Oral insulin therapy that targets the liver and further mimics glucoseresponsive secretion holds promise for correcting defects in glucose metabolism caused by peripheral delivery. This work describes the construction of polymersomes (Pep-PMS), which are composed of glucose-responsive polymers decorated with peptides that readily bind to the ganglioside-monosialic acid (GM1) receptor in the intestinal epithelium. Pep-PMS are efficiently transported across the intestinal epithelium through GM1-mediated transcytosis, leading to their abundant accumulation in the liver. Moreover, Pep-PMS can efficiently encapsulate insulin in euglycemia and release them in hyperglycemia. Under hyperglycemic conditions, the Pep-PMS dissociate to release the encapsulated insulin in response to glucose oxidase (GOx)-induced H 2 O 2 . Surprisingly, the postprandial blood glucose levels of diabetic rats treated with Pep-PMS can be maintained even after being challenged by glucose administration. Hepatic glucose uptake and glycogen production are also elevated after treating diabetic rats with Pep-PMS, which is similar to glucose utilization in normal rats. Oral delivery systems that target the liver and serve as a reservoir for glucose-responsive insulin secretion may improve the therapeutic effect in people with diabetes.

There is no statistic significance of instabilities and polymorphisms in mitochondrial D-loop region between gastric cancerous and para-cancerous normal tissues, which suggests that the instability might relate to heredity or be dependent on aging. There is a significant correlation between differentiation degree of gastric cancer and variant frequencies of 12S rRNA-tRNA(phe). The poorly differentiated gastric cancers are more prone to 12S rRNA-tRNA(phe) variations, or gastric cancers with 12S rRNA-tRNA(phe) variations are more likely to be poorly differentiated. np 16 189 T-C transition may be one of the important reasons for polyC instability in gastric cancer.

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Background: Little is known about the impact of haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We compared HRQoL between conventional in-centre HD and home-based PD in 1082 newly diagnosed kidney failure patients. Methods: This was an open-label, randomised, non-inferiority trial of adult patients with a diagnosis of end-stage kidney disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate ≤ 15 mL/min/1.73 m2) requiring maintenance dialysis from 36 sites in China randomised 1:1 to receive PD or conventional in-centre HD. The primary outcome was the ‘Burden of Kidney Disease’ assessed using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQoL-SF) survey over 48 weeks and the main secondary outcomes were the remaining scales of KDQoL-SF and all-cause mortality. The effect of PD versus HD on the primary outcome was compared by their geometric mean (GM) ratio, and non-inferiority was defined by the lower bound of a one-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) >0.9. Results: A total of 725 subjects completed the trial per protocol (395 PD and 330 HD, mean age 49.8 (standard deviation (SD) 14.4) years, 41.4% women). For the primary outcome, the mean (SD) change in ‘Burden of Kidney Disease’ over 48 weeks was 2.61 (1.27) in PD group and 2.58 (1.35) in HD group, and the GM ratio (95% CI) was 1.059 (0.908–1.234), exceeding the limit for non-inferiority. For the secondary outcomes, the PD and HD groups were similar in all scales. There were 17 and 31 deaths in PD and HD groups, respectively. Patients receiving PD had more adverse events, adverse event leading to hospitalisation and serious adverse events compared to those allocated to HD, but adverse events leading to death and discontinuation of the trial were not different between PD and HD. Conclusions: In this trial, PD may be non-inferior to HD on the ‘Burden of Kidney Disease’ among Chinese kidney failure patients who are of younger age and have lower comorbidity after 48 weeks’ follow-up.

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Downloaded From: http://photonicsforenergy.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 08/23/2015 Terms of Use: http://spiedigitallibrary.org/ss/TermsOfUse.aspx Abstract. A spectrum splitter can be used to spatially multiplex different solar cells that have high efficiency in mutually exclusive parts of the solar spectrum. We investigated the use of a grating, comprising an array of dielectric cylinders embedded in a dielectric slab, for specularly transmitting one part of the solar spectrum while the other part is transmitted nonspecularly and the total reflectance is very low. A combination of (1) the rigorous coupled-wave approach for computing the reflection and transmission coefficients of the grating and (2) the differential evolution algorithm for optimizing the grating geometry and the refractive indices of dielectric materials was devised as a design tool. We used this tool to optimize two candidate gratings and obtained definite improvements to the initial guesses for the structural and constitutive parameters. Significant spectrum splitting can be achieved if the angle of incidence does not exceed 15 deg. Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.Fan et al.: Optimization of a spectrum splitter using differential evolution algorithm.

Computing the electromagnetic field due to a periodic grating is critical for assessing the performance of thin film solar voltaic devices. In this paper we investigate the computation of these fields in the time domain (similar problems also arise in simulating antennas). Assuming a translation invariant periodic grating this reduces to solving the wave equation in a periodic domain. Materials used in practical devices have frequency dependent coefficients, and we provide a first proof of existence and uniqueness for a general class of such materials. Using Convolution Quadrature we can then prove time stepping error estimates. We end with some preliminary numerical results that demonstrate the convergence and stability of the scheme.