In this letter, the design, fabrication, and characterization of a novel piezoelectric microtransformer with bar geometry are presented. The piezoelectric microtransformers were fabricated using PZT thin films and microelectromechanical system technologies. The dimensions of these devices are 1000×400×5.8μm3 (length×width×thickness). The dynamic displacement of around 9.2±0.064μm was observed at 10Vac. The dynamic displacement varied almost linearly with voltage. When driven at the input voltage of 3Vac, the output voltage of the piezoelectric microtransformer was 6.4Vac at the resonant frequency (Fr), 8.006kHz and load resistance (RL), 1MΩ. The average voltage gain (step-up ratio) was approximately 2.13.

Anatomically separate fat depots differ in size, function, and contribution to pathological states such as the metabolic syndrome. We isolated pre-adipocytes from different adipose depots, omental, subcutaneous and intramuscular, of beef cattle, and cultured in vitro to determine the basis for the variations and attribute these variations to the inherent properties of adipocyte progenitors. The proliferating cells from all depots before the confluence were harvested and the proteome was analyzed by a functional proteomic approach, involving 2-DE and MALDI-TOF/TOF. More than 252 protein spots were identified, selected and analyzed by Image Master (ver 7.0) and MALDI-TOF/TOF. Further, our analysis showed that there were specific differences in proteome expression patterns among proliferating precursor cells from the three depots. Sixteen proteins were found to be differentially expressed and these were identified as proteins involved in cellular processes, heat shock/chaperones, redox proteins, cytoskeletal proteins and metabolic enzymes. The results also enabled us to understand the basic roles of these proteins in different inherent properties exhibited by adipose tissue depots.

The aim of this study was to analyze the proteome of proliferating bovine satellite cells from longissimus dorsi, deep pectoral and semitendinosus muscle depots which had been subjected to hormonal deprivation or addition in culture. For hormone deprivation or addition studies, the cells were either grown in 10% charcoal-dextran stripped fetal bovine serum (CD-FBS) or in 10% FBS supplemented medium. Further to analyze the effect of insulin like growth factor (IGF-1) and testosterone (TS), the cells were grown in 10% CD-FBS containing IGF-1 (10 ng/ml) or TS (10 nM). Results have shown that hormone deprivation had a negative impact on proliferation of the cells from each of the muscle depots. In case of IGF-1 and TS addition, the proliferation levels were low compared with that of the cells grown in 10% FBS. Hence, to gain the insights of the proteins that are involved in such divergent levels of proliferation, the proteome of such satellite cells proliferating under the above mentioned conditions were analyzed using 2D-DIGE and MALDI-ToF/ToF. Thirteen proteins during hormone deprivation and nine proteins from hormone addition were found to be differentially expressed in all the cultures of the cells from the three depots. Moreover, the results highlighted in this study offer a role for each differentially expressed protein with respect to its effect on positive or negative regulation of cell proliferation.

The aim of this study was to analyze the proteome expressions of proliferating stromal vascular cells from Hanwoo omental, subcutaneous and intramuscular depots subjected to hormone deprivation and IGF-1, Estradiol-17β addition. For hormone deprivation or addition studies, the cells were either grown in 10% charcoal-dextran stripped fetal bovine serum (CD-FBS) or in 10% FBS supplemented medium. Further, to analyze the effect of insulin like growth factor (IGF-1) and 17β-Estradiol (E2), cells were grown in 10% CD-FBS containing IGF-1 (10 ng/ml) or E2 (10 nM). The results showed that hormone deprivation had a negative impact on proliferation among the cells from all depots without any growth difference. On comparison of proliferation levels, higher levels were observed in cells that were grown in 10% FBS than in 10% CD-FBS alone or with IGF-1/E2. Proteome expression from preadipocytes grown in hormone deprivation conditions were compared by 2D-DIGE and MALDIToF/ToF. A total of twelve different proteins were found to be differentially expressed under hormone deprivation conditions. Further, our proteomic analysis with DIGE under IGF-1 and E2 addition revealed four proteins with differential expression levels. Moreover, the results highlighted in this study offer a role for each differentially expressed protein with respect to their effect in positive or negative regulation on proliferation.

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