Hamster-to-rat heart and liver xenotransplantation with FK506 plus antiproliferative drugs

Heterotopic hamster hearts transplanted to unmodified LEW rats underwent humoral rejection in 3 days. Survival was prolonged to a median of 4 days with 2 mg/kg/day FK506. As monotherapy, 15 mg/kg/day cyclophosphamide greatly prolonged graft survival-far more than could be accomplished with RS-61443, brequinar (BQR), mizoribine, methotrexate, or deoxyspergualin. However, when FK506 treatment, which was ineffective alone, was combined with a short induction course (14 or 30 days) of subtherapeutic BQR, RS-61443, or cyclophosphamide, routine survival of heart xenografts was possible for as long as the daily FK506 was continued. In addition, a single large dose of 80 mg/kg cyclophosphamide 10 days preoperatively allowed routine cardiac xenograft survival under FK506. The ability of these antimetabolites to unmask the therapeutic potential of FK506 correlated, although imperfectly, with the prevention of rises of preformed heterospecific cytotoxic antibodies immediately postoperatively. As an adjunct to FK506, azathioprine was of marginal value, whereas mizoribine, methotrexate, and deoxyspergualin (DSPG) were of intermediate efficacy. After orthotopic hepatic xenotransplantation, the perioperative survival of the liver with its well-known resistance to antibodies was less dependent than the heart on the antimetabolite component of the combined drug therapy, but the unsatisfactory results with monotherapy of FK506, BQR, RS-61443, or cyclophosphamide were changed to routine success by combining continuous FK506 with a short course of any of the other drugs. Thus, by breaking down the antibody barrier to xenotransplantation with these so-called antiproliferative drugs, it has been possible with FK506 to transplant heart and liver xenografts with consistent long-term survival of healthy recipients

High efficiency InGaAs solar cells on Si by InP layer transfer

InP/Si substrates were fabricated through wafer bonding and helium-induced exfoliation of InP, and InGaAs solar cells lattice matched to bulk InP were grown on these substrates using metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. The photovoltaic characteristics of the InGaAs cells fabricated on the wafer-bonded InP/Si substrates were comparable to those synthesized on commercially available epiready InP substrates, thus providing a demonstration of wafer-bonded InP/Si substrates as an alternative to bulk InP substrates for solar cell applications

Optical excitation and external photoluminescence quantum efficiency of Eu3+ in GaN

We investigate photoluminescence of Eu-related emission in a GaN host consisting of thin layers grown by organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy. By comparing it with a reference sample of Eu-doped Y2O3, we find that the fraction of Eu3+ ions that can emit light upon optical excitation is of the order of 1%. We also measure the quantum yield of the Eu-related photoluminescence and find this to reach (similar to 10%) and (similar to 3%) under continuous wave and pulsed excitation, respectively.Stichting voor de Technologische Wetenschappen (STW); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [19GS1209, 24226009]; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japaninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exponentially growing solutions in homogeneous Rayleigh-Benard convection

It is shown that homogeneous Rayleigh-Benard flow, i.e., Rayleigh-Benard turbulence with periodic boundary conditions in all directions and a volume forcing of the temperature field by a mean gradient, has a family of exact, exponentially growing, separable solutions of the full non-linear system of equations. These solutions are clearly manifest in numerical simulations above a computable critical value of the Rayleigh number. In our numerical simulations they are subject to secondary numerical noise and resolution dependent instabilities that limit their growth to produce statistically steady turbulent transport.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. E - rapid communication

Wireless optogenetics protects against obesity via stimulation of non-canonical fat thermogenesis.

Cold stimuli and the subsequent activation of β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) potently stimulate adipose tissue thermogenesis and increase whole-body energy expenditure. However, systemic activation of the β3-AR pathway inevitably increases blood pressure, a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and, thus, limits its application for the treatment of obesity. To activate fat thermogenesis under tight spatiotemporal control without external stimuli, here, we report an implantable wireless optogenetic device that bypasses the β-AR pathway and triggers Ca2+ cycling selectively in adipocytes. The wireless optogenetics stimulation in the subcutaneous adipose tissue potently activates Ca2+ cycling fat thermogenesis and increases whole-body energy expenditure without cold stimuli. Significantly, the light-induced fat thermogenesis was sufficient to protect mice from diet-induced body-weight gain. The present study provides the first proof-of-concept that fat-specific cold mimetics via activating non-canonical thermogenesis protect against obesity

Electronic structure and effects of dynamical electron correlation in ferromagnetic bcc-Fe, fcc-Ni and antiferromagnetic NiO

LDA+DMFT method in the framework of the iterative perturbation theory (IPT) with full LDA Hamiltonian without mapping onto the effective Wannier orbitals. We then apply this LDA+DMFT method to ferromagnetic bcc-Fe and fcc-Ni as a test of transition metal, and to antiferromagnetic NiO as an example of transition metal oxide. In Fe and Ni, the width of occupied 3d bands is narrower than those in LDA and Ni 6eV satellite appears. In NiO, the resultant electronic structure is of charge-transfer insulator type and the band gap is 4.3eV. These results are in good agreement with the experimental XPS. The configuration mixing and dynamical correlation effects play a crucial role in these results

AKARI Near- to Mid-Infrared Imaging and Spectroscopic Observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud. I. Bright Point Source List

We carried out a near- to mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations of the patchy areas in the Small Magellanic Cloud using the Infrared Camera on board AKARI. Two 100 arcmin2 areas were imaged in 3.2, 4.1, 7, 11, 15, and 24 um and also spectroscopically observed in the wavelength range continuously from 2.5 to 13.4 um. The spectral resolving power (lambda/Delta lambda) is about 20, 50, and 50 at 3.5, 6.6 and 10.6 um, respectively. Other than the two 100 arcmin2 areas, some patchy areas were imaged and/or spectroscopically observed as well. In this paper, we overview the observations and present a list of near- to mid-infrared photometric results, which lists ~ 12,000 near-infrared and ~ 1,800 mid-infrared bright point sources detected in the observed areas. The 10 sigma limits are 16.50, 16.12, 13.28, 11.26, 9.62, and 8.76 in Vega magnitudes at 3.2, 4.1, 7, 11, 15, and 24 um bands, respectively.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ. Full resolution version is available at http://www-irc.mtk.nao.ac.jp/%7Eyita/smc20100112.pd