The MDM2–p53–pyruvate carboxylase signalling axis couples mitochondrial metabolism to glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells

published_or_final_versio

Design and optimization of index-guiding photonic crystal fiber gas sensor

Globalization is becoming an important issue for most businesses in the world. Since globalization changes business trends and shortens product life cycles, it requires companies to be more innovative in developing new ideas, products and processes. Clustering is one of ways to promote innovation by facilitating sharing information and ideas between firms, attracting buyers and suppliers, and providing opportunities for joint training. Many researches in developed countries found that the proximity between companies facilitated collaboration and provided a more conducive environment for R&D and knowledge sharing which can develop culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. Then, the success of clusters in developed countries has led many government and companies to establish new clusters.Since products from China have been dominated Indonesia's market share with lower price, it is very difficult for Indonesian Small and Medium Enterprises to compete with lower price also. Therefore, to face the competition, innovation is perhaps as an alternative strategy for Indonesian SMEs. In facts, more than 50% of small and medium enterprises in Indonesia are located in clusters and most of them are located in Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara. Even though they located in cluster but their innovations still very low and judging from technology perspective, most of them have low level of technologies and still remain in the underdeveloped stage. Therefore, in this research, the author tries to find (1). To what extend do cluster Indonesia promote innovation, (2). To find the reasons why clusters in Indonesia has not been working well in promoting innovation and (3). To investigate what aspects can be improved by Indonesian SMEs to boost their innovation

Determining Material Response for Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) in Blast Loading Situations

Protecting structures from the effect of blast loads requires the careful design of all building components. In this context, the mechanical properties of Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) are of interest to designers as the membrane behaviour will affect the performance of laminated glass glazing when loaded by explosion pressure waves. This polymer behaves in a complex manner and is difficult to model over the wide range of strain rates relevant to blast analysis. In this study, data from experimental tests conducted at strain rates from 0.01 s−1 to 400 s−1 were used to develop material models accounting for the rate dependency of the material. Firstly, two models were derived assuming Prony series formulations. A reduced polynomial spring and a spring derived from the model proposed by Hoo Fatt and Ouyang were used. Two fits were produced for each of these models, one for low rate cases, up to 8 s−1, and one for high rate cases, from 20 s−1. Afterwards, a single model representing all rates was produced using a finite deformation viscoelastic model. This assumed two hyperelastic springs in parallel, one of which was in series with a non-linear damper. The results were compared with the experimental results, assessing the quality of the fits in the strain range of interest for blast loading situations. This should provide designers with the information to choose between the available models depending on their design needs

Competitive Targeted Marketing

In this paper, we consider two firms diffusing incompatible technologies and their decision of consumer targeting. The technology adoption is made in two steps. First, once the firms sell their products to their respective targeted consumer, the technology is diffused successively by word-of-mouth communication from the initial consumer to other consumers linked along the network. Then, in the second step, each consumer imitates the technology the neighbors use which fares better, and through this process of imitation, the technology distribution keeps evolving until it reaches the long-run steady state. We demonstrate that the early entrant chooses the minmax location when firms are myopic in the sense that they do not take the imitation possibility into account. If firms consider the possibility of imitation, the best target will tend towards a hub, although the minmax principle in general keeps valid in the sense that it should be the minmax location after considering imitation

Air Trapping on Chest CT Is Associated with Worse Ventilation Distribution in Infants with Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosed following Newborn Screening

BACKGROUND: In school-aged children with cystic fibrosis (CF) structural lung damage assessed using chest CT is associated with abnormal ventilation distribution. The primary objective of this analysis was to determine the relationships between ventilation distribution outcomes and the presence and extent of structural damage as assessed by chest CT in infants and young children with CF. METHODS: Data of infants and young children with CF diagnosed following newborn screening consecutively reviewed between August 2005 and December 2009 were analysed. Ventilation distribution (lung clearance index and the first and second moment ratios [LCI, M(1)/M(0) and M(2)/M(0), respectively]), chest CT and airway pathology from bronchoalveolar lavage were determined at diagnosis and then annually. The chest CT scans were evaluated for the presence or absence of bronchiectasis and air trapping. RESULTS: Matched lung function, chest CT and pathology outcomes were available in 49 infants (31 male) with bronchiectasis and air trapping present in 13 (27%) and 24 (49%) infants, respectively. The presence of bronchiectasis or air trapping was associated with increased M(2)/M(0) but not LCI or M(1)/M(0). There was a weak, but statistically significant association between the extent of air trapping and all ventilation distribution outcomes. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that in early CF lung disease there are weak associations between ventilation distribution and lung damage from chest CT. These finding are in contrast to those reported in older children. These findings suggest that assessments of LCI could not be used to replace a chest CT scan for the assessment of structural lung disease in the first two years of life. Further research in which both MBW and chest CT outcomes are obtained is required to assess the role of ventilation distribution in tracking the progression of lung damage in infants with CF

Plutonium in Soils from Northeast China and Its Potential Application for Evaluation of Soil Erosion

Surface and soil core samples from northeast China were analyzed for Pu isotopes. The measured Pu-240/Pu-239 atomic ratios and Pu239 + 240/Cs-137 activity ratios revealed that the global fallout is the dominant source of Pu and Cs-137 at these sites. Migration behavior of Pu varying with land type and human activities resulted in different distribution of Pu in surface soils. A sub-surface maximum followed by exponential decline of Pu239 + 240 concentrations was observed in an undisturbed soil core, with a total Pu239 + 240 inventory of 86.9 Bq/m(2) and more than 85% accumulated in 0 similar to 20 cm layers. While only half inventory of Pu was obtained in another soil core and no sub-surface maximum value occurred. Erosion of topsoil in the site should be the most possible reason for the significantly lower Pu inventory, which is also supported by the reported Cs-137 profiles. These results demonstrated that Pu could be applied as an ideal substitute of Cs-137 for soil erosion study in the future.</p

Identification of an autoantibody panel to separate lung cancer from smokers and nonsmokers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sera from lung cancer patients contain autoantibodies that react with tumor associated antigens (TAAs) that reflect genetic over-expression, mutation, or other anomalies of cell cycle, growth, signaling, and metabolism pathways.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed immunoassays to detect autoantibodies to ten tumor associated antigens (TAAs) selected on the basis of previous studies showing that they had preferential specificity for certain cancers. Sera examined were from lung cancer patients (22); smokers with ground-glass opacities (GGOs) (46), benign solid nodules (55), or normal CTs (35); and normal non-smokers (36). Logistic regression models based on the antibody biomarker levels among the high risk and lung cancer groups were developed to identify the combinations of biomarkers that predict lung cancer in these cohorts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Statistically significant differences in the distributions of each of the biomarkers were identified among all five groups. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves based on age, c-myc, Cyclin A, Cyclin B1, Cyclin D1, CDK2, and survivin, we obtained a sensitivity = 81% and specificity = 97% for the classification of cancer vs smokers(no nodules, solid nodules, or GGO) and correctly predicted 31/36 healthy controls as noncancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A pattern of autoantibody reactivity to TAAs may distinguish patients with lung cancer versus smokers with normal CTs, stable solid nodules, ground glass opacities, or normal healthy never smokers.</p