电源管理芯片的困局——大批量应用导致利润率低下，供应商该怎么办？

目前电源管理半导体供应商面临一个棘手的挑战：在其产品增长最快的应用领域,利润率却非常低。在电源管理半导体市场竞争加剧之际,供应商如何调整业务才能保证长期获利能力？     

Opposite effects of osteogenic protein and transforming growth factor beta on chondrogenesis in cultured long bone rudiments

Osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1, also called BMP-7) is a bone morphogenetic member of the TGF-beta superfamily. In the present study, we examined the effect of recombinant human OP-1 on cartilage and bone formation in organ cultures of metatarsal long bones of mouse embryos and compared the OP-1 effects with those of human TGF-beta 1 and porcine TGF-beta 1 and beta 2. Cartilage formation was determined by measurement of longitudinal growth of whole bone rudiments during culture and by the incorporation of 35SO4 into glycosaminoglycans. Mineralization was monitored by 45Ca incorporation in the acid-soluble fraction and by measuring the length of the calcifying center of the rudiment. Toluidine blue-stained histologic sections were used for quantitative histomorphometric analysis. We found that OP-1 stimulated cartilage growth as determined by sulfate incorporation and that it increased remarkably the width of the long bones ends compared with controls. This effect was partly caused by differentiation of perichondrial cells into chondrocytes, resulting in increased appositional growth. In contrast to OP-1, TGF-beta 1 and beta 2 inhibited cartilage growth and reduced the length of whole bone rudiments compared with controls. In the ossifying center of the bone rudiments, both OP-1 and TGF-beta inhibited cartilage hypertrophy, growth of the bone collar, and matrix mineralization. These data demonstrate that OP-1 and TGF-beta exhibit opposite effects on cartilage growth but similar effects on osteogenesis in embryonic mouse long bone cultures. Since both OP-1 and TGF-beta have been demonstrated in embryonic cartilage and bone, these results suggest that they act as autocrine or paracrine regulators of embryonic bone development.     

Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (osteogenic protein-1, OP-1) and tooth development

The photodynamic effects of temoporfin (meso-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin, mTHPC) and merocyanine 540 (MC540) in murine myeloid leukemia M1 and WEHI 3B (JCS) cells were compared. The mTHPC was found to be more potent and selective. At a lethal dosage of 90% killing (LD90), only 1.3 microM of mTHPC and 4.2 kJ/m2 of light irradiation was required, which was a 20-fold lower drug concentration and 11-fold smaller light dose than that required when using MC540. Meanwhile, three times less, or 15%, of the coincubated erythrocytes were destroyed by mTHPC than by MC540. Confocal micrographs showed that both drugs accumulated diffusely inside the cytoplasm in a very similar fashion, but mTHPC induced a more extensive apoptosis in photosensitized JCS cells. For example, at LD90, mTHPC practically killed all JCS cells via apoptosis and cleaved the DNA to extremely small 150 base-pair fragments. In contrast, among the JCS cells killed by MC540, about 88% died via apoptosis and large DNA fragments were abundant. Relative to MC540, the ability of mTHPC to trigger large-scale and thorough apoptosis in leukemia cells may help explain its potency and selectivity.     

Compact diode-laser based rubidium frequency reference

The performance of a simple microwave frequency reference based on Raman scattering in an atomic vapor is examined. This reference has the potential to be compact, low-power, and insensitive to acceleration. Several design architectures have been evaluated with a table-top experiment in order to guide the future development of a compact system. Fractional frequency deviations of 相似文献   

便携电源管理市场需求旺盛——预计2012年营业额将增长到78亿美元

iSuppli公司认为,能够访问互联网的便携产品旺销,刺激了市场对于面向此类产品的电源管理半导体的需求快速增长。到2012年,全球便携电源管理半导体销售额将从2007年的47亿美元上升到78亿美元,复合年增长率为10．6％。如图所示为iSuppli公司对于2007年-2012年电源管理半导体销售额的预测。笔记本电脑和3G手机将是电源管理半导体的最大应用领域,2007年-2012年复合年增长率将分别为18．7％和26．8％。     

Theories and Molecular Basis of Vascular Aging: A Review of the Literature from VascAgeNet Group on Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Vascular Aging

Vascular aging, characterized by structural and functional alterations of the vascular wall, is a hallmark of aging and is tightly related to the development of cardiovascular mortality and age-associated vascular pathologies. Over the last years, extensive and ongoing research has highlighted several sophisticated molecular mechanisms that are involved in the pathophysiology of vascular aging. A more thorough understanding of these mechanisms could help to provide a new insight into the complex biology of this non-reversible vascular process and direct future interventions to improve longevity. In this review, we discuss the role of the most important molecular pathways involved in vascular ageing including oxidative stress, vascular inflammation, extracellular matrix metalloproteinases activity, epigenetic regulation, telomere shortening, senescence and autophagy.     

On the Evaluation of Antenna-Mode Currents Along Transmission Lines

In this paper, we derive an integral equation describing the antenna-mode currents along a two-wire transmission line (TL). We show that when the cross-sectional dimensions of the line are electrically small, the integral equation reduces to a pair of TL-like equations with equivalent line parameters (inductance and capacitance). The derived equations make it possible to compute the antenna-mode currents using any traditional TL coupling code with appropriate parameters. The derived equations are tested against numerical results obtained using numerical electromagnetics code (NEC), and reasonably good agreement is found