Electrical actuation is investigated in two kinds of chiral smectic liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs) with different domain structures LCE1 and LCE2: The latter is better than the former in orientational order. Tracking fluorescent beads dispersed on the samples enables us to measure the two-dimensional strain tensors in ferroelectric elastomer films. It turns out that the electric-field-induced strain is polarity dependent and the type of molecular orientation responsible for the strain is specified. In LCE1 the shear strain is dominant, whereas in LCE2 it is comparable to the elongation strain, which is explained by the rotation of the principal axes. The essential differences of the two elastomers are observed in the eigenvalues of the strain tensors. The absolute values for LCE1 are larger than those for LCE2. The difference is discussed on the basis of the domain structures.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.062507 | DOI Listing |
J Biomol Struct Dyn
January 2025
College of Applied Medical Sciences, lmam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (lAU), Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The present study explores the conformational dynamics of the membrane protein of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) within the Endoplasmic Reticulum-Golgi Intermediate Compartment (ERGIC) complex using an all-atomistic molecular dynamics simulation approach. Significant structural changes were observed in the N-terminal, C-terminal, transmembrane, and beta-sheet sandwich domains of the MERS-CoV membrane protein. This study also highlights the structural similarities between the MERS-CoV and the SARS-CoV-2 membrane proteins, particularly in how both exhibit a distinct kink in the transmembrane helix caused by aromatic residue-lipid interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer Causes Control
January 2025
Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, State University of New York at Buffalo, 265 Farber Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA.
Purpose: Historical redlining, a 1930s-era form of residential segregation and proxy of structural racism, has been associated with breast cancer risk, stage, and survival, but research is lacking on how known present-day breast cancer risk factors are related to historical redlining. We aimed to describe the clustering of present-day neighborhood-level breast cancer risk factors with historical redlining and evaluate geographic patterning across the US.
Methods: This ecologic study included US neighborhoods (census tracts) with Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) grades, defined as having a score in the Historic Redlining Score dataset; 2019 Population Level Analysis and Community EStimates (PLACES) data; and 2014-2016 Environmental Justice Index (EJI) data.
BMC Health Serv Res
January 2025
Socio-Medical Sciences Department, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Background: Rehabilitation technology is a growing field, but the sustainable implementation of these technologies, particularly in home settings, is lacking. The aim of this study was to explore the factors influencing the uptake of stroke rehabilitation technology among various stakeholders, including developers, healthcare professionals, individuals who had strokes, strategic experts, management and innovation staff, health insurers, and the National Health Care Institute.
Methods: In total, 22 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive stakeholder sample.
Trends Plant Sci
January 2025
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Plant Development, School of Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China. Electronic address:
Recently, Torres-Romero et al. identified a novel lipid droplet (LD)-associated protein, α/β-hydrolase domain containing protein 1 (ABHD1), in algae. Structurally, ABHD1 promotes the budding and growth of LDs and, functionally, it hydrolyzes lyso-diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (lyso-DGTS) to generate glyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (GTS) and free fatty acids (FFAs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Biol Regul
December 2024
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Arvo Ylpönkatu 34, 33014, Finland; Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56, 00014, Finland; Department of Microbiology, Fimlab Laboratories, P.O.Box 66, 33013, Tampere, Finland. Electronic address:
Janus kinases (JAK1-3, TYK2) are critical mediators of cytokine signaling and their role in hematological and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases has sparked widespread interest in their therapeutic targeting. JAKs have unique tandem kinase structure consisting of an active tyrosine kinase domain adjacent to a pseudokinase domain that is a hotspot for pathogenic mutations. The development of JAK inhibitors has focused on the active kinase domain and the developed drugs have demonstrated good clinical efficacy but due to off-target inhibition cause also side-effects and carry a black box warning limiting their use.
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