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Down-regulation of melanin synthesis and\or melanin transfer are\is required for recovery of pigmentary disorders. It is known that direct inhibitors of tyrosinase, the key enzyme in melanin synthesis, such as hydroquinone with a phenol structure, suppress melanin synthesis. We screened some herbal monomers using human melanocytes and found that paeonol, a major phenolic component of Moutan Cortex, down-regulated melanin synthesis. The melanin synthesis and tyrosinase activity were inhibited by paeonol in a dose-dependent manner. The expression levels of tyrosinase mRNA and protein were also reduced by paeonol. We further studied the inhibitory effects of paeonol on melanin transfer in co-culture of melanocytes and keratinocytes. More than 50% of inhibition of melanin transfer was observed at concentration of 200 μM of paeonol and the increased melanin transfer induced by SLIGRL, the PAR-2 activating peptide, was also reduced by paeonol. However, paeonol did not influence the expression level of PAR-2 mRNA in co-culture cells. These results indicate that the depigmenting effect of paeonol might be due to its down-regulation of melanogenesis and melanin transfer.

Previous papers on the transfer problem pay scant attention to the problems caused by the distortionary taxation that extracts the gift from the donor nation or the cut in distortionary taxation that bestows the gift to the recipient nation. When combined with inflexibility in the real wage these changes in taxation and the transfer itself impose a considerable burden to the donor matched by a considerable blessing to the recipient. We explore these effects, and conclude that “The Great Rebalancing” between the US and China needed to cure the US trade deficit, i.e., to eliminate the transfer that China is making to the US may bestow a big burden on the US matched by a big blessing for China.

We investigate the entanglement transfer in two parallel spin chains by anisotropic Heisenberg XY interaction in an external magnetic field. The perfect entanglement transfer condition is obtained. We find that perfect entanglement transfer can be realized from one spin pair to another spin pair at certain times by adjusting the magnetic field strength and the anisotropy parameter, which suggests its potential usefulness in quantum information process.

The Earth–Moon libration points are of interest for future missions and have been proposed for both storage of propellant and supplies for lunar missions and as locations to establish space-based facilities for human missions. Thus, further development of an available transport network in the vicinity of the Moon is valuable. In this investigation, a methodology to search for transfers between periodic lunar libration point orbits is developed, and a catalog of these transfers is established, assuming the dynamics associated with the Earth–Moon circular restricted three-body problem. Maneuver-free transfers, i.e. heteroclinic and homoclinic connections, are considered, as well as transfers that require relatively small levels of $\mathrm{\Delta }v$. Considering the evolution of Earth–Moon transfers as the mass parameter is reduced, a relationship emerges between the available transfers in the Earth–Moon system and maneuver-free transfers that exist within the Hill three-body problem. The correlation between transfers in these systems is examined and offers insight into the existence of solutions within the catalog. To demonstrate the persistence of the catalog transfers in a higher-fidelity model, several solutions are transitioned to a Sun–Earth–Moon ephemeris model with the inclusion of solar radiation pressure and lunar gravity harmonics. The defining characteristics are preserved in the high-fidelity model, validating both the techniques employed for this investigation and the solutions computed within the catalog.

The transfer of fluids from porous matrix to fracture is a key issue to accurately predict the fluid flow behavior in porous–fracture media. In this work, to take into account the transfer of fluids, the analytical model of dimensionless permeability is proposed based on the fractal geometry theory for porous media. The proposed model is expressed as a function of microstructural parameters of the porous matrix and fracture, such as the pore area fractal dimension $D_p$, fractal dimension $D_T$ for tortuosity of tortuous capillaries, the ratio $\delta$ of the maximum pore size in porous matrix to fracture aperture, as well as the ratio $\mathrm{\Delta }{p}_m/\mathrm{\Delta }{p}_f$ of the pressure difference along the fracture to that along the porous matrix layers. The model reveals that the ratios $\delta$ and $\mathrm{\Delta }{p}_m/\mathrm{\Delta }{p}_f$ have significant influences on the permeability contribution from the porous matrix to the seepage behavior of the fracture. While the contribution of porosity of leak-wall porous surface of the fracture to the permeability is less than 10%. The present results may provide an important theoretical foundation for exploration of petroleum, gas and geothermal energy extraction systems.

Study of transport mechanism of two-phase flow through porous-fracture media is of considerable importance to deeply understand geologic behaviors. In this work, to consider the transfer of fluids, the analytical models of dimensionless relative permeabilities for the wetting and non-wetting phases flow are proposed based on the fractal geometry theory for porous media. The proposed models are expressed as functions of micro-structural parameters of the porous matrix and fracture, such as the fractal dimension ($D_{\mathrm{\text{p}}})$ for pore area, the fractal dimensions $(D_{\mathrm{\text{p,w}}},D_{\mathrm{\text{p,nw}}})$ for wetting phase and for non-wetting phase, porosity ($\varphi )$, the total saturations ($S_{\mathrm{\text{w}}},S_{\mathrm{\text{nw}}})$, the porous matrix saturation ($S_{\mathrm{\text{m,w}}},S_{\mathrm{\text{m,nw}}})$ of the wetting and non-wetting phases, fractal dimension ($D_T)$ for tortuosity of tortuous capillaries, as well as the ratio ($\delta )$ of the maximum pore size in porous matrix to fracture aperture. The ratio ($k=S_{f,\mathrm{\text{w}}}/S_{\mathrm{\text{m,w}}})$ has a significant impact on the relative permeabilities and total saturations of wetting phases. The results reveal that the flow contribution of wetting phase from the porous matrix to both the seepage behavior of the fracture and total wetting phase saturation can be neglected as $\delta \le 0.1$. The models may shed light on the fundamental mechanisms of the wetting and non-wetting phase flow in porous-fracture media with fluid transfer.

Yak genome provides new insights into high altitude adaptation.

Gentris and Shanghai Institutes of Preventative Medicine expand collaboration.

Chinese researchers identify rice gene enhancing quality, productivity.

Quintiles opens new Center of Excellence in Dalian to support innovative drug development.

BGI demonstrated genomic data transfer at nearly 10 gigabits per second between US and China.

Quintiles deepens investment in China - New Quintiles China Headquarters and local lab testing solution announced.

Beike earns AABB Accreditation for cord blood and cord tissue banking.

Epigenomic differences between newborns and centenarians provide insight to the understanding of aging.

Fortis Escorts Heart Institute wins ‘Best Single Specialty Hospital - Cardiology‘ title.

Probiodrug transfers its CDK9 inhibitor program to AstraZeneca.

GE to expand in life sciences with acquisition of strategic assets from Thermo Fisher Scientific.

MD Anderson teams up with Pfizer to advance cancer immunotherapy.

Trovagene and US Oncology Research collaborate on a prospective study for urine-based KRAS testing in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

MedImmune and Immunocore enter immunotherapy agreement to develop novel cancer therapies.

Nodality enters into a strategic collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation in autoimmune diseases.

Knopp Biosciences and NIH to collaborate in evaluating dexpramipexole in patients with hypereosinophilic syndrome.

AMN Healthcare receives top workplace award.

National Cancer Centre Singapore and Clearbridge BioMedics partner to bring circulating tumor cell technology closer to clinic.

Latest updates on soaps, detergents, cosmetics, hair care industry at 4th Emerging HPC Surfactants Markets.

CMT's 11th Phenol/ Acetone & Derivatives Markets in Shanghai, hones in on feedstock costs, excess capacities and more.

A*STAR signs agreement with Nestlé to strengthen food & nutrition R&D in Singapore.

Amorfix enters into agreement with a major global pharmaceutical company for Alzheimer's disease diagnostic.

PHARM Connect Congress- One step before the future.

Let k be a field of characteristic distinct from 2, a, a₁, a₂, a₃ ∈ k*, D ∈ ₂Br k, exp D = 2, . We prove that D is a sum of 18 quaternion algebras. Also for a field F of certain type we construct a certain function f(ind D) such that D is a sum of f(ind D) quaternions for any D ∈ ₂Br (F).

This study investigated the quantitative scaling properties of the center of pressure (COP) as well as the spatial-temporal properties of the COP to elucidate the postural control behavior of healthy elderly (HE) adults and adults with Parkinson’s disease (PD) during quiet standing. Eighteen adults with PD and eighteen HE adults participated in this study. The COP movements were recorded while participants stood on either a firm surface or on a foam pad with their eyes either opened or closed. The sway ranges in the anterior–posterior (AP) ($R_x)$ and medio-lateral (ML) ($R_y)$ directions, the total length of the trajectory ($L)$, sway area ($A)$, and scaling exponents ($\alpha )$ from detrended fluctuation analysis were computed from the measured COP data. All temporal variables of the COP in all conditions were found to be significantly larger in the PD group than in the HE group. Low scaling exponents obtained for the PD group showed this group possessed diminished postural control ability compared to the HE group. The PD group showed unpredictable open-loop control in both the AP and ML directions. This proprioceptive control became predictable and the time scale relations decreased as the postural challenges increased. The AP and ML closed-loop control of the PD group was more predictable than that of the HE group only when proprioception was distorted using intact visual input, and the visual and proprioceptive inputs were both intact.

Aiming at fostering digital innovation for value creation, incumbent firms have largely adopted dedicated and separated structures for innovation and new business creation. While these structures have been successful in enabling exploration, bringing digital innovations to scale remains a challenge. By employing a qualitative case study of an incumbent bank, with individual projects as the unit of analysis, this study investigates the practices and challenges of transitioning digital innovations developed in separate structures to operationalisation or commercialisation in the core of the organisation, a shift essential for enabling innovations to reach scale. Our key contribution is in presenting a dual business-technology transition-to-scale model defined by the intensity of integration and explaining how innovation managers deviate from this model by adopting coping actions aimed at overcoming innovation and organisational transition challenges. With this, we further highlight the challenges of managing an aligned dual business-technology transition in the context of an incumbent firm undergoing digital transformation.

One-step roll-to-roll lamination transfer of graphene was achieved by poly(ethylene co-vinyl acetate) as a binding material which has thermoplastic property and wide rubbery-plateau region between T_g~T_m. The transferred graphene film has a transmittance of 96.7% at 550 nm and 1.96 kΩ/sq of sheet resistance measured by simple 4-probe method. Standard deviation was found to be 0.198 kΩ/sq.

In this paper, we report an improved transfer of graphene by directly picking up the graphene with target substrates and the comparison of such transferred graphene samples with other graphene samples transferred by the commonly used "PMMA-based transfer" method. Raman spectroscopy studies show that this "direct transfer method" does not degrade the graphene structure and field effect transistor measurements show that it does not introduce any extra doping in graphene; in contrast, PMMA-based transfer samples have strong n-type doping. We also find that graphene samples achieved by this direct transfer method show higher mobility than graphene obtained from the PMMA-based transfer method.

Growing graphene on a large scale is the first step towards its industrial application. The most widely used large-scale graphene growth method is chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on metal foil. Transferring large-scale graphene without damaging it or degrading its performance is also very important. Generally, techniques for transferring CVD-grown graphene involve metal-foil etching. In this case, the metal etchant can chemically alter the graphene and small amounts of metal residue still remain after etching. These metal residues change the properties of the transferred graphene. In this paper, we demonstrate a new technique for transferring CVD-grown graphene films onto arbitrary substrates using Crystalbond, an off-the-shelf adhesive material. This new method is very simple, easy, and fast. It also solves the aforementioned problems associated with metal etching, by using mechanical exfoliation of graphene via the high adhesive strength of Crystalbond. We transferred a $\sim$1cm size piece of graphene, which exhibited reasonable optical and electrical properties, as observed using Raman spectroscopy and field effect transistor (FET) measurements, respectively.

Let $M_{\mathrm{\Sigma }}$ be an $n$-dimensional Thom–Mather stratified space of depth $1$. We denote by $\beta M$ the singular locus and by $L$ the associated link. In this paper, we study the problem of when such a space can be endowed with a wedge metric of positive scalar curvature. We relate this problem to recent work on index theory on stratified spaces, giving first an obstruction to the existence of such a metric in terms of a wedge $\alpha$-class ${\alpha }_w(M_{\mathrm{\Sigma }})\in {\mathrm{\text{KO}}}_n$. In order to establish a sufficient condition, we need to assume additional structure: we assume that the link of $M_{\mathrm{\Sigma }}$ is a homogeneous space of positive scalar curvature, $L=G/K$, where the semisimple compact Lie group $G$ acts transitively on $L$ by isometries. Examples of such manifolds include compact semisimple Lie groups and Riemannian symmetric spaces of compact type. Under these assumptions, when $M_{\mathrm{\Sigma }}$ and $\beta M$ are spin, we reinterpret our obstruction in terms of two $\alpha$-classes associated to the resolution of $M_{\mathrm{\Sigma }}$, $M$, and to the singular locus $\beta M$. Finally, when $M_{\mathrm{\Sigma }}$, $\beta M$, $L$ and $G$ are simply connected and $dimM$ is big enough, and when some other conditions on $L$ (satisfied in a large number of cases) hold, we establish the main result of this paper, showing that the vanishing of these two $\alpha$-classes is also sufficient for the existence of a well-adapted wedge metric of positive scalar curvature.

The potential for the near-future development of two technologies — artificial forms of intelligence, as well as the ability to "upload" human minds into artificial forms — raises several ethical questions regarding the proper treatment and understanding of these artificial minds. The crux of the dilemma is whether or not such creations should be accorded the same rights we currently grant humans, and this question seems to hinge upon whether they will exhibit their own "subjectivity", or internal viewpoints. Recognizing this as the essential factor yields some ethical guidance, but these issues need further exploration before such technologies become available.

Spontaneous ruptures of the flexor carpi radialis tendon (FCR) are rare and associated with systemic inflammatory diseases, localized tendinopathy related to scaphotrapezial-trapezoidal arthritis, or chronic immunosuppression from corticosteroids. While most cases do not require operative intervention, some patients develop weakness, impaired range of motion, and persistent pain. Previously reported surgical options include synovectomy, tendon stump resection, and osteophyte removal. We describe a surgical technique for patients with persistent symptomatology following FCR rupture in which the FCR is transposed end-to-side to the palmaris longus tendon. Three cases using this technique are presented with follow-up of 4–9 months that were collected at Lenox Hill Hospital. All three patients did well regarding specific outcome measures: grip strength, range of motion, and functional activity. FCR transfer to palmaris is an alternative to other surgical options for the spontaneous rupture of the FCR tendon in patients who remain symptomatic despite a course of non-operative therapy.

Transferring a patient is a basic assistance for individuals with moderate to maximum disability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the heart rate (HR) and workload of physical therapists during transferring a paraplegic patient from a newly designed wheelchair with adjustable height. Eleven healthy therapists (24±1 years of age, n=11) transferred the same thoracic cord (T12) injured male (weight 52 kg) from the wheelchair to bed at different height. The HR responses of the therapists were recorded by a telemetry system (WEP-4204J, Nihon Kohden Corp., Tokyo, Japan) to calculate the relative workload ((HRpeak-HRrest)/(HRmax-HRrest)*100%). One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni test were used to compare the differences among different transfer conditions. There was no significant difference among peak HR during low-even (115.3±4.6 beats/min), uneven (130.6 ± 5.3 beats/min), and high-even transfer (121.9 ± 5.5 beats/min). The relative workload (42.2±3.9%) during uneven transfer was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that (28.4±2.9%) during low-even transfer, and the difference was abolished during high-even transfer. The conclusion was that the workload of the therapists during uneven transfer was significantly increased and it could be reduced with the modification of the height of the wheelchair or bed.

This article examines how patent protection in developing countries affects the technology licensing strategy of US multinational firms and the associated technology transfer flows. Strengthening patent rights lowers appropriability hazards and so reduces the firms’ reliance on affiliated licensing as the more secure means of transfer (the internalization effect). However lower appropriability hazards also encourage the firms to increase the volume of technology transfer via licensing both within and outside the firm (the appropriability effect). Which effect prevails depends on the underlying technological complexity of the firms’ product. We find that a strengthening of patent protection in the host country increases the incentive to license innovations to unaffiliated parties. While unaffiliated licensing rises among all firms, the volume of affiliated licensing falls among complex-technology firms but rises among simple-technology firms. The positive appropriability effect on affiliated licensing is strong enough among simple-technology firms that the entire composition of their licensing further shifts towards affiliated parties. The results are significant for recent work on the internalization theories of multinational firms and the interaction between firm strategy and the institutional environment, as well as for patent policy in the developing world, where access to knowledge is critical.

We discuss here models for soliton-mediated electron transport that may underlie the possibility of superconductivity.