Critical transitions in pancreatic islets.

Calcium signals in pancreatic cells collectives show a sharp transition from uncorrelated to correlated state resembling a phase transition as the slowly increasing glucose concentration crosses the tipping point. However, the exact nature or the order of this phase transition is not well understood. Using confocal microscopy to record the collective calcium activation of cells in an intact islet under changing glucose concentration in increasing and then decreasing way, we first show that in addition to the sharp transition, the coordinated calcium response exhibits a hysteresis indicating a critical, first order transition.

N-Acetylcysteine Ineffective in Alleviating Hangover from Binge Drinking: A Clinical Study.

Alcohol hangover (veisalgia) is a fairly common phenomenon. The pathogenesis of veisalgia is not understood and treatment has not yet been established. Occasionally, students take N-acetylcysteine (NAC) before binge drinking to alleviate hangover.

Coupling CRISPR interference with FACS enrichment: New approach in glycoengineering of CHO cell lines for therapeutic glycoprotein production.

Difficulties in obtaining and maintaining the desired level of the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of therapeutic proteins as well as the pace of the development are major challenges of current biopharmaceutical development. Therapeutic proteins, both innovative and biosimilars, are mostly glycosylated. Glycans directly influence the stability, potency, plasma half-life, immunogenicity, and effector functions of the therapeutic.

The microdynamics shaping the relationship between democracy and corruption.

Physics has a long tradition of laying rigorous quantitative foundations for social phenomena. Here, we up the ante for physics' forays into the territory of social sciences by (i) empirically documenting a tipping point in the relationship between democratic norms and corruption suppression, and then (ii) demonstrating how such a tipping point emerges from a micro-scale mechanistic model of spin dynamics in a complex network. Specifically, the tipping point in the relationship between democratic norms and corruption suppression is such that democratization has little effect on suppressing corruption below a critical threshold, but a large effect above the threshold.

Postoperative transverse sternal nonunion with a chest wall defect managed by a tibial locking plate and a Gore-Tex dual mesh membrane: a case report.

Background: Transverse sternal nonunion is a rare but disabling complication of chest trauma or a transverse sternotomy. Fixation methods, mainly used to manage the more common longitudinal sternal nonunion, often fail, leaving the surgical treatment of transverse nonunion to be a challenge.

Case Presentation: We present a case of a highly-disabling, postoperative chest wall defect resulting from transverse sternal nonunion after a transverse thoracosternotomy (clamshell incision) and a concomitant rib resection.