An efficient 2 μm in-band pumped Ho:YAG laser was demonstrated. The resonator involves two Ho:YAG crystals, each of which was dual-end-pumped by two orthogonally polarized diode-pumped Tm:YLF lasers. The maximum continuous wave output power of 103 W was achieved, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 67.8% with respect to the incident pump power and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 63.5%. Under Q-switched mode, we obtained 101 W laser output at 30 kHz, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 66.2%. The beam quality or M2 factor was found to be less than 2.

MIG (monokine induced by interferon-g) is a CXC chemokine ligand (CXCL9) that can potently inhibit angiogenesis, and displays thymus-dependent antitumor effects. The effectiveness of a treatment combining gene therapy with plasmid-borne MIG (pORF-MIG) and low-dose cisplatin chemotherapy was determined using colon carcinoma (CT26) and Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2c) murine models. The program was carried out via intramuscular delivery of pORF-MIG at 100 mg/mouse twice a week for 4 weeks, and/or intraperitoneal delivery of cisplatin at 0.6 mg/kg/ mouse every 3 days for 48 days. Tumor volume and survival time were evaluated after treatment. CD31 immunohistochemical staining in tumor tissues and alginate capsule models in vivo was used to evaluate angiogenesis. Induction of apoptosis and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity were also assessed. The combination of pORF-MIG and low-dose cisplatin produced significant antitumor activity, with complete tumor regression in 4/10 of CT26 colon carcinomas and 3/10 of LL/2c lung carcinomas, low vascularity, in alginate capsules, apparently degraded tumor microvessel density, and increased induction of apoptotic and CTL activities compared with either treatment alone. This study suggests that the combination of pORF-MIG plus cisplatin augments the inhibition of angiogenesis and the induction of apoptosis or CTL activity, all of which enhance antitumor activity. These findings may prove useful in further explorations of the application of combinatorial approaches to the treatment of solid tumors.

Sodium alginate was hydrophobically modified by coupling of polybutyl methacrylate onto the alginate. The polybutyl methacrylate was previously prepared through polymerization of butyl methacrylate in the presence of 2-amino-ethanethiol as a chain transfer agent. The structure of the product was characterized by Fourier-transformed infrared spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)HNMR) and thermogravimetry. The result of fluorescence analysis showed that the hydrophobicity of the modified alginate was obviously increased. The modified alginate conjugate was used for immobilization of bovine serum albumin in the presence of calcium chloride. In addition, the release behavior of the drug-loaded alginate in deionized water and Tris-HCl buffer solution (pH 7.2) was investigated. It was found that the modified sodium alginate possessed prolonged release behavior compared to unmodified sodium alginate, and it had potential application in controlled release as a drug carrier.

High power and high beam quality continuous wave Tm:YLF laser by the dual-end-pumped is presented in this letter. The highest output power reaches 21.3 W when the totally input pump power is 54.6 W. The optical conversion efficiency is 39.0% and the slope efficiency is 47.3%. With an F-P etalon in the cavity, the output center wavelength is tuned to 1908 nm with about 0.5 nm FWHM. With the optimal cavity, the beam quality factor M 2 can be ∼ 1.1. As we know, our work is the first time to investigate the Tm:YLF laser output spectrum with an F-P etalon in the cavity, and acquire near-diffraction limited laser output. Output power, W 25 20 15 10 5 0 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Incident pumped power, W

We propose herein to make use of rotating electric fields for achieving flexible control on the hydrodynamic behavior of two miscible co-flowing water solutions in straight microchannels, in the context of a new manipulation tool for stratified liquid contents of microfluidic systems. Our theoretical analysis indicates that, while fluids of distinct electrical conductivities and identical permittivity are parallel pumped into the mainchannel, a circularly traveling field, as emitted from a four-phase electrode array surrounding the channel sidewalls, can direct the deflection of diffusing phase interface between the side-by-side miscible electrolyte streams asynchronously at half of the interfacial relaxation frequency, where the co-field electrorotational torque becomes most appreciable. An immediate application of the out-of-phase electroconvective streaming is that time required for electrolyte mixing is reduced because the area of two-phase contact interface is dramatically enlarged, and a serial combination of several rotating electrode arrays of alternate propagating directions can further rectify the mixing of microfluidics by inducing chaotic advection.

Based on the continuum mechanics theory, we propose herein a universal design of microfluidic ionic diode based on external concentration polarization of a gating ion-selective medium embedded in the microfluidic network with four power terminals. This micro/nanofluidic hybrid chip employs a cation-exchange nanoporous membrane (CEM) coupled with both a control and output microfluidic channel. Under the action of a vertical electric field throughout the CEM, nanoscale surface conduction of excessive counterions within the charged nanopores is converted to the propagation of either enriched or depleted boundary toward the opposing electrode-terminal in phase with the electroconvective flow, thereby making an adjustment in the electrical conductance of output microchannel for achieving high-flux field-effect current control and diode functionality. Three basic working states, including the “on,” “transition,” and “off” statuses, are distinguished in different ranges of source voltage magnitude. The rectification factor of the proposed ionic circuit platform can attain one hundred-fold even at small source and gate voltages. The presented field-effect-tunable microfluidic ion diode is easily scalable, permits appreciable fluid flow due to an intrinsically small hydrodynamic resistance, and holds promise for producing high-flux ion current rectification in next-generation integrated circuits.

A gain-switched Tm-doped double-clad silica fiber laser operating at a wavelength of approximately 2microm with moderate output energy of 14.7mJ per pulse and a slope efficiency of 39.5% (with respect to launched pump energy) is realized pumped at 1.064microm from a Nd:YAG laser. The gain-switched fiber laser pulses are built up by a series of relaxation spikes, and every spike pulse duration is nearly 1micros. The output wavelength becomes longer, and the slope efficiency increases with the increase in fiber length.

We report the room temperature continuous wave and acousto-optically Q-switched Ho:YAG laser double-pass pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser. Continuous wave output power of 10.5 W at 2090 nm is obtained under the incident pump power of 18.1 W, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 58.0% and a slope efficiency of 65.7%. For the Q-switched regime the maximum pulse energy of 1.0 mJ and the minimum pulse width of 25 ns at the repetition rate of 10 kHz are achieved, resulting in a peak power of 40.0 kW.