Design, fabrication and characterization of monolithic embedded parylene microchannels in silicon substrate

This paper presents a novel channel fabrication technology of bulk-micromachined monolithic embedded polymer channels in silicon substrate. The fabrication process favorably obviates the need for sacrifical materials in surface-micromachined channels and wafer-bonding in conventional bulk-micromachined channels. Single-layer-deposited parylene C (poly-para-xylylene C) is selected as a structural material in the microfabricated channels/columns to conduct life science research. High pressure capacity can be obtained in these channels by the assistance of silicon substrate support to meet the needs of high-pressure loading conditions in microfluidic applications. The fabrication technology is completely compatible with further lithographic CMOS/MEMS processes, which enables the fabricated embedded structures to be totally integrated with on-chip micro/nano-sensors/actuators/structures for miniaturized lab-on-a-chip systems. An exemplary process was described to show the feasibility of combining bulk micromachining and surface micromachining techniques in process integration. Embedded channels in versatile cross-section profile designs have been fabricated and characterized to demonstrate their capabilities for various applications. A quasi-hemi-circular-shaped embedded parylene channel has been fabricated and verified to withstand inner pressure loadings higher than 1000 psi without failure for micro-high performance liquid chromatography (µHPLC) analysis. Fabrication of a high-aspect-ratio (internal channel height/internal channel width, greater than 20) quasi-rectangular-shaped embedded parylene channel has also been presented and characterized. Its implementation in a single-mask spiral parylene column longer than 1.1 m in a 3.3 mm × 3.3 mm square size on a chip has been demonstrated for prospective micro-gas chromatography (µGC) and high-density, high-efficiency separations. This proposed monolithic embedded channel technology can be extensively implemented to fabricate microchannels/columns in high-pressure microfludics and high-performance/high-throughput chip-based micro total analysis systems (µTAS)

Distribution of Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidative Activities of Rice Kernel and Their Relationships with Agronomic Practice

The phenolic and antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of two Japonica rice cultivars, Taikeng no. 16 (medium and slender grain) and Kaohsiung no. 139 (short and round grain), grown under organic and conventional farming were examined. Analyses shows that Kaohsiung no. 139 contains the highest amount of secondary metabolites and continuous farming can increase its production. Results also suggest that phenolic content under different agronomic practices, has not shown significant differences but organically grown rice has proven to be better in higher accumulation of other secondary metabolites (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), flavonoid content, and ferrous chelating capacity). In nutshell, genetic traits and environment have significant effect on phenolic compounds and the least variation reported under agronomic practices

Differential roles of glucosinolates and camalexin at different stages of <i>Agrobacterium</i>-mediated transformation

Shih P-Y, Chou S-J, Müller C, Halkier BA, Deeken R, Lai E-M. Differential roles of glucosinolates and camalexin at different stages of agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Molecular Plant Pathology. 2018;19(8):1956-1970.Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the causal agent of crown gall disease in a wide range of plants via a unique interkingdom DNA transfer from bacterial cells into the plant genome. A. tumefaciens is capable of transferring its T-DNA into different plant parts at different developmental stages for transient and stable transformation. However, the plant genes and mechanisms involved in these transformation processes are not well understood. We used Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 seedlings to reveal the gene expression profiles at early time points during Agrobacterium infection. Common and differentially expressed genes were found in shoots and roots. A gene ontology analysis showed that the glucosinolate (GS) biosynthesis pathway was an enriched common response. Strikingly, several genes involved in indole glucosinolate (iGS) modification and camalexin biosynthesis pathway were up-regulated while genes in aliphatic GS (aGS) biosynthesis were generally down-regulated upon Agrobacterium infection. Thus, we evaluated the impacts of GSs and camalexin during different stages of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation combining Arabidopsis mutant studies, metabolite profiling, and exogenous applications of various GS hydrolysis products or camalexin. The results suggest that the iGS hydrolysis pathway plays an inhibitory role in transformation efficiency on Arabidopsis seedlings at the early infection stage. Later in the Agrobacterium infection process, accumulation of camalexin was a key factor inhibiting tumor development on Arabidopsis inflorescence stalks. In conclusion, this study revealed the differential roles of glucosinolates and camalexin at different stages of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and provided new insights into crown gall disease control and improvement of plant transformation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

In Situ Confocal Raman Mapping Study of a Single Ti-Assisted ZnO Nanowire

In this work, we succeeded in preparing in-plane zinc oxide nanowires using a Ti-grid assisted by the chemical vapor deposition method. Optical spatial mapping of the Confocal Raman spectra was used to investigate the phonon and geometric properties of a single ZnO nanowire. The local optical results reveal a red shift in the non-polar E2 high frequency mode and width broadening along the growth direction, reflecting quantum-confinement in the radial direction

Dedifferentiated liposarcoma can induce a leukemoid reaction

SummaryLiposarcoma is one of the most common malignant soft tissue neoplasms in adults; however, few reports of liposarcoma had been described the expression of leukocytosis and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). In this report, we present the rare case of a patient who had de-differentiated liposarcoma and elevated G-CSF levels that resulted in a leukemoid reaction. The patient was a 65-year-old man who had been lame for one month due to right thigh swelling. His body temperature was slightly elevated at 38°C and leukocytosis with an elevated white blood cell (WBC) count (41500/μL) was noted. The findings of computed tomography of the lower extremities indicated the presence of a malignancy. Therefore, an incision biopsy was performed. Based on the finding of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the biopsy pathology report, we diagnosed the patient with liposarcoma. Moreover, the preoperative serum G-CSF level was elevated (261.8 pg/mL). An en bloc excision including the entire biopsy pathway was performed 5 days after admission. After en bloc excision of the tumor, WBC count, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and G-CSF expression decreased. The final pathologic report confirmed the diagnosis of de-differentiated liposarcoma. No local recurrence or distant metastasis was detected in the follow-up image study, and the patient has remained asymptomatic 2 years after surgery. The case described here is a rare type of liposarcoma that produces G-CSF, which in turn, induces leukocytosis. Liposarcoma with elevated G-CSF levels resulting in a leukemoid reaction may indicate a poorly differentiated cell type and may be associated with a poor prognosis; however, en bloc excision of the tumor remains the primary treatment for this type of tumor. Moreover, the WBC count and G-CSF serum level can be as the tools monitoring the tumor recurrence

The Application of Borehole Hydrogeological Investigation for Assessing Landslide Susceptibility

On the basis of 49 borehole studies at the mid- and upper-stream of the Dajia and Jhuoshuei river basins, landslide occurrence was found to not only be related to subsurface geological composition and hydrogeological characteristics, but also to groundwater level dynamics, which have seldom been addressed in previous works. It is suggested that the interplay between hydrogeologic and landslide factors be given further consideration in future investigations. This would be a crucial step towards effective disaster prevention for mountainous regions in Taiwan.本研究主要係嘗試透過孔內水文地質調查結果，評估大甲溪與濁水溪流域地表下岩層的地質材料特性、水力特性、地下水與集水區山崩潛勢之關聯性。過去研究較少針對崩塌地進行現地水文地質調查與試驗，本研究根據49處試驗場址成果顯示，水文地質特性與山崩的潛勢、滑動深度，以及地下水位有一定程度之關聯性。本研究建議進行調查區域的水文地質特性，以及各促崩因子所造成的山崩的易損性，係各類型山崩災害分析與潛勢評估之重要的研究各題，亦可提供相關台灣災害防治之參考

AV-SUPERB: A Multi-Task Evaluation Benchmark for Audio-Visual Representation Models

Audio-visual representation learning aims to develop systems with human-like perception by utilizing correlation between auditory and visual information. However, current models often focus on a limited set of tasks, and generalization abilities of learned representations are unclear. To this end, we propose the AV-SUPERB benchmark that enables general-purpose evaluation of unimodal audio/visual and bimodal fusion representations on 7 datasets covering 5 audio-visual tasks in speech and audio processing. We evaluate 5 recent self-supervised models and show that none of these models generalize to all tasks, emphasizing the need for future study on improving universal model performance. In addition, we show that representations may be improved with intermediate-task fine-tuning and audio event classification with AudioSet serves as a strong intermediate task. We release our benchmark with evaluation code and a model submission platform to encourage further research in audio-visual learning.Comment: Submitted to ICASSP 2024; Evaluation Code: https://github.com/roger-tseng/av-superb Submission Platform: https://av.superbbenchmark.or

Taiwanese Dermatological Association consensus for the management of atopic dermatitis

AbstractBackground/ObjectiveThis report describes the 2014 consensus of the Taiwanese Dermatological Association (TDA) regarding the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD). The TDA consensus is distributed to practices throughout Taiwan to provide recommendations for therapeutic approaches for AD patients to improve their quality of life.MethodsThe information in the consensus was agreed upon by a panel of national experts at TDA AD consensus meetings held on March 16, May 4, and June 29, 2014. The consensus was in part based on the 2013 Asia–Pacific AD guidelines and the guidelines of the American Academy of Dermatology, with modification to reflect the clinical practice in Taiwan.ResultsThe amendments were drafted after scientific discussions focused on the quality of evidence, risk, and benefits; all the consensus contents were voted on by the participating dermatologists, with approval by at least 75% for inclusion.ConclusionThe consensus provides a comprehensive overview of treatment for AD, with some local and cultural considerations for practitioners in Taiwan, especially the use of wet dressings/wraps, systemic immunomodulatory agents, and complementary therapies