Characterization of a Cutibacterium acnes Camp Factor 1-Related Peptide as a New TLR-2 Modulator in In Vitro and Ex Vivo Models of Inflammation

Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) has been implicated in inflammatory acne where highly mutated Christie–Atkins–Munch–Petersen factor (CAMP)1 displays strong toll like receptor (TLR)-2 binding activity. Using specific antibodies, we showed that CAMP1 production was independent of C. acnes phylotype and involved in the induction of inflammation. We confirmed that TLR-2 bound both mutated and non-mutated recombinant CAMP1, and peptide array analysis showed that seven peptides (A14, A15, B1, B2, B3, C1 and C3) were involved in TLR-2 binding, located on the same side of the three-dimensional structure of CAMP1. Both mutated and non-mutated recombinant CAMP1 proteins induced the production of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand interleukin (CXCL)8/(IL)-8 in vitro in keratinocytes and that of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-1β and IL-10 in ex vivo human skin explants. Only A14, B1 and B2 inhibited the production of CXCL8/IL-8 by keratinocytes and that of (GM-CSF), TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-10 in human skin explants stimulated with rCAMP1 and C. acnes. Following pretreatment with B2, RNA sequencing on skin explants identified the 10 genes displaying the strongest differential expression as IL6, TNF, CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL8, IL-1β, chemokine ligand (CCL)2, CCL4 and colony stimulating factor (CSF)2. We, thus, identified a new CAMP1-derived peptide as a TLR-2 modulator likely to be a good candidate for clinical evaluation.     

Integrated SMD pressure/flow/temperature multisensor for compressed air in LTCC technology: Thermal flow and temperature sensing

In this work, we present and analyse the flow-sensing part of a recently-developed multisensor in LTCC (low-temperature co-fired ceramic) technology; this device integrates flow/pressure/temperature sensing and is designed for diagnostics monitoring of standard industrial compressed air circuits and devices such as valves and actuators. In this prototype, flow is sensed using the constant-temperature anemometric principle, with temperature-sensing active and reference thermistors placed in the fluidic channel integrated within the LTCC structure. The LTCC bridge structuration technology and electronics are analysed, and possible improvements in fabrication yield and efficiency outlined.     

健美操教学中美感教育的频数统计分析

健美操的产生与发展是一个渐进的过程,它起源于人类对人体健与美的追求,健美操的发展史与人类审美观的形成是密切相关的,而美感是健美操教学和研究中与美的本质紧密相关的一个重要的问题。文中从美感的定义出发,从美学、教育方法论等多个角度详细阐述了健美操教学中的美感教育,并进行了丰富的实践统计。     

Enhancing Physicochemical Properties and Indium Leachability of Indium-Bearing Zinc Ferrite Mechanically Activated Using Tumbling Mill

The synthetic indium-bearing zinc ferrite (IBZF) was activated mechanically using a tumbling mill under different rotation speeds, milling times, media fillings, and ball-to-material ratios. Subsequently, the changes in the physicochemical properties and leaching behavior of IBZF induced by mechanical activation were studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), M?ssbauer spectrometry, particle size analysis, and leaching tests in sulfuric acid. The results showed that different milling conditions could form different particle size distribution, morphologies, and crystal structures, which influenced indium extraction differently. In addition, the indium extractions from various activated samples were related closely to the changes of physicochemical properties induced by mechanical activation. The strengthening effect of mechanical activation in IBZF decomposition lies mainly in the damage of crystal structure besides the decrease of the particle size because the indium-leaching efficiencies increased significantly with the increase of the damage of the crystal structure when the particle size is kept constant.     

学习实践科学发展观的思考

以上海市政工程设计研究总院为例,论述了与时俱进,增强科学发展需要解决的认识问题;分析了转变发展方式,谋求更大发展空间的工作重点;提出了加大政策引导和资源整合力度,抓好基层党建工作和企业文化建设的措施。     

The impact of alkali elements on the degradation of CIGS solar cells

Unencapsulated CIGS solar cells with high and low contents of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) were simultaneously exposed to damp heat and illumination. The solar cells with a high alkali (Na, K) content exhibited higher initial conversion efficiencies, but degraded severely within 100 h, while the alkali poor samples kept relatively stable performance under damp heat and illumination. The degradation of the samples with a high alkali content resulted in the formation of sodium rich spots on the top ZnO:Al surface of the samples. This is likely caused by light‐induced Na⁺ migration via the grain boundaries in the absorber to the depletion region, where the Na⁺ accumulated. This allowed subsequent Na⁺ transport through the depletion region due to the lowering of the internal electric field caused both by the Na⁺ accumulation and illumination. The migration resulted in the formation of shunt paths, which reduced the shunt resistance and open circuit voltage. Furthermore, ingression of water into the ZnO:Al is expected to be responsible for a slow but steady increase in series resistance for both high and low alkali solar cells. Additionally, sodium migration led to a severe increase of the series resistance in case of alkali rich samples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

UV‐Triggered Polymerization,Deposition, and Patterning of Plant Phenolic Compounds

Plant‐derived phenolic compounds, rich in catechol and pyrogallol moieties, can form multifunctional coatings on various substrates following polymerization under mildly alkaline conditions. Despite many appealing features of such coatings, the difficulty to control polymerization of phenolic compounds spatially and temporally limits their number of potential applications. In this study, it is demonstrated that UV irradiation can trigger oxidative polymerization and deposition of plant‐derived phenolic compounds, which opens the possibility to create 2D gradients and patterns of polyphenol coatings and control this polymerization temporally. UV–vis spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and cyclic voltammetry analyses are used to investigate the UV‐induced polymerization of several plant‐derived phenolic compounds including pyrogallol, tannic acid, caffeic acid, and gallic acid. Formation of polyphenol coatings on polar and nonpolar substrates after UV irradiation has been studied using water contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The possibility to use UV‐light to accelerate polymerization of phenolic compounds and perform micropatterning can extend the scope of potential applications of the large class of structurally diverse plant‐derived phenolic compounds.     

Clinical evaluation of respiratory motion compensation for anatomical roadmap guided cardiac electrophysiology procedures

X-ray fluoroscopically guided cardiac electrophysiological procedures are routinely carried out for diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. X-ray images have poor soft tissue contrast and, for this reason, overlay of static 3-D roadmaps derived from preprocedural volumetric data can be used to add anatomical information. However, the registration between the 3-D roadmap and the 2-D X-ray image can be compromised by patient respiratory motion. Three methods were designed and evaluated to correct for respiratory motion using features in the 2-D X-ray images. The first method is based on tracking either the diaphragm or the heart border using the image intensity in a region of interest. The second method detects the tracheal bifurcation using the generalized Hough transform and a 3-D model derived from 3-D preoperative volumetric data. The third method is based on tracking the coronary sinus (CS) catheter. This method uses blob detection to find all possible catheter electrodes in the X-ray image. A cost function is applied to select one CS catheter from all catheter-like objects. All three methods were applied to X-ray images from 18 patients undergoing radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. The 2-D target registration errors (TRE) at the pulmonary veins were calculated to validate the methods. A TRE of 1.6 mm ± 0.8 mm was achieved for the diaphragm tracking; 1.7 mm ± 0.9 mm for heart border tracking, 1.9 mm ± 1.0 mm for trachea tracking, and 1.8 mm ± 0.9 mm for CS catheter tracking. We present a comprehensive comparison between the techniques in terms of robustness, as computed by tracking errors, and accuracy, as computed by TRE using two independent approaches.     

基于高斯混合模型的车辆字符识别算法

在基于统计方法的车牌字符识别算法中,为了更有效地描述车牌字符特征的类条件概率密度,提出了一种基于高斯混合模型(GMM)的识别方法.首先采用Gabor变换来提取车牌字符的特征参数,然后通过GMM来逼近字符特征的类条件概率密度分布,最后根据得到的类条件概率密度分布函数构造贝叶斯分类器.其中,GMM的参数估计采用EM算法.实验表明,这种方法具有良好的字符识别效果、较强的鲁棒性以及较大的应用价值.     

Millileter-Wave Power-Combining Amplifier Using A Broadband Waveguide Combiner

A Millimeter-wave power-combining amplifier based on the multi-way rectangular-waveguide power-dividing/combining circuit has been presented and investigated. The equivalent-circuit approach has been used to analyze the passive power-dividing/combining circuits. An eight-device amplifier is designed and measured to validate the power-dividing/combining mechanism using this technique. Both the measured 10-dB return loss bandwidth and the 2-dB insertion loss bandwidth of the passive system are more than 10?GHz. The measured maximum small-signal gain of the millimeter-wave eight-device power amplifier is 22.5?dB at 26.8?GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of more than 6?GHz, while the input and output return loss of the proposed eight-device power amplifier is around ?10?dB from 26?GHz to 36?GHz. The measured maximum output power at 1-dB compression from the power amplifier is 28 dBm at 29.5?GHz.