Structural Analysis of Nano Core PCF With Fused Cladding for Supercontinuum Generation in 6G Networks

The Sixth Generation (6G) networks have identified the use of frequency range between 95 GHz and 3 THz with a targeted data rate of 1 Terabytes/second at the access network for holographic video applications. As is demands broadening of spectrum at the core network, this paper proposes a Supercontinuum Generation (SCG) through photonic crystal fiber (PCF) as it provides excellent broadening of the optical spectrum. Discussed in the paper is supercontinuum generation at high pumping power as per the standards specified by the International Telecommunications Union. The proposed PCF is designed with silicon nanocrystal core and the cladding microstructures is arranged in a fusion approach to effectively optimize the optical parameters such as dispersion, nonlinearity, birefringence, group-velocity dispersion, and confinement loss. The fused cladding comprises of a flower-cladding assembly in which air-holes arrangement is inspired from petals in a pleated structure. Such arrangement is shown here to provide high nonlinearity and negative dispersion for high power supercontinuum generation. The novel nanocore assembly with improved structural constraints delivers a non-linearity of 6.37 × 106 W−1 km−1 and a negative dispersion of −142.1 (ps/nm-km) at 1,550 nm. Moreover, a supercontinuum spectrum is generated using different pulse widths ranging from 350 to 650 ps with 25 kW pump power for PCF lengths of 10 and 15 mm

Augmenter of Liver Regeneration Reduces Ischemia Reperfusion Injury by Less Chemokine Expression, Gr-1 Infiltration and Oxidative Stress

Hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is a major complication in liver resection and transplantation. Here, we analyzed the impact of recombinant human augmenter of liver regeneration (rALR), an anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic protein, on the deleterious process induced by ischemia reperfusion (IR). Application of rALR reduced tissue damage (necrosis), levels of lipid peroxidation (oxidative stress) and expression of anti-oxidative genes in a mouse IRI model. Damage associated molecule pattern (DAMP) and inflammatory cytokines such as HMGB1 and TNF alpha, were not affected by rALR. Furthermore, we evaluated infiltration of inflammatory cells into liver tissue after IRI and found no change in CD3 or gamma delta TCR positive cells, or expression of IL17/IFN gamma by gamma delta TCR cells. The quantity of Gr-1 positive cells (neutrophils), and therefore, myeloperoxidase activity, was lower in rALR-treated mice. Moreover, we found under hypoxic conditions attenuated ROS levels after ALR treatment in RAW264.7 cells and in primary mouse hepatocytes. Application of rALR also led to reduced expression of chemo-attractants like CXCL1, CXCL2 and CCl2 in hepatocytes. In addition, ALR expression was increased in IR mouse livers after 3 h and in biopsies from human liver transplants with minimal signs of tissue damage. Therefore, ALR attenuates IRI through reduced neutrophil tissue infiltration mediated by lower expression of key hepatic chemokines and reduction of ROS generation

Design of Environmental Biosensor Based on Photonic Crystal Fiber with Bends Using Finite Element Method

Copyright © 2015 The Author(s). In this paper, a biosensor based on photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed and designed using Full-Vectorial Finite Element Method (FVFEM). The proposed PCF sensor consists of three concentric circles surrounding the core. The key optical sensor characteristics such as sensitivity, the field profiles and real part of the refractive index of the proposed PCF structure are investigated by employing the FVFEM. The proposed sensor can be deployed for environmental sensing when the PCF active region is filled with either analytes such as liquids or gas. By careful selection of the design parameters such as the radius of the sensing circle, the diameter of air holes in the core region and hole to hole spacing, Λ, the sensitivity analytes is determined. Our simulation results show that, the electric field distribution is primary localized in the third concentric circle with a radius of 16 μm. Effects of PCF bending on the sensitivity is also studied and reported

Interleukin-1ß Attenuates Expression of Augmenter of Liver Regeneration (ALR) by Regulating HNF4α Independent of c-Jun

Inflammasomes and innate immune cells have been shown to contribute to liver injury, thereby activating Kupffer cells, which release several cytokines, including IL-6, IL-1ß, and TNFα. Augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) is a hepatotropic co-mitogen that was found to have anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic properties and to attenuate experimental non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cholestasis. Additionally, hepatic ALR expression is diminished in patients with NAFLD or cholestasis, but less is known about the mechanisms of its regulation under these conditions. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the role of IL-1ß in ALR expression and to elucidate the molecular mechanism of this regulation in vitro. We found that ALR promoter activity and mRNA and protein expression were reduced upon treatment with IL-1ß. Early growth response protein-1 (Egr-1), an ALR inducer, was induced by IL-1ß but could not activate ALR expression, which may be attributed to reduced Egr-1 binding to the ALR promoter. The expression and nuclear localization of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 α (HNF4α), another ALR-inducing transcription factor, was reduced by IL-1ß. Interestingly, c-Jun, a potential regulator of ALR and HNF4α, showed increased nuclear phosphorylation levels upon IL-1ß treatment but did not change the expression of ALR or HNF4α. In conclusion, this study offers evidence regarding the regulation of anti-apoptotic and anti-oxidative ALR by IL-1ß through reduced Egr-1 promoter binding and diminished HNF4α expression independent of c-Jun activation. Low ALR tissue levels in NAFLD and cholestatic liver injury may be caused by IL-1ß and contribute to disease progression

Broadband 3-D shared aperture high isolation nine-element antenna array for on-demand millimeter-wave 5G applications

The paper presents the results of a novel 3-D shared aperture 3 × 3 matrix antenna-array for 26 GHz band 5 G wireless networks. Radiation elements constituting the array are hexagonal-shaped patches that are elevated above the common dielectric substrate by 3.35 mm and excited through a metallic rod of 0.4 mm diameter. The rod protrudes through the substrate of 0.8 mm thickness. It is shown that by isolating each radiating element in the array with a wall suppresses unwanted electromagnetic (EM) wave interactions, resulting in improvement in the antenna’s impedance matching and radiation characteristics. Moreover, the results show that by embedding hexagonalshaped slots in the patches improve the antenna’s gain and radiation efficiency performance. The subwavelength length slots in the patches essentially transform the radiating elements to exhibit metasurface characteristics when the array is illuminated by EM-waves. The proposed array structure has an average gain and radiation efficiency of 20 dBi and 93%, respectively, across 24.0–28.4 GHz. The isolation between its radiation elements is greater than 22 dB. Compared to the unslotted array the improvement in isolation between radiating elements is greater than 11dB, and the gain and efficiency are better than 10.5 dBi, and 25%, respectively. The compact array has a fractional bandwidth of 16% and a form factor of 20 × 20 × 3.35 mm3.Dr. Mohammad Alibakhshikenari acknowledges support from the CONEX-Plus programme funded by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801538. Also, this work was supported by Project RTI2018-095499-B-C31, funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)

Increased Expression of RUNX1 in Liver Correlates with NASH Activity Score in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)

Given the important role of angiogenesis in liver pathology, the current study investigated the role of Runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1), a regulator of developmental angiogenesis, in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Quantitative RT-PCRs and a transcription factor analysis of angiogenesis-associated differentially expressed genes in liver tissues of healthy controls, patients with steatosis and NASH, indicated a potential role of RUNX1 in NASH. The gene expression of RUNX1 was correlated with histopathological attributes of patients. The protein expression of RUNX1 in liver was studied by immunohistochemistry. To explore the underlying mechanisms, in vitro studies using RUNX1 siRNA and overexpression plasmids were performed in endothelial cells (ECs). RUNX1 expression was significantly correlated with inflammation, fibrosis and NASH activity score in NASH patients. Its expression was conspicuous in liver non-parenchymal cells. In vitro, factors from steatotic hepatocytes and/or VEGF or TGF-beta significantly induced the expression of RUNX1 in ECs. RUNX1 regulated the expression of angiogenic and adhesion molecules in ECs, including CCL2, PECAM1 and VCAM1, which was shown by silencing or over-expression of RUNX1. Furthermore, RUNX1 increased the angiogenic activity of ECs. This study reports that steatosis-induced RUNX1 augmented the expression of adhesion and angiogenic molecules and properties in ECs and may be involved in enhancing inflammation and disease severity in NASH

Repression of Cytochrome P450 Activity in Human Hepatocytes in Vitro by a Novel Hepatotrophic Factor, Augmenter of Liver Regeneration

ABSTRACT Pathological disorders of the liver were shown to be associated with an impairment of hepatic drug metabolism mediated in part by growth factors. Augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) is a novel liver-specific hepatotrophic growth factor, whereas its action on cytochrome P450 (P450) metabolism is completely unknown. Application of ALR to primary human hepatocytes in vitro reduced P450 isoenzyme activities (1A2 and 2A6) in a dose-dependent manner. Time-course analysis revealed that the maximal inhibitory effect was reached after 24 to 72 h of exposure with 50 nM ALR. The reduction of basal activities upon ALR treatment was 35% for CYP1A2, 56% for CYP2A6, 18% for CYP2B6, and 45% for CYP2E1. Additionally, after induction of P450 with specific inducers, ALR revealed an inhibitory effect on the isoenzyme activities (CYP1A2, 41%; CYP2B6, 35%). Investigations of protein and mRNA expression of basal and induced CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 after ALR treatment by Western blotting and real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, respectively, suggest a regulation on the transcriptional level. Furthermore, ALR treatment increased nuclear factor kB activity and reduced constitutive androstane receptor but not pregnane X receptor or aryl hydrocarbon receptor expression. In contrast, ALR revealed no effects on phase II reactions (glutathione/oxidized glutathione, UDP-glucuronyltransferase conjugation). Our results indicate that ALR, as a member of hepatotrophic factors, down-regulates basal and induced P450 in human liver and therefore cross-links growth signals to regulation of hepatic metabolism. These findings further imply a possible role of ALR in drug interactions during impaired hepatic function, whereas liver regeneration is triggered

Review on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Assisted Sensor Node Localization in Wireless Networks: Soft Computing Approaches

Node positioning or localization is a critical requisite for numerous position-based applications of wireless sensor network (WSN). Localization using the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ispreferred over localization using fixed terrestrial anchor node (FTAN) because of low implementation complexity and high accuracy. The conventional multilateration technique estimates the position of theunknown node (UN) based on the distance from the anchor node (AN) to UN that is obtained from the received signal strength (RSS) measurement. However, distortions in the propagation medium may yield incorrect distance measurement and as a result, the accuracy of RSS-multilateration is limited. Though theoptimization based localization schemes are considered to be a better alternative, the performance of these schemes is not satisfactory if the distortions are non-linear. In such situations, the neural network (NN) architecture such as extreme learning machine (ELM) can be a better choice as it is a highly non-linearclassifier. The ELM is even superior over its counterpart NN classifiers like multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF) due to its fast and strong learning ability. Thus, this paper provides a comparative review of various soft computing based localization techniques using both FTAN and aerial ANs for better acceptability

Pilot Study of the Association of the DDAH2 −449G Polymorphism with Asymmetric Dimethylarginine and Hemodynamic Shock in Pediatric Sepsis

Genetic variability in the regulation of the nitric oxide (NO) pathway may influence hemodynamic changes in pediatric sepsis. We sought to determine whether functional polymorphisms in DDAH2, which metabolizes the NO synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), are associated with susceptibility to sepsis, plasma ADMA, distinct hemodynamic states, and vasopressor requirements in pediatric septic shock.In a prospective study, blood and buccal swabs were obtained from 82 patients ≤ 18 years (29 with severe sepsis/septic shock plus 27 febrile and 26 healthy controls). Plasma ADMA was measured using tandem mass spectrometry. DDAH2 gene was partially sequenced to determine the -871 6g/7 g insertion/deletion and -449G/C single nucleotide polymorphisms. Shock type ("warm" versus "cold") was characterized by clinical assessment. The -871 7g allele was more common in septic (17%) then febrile (4%) and healthy (8%) patients, though this was not significant after controlling for sex and race (p = 0.96). ADMA did not differ between -871 6g/7 g genotypes. While genotype frequencies also did not vary between groups for the -449G/C SNP (p = 0.75), septic patients with at least one -449G allele had lower ADMA (median, IQR 0.36, 0.30-0.41 µmol/L) than patients with the -449CC genotype (0.55, 0.49-0.64 µmol/L, p = 0.008) and exhibited a higher incidence of "cold" shock (45% versus 0%, p = 0.01). However, after controlling for race, the association with shock type became non-significant (p = 0.32). Neither polymorphism was associated with inotrope score or vasoactive infusion duration.The -449G polymorphism in the DDAH2 gene was associated with both low plasma ADMA and an increased likelihood of presenting with "cold" shock in pediatric sepsis, but not with vasopressor requirement. Race, however, was an important confounder. These results support and justify the need for larger studies in racially homogenous populations to further examine whether genotypic differences in NO metabolism contribute to phenotypic variability in sepsis pathophysiology