An ultrathin single-layer metasurface manifesting both linear cross-polarization conversion (CPC) and linear-to-circular polarization (LP-to-CP) conversion in X-band is presented in this research. The designed metasurface acts as a multifunctional metasurface achieving CPC over a fractional bandwidth of 31.6% (8–11 GHz) with more than 95% efficiency while linear-to-circular polarization conversion is realized over two frequency bands from 7.5–7.7 GHz and 11.5–11.9 GHz. Moreover, the overall optimized structure of the unit cell results in a stable polarization transformation against changes in the incidence angle up to 45° both for transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) polarizations. The proposed metasurface with simple structure, compact size, angular stability and multifunctional capability qualifies for many applications in communication and polarization manipulating devices.

Defects in autophagy are implicated in a growing number of diseases. Jelani et al. identify a mutation in WIPI2 , a major autophagy gene, associated with a multisystemic global developmental disorder. Functional studies in cell lines derived from patients reveal significant reductions in the classic hallmarks of autophagy.

Abnormal post-transcriptional modulations in inflammatory genes by microRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in human disorders including arthritis. In this study, we determined the effect of hsa-miR-125b-5p on interleukin (IL)-1β induced inflammatory genes in human osteoarthritic (OA) chondrocytes. Bioinformatics algorithms showed 3′untranslated region (3′UTR) of TRAF6 mRNA (NM_004620.3) has perfectly matched ‘seed-sequence’ for hsa-miR-125b-5p. Treatment of cells with IL-1β up-regulates TRAF6 mRNA and down-regulates hsa-miR-125b-5p expression. This negative correlation between TRAF6 and hsa-miR-125b-5p was verified by transfection with miR-125b mimic (pre-miR-125b). Moreover, transfection with miR-125b mimic caused marked inhibition of IL-1β-induced phosphorylation of p38-MAPK, JNK-MAPKs and ERK-MAPKs and also suppressed the nuclear levels of NF-κBp50, NF-κBp65 and inhibited the activation of IκBα. Furthermore, transfected chondrocytes with miR-125b mimic in the presence of IL-1β also showed marked inhibition in the secretion of several proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines and growth factors including IL-6, IL-8, INF-γ, TGF-β1, IGFBP-1 and PGDF-BB. Importantly, this transfection also significantly inhibited IL-1β- induced MMP-13 expression/production. In short, this study concludes that hsa-miR-125b-5p acts as a negative co-regulator of inflammatory genes including MMP-13 via targeting TRAF6/MAPKs/NF-κB pathway in human OA chondrocytes.

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An ultrathin bi-layered chiral metasurface manifesting asymmetric transmission for linear polarization is designed and experimentally demonstrated. By breaking certain symmetries of the chiral structure, the proposed design is enabled to convert a y-polarized wave into an x-polarized upon transmission in the forward direction with transmission coefficient 0.95 while an x-polarized wave is completely reflected. On the other hand, in the backward direction, an x-polarized wave is transformed into y-polarized with transmission coefficient magnitude of 0.95 while a y-polarized wave is reflected. More importantly, the proposed structure maintains asymmetric transmission characteristics for oblique incidence up to 60º both for transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. It is shown that unlike linear polarization, the proposed metasurface shows no propagation direction-dependent characteristics for circular polarization. The ultrathin thickness (0.026λ at 10 GHz), efficiency and high angular stability qualifies the proposed metasurface to be a promising candidate for integration with numerous microwave devices.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a primary liver malignancy in which the risk of development is always multifunctional. Interleukin-6 is a proinflammatory and multifunctional cytokine, which plays an important role in the immune response, haematopoiesis and defence against viral infection. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of Interleukin-6 mutations (rs2069837 and rs17147230) associated with genetic risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in Khyber Pakthunkhwa population. A total of 72 hepatocellular carcinoma cases and 38 controls were included in this study. The genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood cells and Interleukin-6 genotyping was performed using T-ARMS-PCR technique. Our results show a significant increase risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma with the mutation within Interleukin-6 gene with heterozygous G allele (rs2069837) (OR = 10.667, 95%CI = 3.923–29.001, p = < 0.0001) and heterozygous T allele (rs17147230) (OR = 75.385, 95%CI = 9.797–580.065, p = < 0.0001). However, under recessive gene model the results were insignificant in case of Interleukin-6 rs2069837 (OR = 0.605, 95%CI = 0.217–1.689, p = 0.337), while significant in case of Interleukin-6 rs17147230 (OR = 0.298, 95%CI = 0.121–0.734, p = 0.0085). In conclusion, Interleukin-6 mutation is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma susceptibility. More related studies with other associated interleukins and their whole gene sequencing will be required.

In this letter, an ultrathin bilayer metasurface, which exhibits half and quarterwave plate operation at different resonance frequencies in the microwave regime, is realized and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed metasurface not only transforms linear and circular polarizations to their corresponding cross polarizations but also achieves linear tocircular and circulartolinear polarization conversion in different frequency regimes. Moreover, the quarterwave plate operation of the metasurface is quite robust to the variations in the incidence angle both for transverseelectric and transversemagnetic polarizations. The physical mechanism behind half and quarterwave plate operation is elucidated through surface current distribution. Analytical results for the refractive index further elaborate on the operation of the metasurface.

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