Optical design and fabrication of an all-aluminum unobscured two-mirror freeform imaging telescope.

Freeform optics offers more degrees of freedom to optical design that can benefit from a compact package size and a large field of view for imaging systems. Motivated by the advances in modern optical fabrication and metrology, freeform optics has been found in many applications. In this paper, we will describe the challenging optical design, fabrication, metrology, and assembly of an all-aluminum unobscured two-mirror freeform imaging telescope. The telescope has a large field of view of 20∘×15∘. The freeform aluminum mirrors are manufactured by diamond turning based on a feedback modification strategy. The freeform mirrors are measured by a computer-generated hologram-based interferometric null test method. All-aluminum configuration has the advantages of being athermal and cost-effective.

Characterization of a New Intracellular Alginate Lyase with Metal Ions-Tolerant and pH-Stable Properties.

Alginate lyases play an important role in alginate oligosaccharides (AOS) preparation and brown seaweed processing. Many extracellular alginate lyases have been characterized to develop efficient degradation tools needed for industrial applications. However, few studies focusing on intracellular alginate lyases have been conducted. In this work, a novel intracellular alkaline alginate lyase Alyw202 from Vibrio sp. W2 was cloned, expressed and characterized. Secretory expression was performed in a food-grade host, Yarrowia lipolytica. Recombinant Alyw202 with a molecular weight of approximately 38.3 kDa exhibited the highest activity at 45 °C and more than 60% of the activity in a broad pH range of 3.0 to 10.0. Furthermore, Alyw202 showed remarkable metal ion-tolerance, NaCl independence and the capacity of degrading alginate into oligosaccharides of DP2-DP4. Due to the unique pH-stable and high salt-tolerant properties, Alyw202 has potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Fast design method of smooth freeform lens with an arbitrary aperture for collimated beam shaping.

A method is presented for the fast design of a smooth freeform lens to tailor a collimated light beam with an arbitrary contour. This method begins by calculating an initial surface based on a simplified ray mapping. Then the surface is fitted by a system of Zernike polynomials, whose weights are treated as the optimization variables for further optimization. In the optimization, the objective function is analytically calculated using a partial differential-equation-based approach. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a freeform lens is designed for a collimated Gaussian beam with a spline contour to form a uniform illumination distribution with another spline contour, which takes only 26 s. A freeform lens is also fabricated and experimented, and its practical performance approaches the design.

Machine learning identifies SLC6A14 as a novel biomarker promoting the proliferation and metastasis of pancreatic cancer via Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) has the poorest prognosis compared to other common cancers because of its aggressive nature, late detection, and resistance to systemic treatment. In this study, we aimed to identify novel biomarkers for PC patients and further explored their function in PC progression. We analyzed GSE62452 and GSE28735 datasets, identifying 35 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between PC specimens and non-tumors. Based on 35 DEGs, we performed machine learning and identified eight diagnostic genes involved in PC progression. Then, we further screened three critical genes (CTSE, LAMC2 and SLC6A14) using three GEO datasets. A new diagnostic model was developed based on them and showed a strong predictive ability in screen PC specimens from non-tumor specimens in GEO, TCGA datasets and our cohorts. Then, clinical assays based on TCGA datasets indicated that the expression of LAMC2 and SLC6A14 was associated with advanced clinical stage and poor prognosis. The expressions of LAMC2 and SLC6A14, as well as the abundances of a variety of immune cells, exhibited a significant positive association with one another. Functionally, we confirmed that SLC6A14 was highly expressed in PC and its knockdown suppressed the proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT signal via regulating Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Overall, our findings developed a novel diagnostic model for PC patients. SLC6A14 may promote PC progression via modulating Wnt/ß-catenin signaling. This work offered a novel and encouraging new perspective that holds potential for further illuminating the clinicopathological relevance of PC as well as its molecular etiology.

The diagnosis and treatment of traumatic retroperitoneal hematoma.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze our experiences in patients with traumatic retroperitoneal hematoma, and highlight the problems in diagnosis and treatment to facilitate the surgeons to make decision. METHODOLOGY: One hundred and eight patients of traumatic retroperitoneal hematoma treated in our institution from May 2008 to Jun 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. The data including patient's age, type of injury, hospital stays, type of treatment, injured organs and mortality rate were collected. RESULTS: In 108 patients, seventy-seven patients were male and 31 were female with a mean age of 36.5 years; eighty-seven patients sustained blunt trauma and 21 penetrating injury. Centro-medial hematoma was found in 31 patients, lateral hematoma in 36 patients, pelvic hematoma in 35 and pelvic-central hematoma in six patients. Eighty-three patients were treated surgically and 25 patients were treated conservatively. Six patients died and the mortality rate is 6.5%. Wound infection occurred in five patients, deep vein thrombosis in one patient, gastric fistula in two patients and duodenal fistula in one patient. CONCLUSION: Traumatic retroperitoneal hematoma is life-threatening condition, early diagnosis and correct treatment is of upmost importance. Mandatory exploration should be performed in cases of retroperitoneal hematomas resulting from penetrating injury, but the selection of treatment mode in blunt injury depends on the anatomical position of hematoma, visceral injury and the hemodynamic status of the patients.

Production, Biosynthesis, and Commercial Applications of Fatty Acids From Oleaginous Fungi.

Oleaginous fungi (including fungus-like protists) are attractive in lipid production due to their short growth cycle, large biomass and high yield of lipids. Some typical oleaginous fungi including Galactomyces geotrichum, Thraustochytrids, Mortierella isabellina, and Mucor circinelloides, have been well studied for the ability to accumulate fatty acids with commercial application. Here, we review recent progress toward fermentation, extraction, of fungal fatty acids. To reduce cost of the fatty acids, fatty acid productions from raw materials were also summarized. Then, the synthesis mechanism of fatty acids was introduced. We also review recent studies of the metabolic engineering strategies have been developed as efficient tools in oleaginous fungi to overcome the biochemical limit and to improve production efficiency of the special fatty acids. It also can be predictable that metabolic engineering can further enhance biosynthesis of fatty acids and change the storage mode of fatty acids.

Gastric carcinoma with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor - A case report and literature review.

Gastric carcinoma (GC) with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is encountered very rarely in the clinic, and few cases have been reported in the literature. Here, we present a case involving a 72-year-old man who was diagnosed with gastric antrum adenocarcinoma accompanied by neuroendocrine differentiation and a GIST in the fundus, according to a preoperative examination and postoperative pathology. The patient then underwent a distal radical gastrectomy and GIST resection. After the operation, the patient was administered combined chemo-radiotherapy and subsequently underwent a 9-month follow-up examination. The gene mutations involved in this case were explored via high-throughput sequencing. The high-throughput gene mutation analysis indicated an exon5 mutation in the TP53 gene and copy number amplification of FGF19, CCND1, and FGFR2 in the gastric antrum adenocarcinoma. A gene sequencing analysis of the gastric fundus stromal tumor demonstrated an exon11 non-frame shift deletion mutation in the KIT gene. These findings suggested that this patient's cancer might be sensitive to AZD1775 (a TP53-targeted drug) or targeted drugs such as FGF19, CCND1 and FGFR2, and should be sensitive to imatinib.