Liver-Specific Deletion of Mouse CTCF Leads to Hepatic Steatosis via Augmented PPARγ Signaling

Background & Aims: The liver is the major organ for metabolizing lipids, and malfunction of the liver leads to various diseases. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is rapidly becoming a major health concern worldwide and is characterized by abnormal retention of excess lipids in the liver. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a highly conserved zinc finger protein that regulates higher-order chromatin organization and is involved in various gene regulation processes. Here, we sought to determine the physiological role of CTCF in hepatic lipid metabolism. Methods: We generated liver-specific, CTCF-ablated and/or CD36 whole-body knockout mice. Overexpression or knockdown of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ in the liver was achieved using adenovirus. Mice were examined for development of hepatic steatosis and inflammation. RNA sequencing was performed to identify genes affected by CTCF depletion. Genome-wide occupancy of H3K27 acetylation, PPARγ, and CTCF were analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Genome-wide chromatin interactions were analyzed by in situ Hi-C. Results: Liver-specific, CTCF-deficient mice developed hepatic steatosis and inflammation when fed a standard chow diet. Global analysis of the transcriptome and enhancer landscape revealed that CTCF-depleted liver showed enhanced accumulation of PPARγ in the nucleus, which leads to increased expression of its downstream target genes, including fat storage-related gene CD36, which is involved in the lipid metabolic process. Hepatic steatosis developed in liver-specific, CTCF-deficient mice was ameliorated by repression of PPARγ via pharmacologic blockade or adenovirus-mediated knockdown, but hardly rescued by additional knockout of CD36. Conclusions: Our data indicate that liver-specific deletion of CTCF leads to hepatosteatosis through augmented PPARγ DNA-binding activity, which up-regulates its downstream target genes associated with the lipid metabolic process. © 2021 The Authors1

A 103 dB DR Fourth-Order Delta-Sigma Modulator for Sensor Applications

This paper describes a fourth-order cascade-of-integrators with feedforward (CIFF) single-bit discrete-time (DT) switched-capacitor (SC) delta-sigma modulator (DSM) for high-resolution applications. This DSM is suitable for high-resolution applications at low frequency using a high-order modulator structure. The proposed operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), used a feedforward amplifier scheme that provided a high-power efficiency, a wider bandwidth, and a higher DC gain compared to recent designs. A chopper-stabilization technique was applied to the first integrator to remove the 1/f noise from the transistor, which is inversely proportional to the frequency. The designed DSM was implemented using 0.35 µm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The oversampling ratio (OSR) was 128, and the sampling frequency was 128 kHz. At a 500 Hz bandwidth, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was 100.3 dB, the signal-to-noise distortion ratio (SNDR) was 98.5 dB, and the dynamic range (DR) was 103 dB. The measured total power dissipation was 99 µW from a 3.3 V supply voltage

Field Experiments to Evaluate Thermal Performance of Energy Slabs with Different Installation Conditions

The energy slab is a novel type of horizontal Ground Heat Exchanger (GHEX), where heat exchange pipes are encased in building slab structures. The thermal performance of energy slabs is usually inferior to the conventional closed-loop vertical GHEX because its installation depth is relatively shallow and therefore affected by ambient air temperature. In this paper, heat exchange pipes were made of not only conventional high-density polyethylene (HDPE), but also stainless steel (STS), which is expected to enhance the thermal performance of the energy slabs. In addition to a floor slab, a side wall slab was also used as a component of energy slabs to maximize the use of geothermal energy that can be generated from the underground space. Moreover, a thermal insulation layer in the energy slabs was considered in order to reduce thermal interference induced by ambient air temperature. Consequently, two different field-scale energy slabs (i.e., floor-type and wall-type energy slabs) were constructed in a test bed, and two types of heat exchange pipes (i.e., STS pipe and HDPE pipes) were installed in each energy slab. A series of thermal response tests (TRTs) and thermal performance tests (TPTs) were conducted to evaluate the heat exchange performance of the constructed energy slabs. Use of the STS heat exchange pipe enhanced the thermal performance of energy slabs. Additionally, the wall-type energy slab had a similar thermal performance to the floor-type energy slab, which infers the applicability of the additional use of the wall-type energy slab. Note that if an energy slab is not thermally cut off from the building’s interior space with the aid of thermal insulation layers, heat exchange within the energy slabs should be significantly influenced by fluctuations in ambient temperature

Microscopic Origin of Surface-Enhanced Circular Dichroism

Circular dichroism (CD), the difference in absorption of two opposite circularly polarized light sources by chiral molecules, can be significantly enhanced when molecules are adsorbed on the surface of nanostructures. We present a theory based on Poynting’s theorem adapted for chiral media to analyze the surface-enhanced CD of a chiral molecule/nanostructure coupled system. Our theory clarifies the microscopic origin of surface-enhanced CD signals by showing that the enhanced CD has two forms, inherent and induced. The inherent CD is the direct molecular CD that becomes enhanced due to the strongly localized optical helicity density near the nanostructure. The induced CD, previously ignored, derives from asymmetric excitation and absorption of electromagnetic fields inside the nanostructures surrounded by chiral molecules upon the injection of two oppositely circularly polarized light sources. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the induced CD can contribute significantly to the CD signals measured by surface-enhanced chiroptical spectroscopy

Effect of Borehole Material on Analytical Solutions of the Heat Transfer Model of Ground Heat Exchangers Considering Groundwater Flow

Groundwater flow is one of the most important factors for the design of a ground heat exchanger (GHEX) since the thermal environment of the ground around the buried GHEX is significantly affected by heat convection due to the groundwater flow. Several preceding studies have been conducted to develop analytical solutions to the heat transfer model of GHEX with consideration of groundwater flow. One of these solutions is the combined heat transfer model of conduction and convection. However, the developed combined analytical models are inapplicable to all of the configurations of ordinary GHEXs because these solutions assume that the inner part of the borehole is thermally inert or consists of the same material as that of the surrounding ground. In this paper, the applicability of the combined solid cylindrical heat source model, which is the most suitable to energy piles until now, was evaluated by performing a series of numerical analyses. In the numerical analysis, the inner part of the borehole was modeled as two different materials (i.e., permeable ground formation and impermeable fill such as concrete) to evaluate applicability of the analytical solution along with different diameter-length (D/L) ratios of borehole. In a small value of the D/L ratio, the analytical solution to the combined heat transfer model is in good agreement with the result of numerical analysis. On the other hand, when increasing the D/L ratio, the analytical solution significantly overestimates the effect of groundwater flow on the heat transfer of GHEXs because the analytical solution disregards the existence of the impermeable region in the borehole. Consequently, such tendency is more critical in the GHEX with a large D/L ratio such as large-diameter energy piles

Evaluating the Vertical Extension Module of a Building with Installed Rotary Dampers at Joints

In this study, the shape of a vertical expansion module with a rotary-type damping device is proposed. The external energy dissipation capacity is confirmed through experiments and the performance of the module is simulated. It can be easily applied to high-rise structures, as the module is directly supported by the bearing walls without the need for a separate base system. Additionally, as the damper can be replaced, it is possible to enhance seismic performance even after construction. The simulation results show that the rotary-type damper is more effective in reducing the displacement, shear force, and moment than free and fixed joints. In the pushover analysis of a system modeled using the moment hinge of the rotary damper of the joint, the best response reduction effect is obtained when the yield moment of the hinge is defined as 1% of the frame plastic moment. As a result of the analysis of the multi-degree-of-freedom system considering a harmonic load, we determined that it is efficient for the hinge to yield after the displacement, and the acceleration response of the resonant structure reaches steady state during the installation. In the multi-degree-of-freedom system with slab joints added to the analytical model, the displacement response decreased gradually as the natural period of the structure decreased and the joint increased. This provides evidence that the damper does not affect the overall behavior of the structure. The most important design factor of the rotary-type friction damper, shown through the experiment, is the relationship between the frictional surface and the tightening force of the bolt

Thermally Stable Resistive Switching Characteristics of Te-Based Conductive-Bridge Memoryby Optimizing Zr-Te Composition

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