A Cortical Region Consisting Entirely of Face-Selective Cells

Face perception is a skill crucial to primates. In both humans and macaque monkeys, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals a system of cortical regions that show increased blood flow when the subject views images of faces, compared with images of objects. However, the stimulus selectivity of single neurons within these fMRI-identified regions has not been studied. We used fMRI to identify and target the largest face-selective region in two macaques for single-unit recording. Almost all (97%) of the visually responsive neurons in this region were strongly face selective, indicating that a dedicated cortical area exists to support face processing in the macaque

Neuroimaging Weighs In: Humans Meet Macaques in “Primate” Visual Cortex

It has been only a decade since functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was introduced, but approximately four fMRI papers are now published every working day. Here we review this progress in a well studied system: primate visual cortex

Recent progress on anticancer candidates in patents of herbal medicinal products

Herbal medicines in treatment of cancer as complementary and alternative therapy are accepted increasingly with growing scientific evidences of biomedical research and clinical trials. Anticancer drugs discovered from herbal medicines have a long history and some of them have been used in clinical setting as the conventional anticancer drugs. Actually, herbal medicines are a source for anticancer drug discovery and drug development. Recently, research continuously focuses on clues from traditional use of herbal medicines to develop new anticancer drugs in single pure compounds. On the other hand, standardized various extracts or fractions with anticancer effects or with adjuvant therapy in cancer treatment coming from single or mixed herbs are also accepted forms as dietary supplements and botanical drug products in the US for current statutory regulations. In the present paper, we analyzed the patented agents in the US from herbal medicines in recent ten years, both as potential anticancer extracts/fractions (containing multi-components) and single pure compound(s) that act as new anticancer substances. This review also highlighted the advances in knowledge about quality control, safety, efficacy and recent progress in anticancer candidates in patents of botanical drug products from herbal medicines. © 2011 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.postprin

A Cortical Region Consisting Entirely of Face-Selective Cells

Face perception is a skill crucial to primates. In both humans and macaque monkeys, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals a system of cortical regions that show increased blood flow when the subject views images of faces, compared with images of objects. However, the stimulus selectivity of single neurons within these fMRI-identified regions has not been studied. We used fMRI to identify and target the largest face-selective region in two macaques for single-unit recording. Almost all (97%) of the visually responsive neurons in this region were strongly face selective, indicating that a dedicated cortical area exists to support face processing in the macaque

Modelling Pricing Policy Based on Shelf-Life of Non Homogeneous Available-To-Promise in Fruit Supply Chains

[EN] Fruit Supply Chains (SCs) are influenced by uncontrollable natural factors causing heterogeneity in their products, as regards certain attributes that are relevant to customers and vary over time because of the shelf-life. As a consequence customers should be served not only with the required quantity and due date as usual, but also with the quality, freshness and homogeneity specified in their orders. The order promising process (OPP) is based on the uncommitted availability of homogeneous product quantities in planned lots (ATP) that are uncertain. Therefore, there is a risk of not being reliable in the commitments because of discrepancies between the real and planned homogeneous quantities. Furthermore, due to the shelf-life (SL), serving customers with the freshest product introduce the risk of increasing waste because of the aging process. To efficiently manage these risks, this work proposes a mathematical model for handling the heterogeneous ATP in fruit SCs and a pricing policy based on the product SL in the moment of delivery. In order to illustrate the application of the modelling approach, a short numerical example is introduced. The example evidences a conflictive situation when optimizing the assignation of homogeneous ATP between serving orders with fresh and more valuable product, what could lead to increase the risk of having waste because of expiration, and consequently, more costs and less profit.This research has been supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications, government of Costa Rica (MICITT), through the program of innovation and human capital for competitiveness (PINN) (PED-019-2015-1).Grillo-Espinoza, H.; Alemany Díaz, MDM.; Ortiz Bas, Á. (2016). Modelling Pricing Policy Based on Shelf-Life of Non Homogeneous Available-To-Promise in Fruit Supply Chains. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 480:608-617. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45390-3_52S608617480Alarcon, F., Alemany, M.M.E., Lario, F.C., Oltra, R.F.: The lack of homogeneity in the product (LHP) in the ceramic tile industry and its impact on the reallocation of inventories. Boletin Soc. Espanola Ceram. Vidr. 50, 49–57 (2011). doi: 10.3989/cyv.072011Alemany, M.M.E., Grillo, H., Ortiz, A., Fuertes-Miquel, V.S.: A fuzzy model for shortage planning under uncertainty due to lack of homogeneity in planned production lots. Appl. Math. Model. (2015). doi: 10.1016/j.apm.2014.12.057Alemany, M.M.E., Lario, F.-C., Ortiz, A., Gomez, F.: Available-To-Promise modeling for multi-plant manufacturing characterized by lack of homogeneity in the product: an illustration of a ceramic case. Appl. Math. Model. 37, 3380–3398 (2013). doi: 10.1016/j.apm.2012.07.022Blanco, A.M., Masini, G., Petracci, N., Bandoni, J.A.: Operations management of a packaging plant in the fruit industry. J. Food Eng. 70, 299–307 (2005). doi: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2004.05.075Grillo, H., Alemany, M.M.E., Ortiz, A.: A review of mathematical models for supporting the order promising process under Lack of Homogeneity in Product and other sources of uncertainty. Comput. Ind. Eng. 91, 239–261 (2016)Kilic, O.A., van Donk, D.P., Wijngaard, J., Tarim, S.A.: Order acceptance in food processing systems with random raw material requirements. Spectrum 32, 905–925 (2010). doi: 10.1007/s00291-010-0213-4Lin, J.T., Hong, I.H., Wu, C.H., Wang, K.S.: A model for batch available-to-promise in order fulfillment processes for TFT-LCD production chains. Comput. Ind. Eng. 59, 720–729 (2010). doi: 10.1016/j.cie.2010.07.026Maihami, R., Karimi, B.: Optimizing the pricing and replenishment policy for non-instantaneous deteriorating items with stochastic demand and promotional efforts. Comput. Oper. Res. 51, 302–312 (2014). doi: 10.1016/j.cor.2014.05.022Mundi, M.I., Alemany, M.M.E., Poler, R., Fuertes-Miquel, V.S.: Fuzzy sets to model master production effectively in Make to Stock companies with Lack of Homogeneity in the Product. Fuzzy Sets Syst. 293, 95–112 (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fss.2015.06.009Tsao, Y.-C., Sheen, G.-J.: Dynamic pricing, promotion and replenishment policies for a deteriorating item under permissible delay in payments. Part Spec. Issue Top. Real-Time Supply Chain Manag. 35, 3562–3580 (2008). doi: 10.1016/j.cor.2007.01.02

Measuring kinetic coefficients by molecular dynamics simulation of zone melting

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to measure the kinetic coefficient at the solid-liquid interface in pure gold. Results are obtained for the (111), (100) and (110) orientations. Both Au(100) and Au(110) are in reasonable agreement with the law proposed for collision-limited growth. For Au(111), stacking fault domains form, as first reported by Burke, Broughton and Gilmer [J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 89}, 1030 (1988)]. The consequence on the kinetics of this interface is dramatic: the measured kinetic coefficient is three times smaller than that predicted by collision-limited growth. Finally, crystallization and melting are found to be always asymmetrical but here again the effect is much more pronounced for the (111) orientation.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures (for fig. 8 : [email protected]). Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Significance of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its potential as a target for anti-metastasis therapy

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p21/Cyclin E pathway modulates anticlastogenic function of Bmi-1 in cancer cells.

Apart from regulating stem cell self-renewal, embryonic development and proliferation, Bmi-1 has been recently reported to be critical in the maintenance of genome integrity. In searching for novel mechanisms underlying the anticlastogenic function of Bmi-1, we observed, for the first time, that Bmi-1 positively regulates p21 expression. We extended the finding that Bmi-1 deficiency induced chromosome breaks in multiple cancer cell models. Interestingly, we further demonstrated that knockdown of cyclin E or ectopic overexpression of p21 rescued Bmi-1 deficiency-induced chromosome breaks. We therefore conclude that p21/cyclin E pathway is crucial in modulating the anticlastogenic function of Bmi-1. As it is well established that the overexpression of cyclin E potently induces genome instability and p21 suppresses the function of cyclin E, the novel and important implication from our findings is that Bmi-1 plays an important role in limiting genomic instability in cylin E-overexpressing cancer cells by positive regulation of p21.published_or_final_versio

Decreased MCM2-6 in Drosophila S2 cells does not generate significant DNA damage or cause a marked increase in sensitivity to replication interference.

A reduction in the level of some MCM proteins in human cancer cells (MCM5 in U20S cells or MCM3 in Hela cells) causes a rapid increase in the level of DNA damage under normal conditions of cell proliferation and a loss of viability when the cells are subjected to replication interference. Here we show that Drosophila S2 cells do not appear to show the same degree of sensitivity to MCM2-6 reduction. Under normal cell growth conditions a reduction of >95% in the levels of MCM3, 5, and 6 causes no significant short term alteration in the parameters of DNA replication or increase in DNA damage. MCM depleted cells challenged with HU do show a decrease in the density of replication forks compared to cells with normal levels of MCM proteins, but this produces no consistent change in the levels of DNA damage observed. In contrast a comparable reduction of MCM7 levels has marked effects on viability, replication parameters and DNA damage in the absence of HU treatment

Island dynamics and anisotropy during vapor phase epitaxy of m-plane GaN

Using in situ grazing-incidence x-ray scattering, we have measured the diffuse scattering from islands that form during layer-by-layer growth of GaN by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy on the (101⎯⎯0)(101¯0)(101¯0) m-plane surface. The diffuse scattering is extended in the (0001)(0001)(0001) in-plane direction in reciprocal space, indicating a strong anisotropy with islands elongated along [12⎯⎯10][12¯10] [12¯10] and closely spaced along [0001][0001][0001]. This is confirmed by atomic force microscopy of a quenched sample. Islands were characterized as a function of growth rate F and temperature. The island spacing along [0001][0001][0001] observed during the growth of the first monolayer obeys a power-law dependence on growth rate F−nF−nF−n, with an exponent n=0.25±0.02n=0.25±0.02n=0.25±0.02. The results are in agreement with recent kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, indicating that elongated islands result from the dominant anisotropy in step edge energy and not from surface diffusion anisotropy. The observed power-law exponent can be explained using a simple steady-state model, which gives n = 1/4