Reflectance and reflection phase of photonic crystal with anisotropic left-handed materials

<p> The reflectance and reflection phase properties of one dimensional photonic crystals with anisotropic left-handed materials is investigated by transfer matrix method. It is demonstrated that the width of zero-n band gap is influenced by the incident angle, polarization, the proportion of lattice and the ratio of thickness&iuml;1/4&OElig;which is different from the zero-n band gap with isotropic left hand materials. The value of reflection phase is affected by incident angle and polarization and not affected by the proportion of lattice and the ratio of thickness. These characteristic may be useful for making photonic crystal phase compensators and the dispersion compensators. &copy; 2016 SPIE.</p

A novel ROS-Related chemiluminescent semiconducting polymer nanoplatform for acute pancreatitis early diagnosis and severity assessment

Abstract Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common and potentially life-threatening inflammatory disease of the pancreas. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a key role in the occurrence and development of AP. With increasing ROS levels, the degree of oxidative stress and the severity of AP increase. However, diagnosing AP still has many drawbacks, including difficulties with early diagnosis and undesirable sensitivity and accuracy. Herein, we synthesized a semiconducting polymer nanoplatform (SPN) that can emit ROS-correlated chemiluminescence (CL) signals. The CL intensity increased in solution after optimization of the SPN. The biosafety of the SPN was verified in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism and sensitivity of the SPN for AP early diagnosis and severity assessment were evaluated in three groups of mice using CL intensity, serum marker evaluations and hematoxylin and eosin staining assessments. The synthetic SPN can be sensitively combined with different concentrations of ROS to produce different degrees of high-intensity CL in vitro and in vivo. Notably, the SPN shows an excellent correlation between CL intensity and AP severity. This nanoplatform represents a superior method to assess the severity of AP accurately and sensitively according to ROS related chemiluminescence signals. This research overcomes the shortcomings of AP diagnosis in clinical practice and provides a novel method for the clinical diagnosis of pancreatitis in the future

High color rendering and high-luminance laser lighting using all inorganic nitride phosphor films

Despite the huge advances that have been made in the development of ultra-high luminance laser lighting, achieving high color rendering properties in such systems at the same time remains a challenge. Recent studies show that in most cases, the luminous efficacy (LE) of laser lighting is compromised to improve the color rendering index (CRI). In this study, a possible solution to this problem has been proposed by preparing phosphor-in-glass (PiG) films comprised of the yellow-emitting phosphor (LSN:Ce3+) and the red-emitting phosphor (CASN:Eu2+). The composite material synthesized in this study exhibited outstanding optical and thermal properties. A uniform white light with a high CRI of 80.0 and a high LE of 185.9 lm W-1 was achieved by optimizing the yellow/red ratio and the emission peak position of the blue laser. Furthermore, it was found that this design enabled the phosphor to restrict the light emission area effectively, thus attaining a high luminous exitance of 1302 lm mm-2. With their superior optical performance, the PiG films can be regarded as promising color converter candidates for future high-quality laser-based white light sources

Valid-NEO: A Multi-Omics Platform for Neoantigen Detection and Quantification from Limited Clinical Samples

The presentation of neoantigens on the cell membrane is the foundation for most cancer immunotherapies. Due to their extremely low abundance, analyzing neoantigens in clinical samples is technically difficult, hindering the development of neoantigen-based therapeutics for more general use in the treatment of diverse cancers worldwide. Here, we describe an integrated system, &ldquo;Valid-NEO&rdquo;, which reveals patient-specific cancer neoantigen therapeutic targets from minute amounts of clinical samples through direct observation, without computer-based prediction, in a sensitive, rapid, and reproducible manner. The overall four-hour procedure involves mass spectrometry analysis of neoantigens purified from tumor samples through recovery of HLA molecules with HLA antibodies. Valid-NEO could be applicable to the identification and quantification of presented neoantigens in cancer patients, particularly when only limited amounts of sample are available

Systematic Analysis of a Xenograft Mice Model for KSHV⁺ Primary Effusion Lymphoma (PEL)

<div><p>Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus is the causative agent of primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), which arises preferentially in the setting of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Even with standard cytotoxic chemotherapy, PEL continues to cause high mortality rates, requiring the development of novel therapeutic strategies. PEL xenograft models employing immunodeficient mice have been used to study the <i>in vivo</i> effects of a variety of therapeutic approaches. However, it remains unclear whether these xenograft models entirely reflect clinical presentations of KSHV⁺ PEL, especially given the recent description of extracavitary solid tumor variants arising in patients. In addition, effusion and solid tumor cells propagated <i>in vivo</i> exhibit unique biology, differing from one another or from their parental cell lines propagated through <i>in vitro</i> culture. Therefore, we used a KSHV⁺ PEL/BCBL-1 xenograft model involving non-obese diabetic/severe-combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice, and compared characteristics of effusion and solid tumors with their parent cell culture-derived counterparts. Our results indicate that although this xenograft model can be used for study of effusion and solid lymphoma observed in patients, tumor cells <i>in vivo</i> display unique features to those passed <i>in vitro</i>, including viral lytic gene expression profile, rate of solid tumor development, the host proteins and the complex of tumor microenvironment. These items should be carefully considered when the xenograft model is used for testing novel therapeutic strategies against KSHV-related lymphoma.</p></div

Characterization of the architecture of solid tumors in mice.

<p>Histological analysis of solid lymphoma isolated from 3 mice revealed an immunoblastic appearance, with sheaths of large, round cells with a large, chromatin extended nucleus and a prominent nucleolus. These cells show a high mitotic rate, areas of necrosis, and apoptosis in different stages, from picnotic nuclei to nuclear debris. (H&E stain; original magnification 400× for left panels and 600× for right panels).</p

Cytokines production from ascites cells in NOD/SCID mice.

<p>Ascites fractions were collected from NOD/SCID mice as described above, then both human and mouse cytokines within the supernatant were measured by flow cytometry and ELISA as described in Methods. Error bars represent the S.E.M. for two experiments. ** = p<0.01.</p

Expression profiling of KSHV viral genes from ascites cells in NOD/SCID mice.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Ascites fractions were collected and purified as described above, then expression of viral latent gene (<i>Lana, vFlip)</i> and lytic gene (<i>Rta, vGpcr, K8.1)</i> was detected by RT-PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis. <i>β-actin</i> was used as an internal control. (<b>B,C</b>) The expression of viral genes and microRNAs for <i>in vitro</i> cultured BCBL-1 and purified ascites cells from mice (shown as BCBL-1 <i>in vivo</i>) was compared by using qRT-PCR as described in Methods. Error bars represent the S.E.M for three experiments. ** = p<0.01.</p

Comparison of viral and host proteins expression between solid tumors and ascites.

<p>(<b>A–B</b>) Total RNA was extracted from solid tumor tissues and ascites of 2 mice, then qRT-PCR was used to measure the expression of viral latent gene (<i>Lana, vFlip)</i> and lytic gene (<i>Rta, vGpcr, K8.1)</i>, respectively. Error bars represent the S.E.M for three experiments. (<b>C</b>) Immunoblots were used to detect proteins expression within solid tumor tissues and ascites samples. (<b>D</b>) Immunohistochemistry for LANA in solid lymphomas showed a characteristic punctate nuclear pattern in neoplastic cells. p-MET is strongly expressed in the cytoplasm of all tumor cells. p-ERK and p-Akt showed strong immunoreactivity only in a small number of malignant cells (Immunoperoxidase; original magnification for all panels is 1000×).</p