Clinical Study Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acid on the Fatty Acid Content of the Erythrocyte Membrane and Proteinuria in Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Dietary omega-3 fatty acid (FA) has cardioprotective effect and is associated with a slower deterioration of albumin excretion in patients with diabetic nephropathy. In this study, we evaluated the effect of omega-3 FA on proteinuria in diabetic nephropathy patients who are controlling blood pressure (BP) with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB). In addition, we identified changes in erythrocyte membrane FA contents. A total of 19 patients who were treated with ACEi or ARB for at least 6 months were treated for 12 weeks with omega-3 FA (Omacor, 3 g/day) or a control treatment (olive oil, 3 g/day). Proteinuria levels were unchanged after 12 weeks compared with baseline values in both groups. The erythrocyte membrane contents of omega-3 FA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were significantly increased, and oleic acid, arachidonic acid : EPA ratio, and omega-6 : omega-3 FA ratio were significantly decreased after 12 weeks compared with the baseline values in the omega-3 FA group. Although omega-3 FA did not appear to alter proteinuria, erythrocyte membrane FA contents, including oleic acid, were altered by omega-3 FA supplementation

Freestanding HfO2 grating fabricated by fast atom beam etching

We report here the fabrication of freestanding HfO2 grating by combining fast atom beam etching (FAB) of HfO2 film with dry etching of silicon substrate. HfO2 film is deposited onto silicon substrate by electron beam evaporator. The grating patterns are then defined by electron beam lithography and transferred to HfO2 film by FAB etching. The silicon substrate beneath the HfO2 grating region is removed to make the HfO2 grating suspend in space. Period- and polarization-dependent optical responses of fabricated HfO2 gratings are experimentally characterized in the reflectance measurements. The simple process is feasible for fabricating freestanding HfO2 grating that is a potential candidate for single layer dielectric reflector

Harmony Search for Generalized Orienteering Problem: Best Touring in China

In order to overcome the drawbacks of mathematical optimization techniques, soft computing algorithms have been vigorously introduced during the past decade. However, there are still some possibilities of devising new algorithms based on analogies with natural phenomena. a nature-inspired algorithm, mimicking the improvisation process of music players, has been recently developed and named Harmony Search (HS). the algorithm has been successfully applied to various engineering optimization problems. in this paper, the HS was applied to a TSP-like NP-hard Generalized Orienteering Problem (GOP) which is to find the utmost route under the total distance limit while satisfying multiple goals. Example area of the GOP is eastern part of China. the results of HS showed that the algorithm could find good solutions when compared to those of artificial neural network. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005

Enzymatic Biofuel Cells Using Fe-N/CNT and Enzyme Molecules as Both Anodic and Cathodic Catalysts

???????????? ???????????????????????? ????????? ?????????????????? ????????? ????????? ??????????????????. ????????? ???????????? ?????? ??????????????? ??????????????? ???????????? ????????? ???????????? ?????? ??????????????????, ????????? ?????? ????????????. ??? ??????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? Fe-N ??????????????? Fe-N/CNT??? ?????? ????????? ??? ????????? ??? ????????? ???????????? ???????????????. Fe-N/CNT??? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ????????? ?????? ??? ?????????????????? ?????? ????????? ????????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????????? ??????????????? ????????????. ???????????? ?????? Fe-N/CNT??? ????????? ?????? ??????????????? ???????????? ????????? ???????????????????????? ?????? ????????? ?????? ????????? ??? ?????????, ???????????? ?????? ?????????????????? ??????????????? ???????????? ????????????(Glucose Oxidase, GOx)??? ?????? ????????? ?????????????????? Fe-N/CNT??? Fe-N??? ???????????? ?????? ??????????????? ??????????????? ????????????. ????????? ????????? ???????????? ?????? ???????????? ??????????????? ????????? ???????????????, ?????? ???????????? Kit??? ???????????? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ???????????????

Attosecond electronic timing with rising edges of photocurrent pulses

For edge-sensitive timing applications, the edge jitter of electrical pulses is important. Here, the authors report on very low rising edge jitter extracted from an optical frequency comb and explore the best condition for low jitter by minimizing the amplitude-to-timing conversion in photodiodes

Dual catalytic functions of biomimetic, atomically dispersed iron-nitrogen doped carbon catalysts for efficient enzymatic biofuel cells

We report that the performance of enzymatic biofuel cell (EBC) can be boosted by exploiting the dual function of iron- and nitrogen-codoped carbon nanotube (Fe-N/CNT) catalysts. The Fe-N/CNT is directly used as a cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction while it is combined with glucose oxidase (GOx) and polyethylenimine (PEI) to form GOx/PEI/[Fe-N/CNT] for catalyzing the overall oxidation reactions including glucose oxidation reaction at the anode. The cathode employing Fe-N/CNT catalyst shows excellent onset potential and current density (0.29 V and of 0.9 mA cm(-2)). In anode, GOx/PEI/[Fe-N/CNT] shows proper onset potential and current density (0.17 V and 74.3 mu A cm(-2)) with the injection of 8 mM glucose solution. More quantitatively, its Michaelis-Menten constant and maximum current density are 139.4 mM and 347.1 mu A cm(-2), respectively, and its catalytic activity is well maintained preserving 81.2% of its initial value even after four weeks. The EBC comprising Fe-N/CNT at the cathode and GOx/PEI/[Fe-N/CNT] at the anode exhibits the maximum power density (MPD) of 63 mu W cm(-2). This is the first report that demonstrates the possibility of the heme mimicking nanocatalyst as both anodic and cathodic catalysts for EBCs

Membraneless enzymatic biofuel cells using iron and cobalt co-doped ordered mesoporous porphyrinic carbon based catalyst

Iron and cobalt co-doped ordered mesoporous porphyrinic carbon (FeCo-OMPC) is employed as the catalyst for both electrodes in membraneless enzymatic biofuel cells (EBCs). FeCo-OMPC is used for catalyzing oxygen redox reaction (ORR), while GOx/[FeCo-OMPC/CNT] is utilized as a catalyst for a series of glucose oxidation reaction (GOR) and hydrogen peroxide oxidation reaction (HPOR). The onset potential of the ORR by FeCo-OMPC is 0.31 V vs. Ag/AgCl, while that of HPOR by FeCo-OMPC/CNT and GOR-HPOR by GOx/[FeCo-OMPC/CNT] are both 0.12 V. The activity of this catalyst is better than previously reported similar catalysts due to the presence of Co species and high metal contents. As a result, the concentration of H2O2 generated by GOR is 1.02-1.56 mM when the same glucose concentration as human blood is used. In addition, the EBC using GOx/[FeCo-OMPC/CNT] and FeCO-OMPC shows the maximum power density of 21.3 +/- 2.97 mu W cm(-2) with open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.17 +/- 0.016 V. These values are significantly higher than those of EBC using the competitive Fe-NI CNT catalyst (0.11 V and 9.6 mu W cm(-2)). Moreover, the OCV is close to the expected value by CV (0.19 V), confirming that the FeCo-OMPC catalyst can be used for implantable bioelectronics, such as biosensors and electroceuticals

Investigation of early molecular alterations in tauopathy with generative adversarial networks

Abstract The recent advances in deep learning-based approaches hold great promise for unravelling biological mechanisms, discovering biomarkers, and predicting gene function. Here, we deployed a deep generative model for simulating the molecular progression of tauopathy and dissecting its early features. We applied generative adversarial networks (GANs) for bulk RNA-seq analysis in a mouse model of tauopathy (TPR50-P301S). The union set of differentially expressed genes from four comparisons (two phenotypes with two time points) was used as input training data. We devised four-way transition curves for a virtual simulation of disease progression, clustered and grouped the curves by patterns, and identified eight distinct pattern groups showing different biological features from Gene Ontology enrichment analyses. Genes that were upregulated in early tauopathy were associated with vasculature development, and these changes preceded immune responses. We confirmed significant disease-associated differences in the public human data for the genes of the different pattern groups. Validation with weighted gene co-expression network analysis suggested that our GAN-based approach can be used to detect distinct patterns of early molecular changes during disease progression, which may be extremely difficult in in vivo experiments. The generative model is a valid systematic approach for exploring the sequential cascades of mechanisms and targeting early molecular events related to dementia

Aqueous redox flow battery using iron 2,2‐bis(hydroxymethyl)‐2,2′,2′‐nitrilotriethanol complex and ferrocyanide as newly developed redox couple

An all-iron aqueous redox flow battery using iron (Fe) 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)-2,2',2'-nitrilotriethanol (BIS-TRIS) complex (Fe(BIS-TRIS)) and Ferrocyanide (Fe[CN](6)) as redox couple is newly suggested. The redox potential of Fe(BIS-TRIS) is -1.11 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and this makes Fe(BIS-TRIS) appropriate as active material for anolyte, while Fe(CN)(6) is proper for catholyte due to its excellent redox reactivity, redox potential, and cheap cost. According to quantitative evaluations, Fe(BIS-TRIS) does not produce any side reactions and is more stable than Fe triethanolamine (TEA) (Fe(TEA)) complex that is conventionally considered for the purpose. This fact is confirmed by computational analysis using density functional theory. In the calculation, energy barrier of Fe(BIS-TR1S) suppressing the occurrence of undesirable side reactions is higher than that of other Fe-ligand complexes, indicating that desirable redox reaction of Fe(BIS-TRIS) occurs more stably. In redox flow battery (RFB) tests, RFBs using Fe(BIS-TRIS) do not show any side reactions even after 250 cycles with excellent performances, such as capacity of 11.7 Ah L-1. and coulombic efficiency and capacity retention rate of 99.8 and 99.9%, respectively. This corroborates that RFBs using Fe(BIS-TRIS) have excellency in both performance and stability, while the cheap cost of BIS-TRIS and Fe(CN)(6) enhances the economic benefit of RFBs.11Nsciescopu