Abstract: The present invention relates to methods for detecting Ficolin-3 dependent activation of the lectin pathway of complement, methods for identifying abnormalities in Ficolin-3, and methods for screening for deficiencies/and or identifying abnormalities in any downstream components of the Ficolin-3 dependent activation of the lectin pathway of 5 complement using an acetylated Ficolin-3 ligand, said methods generally comprising the steps of: (a) providing a sample of blood, serum, plasma, another body fluid or an extract thereof; (b) (optionally) preventing in the sample activation of the classical pathway and/or the alternative pathway and/or any non-Ficolin-3 mediated activation of the lectin pathway; (c) acetylating a molecule; (d) contacting said acetylated molecule 10 with said sample, in conditions that permit specific binding of Ficolin-3 to said acetylated molecule, and, (e) detecting and quantifying specific binding of the Ficolin-3 to said acetylated molecule, (f) determining in the sample complement ac

Abstract: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and in particular imatinib resistant CML is treated using compositions and methods in which a Rad51-inhibitor and a kinase inhibitor are administered. Most preferably, the Rad51 inhibitor comprises an indolyl isoquinoline structure and the kinase inhibitor is a BCR-ABL inhibitor.

Abstract: The present invention relates to mosaic HIV-1 group M Gag sequences and to a composition comprising same.

Abstract: An electromagnetic radiation activated device comprises a property changing material and at least one functionalized fullerene that upon irradiation of the functionalized fullerenes with electromagnetic radiation of one or more frequencies a thermally activated chemical or physical transformation occurs in the property changing material. The thermal activated transformation of the property changing material is triggered by the heating or combustion of the functionalized fullerenes upon their irradiation. The device can include a chemical agent that is embedded in the property changing material and is released when the material is heated by the functionalized fullerenes upon irradiation.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a class of magenta dyes, their preparation methods and applications. The magenta dyes include the compounds which simultaneously contain carboxyl group, sulfonic acid group and the carbonyl propyl sulfurylsulfonic acid on the anthrapyridone skeleton, showing in the form of general formula (I) or their mixtures. In the general formula (I): A may be cation M4, or substituted or unsubstituted benzyl group, or substituted or unsubstituted naphthyl methyl; M1, M2, M3 are respectively cation or cationic groups; Sulfonic acid group (SO3M2)m may located any position of the benzene ring, of which m is an integer of 0-2. As containing carboxyl (or carboxylic benzyl ester or naphthoate), sulfonic acid groups and carbonyl propyl sulfuryl simultaneously, the magenta dyes of the present invention feature outstanding tone, brightness, light resistance, water resistance, ozone resistance as well as solubility and solution stability, etc.

Abstract: A method of synthesizing a biocompatible hydrogel by covalently cross-linking an effective amount of a first macromonomer including a cyclic thioester group with an effective amount of a second macromonomer including a terminal cysteine group is disclosed. In addition, the synthesis and use of the following specific cyclic thioester macromonomer that can be used in the method, as well as specific hydrogels made using this macromonomer are disclosed. The disclosed method produces a biocompatible hydrogel, while producing substantially no toxic free thiol by-product. Accordingly, the method can be used in making biomedical products, such as sutures and tissue replacement biomaterials, and for encapsulating therapeutic cells and pharmaceuticals.

Abstract: A pressure type flow rate control apparatus is provided wherein flow rate of fluid passing through an orifice is computed as Qc=KP1 (where K is a proportionality constant) or as Qc=KP2m (P1?P2)n (where K is a proportionality constant, m and n constants) by using orifice upstream side pressure P1 and/or orifice downstream side pressure P2. A fluid passage between the downstream side of a control valve and a fluid supply pipe of the pressure type flow rate control apparatus comprises at least 2 fluid passages in parallel, and orifices having different flow rate characteristics are provided for each of these fluid passages, wherein fluid in a small flow quantity area flows to one orifice for flow control of fluid in the small flow quantity area, while fluid in a large flow quantity area flows to the other orifice for flow control of fluid in the large flow quantity area.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and computer program for detecting sequences of digitally modulated symbols transmitted by multiple sources are provided. A real-domain representation that separately treats in-phase and quadrature components of a received vector, channel gains, and a transmitted vector transmitted by the multiple sources is determined. The real-domain representation is processed to obtain a triangular matrix. In addition, at least one of the following is performed: (i) hard decision detection of a transmitted sequence and demapping of corresponding bits based on a reduced complexity search of a number of transmit sequences, and (ii) generation of bit soft-output values based on the reduced complexity search of the number of transmit sequences. The reduced complexity search is based on the triangular matrix.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method of directing, focusing, or concentrating electrical charges within a defined electric field so that these charges can be used to exert forces on cells and tissues in vivo and/or cell cultures in vitro. The present invention reduces and/or eliminates the damage at a target site that would normally be caused by an electrode that acts as a current source or sink to accomplish the same task.

Abstract: An apparatus and an article of manufacture for improving power factor include collecting consumption data of at least one appliance, building a consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption data collected, reconstructing reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance based on the consumption profile for each of the at least one appliance, and computing a schedule for each of the at least one appliance in accordance the reactive power consumption of each of the at least one appliance to improve power factor while respecting at least one constraint.

Abstract: A solar cell system includes a number of P-N junction cells, a number of inner electrodes, a first collecting electrode and a second collecting electrode. The number of the P-N junction cells is M. M is equal to or greater than 2. The M P-N junction cells are arranged from a first P-N junction cell to an Mth P-N junction cell along a straight line. The P-N junction cells are arranged in series along the straight line. The number of the inner electrodes is M?1. At least one inner electrode includes a carbon nanotube array. A first collecting electrode located on an outside surface of the first P-N junction cell. A second collecting electrode located on an outside surface of the Mth P-N junction cell. A photoreceptive surface is parallel to the straight line.

Abstract: Provided are a three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable and a structure thereof. A certain space is formed between adjacent superconducting wires of a superconducting layer (disposed at an outer portion) having more superconducting wires among a plurality of superconducting layers, and another wire is disposed in the space, or the superconducting wires of the respective superconducting layers are disposed to have different critical currents. Accordingly, a waste of superconducting wires is prevented, and the optimized three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable is provided.

Abstract: A single-shot pulse contrast measuring device based on non-harmonic long-wavelength sampling pulse includes a long-wavelength sampling light generation unit, a large-angle non-collinear sum-frequency cross-correlation unit and a high sensitivity signal receiving unit. The long-wavelength sampling light sum-frequency cross-correlator can allow that the beams are interacted with each other at the large non-collinear angle in the quasi-phase matching crystal, match the measuring window of the high sensitivity signal receiving system, and is in favor of eliminating the scattered light noise, thereby achieving the single measurement of the pulse contrast with large temporal window and high dynamic range. The single-shot pulse contrast measuring device of the present invention has good extensibility at the temporal window and dynamic range, and is adapted for measuring the contrast of the high-power laser with various wavelengths.

Abstract: A readout device is adapted for dual-band sensing, and includes an amplifier, two direct injection (DI) readout circuits to be respectively connected to two sensors, and a switching module. Through operation of the switching module, one of the DI readout circuits can be electrically connected to the amplifier, and cooperate with the other DI readout circuit to achieve a dual-band sensing feature.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of suppressing, inhibiting, preventing, or treating conjunctivitis in a subject, comprising the step of administering an effective amount of a lipid or phospholipid moiety bound via an ester or amide bond to a physiologically acceptable monomer, dimer, oligomer, or polymer, and/or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or a pharmaceutical product thereof to a subject with conjunctivitis.

Abstract: Methods for making high quality polyimide fibers suitable for continuous industrial production are described. Polyimide fibers are continuously prepared from a polyamic acid solution through sequentially spinning the polyamic acid solution by either a wet or a dry-wet process, coagulating, drying or drying after washing, thermally treating and stretching the resulting polyamic acid fibers to obtain polyimide fibers, and winding polyimide fibers as prepared into rolls.

Abstract: A biomolecular assay includes a substrate with a metallic layer on at least one surface thereof. The metallic film includes nanocavities. The nanocavities are configured to enhance signals that are representative of the presence or amount of one or more analytes in a sample or sample solution, and may be configured to enhance the signal by a factor of about two or more or by a factor of about three or more. Such signal enhancement may be achieved with nanocavities that are organized in an array, randomly positioned nanocavities, or nanocavities that are surrounded by increased surface area features, such as corrugation or patterning, or nanocavities that have quadrilateral or triangular shapes with tailored edge lengths, or with a plurality of nanoparticles. Methods for fabricating biomolecular substrates and assay techniques in which such biomolecular substrates are used are also disclosed.

Abstract: Dual colored fluorescent indicators of specific tyrosine kinase activity and methods of use thereof are disclosed.

Abstract: The effective performance metric and achieving method of a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communication system are provided. A number of feedback bits of channel information may be determined based on an effective spectral efficiency (ESE). The ESE may correspond to a metric of the throughput performance with respect to a total radio resource including an uplink radio resource and a downlink radio resource. User-scheduling may be based on the feedback information that is based on the ESE, and thus, the throughput performance of the communication system may be enhanced.

Abstract: An apparatus and method sequentially parses bitstreams based on a removal of an Emulation Prevention Byte (EPB). The apparatus and method may detect an EPB pattern from among sequentially input bitstreams, may store the bitstreams, may store a processed bitstream where the EPB pattern is removed, among the bitstreams, and may select an output of a register buffer based on an input of a buffer selection flag.