Funneling Light Through a Subwavelength Aperture with Epsilon-Near-Zero Materials

Integration of the next generation of photonic structures with electronic and optical on-chip components requires the development of effective methods for confining and controlling light in subwavelength volumes. Several techniques enabling light coupling to sub-wavelength objects have recently been proposed, including grating-, and composite-based solutions. However, experi-mental realization of these couplers involves complex fabrication with \sim 10nm resolution in three dimensions. One promising alternative to complex coupling structures involves materials with vanishingly small dielectric permittivity, also known as epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials. In contrast to the previously referenced approaches, a single at layer of ENZ-material is expected to provide effcient coupling between free-space radiation and sub-wavelength guiding structures. Here we report the first direct observation of bulk-ENZ-enhanced transmission through a subwavelength slit, accompanied by a theoretical study of this phenomenon. Our study opens the door to multiple practical applications of ENZ materials and ENZ-based photonic systems

Sex‐Specific Associations of Oral Anticoagulant Use and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139084/1/jah32481-sup-0001-TableS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139084/2/jah32481.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139084/3/jah32481_am.pd

Primary Research Paper Identification and analysis of novel tandem repeats in the cell surface proteins of archaeal and bacterial genomes using computational tools

Abstract We have identified four novel repeats and two domains in cell surface proteins encoded by the Methanosarcina acetivorans genome and in some archaeal and bacterial genomes. The repeats correspond to a certain number of amino acid residues present in tandem in a protein sequence and each repeat is characterized by conserved sequence motifs. These correspond to: (a) a 42 amino acid (aa) residue RIVW repeat; (b) a 45 aa residue LGxL repeat; (c) a 42 aa residue LVIVD repeat; and (d) a 54 aa residue LGFP repeat. The domains correspond to a certain number of aa residues in a protein sequence that do not comprise internal repeats. These correspond to: (a) a 200 aa residue DNRLRE domain; and (b) a 70 aa residue PEGA domain. We discuss the occurrence of these repeats and domains in the different proteins and genomes analysed in this work

IN-MACA-MCC: Integrated Multiple Attractor Cellular Automata with Modified Clonal Classifier for Human Protein Coding and Promoter Prediction

Protein coding and promoter region predictions are very important challenges of bioinformatics (Attwood and Teresa, 2000). The identification of these regions plays a crucial role in understanding the genes. Many novel computational and mathematical methods are introduced as well as existing methods that are getting refined for predicting both of the regions separately; still there is a scope for improvement. We propose a classifier that is built with MACA (multiple attractor cellular automata) and MCC (modified clonal classifier) to predict both regions with a single classifier. The proposed classifier is trained and tested with Fickett and Tung (1992) datasets for protein coding region prediction for DNA sequences of lengths 54, 108, and 162. This classifier is trained and tested with MMCRI datasets for protein coding region prediction for DNA sequences of lengths 252 and 354. The proposed classifier is trained and tested with promoter sequences from DBTSS (Yamashita et al., 2006) dataset and nonpromoters from EID (Saxonov et al., 2000) and UTRdb (Pesole et al., 2002) datasets. The proposed model can predict both regions with an average accuracy of 90.5% for promoter and 89.6% for protein coding region predictions. The specificity and sensitivity values of promoter and protein coding region predictions are 0.89 and 0.92, respectively

Lack of Evidence of Lower 30-Day All-Cause Readmission in Medicare Beneficiaries with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction Discharged on Spironolactone

BACKGROUND: Therapy with evidence-based heart failure (HF) medications has been shown to be associated with lower risk of 30-day all-cause readmission in patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). METHODS: We examined the association of aldosterone antagonist use with 30-day all-cause readmission in this population. Of the 2443 Medicare beneficiaries with HF and left ventricular E

A STAT3 protein complex required for mitochondrial mRNA stability and cancer

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a potent transcription factor necessary for life whose activity is corrupted in diverse diseases, including cancer. STAT3 biology was presumed to be entirely dependent on its activity as a transcription factor until the discovery of a mitochondrial pool of STAT3, which is necessary for normal tissue function and tumorigenesis. However, the mechanism of this mitochondrial activity remained elusive. This study uses immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry to identify a complex containing STAT3, leucine-rich pentatricopeptide repeat containing (LRPPRC), and SRA stem-loop-interacting RNA-binding protein (SLIRP) that is required for the stability of mature mitochondrially encoded mRNAs and transport to the mitochondrial ribosome. Moreover, we show that this complex is enriched in patients with lung adenocarcinoma and that its deletion inhibits the growth of lung cancer in vivo, providing therapeutic opportunities through the specific targeting of the mitochondrial activity of STAT3

Spironolactone Use and Higher Hospital Readmission for Medicare Beneficiaries With Heart Failure, Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction <45%, and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate <45 ml/min/1.73 m2

Although randomized controlled trials have demonstrated benefits of aldosterone antagonists for patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), they excluded patients with serum creatinine >2.5 mg/dl, and their use is contraindicated in those with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). In the present analysis, we examined the association of spironolactone use with readmission in hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries with HFrEF and advanced CKD. Of the 1,140 patients with HFrEF (EF <45%) and advanced CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] <45 ml/min/1.73 m(2)), 207 received discharge prescriptions for spironolactone. Using propensity scores (PSs) for the receipt of discharge prescriptions for spironolactone, we estimated PS-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for spironolactone-associated outcomes. Patients (mean age 76 years, 49% women, 25% African-American) had mean EF 28%, mean eGFR 31 ml/min/1.73 m(2), and mean potassium 4.5 mEq/L. Spironolactone use had significant PS-adjusted association with higher risk of 30-day (HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.90) and 1-year (HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.63) all-cause readmissions. The risk of 1-year all-cause readmission was higher among 106 patients with eGFR <15 ml/min/1.73 m(2) (HR 4.75, 95% CI 1.84 to 12.28) than among those with eGFR 15 to 45 ml/min/1.73 m(2) (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.61, p for interaction 0.003). Spironolactone use had no association with HF readmission and all-cause mortality. In conclusion, among hospitalized patients with HFrEF and advanced CKD, spironolactone use was associated with higher all-cause readmission but had no association with all-cause mortality or HF readmission

Sex‐Specific Associations of Oral Anticoagulant Use and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139084/1/jah32481-sup-0001-TableS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139084/2/jah32481.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139084/3/jah32481_am.pd