Current distribution of collective thermal depinning of Josephson vortices in naturally stacked Josephson junctions

We investigated the thermal-depinning current (I(c)) distribution of Josephson vortices (JVs) in naturally stacked Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) intrinsic Jospehson junctions in tesla-range magnetic fields and at different field tilt angles from the in-plane position. The I(c) distribution in the thermal-activation regime contains accurate information on the bias and magnetic-field dependence of the Josephson-vortex pinning potential. In a few-tesla-range magnetic field, JVs in a row in a junction, strongly coupled with each other, are pinned or depinned like a single physical entity at a single pinning center. In the best-aligned in-plane magnetic field, the edge pinning is most relevant and is insensitive to the field strength. In the presence of pancake vortices (PVs) in a slightly tilted field, however, the PV pinning deepens the JV pinning potential linearly with the number of PVs.open1122sciescopu

Controlled release of human growth hormone fused with a human hybrid Fc fragment through a nanoporous polymer membrane

Nanotechnology has been applied to the development of more effective and compatible drug delivery systems for therapeutic proteins. Human growth hormone (hGH) was fused with a hybrid Fc fragment containing partial Fc domains of human IgD and IgG(4) to produce a long-acting fusion protein. The fusion protein, hGH-hyFc, resulted in the increase of the hydrodynamic diameter (ca. 11 nm) compared with the diameter (ca. 5 nm) of the recombinant hGH. A diblock copolymer membrane with nanopores (average diameter of 14.3 nm) exhibited a constant release rate of hGH-hyFc. The hGH-hyFc protein released in a controlled manner for one month was found to trigger the phosphorylation of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) in human B lymphocyte and to exhibit an almost identical circular dichroism spectrum to that of the original hGH-hyFc, suggesting that the released fusion protein should maintain the functional and structural integrity of hGH. Thus, the nanoporous release device could be a potential delivery system for the long-term controlled release of therapeutic proteins fused with the hybrid Fc fragment.X111313sciescopu

Tunable ultranarrow linewidth of cavity induced by interacting dark resonances

A scheme for getting a tunable ultranarrow linewidth of a cavity due to an embedded four-level atomic medium with double-dark resonances is proposed. It is shown that the steep dispersion induced by double-dark resonances in the transparency window leads to the ultranarrow transmission peak. Compared with the case of a single-dark-resonance system, the linewidth can be narrowed even by one order under proper conditions. Furthermore, the position of the ultranarrow peak can be engineered by varying the intensity and detuning of the control field.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

L'evoluzione della nozione di "consumatore" fra tutela dei diritti della persona, economia collaborativa e futuro del mercato interno dell'Unione europea

Il saggio sescrive l'evoluzione della nozione di "consumatore" nel diritto dell'Unione europea. Il "consumatore" \ue8 stato definito giuridicamente in una prima fase del processo di integrazione economica dalla Corte di giustizia come soggetto mediamente informato e normalmente avveduto, onde superare gli ostacoli alla libera circolazione delle merci frapposti dagli Stati membri in ragione dell'esigenza imperativa di tutelare il "soggetto debole" nei rapporti commerciali di massa. In questa prima fase la nozione aveva quindi una funzione essenzialmente "dissuasiva" del protezionismo e non assumeva, quindi, connotati paternalistici. Con l'evoluzione dell'integrazione europea, l'accentuazione della sensibilit\ue0 giuridica dell'ordinamento UE per la "persona" ed i suoi diritti fondamentali, la nozione di "consumatore" ha iniziato a mutare, vedendosi affiancare quella di "soggetto vulnerabile" (direttiva 2005/29 CE) e, progressivamente, estendere caratteristiche di fragilit\ue0 individuale ed ingenuit\ue0 precedentemente sconosciute alla elaborazione giuridica della Corte. Il processo evolutivo in questione \ue8 ancora in corso, e rischia, soprattutto nei settori pi\uf9 sensibili (come, a titolo esemplificativo, quello alimentare) di creare ostacoli allo sviluppo economico, in totale controtendenza rispetto alle finalit\ue0 perseguite negli anni ottanta

A comparison of the long-term health-related quality of life of handicap of stroke patients in Mainland China and Hong Kong

Purpose: To compare health related quality of life (HRQOL) and handicap of stroke survivors in Hong Kong (HK) and Chengdu (CD) in Mainland China. Method: Fifty-four pairs of first ever stroke patients in CD and in HK matched by age, sex and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire at 16–36 months after stroke. HRQOL and handicap outcomes were evaluated by the Chinese version of the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and London Handicap Scale (LHS) respectively. Results: Compared to stroke patients in CD, HK subjects reported significantly greater handicap, especially in the occupation domain. HK subjects also had significantly lower HRQOL Z scores in domains of role limitations due to emotional or physical problems, and bodily pain. CD subjects had more social support, but had more difficulties in meeting medical costs, and were less likely to have regular medical follow-up and dysphagia symptom. After adjusting for social and health related factors, the site differences in handicap and the role limitation (physical) domain of SF36 became insignificant. Conclusions: CD stroke survivors had better scores in HRQOL and fewer handicaps than their counterparts in HK, because of social and health related factors.published_or_final_versio

The association of pulmonary function with carotid atherosclerosis in older Chinese: Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study-CVD Subcohort

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Continuous-wave room-temperature diamond maser

The maser, older sibling of the laser, has been confined to relative obscurity due to its reliance on cryogenic refrigeration and high-vacuum systems. Despite this it has found application in deep-space communications and radio astronomy due to its unparalleled performance as a low-noise amplifier and oscillator. The recent demonstration of a room-temperature solid- state maser exploiting photo-excited triplet states in organic pentacene molecules paves the way for a new class of maser that could find applications in medicine, security and sensing, taking advantage of its sensitivity and low noise. However, to date, only pulsed operation has been observed in this system. Furthermore, organic maser molecules have poor thermal and mechanical properties, and their triplet sub-level decay rates make continuous emission challenging: alternative materials are therefore required. Therefore, inorganic materials containing spin-defects such as diamond and silicon carbide have been proposed. Here we report a continuous-wave (CW) room-temperature maser oscillator using optically pumped charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centres in diamond. This demonstration unlocks the potential of room-temperature solid-state masers for use in a new generation of microwave devices.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Cellular Reactive Oxygen Species Inhibit MPYS Induction of IFNβ

Many inflammatory diseases, as well as infections, are accompanied by elevation in cellular levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Here we report that MPYS, a.k.a. STING, which was recently shown to mediate activation of IFNβ expression during infection, is a ROS sensor. ROS induce intermolecular disulfide bonds formation in MPYS homodimer and inhibit MPYS IFNβ stimulatory activity. Cys-64, -148, -292, -309 and the potential C88xxC91 redox motif in MPYS are indispensable for IFNβ stimulation and IRF3 activation. Thus, our results identify a novel mechanism for ROS regulation of IFNβ stimulation

Molecular cloning and transcriptional activity of a new Petunia calreticulin gene involved in pistil transmitting tract maturation, progamic phase, and double fertilization

Calreticulin (CRT) is a highly conserved and ubiquitously expressed Ca2+-binding protein in multicellular eukaryotes. As an endoplasmic reticulum-resident protein, CRT plays a key role in many cellular processes including Ca2+ storage and release, protein synthesis, and molecular chaperoning in both animals and plants. CRT has long been suggested to play a role in plant sexual reproduction. To begin to address this possibility, we cloned and characterized the full-length cDNA of a new CRT gene (PhCRT) from Petunia. The deduced amino acid sequence of PhCRT shares homology with other known plant CRTs, and phylogenetic analysis indicates that the PhCRT cDNA clone belongs to the CRT1/CRT2 subclass. Northern blot analysis and fluorescent in situ hybridization were used to assess PhCRT gene expression in different parts of the pistil before pollination, during subsequent stages of the progamic phase, and at fertilization. The highest level of PhCRT mRNA was detected in the stigma–style part of the unpollinated pistil 1 day before anthesis and during the early stage of the progamic phase, when pollen is germinated and tubes outgrow on the stigma. In the ovary, PhCRT mRNA was most abundant after pollination and reached maximum at the late stage of the progamic phase, when pollen tubes grow into the ovules and fertilization occurs. PhCRT mRNA transcripts were seen to accumulate predominantly in transmitting tract cells of maturing and receptive stigma, in germinated pollen/growing tubes, and at the micropylar region of the ovule, where the female gametophyte is located. From these results, we suggest that PhCRT gene expression is up-regulated during secretory activity of the pistil transmitting tract cells, pollen germination and outgrowth of the tubes, and then during gamete fusion and early embryogenesis