Effects of Hydrogen Plasma on the Electrical Properties of F-Doped ZnO Thin Films and p-i-n -Si:H Thin Film Solar Cells

1.5 wt% zinc fluoride (ZnF2) was mixed with zinc oxide powder to form the F-doped ZnO (FZO) composition. At first, the FZO thin films were deposited at room temperature and 5×10-3 Torr in pure Ar under different deposition power. Hall measurements of the as-deposited FZO thin films were investigated, and then the electrical properties were used to find the deposition power causing the FZO thin films with minimum resistance. The FZO thin films with minimum resistance were further treated by H2 plasma and then found their variations in the electrical properties by Hall measurements. Hydrochloric (HCl) acid solutions with different concentrations (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5%) were used to etch the surfaces of the FZO thin films. Finally, the as-deposited, HCl-etched as-deposited, and HCl-etched H2-plasma-treated FZO thin films were used as transparent electrodes to fabricate the p-i-n α-Si:H thin film solar cells and their characteristics were compared in this study. We would show that using H2-plasma-treated and HCl-etched FZO thin films as transparent electrodes would improve the efficiency of the fabricated thin film solar cells

AGROBEST: an efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression method for versatile gene function analyses in Arabidopsis seedlings

Background: Transient gene expression via Agrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer offers a simple and fast method to analyze transgene functions. Although Arabidopsis is the most-studied model plant with powerful genetic and genomic resources, achieving highly efficient and consistent transient expression for gene function analysis in Arabidopsis remains challenging. Results: We developed a highly efficient and robust Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression system, named AGROBEST (Agrobacterium-mediated enhanced seedling transformation), which achieves versatile analysis of diverse gene functions in intact Arabidopsis seedlings. Using β-glucuronidase (GUS) as a reporter for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation assay, we show that the use of a specific disarmed Agrobacterium strain with vir gene pre-induction resulted in homogenous GUS staining in cotyledons of young Arabidopsis seedlings. Optimization with AB salts in plant culture medium buffered with acidic pH 5.5 during Agrobacterium infection greatly enhanced the transient expression levels, which were significantly higher than with two existing methods. Importantly, the optimized method conferred 100% infected seedlings with highly increased transient expression in shoots and also transformation events in roots of ~70% infected seedlings in both the immune receptor mutant efr-1 and wild-type Col-0 seedlings. Finally, we demonstrated the versatile applicability of the method for examining transcription factor action and circadian reporter-gene regulation as well as protein subcellular localization and protein–protein interactions in physiological contexts. Conclusions: AGROBEST is a simple, fast, reliable, and robust transient expression system enabling high transient expression and transformation efficiency in Arabidopsis seedlings. Demonstration of the proof-of-concept experiments elevates the transient expression technology to the level of functional studies in Arabidopsis seedlings in addition to previous applications in fluorescent protein localization and protein–protein interaction studies. In addition, AGROBEST offers a new way to dissect the molecular mechanisms involved in Agrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer

Arsenic exposure and lung fibrotic changes-evidence from a longitudinal cohort study and experimental models

IntroductionArsenic (As) exposure is associated with lung toxicity and we aim to investigate the effects of arsenic exposure on lung fibrotic changes.MethodsParticipants (n= 976) enrolled via a general health survey underwent chest low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), spirometry forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and urinary arsenic examination during 2016 and 2018. Lung fibrotic changes from LDCT were defined. AsLtoL, low arsenic levels in both 2016 and 2018; AsLtoH, low arsenic in 2016 but high levels in 2018; AsHtoL, high arsenic in 2016 but low levels in 2018; AsHtoH, high arsenic levels in both 2016 and 2018. Mice exposed to 0. 0.2mg/L, 2 mg/L, 50 mg/L of sodium arsenite (NaAsO2) through drinking water for 12 weeks and 24 weeks were applied for histological analysis. Cultured lung epithelial cells were exposed to NaAsO2 and the mesenchymal changes were examined.ResultsAsHtoH increased the risk (OR= 1.65, 95% CI 1.10, 2.49) of Lung fibrotic positive to positive (reference: Lung fibrotic negative to negative) compared with AsLtoL. Moreover, the predicted mean of FVC and FEV1 in AsHtoH (−0.09 units, 95% CI: −0.27, −0.09; −0.09 units, 95% CI: −0.17, −0.01) and AsLtoH (−0.13 units, 95% CI: −0.30, −0.10; −0.13 units, 95% CI: −0.22, −0.04) was significantly lower than ASLtoL. Significant lung fibrotic changes including the increase of the alveolar septum thickness and collagen fiber deposition were observed upon 2 mg/L NaAsO2 treatment for 12 weeks, and the damage was dose- and time-dependent. In vitro, sodium arsenite treatment promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like changes of the normal human bronchial epithelial cells, including upregulation of several fibrotic and mesenchymal markers (fibronectin, MMP-2, and Snail) and cell migration. Inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and MMP-2 impaired the arsenic-induced EMT changes. Administration of a flavonoid, apigenin, inhibited EMT in vitro and pulmonary damages in vivo with the reduction of mesenchymal markers.Discussionwe demonstrated that continued exposure to arsenic causes lung fibrosis in humans and mice. Targeting lung epithelial cells EMT is effective on the development of therapeutic strategy. Apigenin is effective in the inhibition of arsenic-induced pulmonary fibrosis and EMT

Clinical utility of CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scoring systems for predicting postoperative atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery

ObjectivesThe presence of postoperative atrial fibrillation predicts a higher short- and long-term mortality rates; however, no scoring system has been used to discriminate patients at high risk for this complication. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores are useful risk assessment tools for new-onset atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery.MethodsA total of 277 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery were prospectively included in this risk stratification study. We calculated the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores from the data collected. The primary end point was the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation within 30 days after cardiac surgery.ResultsEighty-four (30%) of the patients had postoperative atrial fibrillation at a median of 2 days (range, 0-27 days) after cardiac surgery. The CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores were significant predictors of postoperative atrial fibrillation in separate multivariate regression analyses. The Kaplan-Meier analysis obtained a higher postoperative atrial fibrillation rate when based on the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores of at least 2 than when based on scores less than 2 (both log rank, P < .001). In addition, the CHA2DS2-VASc scores could be used to further stratify the patients with CHADS2 scores of 0 or 1 into 2 groups with different postoperative atrial fibrillation rates at a cutoff value of 2 (12% vs 32%; P = .01).ConclusionsCHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores were predictive of postoperative atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery and may be helpful for identifying high-risk patients

Expression of PRDX6 Correlates with Migration and Invasiveness of Colorectal Cancer Cells

Background/Aims: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. PRDXs are antioxidant enzymes that play an important role in cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis and have diverse functions in malignancy development. However, the mechanism of aberrant overexpression of PRDX6 in CRC remains unclear. Methods: Boyden chamber assay, flow cytometry and a lentiviral shRNA targeting PRDX6 and transient transfection with pCMV-6-PRDX6 plasmid were used to examine the role of PRDX6 in the proliferation capacity and invasiveness of CRC cells. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) with tissue array containing 40 paraffin- embedded CRC tissue specimens and Western blot assays were used to detect target proteins. Results: PRDX6 was significantly up-expressed in different comparisons of metastasis of colorectal adenomas in node-positive CRC (P = 0.03). In in vitro HCT-116, PRDX6 silencing markedly suppressed CRC cell migration and invasiveness while also inducing cell cycle arrest as well as the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS); specific overexpression of PRDX6 had the opposite effect. Mechanistically, the PRDX6 inactivation displayed decreased levels of PRDX6, N-cadherin, β-catenin, Vimentin, Slug, Snail and Twist-1 through the activation of the PI3K/ AKT/p38/p50 pathways, but they were also significantly inhibited by PRDX6 transfectants. There was also increased transcriptional activation of dimethylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3) of PRDX6 promoter via the activation of the PI3K/Akt/NFkB pathways. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that PRDX6 expression plays a characteristic growth-promoting role in CRC metastasis. This study suggests that PRDX6 may serve as a biomarker of node-positive status and may have a role as an important endogenous regulator of cancer cell tumorigenicity in CRC. PRDX6 may also be an effective therapeutic target

Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan

AbstractEndometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities

Treatment results for hypopharyngeal cancer by different treatment strategies and its secondary primary- an experience in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>The aim of this study was to evaluate treatment results in our hypopharyngeal cancer patients.</p> <p>Patients and Methods</p> <p>A total of three hundred and ninety five hypopharyngeal cancer patients received radical treatment at our hospital; 96% were male. The majority were habitual smokers (88%), alcohol drinkers (73%) and/or betel quid chewers (51%). All patients received a CT scan or MRI for tumor staging before treatment. The stage distribution was stage I: 2 (0.5%); stage II: 22 (5.6%); stage III: 57 (14.4%) and stage IV: 314 (79.5%). Radical surgery was used first in 81 patients (20.5%), and the remaining patients (79.5%) received organ preservation-intended treatment (OPIT). In the OPIT group, 46 patients received radiotherapy alone, 156 patients received chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy (CT/RT) and 112 patients received concomitant chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The five-year overall survival rates for stages I/II, III and IV were 49.5%, 47.4% and 18.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference in overall and disease-specific survival rates between patients who received radical surgery first and those who received OPIT. In the OPIT group, CCRT tended to preserve the larynx better (p = 0.088), with three-year larynx preservation rates of 44.8% for CCRT and 27.2% for CT/RT. Thirty-seven patients developed a second malignancy, with an annual incidence of 4.6%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There was no survival difference between OPIT and radical surgery in hypopharyngeal cancer patients at our hospital. CCRT may offer better laryngeal preservation than RT alone or CT/RT. However, prospective studies are still needed to confirm this finding. Additionally, second primary cancers are another important issue for hypopharyngeal cancer management.</p

Вихретоковый анизотропный термоэлектрический первичный преобразователь лучистого потока

Представлена оригинальная конструкция первичного преобразователя лучистого потока, который может служить основой для создания приемника неселективного излучения с повышенной чувствительностью