MiRNAs participate in the diagnosis, pathogenesis and therapy of Parkinson's disease

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), one kind of posttranscriptional modification, mediate transcriptional silencing of various metabolic enzymes that are involved in various life processes, including Parkinson’s disease. At present, the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease is not clear, although many studies suggest that miRNAs play a very important role in the progress of Parkinsonism. This paper reviews the biological characteristics of miRNAs and summarizes the progress of miRNAs in reference to the diagnosis and pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. It even considers miRNAs as a potential target for Parkinson’s disease therap

Hypersonic poration of supported lipid bilayers

Hypersound (ultrasound of gigahertz (GHz) frequency) has been recently introduced as a new type of membrane-disruption method for cells, vesicles and supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), with the potential to improve the efficiency of drug and gene delivery for biomedical applications. Here, we fabricated an integrated microchip, composed of a nano-electromechanical system (NEMS) resonator and a gold electrode as the extended gate of a field effect transistor (EGFET), to study the effects of hypersonic poration on an SLB in real time. The current recordings revealed that hypersound enabled ion conduction through the SLB by inducing transient nanopores in the membrane, which act as the equivalent of ion channels and show gating behavior. The mechanism of pore formation was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and laser scanning microscopy (LSM), which support the causality between hypersound-triggered deformation and the reversible membrane disruption of the SLB. This finding contributes to the development of an approach to reversibly control membrane permeability by hypersound

Package Level Integration Of A Monolithic Buck Converter Power Ic And Bondwire Magnetics

In this paper, we report a concept of integrating a monolithic buck converter power IC with in-package bondwire inductors. The power IC was designed and fabricated with a standard 0.5μm CMOS process. Multi-turn bondwires with and without ferrite epoxy glob cores are used as the filter inductor in the buck converter. A 2.5V/120mA prototype system in package (SiP) buck converter is built to operate at frequencies up to 5MHz. The power level of the prototype buck converter is scalable by increasing the size of the active power switches

Quantifying annual land-cover change and vegetation greenness variation in a coastal ecosystem using dense time-series Landsat data

Land-cover change may affect water and carbon cycles when transitioning from one land-cover category to another (land-cover conversion, LCC) or when the characteristics of the land-cover type are altered without changing its overall category (land-cover modification, LCM). Given the increasing availability of time-series remotely sensed data for earth monitoring, there has been increased recognition of the importance of accounting for both LCC and LCM to study annual land-cover changes. In this study, we integrated 1,513 time-series Landsat images and a change-updating method to identify annual LCC and LCM during 1986–2015 in the coastal area of Zhejiang Province, China. The purpose was to quantify their contributions to land-cover changes and impacts on the amount of vegetation. The results show that LCC and LCM can be successfully distinguished with an overall accuracy of 90.0%. LCM accounted for 22% and 40.5% of the detected land-cover changes in reclaimed and inland areas, respectively, during 1986–2015. In the reclaimed area, LCC occurred mostly in muddy tidal flats, construction land, aquaculture ponds, and freshwater herbaceous land, whereas LCM occurred mostly in freshwater herbaceous land, Spartina alterniflora, and muddy tidal flats. In the inland area, both LCC and LCM were concentrated in forest and dryland. Overall, LCC had a mean magnitude of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) change similar to that of LCM. However, LCC had a positive effect and LCM had a negative effect on NDVI change in the reclaimed area. Both LCC and LCM in the inland area had negative impacts on vegetation greenness, but LCC resulted in larger NDVI change magnitude. Impacts of LCC and LCM on vegetation greenness were quantified for each land-cover type. This study provided a methodological framework to take both LCC and LCM into account when analyzing land-cover changes and quantified their effects on coastal ecosystem vegetation

Examining Land Cover and Greenness Dynamics in Hangzhou Bay in 1985–2016 Using Landsat Time-Series Data

Land cover changes significantly influence vegetation greenness in different regions. Dense Landsat time series stacks provide unique opportunity to analyze land cover change and vegetation greenness trends at finer spatial scale. In the past three decades, large reclamation activities have greatly changed land cover and vegetation growth of coastal areas. However, rarely has research investigated these frequently changed coastal areas. In this study, Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index time series (1984–2016) data and the Breaks For Additive Seasonal and Trend algorithm were used to detect the intensity and dates of abrupt changes in a typical coastal area—Hangzhou Bay, China. The prior and posterior land cover categories of each change were classified using phenology information through a Random Forest model. The impacts of land cover change on vegetation greenness trends of the inland and reclaimed areas were analyzed through distinguishing gradual and abrupt changes. The results showed that the intensity and date of land cover change were detected successfully with overall accuracies of 88.7% and 86.1%, respectively. The continuous land cover dynamics were retrieved accurately with an overall accuracy of 91.0% for ten land cover classifications. Coastal reclamation did not alleviate local cropland occupation, but prompted the vegetation greenness of the reclaimed area. Most of the inland area showed a browning trend. The main contributors to the greenness and browning trends were also quantified. These findings will help the natural resource management community generate better understanding of coastal reclamation and make better management decisions

Modeling, Design, And Characterization Of Multiturn Bondwire Inductors With Ferrite Epoxy Glob Cores For Power Supply System-On-Chip Or System-In-Package Applications

The concept of coupled multiturn bondwire inductors with ferrite epoxy glob cores is investigated both experimentally and numerically to offer a cost-effective approach realizing power supply system-on-chip (PSoC) or system-in-package (PSiP). Improvement in total inductance and Q factor is demonstrated for the multiturn bondwire inductors due to the coupling effect. An empirical calculation method is developed to help determine the self and mutual inductance of the proposed bondwire inductors. The bondwire magnetic components can be easily integrated into IC packaging processes with minimal changes, and open possibilities for realizing cost-effective, high-current, and high-efficiency PSoCs or PSiPs. © 2010 IEEE

Integration Of A Monolithic Buck Converter Power Ic And Bondwire Inductors With Ferrite Epoxy Glob Cores

In this letter, we report a concept of integrating a monolithic buck converter power IC with in-package bondwire inductors. The power IC containing all switching devices, driver circuitry, and control logic was designed and fabricated with a standard 0.5-μm CMOS process. Mutliturn bondwires with and without ferrite epoxy glob cores are used as the filter inductor in the buck converter.A prototype system-in-package converter with an output voltage and current of 2.5V and 120mA was built to operate at frequencies up to 5MHz. The power level of the prototype buck converter is scalable by increasing the size of the active power switches. © 2006 IEEE

The mitochondrial genome of Ectropis dentilineata Moore, 1868 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) from tea plantations in Guizhou province, China

Ectropis dentilineata Moore, 1868 has a wide geographic distribution while its genome data are largely unknown. In this study, we collected samples of E. dentilineata from a tea plantation in Guizhou province, China. Illumina sequencing showed that the mitochondrial genome of E. dentilineata is 15,356 bp in length, containing the entire set of 37 mitochondrial genes. Several tRNAs show gene arrangements compared with the ancestral gene order, mainly involving the tRNA cluster (M-I-Q). These data will facilitate a deeper understanding and exploitation of E. dentilineata

Study on the Delimitation of the Urban Development Boundary in a Special Economic Zone: A Case Study of the Central Urban Area of Doumen in Zhuhai, China

Since it implemented open-door policies, China has become the fastest growing economy in the world, and its urbanization level has steadily improved. Taking a special economic zone as the object of study, this paper delineates the urban development boundary of the Central Urban Area of Doumen. Using multiple models and methods, the urban development rigid and elastic boundaries are delineated separately, with the rigid boundary serving as the premise and foundation for delineating the elastic boundary. The results are as follows. First, the scale of the urban development rigid boundary is 79.60 km². Moreover, the scales of the urban development elastic boundaries in 2020 and 2026 are 24.51 km² and 28.53 km², respectively. Second, by delimiting the urban development elastic boundary, the compactness of urban land will be improved. Third, the urban development boundary of this paper is reasonable in theory. This paper suggests that the urban development boundary can curb urban sprawl and guide rational urban development, which is conducive to optimizing an urban spatial layout