Sulfated Hyaluronan Binds to Heparanase and Blocks Its Enzymatic and Cellular Actions in Carcinoma Cells

We examined whether sulfated hyaluronan exerts inhibitory effects on enzymatic and biological actions of heparanase, a sole endo-beta-glucuronidase implicated in cancer malignancy and inflammation. Degradation of heparan sulfate by human and mouse heparanase was inhibited by sulfated hyaluronan. In particular, high-sulfated hyaluronan modified with approximately 2.5 sulfate groups per disaccharide unit effectively inhibited the enzymatic activity at a lower concentration than heparin. Human and mouse heparanase bound to immobilized sulfated hyaluronan. Invasion of heparanase-positive colon-26 cells and 4T1 cells under 3D culture conditions was significantly suppressed in the presence of high-sulfated hyaluronan. Heparanase-induced release of CCL2 from colon-26 cells was suppressed in the presence of sulfated hyaluronan via blocking of cell surface binding and subsequent intracellular NF-κB-dependent signaling. The inhibitory effect of sulfated hyaluronan is likely due to competitive binding to the heparanase molecule, which antagonizes the heparanase-substrate interaction. Fragment molecular orbital calculation revealed a strong binding of sulfated hyaluronan tetrasaccharide to the heparanase molecule based on electrostatic interactions, particularly characterized by interactions of (−1)- and (−2)-positioned sulfated sugar residues with basic amino acid residues composing the heparin-binding domain-1 of heparanase. These results propose a relevance for sulfated hyaluronan in the blocking of heparanase-mediated enzymatic and cellular actions.     

Gate current in AlInAs/GaInAs heterostructure insulated-gatefield-effect transistors (HIGFETs)

A self-aligned WSi gate heterostructure insulated-gate field-effect transistor (HIGFET) with a gate length of 1 μm was fabricated using an AlInAs/GaInAs heterostructure grown by atmospheric pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The gate current is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The measured gate current was found to be about two orders of magnitude higher than predicted by theory. The origin of this increase is unclear. However, the theoretical result suggests the possibility of reducing the gate current in AlInAs/GaInAs HIGFETs     

300 ps switching of spontaneous emission by quantum confined fieldeffect in a light emitting triode

A high-speed switching, as fast as 300 ps, of spontaneous emission is achieved in the recently developed quantum-confined field-effect light emitting triode. As a result of the combination of the field control of radiative life time with modulation of carrier-generation rate, the light intensity modulation does not rely on changes in carrier population at all but on the field control of the radiative life time in the quantum well structure of the device. Elaborated is the allowance for the deviation of the modulation depth of injection current from an optimum value in the modulation scheme     

Effects of zinc doping in DFB lasers emitting at 1.3 and 1.55 mu m

Reports on the performance of GaInAsP/InP DFB lasers with Zn-doped active region. At both 1.3 and 1.55 mu m the authors achieved a large bandwidth owing to the increased differential gain. The carrier lifetime of the lasers decreased with doping level. The decreased carrier lifetime had the effect of reducing the pattern effect, and they could obtain a clear eye opening with 4 Gbit/s NRZ modulation.<>     

Electrotunable Non‐reciprocal Laser Emission from a Liquid‐Crystal Photonic Device

A liquid crystal (LC) photonic device with an anisotropic optical heterojunction structure has been fabricated. The device has a phase‐retarding nematic LC (NLC) layer sandwiched between two polymer cholesteric LC films with right‐handed helices of different pitches. Electrotunable non‐reciprocal light transmittance and unidirectional circularly polarized (CP) lasing emission have been successfully demonstrated for this device structure. Two left CP (LCP) lasing emission peaks are observed at the edges of the overlapping region between the two photonic bands in the structure and are shifted upon the application of a voltage. In contrast, a non‐reciprocal right CP (RCP) lasing emission peak emerges at one of the band edges and diminishes upon the application of a voltage. These phenomena are interpreted based on the selective reflection of RCP light and the reorientation of the NLC molecules by the application of a voltage.     

A 1.0-V 230-MHz column access embedded DRAM for portable MPEGapplications

This paper describes a 32-Mb embedded DRAM macro fabricated using 0.13-μm triple-well 4-level Cu embedded DRAM technology, which is suitable for portable equipment of MPEG applications. This macro can operate 230-MHz random column access even at 1.0-V power supply condition. The peak power consumption is suppressed to 198 mW in burst operation. The power-down standby mode, which suppresses the leakage current consumption of peripheral circuitry, is also prepared for portable equipment. With the collaboration of array circuit design and the fine Cu metallization technology, macro size of 18.9 mm² and cell efficiency of 51.3% are realized even with dual interface and triple test functions implemented     

Unique Features of Mobile Commerce

While the market potentials and impacts of web-based e-commerce are still in the ascendant, the advances in wireless technologies and mobile networks have brought about a new business opportunity and research attention, what is termed mobile commerce. Commonly, mobile commerce is considered to be another new application of existing web-based e-commerce onto wireless networks, but as an independent business area, mobile commerce has its own advantages and challenges as opposed to traditional e-commerce applications. This paper focuses on exploring the unique features of mobile commerce as compared with traditional e-commerce. Also, there are still some limitations arisen in m-commerce in contrast to web-based e-commerce. Finally, current state of mobile commerce in Japan is presented in brief, with an introduction of several cases involving mobile commerce applications in today's marketplace.     

A novel soft-switched PWM current source inverter with voltageclamped circuit

This paper develops a new series resonant (current resonant) DC link inverter with a voltage clamped circuit. The proposed circuit has a fixed pulse frequency operation. The fixed pulse frequency at 20-50 kHz enables the system to work without audible noise, and to involve the much smaller-sized DC inductance and output capacitors compared with hard-switched current source inverters. The proposed circuit has a voltage clamped circuit which could control the voltage stress of the switches. In this paper, explanations of the new circuit configuration, the simulation, design considerations, and some experimental results are included