3D chaos lidar system with a pulsed master oscillator power amplifier scheme.

We investigated the characteristics of chaos-modulated pulses amplified by a pulsed master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) for application in a new chaos lidar system in this study. Compared with the loss modulation applied in a continuous-wave (CW) time-gating scheme, the pulsed MOPA scheme could generate chaos-modulated pulses with much higher peak power, resulting in an improved peak-to-standard deviation of sidelobe level (PSLstd) in correlation-based lidar detection. When the pulsed MOPA scheme was applied at a duty cycle of 0.1% and pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz, which correspond to specifications compliant with eye safety regulations, it outperformed the CW time-gating scheme with respect to PSLstd by 15 dB. For the first time, we applied the chaos lidar system with the pulsed MOPA scheme to execute high-resolution, high-precision three-dimensional (3D) face profiling from a distance of 5 m. We also added the corresponding PSLstd value to each pixel in the point clouds to generate false-color images; thus, we obtained 3D images of a scene with multiple objects at a range of up to 20 m.

A high-sucrose diet aggravates Alzheimer's disease pathology, attenuates hypothalamic leptin signaling, and impairs food-anticipatory activity in APPswe/PS1dE9 mice.

High-fat and high-sugar diets contribute to the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although the impact of high-fat diets on AD pathogenesis has been established, the effect of high-sucrose diets (HSDs) on AD pathogenesis remains unclear. This study sought to determine the impact of HSDs on AD-related pathologies. Male APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) transgenic and wild-type mice were provided with HSD and their cognitive and hypothalamus-related noncognitive parameters, including feeding behaviors and glycemic regulation, were compared. HSD-fed APP/PS1 mice showed increased neuroinflammation, as well as increased cortical and serum levels of amyloid-ß. HSD-fed APP/PS1 mice showed aggravated obesity, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, and leptin resistance, but there was no induction of hyperphagia or hyperleptinemia. Leptin-induced phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 in the dorsomedial and ventromedial hypothalamus was reduced in HSD-fed APP/PS1 mice, which might be associated with attenuated food-anticipatory activity, glycemic dysregulation, and AD-related noncognitive symptoms. Our study demonstrates that HSD aggravates metabolic stresses, increases AD-related pathologies, and attenuates hypothalamic leptin signaling in APP/PS1 mice.

Computation of relative binding free energy for an inhibitor and its analogs binding with Erk kinase using thermodynamic integration MD simulation.

In the present study, we carried out thermodynamic integration molecular dynamics simulation for a pair of analogous inhibitors binding with Erk kinase to investigate how computation performs in reproducing the relative binding free energy. The computation with BCC-AM1 charges for ligands gave -1.1 kcal/mol, deviated from experimental value of -2.3 kcal/mol by 1.2 kcal/mol, in good agreement with experimental result. The error of computed value was estimated to be 0.5 kcal/mol. To obtain convergence, switching vdw interaction on and off required approximately 10 times more CPU time than switching charges. Residue-based contributions and hydrogen bonding were analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, subsequent simulation using RESP charge for ligand gave ΔΔG of -1.6 kcal/mol. The computed results are better than the result of -5.6 kcal/mol estimated using PBSA method in a previous study. Based on these results, we further carried out computations to predict ΔΔG for five new analogs, focusing on placing polar and nonpolar functional groups at the meta site of benzene ring shown in the Fig. 1, to see if these ligands have better binding affinity than the above ligands. The computations resulted that a ligand with polar -OH group has better binding affinity than the previous examined ligand by ~2.0 kcal/mol and two other ligands have better affinity by ~1.0 kcal/mol. The predicted better inhibitors of this kind should be of interest to experimentalist for future experimental enzyme and/or cell assays.

A novel sialyltransferase inhibitor suppresses FAK/paxillin signaling and cancer angiogenesis and metastasis pathways.

Increased sialyltransferase (ST) activity promotes cancer cell metastasis, and overexpression of cell surface sialic acid correlates with poor prognosis in cancer patients. To seek therapies targeting metastasis for cancer treatment, we developed a novel ST inhibitor, Lith-O-Asp, and investigated its antimetastatic and antiangiogenic effects and mechanisms. We found that cells treated with Lith-O-Asp showed a reduction of activity on various ST enzymes by in vitro and cell-based activity analyses. Lith-O-Asp inhibited migration and invasion abilities in various cancer cell lines and showed inhibitory effect on the angiogenic activity of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Indeed, Lith-O-Asp treatment consequently delayed cancer cell metastasis in experimental and spontaneous metastasis assays in animal models. Importantly, Lith-O-Asp decreased the sialic acid modification of integrin-ß1 and inhibited the expression of phospho-FAK, phospho-paxillin, and the matrix metalloprotease (MMP) 2 and MMP9. Lith-O-Asp attenuated the Rho GTPase activity leading to actin dynamic impairment. In addition, 2DE-MS/MS and immunoblotting analyses showed that Lith-O-Asp altered the protein expression level and phosphorylation status of various proteins involved in crucial metastasis and angiogenesis pathways such as vimentin and ribonuclease/angiogenin inhibitor RNH1. Furthermore, Lith-O-Asp treatment significantly inhibited the invasive ability exerted by ectopic overexpression of various ST enzymes catalyzing α-2,6- or α-2,3-sialylation. Our results provide compelling evidence that the potential pan-ST inhibitor, Lith-O-Asp, suppressed cancer cell metastasis likely by inhibiting FAK/paxillin signaling and expressing antiangiogenesis factors. Lith-O-Asp is worthy for further testing as a novel antimetastasis drug for cancer treatment.