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T helper type 9 (Th9) cells play important roles in immune responses by producing interleukin‐9 (IL‐9). Several transcription factors are responsible for Th9 cell differentiation; however, transcriptional regulation of Th9 cells is not fully understood. Here, it is shown that Id1 is an essential transcriptional regulator of Th9 cell differentiation. Id1 is induced by IL‐4 and TGF‐β. Id1‐deficient naïve CD4 T cells fail to differentiate into Th9 cells, and overexpression of Id1 induce expression of IL‐9. Mass spectrometry analysis reveals that Id1 interacts with Tcf3 and Tcf4 in Th9 cells. In addition, RNA‐sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and transient reporter assay reveal that Tcf3 and Tcf4 bind to the promoter region of the Il9 gene to suppress its expression, and that Id1 inhibits their function, leading to Th9 differentiation. Finally, Id1‐deficient Th9 cells ameliorate airway inflammation in an animal model of asthma. Thus, Id1 is a transcription factor that plays an essential role in Th9 cell differentiation by inhibiting Tcf3 and Tcf4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly redundant modular robots may undergo large shape changes which significantly affect the geometry and dynamics of the robot. In these motions, the shape change may induce a tipping or rolling behavior of the robot. This paper describes the dynamic modeling, locomotion planning, control and simulation of such rolling motions for the Tetrobot modular robots. The motion is described by the path profiles of controlled nodes, the tipping criteria and dynamic tipping motion and an impact-reaction model of contact with the ground. These phases of motion are described using Newton-Euler dynamic equations and the principle of conservation of angular momentum. In this paper, a two-phase planning and switching control sequence is introduced to achieve stable and reliable motion of a Tetrobot modular robot. Simulation results illustrate the tipping behavior of a tetrahedron, the dynamic contact and rolling of an icosahedral Tetrobot and dynamic control of the rolling Tetrobot. The resulting models are useful to analyze and control both intentional rolling as a new mode of mobility as well as the avoidance of unintentional tipping and rolling during task execution. Index Terms--Distributed control, dynamic rolling, locomotion planning, modular robotics, reconfigurable parallel robotics, tipping.

This letter reports the giant piezoresistance phenomenon in Nb2O5 modified La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSMO) polycrystalline ceramics. LSMO modified with 2 mol % Nb exhibited ∼2% change in resistivity at 19.2 MPa pressure as compared to 0.5% for the pure LSMO. A dramatic improvement was obtained for 5 mol % Nb-modified LSMO composition, which exhibited a linear change in resistivity with uniaxial stress and the fractional change was of the order of 3% at 19.2 MPa stress. The origin of the giant piezoresistance was found to be related to Nb substitution on the Mn sites which distorts the Mn–O bond, lowering the magnitude of stress required for the manganite lattice transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy with S-1/CDDP for advanced and recurrent gastric cancer at Fuchu Hospital., Methods: The participants were 24 patients treated at our hospital. S-1 was given orally at 80 mg/m/2 for days 1-21, and 60 mg/m2 of CDDP was administered on day 8, followed by a 2-week rest period, within a 5-week course., Results: Results were rated as a partial response in 12 cases and a stable response in 4 cases. The response rate was 50% (12/24), and median survival time was 273 days. The total incidence of grade 3 or greater adverse reactions including leucopenia, neutropenia, anemia, general fatigue, and eruption, was 25% (6/24)., Conclusion: The combination of S-1/CDDP therapy appears to be highly efficacious and safe and showed promise as a useful treatment strategy, even in an outpatient clinic.

This manuscript reviews the developments made in design and fabrication of piezoelectric microgenerators and presents a method for making a comparative study within various vibration energy harvesting mechanisms. Current generation vibration energy harvesters have power density in the range of 0.8 microW/mm3. The manuscript also reports our results on synthesis of barium titanate (BT) thin films for MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) based energy harvester. BT sol-gel was synthesized by aqueous process using barium acetate and titanium bis (ammonium lacto) dihydroxide with PVP (Polyvinylpyrrolidone). After optimizing the annealing temperature and time, textured BT films with 600 nm thickness were obtained on (111) Pt/Ti/SiO2 wafer. A MEMS fabrication process flow was designed to produce microcantilever chips from BT films constituting 6 cantilevers connected in series with an interdigital electrode pattern. We also present some concepts for further improvement of the power density of vibration energy harvesters by incorporating 3-D structure, magnetoelectric material, and a multimodal scheme.