Reconstructive surgery: today and tomorrow

published_or_final_versio

Recent advances in the management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Developments in serology tests, imaging studies and endoscopic examinations contribute to early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The primary treatment modality is radiotherapy. When tumour recurs after radiation, then surgical salvage contributes to a better prognosis.published_or_final_versio

Mathematical models of magnetospheric convection and its coupling to the ionosphere

Mathematical models of magnetospheric convection and its coupling to ionospher

A novel mechanism for binding of galactose-terminated glycans by the C-type carbohydrate recognition domain in blood dendritic cell antigen 2

Blood dendritic cell antigen 2 (BDCA-2; also designated CLEC4C or CD303) is uniquely expressed on plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Stimulation of BDCA-2 with antibodies leads to an anti-inflammatory response in these cells, but the natural ligands for the receptor are not known. The C-type carbohydrate recognition domain in the extracellular portion of BDCA-2 contains a signature motif typical of C-type animal lectins that bind mannose, glucose, or GlcNAc, yet it has been reported that BDCA-2 binds selectively to galactose-terminated, biantennary N-linked glycans. A combination of glycan array analysis and binding competition studies with monosaccharides and natural and synthetic oligosaccharides have been used to define the binding epitope for BDCA-2 as the trisaccharide Galβ1–3/4GlcNAcβ1–2Man. X-ray crystallography and mutagenesis studies show that mannose is ligated to the conserved Ca2+ in the primary binding site that is characteristic of C-type carbohydrate recognition domains, and the GlcNAc and galactose residues make additional interactions in a wide, shallow groove adjacent to the primary binding site. As predicted from these studies, BDCA-2 binds to IgG, which bears galactose-terminated glycans that are not commonly found attached to other serum glycoproteins. Thus, BDCA-2 has the potential to serve as a previously unrecognized immunoglobulin Fc receptor

Lamellar organization of discotic dimer enforced by steric manipulation

[[abstract]]Dibenzo[a,c]phenazine dimer mesophases exhibited a lamellar assembly as demonstrated by XRD diffraction. This is a new successful molecular design to achieve a hierarchical supramolecular assembly for dimeric discotic liquid crystals. All the mesophases are readily frozen into a glassy state at room temperature.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]電子

Schottky nanocontacts on ZnO nanorod arrays

We report on fabrication and electrical characteristics of ZnO nanorod Schottky diode arrays. High quality ZnO nanorods were grown for the fabrication of the Schottky diodes using noncatalytic metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and Au was evaporated on the tips of the vertically well-aligned ZnO nanorods. I-V characteristics of both bare ZnO and Au/ZnO heterostructure nanorod arrays were measured using current-sensing atomic force microscopy. Although both nanorods exhibited nonlinear and asymmetric I-V characteristic curves, Au/ZnO heterostructure nanorods demonstrated much improved electrical characteristics: the reverse-bias breakdown voltage was improved from -3 to -8 V by capping a Au layer on the nanorod tips. The origin of the enhanced electrical characteristics for the heterostructure nanorods is suggested. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.X11326sciescopu

Effects of Gender Color-Coding on Toddlers' Gender-Typical Toy Play

Gender color-coding of children’s toys may make certain toys more appealing or less appealing to a given gender. We observed toddlers playing with two gender-typical toys (a train, a doll), once in gender-typical colors and once in gender-atypical colors. Assessments occurred twice, at 20–40 months of age and at 26–47 months of age. A Sex × Time × Toy × Color ANOVA showed expected interactions between Sex and Toy and Sex and Color. Boys played more with the train than girls did and girls played more with the doll and with pink toys than boys did. The Sex × Toy × Color interaction was not significant, but, at both time points, boys and girls combined played more with the gender-atypical toy when its color was typical for their sex than when it was not. This effect appeared to be caused largely by boys’ preference for, or avoidance of, the doll and by the use of pink. Also, at both time points, gender differences in toy preferences were larger in the gender-typical than in the gender-atypical color condition. At Time 2, these gender differences were present only in the gender-typical color condition. Overall, the results suggest that, once acquired, gender-typical color preferences begin to influence toy preferences, especially those for gender-atypical toys and particularly in boys. They thus could enlarge differences between boys’ and girls’ toy preferences. Because boys’ and girls’ toys elicit different activities, removing the gender color-coding of toys could encourage more equal learning opportunities.postprin

Commentary: Head and neck carcinomas in the developing world

published_or_final_versio

Time-resolved photoluminescence of the size-controlled ZnO nanorods

Size dependence of the time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) has been investigated for the ZnO nanorods fabricated by catalyst-free metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The nanorods have a diameter of 35 nm and lengths in the range of 150 nm to 1.1 mum. The TRPL decay rate decreases monotonically as the length of the nanorods increases in the range of 150 to 600 nm. Decrease of the radiative decay rate of the exciton-polariton has been invoked to account for the results. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.X11100sciescopu