Vertical integration of KTN on SOI wafer.

Optical modulators play an important role in communication systems, and silicon has been a focal point in this field thanks to its compatibility with CMOS fabrication. However, silicon's lack of inherent electro-optic behavior makes it suboptimal for modulation purposes. Conversely, potassium tantalate niobate (KTN) materials boast an improved electro-optic coefficient, presenting a path for improving modulation efficiency. However, limited research exists on KTN materials due to the difficulties associated with their fabrication. Here, a fabrication methodology is described for wafer-scale vertical integration of KTN material onto silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The resulting devices exhibit a propagation loss of 3.3 dBmm1 and a transition loss within the range of 0.46 to 0.76 dB, which are in agreement with simulations. This method tackles the fabrication challenges and showcases the potential of utilising KTN as the integration material on silicon platform for future optical modulators.

Investigation of the Anti-Melanogenic and Antioxidant Characteristics of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Flower Essential Oil and Determination of Its Chemical Composition.

The effects of essential oil from Eucalyptus camaldulensis flowers oil on melanogenesis and the oil's antioxidant characteristics were investigated. Assays of mushroom and cellular tyrosinase activities and melanin content of mouse melanoma cells were performed spectrophotometrically, and the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins was determined by Western blotting. The possible signaling pathways involved in essential oil-mediated depigmentation were also investigated using specific protein kinase inhibitors. The results revealed that E. camaldulensis flower essential oil effectively suppresses intracellular tyrosinase activity and decreases melanin amount in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells. The essential oil also exhibits antioxidant properties and effectively decreases intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. The volatile chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The chemical constituents in the essential oil are predominately oxygenated monoterpenes (34.9%), followed by oxygenated sesquiterpenes (31.8%), monoterpene hydrocarbons (29.0%) and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (4.3%). Our results indicated that E. camaldulensis flower essential oil inhibits melanogenesis through its antioxidant properties and by down-regulating both mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathways. The present study indicates that the essential oil has the potential to be developed into a skin care product.

Arabidopsis inositol pentakisphosphate 2-kinase, AtIPK1, is required for growth and modulates phosphate homeostasis at the transcriptional level.

Inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6 ) provides a phosphorous reservoir in plant seeds; in addition, along with its biosynthesis intermediates and derivatives, IP6 also plays important roles in diverse developmental and physiological processes. Disruption of the Arabidopsis inositol pentakisphosphate 2-kinase coding gene AtIPK1 was previously shown to reduce IP6 content in vegetative tissues and affect phosphate (Pi) sensing. Here we show that AtIPK1 is required for sustaining plant growth, as null mutants are non-viable. An incomplete loss-of-function mutant, atipk1-1, exhibited disturbed Pi homeostasis and overaccumulated Pi as a consequence of increased Pi uptake activity and root-to-shoot Pi translocation. The atipk1-1 mutants also showed a Pi deficiency-like root system architecture with reduced primary root and enhanced lateral root growth. Transcriptome analysis indicated that a subset of Pi starvation-responsive genes was transcriptionally perturbed in the atipk1-1 mutants and the expression of multiple genes involved in Pi uptake, allocation, and remobilization was increased. Genetic and transcriptional analyses suggest that disturbance of Pi homeostasis caused by atipk1 mutation involved components in addition to PHR1(-like) transcription factors. Notably, the transcriptional increase of a number of Pi starvation-responsive genes in the atipk1-1 mutants is correlated with the reduction of histone variant H2A.Z occupation in chromatin. The myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase mutants, atmips1 and atmips2 with comparable reduction in vegetative IP6 to that in the atipk1-1 mutants did not overaccumulate Pi, suggesting that Pi homeostasis modulated by AtIPK1 is not solely attributable to IP6 level. This study reveals that AtIPK1 has important roles in growth and Pi homeostasis.

Inhibition of melanogenesis versus antioxidant properties of essential oil extracted from leaves of Vitex negundo Linn and chemical composition analysis by GC-MS.

This study was aimed at investigating the antimelanogenic and antioxidative properties of the essential oil extracted from leaves of V. negundo Linn and the analysis of the chemical composition of this essential oil. The efficacy of the essential oil was evaluated spectrophotometrically, whereas the volatile chemical compounds in the essential oil were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results revealed that the essential oil effectively suppresses murine B16F10 tyrosinase activity and decreases the amount of melanin in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, the essential oil significantly scavenged 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radicals, and showed potent reducing power versus metal-ion chelating properties in a dose-dependent pattern. The chemical constituents in the essential oil are sesquiterpenes (44.41%), monoterpenes (19.25%), esters (14.77%), alcohols (8.53%), aromatic compound (5.90%), ketone (4.96%), ethers (0.4%) that together account for 98.22% of its chemical composition. It is predicted that the aromatic compound in the essential oil may contribute to its antioxidant activities. The results indicated that essential oil extracted from V. negundo Linn leaves decreased melanin production in B16F10 melanoma cells and showed potent antioxidant activities. The essential oil can thereby serve as an inhibitor of melanin synthesis and could also act as a natural antioxidant.

Vacuolar Ca2+/H+ transport activity is required for systemic phosphate homeostasis involving shoot-to-root signaling in Arabidopsis.

Calcium ions (Ca(2+)) and Ca(2+)-related proteins mediate a wide array of downstream processes involved in plant responses to abiotic stresses. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), disruption of the vacuolar Ca(2+)/H(+) transporters CAX1 and CAX3 causes notable alterations in the shoot ionome, including phosphate (P(i)) content. In this study, we showed that the cax1/cax3 double mutant displays an elevated P(i) level in shoots as a result of increased P(i) uptake in a miR399/PHO2-independent signaling pathway. Microarray analysis of the cax1/cax3 mutant suggests the regulatory function of CAX1 and CAX3 in suppressing the expression of a subset of shoot P(i) starvation-responsive genes, including genes encoding the PHT1;4 P(i) transporter and two SPX domain-containing proteins, SPX1 and SPX3. Moreover, although the expression of several PHT1 genes and PHT1;1/2/3 proteins is not up-regulated in the root of cax1/cax3, results from reciprocal grafting experiments indicate that the cax1/cax3 scion is responsible for high P(i) accumulation in grafted plants and that the pht1;1 rootstock is sufficient to moderately repress such P(i) accumulation. Based on these findings, we propose that CAX1 and CAX3 mediate a shoot-derived signal that modulates the activity of the root P(i) transporter system, likely in part via posttranslational regulation of PHT1;1 P(i) transporters.

The development of infant upright posture: sway less or sway differently?

Postural control is an important factor for early motor development; however, compared with adults, little is known about how infants control their unperturbed upright posture. This lack of knowledge, particularly with respect to spatial and temporal characteristics of infants' unperturbed independent standing, represents a significant gap in the understanding of human postural control and its development. Therefore, our first analysis offers a thorough longitudinal characterization of infants' quiet stance through the 9 months following the onset of independent walking. Second, we examined the influence of sensory-mechanical context, light touch contact, on infants' postural control. Nine typically developing infants were tested monthly as they stood on a small pedestal either independently or with the right hand lightly touching a stationary contact surface. In addition to the longitudinal study design, an age-constant sample was analyzed to verify the influence of walking experience in infant postural development without the confounding effect of chronological age. Center of pressure excursions were recorded and characterized by distance-related, velocity, and frequency domain measures. The results indicated that, with increasing experience in the upright, as indexed by walk age, infants' postural sway exhibited shifts in rate-related characteristics toward lower frequency and slower, less variable velocity oscillations without changing the spatial characteristics of sway. Additional touch contact stabilized infants' postural sway as revealed by decrease in sway position variance, amplitude, and area as well as lower frequency and velocity. These results were confirmed by the age-constant analysis. Taken together, our findings suggest that instead of progressively reducing the sway magnitude, infants sway differently with increasing upright experience or with additional somatosensory information. These differences suggest that early development of upright stance, particularly as it relates to increasing postural and locomotor experience, involves a refinement of sensorimotor dynamics that enhances estimation of self-motion for controlling upright stance.