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The tumor suppressor gene p53 plays a central role in the maintenance of normal cell growth and genetic integrity, while its impact on the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) life cycle remains elusive. We found that p53 is important for histone deacetylase inhibitor-induced EBV lytic gene expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Restoration of p53 in p53-null, EBV-infected H1299 cells augments the potential for viral lytic cycle initiation. Evidence from reporter assays demonstrated that p53 contributes to the expression of the immediate-early viral Zta gene. Further analysis indicated that the DNA-binding ability of p53 and phosphorylation of Ser392 may be critical. This study provides the first evidence that p53 is involved in the regulation of EBV lytic cycle initiation.

A new gateless anti-fuse cell with 45 nm CMOS fully compatible process has been developed for advanced programmable logic applications. This gateless anti-fuse cell processed by pure logic process and decoupled with logic gate oxide has a highly stable and five orders of on/off current window. It also exhibits superior program performance by only 5 V operation with no more than 10 muA programming current. This new nitride gateless anti-fuse cell is a very promising logic OTP solution with fully CMOS compatible process below 90 nm node.

Baculovirus has emerged as a new gene delivery vector thanks to a number of advantages. This study demonstrated that baculovirus conferred efficient gene delivery and mediated expression of growth factors (TGF-beta1, IGF-1 and BMP-2) to therapeutic levels in rabbit chondrocytes. Interestingly, the cellular response to growth factor stimulation was dependent on the cell passage. The highly de-differentiated passage 5 (P5) chondrocytes failed to respond to the stimulation by either growth factor. The de-differentiated P3 cells also failed to maintain the chondrocyte phenotype, but baculovirus-mediated BMP-2 expression remarkably reversed the de-differentiation and enhanced the aggrecan and collagen II production in 2D and 3D cultures, as evidenced by cell morphology, histological staining and gene expression analyses. Baculovirus-mediated TGF-beta1 expression modestly enhanced the cartilage-specific matrix production, although to a lesser extent. Intriguingly, IGF-1, a well-known chondroinductive protein, failed to stimulate the P3 cells likely due to the loss of IGF-1 receptor expression. In summary, this study proved for the first time the potentials of baculovirus in modulating the differentiation status of chondrocytes in the context of cartilage tissue engineering, but also highlighted the importance of selecting appropriate cell passage and growth factor for genetic manipulation.

Practiced for more than three thousand years, Chinese painting stresses the notion of "implicit meaning" in which painters use a minimum amount of strokes to express their deepest feelings. Chinese landscape and figure paintings are the two major themes of Chinese painting. Of relevant interest is more thoroughly understand Chinese art by analyzing basic rules of Chinese painting. This paper proposes two novel methods capable of synthesizing rock textures in Chinese landscape painting and systhesizing portraits in Chinese figure painting, respectively. In addition to saving time during trial and error, these two methods attempt to synthesize painting styles. After users only specify the contour and parameters, our methods underwrite the complete painting process. With the requirement of familiarity with painting skills, individuals can paint various styles of Chinese painting

In the present study, an efficient method with a high overall yield for preparing phytosphingosine and an analogue was developed. Starting with commercially available 2,3;5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-d-mannofuranose, a variety of lipid moieties were incorporated to obtain phytosphingosine and an analogue. Through an eight-step manipulation, phytosphingosine was obtained with an overall yield of 57%.