For successful mitotic entry and spindle assembly, mitosis-promoting factors are activated at the G 2 /M transition stage, followed by stimulation of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, to direct the ordered destruction of several critical mitotic regulators. Given that inhibition of APC activity is important for preventing premature or improper ubiquitination and destruction of substrates, several modulators and their regulation mechanisms have been studied. Emi1, an early mitotic inhibitor, is one of these regulatory factors. Here we show, by analyzing Emi1-deficient embryos, that Emi1 is essential for precise mitotic progression during early embryogenesis. Emi1 ؊/؊ embryos were found to be lethal due to a defect in preimplantation development. Cell proliferation appeared to be normal, but mitotic progression was severely defective during embryonic cleavage. Moreover, multipolar spindles and misaligned chromosomes were frequently observed in Emi1 mutant cells, possibly due to premature APC activation. Our results collectively suggest that the late prophase checkpoint function of Emi1 is essential for accurate mitotic progression and embryonic viability.

A novel guided bone regeneration (GBR) membrane was fabricated by an immersion precipitation of poly (glycolic-co-lactic acid) (PLGA)/Pluronic F127 solution impregnated in an electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL)/Tween 80 nanofiber mesh. The prepared PCL/Tween 80 nanofiber mesh-embedded PLGA/Pluronic F127 membrane (hydrophilized PCL/PLGA hybrid membrane) had nano-size pores on the top side (which can prevent from fibrous connective tissue infiltration but allow permeation of oxygen and nutrients) and micro-size pores on the bottom side (which can improve adhesiveness with bone). From the comparisons of mechanical properties (tensile and suture pullout strengths), model nutrient (FITC-labeled bovine serum albumin) permeability, and bone regeneration behavior using a rat model (skull bone defect) of the hybrid membrane with those of PLGA/Pluronic F127 membrane (asymmetrically porous, hydrophilized PLGA membrane), PCL/Tween 80 nanofiber mesh (electrospun, hydrophilized PCL nanofiber mesh), and a commercialized GBR membrane, Bio-Gide (collagen type I/III membrane), it was observed that the PCL/PLGA hybrid membrane seems to be highly desirable as a GBR membrane for the selective permeability caused by its unique morphology and osteoconductivity provided by several tens micro-size pores of the bottom side as well as the excellent mechanical strengths by the hybridization of porous PLGA membrane and PCL nanofiber mesh.

Research on stock market prediction has been actively conducted over time. Pertaining to investment, stock prices and trading volume are important indicators. While extensive research on stocks has focused on predicting stock prices, not much focus has been applied to predicting trading volume. The extensive trading volume by large institutions, such as pension funds, has a great impact on the market liquidity. To reduce the impact on the stock market, it is essential for large institutions to correctly predict the intraday trading volume using the volume weighted average price (VWAP) method. In this study, we predict the intraday trading volume using various methods to properly conduct VWAP trading. With the trading volume data of the Korean stock price index 200 (KOSPI 200) futures index from December 2006 to September 2020, we predicted the trading volume using dynamic time warping (DTW) and a genetic algorithm (GA). The empirical results show that the model using the simple average of the trading volume during the optimal period constructed by GA achieved the best performance. As a result of this study, we expect that large institutions will perform more appropriate VWAP trading in a sustainable manner, leading the stock market to be revitalized by enhanced liquidity. In this sense, the model proposed in this paper would contribute to creating efficient stock markets and help to achieve sustainable economic growth.

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Flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF) is a technology to separate the molecules by size in an open channel. Molecules with different size have different diffusivities and are located vertically in different positions when passing through an open channel. In this study, hollow fiber membranes instead of conventional rectangular channels have been used as materials for the open channel and this change would decrease the cost of manufacturing. FlFFF is a useful technique to characterize the biopolymeric materials. Retention time, diffusion coefficients and Stokes radius of analysis can be calculated from the related simple equations. Hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation (HF-FlFFF) has been used for the characterization and separation of protein mixture in a phosphate buffer solution and has demonstrated the potential to be developed into a disposable FlFFF channel. The important indexes for the analytical separation are selectivity, resolution and plate height. The optimized separation condition for protein mixture of Ovalbumin, Alcohol dehydrogenase, Apoferritin and Thyroglobulin is Vout IVrad = 0.65/0.85 mL/min.