Metalloendopeptidase ADAM-like Decysin 1 (ADAMDEC1) in Colonic Subepithelial PDGFRα+ Cells Is a New Marker for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Metalloendopeptidase ADAM-Like Decysin 1 (ADAMDEC1) is an anti-inflammatory peptidase that is almost exclusively expressed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We have recently found abundant and selective expression of Adamdec1 in colonic mucosal PDGFRα⁺ cells. However, the cellular origin for this gene expression is controversial as it is also known to be expressed in intestinal macrophages. We found that Adamdec1 mRNAs were selectively expressed in colonic mucosal subepithelial PDGFRα⁺ cells. ADAMDEC1 protein was mainly released from PDGFRα⁺ cells and accumulated in the mucosal layer lamina propria space near the epithelial basement membrane. PDGFRα⁺ cells significantly overexpressed Adamdec1 mRNAs and protein in DSS-induced colitis mice. Adamdec1 was predominantly expressed in CD45⁻ PDGFRα⁺ cells in DSS-induced colitis mice, with only minimal expression in CD45⁺ CD64⁺ macrophages. Additionally, overexpression of both ADAMDEC1 mRNA and protein was consistently observed in PDGFRα⁺ cells, but not in CD64⁺ macrophages found in human colonic mucosal tissue affected by Crohn’s disease. In summary, PDGFRα⁺ cells selectively express ADAMDEC1, which is localized to the colon mucosa layer. ADAMDEC1 expression significantly increases in DSS-induced colitis affected mice and Crohn’s disease affected human tissue, suggesting that this gene can serve as a diagnostic and/or therapeutic target for intestinal inflammation and Crohn’s disease.     

High-Speed CMI Optical Intraoffice Transmission System: Design and Performance

This paper presents the design and performance features of a successfully developed optical intraoffice transmission system operating at 100-400 Mbits/s. The keys to the commercial realization of this simple, highly reliable, and low-cost system are the employment of the 1.3 μm LED and graded-index multimode fiber. Additionally important, the system makes use of coded mark inversion (CMI) coding to ensure bit sequence independence (BSI) and good error-monitoring capability. Experimental results have clarified the optimum bandwidth of the low-pass filter at the receiver end and the commercially attainable transmission distance. Furthermore, an available system gain of 15.4 dB is demonstrated through 400 Mbit/s transmission experiments. This value enables transmission over distances in excess of 4 km through multimode fiber (900 MHzcdotpkm, 0.8 dB/km).     

Large intracranial vessel occlusive vasculopathy after radiation therapy in children: clinical features and usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging

The marine rotifer, Brachionus plicatilis, is able to digest Chlorella efficiently, suggesting that the rotifer contains a powerful cellulolytic enzyme system. A multi-component cellulolytic complex, including endoglucanase (CM-cellulase), cellobiohydrolase and beta-glucosidase, was found in Brachionus plicatilis. Endoglucanase (endo-beta-1,4 glucanase) was purified to homogeneity from rotifer homogenates using a sequential chromatographic method. The purified enzyme exhibits a strong hydrolytic activity with carboxymethyl(CM)-cellulose. The optimum temperature and pH for the endoglucanase activity were 37 degrees C and 7.0, respectively. 80% of the CM-cellulase activity was retained in salt mixture that ranged from 150 to 500 mM NaCl equivalent. The purified protein was isolated with a molecular weight of approximately 62 kDa estimated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.     

Design and performance of an optoelectronic matrix switch usingSi-p-i-n photodiodes

Switching speed, isolation, optical-source requirements, and attainable matrix dimensions of an optoelectronic matrix switch using Si p-i-n photodiodes are discussed. By charging the internal capacitance of the diode with a photocurrent, forward bias voltages are attained that establish off-states. The novel features of the matrix switch are that the switch elements have high output impedance at off-states, and no electrical power is required to establish the off-states. This leads to advantages in fabricating large-dimension matrix switches     

Dithioester functionalization of poly(cyclohexene oxide) and its application to obtain block copolymers

A new method of introducing dithioester groups into the polymer chain of poly(cyclohexene oxide) is reported. It includes the use of diaryliodonium salt and an aromatic dithioacid as a redox couple to initiate the cationic polymerization of cyclohexene oxide. It was found that the dithioacid by itself cannot start the polymerization of cationic polymerizable monomers; however, in combination with a diaryliodonium salt, an exothermic reaction was produced, yielding a thiocarbonylthio‐functionalized polyether. Thermal profiles of the redox polymerizations were determined by means of optical pyrometry. A preliminary study showed that when the poly(cyclohexene oxide) functionalized with dithioester groups was introduced into the radical polymerization of styrene, the polystyryl growing radicals reacted with the dithioester‐functionalized polyether to form a block polymer. The amount of polyether actually incorporated into the block copolymer was calculated to be 70% of the initial amount of poly(cyclohexene oxide)/dithiobenzoic acid charged into the reactor. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

The Spanish transition to democracy seen through the Spanish database isoc

The study has tried to look at the political transition through the articles published by Spanish scientists in Spanish journals of Social Sciences and Humanities. A sample of 11000 article references from a selected set of 32 journals published from 1976 till 1985, has been the basis of the analysis. This time frame has been divided into two 5 year periods in order to detect any change in the topics published. The result of the analysis has been compared with the “events” as recorded by “El Pais” a very popular newspaper, during the same 10 year period and with a set of specific articles devoted to the Spanish political transition.     

A regression modelling approach for optimizing segmentation scale parameters to extract buildings of different sizes

Multiresolution segmentation (MRS) is one of the most commonly used image segmentation algorithms in the remote-sensing community. This algorithm has three user-defined parameters: scale, shape, and compactness. The scale parameter (SP) is the most crucial one in determining the average size of the image segments generated. Since setting this parameter typically requires a trial-and-error process, automatically estimating it can expedite the segmentation process. However, most of automatic approaches are still iterative and can lead to a time-consuming process. In this article, we propose a new, non-iterative framework for estimating the SP with an emphasis on extracting individual urban buildings. The basis of the proposed method is to investigate the feasibility of associating the size of urban buildings with a corresponding ‘optimal’ (or at least reasonable) SP using an explicit mathematical equation. Using the proposed method, these two variables are related to each other by constructing a mathematical (regression) model. In this framework, the independent variables were chosen to be the typical size of buildings in a given urban area and the spatial resolution of the image under consideration; and the dependent variable was chosen to be the corresponding optimal SP. To assess the potential of the proposed approach, two regression models that yielded explicit equations (i.e. degree-2 polynomial (DP), and regression tree (RT)) were employed. In addition, as a sophisticated and versatile nonlinear model, support vector regression (SVR) was utilized to further measure the performances of DP and RT models compared with it. According to the comparisons, the DP model was selected as a representative of the proposed approach. In the end, to evaluate the proposed methodology, we also compared the results derived from the DP model with those derived from the Estimation of Scale Parameter (ESP) tool. Based on our experiments, not only did the DP model produce acceptable results, but also it outperformed ESP tool in this study for extracting individual urban buildings.     

Prediction of maximum recoverable mechanical energy via work integration: A thermodynamic modeling and analysis approach

Thermal energy and mechanical energy are two common forms of energy consumed significantly in the process industries. While thermal energy can be effectively recovered using matured heat integration technologies, recovery of mechanical energy through work integration has not been fully explored. It is shown that work integration can be achieved through synthesizing work exchange networks (WENs), where work exchangers are operated in a batch mode, and compressors and expanders are operated in a continuous mode; this renders network synthesis a very sophisticated design task. It is greatly beneficial if the maximum amount of mechanical energy recoverable by a WEN can be determined prior to network design. In this article, we introduce a thermodynamic modeling and analysis method to identify accurately the maximum amount of recoverable mechanical energy of any process system of interest. The method is rigorous and general for target setting of mechanical energy recovery prior to WEN synthesis. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2017     

LSB split capacitor SAR ADC with 99.2% switching energy reduction

A highly energy efficient capacitor switching technique in a successive approximation register (SAR) analog to digital converter (ADC) for biomedical applications is presented. The proposed scheme based on new switching method, which combine the LSB split capacitive technique and monotonic method can reduce the average switching energy by 99.2% compared to the conventional SAR architecture. Besides reducing energy in each comparison cycle, the suggested method also achieves an 8× reduction in total capacitance used in the digital to analog converter over the conventional one with the same resolution. The proposed ADC can find application in biomedical engineering systems and other fields which low power consumption is needed.