Hypoxia-induced cysteine metabolism reprogramming is crucial for the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer.

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of human cancer, and cancer-specific metabolism provides opportunities for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. However, the underlying mechanisms by which metabolic pathways affect the initiation and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that cysteine is highly enriched in colorectal tumors compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues, thereby promoting tumorigenesis of CRC.

120-GBaud 16-QAM silicon photonics IQ modulator for data center interconnection.

We demonstrated all-silicon IQ modulators (IQMs) operating at 120-GBaud 16-QAM with suitable bandwidth, and output power. We required optical signal-to-noise-ratio (rOSNR) that have promising potential to be used in 800-Gbps small-form-factor pluggable transceivers for data center interconnection. First, we tested an IQM chip using discrete drivers and achieved a per-polarization TX output power of -18.

Phosphorylation at tyrosine 317 and 508 are crucial for PIK3CA/p110α to promote CRC tumorigenesis.

Background: PI3K/AKT signaling pathway plays important role in tumorigenesis of human cancer. Protein phosphorylation is crucial for signaling transduction of this pathway. PIK3CA, encoding the catalytic subunit p110α of PI3K complex, is one of the most frequently mutated oncogenes in human cancers.

FAK-mediated phosphorylation at Y464 regulates p85β nuclear translocation to promote tumorigenesis of ccRCC by repressing RB1 expression.

PI3K regulatory subunit p85s normally stabilizes and regulates catalytic subunit p110s in the cytoplasm. Recent studies show that p110-free p85s in the nucleus plays important roles in biological processes. However, the mechanisms by which p85s translocate into the nucleus remain elusive.

Genomic Profiling Reveals the Variant Landscape of Sporadic Parathyroid Adenomas in Chinese Population.

Objective: To define somatic variants of parathyroid adenoma (PA) and to provide novel insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of sporadic PA.

Methods: Basic clinical characteristics and biochemical indices of 73 patients with PA were collected. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on matched tumor-constitutional DNA pairs to detect somatic alterations.

Epigenetic repression of miR-17 contributed to di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-triggered insulin resistance by targeting Keap1-Nrf2/miR-200a axis in skeletal muscle.

Skeletal muscle insulin resistance is detectable before type 2 diabetes is diagnosed. Exposure to di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a typical environmental endocrine-disrupting chemical, is a novel risk factor for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to explore insulin signaling regulatory pathway in skeletal muscle of the DEHP-induced insulin-resistant mice and to investigate potential therapeutic strategies for treating insulin resistance.

Plasmonic nanostructured metal-oxide-semiconductor reflection modulators.

We propose a plasmonic surface that produces an electrically controlled reflectance as a high-speed intensity modulator. The device is conceived as a metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor on silicon with its metal structured as a thin patch bearing a contiguous nanoscale grating. The metal structure serves multiple functions as a driving electrode and as a grating coupler for perpendicularly incident p-polarized light to surface plasmons supported by the patch.

Thin Au surface plasmon waveguide Schottky detectors on p-Si.

Surface plasmon sub-bandgap Schottky detectors based on an asymmetric Au stripe waveguide on p-Si are investigated theoretically and experimentally at free-space wavelengths of λ(0) = 1310 and 1550 nm. Au on p-Si produces a low Schottky barrier (0.33 eV), which improves the internal quantum efficiency.

Long range surface plasmons on asymmetric suspended thin film structures for biosensing applications.

We show that long-range surface plasmons (LRSPs) are supported in a physically asymmetric thin film structure, consisting of a low refractive index medium on a metal slab, supported by a high refractive index dielectric layer (membrane) over air, as a suspended waveguide. For design purposes, an analytic formulation is derived in 1D yielding a transcendental equation that ensures symmetry of the transverse fields of the LRSP within the metal slab by constraining its thicknesses and that of the membrane. Results from the formulation are in quantitative agreement with transfer matrix calculations for a candidate slab waveguide consisting of an H(2)O-Au-SiO(2)-air structure.

Grating couplers for broadside input and output coupling of long-range surface plasmons.

Metal gratings for in-coupling a Gaussian beam incident from broadside to the long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) propagating in one direction along a membrane-supported Au slab bounded by air or water are proposed and modeled by the finite-difference time-domain method. Grating couplers for out-coupling the propagating LRSPP into free radiation directed along broadside are also investigated. Short grating designs consisting of a small number of Au bumps yield 15% to 20% in-coupling efficiencies, and about 60% out-coupling efficiencies.

Quasi-distributed refractometer using tilted Bragg gratings and time domain reflectometry.

Tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) have been demonstrated to be accurate refractometers as they couple light from the fiber core to the cladding. Because they require spectral measurements on several tens of nanometers, demodulation techniques reported so far are not suited for quasi-distributed refractive index sensing using TFBGs cascaded along a single optical fiber. We demonstrate here that a commercial Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) can be used to multiplex identical TFBGs refractometers written in the same optical fiber.

Sensitivity of photonic crystal fiber modes to temperature, strain and external refractive index.

Several strong narrowband resonances are observed in the transmission spectra of fiber Bragg gratings photo-written in photonic crystal fiber that has a refractive index-neutral germanium/fluorine co-doped core. Experimental results for the strain, temperature and refractive index sensitivities of these mode resonances are reported and compared to those of conventional single mode fiber. In particular, we identify three kinds of resonances whose relative sensitivities to strain, temperature and refractive index are markedly different and present numerical simulations to explain these properties.

Temperature-independent tilted fiber grating vibration sensor based on cladding-core recoupling.

A novel structure in which a short optical fiber stub containing a weakly tilted Bragg grating is spliced to another slightly offset fiber. The total power reflected from this structure is independent of temperature and occurs in two well-defined wavelength bands, only one of which reflects a different amount of power as the fiber stub bends or vibrates. The smart sensing structure presents an extremely high sensitivity for microbending, and its frequency response has been tested to higher than 2 kHz so far in temperature-immune vibration measurements via cost-effective power detection.

Optical fiber refractometer using narrowband cladding-mode resonance shifts.

Short-period fiber Bragg gratings with weakly tilted grating planes generate multiple strong resonances in transmission. Our experimental results show that the wavelength separation between selected resonances allows the measurement of the refractive index of the medium surrounding the fiber for values between 1.25 and 1.