Coil‐Type Asymmetric Supercapacitor Electrical Cables

Cable‐shaped supercapacitors (SCs) have recently aroused significant attention due to their attractive properties such as small size, lightweight, and bendability. Current cable‐shaped SCs have symmetric device configuration. However, if an asymmetric design is used in cable‐shaped supercapacitors, they would become more attractive due to broader cell operation voltages, which results in higher energy densities. Here, a novel coil‐type asymmetric supercapacitor electrical cable (CASEC) is reported with enhanced cell operation voltage and extraordinary mechanical‐electrochemical stability. The CASECs show excellent charge–discharge profiles, extraordinary rate capability (95.4%), high energy density (0.85 mWh cm⁻³), remarkable flexibility and bendability, and superior bending cycle stability (≈93.0% after 4000 cycles at different bending states). In addition, the CASECs not only exhibit the capability to store energy but also to transmit electricity simultaneously and independently. The integrated electrical conduction and storage capability of CASECS offer many potential applications in solar energy storage and electronic gadgets.     

Update on Alzheimer''s disease

The nation's health care system is undergoing a period of rapid change that will profoundly affect women's health care services and, ultimately, women's health. Although managed care is quickly becoming the predominant mode of health care delivery in the United States, a new, more consumer-focused, and accountable model known as organized systems of care (OSC) is emerging. OSC development has been driven by large private and public employers seeking to purchase the highest quality health care for the best price. The changes in health care delivery encouraged by these innovative employers will provide women with optimal care and attention, which will in turn help them attract and retain a competitive and productive workforce.     

Preferential exclusion of sucrose from recombinant interleukin-1 receptor antagonist: role in restricted conformational mobility and compaction of native state

Understanding the mechanism for sucrose-induced protein stabilization is important in many diverse fields, ranging from biochemistry and environmental physiology to pharmaceutical science. Timasheff and Lee [Lee, J. C. & Timasheff, S. N. (1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 7193-7201] have established that thermodynamic stabilization of proteins by sucrose is due to preferential exclusion of the sugar from the protein's surface, which increases protein chemical potential. The current study measures the preferential exclusion of 1 M sucrose from a protein drug, recombinant interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (rhIL-1ra). It is proposed that the degree of preferential exclusion and increase in chemical potential are directly proportional to the protein surface area and that, hence, the system will favor the protein state with the smallest surface area. This mechanism explains the observed sucrose-induced restriction of rhIL-1ra conformational fluctuations, which were studied by hydrogen-deuterium exchange and cysteine reactivity measurements. Furthermore, infrared spectroscopy of rhlL-1ra suggested that a more ordered native conformation is induced by sucrose. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrated that in the presence of sucrose, spin-labeled cysteine 116 becomes more buried in the protein's interior and that the hydrodynamic diameter of the protein is reduced. The preferential exclusion of sucrose from the protein and the resulting shift in the equilibrium between protein states toward the most compact conformation account for sucrose-induced effects on rhIL-1ra.     

Effects of Al3+ and Be2+ ions combined with NaF on ciliary process adenylyl cyclase activity and aqueous humor dynamics in the rabbit eye

PURPOSE: The activity of Al3+, Ga3+, and Be2+ ions in the presence of NaF to directly activate G-proteins was investigated by their potentiative effect on forskolin (FSK)-activated adenylyl cyclase in rabbit ciliary process membranes and their effects on aqueous humor dynamics in vivo. METHODS: Adenylyl cyclase (AC) was determined by radiometric conversion of ATP to cAMP by the particulate fraction of rabbit ciliary processes. Intravitreal injections of sterile solutions of analytical grade salts were made into the center of the vitreous in a volume of 20 microliters. Intraocular pressure, aqueous humor flow, and uveoscleral outflow measurements were made by pneumatonometry, fluorophotometry, and fluorescein-dextran method, respectively. Outflow facility was determined by tonography in the intact eyes and by two-level constant pressure perfusion in cannulated eyes. RESULTS: Both Al3+ (EC50, 40 mumol/l) and Be2+ (EC50, 11 mumol/l) in the presence of 0.5-2 mM NaF activated the stimulatory G-protein Gs. Ga3+ was ineffective and did not antagonize the activation by Al3+. Intravitreal injections of Al3+ (1 mumol/eye) or Be2+ (0.5 or 1 mumol/eye) had no significant intraocular pressure (IOP) effect, nor did 1.5 or 3 mumol/eye of NaF, but when either cation was injected together with NaF, IOP decreased by up to 40% for up to 140 hr. At the time of maximum IOP effect (72 hr) aqueous humor flow determined by fluorophotometry was decreased in BeCl2+ NaF-treated eyes by 40% relative to BeCl2-treated eyes; however, tonographic facility of outflow was unaffected. Uveoscleral flow was also decreased by 38% in BeCl2+ NaF treated eyes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the hypothesis that Gs activation of ciliary process adenylyl cyclase decreases aqueous humor formation rate in rabbit eyes, and that activation of G-proteins mediates contraction of ciliary muscles causing a decrease of aqueous humor outflow via the uveoscleral route. The results suggest that G-proteins putatively involved in trabecular facility changes are less sensitive to activation by BeF3- than are other parameters of aqueous humor dynamics.