The 2012 Ming K Jeang award for excellence in cell & bioscience

Three research groups led by Dr. Lixin Feng of Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China, Dr. Walter Wahli of University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Dr. Gutian Xiao of University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, USA, won the 2012 Ming K Jeang Award for Excellence in Cell & Bioscience

The 2013 Ming K Jeang award for excellence in Cell & Bioscience

Two research groups led by Yihong Ye of National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, MD, USA and Dr. Lixin Wei of Medical Sciences Research Center, Renji hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, won the 2013 Ming K Jeang Award for Excellence in Cell & Bioscience

The right journal for the right time - Cell & Bioscience

Cell & Bioscience welcomes the submission of your best work for rapid open access publication. This is the official journal of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA)

An anti-cancer Smurf

A novel, cancer-fighting function was recently discovered for Smad ubiquitination regulatory factor 2 (Smurf2)

A Good Sugar, D-Mannose, Suppresses Autoimmune Diabetes

It is well known that too much sugar uptake causes many health problems, including diabetes and obesity (Lustig et al. in Nature 482:27-29, 2012). However, a team of researchers led by Dr. Wanjun Chen of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, have recently shown that d-mannose, a naturally occurring C-2 epimer of glucose is likely beneficial to human health. Their studies have revealed that supraphysiological levels of d-mannose that are safely achievable via drinking-water supplementation can be preventive and therapeutic to experimental autoimmune diabetes and asthmatic lung inflammation (Zhang et al. in Nat Med 23:1036-1045, 2017)

Evolutionary insights into postembryonic development of adult intestinal stem cells

In the adult vertebrate intestine, multi-potent stem cells continuously generate all of the epithelial cells throughout the adulthood. While it has long been known that the frog intestine is formed via the development of adult intestinal stem cells during thyroid hormone (TH)-dependent metamorphosis, the basic structure of the adult intestine is formed by birth in mammals and it is unclear if the subsequent maturation of the intestine involves any changes in the intestinal stem cells. Two recent papers showing that B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein 1 (Blimp1) regulates postnatal epithelial stem cell reprogramming during mouse intestinal maturation support the model that adult intestinal stem cells are developed during postembryonic development in mammals, in a TH-dependent process similar to intestinal remodeling during amphibian metamorphosis. Since the formation of the adult intestine in both mammals and amphibians is closely associated with the adaptation from aquatic to terrestrial life during the peak of endogenous TH levels, the molecular mechanisms by which the adult stem cells are developed are likely evolutionally conserved

Dichlorido[N-(2-pyridylmethyl­idene)benzene-1,4-diamine]zinc(II)

In the title compound, [ZnCl2(C12H11N3)], the ZnII atom is four-coordinated by two N atoms from an N-(2-pyridylmethyl­ene)benzene-1,4-diamine ligand and two Cl atoms in a distorted tetra­hedral geometry. In the crystal, the complex mol­ecules are connected by N—H⋯Cl and C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds into a two-dimensional layer structure parallel to (110)

Genome-wide identification of Xenopus matrix metalloproteinases: conservation and unique duplications in amphibians

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are members of the superfamily of Zn²⁺dependent extracellular or membrane-bound endopeptidases which have been implicated to play critical roles in vertebrate development and human pathogenesis. A number of MMP genes have been found to be upregulated in some or all organs during frog metamorphosis, suggesting that different MMPs may have different functions in various organs/tissues. The recent advances in EST (expressed sequence tag) sequencing and the completion of the genome of <it>Xenopus (X.) tropicalis </it>prompted us to systematically analyze the existence of MMPs in the <it>Xenopus </it>genome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We examined <it>X. laevis </it>and <it>X. tropicalis </it>ESTs and genomic sequences for MMPs and obtained likely homologs for 20 out of the 25 MMPs known in higher vertebrates. Four of the five missing MMPs, i.e. MMPs 8, 10, 12 and 27, were all encoded on human Chromosome 11 and the other missing MMP, MMP22 (a chicken MMP), was also absent in human genome. In addition, we identified several novel MMPs which appears to be derived from unique duplications over evolution, are present in the genomes of both <it>Xenopus </it>species.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We identified the homologs of most of the mammalian MMPs in <it>Xenopus </it>and discovered a number of novel MMPs. Our results suggest that MMP genes undergo dynamic changes over evolution. It will be of interest in the future to investigate whether MMP expression and functions during vertebrate development are conserved. The sequence information reported here should facilitate such an endeavor in the near future.</p

Band-Notched UWB Antenna with Switchable and Tunable Performance

A band-notched UWB antenna is presented, which can switch between two notch bands and tune the central frequency simultaneously. It is the first time that the switchable and tunable behaviours are combined together in band-notched UWB antennas. In the band-notched structure, PIN diodes are used to switch the lower and upper frequency bands, while varactors could vary the central frequency of each notch band continuously. Measurement results show that the notch bands could switch between 4.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz when the state of varactors is fixed, and the ranges of tuning are 4.2–4.8 GHz and 5.8–6.5 GHz when the state of PIN diodes is ON and OFF, respectively