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In the era of open innovation, it is of great significance to analyse strategic trade-offs for enterprises' technology acquisition between external and internal. This paper considers the relative pay-offs amongst two manufacturers' selection for their respective scarce technology of the Internet of Things, using game theory models and numerical analysis. In addition to self-innovation relying on internal resources, enterprises can obtain technology from external sources, including technology imported from a third party or cross-licensing with its competitor. Unlike empirical analysis, this study focuses on the strategic firms' interactions at the micro-level study and operational considerations, such as the factors influencing the mode of enterprise technology acquisition, firm competition and cooperation behaviour mechanism, and the selection of innovation initiators. The findings provide implications for competitive enterprises in high-tech industries to acquire complementary technologies by identifying what conditions lead to win-win outcomes. In particular, firms can adjust their licensing levels under certain conditions to adapt to the disparities in each other's development capabilities, thus achieving cross-licensing agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive type of brain cancer with a median survival of only 15 months. To complement standard treatments including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, it is essential to understand the contribution of the GBM tumor microenvironment. Brain macrophages and microglia particularly contribute to tumor angiogenesis, a major hallmark of GBM. ADAM8, a metalloprotease-disintegrin strongly expressed in tumor cells and associated immune cells of GBMs, is related to angiogenesis and correlates with poor clinical prognosis. However, the specific contribution of ADAM8 to GBM tumorigenesis remains elusive. Knockdown of ADAM8 in U87 glioma cells led to significantly decreased angiogenesis and tumor volumes of these cells after stereotactic injection into striate body of mice. We found that the angiogenic potential of ADAM8 in GBM cells and in primary macrophages is mediated by the regulation of osteopontin (OPN), an important inducer of tumor angiogenesis. By in vitro cell signaling analyses, we demonstrate that ADAM8 regulates OPN via JAK/STAT3 pathway in U87 cells and in primary macrophages. As ADAM8 is a dispensable protease for physiological homeostasis, we conclude that ADAM8 could be a tractable target to modulate angiogenesis in GBM with minor side-effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycyrrhiza uralensis has long been used as a flavoring and sweetening agent in food products. In the last ten years, suspensions of Glycyrhiza cells have been successfully established. However, there is no report of full metabolic profiling research on these cells. To identify their composition we used HPLC-DAD coupled with ESI(+/−)-MS to compare the constituents of cultured Glycyrhiza (CG) cells with those the native cells (NG). We identified 60 compounds including flavonoids, phenols, and triterpenoids. Among these compounds, 42 occurred both in NG and CG, nine were present in NG only and nine were present in CG alone. The number of the triterpenoid aglycones without glycones in CG was smaller than that in NG. The number of flavanone, isoflavone, isoflavan, and benzenoid compounds was also smaller in CG than that in NG, whereas the number of pterocarpans was much higher. Although differences existed between CG and NG, the extract of CG was similar to that of NG. With the development of cell suspension culture-based biotransformation, cell culture of Glycyrrhiza has the potential to be more profitable than field cultivation in some areas. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disadvantages of the low on/off current ratio (I on/off) and high leakage current in ZnO-based thin-film transistors (TFTs) impede its development to realize industrial production for replacing Si-TFTs. In this work, we fabricated a high performance MgZnO/ZnO dual-active-layer TFTs (DAL-TFTs) through systematic optimize the synthesis conditions. The optimized Mg 0.2 Zn 0.8 O/ZnO TFTs presents high mobility of 21.1 cm2V−1s−1 with a high I on/off of 1.5 × 108, which is much higher than that of ZnO-based TFTs. The results indicate that high carrier concentration ZnO close to the insulation layer ensures the excellent mobility of MgZnO/ZnO DAL-TFTs and low carrier concentration MgZnO layer can reduce the off-state current of the device, and increase the switching ratio of the device. Our results indicate the MgZnO/ZnO composite is a promising candidate for high performance TFTs and other electronic devices. [Display omitted] • High performance MgZnO/ZnO-based TFT was successfully fabricated. • The optimized Mg 0.2 Zn 0.8 O/ZnO TFT shows high mobility of 21.1 cm2V−1s−1. • The optimized Mg 0.2 Zn 0.8 O/ZnO TFT presents high I on/off of 1.5 × 108. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Selective peripheral denervation (SPD) is currently the primary surgical treatment for spasmodic torticollis (ST). Our objective here is to report on the outcome of patients treated with this procedure for ST in our department. Methods: Between June 1995 and June 2013, 648 patients underwent SPD for ST. We included 293 women (45.2 %) and 355 men (54.8 %) with a mean age of 41.1 years (range, 8-74 years) at the onset of dystonia. Surgery was performed at a mean of 3.6 years (range, 1-32 years) after onset of symptoms. Data on clinical presentation, radiological studies, operation tragedy, clinical outcomes and complications were analysed retrospectively. For evaluation of clinical outcomes, patients' responses were assessed using the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS). Results: Results were obtained from all 648 patients with a follow-up period ranging from 11 months to 154 months (mean, 33.4 months). The mean preoperative TWSTRS score was 54.7 ± 18.3 points (range, 39-67 points), which decreased to 31.1 ± 11.6 points postoperatively (range, 1-67 points); a significant improvement was observed between preoperative and postoperative TWSTRS evaluation; the clinical improvement of TWSTRS was 73.5 ± 11.9 %. In addition, no deaths and serious complications occurred in this cohort of patients. Conclusions: SPD is an effective surgical method for patients with ST. This procedure should be recommended if conservative therapy does not offer satisfactory relief of symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Suspended cells of Glycyrrhiza (CG) possessed a similar content of flavonoids and a lower content of triterpenes, when compared with its field cultivated equivalent (NG). Xylene-induced ear oedema and ovalbumin-induced mouse paw oedema were applied, to compare the effects of CG and NG on the acute inflammatory response. Extracts of the cell culture of Glycyrrhiza possessed a similar anti-inflammatory effect to those of NG, through the enhancement of the SOD activity of plasma and liver tissues. The use of a cell culture of liquorice instead of field cultivation would be potentially profitable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]