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SUMMARY: Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the status of the blood supply in China during 2012–2014. Background: China is a middle‐income country, which contains more than 20% of the world population. Increasing the blood supply in China, along with increased healthcare coverage, involves many challenges. Methods: A survey questionnaire regarding blood centre activities was sent to all of the blood centres in 32 provinces via the Internet. The data were collected from the responses and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2013. Results: The total supply of whole blood and red blood cells (RBCs) in 2012 was 18 644 700 units; in 2013, 18 985 800 units; and in 2014, 19 658 800 units. A similar trend of the total platelet supply was also observed during the same period of 2012–2014, as follows: 1 019 100 units in 2012, 1 168 400 units in 2013 and 1 276 200 units in 2014. Similarly, the plasma supply was 27 529 300 units in 2012 and 27 657 600 units in 2013, which rose to 28 307 500 units in 2014. The total cryoprecipitate supply was 1 653 900, 1 891 300 and 2 366 500 units in 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. When the blood supply was analysed according to the geographic regional population, large differences in the rates of blood supply between regions were evident. Conclusions: The blood product supply in China is steadily increasing. Blood centres in China continue to face challenges regarding their ability to provide a sufficient blood supply in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a quasi-white-light laser, which was generated by an all-solid-state laser technique. The approach is to use a cascaded optical superlattice in a LiTaO3 crystal to directly frequency double and triple a diode-pumped, Q-switched dual-wavelength Nd:YVO4 laser. Three primary color lights, red at 671 nm, green at 532 nm, and blue at 447 nm, were simultaneously generated in a proper proportion, forming a quasicontinuous, quasi-white-light laser with a maximum output power of 530 mW under a pump power of 18 W. From the result, a more effective quasi-white-light output can be anticipated if the superlattice is fabricated in a stoichiometric LiTaO3 crystal and the double resonant technique is further optimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the involvement of miR-18a upregulation in autophagy regulation and paclitaxel (PTX) resistance in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PTX resistant MDA-MMB-231/PTX cells were generated using an intermittent, stepwise method. MiR-18a expression was assessed using qRT-PCR. The level of autophagy was assessed by Western blot analysis of LC3B expression and observation of LC3-GFP puncta formation under a fluorescence microscope. The effect of miR-18a mediated autophagy on PTX sensitivity was assessed by measuring IC50 and PTX induced cell apoptosis. RESULTS: MDA-MB-231/PTX cells had both higher miR-18a expression and basal autophagy than MDA-MB-231 cells. Enforced miR-18a overexpression directly led to increased autophagy in MDA-MB-231 cells, the effect of which was similar to that of rapamycin, a mTOR signaling inhibitor. Following Western blot analysis showed that miR-18a overexpression decreased the expression of p-mTOR and p-p70S6. Therefore, we infer that miR-18a increases autophagy level in MDA-MB-231 cells via inhibiting mTOR signaling pathway. Both drug sensitivity assay and flow cytometry analysis confirmed that the effect of miR-18a on increasing IC50 and decreasing PTX induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells could largely be abrogated by treatment with bafilomycin A1 (Baf. A1). CONCLUSIONS: MiR-18a upregulation results in enhanced autophagy via inhibiting mTOR signaling pathway in TNBC cells, which is a mechanism contributing to paclitaxel resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a continuous-wave intracavity Raman laser at 1179.5 nm with a SrWO4 Raman crystal in a diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser. The highest output power of 2.23 W is obtained at the laser diode power of 21.2 W corresponding to the slope efficiency of 17.3% and a diode-to-stokes optical conversion efficiency of 10.5%. The dependence of the Raman laser performance on the pump polarization is also studied. The measured Raman thresholds are about 9.3 and 8.3 W in the diode pump laser power for the a- and b-polarized configurations, respectively. The Raman gain coefficients of the c-cut SrWO4 crystal for a- and b-polarized pumps are estimated to be about 4.9 and 4.7 cm/GW, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-efficiency diode-end-pumped Q-switched eye-safe linearly-polarized intracavity Raman laser at 1531 nm is demonstrated, with Nd:YVO4 as the laser medium and SrWO4 as the Raman crystal. The highest average power of 1.93 W is achieved, with an incident pump of 15.6 W and a repetition rate of 35 kHz. The narrowest pulse duration of 4.9 ns and the highest peak power of 32.2 kW are obtained at a repetition rate of 5 kHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated a linearly polarized continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser operating at a 1357-nm single-wavelength, by a 808-nm diode as an end-pump source. We chose a Brewster-angle-cut Nd:YAG laser host crystal, due to its two salient features as follow: linearly polarized laser output and single-wavelength oscillation can be easily obtained. In this paper, a continuous-wave all-solid-state single-wavelength laser operating at 1357 nm is demonstrated with a diode-end-pumped Brewster-cut Nd:YAG laser. The laser had a 1.03-W maximum output power under an incident pump power of 15.0 W, a 12.7% slope efficiency, a 6.9% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency, a 0.14-nm spectral linewidth and a 3% power-output stability within 30 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nd-doped GdVO4(Nd:GdVO4) films with a-axis preferred orientation were fabricated on SiO2/Si substrate by pulsed-laser deposition. Fluorescences at around 1065.0 and 1342.5 nm, corresponding to 4F3/2→4I11/2 and 4F3/2→4I13/2 transitions, respectively, were excited simultaneously with an 808 nm diode laser. Waveguide behaviors in the film were investigated by using the prism coupling technique at the wavelength of 632.8 nm. Both TE and TM mode spectra revealed that favorable light confinements were achieved within the Nd:GdVO4 waveguide layer. Additionally, the optically anisotropic properties of the film were studied in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient generation of red light in a periodically-poled nearly-stoichiometric LiTaO3 (PPSLT) by extracavity single-pass frequency doubling of a diode-pumped, Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser at 1342 nm was realized. An average power of 1.4 W of the 671 nm red light is obtained at the fundamental power of ∼2.8 W with the conversion efficiency of 50%. The high conversion efficiency and steady output of red light indicate that the thick PPSLT is a competitive candidate for frequency conversion in order to construct a compact all-solid-state red laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first successful operation of a AgGaSe2 infrared parametric oscillator is reported. Continuous tuning ranges of 1.6–1.7 μm, 6.7–6.9 μm, and 2.65–9.02 μm were achieved using 1.34-μm neodymium and 2.05-μm holmium pump lasers. Pulse energies exceeding 3 mJ, peak powers near 100 kW, and conversion efficiencies of 18% were obtained. Operation of the parametric oscillator was possible well below the 13–40 MW/cm2 surface damage threshold of this nonlinear material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AgGaSe2 crystals for nonlinear infrared applications are being grown reproducibly. Using high-quality, 2-cm-long crystals, 14% energy and 60% peak intensity conversion efficiency have been demonstrated for second harmonic generation of the pulsed output of a CO2 miniature transversely excited atmospheric laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]