A terahertz metamaterial with unnaturally high refractive index

Controlling the electromagnetic properties of materials, going beyond the limit that is attainable with naturally existing substances, has become a reality with the advent of metamaterials. The range of various structured artificial 'atoms' has promised a vast variety of otherwise unexpected physical phenomena, among which the experimental realization of a negative refractive index has been one of the main foci thus far. Expanding the refractive index into a high positive regime will complete the spectrum of achievable refractive index and provide more design flexibility for transformation optics. Naturally existing transparent materials possess small positive indices of refraction, except for a few semiconductors and insulators, such as lead sulphide or strontium titanate, that exhibit a rather high peak refractive index at mid- and far-infrared frequencies. Previous approaches using metamaterials were not successful in realizing broadband high refractive indices. A broadband high-refractive-index metamaterial structure was theoretically investigated only recently, but the proposed structure does not lend itself to easy implementation. Here we demonstrate that a broadband, extremely high index of refraction can be realized from large-area, free-standing, flexible terahertz metamaterials composed of strongly coupled unit cells. By drastically increasing the effective permittivity through strong capacitive coupling and decreasing the diamagnetic response with a thin metallic structure in the unit cell, a peak refractive index of 38.6 along with a low-frequency quasi-static value of over 20 were experimentally realized for a single-layer terahertz metamaterial, while maintaining low losses. As a natural extension of these single-layer metamaterials, we fabricated quasi-three-dimensional high-refractive-index metamaterials, and obtained a maximum bulk refractive index of 33.2 along with a value of around 8 at the quasi-static limit.     

AOP event manager in open service gateway 〖WT5"HZ〗Abstract:〖WT5"BZ〗 〖WT5”HZ〗Key words:〖WT5”BZ〗

The Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi) has played an important role in ubiquitous environments that support interoperability among embedded devices, such as home appliances and network devices. However, the OSGi does not have a common event mechanism yet, and it is difficult to communicate among services asynchronously. In the present work, a common event manager, AspectOriented Event Manager (AOEM), was designed on an OSGi framework. AOEM supports services to generate and provide notification of events. This paper presents the implementation of AOEM as an OSGi bundle with AspectJ. The experiment on transferring between device service and application service demonstrate that AOEM provides good abstraction of the services and convenience.     

PPAR γ partial agonist, KR-62776, inhibits adipocyte differentiation via activation of ERK

Indenone KR-62776 acts as an agonist of PPARγ without inducing obesity in animal models and cells. X-ray crystallography reveals that the indenone occupies the binding pocket in a different manner than rosiglitazone. 2-Dimensional gel-electrophoresis showed that the expression of 42 proteins was altered more than 2.0-fold between KR-62776- or rosiglitazone-treated adipocyte cells and control cells. Rosiglitazone down-regulated the expression of ERK1/2 and suppressed the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in these cells. However, the expression of ERK1/2 was up-regulated in KR-62776-treated cells. Phosphorylated ERK1/2, activated by indenone, affects the localization of PPARγ, suggesting a mechanism for indenone-inhibition of adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells. The preadipocyte cells are treated with ERK1/2 inhibitor PD98059, a large amount of the cells are converted to adipocyte cells. These results support the conclusion that the localization of PPARγ is one of the key factors explaining the biological responses of the ligands. Received 04 March 2009; received after revision 13 March 2009; accepted 17 March 2009     

Molecular mechanisms of BK channel activation

Large conductance, Ca²⁺-activated potassium (BK) channels are widely expressed throughout the animal kingdom and play important roles in many physiological processes, such as muscle contraction, neural transmission and hearing. These physiological roles derive from the ability of BK channels to be synergistically activated by membrane voltage, intracellular Ca²⁺ and other ligands. Similar to voltage-gated K⁺ channels, BK channels possess a pore-gate domain (S5–S6 transmembrane segments) and a voltage-sensor domain (S1–S4). In addition, BK channels contain a large cytoplasmic C-terminal domain that serves as the primary ligand sensor. The voltage sensor and the ligand sensor allosterically control K⁺ flux through the pore-gate domain in response to various stimuli, thereby linking cellular metabolism and membrane excitability. This review summarizes the current understanding of these structural domains and their mutual interactions in voltage-, Ca²⁺ - and Mg²⁺ -dependent activation of the channel. Received 25 September 2008; received after revision 23 October 2008; accepted 24 October 2008     

Common loss-of-function variants of the epidermal barrier protein filaggrin are a major predisposing factor for atopic dermatitis

Atopic disease, including atopic dermatitis (eczema), allergy and asthma, has increased in frequency in recent decades and now affects approximately 20% of the population in the developed world. Twin and family studies have shown that predisposition to atopic disease is highly heritable. Although most genetic studies have focused on immunological mechanisms, a primary epithelial barrier defect has been anticipated. Filaggrin is a key protein that facilitates terminal differentiation of the epidermis and formation of the skin barrier. Here we show that two independent loss-of-function genetic variants (R510X and 2282del4) in the gene encoding filaggrin (FLG) are very strong predisposing factors for atopic dermatitis. These variants are carried by approximately 9% of people of European origin. These variants also show highly significant association with asthma occurring in the context of atopic dermatitis. This work establishes a key role for impaired skin barrier function in the development of atopic disease.     

Common deletion polymorphisms in the human genome

The locations and properties of common deletion variants in the human genome are largely unknown. We describe a systematic method for using dense SNP genotype data to discover deletions and its application to data from the International HapMap Consortium to characterize and catalogue segregating deletion variants across the human genome. We identified 541 deletion variants (94% novel) ranging from 1 kb to 745 kb in size; 278 of these variants were observed in multiple, unrelated individuals, 120 in the homozygous state. The coding exons of ten expressed genes were found to be commonly deleted, including multiple genes with roles in sex steroid metabolism, olfaction and drug response. These common deletion polymorphisms typically represent ancestral mutations that are in linkage disequilibrium with nearby SNPs, meaning that their association to disease can often be evaluated in the course of SNP-based whole-genome association studies.     

Olfactory ensheathing cells are attracted to, and can endocytose, bacteria

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) have been shown previously to express Toll-like receptors and to respond to bacteria by translocating nuclear factor-kappaB from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. In this study, we show that OECs extended significantly more pseudopodia when they were exposed to Escherichia coli than in the absence of bacteria (p=0.019). Co-immunoprecipitation showed that E. coli binding to OECs was mediated by Toll-like receptor 4. Lyso-Tracker, a fluorescent probe that accumulates selectively in lysosomes, and staining for type 1 lysosome-associated membrane proteins demonstrated that endocytosed FITC-conjugated E. coli were translocated to lysosomes. They appeared to be subsequently broken down, as shown by transmission electron microscopy. No obvious adherence to the membrane and less phagocytosis was observed when OECs were incubated with inert fluorescent microspheres. The ability of OECs to endocytose bacteria supports the notion that OECs play an innate immune function by protecting olfactory tissues from bacterial infection.     

A review of three species of Hesperonoe (Annelida: Polynoidae) in Asia,with descriptions of two new species and a new record of Hesperonoe hwanghaiensis from Korea

A taxonomic review of three Asian species of Hesperonoe (Annelida: Polynoidae) is presented. Hesperonoe hwanghaiensis Uschakov and Wu, 1959 Uschakov PV, Wu B. 1959. [The polychaete worms of the families Phyllodocidae and Aphroditidae (Polychaeta, errantia) from the Yellow Sea]. Arch Inst Oceanol Sinica. 1:1–40, pls. I–X. (In Chinese and Russian). [Google Scholar] (type locality: Qingdao, China) is redescribed based on five specimens collected from an intertidal site in the Korean coast of the Yellow Sea, as a new record of this species from Korea, which is the only known habitat outside the type locality. Hesperonoe coreensis sp. nov. is described based on nine specimens collected from two intertidal sites in the Korean coast of the Yellow Sea, including the same site as the habitat of H. hwanghaiensis. Hesperonoe japonensis sp. nov. is described by re-examination of many specimens collected from eight intertidal sites and a subtidal one in Japan, which was previously misidentified as H. hwanghaiensis. The three species are clearly distinguishable from one another by the species-specific morphology of the macrotubercles (or marked ridges) on the surface of elytra. All of the three species seemed to be commensal with the burrowing mud shrimp Upogebia major in intertidal flats, except for an additional probable host of another upogebid shrimp Austinogebia narutensis for H. japonensis sp. nov. in a subtidal habitat. The morphological characteristics and host species of the three Asian species are compared with all of the other five congeners known from the North American Pacific and Arctic Sea.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:51CB5C5B-0838-48AC-A0BA-8E63AA7628CB