Observation of tW production in the single-lepton channel in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

A measurement of the cross section of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson in final states with a muon or electron and jets in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 fb(-1) collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2016. A boosted decision tree is used to separate the tW signal from the dominant t (t) over bar background, whilst the subleading W+jets and multijet backgrounds are constrained using data-based estimates. This result is the first observation of the tW process in final states containing a muon or electron and jets, with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations. The cross section is determined to be 89 +/- 4 (stat) +/- 12 (syst) pb, consistent with the standard model.Peer reviewe

Short-term efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide for macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion that is refractory to intravitreal bevacizumab

Aims: To evaluate the 1-month efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (TA) in treating macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO) that was refractory to intravitreal bevacizumab. Materials and Methods: This retrospective, observational study included 23 eyes from 23 patients with macular edema secondary to RVO. Macular edema that did not respond to two or more consecutive intravitreal bevacizumab injections was treated with intravitreal TA. Central foveal thickness (CFT) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were compared before and one month after TA injection. Results: Fifteen eyes were diagnosed with central RVO, and eight eyes were diagnosed with branch RVO. All patients were previously treated with 2.4 ± 0.6 intravitreal bevacizumab injections. The TA injection was performed, on average, 5.8 ± 1.4 weeks after the last bevacizumab injection. The CFT before TA injection was 516.6 ± 112.4 μm and significantly decreased to 402.3 ± 159.7 μm after TA therapy (P < 0.001). The logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution BCVA was 0.72 ± 0.34 before TA therapy and was not significantly improved by the treatment (0.67 ± 0.35, P = 0.119), despite a decrease in CFT. However, seven eyes (30.4%) had a BCVA gain of one or more lines. Conclusions: Intravitreal TA therapy was beneficial in some patients with macular edema secondary to RVO that was refractory to intravitreal bevacizumab therapy. This study suggests that intravitreal TA should be considered as a treatment option for refractory macular edema

Inducing a nanotwinned grain structure within the TiO2 nanotubes provides enhanced electron transport and DSSC efficiencies > 10 %

Titania is one of the key materials used in 1, 2 and 3D nanostructures as electron transport media in energy conversion devices. In the present work we show that the electronic properties of TiO2 nanotubes can be drastically improved by inducing a nanotwinned grain structure in the nanotube wall. This structure can be exclusively induced for “single-walled” nanotubes with a high temperature treatment in pure oxygen atmospheres. Nanotubes with a twinned grain structure within the tube wall show a strongly enhanced conductivity and photogenerated charge transport compared to classic nanotubes. We exemplify this remarkable improvement in the electronic properties by using nanotwinned TiO2 nanotubes in dye-sensitized solar cells where a significant increase in efficiency of up to 10.2% is achieved

Design of a four-element array for accurate direction of arrival estimation in phase interferometry systems

This article proposes the design of a four-element array antenna for the accurate direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of Global Positioning System (GPS) interference signals. The proposed array antenna has four individual antenna elements, and each element consists of a radiating patch on the upper layer and a feeding loop on the lower layer. The patch and loop are intentionally designed in a circular shape to obtain the symmetric current distributions on the radiators. The feeding loop is directly connected by two output ports of an external hybrid chip coupler, and the radiating patch is then electromagnetically coupled by near-fields of the feeding loop. This feeding mechanism in the proposed structure allows for a more uniform current and H-field distribution for phase characteristics of the radiation that are close to the ideal isotropic radiators in the azimuth angle. In addition, the high-dielectric ceramic substrate is adopted to minimize the physical height of the antenna for the phase characteristics of the radiation close to the ideal isotropic radiators in elevation angles. To validate that the phase characteristics are similar to those of an ideal radiator, the DOA estimation performances are observed using a dual-axis interferometry. The results demonstrate that the proposed four-element array antenna with phase difference characteristics similar to those of an ideal radiator is suitable for the accurate DOA estimation of GPS interference signals

GIRK2 potassium channels expressed by the AgRP neurons decrease adiposity and body weight in mice.

It is well known that the neuropeptide Y (NPY)/agouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons increase appetite and decrease thermogenesis. Previous studies demonstrated that optogenetic and/or chemogenetic manipulations of NPY/AgRP neuronal activity alter food intake and/or energy expenditure (EE). However, little is known about intrinsic molecules regulating NPY/AgRP neuronal excitability to affect long-term metabolic function. Here, we found that the G protein-gated inwardly rectifying K+ (GIRK) channels are key to stabilize NPY/AgRP neurons and that NPY/AgRP neuron-selective deletion of the GIRK2 subunit results in a persistently increased excitability of the NPY/AgRP neurons. Interestingly, increased body weight and adiposity observed in the NPY/AgRP neuron-selective GIRK2 knockout mice were due to decreased sympathetic activity and EE, while food intake remained unchanged. The conditional knockout mice also showed compromised adaptation to coldness. In summary, our study identified GIRK2 as a key determinant of NPY/AgRP neuronal excitability and driver of EE in physiological and stress conditions

Nonvolatile tuning of the spin-orbit coupling in graphene by a ferroelectric dipole

Spin???orbit coupling (SOC) offers an alternative technique for generating pure spin currents in non-magnetic materials and controlling spin precessions for spin-field effect transistors. In addition, introducing SOC into graphene causes pristine graphene to evolve into a new condensed matter phase, such as the topological insulator state (quantum spin Hall state). Thus, the control of SOC in graphene is essential for its functional spin-orbitronic applications. Here, we report the nonvolatile tuning of SOC in graphene through the proximity effect from a ferroelectric substrate, Pb(Zr52,Ti48)O3 (PZT). Ferroelectric poling by applying a gate voltage induces a change in the SOC strength in addition to shifting the charge neutral point in graphene. The variations in SOC were extracted from weak localization within the quantum interference theory of graphene. Our analyses show that the dipole moments from the PZT polarization significantly enhance the z ??? ???z asymmetric and symmetric SOCs of graphene. Unlike the impurity doping and/or gating, our methodology leads to the nonvolatile electrical control of SOC, thereby paving the way for versatile spin-orbitronic applications of graphene

E-Ras improves the efficiency of reprogramming by facilitating cell cycle progression through JNK–Sp1 pathway

We have previously shown that pluripotent stem cells can be induced from adult somatic cells which were exposed to protein extracts isolated from mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC). Interestingly, generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells depended on the background of ES cell lines; possible by extracts from C57, but not from E14. Proteomic analysis of two different mES cell lines (C57 and E14) shows that embryonic Ras (E-Ras) is expressed differently in two mES cell lines; high level of E-Ras only in C57 mESC whose extracts allows iPS cells production from somatic cells. Here, we show that E-Ras augments the efficiency in reprogramming of fibroblast by promoting cell proliferation. We found that over-expression of E-Ras in fibroblast increased cell proliferation which was caused by specific up-regulation of cyclins D and E, not A or B, leading to the accelerated G1 to S phase transition. To figure out the common transcription factor of cyclins D and E, we used TRANSFAC database and selected SP1 as a candidate which was confirmed as enhancer of cyclins D and E by luciferase promoter assay using mutants. As downstream signaling pathways, E-Ras activated only c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) but not ERK or p38. Inhibition of JNK prevented E-Ras-mediated induction of pSP1, cyclins D, E, and cell proliferation. Finally, E-Ras transduction to fibroblast enhanced the efficiency of iPS cell generation by 4 factors (Oct4/Klf4/Sox2/C-myc), which was prevented by JNK inhibitor. In conclusion, E-Ras stimulates JNK, enhances binding of Sp1 on the promoter of cyclins D and E, leading to cell proliferation. E-Ras/JNK axis is a critical mechanism to generate iPS cells by transduction of 4 factors or by treatment of mESC protein extracts

Lomitapide, a cholesterol-lowering drug, is an anticancer agent that induces autophagic cell death via inhibiting mTOR

Abstract Autophagy is a biological process that maintains cellular homeostasis and regulates the internal cellular environment. Hyperactivating autophagy to trigger cell death has been a suggested therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a crucial protein kinase that regulates autophagy; therefore, using a structure-based virtual screen analysis, we identified lomitapide, a cholesterol-lowering drug, as a potential mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) inhibitor. Our results showed that lomitapide directly inhibits mTORC1 in vitro and induces autophagy-dependent cancer cell death by decreasing mTOR signaling, thereby inhibiting the downstream events associated with increased LC3 conversion in various cancer cells (e.g., HCT116 colorectal cancer cells) and tumor xenografts. Lomitapide also significantly suppresses the growth and viability along with elevated autophagy in patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids. Furthermore, a combination of lomitapide and immune checkpoint blocking antibodies synergistically inhibits tumor growth in murine MC38 or B16-F10 preclinical syngeneic tumor models. These results elucidate the direct, tumor-relevant immune-potentiating benefits of mTORC1 inhibition by lomitapide, which complement the current immune checkpoint blockade. This study highlights the potential repurposing of lomitapide as a new therapeutic option for cancer treatment