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Abstract Growth plates are the frequent sites of skeletal injury in children, leading to skeletal growth imbalances. Chemokines, including the receptor CCR7, play a crucial role in stem cell recruitment and cartilage homeostasis, with previous studies linking CCR7 to osteoarthritis progression. However, its role in growth plate cartilage remains unclear. We analyzed the role of CCR7 in the physeal cartilage repair process in mice model. Physeal injury was created in the proximal tibia in 3-week-old C57BL/6 mice (WT) and CCR7-knockout mice (CCR7−/−). Tibial length was measured macroscopically and sections of the physeal injury were analyzed histologically and immunohistochemically. Height and bone volume of the tibial growth plate and bone mineral density (BMD) of the subchondral area were measured by micro-CT. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were harvested and gene expression after osteogenic differentiation was analyzed using qRT-PCR. At 1, 3 and 5 weeks postoperatively, injured tibiae of CCR7−/− mice were less shortened than those of WT mice. Bone volume of the physeal bridge was significantly lower in CCR7−/− mice than in WT mice. In contrast, BMD of the subchondral area was comparable between CCR−/− and WT mice, and between sham and operated tibiae. In osteogenic differentiation, CCR7−/− mice showed significantly lowered expression of osteogenic markers such as Osterix, Runx2 and Type X collagen. We demonstrated CCR7 depletion in mice inhibited physeal bridge formation and ameliorated growth imbalances after physeal injury.

Tuberculosis (TB) has high morbidity as a chronic infectious disease transmitted mainly through the respiratory tract. However, the conventional diagnosis methods for TB are time-consuming and require specialists, making the diagnosis of TB with point-of-care (POC) detection difficult. Here, we developed a graphene-based field-effect transistor (GFET) biosensor for detecting the MPT64 protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with high sensitivity as a POC detection platform for TB. For effective conjugation of antibodies, the graphene channels of the GFET were functionalized by immobilizing 1,5-diaminonaphthalene (1,5-DAN) and glutaraldehyde linker molecules onto the graphene surface. The successful immobilization of linker molecules with spatial uniformity on the graphene surface and subsequent antibody conjugation were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The GFET functionalized with MPT64 antibodies showed MPT64 detection with a detection limit of 1 fg/mL in real-time, indicating that the GFET biosensor is highly sensitive. Compared to rapid detection tests (RDT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, the GFET biosensor platform developed in this study showed much higher sensitivity but much smaller dynamic range. Due to its high sensitivity, the GFET biosensor platform can bridge the gap between time-consuming molecular diagnostics and low-sensitivity RDT, potentially aiding in early detection or management of relapses in infectious diseases.

In the successive cancellation list decoding of polar codes, the metric sorting dominates the overall decoding latency. To reduce the latency of metric sorting, this paper proposes a new sorting method, called interleaved local sorting, which divides the metrics to be sorted into several groups and locally sorts each group independently. In addition, an interleaving scheme is proposed to recover the performance degradation caused by the local sorting. A hardware architecture effective in reducing the overall latency as well as the hardware complexity is also proposed based on the proposed metric sorting. The evaluation results show that the proposed interleaved local sorting architecture outperforms the state-of-the-art metric sorting architectures in terms of latency and hardware complexity when the list size is not small.

We recently developed a long-length detector that combines three detectors and successfully acquires whole-body X-ray images. Although the developed detector system can efficiently acquire whole-body images in a short time, it may show problems with diagnostic performance in some areas owing to the use of high-energy X-rays during whole-spine and long-length examinations. In particular, during examinations of relatively thin bones, such as ankles, with a long-length detector, the image quality deteriorates because of an increase in X-ray transmission. An additional filter is primarily used to address this limitation, but this approach imposes a higher load on the X-ray tube to compensate for reductions in the radiation dose and the problem of high manufacturing costs. Thus, in this study, a newly designed additional filter was fabricated using 3D printing technology to improve the applicability of the long-length detector. Whole-spine anterior–posterior (AP), lateral, and long-leg AP X-ray examinations were performed using 3D-printed additional filters composed of 14 mm thick aluminum (Al) or 14 mm thick Al + 1 mm thick copper (Cu) composite material. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and radiation dose for the acquired X-ray images were evaluated to demonstrate the usefulness of the filters. Under all X-ray inspection conditions, the most effective data were obtained when the composite additional filter based on a 14 mm thick Al + 1 mm thick Cu material was used. We confirmed that an SNR improvement of up to 46%, CNR improvement of 37%, and radiation dose reduction of 90% could be achieved in the X-ray images obtained using the composite additional filter in comparison to the images obtained with no filter. The results proved that the additional filter made with a 3D printer was effective in improving image quality and reducing the radiation dose for X-ray images obtained using a long-length detector.

Abstract Background A network motif is defined as a statistically significant and recurring subgraph pattern within a network. Most existing instance collection methods are not feasible due to high memory usage issues and provision of limited network motif information. They require a two-step process that requires network motif identification prior to instance collection. Due to the impracticality in obtaining motif instances, the significance of their contribution to problem solving is debated within the field of biology. Results This paper presents NemoProfile, an efficient new network motif data model. NemoProfile simplifies instance collection by resolving memory overhead issues and is seamlessly generated, thus eliminating the need for costly two-step processing. Additionally, a case study was conducted to demonstrate the application of network motifs to existing problems in the field of biology. Conclusion NemoProfile comprises network motifs and their instances, thereby facilitating network motifs usage in real biological problems.

Conducting polymers are often used as sensor electrodes due to their conjugated chain structure, which leads to high sensitivity and rapid response at room temperature. Numerous studies have been conducted on the structures of conducting polymer nanomaterials to increase the active surface area for the target materials. However, studies on the control of the chemical state of conducting polymer chains and the modification of the sensing signal transfer with these changes have not been reported. In this work, polypyrrole nanoparticles (PPyNPs), where is PPy is a conducting polymer, are applied as a sensor transducer to analyze the chemical sensing ability of the electrode. In particular, the protonation of PPy is adjusted by chemical methods to modify the transfer sensing signals with changes in the polymer chain structure. The PPyNPs that were modified at pH 1 exhibit high sensitivity to the target analyte (down to 1 ppb of NH3) with short response and recovery times of less than 20 s and 50 s, respectively, at 25 °C.

Financial evaluation methods such as Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) are not fully adequate for accounting three practical aspects of construction projects: reinvestment rate, actual amount of required investment, and firm available funds. In a certain type of projects, this inadequacy often results in the inapplicability of NPV, multiple or no IRR problem, systematic bias of IRR, and inconsistent decision signal and ranking between NPV and IRR. Many modified methods have been developed, but hardly succeeded in reflecting construction market reality in an integrated manner. To address this issue, Project Present Value, Project Rate of Return, and Firm Rate of Return are proposed together with an investment decision framework. The proposed methods are designed to be free from all those problems, while incorporating market reality in them. As a result, construction practitioners would have more reliable and economically meaningful decision tools, which lead to the success of their projects. Santrauka Finansiniai įvertinimo metodai, kaip dabartinės vertės (DV) arba vidinės grąžos (VG), neadekvačiai vertina tris praktinius statybos projektų aspektus: reinvestavimo greitį, tikrąjį investicijų ir kapitalo poreikį. Dėl to neadekvatumo tam tikrai projektų rūšiai minėtųjų metodų iš viso neįmanoma pritaikyti. Sukurta daug modifikuotų metodų, tačiau jie sunkiai atspindi statybos rinkos tikrovę integruota forma. Tam pasiūlyta investicinių sprendimų sistema, į kurią integruoti trys metodai: dabartinės projekto vertės, projekto vidinės grąžos ir įmonės apyvartumo. Pasiūlytieji metodai gali įvertinti rinkos realybę. Dabar statybos gamybininkai turės patikimesnes ekonomiškai reikšmingas priemones sprendimams priimti ir galės sėkmingiau įgyvendinti savo projektus. First Published Online: 14 Oct 2010 Reikšminiai žodžiai: finansų valdymas, investicijos, sprendimų priėmimas.

Despite the large body of research on idioms of distress in anthropology and transcultural psychiatry, few scholars have examined the concepts that people use to describe social and psychological resilience. The experience of social and psychological resilience is embedded in and shaped by social, political, and economic contexts-much like the factors that shape idioms of distress. As resilience literature more broadly has adopted a socio-ecological rather than trait-based approach, anthropology has much to contribute. This article investigates what idioms of resilience and cultural scripts emerge among low-income patients with cancer residing in Soweto, a peri-urban neighborhood in Johannesburg, South Africa. We conducted 80 life history interviews to better understand what social and psychological factors led some people to thrive more than others despite extraordinary adversity. We describe one idiom of resilience, acceptance (ukwamukela in isiZulu), and three broader themes of resilience that emerged from life history narrative interviews (social support, religious support, and receiving medical care). We also present two examples from study participants that weave these concepts together. Our findings suggest that rarely is one form of resilience experienced in isolation. A focus on idioms of resilience can help chart the complex dimensions of acceptance and the dynamic social, religious, political, and temporal factors that mediate both suffering and resilience within individuals and communities.