Mechanically actuated Kerr soliton microcombs

Mode-locked ultrashort pulse sources with a repetition rate of up to several tens of gigahertz greatly facilitate versatile photonic applications such as frequency synthesis, metrology, radar, and optical communications. Dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs provide an attractive solution as a broadband, high-repetition-rate compact laser system in this context. However, its operation usually requires sophisticated pump laser control to initiate and stabilize the soliton microcombs, particularly in millimeter-sized ultrahigh-Q whispering-gallery resonators. Here, we realize a mechanically actuated soliton microcomb oscillator with a microwave repetition rate of 15 GHz. This enables direct soliton initiation, long-term stabilization, and fine tuning, where the operation now lifts the prerequisite pump laser tunability that must be relaxed if the technology is to be widely used outside the laboratory environment. We reveal the prospects for using this method with a wide range of applications that would benefit from mechanical soliton actuation such as optical clocks, spectral extension, and dual-comb spectroscopy

Expansion of nanotechnology for dentistry: effect of colloidal platinum nanoparticles on dentin adhesion mediated by 4-META/MMA-TBB.

To investigate the effect of Colloidal Platinum Nanoparticles (CPN) on the bond strength between dentin and 4-META/MMA-TBB resin using different concentrations of CPN

Effect of application time of colloidal platinum nanoparticles on the microtensile bond strength to dentin

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of application time of colloidal platinum nanoparticles (CPN) on bond strength. Dentin surfaces were subjected to one of the following treatments: (A) Etching with 10% citric acid-3% FeCl3 solution (10-3 solution); (B) Etching with 10-3 solution followed by applying CPN as a primer solution for 10, 20, 30, or 60 seconds; and (C) Priming with CPN for 10, 20, 30, or 60 seconds followed by etching with 10-3 solution. An acrylic rod was bonded to each treated dentin surface using 4-META/MMA-TBB resin. Bonded specimens were sectioned into beams for microtensile bond strength testing. In groups (B) and (C), highest bond strength was obtained when dentin surfaces were treated with CPN for 30 seconds. This meant that the CPN primer solution either enhanced the penetration of resin into dentin or the degree of conversion of 4-META/MMA-TBB resin. Within the limitations of this study, treatment with 0.1 mN CPN primer solution followed by 20 seconds of water rinsing resulted in high bond strength

Versatile tuning of Kerr soliton microcombs in crystalline microresonators

High-repetition rate microresonator-based frequency combs offer powerful and compact optical frequency comb sources that are of great importance to various applications. Here, the authors extend the tunability of the Kerr soliton frequency combs by exploiting thermal effects and frequency stabilization techniques

Host ESCRT factors are recruited during Chikungunya virus infection and are required during the intracellular viral replication cycle

Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) is a re-emerging zoonotic disease caused by Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a member of the alphavirus genus in the Togaviridae family. Only a few studies have reported on the host factors required for intracellular CHIKV trafficking. Here, we conducted an imaging-based small interfering RNA (siRNA) screen to identify human host factors for intracellular trafficking that are involved CHIKV infection, examined their interactions with CHIKV proteins, and investigated the contributions of these proteins to CHIKV infection. The results of the siRNA screen revealed that host endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) proteins are recruited during CHIKV infection. Co-immunoprecipitation analyses revealed that both structural and non-structural CHIKV proteins interact with hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HGS), a component of the ESCRT-0 complex. We also observed that HGS co-localizes with the E2 protein of CHIKV and with dsRNA, a marker of the replicated CHIKV genome. Results from gene knockdown analyses indicated that, along with other ESCRT factors, HGS facilitates both genome replication and post-translational steps during CHIKV infection. Moreover, we show that ESCRT factors are also required for infections with other alphaviruses. We conclude that during CHIKV infection, several ESCRT factors are recruited via HGS and are involved in viral genome replication and post-translational processing of viral proteins

IgA tetramerization improves target breadth but not peak potency of functionality of anti-influenza virus broadly neutralizing antibody.

Mucosal immunoglobulins comprise mainly secretory IgA antibodies (SIgAs), which are the major contributor to pathogen-specific immune responses in mucosal tissues. These SIgAs are highly heterogeneous in terms of their quaternary structure. A recent report shows that the polymerization status of SIgA defines their functionality in the human upper respiratory mucosa. Higher order polymerization of SIgA (i.e., tetramers) leads to a marked increase in neutralizing activity against influenza viruses. However, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of SIgA polymerization remain elusive. Here, we developed a method for generating recombinant tetrameric monoclonal SIgAs. We then compared the anti-viral activities of these tetrameric SIgAs, which possessed variable regions identical to that of a broadly neutralizing anti-influenza antibody F045-092 against influenza A viruses, with that of monomeric IgG or IgA. The tetrameric SIgA showed anti-viral inhibitory activity superior to that of other forms only when the antibody exhibits low-affinity binding to the target. By contrast, SIgA tetramerization did not substantially modify anti-viral activity against targets with high-affinity binding. Taken together, the data suggest that tetramerization of SIgA improved target breadth, but not peak potency of antiviral functions of the broadly neutralizing anti-influenza antibody. This phenomenon presumably represents one of the mechanisms by which SIgAs present in human respiratory mucosa prevent infection by antigen-drifted influenza viruses. Understanding the mechanisms involved in cross neutralization of viruses by SIgAs might facilitate the development of vaccine strategies against viral infection of mucosal tissues