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Studies have shown that having breast reconstruction has a positive influence on patient satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at the conclusion of treatment. However, no study has critically evaluated changes to these patient-reported outcomes during the process of undergoing breast reconstruction. This study was to prospectively evaluate changes to patient-centered metrics through the progression of breast reconstruction. An IRB-approved prospective, multi-institutional study was performed for all patients undergoing breast reconstruction between 2009 and 2011. The Breast-Q reconstruction questionnaire was used for evaluation of HRQoL and was administered at five intervals in the perioperative period. Longitudinal evaluation was performed to assess changes to HRQoL metrics during this perioperative interval. One hundred and ten patients were enrolled, and 100 patients (91.9 %) completed appropriate follow-up. Preoperative HRQoL scores were higher in patients electing to forgo reconstruction (P < 0.004), while postoperative HRQoL scores consistently deteriorated at multiple time points following mastectomy as compared to reconstructed patients. On subgroup analysis, results indicated lower initial HRQoL scores in delayed reconstruction (P < 0.05) as compared to immediate reconstruction. These scores did, however, merge at approximately 9 months postoperatively. Changes to HRQoL outcomes occur through progression of breast reconstruction. Within the first year of surgery, early decreases are mirrored by significant increases at later time points above baseline levels when evaluating most forms of reconstruction. Choosing against reconstruction will likely result in continued deterioration of HRQoL for patients undergoing cancer surgery, but steady improvements can be expected if delayed reconstruction is chosen.

Vascularized lymph node flap transfer for the treatment of upper and lower limb lymphedema has had promising results. This study was performed to investigate the mechanism of lymph drainage of a vascularized lymph node flap both experimentally and clinically.In the experimental study, 18 Sprague-Dawley rats were used to create 36 flaps, either a groin lymph node flap or an abdominal cutaneous flap that did not contain lymph nodes. Indocyanine green dye was injected into the edge of 12 lymph node flaps, directly into a lymph node of 12 lymph node flaps, and into the edge of 12 cutaneous flaps. In the clinical study, an identical study design was used, with 24 vascularized lymph node flaps and 12 cutaneous flaps not containing lymph nodes.Experimentally, fluorescence was detected in the pedicle vein after a mean latency period of 153 ± 129 seconds when the edge of the lymph node flap was injected and 12.8 ± 8.1 seconds when the lymph node was directly injected. Fluorescence was not detected in the pedicle vein of the cutaneous flaps (p0.01). Clinically, fluorescence was detected in the pedicle vein after a mean latency period of 346 ± 249 seconds when the edge of the lymph node flap was injected and 23.5 ± 27.1 seconds when the lymph node was directly injected. Fluorescence was not detected in the pedicle vein of the cutaneous flaps (p0.01).The vascularized lymph node flap drains lymph into the pedicle vein, both experimentally and clinically.Therapeutic, V.

A 6.3 kb DNA fragment containing genes responsible for azo-dye decolorization was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The resulting recombinant strain E. coli CY1 decolorized 200 mg azo dye (C.I. Reactive Red 22) l−1 at 28 °C at 8.2 mg g cell−1 h−1, while the host (E. coli DH5α) had no color-removal activity. Addition of 0.5 mM isopropyl-β-d-thiogalacto-pyranoside (IPTG) increased the decolorization rate 3.4-fold. The dependence of the decolorization rate on initial dye concentration essentially followed Monod-type kinetics and the maximal rate occurred with the dye at 600 mg l−1. The decolorization rate of E. coli CY1 was optimal at 40 °C and pH 11. Aeration (increased dissolved O2 level) strongly inhibited the decolorization, but decolorization occurred effectively under static incubation conditions (no agitation was employed). The CY1 strain also exhibited excellent stability during repeated-batch operations.

Maps of disease rates (and other quantities) often must contend with variance associated with variable population sizes and low incidence within spatial units. These characteristics can lead to substantial statistical noise that can mask underlying spatial variation. As Gelman and Price illustrated, most conventional mapping methods fail to address this problem, and in fact can introduce statistical artefacts; mapped quantities can show spatial patterns even when there are no spatial patterns in the underlying parameter of interest. Kafadar evaluated the performance of the headbanging algorithm for spatial smoothing (Tukey and Tukey, Hansen) for eliminating small scale variation and preserving edge structure. Here we perform a simulation study to investigate the artefacts of maps smoothed by unweighted and weighted headbanging. We find substantial artefacts that depend on the spatial structure of the statistical variation (for example, the spatial pattern of sample sizes) and on the details of the spatial distribution of geographic units. The methods used here could readily be adapted to study other spatial smoothers; we choose headbanging because (i) it is an important method used in practice, and (ii) its heavily computational nature is naturally studied using simulation (in contrast to the analytical methods used by Gelman and Price).

Background: As experience with vascularized lymph node (VLN) transfer has grown, new VLN sources have become apparent. Descriptive studies have elucidated variable lymph node presence in these donor basins. Yet, no study has evaluated preoperative imaging evaluation between donor sites in patients undergoing VLN transfer. This study was to compare the findings on duplex ultrasonography of the submental, groin, and supraclavicular lymph node basins in patients undergoing VLN transfer. Methods: A review of a prospective database was performed for patients who had undergone preoperative planning for VLN transfer with duplex ultrasonography to provide objective donor-site characteristics. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors that correlated with specific flap characteristics. A P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Sixty-eight patients (28 upper extremities and 40 lower extremities) were identified as undergoing preoperative duplex ultrasonography for VLN transfer. Little variation was seen when evaluating donor sites for laterality in patients. Groin and submental VLN sites had 3.1 and 3.3 lymph nodes, respectively, compared with 0.9 lymph nodes in the supraclavicular donor site (p < 0.01). Increasing age had an inverse relationship with estimated flap volume, whereas higher body mass index correlated with increasing flap thickness. Conclusions: Preoperative imaging with duplex ultrasonography before VLN transfer may allow for accurate identification of specific VLN donor-site characteristics. When considering lymph node–specific characteristics, higher quantity of lymph nodes were found on the groin and submental flap axis compared with the transverse cervical artery axis.

Communication networks such as cellular phone networks are quite likely to be severely damaged during a large-scale of disaster, making SOS message dissemination to rescue authorities extremely difficult. In this paper, we first propose a FM radio-based emergency communication service through the integration of FM transmitters into smartphones. FM radio provides a number of advantages such as longer propagation length and less susceptible to obstacles, making it suitable for broadcasting SOS messages. Besides, we design Morse code-based SOS message dissemination using FM transmitters (MCSOS-FM) and its corresponding communication procedure for the emergency communication service in order to improve communication range, victim localization and evacuation route planning. The combination of FM radio and Morse code is completely compatible with the current radio system equipped by rescue workers, and thus increases the possibilities of successful receiving and recognizing SOS messages. Our experiment result based on smartphone implementation shows that the proposed emergency communication service is cost effective and energy efficient with relatively large communication range.

The efficacy of laser annealing for the thermal annealing of nanocrystalline gold nanowires is evaluated. Continuous laser illumination at 532 nm, focused to a 0.5 μm diameter spot, was rastered perpendicular to the axis of nanocrystalline gold nanowire at ∼2 kHz. This rastered beam was then scanned down the nanowire at velocities from 7 to 112 nm/s. The influence on the electrical resistance of the gold nanowire of laser power, polarization, translation speed, and nanowire width were evaluated. Nanocrystalline gold nanowires were prepared on glass surfaces using the lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition (LPNE) method. These nanowires had a rectangular cross section with a height of 20 (± 3) nm and widths ranging from 76 to 274 nm. The 4-contact electrical resistance of the nanowire is measured in situ during laser annealing and a real-time decrease in electrical resistance of between 30 and 65% is observed, depending upon the laser power and scan rate along the nanowire. These resistance decreases are associated with an increase in the mean grain diameter within these nanowires, measured using transmission electron microscopy, of up to 300%. The observed decrease in the electrical resistance induced by laser annealing conforms to classical predictions based upon the reduction in grain boundary scattering induced by grain growth.

In this paper, we develop a privacy preserving mechanism for a scheduling service for a group of users, which can compute the joint available time based on users' calendar information. We also propose a weighted voting game with partially homomorphic encryption (WVGPHE) scheme to protect the privacy of users' calendar information as well as users' weight. Even with the privacy protection, our experimental results show that the proposed scheme is still very computational and bandwidth efficient enough to provide immediate group meeting in mobile communications environments.

In this paper, we propose a sensors-assisted rescue service architecture to integrate rescue schemes for different purposes, including disaster prediction, evacuation planning, and emergency broadcast. In the proposed architecture, multiple-sensed mobile devices are designed to provide a personalized situational awareness, thereby further enhancing the flexibility and efficiency of rescue services. Reliability and scalability of rescue services are improved by leveraging the dynamical resource provision of cloud computing. The proposed rescue service architecture is implemented to show the advantages of power efficiency and scalability of the proposed rescue service architecture.

DNA markers offer a useful tool in human clinical medicine to predict disease susceptibility and drug response. In animal science, they can be applied in marker-assisted selection, gender determination, species identification or disease diagnosis. By combining DNA microarray technology and SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) genotyping, many novel genetic markers in candidate genes have been identified. These markers offer more advantages in that they can be used for accurate animal selection and to rapidly to improve the reproductive performance over traditional breeding methods. Modified Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) or Random Amplified Microsatellite Polymorphism (RAMPO) fingerprinting were used for the study of DNA polymorphisms, and the results demonstrated that novel and stable markers can be used for animal gender determination and species identification. This paper presents effective strategies for identifying novel and stable markers based on DNA polymorphisms.

In cloud computing environments, users can rent virtual machines (VMs) from cloud providers to execute their programs or provide network services. While using this kind of cloud services, one of the biggest problems for the users is to determine the proper number of VMs to complete the jobs considering both budget and time. In this paper, we propose a resource prediction framework (RPF), which can help users choose the minimum number of virtual machines to complete their jobs within a user specified time constraint. In order to verify the feasibility of RPF, we have done three case studies, namely parallel frequent pattern growth (FP-Growth), parallel K-means, and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). FP-growth, K-means and PSO are data intensive algorithms. These algorithms are typically executed repeatedly with different execution parameters to find the optimal results. When evaluating RPF by these algorithms in cloud environments, we have to modify them to parallel versions. The evaluation results indicate that RPF can successfully obtain the minimum number of VMs with acceptable errors. According to our case studies, the proposed RPF can be adopted by data intensive jobs by providing flexibility to both end users and cloud system providers.

Smart phones with touch screens have become very popular and have changed our behaviors of using handsets. However, using touch screens is not safe for mobile phone users especially when they are driving cars. Thus, many applications using smart phones cannot be initiated because users who are driving the cars cannot easily touch the small icons on the screens of smart phones. To overcome this issue, we propose a proximity sensors based "no-touch" mechanism for smart phones by applying proximity sensors to initiate mobile applications without the need of touching the screen. We will discuss how to implement the proximity-sensors driven "no-touch" mechanism in Android platform and investigate its performance issues regarding detection accuracy and power consumption. Speech-oriented applications using the proposed "no-touch" mechanism on Android is also demonstrated in this paper.

Cobalt-containing polyoxotitanates (TiCo) are excellent precursors for the simple and scalable preparation of Nocera-type CoOx water-oxidation electrocatalysts. The TiCo cages serve as a reservoir for cobalt ions in a titania matrix on fluoride-doped tin oxide electrodes, and form, in situ, the active CoOx catalyst for O2 evolution with high stability in phosphate buffer in pH neutral water.

One-dimensional cobalt sulfide (CoS) acicular nanorod arrays (ANRAs) were obtained on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate by a two-step approach. First, Co(3)O(4) ANRAs were synthesized, and then they were converted to CoS ANRAs for various periods. The compositions of the films obtained after various conversion periods were verified by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectrophotometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; their morphologies were examined at different periods by scanning electron microscopic and transmission electron microscopic images. Electrocatalytic abilities of the films toward I(-)/I(3)(-) were verified through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and Tafel polarization curves. Long-term stability of the films in I(-)/I(3)(-) electrolyte was studied by CV. The FTO substrates with CoS ANRAs were used as the counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells; a maximum power conversion efficiency of 7.67% was achieved for a cell with CoS ANRAs, under 100 mW/cm(2), which is nearly the same as that of a cell with a sputtered Pt counter electrode (7.70%). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to substantiate the photovoltaic parameters.

In this study, we develop a novel photoacoustic imaging technique based on gold nanorods (AuNRs) for quantitatively monitoring focused-ultrasound (FUS) induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening in a rat model in vivo. This study takes advantage of the strong near-infrared absorption (peak at ∼800 nm) of AuNRs and the extravasation tendency from BBB opening foci due to their nano-scale size to passively label the BBB disruption area. Experimental results show that AuNR contrast-enhanced photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) success- fully reveals the spatial distribution and temporal response of BBB disruption area in the rat brains. The quantitative measurement of contrast enhancement has potential to estimate the local concentration of AuNRs and even the dosage of therapeutic molecules when AuNRs are further used as nano-carrier for drug delivery or photothermal therapy. The photoacoustic results also provide complementary information to MRI, being helpful to discover more details about FUS induced BBB opening in small animal models. © 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

This study was designed to investigate the anatomical features and applications of the ulnar forearm flap in head and neck reconstructive surgery.A prospective study was designed to include 50 ulnar forearm free flap transplants in 50 patients. Patient defects requiring reconstructive surgery involved the buccal mucosa, tongue, floor of the mouth, upper or lower gums, lips, soft palate, and scalp. Twenty ulnar forearm flaps were analyzed along the entire ulnar artery to determine the anatomy and distribution of the ulnar artery septocutaneous perforators.All 50 flaps were successfully transplanted into their respective sites. The mean diameters of the ulnar artery and vein were 2.3 ± 0.6 mm and 1.7 ± 0.6 mm, respectively. Arterial and venous size mismatch was experienced in 12 and 33 flaps, respectively. The mean number of sizable perforators was 4.3 ± 1.2, and most of the first perforators were located within 5 cm of the proximal wrist crease. None of the patients experienced long-term complications concerning the ulnar nerve.The ulnar forearm flap is a reliably consistent source of free flap transfer because it harbors constant septocutaneous perforators and produces minimal donor site morbidities for head and neck reconstructive surgery.

There is an increase in the prevalence of obesity and its related health problems. While dietary management and exercise help reduce the accumulation of body fat, recently attention has also been d...

Asian women are generally thin with smaller breasts. The objective was to investigate the outcomes for patients who underwent 2-stage breast reconstruction using subcutaneous expansion followed by subpectoral implantation. Between 2003 and 2008, 22 patients underwent subcutaneous expansion and subsequent submuscular implantation for 23 breast reconstructions. Mean age was 44.6 ± 7.0 years. The outcome was assessed with a pain visual analog scale, a questionnaire, and the cosmesis. Mean expansion volume was 350.3 ± 80.8 mL. Mean implant size was 306.7 ± 84.6 mL. The complication rate was 8.6%, 13.0% in first and second stages. Mean pain scale was 2 ± 1.4. At a mean follow-up of 42.5 ± 18 months, patient's satisfaction was 3.2 ± 0.9. Overall shape of the reconstructed breast was rated as 2.8 ± 0.5. Subcutaneous expansion with subsequent subpectoral implantation is feasible and reliable in low body mass index, nonsmoking, nonradiated patients with small and projective breasts.

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors mediate fast neurotransmission and regulate synaptic plasticity in the brain. Disruption of NMDA receptor-mediated signaling by noncompetitive antagonists, such as PCP or ketamine, evokes psychotomimetic behaviors, although the cellular mechanisms by which hypofunctional NMDA receptor signaling drives behavioral pathology are still unclear. Activation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) has been implicated in the cellular neurotoxicity of NMDA receptor antagonists. Accordingly, in the present study we examined the ability of GSK-3 inhibitors, SB216763 and 1-azakenpaullone, to reverse the behavioral aberrations induced by ketamine. Male NMRI mice received intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of the GSK-3 inhibitors, SB216763 and 1-azakenpaullone, 5 min prior to ketamine administration. Locomotor activity, rotarod performance, prepulse inhibition, novel object recognition, and duration of loss of righting reflex were monitored. GSK-3 inhibitors attenuated ketamine-induced locomotor hyperactivity, motor incoordination, sensorimotor impairment, and cognitive deficits, but did not affect ketamine anesthesia. These data support an important role of GSK-3 in the expression of behavioral aberrations associated with NMDA receptor hypofunction, and suggest that GSK-3 inhibitors may ameliorate certain behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions in patients with schizophrenia.

Protocatechuic acid (PCA) at 2 or 4% was supplied to diabetic mice for 12 weeks. PCA treatments increased its deposit in organs and significantly reduced the plasma HbA1c level, the urinary glycative albumin level, and renal production of carboxymethyllysine (CML), pentosidine, sorbitol, and fructose (p < 0.05). However, PCA treatments only at 4% significantly decreased brain content of CML, pentosidine, fructose, and sorbitol (p < 0.05). PCA treatments at 2 and 4% significantly lowered renal activity and mRNA expression of aldose reductase and sorbitol dehydrogenase (p < 0.05), and PCA treatments only at 4% significantly enhanced renal glyoxalase I mRNA expression (p < 0.05). PCA treatments also dose-dependently decreased the renal level of type-IV collagen, fibronectin, and transforming growth factor-β1 (p < 0.05), as well as dose-dependently diminished renal protein kinase C (PKC) activity (p < 0.05); however, PCA treatments only at 4% suppressed renal mRNA expression of PKC-α and PKC-beta (p < 0.05). PCA treatments at 4% significantly restored renal mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α and PPAR-γ, as well as suppressed expression of the advanced glycation end-product receptor (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the supplement of PCA might be helpful for the prevention or alleviation of glycation-associated diabetic complications.

Acicular cobalt oxide nanorods (CoONRs) were prepared for the non-enzymatic detection of glucose, first by directly growing layered cobalt carbonate hydroxide (LCCH) on a conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate using a simple chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique and then by transforming the LCCH into CoONRs through pyrolysis. The composition and grain size of the films of LCCH and CoONRs were verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD); their morphologies were examined by scanning electron microscopic (SEM) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images. CoONRs showed high electrocatalytic activity for the electro-oxidation of glucose in alkaline media, and the activity was strongly influenced by NaOH concentration, annealing temperature of CoONRs, and thickness of CoONRs film. The pertinent sensor could be successfully used for the quantification of glucose by amperometric method. The sensing parameters include wide linear range up to 3.5 mM, a high sensitivity of 571.8 μA/(cm 2 mM), and a remarkable low detection limit of 0.058 μM. The CoONRs modified electrode exhibited a high selectivity for glucose in human serum, against ascorbic acid, uric acid, and acetaminophen.

A novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was prepared and used as an artificial receptor for creatinine (Cre). A sol-gel process was used to prepare the MIP. Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was employed as the crosslinker for the formation of a silica matrix for the MIP. Aluminum ion (Al(3+)) was chosen as the dopant to generate Lewis acid sites in the silica matrix for interactions with Cre. Through the sol-gel process, a polymeric matrix with memory sites for Cre was obtained, and this is mentioned here as the molecularly imprinted polymer for creatinine (MIP(Cre)). The imprinting efficiency of MIP(Cre) was evaluated by contrasting the adsorbed amount of Cre by MIP(Cre) with that by the corresponding non-imprinted polymer (NIP). Creatine (Cn), N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS), and L-tyrosine (L-tyr) were selected as interferences to study the selectivity of the MIP(Cre). The interference studies were also conducted using binary mixtures, such as Cre/Cn, Cre/NHS, and Cre/L-tyr. All these studies reveal that the MIP(Cre) possess a remarkable affinity for Cre. The crucial role of Al(3+) in this system is discussed in detail. Furthermore, the effects of concentrations of Al(3+) and TEOS on the adsorbed amount of Cre by MIP(Cre) were also investigated.

Background: The fibula osteoseptocutaneous flap is an excellent option for the reconstruction of segmental mandibular defects. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between ischemia time and outcome of the fibula flap, thus establishing the critical ischemia time for this procedure. Methods: Between February of 2003 and March of 2005, 114 patients who underwent 116 fibular osteoseptocutaneous flaps for head and neck reconstruction were reviewed retrospectively. Complications were classified as acute, subacute, or chronic based on the time at which they were detected postoperatively. Outcomes among different ischemia time groups were evaluated: group A, less than 3 hours; group B, 3 to 4 hours; group C, 4 to 5 hours; and group D, 5 to 7 hours. Results: The mean success rate of the fibula osteoseptocutaneous flap was 98.3 percent. Mean flap ischemia time was 3.6 ± 0.97 hours. Sixty-six patients (56.9 percent) experienced one or more complications at different stages (86 complications total). There were no statistically significant differences in acute, subacute, and chronic complications among the four groups (p = 0.6, p = 0.6, and p = 0.2, chi-square test). The overall complication rate was significantly higher in group D (81.8 percent) (p = 0.03, chi-square test). The partial flap loss rate was also statistically higher in group D (45.5 percent) compared with the other three groups (12.1, 12.2, and 8.7 percent) (p = 0.02, chi-square test). Conclusions: Using the fibula osteoseptocutaneous flap for head and neck reconstruction, ischemia times less than 5 hours do not increase complication rates in different postoperative stages. However, the critical ischemia time of the fibula osteoseptocutaneous flap should be limited to 5 hours to reduce partial skin paddle loss and overall complications.

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method is employed to obtain mesoporous TiO 2 film on a titanium (Ti) foil; the film is then mechanically compressed and sintered at 350 °C before being subjected to dyeing. A comprehensive study was made on the mechanistic aspects of the EPD process. The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using the thus formed TiO 2 film rendered a power conversion efficiency (Eff.) of 6.5%. Effects of various compression pressures on the photovoltaic parameters and on other characteristic parameters of the pertinent DSSCs are studied. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is applied for the first time, using a novel equivalent model, to study the impedance behavior of the DSSC with this type of TiO 2 film. We also obtain characteristic parameters of the TiO 2 photoanode by using EIS. The coordination number of the TiO 2 film, and the ratio of charge transfer resistances of electron recombination and electron transport are also obtained and analyzed. Moreover, we employ a multilayer approach and increase the film thickness to prepare TiO 2 films with the same coordination number and porosity; DSSCs using such TiO 2 films obtained from P90 and P25 rendered efficiencies of 6.5% and 5.24%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs are obtained to characterize the TiO 2 films formed by the EPD technique and laser-induced transient technique is used to estimate the electron lifetime in the TiO 2 films.

Beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) was used to induce cytotoxicity in nerve growth factor differentiated PC12 cells, and the effects of s-ethyl cysteine (SEC) and s-propyl cysteine (SPC) on anti-inflammatory protection, DNA fragmentation, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and activity of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase and caspases were examined. Abeta treatment significantly decreased cell viability and MMP, and increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and DNA fragmentation (P0.05). The pretreatments from SEC or SPC at 2.5, 5, and 10 microM significantly enhanced cell viability and MMP, and lowered LDH activity and DNA fragmentation (P0.05). Abeta treatment also significantly decreased Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity and enhanced the activity of caspase-3 and caspase-8 (P0.05); however, the pretreatments from SEC or SPC significantly attenuated Abeta-induced reduction in Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity and elevation in caspase-3 and caspase-8 activities (P0.05). Abeta treatment increased the protein production and mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (P0.05). The pretreatments from SEC at 10 microM or SPC at 2.5, 5, and 10 microM significantly suppressed mRNA expression and decreased the protein production of these cytokines. These results suggested that SEC and SPC were potent neuroprotective agents against Alzheimer's disease.

A conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode, first modified with zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs) and subsequently attached with photosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), designated as AgNPs/ZnONRs/FTO electrode, was used as an amperometric sensor for the determination of hydrogen peroxide. The first layer (ZnONRs) was obtained by chemical bath deposition (CBD), and was utilized simultaneously as the catalyst for the photoreduction of Ag ions under UV irradiation and as the matrix for the immobilization of AgNPs. The aspect ratio of ZnONRs to be deposited was optimized by controlling the number of their CBDs to render enough surface area for Ag deposition, and the amount of AgNPs to be attached was controlled by adjusting the UV-irradiation time. The immobilized AgNPs showed excellent electrocatalytic response to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide. The resultant amperometric sensor showed 10-fold enhanced sensitivity for the detection of H(2)O(2), compared to that without AgNPs, i.e., only with a layer of ZnONRs. Amperometric determination of H(2)O(2) at -0.55 V gave a limit of detection of 0.9 microM (S/N=3) and a sensitivity of 152.1 mA M(-1) cm(-2) up to 0.983 mM, with a response time (steady-state, t(95)) of 30-40 s. The selectivity of the sensor was investigated against ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA). Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images were utilized to characterize the modified electrode. Sensing properties of the modified electrode were studied both by CV and amperometric analysis.

Obstacle detection by using ultrasonic proximity sensors has been adopted in automotive industry so as to improve safeties. A pot-like aluminum structure with a piezoelectric ceramic stuck on the inner bottom vibrating plate is usually used to generate and to receive ultrasound in this type of proximity sensor. In practice, the proximity sensor needs an anisotropic beam, whose beam width is wide in the horizontal direction and narrow in the vertical direction, since ground is not perceived as a real obstacle in vehicle applications. In this application, the design degree of freedom was typically constrained by a car designer. For the visual effect of a car body, a flat radiating surface was required and the size of the ultrasonic sensor was limited down to 15 mm in diameter. To obtain the narrower beam width in the vertical direction, raising its operating frequency has been an effective method adopted even though it also narrows the beam width in the horizontal direction and it results in higher sound absorption in air. To circumvent the need to raise the frequency, a new configuration of a pot-like ultrasonic sensor with highly anisotropic beam pattern under previously defined constraints was developed in this research. This configuration was characterized by a pair of 3 penetrating slots on the opposite side of its cylindrical shell in the vertical direction. In this study, the frequency of the ultrasonic sensor was fixed at 48 kHz, which is identical to the frequency of today's parking ultrasonic sensor, and a finite element simulation was introduced in this configuration design. In addition, the far-field pressure beam patterns were measured using a standard microphone in an anechoic room. Finally, we identified that the isotropy of this type ultrasonic sensor, which is defined as an H/V ratio, exceeds 3. We concluded that these penetrating slots would affect the beam pattern of an ultrasonic sensor significantly. Both the design methodologies and the experimental verifications will be detailed in this paper.

PEDOT:PSS thick films, prepared by the drop-coated method, were used in this study for sensing nitric oxide (NO) gas. The thickness of PEDOT-PSS film was controlled by dropping different volumes of PEDOT-PSS solution to improve the response of PEDOT-PSS film. Due to its porous structure, the thicker the PEDOT-PSS film is, the higher the noticeable surface area. Thus, a larger response is found. However, since the concentration of NO gas used was low (10 ppm), the effect of the surface area was not noticeable when the thickness of the film was greater than 5 μm. In the range of 2.5–10 ppm NO, the relationship between the response of the PEDOT-PSS film and the NO concentration was linear. The limit of detection ( S / N = 3), response time ( t 95 ), and recovery time ( t 95 ) were about 350 ppb, 527 s, and 1780 s, respectively. The response of PEDOT-PSS film to 10 ppm NO gas was dramatically affected by the presence of either O 2 or CO. The standard deviation, with respect to the sensitivity of the NO gas sensor based on PEDOT:PSS film, was 2.2%. The sensitivity of the sensor remained at about 74.5% that of a fresh one.

A novel scheme combining a stopping criterion and a node deactivation mechanism is proposed in this paper to reduce the number of node operations in LDPC decoding. The proposed stopping criterion employs an adaptive threshold to remove the channel-condition dependence of the conventional parity-check based stopping criterion. The proposed node deactivation mechanism improves the accuracy of node reliability estimation. As compared to standard BP decoding, the proposed scheme can save up to 80.06% node operations for IEEE 802.16e (2304, 1152) code. It can be implemented with only minor modifications of parity check step in standard LDPC decoders. This scheme can reduce the power consumption and decoding latency of LDPC decoder with low hardware overhead.

The electrical properties of conducting polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), nanowires were studied to develop nitric oxide (NO) gas sensors with low working temperatures. A nanowire with a diameter of 300 nm was fabricated using dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) across a 55 microm gap between a pair of electrodes. The electrical properties of single or multiple PEDOT nanowires were examined by plotting the current-voltage (I-V) curves in the range -3 V to +3 V at temperatures between 298 K and 393 K. The conductance of parallel wires was normalized with respect to the dimensions of the fabricated nanowires. The single nanowire exhibited nonlinear conductance associated with hysteresis but multiple wires did not. The currents increased with the temperature and the I-V characteristics were consistent with the power law G(T)alphaT(alpha) with alpha approximately 5.14 and 5.43. The responses to NO were highly linear and reproducible, indicating that sensing using PEDOT nanowires was reliable with a minimal concentration of NO of 10 ppm.

Suppression of activation or fibrogenesis and induction of apoptosis, in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) have been proposed as therapeutic strategies against liver fibrosis. Curcumin, an active compound isolated from yellow curry pigment of turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn), has been demonstrated to be an effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound. In this study, we investigated the in vitro antifibrogenic effects of curcumin on HSCs at the concentration range of (1-40 microM). A cell line of rat HSCs (HSC-T6) was stimulated with transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1). The inhibitory effects of curcumin (1.25 approximately 10 microM) on fibrosis-related markers including alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and collagen were assessed. In addition, the induction effects of curcumin (20 approximately 40 microM) on apoptosis in HSC-T6 cells were also assessed by Hoechst and propidium iodide stains. Curcumin (1.25 approximately 10 microM) concentration-dependently suppressed TGF-beta1-induced alpha-SMA expression and collagen deposition in HSC-T6 cells, without cytotoxicity. Whereas, higher concentrations of curcumin (20 approximately 40 microM) induced cell apoptosis and cytochrome c release in HSC-T6 cells. Our results suggest that curcumin exerted antifibrotic effects, possibly through two different mechanisms depending on its concentrations. At lower concentrations (1.25 approximately 10 microM), curcumin exerted antifibrogenic effects, whereas at higher concentrations (20 approximately 40 microM), curcumin exerted induction of apoptosis in HSCs.

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is used to determine the distribution and concentration of selected compounds in intact human hair. By generating images based on ratiometric CARS contrast, quantitative concentration maps of both water and externally applied d-glycine are produced in the cortex of human hair fibers. Both water and d-glycine are found to homogeneously distribute throughout the cortical regions of the hair. The ability to selectively detect molecular agents in hair fibers is of direct relevance to understanding the chemical and physical mechanisms that underlie the performance of hair-care products.

The poly(3, 4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)/multi‐wall carbon nanotubes (PEDOT/MWCNTs) modified screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) were fabricated and their catalytic properties towards nitric oxide (NO) gas, evolved via the disproportion reaction of nitrite in an acid solution, were studied. The thicker the PEDOT film was, the higher the peak current density (Jpc) was observed. However, further increase in the thickness of PEDOT (>2 layers) would decrease the Jpc. Moreover, as the loading of the MWCNTs was increased, the peak potential for NO reduction shifted to more positive direction due to the promoted electron transfer by adding MWCNTs. Besides, due to the larger amount of the protonated nitrite ions in the acid solution, the sensitivity of the PEDOT/MWCNTs‐modified SPCEs was enhanced at lower solution pH.

A molecularly imprinted poly‐metharylic acid (PMAA), polymerizing on the surface of multi‐walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), was synthesized. The MWCNT was modified by a layer of carboxylic acid and reacted with EDC and NHS to activate the carboxylic acid, which was prepared for the purpose of bonding allyl amine and getting an unsaturated side chain (–C=C). The resultant structure is abbreviated as MWCNTs‐CH=CH2. It is well known that the vinyl group side chain provides good attachment between the MWCNTs and the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). The MIP based on PMAA was polymerized on the surface of MWCNTs‐CH=CH2 with the addition of uric acid (UA). The non‐imprinted polymer (NIP) was polymerized without adding UA. The adsorbed amount of UA approached the equilibrium value upon 60 min adsorption. The adsorption isotherm was obtained by immersing 10 mg of MIP or NIP in 5 mL aqueous solution containing different concentrations of UA. The adsorbed amounts were measured via a UV‐Vis spectrometer at a wavele...

Nanostructured ZnO modified electrodes have been fabricated by co‐electrodeposition with eosin Y onto F‐doped SnO2 (FTO) coated glass, and their application for cholesterol biosensor was studied. For cholesterol application, cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) was immobilized onto the ZnO/FTO electrode via physical adsorption. Cyclic voltammetric measurements showed that the ChOx/ZnO/FTO is sensitive to cholesterol and the optimal solution pH for the ChOx/ZnO/FTO electrode for detecting cholesterol was 6.7. Besides, the redox peak current densities are proportional to the square root of scan rate, or ν1/2, indicating the electron‐transfer process is diffusion limited. The sensitivity, linear detection range, and the limit of detection for the ChOx/ZnO/FTO electrode are 3.01 mA⋅cm2⋅M−1, 1.1∼4.83 mM, and 20 μM, respectively.

In this paper, an efficient encoding scheme for dual-diagonal structured LDPC codes is proposed. Our encoding algorithm employs parity bit prediction and correction to break up the data dependency within the encoding process. The encoder can achieve higher level of parallelism and better hardware utilization. The number of required clock cycles for encoding one codeword can be reduced to achieve higher throughput performance. The proposed scheme can be directly applied to IEEE 802.11n and 802.16e dual-diagonal codes without any matrix modification. A low-complexity encoder architecture is proposed and implemented to verify these characteristics. Results show that the proposed architecture outperforms conventional works in terms of throughput and throughput/area ratio.

Nitric oxide (NO) detection is a critical issue for environmental safety and medical diagnosis due reasons with regard to the toxic properties for human body and metabolic index for respiratory disease, respectively. Development of gas sensor with high sensitivity is very important because the concentration of NO gas in the environment and respiratory tract is extremely low, therefore not readily detectable. The material with nanostructure can improve the sensitivity of sensor owning to surface effect and size effect. Herein, we developed a new type of gaseous nanosensor assembled by 34 nanowires of conducting polymer, PEDOT: PSS. The nanowires were fabricated by dip pen nanolithography (DPN) with the length of 55 um and diameter of 300 nm between golden wires. The NO gas measurement is based on chemiresistor based methods. The result of dynamic measurement of NO gas at 100 ppm shows repeatability and stability; the recovery time is 10.4 minutes. Moreover, the lowest concentration of NO gas in static measurement is 10ppm at 80 C, which also shows the ability sensing at low temperature.

In this paper, we propose a class of implementation friendly structured LDPC codes with low error floors. The proposed codes exhibit no apparent error floors as compared with quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes at long block lengths. A modified progressive edge-growth algorithm is used to construct the hierarchical quasi-cyclic (H-QC) LDPC codes. By adding implementation-friendly two-level hierarchy with limited types of second-level submatrices in the parity check matrix, coding performance is improved substantially over QC codes. We also show that QC-based decoder architecture can be easily applied to H-QC decoders to achieve better coding gain and higher throughput performance. Moreover, the degree of decoding parallelism and code length can be adjusted by changing the H-QC code construction parameters.