No abstract

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Damaged mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) may have a role in regulating hyperglycemia during type 2 diabetes. Circulating cell-free mitochondria DNA (ccf-mtDNA) was found in serum and plasma from patients and has been linked to the prognosis factors in various human diseases. However, the role of ccf-mtDNA in chronic inflammation in type 2 diabetes is unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that the ccf-mtDNA levels are associated with chronic inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes. The mtDNA levels were elevated in the plasma from patients with type 2 diabetes compared to healthy subjects. The elevated mtDNA levels were associated with interleukin-1 (IL-1)β levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. The mtDNA, from patients with type 2 diabetes, induced absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) inflammasome-dependent caspase-1 activation and IL-1β and IL-18 secretion in macrophages. Our results suggest that the ccf-mtDNA might contribute to AIM2 inflammasome-mediated chronic inflammation in type 2 diabetes.

A new laser has been developed which generates hundreds of milliWatts of cw UV power below 260 nm. The laser consists of a small-frame Ar+-ion laser which is intracavity doubled with the use of BBO nonlinear optical crystals. More than 300 mW are available at 244 and 257 nm, while 180, 100, and 30 mW are available at 248, 238, and 228.9 nm, respectively. This laser is an ideal source for UV Raman spectroscopy since it avoids the nonlinear and saturation problems common with the typical pulsed laser excitation sources. It also minimizes thermal sample degradation. We demonstrate the increased spectral signal-to-noise ratios possible due to the ability to focus the cw laser into a small-volume element that can be efficiently imaged into the spectrometer. We demonstrate the ability of this laser to excite Raman spectra of solid samples such as coal-liquid residuals, and point out the utility of the 228.9-nm line for studying aromatic amino acids in proteins. We also demonstrate the ability to selectively study pyrene intercalated into calf thymus DNA.

An interference-resilient 60 kb/s-10 Mb/s body channel transceiver using the human body as a signal transmission medium is designed for multimedia and medical data transaction in body-area network. The body antenna effect which interferes with signals in the human body channel is examined. The body-induced interferences degrade the SIR of the signal to 22 dB in the worst case. In order to overcome the body antenna effect, a 4-channel adaptive frequency hopping scheme using the 30-120 MHz band is introduced to the body channel transceiver. A direct-switching modulator using dual frequency synthesizers and a DLL-based demodulator are proposed for 10 Mb/s FSK and the 4.2 s hopping time. The transceiver fabricated with 0.18 m CMOS withstands 28 dB SIR and its operating distance is over 1.8 m with 25 dB SIR. Its energy consumption is 0.37 nJ/b with 65 dBm sensitivity.