Search

As one of the key components of intelligent transportation systems, the Internet of Vehicles enables vehicles to acquire and exchange essential information with each other and other facilities. As an infrastructure that directly connects the vehicles to the Internet, the roadside unit (RSU) is responsible for collecting information generated by the vehicle and transmitting it to the control center for analysis. However, ever-increasing number of vehicles and sensors will lead to a large amount of data. Furthermore, there exists redundancy in the data collected within a data collection period by vehicles. Both of these can severely reduce the efficiency of data storage and upload. In this article, we consider that each RSU installs a mobile edge computing server and present delta encoding correction for saving data cache space and transmission time. First, we propose a new cost model and an evaluation method for delta encoding of COPY/ADD class. Then, the type of delta encoding and the corresponding merging rules are defined. Based on these rules, we proposed a minimum delta encoding cost (MDC) algorithm, which adopts the idea of divide and conquer to obtain a superior correcting sequence of delta encoding. Theoretical analysis proves that the proposed MDC algorithm can generate the encoding sequence with the smallest total cost without affecting information reconstruction. In addition, we conduct experiments based on the randomly produced synthetic dataset. Experiment results show that, compared with the Greedy, One-Pass, and 1.5-Pass algorithms, the delta encoding output by the MDC algorithm has better performance in saving cache costs.

Dyslipidemia and inflammation have great roles in the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Oleanolic acid (OA) is a natural triterpenoid that possesses multiple pharmacological properties including anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemia. In the present study, the effects of OA on diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and its underlying mechanisms were investigated in DKD rats. Twenty-five of a total thirty-five male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were used to establish for Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) model by high-fat diet combined with streptozotocin (STZ). Then rats were randomly assigned into four group: control group (n = 10), T2DM group (n = 9), OA (50 mg/kg) group (n = 7), OA (100 mg/kg) group (n = 8). Rats were sacrificed at the end of 18 weeks after feeding by intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital sodium. Body weight (BW), fasting blood glucose (FBG), kidney weight (KW), serum lipid, 24-h urinary microalbumin (UMA), serum creatinine (Scr) and uric acid (UA) were measured. Histopathological changes were observed by PAS staining and electron microscope. The expressions of nephrin, CD68, Collagen-IV, AMPK, p-AMPK, PGC-1α, TLR4, NF-κB and TGF-β1 in kidney were also detected by immunohistochemistry or western blot. OA significantly decreased the levels of FBG, kidney index (KI), serum lipid levels, 24 h UMA, Scr, UA in diabetic rats. Additionally, OA obviously attenuated renal lipid accumulation and renal structure abnormalities in diabetic rats. Furthermore, the expression levels of nephrin, p-AMPK/AMPK, PGC-1α were elevated, while CD68, Collagen-IV, TLR4, NF-κB and TGF-β1 expressions were decreased in renal tissues of OA treated diabetic rats. OA showed dose-independent. OA can alleviate renal injury in diabetic rats through improving lipid metabolism and inflammation via AMPK/PGC-1α and TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Mitochondria, double-membrane organelles, are known to participate in a variety of metabolic and signal transduction pathways. The intermembrane space (IMS) of mitochondria is proposed to subject to multiple damages emanating from the respiratory chain. The optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), an important protein for mitochondrial fusion, is cleaved into soluble short-form (S-OPA1) under stresses. Here we report that S-OPA1 could function as a molecular chaperone in IMS. We purified the S-OPA1 (amino acid sequence after OPA1 isoform 5 S1 site) protein and showed it protected substrate proteins from thermally and chemically induced aggregation and strengthened the thermotolerance of Escherichia coli (E. coli). We also showed that S-OPA1 conferred thermotolerance on IMS proteins, e.g., neurolysin. The chaperone activity of S-OPA1 may be required for maintaining IMS homeostasis in mitochondria.

Xing Chen,1 Shuchun Chen,1,2 Zelin Li,1 Xiaoyu Pan,1 Yujiao Jia,1 Zhijuan Hu,3 Kai Niu,3 Bing Liu,3 Qingjuan Ren1 1Department of Internal Medicine, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Nephrology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shuchun Chen, Department of Endocrinology, Hebei General Hospital, 348 Heping West Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86 311 85988406, Email chenshuchunwork88@163.comObjective: To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and clinicopathologic parameters in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN).Methods: This study was retrospective and included patients with biopsy-proven IMN from 2018 to 2021 in Hebei General Hospital. Patients were categorized into two groups based on BMI. Clinical and histopathologic data were analyzed at the time of renal biopsy. Pathological data included immunofluorescence staining, glomerulosclerosis (GS, 0– 2), mesangial cell proliferation (MCP, 0– 1), tubular atrophy (TA, 0– 1), interstitial fibrosis (IF, 0– 1), vascular wall thickness (VWT, 0– 1) and a combination score (GMTIV) graded from 0 to 5.Results: Our study revealed that the obese group had a higher prevalence of hypertension and diabetes than the overweight/normal weight group (P=0.001, P=0.002). Systolic blood pressure (P=0.005), diastolic blood pressure (P< 0.001), haemoglobin (P=0.006), triglycerides (P< 0.001), serum uric acid (P=0.05), 24 h urine proteinuria concentration (UP) (P=0.012), MCP (P=0.042), IF (P=0.033), and GMITV (P=0.033) score were higher in obese group compared to the other group, while the high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (P=0.034) and immunoglobulin A deposition score (P=0.005) were lower. Factors significantly associated with UP were the ratio of lymphocyte count to white blood cell count, serum pre-albumin, immunoglobulin G, microscopic hematuria, anti-phospholipase A2 receptor (anti-PLA2R), C3 deposit on multivariable analysis (adjusted R2=0.343). Binary logistic regression analysis illustrated that MCP was correlated to BMI (OR=2.528, P=0.036). Ordinal logistic regression analysis demonstrated that GMTIV was associated with BMI (OR=1.114, P=0.010) and C3 deposit (OR=1.655, P=0.001).Conclusion: High BMI was associated with MCP and GMTIV score in IMN patients. Obesity may play an essential role in mesangial lesions of IMN. This study emphasized the relation between BMI and histological parameters under the universal usage of anti-PLA2R antibodies for diagnosis and prognosis in IMN.Keywords: obesity, body mass index, idiopathic membranous nephropathy

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)-based sensor network is an effective mechanism for recognising and tracking of manoeuvring targets as well as expanding the monitoring coverage in the battlefield. However, there exists redundancy among the spectrum data collected by a UAV monitor within a data collection period, which may waste storage space and reduce the speed of data uploaded to the control centre. The authors assume that each UAV is equipped with an edge computing server and propose a delta compression method, which can save cache space and transfer time. First, they present a cost model and evaluation model for delta compression of the COPY/ADD class. Then an optimisation problem is formulated aiming to obtain the optimal delta encoding. Additionally, a maximal total length of copied fragments (MTLC) algorithm is proposed to find more mutually separated L-grams common fragments between the data collected at two adjacent moments. Theoretical analysis proves that the MTLC algorithm can generate a good delta encoding with the maximum total length and then the minimum total number of the COPYs. Moreover, numerical results show that MTLC has better performance in constructing a good delta encoding than the simple greedy and hash suffix array delta algorithms.

Cooperative spectrum monitoring with multiple sensors has been deemed as an efficient mechanism for improving the monitoring accuracy and enlarging the monitoring area in wireless sensor networks. However, there exists redundancy among the spectrum data collected by a sensor node within a data collection period, which may reduce the data uploading efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the inter-data commonality detection which describes how much two data have in common. We define common segment set and divide it into six categories firstly, then a method to measure a common segment set is conducted by extracting commonality between two files. Moreover, the existing algorithms fail in finding a good common segment set, so Common Data Measurement (CDM) algorithm that can identify a good common segment set based on inter-data commonality detection is proposed. Theoretical analysis proves that CDM algorithm achieves a good measurement for the commonality between two strings. In addition, we conduct an synthetic dataset which are produced randomly. Numerical results shows that CDM algorithm can get better performance in measuring commonality between two binary files compared with Greedy-String-Tiling (GST) algorithm and simple greedy algorithm.

Marine macroalgae is known to be a good source of mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), especially red macroalgae. As a new type of active substance with commercial development prospects, the current progress in the extraction, isolation and characterization of MAAs is far from sufficient in terms of effectiveness in application. To determine the extraction processes of MAAs from four species of red macroalgae (Bangia fusco-purpurea, Gelidium amansii, Gracilaria confervoides, and Gracilaria sp.), a series of single-factor and orthogonal experiments were carried out in which the effects of solvents, the solid–liquid ratio, the time of extraction, the extraction degree and the temperature, on the yields of MAA extracts, were analyzed. Further, the isolation and identification of MAAs from Bangia fusco-purpurea and Gracilaria sp. were investigated. The results showed that the solid–liquid ratio, the time of extraction, the extraction degree and the temperature were 1:20 g/mL, 2 h, three times and 40 °C, respectively, when 25% methanol or 25% ethanol were used as the extraction solvent, these values were found to be suitable for the extraction of MAAs from four species of red macroalgae. Silica gel thin-layer chromatography was successfully used, for the first time, for the detection MAAs in this work, and it could be clearly seen that Bangia fusco-purpurea had the highest contents of MAAs among the four species of red macroalgae. MAA extracts from Bangia fusco-purpurea (or Gracilaria sp.) were isolated by silica gel column chromatography to obtain one fraction (or two fractions). The compositions and proportions of the MAAs in these fractions were determined via HPLC-ESI-MS spectra and by comparison with existing studies. Shinorine, palythine and porphyra-334 were found in 95.4% of the T1 fraction, and palythenic acid was found in 4.6% of this fraction, while shinorine, palythine and porphyra-334 were found in 96.3% of the J1 fraction, palythenic acid was found in 3.7% of the J2 fraction, and palythine was found in 100% of the J2 fraction, taken from the MAA extracts found in Bangia fusco-purpurea and Gracilaria sp., respectively. In addition, the relevant compositions and proportions of the MAA extracts taken from Gelidium amansii and Gracilaria confervoides were identified. This was the first study to report on the extraction process, isolation and identification of MAAs from Bangia fusco-purpurea, Gelidium amansii, Gracilaria confervoides, and Gracilaria sp.

In this research, the accuracy of image classification with Fourier Ptychography Microscopy (FPM) has been systematically investigated. Multiple linear regression shows a strong linear relationship between the results of image classification accuracy and image visual appearance quality based on PSNR and SSIM with multiple training datasets including MINST, Fashion MNIST, Cifar, Caltech 101, and customized training datasets. It is, therefore, feasible to predict the image classification accuracy only based on PSNR and SSIM. It is also found that the image classification accuracy of FPM reconstructed with higher resolution images is significantly different from using the lower resolution images under the lower numerical aperture (NA) condition. The difference is yet less pronounced under the higher NA condition. Published version

β-Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (β-NAD) is a pivotal metabolite for all living organisms and functions as a diffusible electron acceptor and carrier in the catabolic arms of metabolism1,2. Furthermore, β-NAD is involved in diverse epigenetic, immunological and stress-associated processes, where it is known to be sacrificially utilized as an ADP-ribosyl donor for protein and DNA modifications, or the generation of cell-signalling molecules3,4. Here we report the function of β-NAD in secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways, in which the nicotinamide dinucleotide framework is heavily decorated and serves as a building block for the assembly of a novel class of natural products. The gatekeeping enzyme of the discovered pathway (SbzP) catalyses a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent [3+2]-annulation reaction between β-NAD and S-adenosylmethionine, generating a 6-azatetrahydroindane scaffold. Members of this novel family of β-NAD-tailoring enzymes are widely distributed in the bacterial kingdom and are encoded in diverse biosynthetic gene clusters. The findings of this work set the stage for the discovery and exploitation of β-NAD-derived natural products. published

Mammals' aging is correlated with the accumulation of somatic heteroplasmic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. Whether and how aging accumulated mtDNA mutations modulate fertility remains unknown. Here, we analyzed oocyte quality of young (≤30 years old) and elder (≥38 years old) female patients and show the elder group had lower blastocyst formation rate and more mtDNA point mutations in oocytes. To test the causal role of mtDNA point mutations on infertility, we used polymerase gamma (POLG) mutator mice. We show that mtDNA mutation levels inversely correlate with fertility, interestingly mainly affecting not male but female fertility. mtDNA mutations decrease female mice's fertility by reducing ovarian primordial and mature follicles. Mechanistically, accumulation of mtDNA mutations decreases fertility by impairing oocyte's NADH/NAD+ redox state, which could be rescued by nicotinamide mononucleotide treatment. For the first time, we answer the fundamental question of the causal effect of age‐accumulated mtDNA mutations on fertility and its sex dependence, and show its distinct metabolic controlling mechanism., Oocyte accumulates more mtDNA point mutations than sperm during aging, thus exacerbating female’s fertility through reducing its NADH/NAD+ redox ratio, which could be rescued by NMN.

Reprogramming of the NRPS/PKS assembly line is an attractive method for the production of new bioactive molecules. However, it is usually hampered by the loss of intimate domain/module interactions required for the precise control of chain transfer and elongation reactions. In this study, we first establish heterologous expression systems of the unique antimycin-type cyclic depsipeptides: JBIR-06 (tri-lactone) and neoantimycin (tetra-lactone), and engineer their biosyntheses by taking advantage of bioinformatic analyses and evolutionary insights. As a result, we successfully accomplish three manipulations: (i) ring contraction of neoantimycin (from tetra-lactone to tri-lactone), (ii) ring expansion of JBIR-06 (from tri-lactone to tetra-lactone), and (iii) alkyl chain diversification of JBIR-06 by the incorporation of various alkylmalonyl-CoA extender units, to generate a set of unnatural derivatives in practical yields. This study presents a useful strategy for engineering NRPS-PKS module enzymes, based on nature’s diversification of the domain and module organizations., Modifying the non-ribosomal peptide synthase (NRPS)/polyketide synthase (PKS) pathway to generate novel non-ribosomal peptides often results in a loss of productivity. Here the authors use evolutionary alignments of NRPS/PKS gene clusters to guide rational design of complexes that can produce novel lactones.

A new concept of GT encryption scheme is proposed in this paper. We present a novel optical image encryption method by using quick response (QR) code and multilevel fingerprint keys in gyrator transform (GT) domains. In this method, an original image is firstly transformed into a QR code, which is placed in the input plane of cascaded GTs. Subsequently, the QR code is encrypted into the cipher-text by using multilevel fingerprint keys. The original image can be obtained easily by reading the high-quality retrieved QR code with hand-held devices. The main parameters used as private keys are GTs’ rotation angles and multilevel fingerprints. Biometrics and cryptography are integrated with each other to improve data security. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed encryption scheme. In the future, the method of applying QR codes and fingerprints in GT domains possesses much potential for information security.

Inorganic/organic nanocomposites are a class of materials that have garnered a flurry of research because of their unusually independent tandem or synergistic physical and chemical properties. A unique class of nanocomposites has been prepared that is composed of tunable diameter (24–45 nm) gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) by a one-step protocol at room temperature. The CNCs behave as reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents during the in situ synthesis. The morphology and diameter of the AuNPs were controlled by the number of CNCs. It was serendipitously discovered that the AuNPs displayed a photothermal effect upon laser irradiation at the AuNPs SPR frequency (532 nm). The as-generated AuNPs/CNC were blended as types of bifunctional nanofillers within a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) film to provide a unique and desirable combination of high tensile strength and photothermal chemistry. The CNCs played a significant role in the AuNPs/CNC/PVA film by scattering incident light in t...

Phospholipid-dependent regulation of NF-κB contributes to mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition in pluripotency acquisition., Metabolic reprogramming has emerged as a key regulator of cell fate decisions. Roles of glucose and amino acid metabolism have been extensively documented, whereas lipid metabolism in pluripotency remains largely unexplored. Using a high-coverage lipidomics approach, we reveal dynamic changes in phospholipids occurring during reprogramming and show that the CDP-ethanolamine (CDP-Etn) pathway for phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) synthesis is required at the early stage of reprogramming. Mechanistically, the CDP-Etn pathway inhibits NF-κB signaling and mesenchymal genes in a Pebp1-dependent manner, without affecting autophagy, resulting in accelerated mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) and enhanced reprogramming. Furthermore, PE binding to Pebp1 enhances the interaction of Pebp1 with IKKα/β and reduces the phosphorylation of IKKα/β. The CDP-Etn-Pebp1 axis is associated with EMT/MET in hepatocyte differentiation, indicating that Etn/PE is a broad-spectrum MET/EMT-regulating metabolite. Collectively, our study reveals an unforeseen connection between phospholipids, cell migration, and pluripotency and highlights the importance of phospholipids in cell fate transitions.

Natural products from microorganisms are important small molecules that play roles in various biological processes like cellular growth, motility, nutrient acquisition, stress response, biofilm formation, and defense. It is hypothesized that pathogens exploit these molecules to regulate virulence and persistence during infections. Here, we present selected examples of signaling natural products from human pathogenic bacteria that use these metabolites to gain a competitive advantage. Targeting these signaling systems provides novel strategies to antimicrobial treatments.

In this paper, we study the diffraction properties of tunable cascaded VHGs by using the two-dimensional coupled wave theory and two-dimensional Runge-Kutta methods. The intensity distributions of the diffracted and transmitted beams are given, the total diffraction efficiency is calculated for multiple cascaded finite-sized VHGs. It is shown that the diffraction characteristics depend on the grating parameters such as the number of the cascaded VHGs and the sizes of each VHG, and the effects of the buffer gaps between two cascaded VHGs is also discussed. It demonstrates the possibility of shaping beam and improving the beam quality by controlling the grating parameters and the layers number of the VHGs. The analysis of this paper also will be valuable for novel applications of finite-sized VHGs.

In this research, we systematically investigated the image classification accuracy of Fourier Ptychography Microscopy (FPM). Multiple linear regression of image classification accuracy (dependent variable), PSNR and SSIM (independent variables) was performed. Notebly, results show that PSNR, SSIM, and image classification accuracy has a linear relationship. It is therefore feasible to predict the image classification accuracy only based on PSNR and SSIM. It is also found that image classification accuracy of the FPM is not universally significantly differed from the lower resolution image under the higher numerical aperture (NA) condition. The difference is yet much more pronounced under the lower NA condition.

Sulfonamide is present in many important drugs, due to its unique chemical and biological properties. In contrast, naturally occurring sulfonamides are rare, and their biosynthetic knowledge are scarce. Here we identify the biosynthetic gene cluster of sulfonamide antibiotics, altemicidin, SB-203207, and SB-203208, from Streptomyces sp. NCIMB40513. The heterologous gene expression and biochemical analyses reveal unique aminoacyl transfer reactions, including the tRNA synthetase-like enzyme SbzA-catalyzed L-isoleucine transfer and the GNAT enzyme SbzC-catalyzed β-methylphenylalanine transfer. Furthermore, we elucidate the biogenesis of 2-sulfamoylacetic acid from L-cysteine, by the collaboration of the cupin dioxygenase SbzM and the aldehyde dehydrogenase SbzJ. Remarkably, SbzM catalyzes the two-step oxidation and decarboxylation of L-cysteine, and the subsequent intramolecular amino group rearrangement leads to N-S bond formation. This detailed analysis of the aminoacyl sulfonamide antibiotics biosynthetic machineries paves the way toward investigations of sulfonamide biosynthesis and its engineering., Sulfonamide is in many important drugs yet is rare in nature and little is known about the synthesis of sulfonamide containing antibiotics. Here, the authors report on a detailed analysis of the biosynthesis machineries of the aminoacyl sulfonamide antibiotics.

Background Many studies have shown the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on type 2 diabetes, but the effects in patients with type 2 diabetes with chronic kidney disease remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with chronic kidney disease. Methods We conducted systematic searches of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials up to April 30, 2020 and included randomized controlled trials of SGLT2 inhibitors in adult type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) reporting estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and/or urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) changes and/or acute kidney injury or failure (AKI). Random effects models were adopted to measure the pooled outcomes. Results Nine studies with 8826 participants were included. SGLT2 inhibitors were not associated with a significant change in eGFR (mean difference (MD), -0.75 ml/minutes per 1.73 m2, 95% CI -1.61 to 0.10, P = .09) in type 2 diabetic patients with CKD. UACR reduction after SGLT2 inhibitors was significant in type 2 diabetic patients with CKD (MD -24.27 mg/g, 95% CI -44.46 to -4.09, P = .02). SGLT2 inhibitors associated with AKI in the patients were significant (OR 0.80, 95% CI [0.66 to 0.98], P = .03). Conclusion SGLT2 inhibitors had no significant effect on kidney function (eGFR measured) in the pooled analysis. And SGLT2 inhibitors effectively reduced UACR in T2DM with CKD. Besides, SGLT2 inhibitors could reduce the incidence of AKI.

Fingerprint authentication is a preferable biometric technique for securing images. Optical scanning cryptography (OSC) is a hybrid optical/digital method to encrypt and decrypt an image using optical scanning technique. In this paper, we propose a new strategy to combine OSC with fingerprints to enhance security. We have verified the effectiveness of the proposed idea in simulations. Subsequently practical implementation of the idea has also been performed with optical heterodyning to confirm the results from simulations. We have also discussed the added security and flexibility of implementation when optical heterodyning is employed in cryptography.

Highly (111) preferred oriented PbZr 0.53 Ti 0.47 O 3 /Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 ) 0.62 Ti 0.38 O 3 /PbZr 0.53 Ti 0.47 O 3 (PZT/PMNT/PZT) trilayered ferroelectric thin films were prepared on (111)Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrates. At room temperature, the films have a dielectric constant of 2175 that decreases to 1870 and a dielectric loss of 0.05 that increases to 0.06 with increasing frequency between 10 2 and 10 5 Hz. Also, they exhibit well saturated polarization-versus-electric field hysteresis loops with a large remnant polarization of 13.4 μC/cm 2 and a low coercive field of 30 kV/cm. The leakage current density in the trilayered films is 4.1 × 10 −10 A/cm 2 , which increases to 4.0 × 10 −7 A/cm 2 with increasing electric field between 1 and 140 kV/cm. Such properties of (111) preferred oriented PZT/PMNT/PZT trilayered films lead naturally to possibilities for ferroelectric capacitors and memories.

The problem of chirped pulse light Bragg diffraction by stratified volume reflection gratings is considered using characteristic matrix method. The spectral profiles of the transmitted and diffracted chirped pulses have been presented. Using these expressions the calculations of the diffracted spectra and diffraction efficiency have been made in the wide range of initial parameters of incident chirped pulse and the stratified volume reflection gratings. Variously shaped spectral distortions have been revealed and discussed based on these calculations.

In this invited talk, we will review optical cryptography with biometrics for multi-depth objects using optical scanning holography (OSH). We also focus on the discussion of key distribution.

The present data showed that a natural compound isolated from the plant Physalis pubescens L. (Solanaceae), physapubescin B, exhibited antitumor activity against prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo. Treating prostate cancer cells with physapubescin B resulted in the accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase, which was associated with reduced Cdc25C levels and increased levels of CyclinB1, P21 as well as p-Cdk1 (Tyr15). Additionally, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was increased in physapubescin B-treated PC-3 cells. Furthermore, the physapubescin B-induced decrease of Cdc25C protein expression together with the G2/M phase cell cycle arrest were significantly abrogated by antioxidant NAC and GSH. Our data also demonstrated that physapubescin B exhibited strong in vivo antitumor efficacy in human prostate cancer PC3 xenograft. In conclusion, our results provide clear evidence that physapubescin B exhibits antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo and deserves further development as an anticancer agent.

A detailed study of pulse shaping properties in crossed-beam volume gratings is performed. Analytical expressions for the profiles of the transmitted and diffracted beams are obtained based on the modified coupled wave theory. The spatial and spectrum evolutions and the diffraction efficiency of the diffracted pulsed beams are discussed. It is shown that the profiles of diffraction pulses and the total diffraction efficiency are greatly affected by the grating size, recording angle, and refractive-index modulation. The studies indicate that the shaping properties for different geometry parameters of the crossed-beam volume gratings are different. However, this difference can be used for many special pulse shaping applications.

We propose an optical cryptosystem for encrypting images of multi-depth objects based on the combination of optical heterodyne technique and fingerprint keys. Optical heterodyning requires two optical beams to be mixed. For encryption, each optical beam is modulated by an optical mask containing either the fingerprint of the person who is sending, or receiving the image. The pair of optical masks are taken as the encryption keys. Subsequently, the two beams are used to scan over a multi-depth 3-D object to obtain an encrypted hologram. During the decryption process, each sectional image of the 3-D object is recovered by convolving its encrypted hologram (through numerical computation) with the encrypted hologram of a pinhole image that is positioned at the same depth as the sectional image. Our proposed method has three major advantages. First, the lost-key situation can be avoided with the use of fingerprints as the encryption keys. Second, the method can be applied to encrypt 3-D images for subsequent decrypted sectional images. Third, since optical heterodyning scanning is employed to encrypt a 3-D object, the optical system is incoherent, resulting in negligible amount of speckle noise upon decryption. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time optical cryptography of 3-D object images has been demonstrated in an incoherent optical system with biometric keys.