Nonesterified free fatty acids enhance the inflammatory response in renal tubules by inducing extracellular ATP release

In proteinuric renal diseases, excessive plasma nonesterified free fatty acids bound to albumin can leak across damaged glomeruli to be reabsorbed by renal proximal tubular cells and cause inflammatory tubular cells damage by as yet unknown mechanisms. The present study was designed to investigate these mechanisms induced by palmitic acid (PA; one of the nonesterified free fatty acids) overload. Our results show that excess PA stimulates ATP release through the pannexin 1 channel in human renal tubule epithelial cells (HK-2), increasing extracellular ATP concentration approximately threefold compared with control. The ATP release is dependent on caspase-3/7 activation induced by mitochondrial reactive oxygen species. Furthermore, extracellular ATP aggravates PA-induced monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 secretion and monocyte infiltration of tubular cells, enlarging the inflammatory response in both macrophages and HK-2 cells via the purinergic P2X7 receptor-mammalian target of rapamycin-forkhead box O1-thioredoxin-interacting protein/NOD-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome pathway. Hence, PA increases mitochondrial reactive oxygen species-induced ATP release and inflammatory stress, which cause a “first hit,” while ATP itself is a “second hit” in amplifying the renal tubular inflammatory response. Thus, inhibition of ATP release or the purinergic P2X7 receptor may be an approach to reduce renal inflammation and improve renal function

Dynamic sensitivity of photon-dressed atomic ensemble with quantum criticality

We study the dynamic sensitivity of an atomic ensemble dressed by a single-mode cavity field (called a photon-dressed atomic ensemble), which is described by the Dicke model near the quantum critical point. It is shown that when an extra atom in a pure initial state passes through the cavity, the photon-dressed atomic ensemble will experience a quantum phase transition showing an explicit sudden change in its dynamics characterized by the Loschmidt echo of this quantum critical system. With such dynamic sensitivity, the Dicke model can resemble the cloud chamber for detecting a flying particle by the enhanced trajectory due to the classical phase transition. © 2009 The American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio

Crystal science fundamentals

The fundamentals of crystal science notably crystallography, crystal chemistry, crystal defects, crystal morphology and the surface chemistry of crystals are introduced with particular emphasis on organic crystals

A standing-wave thermoacoustic engine driven by liquid nitrogen

Thermoacoustic oscillation at cryogenic temperatures, such as Taconis oscillation, has been typically suppressed in the former studies, and few efforts have been made to enhance it. We proposed a standing-wave thermoacoustic engine (TE) driven by liquid cryogens instead of the conventional heat to enhance the thermoacoustic effects and utilize the cold energy. Experimental and theoretical work has been performed on a self-made standingwave TE to demonstrate the feasibility and the operating characteristics of the engine driven by the liquid nitrogen. Experiments show that with nitrogen at 0.5 MPa as a working gas, a pressure ratio of 1.21 is obtained on the TE driven by liquid nitrogen with a much lower temperature difference along the stack compared to that of the conventional TE. The onset temperature difference decreases by 28.9% with helium at 0.63 MPa as a working gas, compared to that of the conventional TE. This study verifies the feasibility of enhancing the thermoacoustic oscillation at cryogenic temperatures. The TEs driven by liquid cryogens such as liquid nitrogen and liquefied nature gas (LNG), may be an alternative for recovering the cold energy

A systematic review of geographical differences in management and outcomes for colorectal cancer in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Australia and New Zealand have the highest incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the world, presenting considerable health, economic, and societal burden. Over a third of the Australian population live in regional areas and research has shown they experience a range of health disadvantages that result in a higher disease burden and lower life expectancy. The extent to which geographical disparities exist in CRC management and outcomes has not been systematically explored. The present review aims to identify the nature of geographical disparities in CRC survival, clinical management, and psychosocial outcomes. METHODS: The review followed PRISMA guidelines and searches were undertaken using seven databases covering articles between 1 January 1990 and 20 April 2016 in an Australian setting. Inclusion criteria stipulated studies had to be peer-reviewed, in English, reporting data from Australia on CRC patients and relevant to one of fourteen questions examining geographical variations in a) survival outcomes, b) patient and cancer characteristics, c) diagnostic and treatment characteristics and d) psychosocial and quality of life outcomes. RESULTS: Thirty-eight quantitative, two qualitative, and three mixed-methods studies met review criteria. Twenty-seven studies were of high quality, sixteen studies were of moderate quality, and no studies were found to be low quality. Individuals with CRC living in regional, rural, and remote areas of Australia showed poorer survival and experienced less optimal clinical management. However, this effect is likely moderated by a range of other factors (e.g., SES, age, gender) and did appear to vary linearly with increasing distance from metropolitan centres. No studies examined differences in use of stoma, or support with stomas, by geographic location. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, despite evidence of disparity in CRC survival and clinical management across geographic locations, the evidence was limited and at times inconsistent. Further, access to treatment and services may not be the main driver of disparities, with individual patient characteristics and type of region also playing an important role. A better understanding of factors driving ongoing and significant geographical disparities in cancer related outcomes is required to inform the development of effective interventions to improve the health and welfare of regional Australians

Topological orbital ladders

We unveil a topological phase of interacting fermions on a two-leg ladder of unequal parity orbitals, derived from the experimentally realized double-well lattices by dimension reduction. $Z_2$ topological invariant originates simply from the staggered phases of $sp$-orbital quantum tunneling, requiring none of the previously known mechanisms such as spin-orbit coupling or artificial gauge field. Another unique feature is that upon crossing over to two dimensions with coupled ladders, the edge modes from each ladder form a parity-protected flat band at zero energy, opening the route to strongly correlated states controlled by interactions. Experimental signatures are found in density correlations and phase transitions to trivial band and Mott insulators.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, Revised title, abstract, and the discussion on Majorana numbe

Transmit Power Minimization for MIMO Systems of Exponential Average BER with Fixed Outage Probability

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Dian-Wu Yue, and Yichuang Sun, ‘Transmit Power Minimization for MIMO Systems of Exponential Average BER with Fixed Outage Probability’, Wireless Personal Communications, Vol. 90 (4): 1951-1970, first available online on 20 June 2016. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 20 June 2017. The final publication is available at Springer via https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11277-016-3432-4This paper is concerned with a wireless multiple-antenna system operating in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channels with channel state information being known at both transmitter and receiver. By spatiotemporal subchannel selection and power control, it aims to minimize the average transmit power (ATP) of the MIMO system while achieving an exponential type of average bit error rate (BER) for each data stream. Under the constraints on each subchannel that individual outage probability and average BER are given, based on a traditional upper bound and a dynamic upper bound of Q function, two closed-form ATP expressions are derived, respectively, which can result in two different power allocation schemes. Numerical results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis, and show that the power allocation scheme with the dynamic upper bound can achieve more power savings than the one with the traditional upper bound.Peer reviewe

GPS软件接收机并行处理的实现

Author name used in this publication: 苗剑峰Author name used in this publication: 孙永荣Author name used in this publication: 陈武Author name used in this publication: 刘建业Author name used in this publication: 胡丛伟Title in Traditional Chinese: GPS軟件接收機并行處理的實現Journal title in Traditional Chinese: 應用科學學報2008-2009 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Remineralization of demineralized dentin using a dual analog system.

ObjectiveImproved methods are needed to remineralize dentin caries in order to promote conservation of dentin tissue and minimize the surgical interventions that are currently required for clinical treatment. Here, we test the hypothesis that bulk substrates can be effectively mineralized via a dual analog system proposed by others, using a tripolyphosphate (TPP) "templating analog" and a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) or poly(aspartic acid) (pAsp) "sequestration analog," the latter of which generates the polymer-induced liquid-precursor (PILP) mineralization process studied in our laboratory.Material & methodsDemineralized human dentin slices were remineralized with and without pre-treatment with TPP, using either PAA or pAsp as the PILP process-directing agent. A control experiment with no polymer present was used for comparison.ResultsNo mineralization was observed in any of the PAA groups. In both the pAsp and no polymer groups, TPP inhibited mineralization on the surfaces of the specimens but promoted mineralization within the interiors. Pre-treatment with TPP enhanced overall mineralization of the pAsp group. However, when analysed via TEM, regions with little mineral were still present.ConclusionPoly(acrylic acid) was unable to remineralize demineralized dentin slices under the conditions employed, even when pre-treated with TPP. However, pre-treatment with TPP enhanced overall mineralization of specimens that were PILP-remineralized using pAsp

How the other half lives: CRISPR-Cas's influence on bacteriophages

CRISPR-Cas is a genetic adaptive immune system unique to prokaryotic cells used to combat phage and plasmid threats. The host cell adapts by incorporating DNA sequences from invading phages or plasmids into its CRISPR locus as spacers. These spacers are expressed as mobile surveillance RNAs that direct CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins to protect against subsequent attack by the same phages or plasmids. The threat from mobile genetic elements inevitably shapes the CRISPR loci of archaea and bacteria, and simultaneously the CRISPR-Cas immune system drives evolution of these invaders. Here we highlight our recent work, as well as that of others, that seeks to understand phage mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas evasion and conditions for population coexistence of phages with CRISPR-protected prokaryotes.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure