Monte Carlo Simulation of Sinusoidally Modulated Superlattice Growth

The fabrication of ZnSe/ZnTe superlattices grown by the process of rotating the substrate in the presence of an inhomogeneous flux distribution instead of successively closing and opening of source shutters is studied via Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that the concentration of each compound is sinusoidally modulated along the growth direction, caused by the uneven arrival of Se and Te atoms at a given point of the sample, and by the variation of the Te/Se ratio at that point due to the rotation of the substrate. In this way we obtain a ZnSe$_{1-x}$Te$_x$ alloy in which the composition $x$ varies sinusoidally along the growth direction. The period of the modulation is directly controlled by the rate of the substrate rotation. The amplitude of the compositional modulation is monotonous for small angular velocities of the substrate rotation, but is itself modulated for large angular velocities. The average amplitude of the modulation pattern decreases as the angular velocity of substrate rotation increases and the measurement position approaches the center of rotation. The simulation results are in good agreement with previously published experimental measurements on superlattices fabricated in this manner

Novel family- and genus-specific DNA markers in Mugilidae

In this study, we identified novel family- and genus-specific DNA markers in Mugilidae fish. Genomic DNA was isolated from the blood of fish of 15 families and eighty (80) random primers were used for random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting. When the primer OPAV04 was employed, a novel specific PCR product was observed in the Mugilidae family. In addition, another novel specific PCR product was also observed in the Liza genus while using primer OPAV10. Sequencing analysis revealed that the novel family- and genus-specific DNA fragments were 857 and 419 bp, respectively, and no similar sequences were found in GenBank. Two primers sets were designed based on the family- and genus-specific sequences to confirm the RAPD results and the 571 and 187 bp predicted bands were successfully amplified by PCR. Intriguingly, these two novel specific DNA markers were also effectively used for terrestrial and aquatic animal discrimination. Therefore, the novel family- and genus-specific DNA markers identified in this study can be used as an effective tool for rapid and accurate determination of the Mugilidae family and Liza genus, and even for cross-species identification

Hypothalamic AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Regulates Glucose Production

OBJECTIVE—The fuel sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the hypothalamus regulates energy homeostasis by sensing nutritional and hormonal signals. However, the role of hypothalamic AMPK in glucose production regulation remains to be elucidated. We hypothesize that bidirectional changes in hypothalamic AMPK activity alter glucose production. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—To introduce bidirec-tional changes in hypothalamic AMPK activity in vivo, we first knocked down hypothalamic AMPK activity in male Sprague-Dawley rats by either injecting an adenovirus expressing the dominant-negative form of AMPK (Ad-DN AMPK2 [D157A]) or infusing AMPK inhibitor compound C directly into the medio-basal hypothalamus. Next, we independently activated hypotha-lamic AMPK by delivering either an adenovirus expressing the constitutive active form of AMPK (Ad-CA AMPK1312 [T172D]

Amorphous layer formation in Al86.0Co7.6Ce6.4 glass-forming alloy by large-area electron beam irradiation

Amorphous Al-Co-Ce alloys are of interest because of their resistance to corrosion, but high cooling rates are generally required to suppress the formation of crystalline phases. In this study, the surface of a bulk crystalline Al-Co-Ce alloy of a glass-forming composition was treated using large area electron beam (LAEB) irradiation. Scanning electron microscopy shows that, compared to the microstructure of the original crystalline material, the treated surface exhibits greatly improved microstructural and compositional uniformity. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction conducted on the surface of treated samples indicates the formation of the amorphous phase following 25 and 50 pulses at 35 kV cathode voltage. However, when the samples are treated with 100 and 150 pulses at 35 kV cathode voltage of electron beam irradiation, the treated layer comprises localised crystalline regions in an amorphous matrix. In addition, the formation of cracks in the treated layer is found to be localised around the Al8Co2Ce phase in the bulk material. Overall, crack length per unit area had no clear change with an increase in the number of pulses

Preliminary study of light-cured hydrogel for endodontic drug delivery vehicle

AIM: Direct pulp capping is the treatment of an exposed vital pulp with a dental material to facilitate the formation of reparative dentin and maintenance of vital pulp. A bioengineered drug delivery vehicle has the potential to increase the success rate of pulp capping. The aim of this study was to develop an injectable and light-curing drug delivery vehicle for endodontic treatment including direct pulp capping.METHODS: Polyethylene glycol-maleate-citrate (PEGMC) hydrogel was synthesized as a drug delivery vehicle that is composed of PEGMC (45% w/v), acrylic acid (AA) (5% w/v), 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride (AAPH) (0.1% w/v), and deionized water. The association between prehydrogel-solution volume and visible light-curing was examined. The cytotoxicity of the hydrogel was tested using L929 cells in a cell culture system. Ca(2+) release from the hydrogel was determined using calcium hydroxide as the incorporated medicine.RESULTS: The results showed that the light-curing time for hydrogel is comparable to composite resin. The hydrogel had cell toxicity similar to adhesive systems. Moreover, controlled Ca(2+) release was obtained from the calcium hydroxide incorporated hydrogel.CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that hydrogel should be explored further as a promising drug delivery vehicle for vital pulp therapy and regenerative endodontics

The synthesized 2-(2-fluorophenyl)-6,7-methylenedioxyquinolin-4-one (CHM-1) promoted G2/M arrest through inhibition of CDK1 and induced apoptosis through the mitochondrial-dependent pathway in CT-26 murine colorectal adenocarcinoma cells

In this study, we investigated the effects of 2-(2-fluorophenyl)-6,7-methylenedioxyquinolin-4-one (CHM-1) on cell viability, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in CT-26 murine colorectal adenocarcinoma cells. For determining cell viability, the MTT assay was used. CHM-1 promoted G2/M arrest by PI staining and flow cytometric analysis. Apoptotic cells were evaluated by DAPI staining. We used CDK1 kinase assay, Western blot analysis and caspase activity assays for examining the CDK1 activity and proteins correlated with apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The in vivo anti-tumor effects of CHM-1-P were evaluated in BALB/c mice inoculated with CT-26 cells orthotopic model. CHM-1 induced CT-26 cell viability inhibition and morphologic changes in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner and the approximate IC(50) was 742.36 nM. CHM-1 induced significant G2/M arrest and apoptosis in CT-26 cells. CHM-1 inhibited the CDK1 activity and decreased CDK1, Cyclin A, Cyclin B protein levels. CHM-1 induced apoptosis in CT-26 cells and promoted increasing of cytosolic cytochrome c, AIF, Bax, BAD, cleavage of pro-caspase-9, and -3. The significant reduction of caspase-9 and -3 activity and increasing the viable CT-26 cells after pretreated with caspase-9 and -3 inhibitor indicated that CHM-1-induced apoptosis was mainly mediated a mitochondria-dependent pathway. CHM-1-P improved mice survival rate, and enlargement of the spleen and liver metastasis were significantly reduced in groups treated with either 10 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg of CHM-1-P and 5-FU in comparison to these of CT-26/BALB/c mice. Taken together, CHM-1 acted against colorectal adenocarcinoma cells in vitro via G2/M arrest and apoptosis, and CHM-1-P inhibited tumor growth in vivo

Functionally Orthologous Viral and Cellular MicroRNAs Studied by a Novel Dual-Fluorescent Reporter System

Recent research raised the possibility that some viral microRNAs (miRNAs) may function as orthologs of cellular miRNAs. In the present work, to study the functional orthologous relationships of viral and cellular miRNAs, we first constructed a dual-fluorescent protein reporter vector system for the easy determination of miRNA function. By expressing the miRNAs and the indicator and internal control fluorescent proteins individually from a single vector, this simple reporter system can be used for miRNA functional assays that include visualizing miRNA activity in live cells. Sequence alignments indicated that the simian virus 40 (SV40) encoded miRNA sv40-mir-S1-5p contains a seed region identical to that of the human miRNA hsa-miR423-5p. Using the new reporter system, it was found that sv40-mir-S1-5p and hsa-miR423-5p downregulate the expression of common artificial target mRNAs and some predicted biological targets of hsa-miR423-5p, demonstrating that they are functional orthologs. The human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) encoded hiv1-miR-N367 also contains a seed sequence identical to that of the human miRNA hsa-miR192. Functional assays showed that hiv1-miR-N367 and hsa-miR192 could downregulate common artificial and predicted biological targets, suggesting that these miRNAs may also act as functional orthologs. Thus, this study presents a simple and universal system for testing miRNA function and identifies two new pairs of functional orthologs, sv40-mir-S1-5p and hsa-miR423-5p as well as hiv-1-miR-N367 and hsa-miR192. These findings also expand upon our current knowledge of functional homology and imply that a more general phenomenon of orthologous relationships exists between viral and cellular miRNAs

Measurement of the Charged Multiplicities in b, c and Light Quark Events from Z0 Decays

Average charged multiplicities have been measured separately in $b$, $c$ and light quark ($u,d,s$) events from $Z^0$ decays measured in the SLD experiment. Impact parameters of charged tracks were used to select enriched samples of $b$ and light quark events, and reconstructed charmed mesons were used to select $c$ quark events. We measured the charged multiplicities: $\bar{n}_{uds} = 20.21 \pm 0.10 (\rm{stat.})\pm 0.22(\rm{syst.})$, $\bar{n}_{c} = 21.28 \pm 0.46(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.41}_{-0.36}(\rm{syst.})$ $\bar{n}_{b} = 23.14 \pm 0.10(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.38}_{-0.37}(\rm{syst.})$, from which we derived the differences between the total average charged multiplicities of $c$ or $b$ quark events and light quark events: $\Delta \bar{n}_c = 1.07 \pm 0.47(\rm{stat.})^{+0.36}_{-0.30}(\rm{syst.})$ and $\Delta \bar{n}_b = 2.93 \pm 0.14(\rm{stat.})^{+0.30}_{-0.29}(\rm{syst.})$. We compared these measurements with those at lower center-of-mass energies and with perturbative QCD predictions. These combined results are in agreement with the QCD expectations and disfavor the hypothesis of flavor-independent fragmentation.Comment: 19 pages LaTex, 4 EPS figures, to appear in Physics Letters