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We achieve high‐framerate (< 100 μs) high‐contrast‐ratio ferroelectric liquid crystal displays (FLCD) on Gen 4.5. Innovatively, a new polyimide (PI) that is suitable for ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) alignment is synthesized and tested on the production line. It replaces Nylon 6 (N6), which was the barrier to the commercialization of FLCD. Moreover, a new FLC is synthesized to match requirements in mass production. Additionally, various materials were studied to investigate the surface energy and relative performance. It is not only proof of the feasibility on the production line, but also a significant step towards the commercialization of field‐sequential‐color high‐resolution FLCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A successful test of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Displays (FLCD) on Gen 4.5 is realized in this paper. A new polyimide (PI) that can replace Nylon 6 (N6) is synthesized and tested on the production line. This used to be the barrier in the commercialization of FLCD. Apart from that, a new FLC for mass production is synthesized. To investigate the surface energy and relative performance, various materials are compared. This proof of the feasibility on the production line is a significant step towards the commercialization of field‐sequential‐color high‐resolution FLCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Peritumoral edema (PTE), one of the main characteristics of malignant glioma, is a significant contributor to the morbidity and mortality from glioma, however, a recent systematic review suggested that controversy remains with regard to its prognostic value. To further determine whether PTE was a potential prognostic factor on routine pre-operative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for malignant glioma, the association between survival and PTE was investigated in the present retrospective review of 109 patients with newly diagnosed supratentorial malignant glioma using MRI data from these routine scans. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS) in univariate analysis, and COX proportional hazards model was applied to evaluate the effect of pre-operative MRI features on OS in multivariate analysis. The PTE extent, edema shape, degree of necrosis, enhancement extent, pathological grade, patient age, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and post-operative chemoradiotherapy were associated with OS in the patients with malignant glioma on univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis indicated that the extent of PTE and degree of necrosis shown by pre-operative MRI were independent predictors of OS, in addition to pathological grade, patient age, KPS and post-operative chemoradiotherapy. Moreover, patients with two unfavorable factors (major edema and severe necrosis) exhibited a poorer OS compared with the remainder. In summary, PTE and degree of necrosis, which are easily determined from routine MRI, can be useful for predicting a poor clinical outcome in patients with newly diagnosed malignant glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an irreplaceable role in the preoperative diagnosis of glioma, and its imaging features are the base of making treatment decisions in patients with glioma, but it is still controversial whether peritumoral edema shown by MRI from preoperative routine scans are associated with patient survival. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of preoperative MRI features in patients with glioblastoma. Methods: A retrospective review of 87 patients with newly diagnosed supratentorial glioblastoma was performed using medical records and MRI data from routine scans. The Kaplan-Meier method and COX proportional hazard model were applied to evaluate the prognostic impact on overall survival of pretreatment MRI features (including peritumoral edema, edema shape, necrosis, cyst, enhancement, tumor crosses midline, edema crosses midline, and tumor size). Results: In addition to patient age, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and postoperative chemoradiotherapy, peritumoral edema extent and necrosis on preoperative MRI were independent prognostic indicator for poor survival. Furthermore, patients with two unfavorable conditions (major edema and necrosis) had a shorter overall survival compared with the remainder. Conclusions: Our data confirm that peritumoral edema extent and necrosis are helpful for predicting poor clinical outcome in glioblastoma. These features were easy to determine from routine MRI scans postoperatively and therefore could provide a certain instructive significance for clinical activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anchoring energy of blue phase polymer template containing different concentration of conventional polymer has been studied. The lower bound of polymer concentration to form the chiral three-dimensional template of blue phase is confirmed. And it was demonstrated that the template anchoring energy has a threshold value to reassemble the double twist cylinder structure of blue phase liquid crystal by either refilling same-handed chiral materials or reverse-handed chiral materials which may help to improve the driving capacity of the polymer stabilized blue phase liquid crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide theoretical basis for the water-saving, high-yield and good quality cultivation techniques of drip-irrigated winter wheat, the wheat cultivar 'Xindong 22' was adopted as the test material, and five irrigation amounts including 3150 (W 1 ), 3900 (W 2 ), 4650 (W 3 ), 5400 (W 4 ) and 0 (CK) m 3 ·hm -2 were adopted to investigate effects of drip irrigation amount on grain filling dynamics and quality traits in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 wheat growing seasons in Xinjiang. Results indicated that the grain-filling dynamics of drip-irrigated winter wheat in different treatments presented the "S" shape curve, and accorded with the Logistic model with high fitting degree. The fast increase period of wheat grain-filling was measured at 12-20 days after anthesis. The maximum filling rate (V m ) increased at first and decreased later with the increase of drip irrigation amount, and was obtained in the treatment W 3 in the two seasons, which was 2.16 g·d -1 and 2.59 g·d -1 , respectively. With the increase in drip irrigation amount, the bulk mass, protein content, flour extraction rate, wet gluten content, dough stability time, degree of softening, dough extension resis-tance and draw ratio of the drip-irrigated wheat firstly increased and decreased later, and the maxima of these indexes were measured in W 3 . However, the water absorption rate and extensibility of dough initially decreased and then increased, and the minimum was obtained in the treatment of W 3 . The sedimentation value increased gradually and the dough development time decreased progressively. Treatment W 3 had the highest grain yield of 8913 kg·hm -2 in 2013 and 8602 kg·hm -2 in 2014, which was 25.0%, 14.8%, 4.4%, 35.6% and 12.4%, 2.8%, 1.1%, 33.0% higher than the treatments of W 1 , W 2 , W 4 and CK in 2013 and 2014, respectively. In conclusion, drip irrigation of 4650 m 3 ·hm -2 during the whole growing season of winter wheat could realize the target of high-yield and good quality in local natural condition.

Objective: To investigate the effects of injured airway epithelial cells on the transdifferentiation of sub-epithelial fibroblasts, thus addressing the mechanisms of characteristic airway remodeling in asthmatic airway., Methods: Human sub-epithelial fibroblasts (SEF) or SEF in collagen gels were co-cultured with culture dishes which containing or not containing bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE) for 4 days. The experiments were divided into 7 groups according to different treatment to 16HBE; Group A: culture dishes not containing 16HBE; Group B: culture dishes containing normal 16HBE; Group C: culture dishes containing 16HBE treated with mechanical scrape; Group D: culture dishes containing 16HBE treated with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation; Group E: culture dishes containing 16HBE pre-added with endothelin receptor A inhibitor (BQ123) followed by treatment with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation; Group F: culture dishes containing 16HBE pre-added with TGF-beta(1) neutralizing antibody followed by treatment with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation; Group G: culture dishes containing 16HBE pre-added with BQ123 plus TGF-beta(1) neutralizing antibody followed by treatment with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation. The expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) in the SEF was assessed by immunofluorescence or Western blotting. The diameters of the collagen gels containing SEF (8 samples in each group) were measured. Moreover, SEF in group A, B or D were selected, and the dynamic changes of intracellular calcium concentration [Ca(2+)]i were observed (at least 6 cells were analyzed in each group) by laser co-focal microscopy in the transdifferentiated SEF in response to the stimulation of the supernatant of 16HBE treated with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation for 24 h., Results: alpha-SMA expression in SEF was most abundant in group D compared with other groups. Relative contraction percentage was also significantly higher in group D [(53 +/- 8)%] than that in group B [(10 +/- 10)%], group C [(24 +/- 8)%], group E [(36 +/- 9)%], group F [(37 +/- 3)%] or group G [(31 +/- 7)%], respectively (F = 24.80, 38.10, all P < 0.01). Increased fluorescence intensity of [Ca(2+)]i was observed in the SEF stimulated with the supernatant of the injured 16HBE in all groups, which was significant in group D (F = 16.60, 8.97; all P < 0.01)., Conclusions: Injured airway epithelial cells induced the transdifferentiation of SEF towards alpha-SMA-expressing and elevated contractile myofibroblasts, in which both ET-1 and TGF-beta(1) may play crucial roles. The supernatant of injured airway epithelial cells-induced influx of [Ca(2+)]i may be an early signal for initiating the increased contractility in the transdifferentiated SEF.

Objective: To address the possible role of injured airway epithelium in initiating transdifferentiation of sub-epithelial fibroblasts into myofibroblasts and accelerating cell proliferation in sub-epithelial fibroblasts, which may be involved in airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma., Methods: Human primary cultured sub-epithelial fibroblasts were co-cultured with human bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE) which were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plus mechanical scratch prior to co-culture. The procedure was also performed in the presence or absence of endothelin (ET) receptor A inhibitor (BQ123), transforming growth factor-beta(1) (TGF-beta(1)) neutralized antibody, respectively or simultaneously, followed by immunostaining, Western blotting and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation respectively to detect alpha-SMA expression and cell proliferation in the co-cultured sub-epithelial fibroblasts. Using the inhibitors specific for mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) pathways, the role of MAPKs pathways in activating the expression of alpha-SMA was evaluated. In addition, the interaction between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and ET-1 was investigated by cell transfection with anti-ET-1 converting enzyme (anti-ECE) mRNA expression plasmid followed by gelatin zymography analysis., Results: 16HBE treated with LPS plus mechanical injury induced alpha-SMA expression in sub-epithelial fibroblasts and accelerated BrdU incorporation in the cells. BQ123, TGF-beta(1) neutralized antibody, specific inhibitors for p38 MAPK and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) were able to block the induction respectively to a certain extent. Phosphorylated p38 MAPK and ERK1/2 were detected in the sub-epithelial fibroblasts 10 min after being co-cultured with injured 16HBE. Compared to normal control (16HBE transfected with pEGFPN(2)) or those cells transfected with anti-ECE mRNA expression plasmids, ET-1 released from the 16HBE cells transfected with pEGFPN(2) into supernatants were increased significantly after the treatment described as above: 16HBE pre-transfected with pEGFP-N(2) expression plasmid before being treated with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation: (15.00 +/- 0.86) pg/ml; 16HBE pre-transfected with anti-ECE expression plasmid before being treated with mechanical scrape plus LPS stimulation: (7.57 +/- 0.94) pg/ml (all P < 0.01). At the same time, the activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were enhanced., Conclusions: Injured airway epithelial cells induced the transdifferentiation of sub-epithelial fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, which may be mediated by ET-1 and TGF-beta(1) through MARKs pathways such as p38 MAPK and ERK 1/2.