RAGE is a multiligand receptor of the immunoglobulin superfamily: implications for homeostasis and chronic disease

Receptor for AGE (RAGE) is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily that engages distinct classes of ligands. The biology of RAGE is driven by the settings in which these ligands accumulate, such as diabetes, inflammation, neurodegenerative disorders and tumors. In this review, we discuss the context of each of these classes of ligands, including advance glycation end-products, amyloid beta peptide and the family of beta sheet fibrils, S100/calgranulins and amphoterin. Implications for the role of these ligands interacting with RAGE in homeostasis and disease will be considered.     

Microring-Assisted Coupling Between Dissimilar Waveguides

The use of microring resonators to assist in the evanescent field coupling between dissimilar waveguides is proposed and analyzed. Theoretical analysis based on the coupled mode theory and nu-merical example show that complete cross power transfers can be obtained near the microring resonances. Applications of the device include power dividers, low-power thermo-optic or electro-optic switches, and modulators.     

彩色多普勒超声在腹壁下动脉穿支选择中的应用

验证彩色多普勒超声对腹壁下动脉穿支血管术前探查的有效性,寻找腹壁下动脉穿支术前优势穿支的选择标准。利用彩色多普勒超声探查腹壁下动脉穿支皮瓣行乳房再造患者52例,重点记录穿支血管穿腹直肌前鞘点的体表投影、口径、血流信息,并通过分析比较以上信息,选择优势穿支。结果52例患者腹壁下动脉穿支穿腹直肌前鞘点于超声下均可显示,平均每侧下腹部3支,距脐平均(5.7±2.09)cm,其中条件适用于显微外科的穿支平均口径(0.95±0.32)cm,血流峰速平均约16.4 cm/s,阻力指数平均0.7。术中优势穿支采用率92.31%。说明高频彩色多普勒超声适用于腹壁下动脉穿支皮瓣术前血管探查,可精确指导穿支的术前选择,辅助手术方案制定以及皮瓣设计。     

An inhibitor of Bcl-2 family proteins induces regression of solid tumours

Proteins in the Bcl-2 family are central regulators of programmed cell death, and members that inhibit apoptosis, such as Bcl-X(L) and Bcl-2, are overexpressed in many cancers and contribute to tumour initiation, progression and resistance to therapy. Bcl-X(L) expression correlates with chemo-resistance of tumour cell lines, and reductions in Bcl-2 increase sensitivity to anticancer drugs and enhance in vivo survival. The development of inhibitors of these proteins as potential anti-cancer therapeutics has been previously explored, but obtaining potent small-molecule inhibitors has proved difficult owing to the necessity of targeting a protein-protein interaction. Here, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based screening, parallel synthesis and structure-based design, we have discovered ABT-737, a small-molecule inhibitor of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Bcl-X(L) and Bcl-w, with an affinity two to three orders of magnitude more potent than previously reported compounds. Mechanistic studies reveal that ABT-737 does not directly initiate the apoptotic process, but enhances the effects of death signals, displaying synergistic cytotoxicity with chemotherapeutics and radiation. ABT-737 exhibits single-agent-mechanism-based killing of cells from lymphoma and small-cell lung carcinoma lines, as well as primary patient-derived cells, and in animal models, ABT-737 improves survival, causes regression of established tumours, and produces cures in a high percentage of the mice.     

Three-dimensional control of light in a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab

Optoelectronic devices are increasingly important in communication and information technology. To achieve the necessary manipulation of light (which carries information in optoelectronic devices), considerable efforts are directed at the development of photonic crystals--periodic dielectric materials that have so-called photonic bandgaps, which prohibit the propagation of photons having energies within the bandgap region. Straightforward application of the bandgap concept is generally thought to require three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals; their two-dimensional (2D) counterparts confine light in the crystal plane, but not in the perpendicular z direction, which inevitably leads to diffraction losses. Nonetheless, 2D photonic crystals still attract interest because they are potentially more amenable to fabrication by existing techniques and diffraction losses need not seriously impair utility. Here we report the fabrication of a waveguide-coupled photonic crystal slab (essentially a free-standing 2D photonic crystal) with a strong 2D bandgap at wavelengths of about 1.5 microm, yet which is capable of fully controlling light in all three dimensions. These features confirm theoretical calculations on the possibility of achieving 3D light control using 2D bandgaps, with index guiding providing control in the third dimension, and raise the prospect of being able to realize unusual photonic-crystal devices, such as thresholdless lasers.     

Totally synthetic (±)-13-Alkyl-3-hydroxy and methoxy-gona-1,3,5(10)-trien-17-ones and related compounds

Zusammenfassung Von mehreren (±) 3-Oxy- und (±) 3-Methoxy-13-alkylgona-1,3,5(10)trien-17-onen und verwandten Verbindungen, einschliesslich von Vertretern der (±) 13-Alkylgon-4-en-3-on-Reihe, werden Totalsynthese und biologische Wirksamkeit beschrieben.     

Effective Approach to Elevate the Intelligence of Management Decision System

Based on the sticking point of the low intelligence of the existing management decision system, this paper puts forward the idea of enriching and refining the knowledge of the system and endowing it with the ability to learn by means of adopting three types of heterogeneous knowledge representation and knowledge management measures. At length, this paper outlines the basic framework of an intelligence system for the sake of management decision problem.     

Simulation and uniform design-based automatic generation of risk scenarios

This paper presents a methodology for automatically generating risk scenarios for dynamic reliability applications in which some dynamic characteristics(e.g.,the order,timing and magnitude of events,the value of relevant process parameters and initial conditions) have a significant influence on the evolution of the system.The main idea of the methodology is:(i) making the system model "express itself" through simulation by having the model driven by an elaborated simulation engine;(ii) exploiting uniform design to pick out a small subset of representative design points from the space of relevant dynamic characteristics;(iii) for each selected design point,employing a depth-first systematic exploration strategy to cover all possible scenario branches at each branch point.A highly dynamic example adapted from the literature(a chemical batch reactor) is studied to test the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.