Effect of solvent vapor annealing on TiOPc thin films and the application on hybrid solar cells

This article reports on effect of solvent vapor annealing on TiOPc thin films and the application on hybrid solar cells based on ZnO/TiOPc with DH-alpha6T as an electron blocking layer. The band gap shows a change for the TiOPc thin film solvent vapor annealed with various solvents, which may be due to the phase transition from amorphous to alpha-phase, beta-form or alpha+beta-form. The phase separation could be responsible for the variations of the optical properties. No significant change is observed in the pi-pi* transition at various phase behaviors. Device performance of hybrid solar cells could be improved and open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current (ISC) and power conversion efficiency (eta) were enhanced by solvent vapor annealing, which originated from amorphous TiOPc films transformed into crystalline alpha-phase, beta-form or alpha+beta-form.nbsp At alpha-TiOPc, the device achieved the highest performance with VOC, ISC and eta of 0.57 V, 1.40 mA/cm2, and 0.22 %, respectively, which originated from alpha-TiOPc with the widest red and near-IR absorption band

Real-Time Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Microwave Coagulation Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Color Doppler Imaging

Percutaneous microwave coagulation therapy (PMCT) is a new technique for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is difficult to distinguish those lesions in which necrosis has been induced from the viable residual lesions during the procedure, because the margin of the tumor becomes unclear during PMCT. We determined the area of necrotic lesions during the procedure using color Doppler imaging. PMCT was performed on 10 patients (17 lesions) with recurrent HCC. The electrode of the microwave delivery system was moved around the tumor and the surrounding area until color mosaic images disappeared from the entire area of the tumor. The areas in which necrotic tissue was indicated by color Doppler imaging were later confirmed by other modalities such as angiography or contrast-enhanced computed tomography. This leads us to believe that real-time, effective evaluation of PMCT is possible with color Doppler imaging.</p

Jellyfish mucin may have potential disease-modifying effects on osteoarthritis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to study the effects of intra-articular injection of jellyfish mucin (qniumucin) on articular cartilage degeneration in a model of osteoarthritis (OA) created in rabbit knees by resection of the anterior cruciate ligament. Qniumucin was extracted from <it>Aurelia aurita </it>(moon jellyfish) and <it>Stomolophus nomurai </it>(Nomura's jellyfish) and purified by ion exchange chromatography. The OA model used 36 knees in 18 Japanese white rabbits. Purified qniumucin extracts from <it>S. nomurai </it>or <it>A. aurita </it>were used at 1 mg/ml. Rabbits were divided into four groups: a control (C) group injected with saline; a hyaluronic acid (HA)-only group (H group); two qniumucin-only groups (M groups); and two qniumucin + HA groups (MH groups). One milligram of each solution was injected intra-articularly once a week for 5 consecutive weeks, starting from 4 weeks after surgery. Ten weeks after surgery, the articular cartilage was evaluated macroscopically and histologically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the C and M groups, macroscopic cartilage defects extended to the subchondral bone medially and laterally. When the H and both MH groups were compared, only minor cartilage degeneration was observed in groups treated with qniumucin in contrast to the group without qniumucin. Histologically, densely safranin-O-stained cartilage layers were observed in the H and two MH groups, but cartilage was strongly maintained in both MH groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>At the concentrations of qniumucin used in this study, injection together with HA inhibited articular cartilage degeneration in this model of OA.</p

Variation analysis of multiple tsunami inundation models

Researchers have developed tsunami inundation models based on nonlinear shallow water equations to estimate tsunami propagation and inundation. However, their empirical results are not in perfect agreement with those of other research institutes, even though the same governing equations are used. Therefore, we quantitatively evaluated the variability of tsunami simulations in this study. Several research institutes have conducted tsunami simulations under the same input conditions using tsunami inundation models adopted for tsunami hazard assessment, resulting in a certain degree of variability among them. By examining the spatial and temporal differences in various physical quantities, we identified the characteristic topography where the variability between tsunami simulations increases. A novel method for calculating statistics from the area integrals of physical quantities was proposed to demonstrate the variability in the overall simulation results. In addition, the effects of different setting parameters and computational environments on the simulation results of a single model were evaluated. The findings of this study are expected to not only serve as a basis to verify the reliability of source codes employed by users of the tsunami inundation model, but also contribute useful technical information to advance probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment in the future

Peritoneal dissemination of high-grade serous ovarian cancer: pivotal roles of chromosomal instability and epigenetic dynamics

Epithelial ovarian cancer remains the lethal gynecological malignancy in women. The representative histotype is high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), and most patients with HGSC present at advanced stages with peritoneal dissemination. Since the peritoneal dissemination is the most important factor for poor prognosis of the patients, complete exploration for its molecular mechanisms is mandatory. In this narrative review, being based on the clinical, pathologic, and genomic findings of HGSC, chromosomal instability and epigenetic dynamics have been discussed as the potential drivers for cancer development in the fallopian tube, acquisition of cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties, and peritoneal metastasis of HGSC. The natural history of carcinogenesis with clonal evolution, and adaptation to microenvironment of peritoneal dissemination of HGSC should be targeted in the novel development of strategies for prevention, early detection, and precision treatment for patients with HGSC