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Palate carcinoma often challenges to the treatment options. It depends on the histologic type, local invasion, and nodal or distant metastasis. Hard palate tumors that invade the nasal cavity can be operated by midfacial degloving approach, lateral rhinotomy approach, and lip splitting incision with infrastructure maxillectomy. These approaches inevitably coincide with facial scars, nerve injuries, facial swelling, and long hospital stay. Transoral robotic assisted surgery can be applied; however, this needs high price and has a weakness of accurate handling about intranasal lesion. The authors have performed transoral and intranasal endoscopic-assisted palatal removal of recurrent palatal carcinoma for a patient and herein report their technique and result.

In this study, a time-domain numerical method based on three-dimensional potential flow was developed to analyze the hydrodynamic characteristics of an inclined oscillating-water-column (OWC) wave energy converter (WEC). A finite element method was applied to solve the potential flow around and inside the OWC chamber. A turbine&ndash, chamber interaction was considered to take into account the pressure drop inside the OWC chamber, which is a nonlinear function of airflow speed via turbine operation. The instantaneous pressure drop was updated on the free-surface boundary condition inside the chamber in the time-domain to account for the coupling effect between the turbine and the chamber. The present numerical method was verified by comparing it with the model test results. The hydrodynamic characteristics of an inclined OWC chamber in terms of potential flow, such as the water column motion and the three-dimensional flow distribution around the chamber, were investigated. In terms of hydrodynamic performance, the energy conversion efficiency of the chamber showed a nonlinear response characteristic dependent on the incident wave height. In addition, numerical calculations were carried out to clarify the relationship between the main geometric parameters and the hydrodynamic response of the inclined OWC chamber.

Biological repair of cartilage lesions remains a significant clinical challenge. A wide variety of methods involving mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been introduced. Because of the limitation of the results, most of the treatment methods have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) and human umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) implantation were approved by Korea FDA. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) outcomes after two different types of MSCs implantation in knee osteoarthritis. Fifty-two patients (52 knees) who underwent cartilage repair surgery using the BMAC (25 knees) and hUCB-MSCs (27 knees) were retrospectively evaluated for 2 years after surgery. Clinical outcomes were evaluated according to the score of visual analogue scale (VAS), the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective, and the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). Cartilage repair was assessed according to the modified Magnetic Resonance Observation of Cartilage Repair Tissue (M-MOCART) score and the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) cartilage repair scoring system. At 2-year follow-up, clinical outcomes including VAS, IKDC, and KOOS significantly improved ( P < 0.05) in both groups; however, there were no differences between two groups. There was no significant difference in M-MOCART [1-year ( P = 0.261), 2-year ( P = 0.351)] and ICRS repair score ( P = 0.655) between two groups. Both groups showed satisfactory clinical and MRI outcomes. Implantation of MSCs from BMAC or hUCB-MSCs is safe and effective for repairing cartilage lesion. However, large cases and a well-controlled prospective design with long-term follow-up studies are needed.

Poor bone quality and osteolysis are the major causes of implant failure in dentistry. Here, this study tested the effect of phelligridin D-loaded nanotubes titanium (Ti) for bone formation around the dental implants. The purpose of this study was to enhance osseointegration of phelligridin D-loaded implant into the bone for bone formation and prevention of osteolysis. Cell viability, crystal violet staining, Western blot, alizarin red S staining, alkaline phosphatase activity, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining, micro-computed tromography (μ-CT), hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical staining were used in vitro and in vivo to test the biocompatibility of phelligridin D. Phelligridin D enhanced osteoblast differentiation and mineralization by increasing bone morphogenic protein-2/7 (BMP-2/7), Osterix, Runx-2, osteoprotegerin (OPG), alkaline phosphatase and inhibited osteoclast differentiation by decreasing receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) in MC-3T3 E1 cells. Further, phelligridin D promoted bone regeneration around nanotube Ti implant surface by increasing the levels of BMP-2/7 and OPG in a rat model. Phelligridin D also inhibited osteolysis by suppressing the expression of RANKL. These findings strongly suggest that phelligridin D is a new compound representing a potential therapeutic candidate for implant failure caused by osteolysis and poor bone quality of teeth.

This study investigated whether multiple bioactivity of terrein such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant inhibits age-related inflammation by promoting an antioxidant response in aged human diploid fibroblast (HDF) cells. HDF cells were cultured serially for in vitro replicative senescence. To create the ageing cell phenotype, intermediate stage (PD31) HDF cells were brought to stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS) using hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2). Terrein increased cell viability even with H2O2 stress and reduced inflammatory molecules such as intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Terrein reduced also phospho-extracellular kinase receptor1/2 (p-EKR1/2) signalling in aged HDF cells. SIPS cells were attenuated for age-related biological markers including reactive oxygen species (ROS), senescence associated beta-galactosidase (SA β-gal.) and the aforementioned inflammatory molecules. Terrein induced the induction of anti-oxidant molecules, copper/zinc-superoxide defence (Cu/ZnSOD), manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in SIPS cells. Terrein also alleviated reactive oxygen species formation through the Nrf2/HO-1/p-ERK1/2 pathway in aged cells. The results indicate that terrein has an alleviative function of age-related inflammation characterized as an anti-oxidant. Terrein might be a useful nutraceutical compound for anti-ageing.

Various power supply noise sources in a system integrated circuit degrade the performance of a low dropout (LDO) regulator. In this paper, a capacitor-less low dropout regulator for enhanced power supply rejection is proposed to provide good power supply rejection (PSR) performance. The proposed scheme is implemented by an additional capacitor at a gate node of a pass transistor. Simulation results show that the PSR performance of the proposed LDO regulator depends on the capacitance value at the gate node of the pass transistor, that it can be maximized, and that it outperforms a conventional LDO regulator.

The skeletal muscle in aged rats adapts rapidly following a period of exercise. This adaptation includes structural remodeling and biochemical changes such as an up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes, content of stress and heat shock proteins (HSPs). However, the associated molecular mechanisms mediating different types of exercise training-induced adaptations are not yet completely understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of duration and frequency exercise on the expression of HSPs, antioxidant enzymes, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) in the skeletal muscles of aged rats. Young (3-month-old) and aged (20-month-old) male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to 6 groups and extensor digitorum longus (EDL; fast twitch muscle fiber) and soleus (SOL; slow twitch muscle fiber) skeletal muscles were collected immediately. The expression pattern of HSPs in skeletal muscles was decreased in old groups compared with young groups. Especially, HSPs showed lower expression in SOL than EDL muscle. Interestingly, HSPs in aged rats was increased significantly after S1 (single long-duration; 1×30 min, 5 days/week for 6 weeks) and M1 types (multiple short-duration; 3×10 min·day−1, 5 days·week−1 for 6 weeks) than S2 (single long-duration; 1×30 min, 3 days/week for 6 weeks) and M2 (multiple short-duration; 3×10 min·day−1, 3 days·week−1 for 6 weeks) types of exercise training. Also, superoxide dismutase (SODs) showed similar expression as HSP did. On the contrary, the p-ERK and p-JNK were down regulated. In addition, p-p38 level in the SOL muscle was activated markedly in all exercise groups. These results demonstrate that increasing of HSP expression through duration and frequency exercise can lead to protection and training-induced adaptation against aging-induced structural weakness in skeletal muscles.

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The molecular study of muscles is needed to overcome chronic inflammation and maintenance of muscles in the human body. Schisandrin C is a pharmacological compound derived from the fruit of Schisandra chinensis and has many characteristics including anti-inflammation, anti-tumor, and anti-oxidation. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of Schisandrin C are still not well understood especially in skeletal muscle. Therefore, the present study was evaluated whether the properties of Schisandrin C in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells involved maintenance of cellular homeostasis and protection against oxidative damage. Differentiated C2C12 cells were exposed to H2O2 to induce oxidative stress. The characteristics of anti-oxidants, anti-inflammation, autophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis were tested by Western blotting. Confocal microscopy was also used to observe mitochondrial activity. Schisandrin C inhibited inflammatory molecules with enhancing anti-oxidant activity and reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) even in the presence of H2O2. The dual anti-inflammation and anti-oxidant roles of Schisandrin C regulated the translocation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf-2) to nucleus followed by inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Schisandrin C promoted the expression of autophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis molecules. Furthermore, the effect of Schisandrin C increased the mitochondrial activity against oxidative stress. Consequently, the action of Schisandrin C enhanced the regulation of autophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis with potential involvement of anti-oxidative mechanisms including the MAPKs/Nrf-2/heme oxygenase-1 signaling pathway in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells exposed to oxidative stress. Therefore, Schisandrin C may be considered as a beneficial compound for several muscle inflammations.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that muscle contraction induced NAD metabolism via NAMPT has on mitochondrial biogenesis. [Methods] Primary skeletal muscle cells were isolated from the gastrocnemius in C57BL/6 mice. The muscle cells were stimulated by electrical current at 1Hz for 3 minutes in conditions of normal or NAD metabolism related inhibitor treatment. NAD/NADH level, Sirt1 and mitochondria biogenesis related signal factor’s changes were examined in normal or NAD metabolism related inhibitor treated cells. [Results] Electrical stimulation (ES) induced muscle contractions significantly increased NAD/NADH levels, NAMPT inhibitor FK-866 inhibited ES-induced NAD formation, which caused SIRT1 expression and PGC-1α deacetylation to decrease. Moreover, NAMPT inhibition decreased mitochondrial biogenesis related mRNA, COX-1 and Tfam levels. Along with AMPK inhibitor, compound C decreases SIRT1 expression, PGC-1α deacetylation and muscle contraction induced mitochondrial biogenesis related mRNA increment. These results indicated that the AMPK-NAMPT signal is a key player for muscle contraction induced SIRT1 expression and PGC-1α deacetylation, which influences mitochondrial biogenesis. Inhibition of the AMPK upregulator, Camkkβ, STO-609 decreased AMPK phosphorylation and SIRT1 expression but did not decrease PGC-1α deacetylation. However, CAMKII inhibition via AIP decreased PGC-1α deacetylation. [Conclusion] In conclusion, the results indicate that NAMPT plays an important role in NAD metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis. However, mitochondrial biogenesis is also controlled by different calcium binding protein signals including Camkkβ and CAMKII. [Keyword] Muscle contraction, NAD metabolism, SIRT1, PGC-1 α, mitochondria biogenesis.

In English, there are many verbs that are transitive by nature but are sometimes used without an object. These have been called object-omission verbs. This paper classifies them into two types: indefinite object-omission verbs (e.g., eat, read, write, etc.) and definite object-omission verbs (e.g., know, shake, understand, etc.). Hankamer and Sag (1976) divide anaphora into two types, depending on the availability of linguistic or situational contexts: deep anaphora and surface anaphora. This paper proposes that the understood objects of object-omission verbs induce two different types of anaphora, corresponding to two types of object-omission verbs: inherent anaphora and contextual anaphora. We further propose that inherent anaphora is lexical, while contextual anaphora is either deep- or surface-anaphoric in the sense of Hankamer and Sag.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) and General control nonderepressible 5 (GCN5) knock down on peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) deacetylation during electrical stimulated skeletal muscle contraction. [Methods] Skeletal muscle primary cell were isolated from C57BL/6 mice gastrocnemius and transfected lentiviral SIRT1 and GCN5 shRNA. Knock downed muscle cell were stimulated by electrical stimulation (1Hz, 3min) and collected for PGC-1α deceatylation assays. Immunoprecipitation performed for PGC-1α deacetylation, acetyl-lysine level was measured. [Results] Our resulted showed SIRT1 knock down not influenced to PGC-1α deacetylation during electrical stimulation induced muscle contraction while GCN5 knock down decreased PGC-1α deacetylation significantly (p

The study investigated the effect of high-and low-intensity exercise training on inflammatory reaction of blood and skeletal muscle in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic male Sprague-Dawley rats (243 +/- 7 g, 8 weeks). The rats completed treadmill running in either high-intensity exercise (6 weeks of exercise training, acute bouts of exercise) or low-intensity exercise (6 weeks of exercise training). Non-running, sedentary rats served as controls. To induce diabetes mellitus, rats received a peritoneal injection of STZ (50 mg . kg(-1)). Rats were sacrificed immediately after an acute bout of exercise and 6 weeks of exercise training. Inflammatory factors were analyzed by ELISA and by immune blotting from the soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles. In the serum, inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-4) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) (nitric oxide and nnalondialdehyde) increased in diabetic rats. However, all exercise training groups displayed reduced inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species. In skeletal muscles, low-intensity exercise training, but not high intensity exercise, reduced the levels of COX-2, iNOS, and MMP-2, which were otherwise markedly elevated in the presence of STZ. Moreover, the levels of GLUT-4 and MyoD were effectively increased by different exercise intensity and exercise duration. Low-intensity exercise training appeared most effective to reduce diabetes-related inflammation. However, high-intensity training also reduced inflammatory factors in tissue-specific muscles. The data implicate regular exercise in protecting against chronic inflammatory diseases, such as diabetes.

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) have attracted considerable attention because of their unique advantages of low cost, light weight, and potential use in flexible devices. Based on the concept of a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structure, PSCs made by blending poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as a p-type material and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) as an n-type material have been most intensively investigated and have shown power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) up to 5-6%. PCE of photovoltaic devices is proportional to the shortcircuit current density (Jsc), the open-circuit voltage (Voc), and the fill factor (FF). The Jsc of a solar cell is strongly affected by the absorption of the active layer, and thus an ideal p-type polymer should have a broad and strong absorption spectrum, which requires the polymer to have a low band-gap. The Voc is tightly related to the energy difference between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the p-type polymer and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of PCBM. Thus, the p-type polymer should have a low band-gap with appropriate energy levels of HOMO and LUMO. A facile method to synthesize low band-gap polymers is to combine electron-rich (electron-donor, D) and electrondeficient (electron-acceptor, A) monomers, forming alternating D-A type polymers. Quinoxaline was reported to be a good acceptor that can be combined with appropriate donors. For example, a thiophene-bis(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline polymer (TQ1) exhibited PCEs up to 6.0%. Alternating copolymers consisting of bis(3-alkoxyphenyl)quinoxaline and either dialkoxybenzene (LBPP) or fluorine (APFO) with a thiophene spacer showed PCEs up to 2.9% Another alternating copolymers of quinoxaline and either thieno[3,2-b]thiophene or carbazole with a thiophene spacer showed PCEs of 2.27% and 1.8%, respectively. A copolymer of 2,3-diphenylquinoxaline-based combined with a ladder type oligo-p-phenylene with a thiophene spacer showed a PCE of 3.04%. Some other types of quinoxaline-based copolymers with much lower PCEs were also reported. Poly(10-hexyl-10H-hexylphenothiazine-3,7-diyl) is a very strong electron donor and has a high ionization potential and has thus been used as a hole injection material in polymer light-emitting diodes. D-A type polymers consisting of phenothiazine and quinoxaline are also expected to be p-type materials with low band-gaps, but such polymers have not yet been reported in the literature. Thus, we attempted to synthesize a copolymer (PPTQX) consisting of alternating phenothiazine (PT) and dithienylquinoxaline (QX) segments for photovoltaic applications. As shown in Scheme 1, diboronic ester (compound 1) was reacted with dibromide (compound 2) in the presence of a palladium catalyst via Suzuki coupling to give the corresponding polymer, PPTQX. The polymer was purified using a Soxhlet extraction. The H NMR of the isolated polymer is shown in Figure 1, where the two different sets of aromatic protons (a, b) and four aliphatic protons (d) in the QX segment are easily identified along with two aliphatic protons (c) in the PT segment, indicating that PPTQX has been successfully synthesized. The numberand weight-average molecular weights of PPTQX were 7,000 and 12,000, respectively. The relatively low molecular weight of the polymer may be a result of the low reactivity of the QX monomer since its reacting sites are sterically hindered due to the two large alkoxyphenyl substituents. Molecular weights of LBPP and APFO, which were synthesized from QX monomers similar to ours, were also relatively low (Mn 12,000-15,000). 11

Background: Selective lumbar nerve root block (SNRB) is generally accepted as an effective treatment method for back pain with sciatica. However, it requires devices producing radioactive materials such as C-arm fluoroscopy. This study evaluated the useful ness of the longitudinal view of transverse process and needles for medial branch block as landmarks under ultrasonography. Methods: We performed selective nerve root block for 96 nerve roots in 61 patients under the guidance of ultrasound. A curved probe was used to identify the facet joints and transverse processes. Identifying the lumbar nerve roots under the skin surface and ultrasound landmarks, the cephalad and caudal medial branch blocks were undertaken under the transverse view of sonogram first. A needle for nerve root block was inserted between the two transverse processes under longitudinal view, while estimating the depth with the needle for medial branch block. We then injected 1.0 mL of contrast medium and checked the distribution of the nerve root with C-arm fluoroscopy to evaluate the accuracy. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to access the clinical results. Results: Seven SNRBs were performed for the L2 nerve root, 15 for L3, 49 for L4, and 25 for L5, respectively. Eighty-six SNRBs (89.5%) showed successful positioning of the needles. We failed in the following cases: 1 case for the L2 nerve root; 2 for L3; 3 for L4; and 4 for L5. The failed needles were positioned at wrong leveled segments in 4 cases and inappropriate place in 6 cases. VAS was improved from 7.6 ± 0.6 to 3.5 ± 1.3 after the procedure. Conclusions: For SNRB in lumbar spine, the transverse processes under longitudinal view as the ultrasound landmark and the needles of medial branch block to the facet joint can be a promising guidance.

A new donor-acceptor-conjugated organic small molecule, BDT(TBT)(2), comprised of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene and 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole units was designed and synthesized. The small molecule BDT(TBT)(2) in its thin film showed an absorption band in the range of 300-700 nm with an absorption edge at 650 nm and an optical band gap of 1.90 eV. As estimated from the cyclic voltammetry measurements, the HOMO and LUMO energy levels of BDT(TBT)(2) were -5.44 and -3.37 eV, respectively. The spin-coated thin film of BDT(TBT)(2) exhibited p-channel output characteristics with a hole mobility of 2.7 × 10(-6). BDT(TBT)(2), when explored as an electron-donor material in solution-processed bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells in conjunction with a PC(71)BM acceptor with an active layer thickness of 50-55 nm, generated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.18%. A more impressive PCE of ~2.9% with a short-circuit current density (J(sc)) of 7.94 mA cm(-2) and an open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.89 V was achieved when the active layer of the cell was annealed at higher temperature (~180 °C).

In an IR proximity-based motion gesture sensor (MGS) mainly composed of an IR LED and photodiodes (PDs), the IR LED is the most power-hungry component. For reducing its power, both the size and the field-of-view (FOV) of each PD can be increased instead. However, it cannot be adapted to conventional MGSs due to the geometrical limitation of their optical structures. In this paper, the optical structure of the proposed MGS with a partially open cavity package allows for power reduction by at least 70.9% compared with conventional MGSs. Optical simulation and test results validate the theoretical analysis presented. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America

Excessive exercise induces an inflammatory response caused by oxidative stress, which delays recovery of damaged muscle fibers. The reduction of inflammatory response is important for skeletal muscle homeostasis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is an anti-inflammatory molecule, but the role of PPARγ in skeletal muscle as anti-inflammatory activity is not clear. Thus, this study examined the anti-inflammatory role of PPARγ against H2O2-induced oxidative stress in skeletal muscle. Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were exercised on a treadmill to induce oxidative stress. In vitro oxidative stress was evaluated in differentiated C2C12 cells stimulated using 200 μM H2O2. Inflammation-related molecules were determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Expressions of the inflammatory molecules tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in muscles of the acute exercise group were highly increased. PPARγ was also highly expressed in these muscles. These inflammatory molecules were also markedly increased in C2C12 cells with H2O2 stimulation. However, PPARγ overexpression in C2C12 transfected by Ad/PPARγ dramatically reduced the inflammatory molecules. PPARγ also enhanced the anti-oxidants molecules like Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD, and hemeoxygenase-1 by reducing the generation of ROS, even in the presence of H2O2. PPARγ displayed dual anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant roles by inhibiting the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and translocation of nuclear transcriptional factor-κB (NF-κB) from the cytosol to the nucleus. These results demonstrate a potential role of PPARγ in protecting muscle fibers against oxidative stress caused by excessive acute exercise due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity exerted by inhibition of the MAPK/NF-κB pathway.

On the basis of the potentials for the growth of local economy and the result of investigation of the ocean space development status, an ocean resort complex was proposed at the small harbor with a parallel beach in the east coast of Korea. As the development plan needs to reclaim the noticeable amount of coastal water area together with the applied shore facilities, it is necessary to analyze their impacts. Here, it was intended to analyze the coastal environment change such as water circulation and bottom change because of the development plan. A horizontal two-dimensional numerical model was applied to represent the combined impact of wind waves and tidal currents to sediment transport in that coastal region. Based on the result of 30 days tidal current simulations considering major four tidal components of ,, and for the upper and lower boundaries and wind field data, bottom change was discussed. Flow velocities were not changed much at outer breakwater of Yangpo harbor. Bottom was eroded by maximum 1.7m after construction but some locations such as lee side of outer breakwater and some islets near the entrance shows isolated accretions. Although it needs more field observations for bottom change in the period of construction, the numerical calculation shows that there exist small impacts near the entrance area and coastal boundaries because of the development.

In this study, the hydraulic experiment results of the slit caisson breakwater with embedded channels are analyzed comparing with the numerical results. To improve the calmness of a harbor area and wave force acting on the breakwater, the energy dissipation mechanism using the cylinder array was applied to the breakwater. This effect is supported by resonance flow in the embedded channel which can be controlled by the design of the channel. In order to evaluate the wave energy dissipation, the reflection coefficient is used to representing parameter. When the wave period and the natural period of the fluid in the embedded channel were matched with each other, reduction of the reflected waves became maximum. In the hydraulic experiment results, its optimum wave condition and reduction of the reflected waves were more expanded than the numerical.

The issue of predication enters the syntactic research through the seminal work of Halliday (1967), who draws attention to secondary predicates, which express properties of local subjects. Setting resultative predicates aside, this paper examines the structural height of depictive predicates in relation to VP anaphora such as do ellipsis and do so proverbalization. It is argued that the stranding paradox of depictives results from the adjunction height: subject depictives are adjoined to vP, and object depictives to VP. Given the light verb structure (Chomsky 1995), VP ellipsis elides the VP containing object depictives, thus stranding subject depictives, whereas vP ellipsis elides the vP containing subject depictives.

This paper deals with the hypothesis for light preposition projections in English. We argue that the null light preposition p is responsible for licensing accusative Case of the complement DPs in PPs, extending Chomsky’s (1995) argument for the null light verb v. Following Svenonius (2003), we claim that there are lexical instances of light prepositions in English, such as from and to, which can motivate the postulation of pP, contrary to some agreement projection (Bo?kovi? 2004b). As an extension, we argue that small clause PPs are in fact IPs headed by a null inflection with an obligatory [+EPP].

This paper examines the ATB phenomenon in Gapping and Left-Peripheral Ellipsis. Based on Johnson"s (1994) movement analysis of Gapping, Agbayani and Zoerner (2006) argue for a sideward movement analysis of Gapping and Left-Peripheral Ellipsis. We point out that their analysis is problematic on both conceptual and empirical grounds. Instead, we argue for a multiple dominance analysis, along the line of Citko (2005). In short, we propose that Gapping results from vP coordination and LPE from VP coordination, thus capturing Neijt"s (1979) intuition that Gapping and Left-Peripheral Ellipsis are one and the same phenomena, contrary to Sag (1976).

This paper explores do so as a case of VP anaphora. According to Hankamer and Sag"s (1976) seminal work, do so is classified as a surface anaphor. After examining several tests of anaphora, I first show that do so is on the borderline of Hankamer and Sag"s dichotomy of deep vs. surface anaphora. As a consequence, I propose that shallow anaphora exists between deep and surface anaphora and that do so is such a case. The paper also explores Postal"s (1969) outbound anaphora of do so vs. do it out of anaphoric islands. I argue that outbound anaphora is influenced by the mood, tense, and aspect values associated with the host verb do.

A UHF band near-field antenna using microstrip lines and stubs for tagging stacked tags in a smart table is presented. It is shown that a suitable near-field reader antenna can be designed from signal lines, ground lines, and several stubs to generate coupled electric and magnetic fields. The proposed near-field reader antenna satisfactorily operates in a UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) smart table, and the measurements show that the antenna is capable of detecting 200 stacked tags in a reading area of 200 mm × 190 mm and achieves a detection rate of 97% when the tags are stacked in a smart table. The proposed UHF RFID smart table is successfully implemented for casino chip management. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 1116–1119, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25115

This paper explores the so-called truncated cleft in English. This construction has been classified as a type of copular clauses since Higgins’s (1973) taxonomy of copular clauses. Along the line of Hedberg (2000) and Birner et al. (2007), I observe that truncated clefts are transformationally ambiguous between the copular reading and the cleft reading. I argue that a sufficiently salient open proposition is a crucial factor of disambiguating these two readings. The presence of a salient open proposition engenders the cleft reading of truncated clefts in linguistic contexts, whereas the copular reading is available in situational contexts. Hence, truncated clefts are placed between deep anaphora and surface anaphora in the sense of Hankamer and Sag (1976).

Within the tradition of the so-called cartographic approach to syntax(cf. Rizzi 1997; Cinque 1994, 1999; Ntelitheos 2003, 2004), the fundamental proposition is that a universally ordered set of functional heads (e.g., topic or focus) occupies independent positions with distinct semantic or pragmatic properties. Recent research on the structure of DP assumes the existence of some functional categories within nominals. For example, Ntelitheos (2003, 2004) argues that the parallelism between the clausal and nominal domains extends over the left periphery of CP/DP. In their view, nominals contain a left periphery just as clauses do, and the left peripheral projections are structurally lower than DP, as in [ DP D [ FocP/TopP Foc/Top[ NumP Num [ NP N]]]]. To be specific, their ideas are motivated by either the NP-internal morphology of topic or focus, or the DP-internal movement to Spec of TopP or FocP. In this light, this paper explores the nominal periphery of English, based on nominal ellipsis. I argue that focus and contrastivity are necessary conditions for the licensing of nominal ellipsis.

In this paper, we present a demodulation structure suitable for a reader receiver in a passive Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) environment. In a passive RFID configuration, undesirable DC-offset phenomenon may appear in the baseband of the reader receiver. As a result, this DC-offset phenomenon can severely degrade the performance of the extraction of valid information from a received signal in the reader receiver. To mitigate the DC-offset phenomenon, we propose a demodulation structure to reconstruct a corrupted signal with the DC-offset phenomenon, by extracting useful transition information from the corrupted signal. It is shown that the proposed method can successfully detect valid data from a received signal, even when the received baseband signal is distorted with the DC-offset phenomenon.

The effects of addition and sintering condition on optical and electrical properties of MgO films as a protective layer for AC plasma display panels were investigated. Doped MgO films prepared by the e-beam evaporation have a higher (secondary electron emission coefficient) than pure MgO protective layer. Relative density and grain size increased with amount of up to 100 ppm and then decreased further addition. These results showed that discharge properties and optical properties of MgO protective layers seemed to be closely related with microstructure factors such as relative density and grain size. Good optical and electrical properties of of 0.138, surface roughness of 5.77 nm and optical transmittance of 95.76 % were obtained for the MgO+100 ppm protective layer sintered at for 5 hrs.

This study investigated whether multiple bioactivity of terrein such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant inhibits age-related inflammation by promoting an antioxidant response in aged human diploid fibroblast (HDF) cells. HDF cells were cultured serially for in vitro replicative senescence. To create the ageing cell phenotype, intermediate stage (PD31) HDF cells were brought to stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS) using hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2). Terrein increased cell viability even with H2O2 stress and reduced inflammatory molecules such as intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Terrein reduced also phospho-extracellular kinase receptor1/2 (p-EKR1/2) signalling in aged HDF cells. SIPS cells were attenuated for age-related biological markers including reactive oxygen species (ROS), senescence associated beta-galactosidase (SA β-gal.) and the aforementioned inflammatory molecules. Terrein induced the induction of anti-oxidant molecules, copper/zinc-superoxide defence (Cu/ZnSOD), manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in SIPS cells. Terrein also alleviated reactive oxygen species formation through the Nrf2/HO-1/p-ERK1/2 pathway in aged cells. The results indicate that terrein has an alleviative function of age-related inflammation characterized as an anti-oxidant. Terrein might be a useful nutraceutical compound for anti-ageing.

Multi-modality imaging is beneficial for both preclinical and clinical applications as it enables complementary information from each modality to be obtained in a single procedure. In this paper, we report the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel tri-modal in vivo imaging system to exploit molecular/functional information from fluorescence (FL) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging as well as anatomical information from ultrasound (US) imaging. The same ultrasound transducer was used for both US and PA imaging, bringing the pulsed laser light into a compact probe by fiberoptic bundles. The FL subsystem is independent of the acoustic components but the front end that delivers and collects the light is physically integrated into the same probe. The tri-modal imaging system was implemented to provide each modality image in real time as well as co-registration of the images. The performance of the system was evaluated through phantom and in vivo animal experiments. The results demonstrate that combining the modalities does not significantly compromise the performance of each of the separate US, PA, and FL imaging techniques, while enabling multi-modality registration. The potential applications of this novel approach to multi-modality imaging range from preclinical research to clinical diagnosis, especially in detection/localization and surgical guidance of accessible solid tumors.

In order to reduce formation of hydroxides and carbonates on (Mg, Ca)O protective layer, panels with various CaO contents in protective layer were sealed at lower temperatures and evacuated at elevated temperatures. This processing scheme decreased the aging time of the panels significantly, enabling practical application of the protective layer.

The skeletal muscle in aged rats adapts rapidly following a period of exercise. This adaptation includes structural remodeling and biochemical changes such as an up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes, content of stress and heat shock proteins (HSPs). However, the associated molecular mechanisms mediating different types of exercise training-induced adaptations are not yet completely understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of duration and frequency exercise on the expression of HSPs, antioxidant enzymes, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) in the skeletal muscles of aged rats. Young (3-month-old) and aged (20-month-old) male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to 6 groups and extensor digitorum longus (EDL; fast twitch muscle fiber) and soleus (SOL; slow twitch muscle fiber) skeletal muscles were collected immediately. The expression pattern of HSPs in skeletal muscles was decreased in old groups compared with young groups. Especially, HSPs showed lower expression in SOL than EDL muscle. Interestingly, HSPs in aged rats was increased significantly after S1 (single long-duration; 1×30 min, 5 days/week for 6 weeks) and M1 types (multiple short-duration; 3×10 min·day(-1), 5 days·week(-1) for 6 weeks) than S2 (single long-duration; 1×30 min, 3 days/week for 6 weeks) and M2 (multiple short-duration; 3×10 min·day(-1), 3 days·week(-1) for 6 weeks) types of exercise training. Also, superoxide dismutase (SODs) showed similar expression as HSP did. On the contrary, the p-ERK and p-JNK were down regulated. In addition, p-p38 level in the SOL muscle was activated markedly in all exercise groups. These results demonstrate that increasing of HSP expression through duration and frequency exercise can lead to protection and training-induced adaptation against aging-induced structural weakness in skeletal muscles. Key pointsThe expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in aged rats was increased significantly after single long-duration (S1) and multiple short-duration (M1) types than S2 and M2 types of exercise training in soleus (SOL) skeletal muscles.Superoxide dismutase (SODs) showed similar expression as HSPs did. On the contrary, the p-ERK and p-JNK were down regulated. In addition, p-p38 level in the SOL muscle was activated markedly in all exercise groups.Induction of HSPs and SODs by high duration and frequency of exercise training such as S1 and M1 types with concomitant MAPKs pathway depending on the type of muscles.The frequency and duration of exercise training could affect the functional adaptation and protection against aging-induced structural weakness of skeletal muscles through changing expression of related molecules.

Several dielectric as well as conducting pipes buried in the lossy half ground are reconstructed from the scattered fields measured along the air–earth interface. The iterative inversion method using the hybrid optimization algorithm combining the genetic and Levenberg–Marquardt algorithms is used in finding the positions, sizes, and medium parameters, such as the permittivities and conductivities, of the buried pipe cylinders, as well as those of the background lossy half ground. Ill posedness of the inversion caused by the errors in the measured scattered fields is regularized by filtering out the evanescent modes of the scattered fields. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 31: 140–143, 2001.

4 very small patch-type RFID tag antenna (UHF band) using ceramic material mountable on metallic surfaces is presented. The size of the proposed tag is 25 mm x25 mm x3 mm. The impedance of the antenna can be easily matched to the tag chip impedance by adjusting the size of the shorting plate of the patch and the size of the feeding loop. The measured maximum reading distance of the tag at 910 MHz was 5 m when it was mounted on a 400 mm x 400 mm metallic surface. The proposed design is verified by simulation and measurements which show good agreement.

This letter presents the design of a small and low-profile RFID tag antenna in the UHF band that can be mounted on metallic objects. The designed tag antenna, which uses a ceramic material as a substrate, consists of a radiating patch and a microstrip line with two shorting pins for a proximity-coupled feeding structure. Using this structure, impedance matching can be simply obtained between the antenna and tag chip without a matching network. The fractional impedance bandwidth for S 11

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. PURPOSE To investigate the influence of fat infiltration at low back extensor muscles on osteoporotic vertebral fracture. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE In persons with stronger back muscles, the risk of osteoporotic vertebral fractures will likely be lower than in those persons with weaker back muscles. However, the degree of influence of fat infiltration of the back extensor muscle on osteoporotic vertebral fracture remains controversial. METHODS Two hundred and thirty-seven patients who had undergone lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging and bone mineral density (BMD) were enrolled in this study. The amount of low back extensor muscle was determined using the pseudocoloring technique on an axial view of the L3 level. The patients were divided into two groups: osteoporotic vertebral fracture group (group A) and non-fracture group (group B). The amount of low back extensor muscle is compared with BMD, degenerative change of disc, osteophyte grade of facet joint and promontory angle to reveal the association between these factors. RESULTS A negative correlation is found between age and the amount of low back extensor muscle (p=0.001). The amount of low back extensor muscle in group A and group B was 60.3%±14.5% and 64.2%±9.3% respectively, thus showing a significantly smaller amount of low back extensor muscle in the osteoporotic vertebral fracture group (p=0.015). CONCLUSIONS Fat infiltration of low back extensor muscle was increased in osteoporotic vertebral fracture patients. Therefore, fat infiltration of low back extensor muscle in an elderly person may be a risk factor of osteoporotic vertebral fracture.

This paper introduces single crystal transducer using high mechanical quality factor material (Qm) for Elastography application. Because the coercive filed of this new material is almost double comparing with normal single crystal used for transducer, it is possible to make high frequency with fine pitch is possible. This new type transducer shows better sensitivity and reliability when it is used for imaging application not only using normal pulse driving but also long pulse driving.