RF oscillator circuit for absorption coefficient measurement of piezoelectric materials.

We have introduced an approach for low optical absorption coefficient measurement of piezoelectric materials based on the piezoelectric resonance laser calorimetry (PRLC) method. An RF oscillator circuit provides a convenient way to track the piezoelectric resonance frequency during laser irradiation. In this work, the optical absorption coefficient of lithium triborate crystal under high-power IR laser irradiation was measured using the oscillator circuit and the conventional PRLC technique.

Hot spots of DNA double-strand breaks in human rDNA units are produced in vivo.

Endogenous hot spots of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are tightly linked with transcription patterns and cancer genomics(1,2). There are nine hot spots of DSBs located in human rDNA units(3-6). Here we describe that the profiles of these hot spots coincide with the profiles of γ-H2AX or H2AX, strongly suggesting a high level of in vivo breakage inside rDNA genes.

[Chromatin changes caused by CGG repeat expansion in fmr1 gene].

Fragile X syndrome is inheritable neurodegenerative disease with frequency 1/4000-1/6000. It is the main cause of inheritable mental retardation. Progression of the disorder is caused by CGG repeat expansion in 5' UTR of fmr1 (fragile X mental retardation 1) gene.