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The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of microRNA (miR)-155-5p on the expression of testican-1 (SPOCK1) and the invasion and migration of prostate cancer cells in vitro. Bioinformatics analysis and molecular biology assays revealed that SPOCK1 may be a direct target gene of miR-155-5p. In addition, a negative correlation was identified between SPCOK1 and miR-155-5p expression in prostate tumor tissues and cell lines. miR-155-5p mimic transfection inhibited SPOCK1 expression in PC3 cells and decreased cell migration and invasion abilities, while the expression of vimentin, N-cadherin, E-cadherin, β-catenin, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)3 and MMP9 was upregulated. In summary, SPOCK1 was found to be a target gene of miR155-5p in prostate cancer, and miR-155-5p acts as a tumor-suppressor gene and may inhibit SPOCK1-mediated prostate cancer progression.

In performing the detection and tracking of ferromagnetic targets or magnetic anomaly detection, a magnetometer array or magnetic gradiometer is often used to suppress environmental background magnetic field interference and improve measurement accuracy. Increasing the distance between the magnetometers is beneficial to improving the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) of the magnetometer gradiometer, but the mismatching error of the magnetometer array affects the measurement accuracy of the magnetic gradient tensor and the positioning accuracy of the ferromagnetic target. In order to calibrate the mismatch error of a magnetometer array, the mounting position and orientation of each magnetometer must be accurately measured. When the magnetometer installation array is too large, the commonly used calibration methods are difficult to implement because it is difficult to make such a large rigid support, optical systems or robot. This paper reports a method that uses two coils and an excitation current source to generate a test magnetic field, after which methods of modulation demodulation and phase-locked filtering are used to suppress the ambient magnetic field interference. The output of each magnetometer is recorded, and the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to calculate the mounting position and orientation of each magnetometer. After theoretical analysis, computational simulation, and experimental verification, the results showed that the position measurements in a range of 2.4 m × 2.4 m were accurate to within 0.05 m and the orientation measurements were accurate to within 0.03 radians. The average relative positioning error was less than 1.7%. By designing larger coils and current sources, the needs of larger arrays can be satisfied as long as the same SNR is maintained.

As a promising ultrasound device, the optoacoustic transducer whose core part is an organic/inorganic composite, causes much attention and creates new opportunities. Unfortunately, how to control its operational frequency is still an open question. Here, taking the advantage of an aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) array-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite with anisotropic thermal conductivity, we introduce a novel optoacoustic transducer. Based on an advanced inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology, the composite's thickness can be reduced from 200 μm to 18 μm. When its thickness is approximately 18 μm, high frequency (>20 MHz) laser-generated ultrasound can be obtained. It is demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that the transducer's operational frequency is reverse proportion to the thickness of CNTs array-PDMS composite, which can confirm that this optoacoustic transducer works in thickness mode. Furthermore, this kind of device can be miniaturized and amounted on tip of an optical fiber to realize all optical high frequency ultrasound imaging. All these encouraging results suggest that this novel CNTs array-PDMS composite may provide an effective path for the frequency control of the optoacoustic transducer and this obtained device has the potential to be used for biomedical ultrasound applications in the future.

In this paper, two important sources of the non-orthogonal errors of triaxial magnetometers were analysed. The non-orthogonal error mainly come from the transverse sensitivity of uniaxial sensor or non-orthogonality between the three axes of magnetic magnetometer. These two error sources were separated by mathematical analysis. Then a two-step calibration method of triaxial magnetometers was designed. It showed that the peak-to-peak value of the calculated result of the scalar of magnetic field could be reduced to 56nT from 350nT within the range of 50000nT.

In order to prepare good quality Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) thin films, we consider the method of alternately growing PZT thin films on Pt (111)/Ti/SiO2/Si (100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and sol-gel. In this work, we conducted comparative experiments on different film preparation methods, and 1.0 um thick PZT film was grown on platinized silicon wafers by an alternate PLD and sol-gel method. The microstructure and electrical properties of the films is analyzed. Through the study of X-ray diffraction, SEM, AFM, PFM, and ferroelectric testing, it is found that the alternating growth of a film by the alternate PLD and sol-gel method has good compactness, excellent ferroelectric properties, and smaller leakage current compared to film prepared by the sol-gel method alone.

Approximately 25 &mu, m Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3&ndash, PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) thick film was synthesized based on a sol-gel/composite route. The obtained PMN-PT thick film was successfully transferred from the Silicon substrate to the conductive silver epoxy using a novel wet chemical method. The mechanism of this damage free transfer was explored and analyzed. Compared with the film on Silicon substrate, the transferred one exhibited superior dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties. These promising results indicate that transferred PMN-PT thick film possesses the capability for piezoelectric device application, especially for ultrasound transducer fabrication. Most importantly, this chemical route opens a new path for transfer of thick film.

The magnetoelectric sensor has the advantages of high sensitivity, low noise and simple preparation process. It has great application prospects in weak magnetic field detection such as geomagnetic field, biomagnetic field and so on. What‘s more, the resolution of detection for low-frequency AC magnetic field can reach pT magnitude [1]. Because the piezoelectric material will produce a continuous output only when it is in a periodic vibration. so it needs to use modulation technology when measuring the statics magnetic field. The modulation techniques commonly used today are AC modulation and electric field modulation [2, ~3].But now, a new modulation method will be introduced in this paper, that is what referred to as rotation modulation. As shown in Fig.1(a), the component of the measured direct current projection on the shaft is a sinusoidal signal whose frequency is equal to the frequency of rotation, thus, we can measure constant magnetic field directly. More exciting, we may apply the rotation to MEMS structure to achieve miniaturization and integration. The test platform shown in Fig.1(b) is consist of rotation system and measurement system. Rotation system inclueds a ultrasonic motor and a fixture used for installing the magnetoelectric sensor and induction coil providing DC bias. The measurement system is composed of Signal Generator, Regulated DC Power Supply, Spectrum Analyzer, Magnetic Shield Tube. The magnetoelectric sensor used in the experiment was composed of Metglas/PZT/Metglas, which top layer and bottom layer are composed of two-layers of magnetostrictive Metglas. In order to obtain the best bias magnetic field, we firstly design a series of experiments with linearly increasing bias DC field at 2Hz(because the maximum rotation frequency of ultrasonic motor is 2Hz). Fig.2(a) shows that the optimal DC bias is about 8Oe. Then our group has tested the ME output voltage of magnetoelectric sensor with 10Oe measured DC field providing by coil, and the four groups experiments had been processed under condition of statics or rotation at three different speeds shown in Fig.2(b). There are three spikes whose value far greater than other‘s, and their position is just corresponding to the frequency of rotation. Fig.2(c) has shown almost linear change between ME voltage and the measured DC field. Thus, it can be conclued that the proposed modulation method is really effective. In these experiments, our team have used coils to ensure the DC bias can be controlled accurately. The next step we will use ferromagnet for bias. Using the proposed modulation method can realize high-precision DC magnetic field measurement like AC modulation and electric field modulation after enchancing ME out voltage through the selection of magnetic composite materials, the optimization of the rotating structure and the using of charge amplifier.

The magnetoelectric sensor has the characteristics of high sensitivity, wide response frequency range, low power consumption and easy preparation. It has broad application prospects in the detection of weak magnetic field such as geomagnetic field, biological magnetic field etc. In recent years, the related research [1–4] shows that the output of the magnetoelectric composites vary with the angle of the measured magnetic field, in which the ratio of the maximum value to the minimum value of the output signal is denoted as K. When K is large, the magnetoelectric composites have high anisotropy. For example, Dong et al. [1] and our group [2] prepared magnetoelectric sensors with high anisotropy $( 100 \le \mathrm {K}\le 1000)$, and found that K values are related to the shape anisotropy of piezoelectric materials and magnetostrictive materials respectively. It means that the magnetoelectric sensor is very sensitive to the magnetic field in a specific direction and is suitable for vector magnetic field measurement. In contrast, when K is small, the magnetoelectric composites are highly isotropic, which means that their outputs are less affected by the direction of the magnetic field, and are suitable for scalar magnetic field measurements. However, highly isotropic magnetoelectric sensors were seldom reported. For this reason, this paper studies a Terfenol-D / PZT highly isotropic magnetoelectric sensor based on ringshaped composite structure. As shown in Figure 1 (a), we first prepared magnetoelectric composites using Terfenol-D and PZT-5H, both of which were annular in shape. The resonant frequency of the material is shown in Figure 1 (b). The sensor was placed in a solenoid with AC current, held by a foam, and fixed on a platform. In the case of the electromagnet to provide DC bias magnetic field, the spectrum analyzer measured the output signal of the magnetoelectric sensor. The frequency of the AC signal was changed continuously to record the output of the magnetoelectric composites, and the resonance frequency of the composites can be analyzed through the curve to be about 32 kHz. Fig. 1 (c) shows the relationship between the output of composites and the DC bias magnetic field, when the frequency of AC resonant magnetic field is 32 kHz, as well as the DC bias magnetic field Hdc is from 200 to 3360Oe. The result shows that the composites output increased first, then kept stable after. Next step, we measured the linearity and isotropy of the sample in a shield tube. Figure 2 (a) introduces the testing instruments, and the micro-sensor device was placed in the magnetic shield tube. Fig. 2 (b) show the linearity of the sensor. When the DC bias magnetic field is is about 280Oe by bias magnet, the output of the magnetoelectric sensor at the AC frequency of 32 kHz has a linear relationship with the amplitude of the AC signal, as well as the sensitivity is 24 mV / Oe, indicating that it has a good linear relationship. Finally, we analyzed this model with finite method, the finite element results show that the magnetoelectric isotropy could be influenced mainly by the shape of the magnetostrictive and piezoelectric material, and the position of the bias magnetic field. Then we measured the isotropic characteristics of the ring-shaped sensor. The result is shown in Figure 2 (c). We placed the sensor device in the shield tube and rotated the sensor 360° in steps of 30° to measure the change of the output signal. The isotropy ratio of the magnetoelectric sensor (K) was fitted with finite method, and the result shows that the result approximately is 13: 1. As can be seen from the figure, the test values were in agreement with the theoretical values with finite method. This is because both the Terfenol-D and PZT-5H materials are isotropic in shape, which greatly increases the isotropic effect of the magnetoelectric sensor.

In this paper, we studied a highly isotropic sensor for scalar magnetic field measurements and developed a Terfenol-D/PZT composite magnetoelectric sensor based on a nested ring structure. The effect of applied magnetic field, direction, and bias magnetic field on the output characteristics of the structure was studied, and it was observed that it has good linearity and a wide measurement range. According to a linear theoretical model suitable for small-signal excitation, when the direction of the applied ac magnetic field changes, the ratio of the maximum and minimum output voltages is only 3:1. Both experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that the nested-ring-structured sensor is highly isotropic. It is observed that the isotropy of the magnetoelectric sensor depends not only on the shape isotropy of the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials but also on the amplitude of the bias magnetic field.

Spin reorientation temperature (TSR) is investigated in both layers, including Co/Ni multilayer and composite layer consisting of Co/Pt multilayer with CoFeB layer. The TSR of both layers can be adjusted in a wide range, and the low TSR is obtained in both layers. It is also suggested a writing method based on spin transfer torque (STT) with spin reorientation, for low current writing perpendicular magnetic random memory with high thermal stability. This method is to reorient the magnetization from a perpendicular to an in-plane state, which can be caused by Joule heating the MTJ with thermal barriers above TSR by the injected current pulse. This polarized current can also produce the STT to push the magnetization toward a deterministic perpendicular direction from an in-plane state, when decreasing the magnitude of current pulse. Since the perpendicular anisotropy dominates magnetization switching during cooling, the critical current density is determined by the Joule heating for realization of spin reorientation in this writing method. Macrospin modeling shows the critical current density is 2 × 106 A/cm2, which is two orders magnitude lower than that of conventional STT switching. This writing method can be applied to the perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction comprised of Co/Ni multilayer or composite layer. Keywords: Spin reorientation, Spin transfer torque, Perpendicular magnetic random memory, Co/Ni multilayers, Composite layers

We report the room temperature magnetoelectric (ME) behavior of microwave ferrite composites consisting of ferroelectric phase YFeO 3 (YIP) and ferromagnetic phase Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (YIG). These ferrite composites were fabricated by traditional solid–state reaction method. The structure, magnetic and ferroelectric measurements indicate that the composites are of two phase crystalline structures, revealing significant magnetic, ferroelectric properties and ME interaction. Room temperature ME effects were demonstrated for composites xYFeO 3 -(1−x) Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) , yielding a highest ME coefficient, α ME = 11.568 mV/cm-Oe for x = 0.3. The results have shed light on the challenge in ME-based tunable electronic devices. The ME investigation on YIG microwave ferrites is of great importance in the exploration of next generation multifunctional devices and integrated circuits.

The CoFe2/CoFe2O4 composite is a new type of exchange-spring magnet that has attracted much attention in recent years. To resolve the unstable chemical properties for CoFe2/CoFe2O4 composite nanoparticles with CoFe2 shells prepared by reducing CoFe2O4, we synthesized core/shell-structured CoFe2/CoFe2O4 composite nanoparticles with CoFe2O4 shells by oxidizing CoFe2 nanoparticles. The composition and micro-structure of the composite were characterized using an X-ray diffractometer, a transmission electron microscope and a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. Magnetic measurements, including magnetic hysteresis loops, Henkel plots, and temperature-dependent magnetization curves, were performed using a vibrating sample magnetometer. The results showed that the nanoparticles were composed of CoFe2 cores and CoFe2O4 shells, and a regular non-monotonous variation of properties was found. When the mass percentage of CoFe2O4 was 30%, the average crystallite size of CoFe2 reached its maximum value, a minimum coercivity was observed, and the exchange coupling between CoFe2 and CoFe2O4 was strengthened. This non-monotonous change in properties is attributed to the lattice vacancies and spin-glass-like state occurring when the mass percentage of CoFe2O4 is very small and dominant hard magnetic behavior exists in the larger CoFe2O4 phase.

CoFe2O4/CoFe2 composite nano-ceramics with varying composition ratios were synthesized using a reduction reaction and spark plasma sintering. The compositions and particle sizes of the ceramics were then characterized using X-ray diffraction, and the mass ratios were quantitatively determined via thermal-gravity analysis. The magnetic property characteristics indicate that the coercivity decreased significantly with an increase in the soft-magnetic CoFe2 content, while the saturation magnetization drastically increased. In addition, a characterization of the Henkel plots showed a clear enhancement of the inter-phase exchange coupling when the number of soft-magnetic CoFe2 nano-particles was increased. Enhanced exchange coupling at the interface between the soft-magnetic and the hard-magnetic phases is critical for the occurrence of exchange-spring behavior, which has potential applications in the field of information technology.

Magnetic skyrmions have potential applications in novel information devices with excellent energy efficiency. However, the skyrmion Hall effect (SkHE) could cause skyrmions moving in a nanotrack to get annihilated at the track edge. In this work, we discovered that the SkHE is depressed by modifying the magnetic structure at the edge of a track, and thus the skyrmion can move in almost a straight line at a high speed. Unlike the inner part of a track with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, the edge layer exhibits in-plane magnetic anisotropy, and the orientation of edge moments is opposite that at the perimeter of skyrmions nearby. As a result, an enhanced repulsive force acts on the skyrmion to oppose the Magnus force that causes the SkHE. Additionally, the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) constant of the edge layer also matters. When there is no DMI at the edge layer, the transverse displacement of the skyrmion can be depressed effectively when the width of the edge layer is sufficiently large. However, when the inner part and the edge share the same DMI constant, non-monotonically varied transverse displacement occurs because of the Neel-wall-like structure at the edge layer.

Soft magnetic amorphous film not only has the giant magneto-impedance (GMI) effect, but also significantly affected by stress-induced magnetic anisotropy[1].

For an ultrasound device, to prolong its lifetime and guarantee the performance is of significant importance. Actually, it is difficult for a traditional piezoelectric ultrasound transducer to recover from physical damage caused by sudden impact, accidental scratches, and fatigue fracture. As a promising ultrasound device, the optoacoustic transducer, the cole part of which is inorganic-polymer nanocomposite, has drawn much attention in recent years. Fortunately, the development of self-healable polymer provides a good chance for us to endow this kind of device with self-healing capability. Here, based on a covalently cured poly(urea-urethane) elastomeric network and carbon nanotubes nanocomposite, we introduce a catalyst-free and room temperature self-healing optoacoustic transducer. Such device is designed to have a three-layered structure——self-healing nanocomposite/PDMS/glass. By taking the advantage of the principle of wave superposition, its laser-generated ultrasound can be enhanced greatly. This novel ultrasound transducer behaves excellent self-healing performance, and it can recover from a cut or laser-induced damage. After 10th self-repairs, its output can still maintain 92.3% of the original sound pressure. With a self-focusing technology, the developed device can produce high intensity ultrasound (29.2 MPa); after a self-healing process, its laser-generated ultrasound can be kept as high as 28.7 MPa, which is comparable to those values reported in previous literatures with the same laser energy input. Most importantly, such high intensity ultrasound can be successfully used for thrombolysis. These promising results demonstrate that the obtained self-healing ultrasound device is suitable for biomedical applications, which may open a new path for smart biomedical device design and fabrication in the future.

Based on SP survey, this study researched on the driver's personal property, travel attribute and VMS (Variable Message Signs) attribute. On this basis, combining with the traffic survey data, the multinomial Logit models were used to reflect the route choice behavior. The data were analyzed by Matlab software, then to compare the effect of VMS under different traffic conditions, and proved the rationality of the model. The results of SP survey show that the main factors that affect drivers' route choice are familiarity of road network, accuracy of VMS and attention to VMS. The calculations of Multinomial Logit model demonstrate that the effect of VMS is more obvious during peak period, and it’s more effective under traffic accident conditions. Combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, it provides suggestions for the widely application of the VMS in Changsha city.

The shape anisotropy magnetoelectric (ME) composite films composed of piezoelectric AlN film and magnetostrictive FeCoSiB strips film were fabricated successfully by means of hard-mask during sputter deposition. The results demonstrated that the ME anisotropy factor K was strongly dependent on the number of FeCoSiB strips. If the number of strips is not more than eight, the ME anisotropy factor K increases slowly with increasing the strips' number. In addition, ME anisotropy factor K increases sharply when the number is more than eight. Furthermore, as the number of FeCoSiB strips increases to ten, the maximum ME anisotropy factor K reaches up to a value of 135, close to the theoretical value 175. However, by calculation, the ME anisotropy factor K will reach up to 11,357 if the FeCoSiB strips are prepared to possess the value of 1 μm in width by high precision photo-etching technology. In that case, the noise signal will be reduced to 5 nT. The shape anisotropy AlN/FeCoSiB ME composite films prepared in this work show great potential application in magnetic field detection in view of good ME anisotropy property.

CoFe2O4 nano-particles were synthesized using the combustion method. The samples obtained were annealed at different temperatures in order to increase their sizes. Based on the characteristics of the particle size and the magnetic property, a monotonic increase in saturation magnetization from 53.2 to 89.8 emu/g occurred when the particle size increased from 15 nm to >1 µm. However, the coercivity (HC) did not change monotonically with particle size and it achieved its maximum of 1546 Oe at around 40 nm, which was accompanied by the appearance of a Barkhausen jump. This indicates that a non-monotonic change in HC with particle size should be attributed to the transition of the domain structure from single domain to multi-domain.

A 12-µm PMN–PT [0.65Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –0.35PbTiO 3 ] thick film was produced by alternate spin-coating of a ceramic powder/sol–gel composite and infiltration of the sol–gel. Using this technique, a high quality PMN–PT thick film was obtained, showing a permittivity e r of ~3300 and dielectric loss factor of ~0.02 at 1 kHz. Photolithographic and wet etching techniques were used to fabricate a 32-element linear array from the film. The completed array showed a center frequency of approximately 110 MHz and a bandwidth of 60% at −6 dB without a matching layer. The performance of the kerfless array was studied and compared to a kerfed array simulated with finite element analysis.

This study reports large magnetoelectric (ME) effect by attaching Ni and Metglas magnetostrictive layers to one free end of piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) cantilever. By this structure, the influences of the bonding layer can be weakened so as to get relatively high ME voltage coefficient (αME) at resonance frequency. And the cantilever structural magnetostrictive material can supply stronger magnetic force to the PZT plate instead of the shear force in traditional structure, leading to an enhancement of αME at resonance frequency and generate a new resonance frequency of bending mode which is lower. Also, it can be used without bias field due to the built-in dc magnetic bias field between Ni and Metglas layers. Hence, it can obtain a larger αME at a lower resonance frequency at zero bias. The resonant αME at zero bias of the new composite reaches 50 V/cm∙Oe which is about 1.5~2 times as large as that of the traditional one. Besides, it greatly enhances the αME in a frequency range between two resonance frequencies. When we changed the length and thickness of Ni or Metglas layers, the results changed with them. Both the length and thickness have the optimum number to get a maximal αME. We also find if Ni and Metglas layers are not side to side aligned, αME at zero bias will decrease a lot.

BACKGROUND Several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of prostate cancer (PCa) have identified many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are significantly associated with PCa risk in various racial groups. The objective of this study is to evaluate which of these SNPs are associated with PCa risk in Chinese men and estimate their strength of association.

The preparation process of AlN/FeCoSiB thin film composites has been studied in detail in this work. The results indicate that annealing is more effective to improve the intensity of AlN (002) peak compared with changing sputtering parameters. After annealing at 500 °C, the AlN film possesses the highest intensity of (002) peak, typical columnar microstructure and root-mean-square (rms) roughness of 5 nm. The coercivity ( H c ) of FeCoSiB film decreases significantly after annealing in magnetic field. After annealing at 350 °C, a minimum H c of 2.6 Oe is obtained in FeCoSiB film, contributing to the achievement of most pronounced magnetic field sensitivity. The magnetoelectric (ME) voltage coefficient α ME up to 101 V/cm Oe is obtained at DC bias magnetic field ( H dc ) of 10 Oe and at the frequency ( f ) of 1 kHz. Furthermore, the thin film composites display an AC magnetic field sensitivity of 1.6 nT/√Hz at 1 kHz.

The magnetic field response results on a five-layer structure given as Metglas /Terfenol-D/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3/Terfenol-D/Metglas were reported. Due to its high permeability, Metglas can be incorporated as the third phase into conventional Pb(Zr,Ti)O3/Terfenol-D laminates, which results in a stronger magnetoelectric(ME) response. The increase in Metglas thickness significantly influences the ME response as well. The ME voltage coefficient for a structure with a 150 μm thick Metglas layer on both sides of Terfenol-D/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 laminates at 1 kHz was found to be 1.2 V/cmOe at dc magnetic bias field of 590 Oe under an ac magnetic drive of 1 Oe, which was notably higher in comparison to similar structures with other different Metglas thickness.

Giant converse magnetoelectric (CME) effect has been found in AlN-(Fe90Co10)78Si12B10 thin film composites fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering on Si/SiO2 substrate. The influence of bias magnetic field Hdc, driven ac voltage Vac and ac frequency f on the CME response of this kind of thin film composites was investigated in detail. The results demonstrated that the AlN-(Fe90Co10)78Si12B10 thin film composites possess a maximum CME coefficient αB of 0.0943 mG cm/V at a very low Hdc of 11 Oe. It was also observed that the magnetic induction B has an excellent linear relationship to Vac in the range of 1–20 V at f = 10 kHz and Hdc = 11 Oe. Furthermore, αB responds almost linearly to the ac frequency f from 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz. These made the heterostructure thin film composites exhibit a promising potential in magnetic and electric field detecting application.

In this paper, an improved equivalence principle algorithm is proposed to solve the radiation problems of large antenna arrays with periodic structures. This method is a hybridization in which the typical scheme of periodic Green's function is combined with the original equivalence principle algorithm. The repeated elements are changed from the original antenna units into the surfaces enclosing the original ones. The proposed approach is compared with periodic method of moments which is based on the integral equation and the periodic Green's function. Numerical results validate the feasibility of the improved method.

This paper presents a circularly polarized compact antenna based on the concept of Yagi-Uda antenna. By properly arranging three ring resonators operating at the fundamental mode, a compact Yagi-Uda like antenna is proposed to form directional pattern. This proposed antenna has comparable size with the ring resonator of quarter-wavelength, while the performances are comparable with the conventional microstrip antenna of half-wavelength. To validate the proposed design methodology, an antenna working at UHF radio- frequency identiflcation (RFID) band is benchmarked. Both simulated and measured results are shown for comparison.

The synthesis of (K0.45Na0.55)0.96Li0.04NbO3 (KNLN) single crystals with a -orientation, using a seed-free solid state crystal growth method, is described here. With the thickness of the crystals decreasing down to the order of tens of micrometers, this new lead-free single crystal exhibits thickness-independent electrical behavior, and maintains superior piezoelectric constant (d33 = 670 pC N−1) and electromechanical coupling factor (kt = 0.55). The successful fabrication of a tiny intravascular photoacoustic probe, with a 1 mm outside diameter, is achieved using a single crystal with a thickness of around 60 μm, in combination with a 200 μm core multimode fiber. Wire phantom photoacoustic images show that the axial resolution and lateral resolution of the single crystal based probe are 60 and 220 μm, respectively. In addition, intravascular photoacoustic imaging of the atherosclerotic lesion of a human artery is presented. In the time-domain and frequency-domain images, calcified regions are clearly distinguishable from surrounding tissue. These interesting results demonstrate that KNN-based lead-free piezoelectric single crystals are a promising candidate to substitute for lead-based piezoelectric materials for photoacoustic imaging in the future.

In recent years, multifunctional materials contained simultaneous ferroelectric and ferromagnetic ordering have been realized. Here, a real time room temperature adaptive materials system, which demonstrates an RF magnetodielectric (MD) response, i.e., CexY3−xFe5O12 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2), is reported. The magnetic and dielectric properties of Ce-doped YIG microwave ferrites processed by a traditional ceramic route have been measured over a frequency range of 4–8 GHz (C-band). The substitution of Ce not only enhances the microwave electromagnetic properties of the YIG, but also modulates the magnetodielectric response. The maximum magnetodielectric response in Ce-doped YIG sample ranges in magnitude from approximately +5% to −5% under an applied field of 1.78 kOe. This effect was attributed to electron fluctuations on the Fe cation sites. Furthermore, the magnitude of the MD response was shown to be enhanced by the cerium content. It is believed that research of the magnetodielectric effect in YIG ferrites is of great importance to the development of next generation multifunctional adaptive microwave materials, devices and integrated circuits.

Yinghao Sun and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for prostate cancer in Han Chinese men. They identify two new risk-associated loci at chromosomes 9q31 and 19q13. Prostate cancer risk–associated variants have been reported in populations of European descent, African-Americans and Japanese using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To systematically investigate prostate cancer risk–associated variants in Chinese men, we performed the first GWAS in Han Chinese. In addition to confirming several associations reported in other ancestry groups, this study identified two new risk-associated loci for prostate cancer on chromosomes 9q31.2 (rs817826, P = 5.45 × 10−14) and 19q13.4 (rs103294, P = 5.34 × 10−16) in 4,484 prostate cancer cases and 8,934 controls. The rs103294 marker at 19q13.4 is in strong linkage equilibrium with a 6.7-kb germline deletion that removes the first six of seven exons in LILRA3, a gene regulating inflammatory response, and was significantly associated with the mRNA expression of LILRA3 in T cells (P < 1 × 10−4). These findings may advance the understanding of genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer.

Objective Prostate cancer is an underreported and emerging problem in China. Here we summarize the data for Chinese patients with prostate cancer (PCa), describe available treatment options, and report 5-year outcomes at multiple tertiary care institutions. Patients and methods A series of 1611 patients (mean age 76.51 years) diagnosed with PCa were enrolled. Survival rates for patients were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Prognostic factors for disease-specific survival were analyzed using the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model. Results Seven hundreds and thirty-two patients with a prostate tumor clinical stage of III or IV and 879 with a tumor clinical stage of I or II were diagnosed. The disease-specific survival rates at 1, 3 and 5 years were 94.6%, 81.3% and 72.6%, respectively. Five-year disease-specific survival rates were 99.2% for patients with low clinical stage PCa who underwent radical prostatectomy, 76.5% for those who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate plus hormone therapy, 38% for those who received hormone therapy plus radiation therapy and 29% for those that received hormone therapy alone. Conclusions In keeping with a lack of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening, Chinese men present later in life and course of their disease, with over 27% men dying of PCa at five years. Debulking of tumors by surgery and radiation therapy for high grade tumor may provide some survival benefit in the senior men but further study is required to validate these findings. It is important of the annual use of PSA test for men over 50 years old to detect the PCa in the early stage in this nation.

Co3−xFexO4 (x = 0, 0.09, 0.14 and 0.27) powders were synthesized by the thermal-decomposition method with annealing treatment. With the increase of x, the composition of the products experiences a transition from the single-phase compound of Co3−xFexO4 to the coexisted phases of Co3−xFexO4 and CoFe2O4, which is accompanied with the enhancement of the ferromagnetic (FM) response. In addition, the horizontal negative exchange bias (EB) effect was observed in the Fe3+ doped samples. For Co3−xFexO4 with x = 0.09 and 0.14, the EB fields at 10 K are larger than 100 Oe, and the EB effect disappears as temperature is above 30 K, close to the Neel temperature for the antiferromagnetic (AFM) Co3O4. While for Co3−xFexO4 with x = 0.27, the EB field at 10 K weakens clearly, but the EB effect finally disappears as temperature increases to 200 K. These results indicate that the EB effect for Co3−xFexO4 with x = 0.09 and 0.14 are mainly related with the exchange coupling at the FM/AFM interfaces, while for x = 0.27, the decoupling of the FM and AFM phases may occur.

In this paper, a hybrid method combining equivalence principle algorithm with physical optics is proposed to solve the radiation problem of antenna mounted on electrically large platform. It is based on domain decomposition method which is a scheme for multi- scale problems. Equivalence principle algorithm can simulate antenna accurately, and physical optics is an asymptotical method to obtain current distribution on the electrically large platform. Continuity of currents is considered when the conductor on the platform is decomposed into two parts by the equivalence surface. In addition, a preconditioning for the hybridization of equivalence principle algorithm and physical optics is discussed. Numerical results demonstrate the feasibility of the hybrid method.

A transient quasi-analytic method is improved to analyze the ofiset re∞ector for impulse radiating antenna (IRA) applications. Physical optic (PO) approximation and analytic time transform (ATT) are utilized to investigate the time domain (TD) radiating characteristics of the ofiset re∞ector. With the appropriate coordinate transformation, the TD far-fleld integral problem can be simplifled to one dimensional angular integral which is independent of the re∞ector's size. In addition, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of impulse responses is compared to the direct frequency domain result, and good agreement is obtained.

A recent genome-wide association study has identified five new genetic variants for prostate cancer susceptibility in a Japanese population, but it is unknown whether these newly identified variants are associated with prostate cancer risk in other populations, including Chinese men. We genotyped these five variants in a case-control study of 1524 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer and 2169 control subjects from the Chinese Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics (ChinaPCa). We found that three of the five genetic variants were associated with prostate cancer risk (P = 4.33 × 10(-8) for rs12653946 at 5p15, 4.43 × 10(-5) for rs339331 at 6q22 and 8.42 × 10(-4) for rs9600079 at 13q22, respectively). A cumulative effect was observed in a dose-dependent manner with increasing numbers of risk variant alleles (P(trend) = 2.58 × 10(-13)), and men with 5-6 risk alleles had a 2-fold higher risk of prostate cancer than men with 0-2 risk alleles (odds ratio = 2.26, 95% confidence interval = 1.78-2.87). Furthermore, rs339331 T allele was significantly associated with RFX6 and GPRC6A higher messenger RNA expression, compared with the C allele. However, none of the variants was associated with clinical stage, Gleason score or family history. These results provide further evidence that the risk loci identified in Japanese men also contribute to prostate cancer susceptibility in Chinese men.

BACKGROUND Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were reproducibly associated with prostate cancer (PCa) risk in populations of European descent. In aggregate, these variants have shown potential to predict risk for PCa in European men. However, their utility for PCa risk prediction in Chinese men is unknown. METHODS We selected 33 PCa risk-related SNPs that were originally identified in populations of European descent. Genetic scores were estimated for subjects in a Chinese case–control study (1,108 cases and 1,525 controls) based on these SNPs. To assess the performance of the genetic score on its ability to predict risk for PCa, we calculated area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) in combination with 10-fold cross-validation. RESULTS The genetic score was significantly higher for cases than controls (P = 5.91 × 10−20), and was significantly associated with risk of PCa in a dose-dependent manner (P for trend: 4.78 × 10−18). The AUC of the genetic score was 0.604 for risk prediction of PCa in Chinese men. When ORs derived from this Chinese study population were used to calculate genetic score, the AUCs were 0.631 for all 33 SNPs and 0.617 when using only the 11 significant SNPs. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that genetic variants related to PCa risk may be useful for risk prediction in Chinese men. Prospective studies are warranted to further evaluate these findings. Prostate 72:577–583, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Magnetic sensors based on the interaction between the delta-E effect and surface acoustic waves (SAWs) have been widely investigated. However, the influences of the delta-E effect on the SAW parameters have not been demonstrated systematically. Therefore, in this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the influences of the delta-E effect on the properties of a SAW resonator. The one-port SAW magnetic sensor had a four-layer structure composed of ST-cut 90° X quartz (piezoelectric substrate), Ta (interdigital electrode), SiO2 (insulating layer), and (Fe90Co10)78Si12B10 (magnetostrictive layer). The parameters of the SAW resonator such as the conductance spectrum, resonance frequency, full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the resonance frequency, Q-value, electromechanical coupling coefficient, and figure of merit were investigated. The change trends of the parameters followed the delta-E effect, except for the FWHM which exhibited an opposite trend. The magneto-elastic coupling efficiency of the magnetic layer varied with the change of external magnetic fields, which led to variation in the efficiency of electro-acoustic power conversion in the piezoelectric layer. We assume that this variation also contributed to the variation of the SAW parameters. These findings demonstrate that the variation of SAW resonator parameters is related not only to the delta-E effect but also to magneto-elastic coupling.

We study the rectangular tips of the dipole photoconduc- tive antenna, which has been widely used for terahertz radiation and detection, with difierent blend radii efiect on the emission performance of terahertz (THz) radiation. For the amplitude of THz radiation pulse is proportional to the local electric fleld in the gap, the increased max- imum bias electric fleld by blending tips is able to achieve higher THz radiation power. Both considering the in∞uence to the maximum bias electric fleld and the emission e-ciency, the blend radius of the rect- angular tips is suggest to be larger than 5"m and the radiation power is largely enhanced. Comparing to the previous work, our method has better THz radiation performance.

A low-proflle unidirectional cavity-backed coplanar waveguide-fed uniplanar log-periodic slot antenna suitable for the ultra-wideband applications (3{18GHz) is presented. Due to the in- herent balanced structure compared with the unbalanced antennas, such as dipole or loop antenna, the impedance matching and radiation performances of the proposed antenna are quite stable and satisfac- tory. There is a potential advantage for low proflle ultra-wideband unidirectional antennas, and this paper demonstrates a technique for transforming the bidirectional beam into a unidirectional beam by us- ing a special cavity in this ultra-wideband antenna. Meanwhile, the multi-resolution time domain (MRTD) method is applied to analyze this antenna. Experimental results reveal that the cavity has a small afiect on the S-parameter of the origin antenna, and remains the per- fect re∞ection property within the desired operation band.

The paper introduces a novel method to detect the initial time of a weak sinusoidal signal embedded in non-stationary noise and studies the performance of the method through numerical simulations. Furthermore, a proposed nonlinear function combined with time–frequency analysis can be used to effectively improve the signal-to-noise (SNR). Simulation results show that the method can rapidly detect the initial time of the weak analytical signal with a SNR lower than −54 dB and a time-domain resolution of only 1 second.

Magnetic sensors based on the interaction between the delta-E effect and surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are promising devices due to their simple driving circuits. In this study, a magnetic sensor composed of a (Fe90Co10)78Si12B10 magnetic layer and Love-type SAW resonator was investigated. The resonance frequency sensitivities (RFS) of the sensor resulting from the delta-E effect are 76.06 Hz/μT and 364.28 Hz/μT in the L-direction (along the easy axis) and W-direction (along the hard axis), respectively. The maximum RFS achieved by this magnetic sensor is 663.98 Hz/μT along the hard axis, with a resonance frequency of 221.76 MHz. The shift of resonance frequency shows a good linearity along with the external magnetic field in the L-direction. The curves of frequency response demonstrate point symmetry rather than the expected axial symmetry in both directions, due to the existence of residual magnetization. Non-zero RFS at zero magnetic field also appears in this device, because of the non-zero change of the Young's modulus at zero magnetic field. The good linearity and high sensitivity mean that the investigated magnetic sensor can be applied for weak DC magnetic field detection.Magnetic sensors based on the interaction between the delta-E effect and surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are promising devices due to their simple driving circuits. In this study, a magnetic sensor composed of a (Fe90Co10)78Si12B10 magnetic layer and Love-type SAW resonator was investigated. The resonance frequency sensitivities (RFS) of the sensor resulting from the delta-E effect are 76.06 Hz/μT and 364.28 Hz/μT in the L-direction (along the easy axis) and W-direction (along the hard axis), respectively. The maximum RFS achieved by this magnetic sensor is 663.98 Hz/μT along the hard axis, with a resonance frequency of 221.76 MHz. The shift of resonance frequency shows a good linearity along with the external magnetic field in the L-direction. The curves of frequency response demonstrate point symmetry rather than the expected axial symmetry in both directions, due to the existence of residual magnetization. Non-zero RFS at zero magnetic field also appears in this device, because of the non-zero change of ...

Rationale: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) have overlapping features, and are categorized as being on the spectrum of autoinflammatory diseases (AIDs). FMF is more prevalent in the Mediterranean region but rarely, described in the Chinese population. Patient concerns: We present an interesting case of a Han Chinese AOSD patient with episodic fever, wheals, and polyarthritis for 2 years. Diagnosis: Sequencing analysis found exon 2 mutations of the MEFV gene (c.329T>C [L110P], and c.442G>C [E148Q]). Intervention: Her arthritis was well-controlled with colchicine treatment, but fever, and rashes were not. Outcomes: She eventually received tocilizumab, in addition to colchicine, and her symptoms completely disappeared. Lessons: MEFV mutations may exist in AOSD patients, and treatment with colchicine might be helpful in such patients.

The laser oscillating at a weak line of Nd:YAP around 1.3-μm realized though selecting polarization is described. The energy level transitions of Nd:YAP crystal and their polarization properties were analyzed. A thin-film polarizer was adopted to restrain the oscillating of the c -axis strong polarized spectral lines and a reasonable transmittance was designed to suppress the a -axis polarized 1064 nm strong line lasing, and then a -axis polarized 1339 nm pulse laser of 336 mJ for free running mode and 64 mJ for electro-optic Q-switched mode were successfully achieved, corresponding to pulse widths of 180 μs and 35 ns, respectively. This method of selecting polarization to realize weak line oscillating is significant for anisotropic laser crystals doped with Nd 3+ ions to select the particular transitions.

Orthodontic tooth movement is a process stimulated and maintained by external tensile stress; periodontal ligament remodeling serves an important role during this process. However, the function and underlying mechanism of periostin (PN) during orthodontic periodontal ligament remodeling remain unclear. The present study established in vitro and in vivo models of orthodontic treatment to investigate the expression levels of PN under conditions of external tensile stress load. These results indicated that tensile stress load increased the expression levels of PN in mouse peridontal ligaments and human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs), during orthodontic tooth movement. Furthermore, the present study demonstrated that the expression levels of PN were regulated by transforming grown factor β, and that PN promotes type I collagen and α‑smooth muscle actin expression levels in hPDLCs. Therefore, PN may be essential for periodontal ligament remodeling during orthodontic treatment, and therefore may represent a potential therapeutic target.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate cyclin-dependent kinase 14 (CDK14) and its co-function with Wnt signaling pathway on cell proliferation, migration and invasion in ovarian cancer. Methods: CDK14 expressions were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The expressions c-Myc, cyclinD1, PFTK1, ki67 and OGT were examined by Western blot. MTT assay was applied to observe cell proliferation after transfection of pEGFP-N1/CDK14-siRNA and pEGFP-N1 into SKOV3 cells, and scratch test and Transwell assay to observe invasion and migration ability. Transfected tumor model in nude mice was established. Results: CDK14 was upregulated in the ovarian cancer tissues and cell lines (both p < 0.05). Expressions of downstream molecules in Wnt signaling pathway as well as the proliferation, invasion and migration ability of the SKOV3 cells were reduced when CDK14 was inhibited (all p < 0.05). The expression of β-catenin in the nucleus was also decreased when CDK14 was inhibited (p < 0.05). In the transfected tumor model of nude mice, the results showed, compared with the pEGFP-N1 group and blank control group, that the expressions of c-Myc, cyclinD1, PFTK1, ki67 and OGT in the pEGFP-N1/CDK14-siRNA group in the transplantation tumor tissues decreased significantly (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: CDK14 suppression-mediated Wnt signaling pathway can inhibit cell proliferation, invasion and migration in ovarian cancer.

Microglia activation initiates a neurological deficit cascade that contributes to substantial neuronal damage and impairment following ischemia stroke. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been demonstrated to play a critical role in this cascade. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA), an active ingredient extracted from Flos Carthami tinctorii, alleviated inflammatory damage, and mediated neurotrophic effects in neurons by inducing the TLR4 pathway in microglia. A non-contact Transwell co-culture system comprised microglia and neurons was treated with HSYA followed by a 1 mg/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. The microglia were activated prior to neuronal apoptosis, which were induced by increasing TLR4 expression in the activated microglia. However, HSYA suppressed TLR4 expression in the activated microglia, resulting in less neuronal damage at the early stage of LPS stimulation. Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence indicated that dose-dependently HSYA down-regulated TLR4-induced downstream effectors myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), nuclear factor kappa b (NF-κB), and the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)-regulated proteins c-Jun NH2-terminal protein kinase (JNK), protein kinase (ERK) 1/2 (ERK1/2), p38 MAPK (p38), as well as the LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine release. However, HSYA up-regulated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression. Our data suggest that HSYA could exert neurotrophic and anti-inflammatory functions in response to LPS stimulation by inhibiting TLR4 pathway-mediated signaling.