Spiking ruby revisited: self-induced periodic spiking oscillations leading to chaotic state in a Cr:Al2O3 laser with cw 532-nm pumping

This paper reexamines a 60 year old mystery of spiking behavior in ruby lasers with a cw 532 nm pump, paying special attention to mode matching between the pump and lasing beam within a ruby crystal placed in a semi-confocal laser cavity. Periodic spiking oscillations were observed in a limited pump power regime, where spikes obeying the generic asymmetric hyperbolic function appeared at a repetition rate around 50 kHz and with a 130-150 ns width and 0.1-0.6 microjoule energy depending on the pump power. The physics of the spiking behavior based on Kleinman's mechanical approach and a plausible interpretation for the periodic spiking oscillation in terms of self-induced mode matching between the pump and laser beams through the self-induced Kerr-lens effect are addressed. The statistical nature inherent to spiking and the associated self-organized critical behavior in quasi-periodic spiking oscillations as well as chaotic states occurring outside the periodic spiking regime are also explored from a nonlinear dynamics point of view.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

Short-hairpin RNA library: identification of therapeutic partners for gefitinib-resistant non-small cell lung cancer.

Somatic mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor often cause resistance to therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitor in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we aimed to identify partner drugs and pathways that can induce cell death in combination with gefitinib in NSCLC cells. We undertook a genome-wide RNAi screen to identify synthetic lethality with gefitinib in tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistant cells. The screening data were utilized in different approaches. Firstly, we identified PRKCSH as a candidate gene, silencing of which induces apoptosis of NSCLC cells treated with gefitinib. Next, in an in silico gene signature pathway analysis of shRNA library data, a strong correlation of genes involved in the CD27 signaling cascade was observed. We showed that the combination of dasatinib (NF-κB pathway inhibitor) with gefitinib synergistically inhibited the growth of NSCLC cells. Lastly, utilizing the Connectivity Map, thioridazine was identified as a top pharmaceutical perturbagen. In our experiments, it synergized with gefitinib to reduce p-Akt levels and to induce apoptosis in NSCLC cells. Taken together, a pooled short-hairpin library screen identified several potential pathways and drugs that can be therapeutic targets for gefitinib resistant NSCLC

Flow Characteristics of Gas and Liquid through a Cell Porous Disk

This paper describes applications of cell porous materials. The authors investigated the flow characteristics of a gas-liquid mixture in a rotating porous disk. For theoretical analyses, the gas is assumed to permeate the entire disk surface. A simple one-dimensional model illustrates that the residence time of the liquid is much greater than that of the gas. Violent interaction in small cells is likely to enhance the chemical reaction between gas and liquid. Cell porous materials might also be exploited for chemical reaction purposes

An infantile/juvenile form of Alexander disease caused by a R79H mutation in GFAP

Alexander disease is a degenerative white matter disorder due to mutations in the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene. It has been classified into three forms based on the age of onset and severity: an infantile, a juvenile, and an adult form. In a six-yearold patient with a relatively mild form of Alexander disease, we detected a common R79H mutation in GFAP previously only described in the infantile form. These results suggest the need for further studies of the genotype-phenotype correlation