Investigation of the SH3BP2 Gene Mutation in Cherubism

Cherubism is a rare developmental lesion of the jaw that is generally inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. Recent studies have revealed point mutations in the SH3BP2 gene in cherubism patients. In this study, we examined a 6-year-old Korean boy and his family. We found a Pro418Arg mutation in the SH3BP2 gene of the patient and his mother. A father and his 30-month-old younger brother had no mutations. Immunohistochemically, the multinucleated giant cells proved positive for CD68 and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). Numerous spindle-shaped stromal cells expressed a ligand for receptor activator of nuclear factor kB (RANKL), but not in multinucleated giant cells. These results provide evidence that RANKL plays a critical role in the differentiation of osteoclast precursor cells to multinucleated giant cells in cherubism. Additionally, genetic analysis may be a useful method for differentiation of cherubism.</p

Progressive Processing of Continuous Range Queries in Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we study the problem of processing continuous range queries in a hierarchical wireless sensor network. Contrasted with the traditional approach of building networks in a "flat" structure using sensor devices of the same capability, the hierarchical approach deploys devices of higher capability in a higher tier, i.e., a tier closer to the server. While query processing in flat sensor networks has been widely studied, the study on query processing in hierarchical sensor networks has been inadequate. In wireless sensor networks, the main costs that should be considered are the energy for sending data and the storage for storing queries. There is a trade-off between these two costs. Based on this, we first propose a progressive processing method that effectively processes a large number of continuous range queries in hierarchical sensor networks. The proposed method uses the query merging technique proposed by Xiang et al. as the basis and additionally considers the trade-off between the two costs. More specifically, it works toward reducing the storage cost at lower-tier nodes by merging more queries, and toward reducing the energy cost at higher-tier nodes by merging fewer queries (thereby reducing "false alarms"). We then present how to build a hierarchical sensor network that is optimal with respect to the weighted sum of the two costs. It allows for a cost-based systematic control of the trade-off based on the relative importance between the storage and energy in a given network environment and application. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a near-optimal control between the storage and energy and reduces the cost by 0.989~84.995 times compared with the cost achieved using the flat (i.e., non-hierarchical) setup as in the work by Xiang et al.Comment: 41 pages, 20 figure

Exploring wide bandgap metal oxides for perovskite solar cells

The heterojunction formed when wide bandgap oxides come into contact with perovskite solar cells is essential for high efficiency as it minimizes charge leakage along with charge separation and charge transfer. Therefore, the electrical and optical properties of wide bandgap oxides, including the bandgap, charge mobility, and energy level, directly determine the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. In addition, the surface properties of the wide bandgap oxide act as an important factor that determines the efficiency through the wettability and penetration of the precursor solution during perovskite layer deposition and long-term stability through the intimate interfacial bonding with the perovskite. Although a great variety of wide bandgap oxides are known, the number that can be used for perovskite solar cells is considerably reduced in view of the limitations that the light absorber (here, perovskite) for solar cells is fixed, and the oxides must be uniformly coated at low temperature onto the substrate. Herein, a review of the results from several broad bandgap oxides used in perovskite solar cells is presented, and a direction for discovering new photoelectrodes is proposed

The ends of 27 big depressions

How did countries recover from the Great Depression? In this paper, we explore the argument that leaving the gold standard helped by boosting inflationary expectations, lowering real interest rates, and stimulating interest-sensitive expenditures. We do so for a sample of 27 countries, using modern nowcasting methods and a new dataset containing more than 230,000 monthly and quarterly observations for over 1,500 variables. In those cases where the departure from gold happened on well-defined dates, inflationary expectations clearly rose in the wake of departure. Instrumental variable, difference-in-difference, and synthetic matching techniques suggest that the relationship is causal