Growing evidences suggest that the fibroblast growth factor/FGF receptor (FGF/FGFR) signaling has crucial roles in a multitude of processes during embryonic development and adult homeostasis by regulating cellular lineage commitment, differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis of various types of cells. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of FGF signaling and its roles in organ development, injury repair, and the pathophysiology of spectrum of diseases, which is a consequence of FGF signaling dysregulation, including cancers and chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this context, the agonists and antagonists for FGF-FGFRs might have therapeutic benefits in multiple systems.

Helium dimer ion was observed after electron impact ionization of a supersonic expansion of helium with translational temperature near 1 mK. The dependence of the ion signal on source pressure, distance from the source, and electron kinetic energy was measured. The signal was determined to arise from ionization of neutral helium dimer.

The relative transmissions of helium dimer and helium atom beams through a set of nanoscale sieves were measured as a function of hole size in the range from 98–410 nm. From the relative transmission coefficients, the mean internuclear distance of helium dimer was determined to be 〈r〉=62±10 Å. This enormous bond length—by far the largest known—confirms recent theoretical estimates of the potential energy well depth ε and the extremely small binding energy Eb of helium dimer. The ranges of these parameters corresponding to the experimental uncertainty in 〈r〉 are ε/k=10.88–10.98 K and Eb/k=0.65–1.30 mK, where k is the Boltzmann constant.