A miniature Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometric fiber-optic sensor suitable for high-temperature sensing is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor head consists of two FP cavities formed by fusion splicing a short hollow-core fiber and a piece of single-mode fiber at a photonic crystal fiber in series. The reflection spectra of an implemented sensor are measured at several temperatures and analyzed in the spatial frequency domain. The experiment shows that the thermal-optic effect of the cavity material is much more appreciable than its thermal expansion. The temperature measurements up to 1000 degrees C with a step of 50 degrees C confirm that it could be applicable as a high-temperature sensor.

The mammalian cytoplasmic multi-tRNA synthetase complex (MSC) is a depot system that regulates non-translational cellular functions. Here we found that the MSC component glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase (EPRS) switched its function following viral infection and exhibited potent antiviral activity. Infection-specific phosphorylation of EPRS at Ser990 induced its dissociation from the MSC, after which it was guided to the antiviral signaling pathway, where it interacted with PCBP2, a negative regulator of mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) that is critical for antiviral immunity. This interaction blocked PCBP2-mediated ubiquitination of MAVS and ultimately suppressed viral replication. EPRS-haploid (Eprs+/−) mice showed enhanced viremia and inflammation and delayed viral clearance. This stimulus-inducible activation of MAVS by EPRS suggests an unexpected role for the MSC as a regulator of immune responses to viral infection.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes a devastating enteric disease with acute diarrhea, dehydration and significant mortality in swine, thereby incurring heavy economic losses in Korea. Spike (S) glycoprotein has been suggested as an important determinant for PEDV biological properties. In this study, the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the partial S glycoprotein genes of Korean PEDV isolates, including epitope region that is capable of inducing PEDV-neutralizing antibodies, were determined. The partial S glycoprotein genes were amplified by RT-PCR, cloned, sequenced, and compared with each other as well as with reference PEDV strains. By phylogenetic analysis, the Korean PEDV isolates were divided into three groups (G1, G2, G3), which had three subgroups (G1-1, G1-2, G1-3). Group1 (G1) Korean PEDV isolates were highly homologous to CV777, Br1/87, JS-2004-2, KPED-9, P-5V, SM98-1, parent DR13, and attenuated DR13, group2 (G2) Korean PEDV isolates were highly homologous to Spk1, and group3 (G3) was Chinju99 at the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence levels. In addition, the G1 Korean PEDV isolates didn't had several specific nucleotides and amino acids which were found in the G2 and G3 Korean PEDV isolates, and especially the G1-1 Korean PEDV isolates had specific nucleotides and amino acids which were not found in the G1-2, G1-3, G2, and G3 Korean PEDV isolates. It was suggested that many Korean PEDV isolates are closely related to the G1 including CV777, Br1/87, JS-2004-2, KPED-9, P-5 V, SM98-1, parent DR13, and attenuated DR13 rather than to the G2 and G3 including Spk1 and Chinju99, and notably more prevalent PEDVs isolated in Korea are especially close to the Chinese PEDV strain JS-2004-2 rather than Korean PEDV strains Spk1, Chinju99, KPED-9, SM98-1, parent DR13, and attenuated DR13.

A suit-type wearable robot (STWR) is a new type of soft wearable robot (SWR) that can be worn easily anywhere and anytime to assist the muscular strength of wearers because it can be worn like normal clothes and is comfortable to wear even with no power supply. This paper proposes an STWR, in which a shape-memory-alloy-based fabric muscle (SFM) is used as the actuator. The STWR, which weighs less than 1 kg, has a simple structure, with the following components: SFMs, wire encoders for measuring the contraction length of the SFMs, and BOA that fix the actuators on the forearms. In this study, a position controller for the SFM using the wire encoder was developed, and a prototype STWR was fabricated using this position controller. Moreover, by putting the STWR on a mannequin, step-response experiments were performed in which the arms of the mannequin lifted barbells weighing 2 kg and 4 kg to a certain target position. A fast response of moving to the target position in less than 1 s was observed in all steps except for the initial heating step for the 2 kg barbell. The response speed of the SFM was noticeably slower for the 4 kg barbell compared to that for the 2 kg barbell; it moved to the target position in approximately 3 s in all the steps except for the initial heating step. The SFM-applied STWR could overcome the limitations of conventional robots in terms of weight and inconvenience, thereby demonstrating the application potential of STWRs.

cA virulent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) strain, DR13, was obtained from suckling pigs suspected of having porcine epidemic diarrhea in 1999 in Korea, and its attenuated counterpart was derived from virulent strain DR13 by serial propagation in Vero cells. This report describes the first complete genome sequences of virulent PEDV and its attenuated counterpart, which will provide important insights into the molecular basis of the attenuation of PEDV. P orcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), first reported in 1978 (6), is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae. PEDV causes an acute and highly contagious enteric disease characterized by severe diarrhea, dehydration, and a high mortality rate in swine. A virulent strain, DR13, was obtained from suckling pigs suspected of having porcine epidemic diarrhea in 1999, and an attenuated counterpart was derived from virulent strain DR13 by serial propagation in Vero cells (7). To date, the complete genome sequences of a virulent and attenuated PEDV strain pair have not been reported. Therefore, to provide important insights into the molecular basis of PEDV attenuation, it is necessary to analyze the complete genome sequences of virulent DR13 and its attenuated counterpart.Both ends of the genomes of the virulent and attenuated PEDV strain pair were confirmed by a system for the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (Invitrogen Corp.). The other parts were generated by analyzing ϳ28 overlapping cDNA fragments to complete the entire genomes and were determined by primer-walking sequencing. The genome of virulent DR13 is 28,029 nucleotides (nt) long after exclusion of the poly(A) tail, whereas that of attenuated DR13 contains 27,931 nt [excluding the poly(A) tail], which is 95 to 102 nt shorter than those of other sequenced virulent PEDVs (1, 4). The organization of the genomes of the virulent and attenuated PEDV strain pair is similar to that of other reported PEDV genomes (1, 4), with the characteristic gene order 5=-replicase (1a/ 1b)-S-ORF3-E-M-N-3=, and both their 5= (292 nt) and 3= (334 and 333 nt for virulent and attenuated DR13, respectively) ends contain untranslated regions (UTRs). Downstream of the 5= UTR, the PEDV genome contains two large open reading frames (ORF1a and ORF1ab) encoding two large nonstructural precursor polyproteins (replicases pp1a and pp1ab), the latter of which is expressed by programmed translational frameshifting (3). The precursor polyproteins are proteolytically ϳ15 replicase proteins (5). While the sizes of ORF1a and ORF1ab of virulent DR13 are 12,354 nt (nt 293 to 12,646) and 20,346 nt (nt 293 to 12,601 and 12601 to 20,637), those of attenuated DR13 are 12,330 nt (nt 293 to 12622) and 20,322 nt (nt 293 to 12,577 and 12,577 to 20,613). Moreover, and surprisingly, attenuated DR13 has 4,149-, 276-, and 210-nt ORFs in its S, ORF3 and E genes, which are 3, 399, and 21 nt shorter than those of its virulent counterpart.The virulent and attenuated DR13 strains have hexameric XUA(A/G)AC motifs at sites i...

From insects to cancer: N-Cyano sulfoximines were evaluated for COX inhibition and antiproliferative activity against a panel of cancer cell lines. The most active compound exhibited potent COX-2 inhibition, some selectivity for COX-2 over COX-1, only slight cytotoxicity towards healthy cells (HaCaT skin cells), and no mutagenic potential (as determined by an Ames assay).

miR-146a plays a role as a negative regulator in the production of TGF-β-induced fibrotic markers. Thus, miR-146a may be involved in the regulation of fibrosis in orbital fibroblasts from patients with GO.

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