SU(2) Skyrmion to study the full symmetry structure of the model at the first class Hamiltonian level. On the other hand, we also analyze the symmetry structure of the action having the WZ term, which corresponds to this Hamiltonian, in the framework of the Lagrangian approach. Furthermore, following the BFV formalism we derive the BRST invariant gauge fixed Lagrangian from the above extended action.Comment: 14 pages, final revised version, to appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.

BFT Hamiltonian embedding for SU(3) Skyrmion

We newly apply the Batalin, Fradkin and Tyutin (BFT) formalism to the SU(3) flavor Skyrmion model to investigate the Weyl ordering correction to the structure of the hyperfine splittings of strange baryons. On the other hand, the Berry phases and Casimir effects are also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, modified titl

Formation of ZnO Micro-Flowers Prepared via Solution Process and their Antibacterial Activity

This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of zinc oxide micro-flowers and their antibacterial activity. The micro-flowers of zinc oxide composed of hexagonal nanorods have been prepared via solution process using precursor zinc acetate di-hydrate and sodium hydroxide in 3 h of refluxing time at ~90°C. The antibacterial activities of grown micro-flowers were investigated against four pathogenic bacteria namely S. aureus, E. coli, S. typhimurium and K. pneumoniae by taking five different concentrations (5–45 μg/ml) of ZnO micro-flowers (ZnO-MFs). Our investigation reveals that at lowest concentration of ZnO-MFs solution inhibiting the growth of microbial strain which was found to be 5 μg/ml for all the tested pathogens. Additionally, on the basis of morphological and chemical observations, a chemical reaction mechanism of ZnO-MFs composed of hexagonal nanorods was also proposed

Study of Analyzing Outcome of Building and Introducing System for Preserving Full-Text of e-Journal

Today, most researchers conduct their studies through the full-text of e-journals. Therefore, an important base for domestic development of science and technology is to obtain the full-text of quality e-journals by overseas researchers and to provide it to Korea's researchers. This study aims to build a system based on the National Archiving Center for the full-text of e-journals and to make a service system for providing them to the public by acquiring the full-text of quality overseas e-journals. To do this, an analysis was made of the outcome of introducing such a system for full-text of e-journals in comparison with the investment. As a result, 112 more institutions, that is, from 47 institutions to 159 institutions, have introduced the system as of 2012, and the number of downloaded full-texts increased at least 2.17 times