Fighting obesity by targeting factors regulating beige adipocytes.

Purpose of reviewThe current review provides an update on secreted factors and mechanisms that promote a thermogenic program in beige adipocytes, and their potential roles as therapeutic targets to fight obesity.Recent findingsWe outline recent studies revealing unrecognized mechanisms controlling beige adipocyte physiology, and summarize in particular those that underlie beige thermogenesis independently of classical uncoupling. We also update strategies aimed at fostering beige adipogenesis and white-to beige adipocyte conversion. Finally, we summarize newly identified endogenous secreted factors that promote the thermogenic activation of beige adipocytes and discuss their therapeutic potential.SummaryThe identification of novel endogenous factors that promote beiging and regulate beige adipocyte-specific physiological pathways opens up new avenues for therapeutic engineering targeting obesity and related metabolic disorders

Intersection representation of digraphs in trees with few leaves

The leafage of a digraph is the minimum number of leaves in a host tree in which it has a subtree intersection representation. We discuss bounds on the leafage in terms of other parameters (including Ferrers dimension), obtaining a string of sharp inequalities.Comment: 12 pages, 3 included figure

Replica-molded electro-optic polymer Mach–Zehnder modulator

A Mach-Zehnder electro-optic polymer amplitude modulator is fabricated by a simple and high-throughput soft-stamp replica-molding technique. The modulator structure incorporates the highly nonlinear and stable chromophore, AJL8, doped in amorphous polycarbonate. Single-arm phase-retardation results in a halfwave voltage (V-pi) of 8.4 V at 1600 nm. The on/off extinction ratio is better than 19 dB, resulting from precise Y-branch power splitters and good waveguide uniformity. These results indicate that the simple fabrication process allows for good optical performance from high-fidelity replicas of the original master devices

Review of atomic layer deposition of nanostructured solar cells

Abstract : This study reviews atomic layer deposition technique with a special interest on solar cells applications. Atomic layer deposition is a vapour phase deposition technique used for producing thin films for several applications. This review focuses on the chemistry of Atomic Layer Deposition of solar cells, merits and demerits of ALD on thin film solar cells. Solar cells have attracted a lot of interest due to their potential for affordable, clean and sustainable energy. Solar cells can be deposited using different deposition techniques but Atomic layer deposition currently attracts attention owing to the merits. ALD has functional merit to bulk materials, great processing flexibility and affordability. The review examined the merits of ALD and solar cells and areas for future study. It offers affordability, ease of control of film growth, conformal and improvement on the deposition of solar cells. Despite few demerits, ALD is poised to be the deposition technique of choice for modifying interfaces of the film for improved performance

Phase Coexistence Implications of Violating Newton's Third Law

Newton's third law, actio = reactio, is a foundational statement of classical mechanics. However, in natural and living systems, this law appears to be routinely violated for constituents interacting in a nonequilibrium environment. Here, we use computer simulations to explore the macroscopic phase behavior implications of breaking microscopic interaction reciprocity for a simple model system. We consider a binary mixture of attractive particles and introduce a parameter which is a continuous measure of the degree to which interaction reciprocity is broken. In the reciprocal limit, the species are indistinguishable and the system phase separates into domains with distinct densities and identical compositions. Increasing nonreciprocity is found to drive the system to explore a rich assortment of phases, including phases with strong composition asymmetries and three-phase coexistence. Many of the states induced by these forces, including traveling crystals and liquids, have no equilibrium analogue. By mapping the complete phase diagram for this model system and characterizing these unique phases, our findings offer a concrete path forward towards understanding how nonreciprocity shapes the structures found in living systems and how this might be leveraged in the design of synthetic materials