Potential endocrine effects of hypothalamic peptide "neurotensin" on pancreas in dogs

Effects of synthetic neurotensin on the endocrine pancreas were studied in nine normal and six hypophysectomized (10th to 14th day post-hypophysectomy) dogs. Synthetic neurotensin was administered into the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery, and plasma insulin and glucagon concentrations were measured radioimmunologically. In normal dogs, ten microgram/kg neurotensin administration brought about a mild hyperglycemic response and sharp and rapid increase of plasma insulin and glucagon concentrations in the superior pancreaticoduodenal vein. A biphasic insulin response was noted in the pancreatic vein. The results suggest that a large dose of neurotensin acts directly on the endocrine pancreas causing secretion of these hormones. In hypophysectomized dogs, basal levels of plasma insulin and glucagon were decreased and neurotensin had little effect on the endocrine pancreas even with the administration of a large dose.</p

Transmission electron microscopic study of CoSi2 epitaxial growth on hydrogen-terminated Si(001)

Epitaxial growth of CoSi2 on H-terminated Si(001) was studied by transmission electron microscopy and the epitaxial growth mechanism was presented. Direct reaction of Co with Si is suppressed on H-terminated Si below 400℃. Thus, the hydrogen at the Co/Si interface hinders the formation of low-temperature Co2Si and CoSi phases. Upon thermal desorption of hydrogen at around 400-550℃, CoSi2, which is closely lattice-matched to Si(001), grows on Si(001) and thin epitaxial CoSi2 films are formed on Si(001). The {111}-faceting is completely suppressed in the epitaxial CoSi2/Si(001), leading to the atomically flat interface between CoSi2 and Si(001

Study of hadron interactions in a lead-emulsion target

Topological and kinematical characteristics of hadron interactions have been studied using a lead-emulsion target exposed to 2, 4 and 10 GeV/c hadron beams. A total length of 60 m $\pi^-$ tracks was followed using a high speed automated emulsion scanning system. A total of 318 hadron interaction vertices and their secondary charged particle tracks were reconstructed. Measurement results of interaction lengths, charged particle multiplicity, emission angles and momenta of secondary charged particles are compared with a Monte Carlo simulation and appear to be consistent. Nuclear fragments emitted from interaction vertices were also detected by a newly developed emulsion scanning system with wide-angle acceptance. Their emission angle distributions are in good agreement with the simulated distributions. Probabilities of an event being associated with at least one fragment track are found to be greater than 50% for beam momentum $P > 4$ GeV/c and are well reproduced by the simulation. These experimental results validate estimation of the background due to hadron interactions in the sample of $\tau$ decay candidates in the OPERA $\nu_{\mu} \to \nu_{\tau}$ oscillation experiment.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Flexible InGaZnO TFTs with fmax above 300 MHz

n this letter, the AC performance and influence of bending on flexible IGZO thin-film transistors, exhibiting a maximum oscillation frequency (maximum power gain frequency) fmax beyond 300 MHz, are presented. Self-alignment was used to realize TFTs with channel length down to 0.5 μm. The layout of this TFTs was optimized for good AC performance. Besides the channel dimensions this includes ground-signal-ground contact pads. The AC performance of this short channel devices was evaluated by measuring their two port scattering parameters. These measurements were used to extract the unity gain power frequency from the maximum stable gain and the unilateral gain. The two complimentary definitions result in fmax values of (304 ± 12)MHz and (398 ± 53) MHz, respectively. Furthermore, the transistor performance is not significantly altered by mechanical strain. Here, fmax reduces by 3.6% when a TFT is bent to a tensile radius of 3.5 mm

Design of bendable high-frequency circuits based on short-channel InGaZnO TFTs

A unique requirement of flexible electronic systems is the need to simultaneously optimize their electrical and mechanical performance. Amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated on free-standing large-area plastic substrates address this issue by providing a carrier mobility >10 cm 2 /Vs, and bendability down to radii as small as 25 μm. At the same time, limitations such as a constrained minimum lateral feature size, the lack of appropriate p-type materials, or the influence of strain have to be considered when designing circuits. Here, models describing the scaling and bending behavior of flexible InGaZnO TFTs, together with the design of strain insensitive circuits operating at megahertz frequencies are presented

Conformal Phase Transition and Fate of the Hidden Local Symmetry in Large N_f QCD

It is observed that the Hidden Local Symmetry (HLS) for the vector mesons in the ordinary QCD with smaller N_f plays the role of the "Higgsed magnetic gauge symmetry" for the Seiberg duality in the SUSY QCD. For large N_f where the conformal phase transition with chiral restoration and deconfinement is expected to take place, we find that the HLS model also exhibits the chiral restoration by the loop corrections (including the quadratic divergence) in a manner similar to that in the CP^{N-1} model, provided that the bare HLS Lagrangian respects the Georgi's vector limit at a certain N_f (\approx 7).Comment: 4 Pages (RevTeX), 3 PS figures are included Minor corrections are made for the introductory part. This is the version to appear in Physical Review Letter

Clinical benefit of readministration of gefitinib for initial gefitinib-responders with non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Gefitinib, an oral agent of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has a certain efficacy against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Several predictive factors of gefitinib sensitivity have been well described. However, few studies have investigated the clinical features of gefitinib-responders. In the present study, we analyzed the response and disease progression of primary and metastatic lesions to gefitinib in responders and the results of gefitinib readministration following temporary cessation of gefitinib upon progression of initial gefitinib treatment and other treatments. METHOD: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical courses of 27 NSCLC patients who received gefitinib and achieved either a complete or partial response. RESULTS: The best-response rate and disease-control rate against the initial chemotherapy for the gefitinib-responders were 27.3% and 77.3%, respectively. Favorable efficacy was observed in the primary lesion and metastases to the lung, liver and brain, while there was no obvious effect on bone metastasis. The primary lesion and intrapulmonary metastasis were the sites of major recurrence. Median progression-free survival was 13.8 months, median duration of gefitinib treatment was 17.0 months and median overall survival was 29.2 months. Some of the patients who experienced disease progression after responding to gefitinib were again sensitive to readministration of gefitinib following temporary cessation of gefitinib and other treatments. CONCLUSION: Patients may still be expected to have prolonged survival if they once responded to gefitinib and then underwent various subsequent treatments followed by readministration of gefitinib. These findings might provide valuable information for the management of gefitinib-responders

NMR and mutational identification of the collagen-binding site of the chaperone Hsp47.

Heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47) acts as a client-specific chaperone for collagen and plays a vital role in collagen maturation and the consequent embryonic development. In addition, this protein can be a potential target for the treatment of fibrosis. Despite its physiological and pathological importance, little is currently known about the collagen-binding mode of Hsp47 from a structural aspect. Here, we describe an NMR study that was conducted to identify the collagen-binding site of Hsp47. We used chicken Hsp47, which has higher solubility than its human counterpart, and applied a selective (15)N-labeling method targeting its tryptophan and histidine residues. Spectral assignments were made based on site-directed mutagenesis of the individual residues. By inspecting the spectral changes that were observed upon interaction with a trimeric collagen peptide and the mutational data, we successfully mapped the collagen-binding site in the B/C β-barrel domain and a nearby loop in a 3D-homology model based upon a serpin fold. This conclusion was confirmed by mutational analysis. Our findings provide a molecular basis for the design of compounds that target the interaction between Hsp47 and procollagen as therapeutics for fibrotic diseases

Communication—Alkyl-Chain-Length Dependence of Quaternary Ammonium Cation on Zn Deposition Morphology in Alkaline-Based Electrolytes

ArticleJournal of The Electrochemical Society. 166(10): A2242 (2019)journal articl