Origin of depressed fill factor in organic solar cells due to S-shape current-voltage characteristics

Often, a depressed fill factor is observed in organic solar cells (OSCs), which is usually known as S-shaped current-voltage (J-V) characteristics. To investigate the origin of the depressed fill factor further, a poly[N-9-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)]:[6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester based OSC has been characterized through impedance spectroscopy. In addition, the photocurrent vs the applied effective bias plot reveals that the S-shaped J-V characteristics primarily reduce the diffusion current of the device. The present study shows that the diffusion current dominated section of photocurrent reduces with a slope of 2 in the depressed fill factor section given that the slope may further increase as per the impact of the S-shape. The reduction in the diffusion constant (D-n) in the S-shaped region supports the decrease in the diffusion current, which is observed through the photocurrent analysis. It is observed that, in the S-shaped section of the current-voltage characteristics, the transport time for free carriers increases up to 443 mu s. The larger Urbach energy for the active layer of an S-shaped device demonstrates higher subbandgap disorder. Therefore, it is concluded that the accumulation of the charge carriers within the device and disorder in the active layer leads to the S-shaped current-voltage characteristics as well as poor carrier extraction

Effect of electronic medication reconciliation at the time of hospital discharge on inappropriate medication use in the community: an interrupted time-series analysis

BACKGROUND: It is unclear if enhanced electronic medication reconciliation systems can reduce inappropriate medication use and improve patient care. We evaluated trends in potentially inappropriate medication use after hospital discharge before and after adoption of an electronic medication reconciliation system. METHODS: We conducted an interrupted time-series analysis in 3 tertiary care hospitals in London, Ontario, using linked health care data (2011-2019). We included patients aged 66 years and older who were discharged from hospital. Starting between Apr. 13 and May 21, 2014, physicians were required to complete an electronic medication reconciliation module for each discharged patient. As a process outcome, we evaluated the proportion of patients who continued to receive a benzodiazepine, antipsychotic or gastric acid suppressant as an outpatient when these medications were first started during the hospital stay. The clinical outcome was a return to hospital within 90 days of discharge with a fall or fracture among patients who received a new benzodiazepine or antipsychotic during their hospital stay. We used segmented linear regression for the analysis. RESULTS: We identified 15 932 patients with a total of 18 405 hospital discharge episodes. Before the implementation of the electronic medication reconciliation system, 16.3% of patients received a prescription for a benzodiazepine, antipsychotic or gastric acid suppressant after their hospital stay. After implementation, there was a significant and immediate 7.0% absolute decline in this proportion (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.5% to 9.5%). Before implementation, 4.1% of discharged patients who newly received a benzodiazepine or antipsychotic returned to hospital with a fracture or fall within 90 days. After implementation, there was a significant and immediate 2.3% absolute decline in this outcome (95% CI 0.3% to 4.3%). INTERPRETATION: Implementation of an electronic medication reconciliation system in 3 tertiary care hospitals reduced potentially inappropriate medication use and associated adverse events when patients transitioned back to the community. Enhanced electronic medication reconciliation systems may allow other hospitals to improve patient safety

The Identification of Potential Therapeutic Targets for Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

We performed a small interfering RNA screen to identify targets for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) therapy in the ubiquitin/ubiquitin-like system. We provide evidence for selective anti-cSCC activity of knockdown of the E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH4, the ATPase p97/VCP, the deubiquitinating enzyme USP8, the cullin-RING ligase (CRL) 4 substrate receptor CDT2/DTL, and components of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). Specifically attenuating CRL4CDT2 by CDT2 knockdown can be more potent in killing cSCC cells than targeting CRLs or CRL4s in general by RBX1 or DDB1 depletion. Suppression of the APC/C or forced APC/C activation by targeting its repressor EMI1 are both potential therapeutic approaches. We observed that cSCC cells can be selectively killed by small-molecule inhibitors of USP8 (DUBs-IN-3/compound 22c) and the NEDD8 E1 activating enzyme/CRLs (MLN4924/pevonedistat). A substantial proportion of cSCC cell lines are very highly MLN4924-sensitive. Pathways that respond to defects in proteostasis are involved in the anti-cSCC activity of p97 suppression. Targeting USP8 can reduce the expression of growth factor receptors that participate in cSCC development. EMI1 and CDT2 depletion can selectively cause DNA re-replication and DNA damage in cSCC cells

In silico targeting of osmoporin protein of Salmonella to identify anti-Salmonellosis phyto-compounds

Salmonella enterica serotype typhi is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium, and has flagella with the human body as its only reservoir. Typhoid fever was found to cause 21.7 million illnesses and 216,000 fatalities worldwide in 2000, and the International Vaccine Institute estimated 11.9 million cases and 129,000 deaths in low- and middle-income countries in 2010. More than 10 million patients were infected with S. typhi each year and the mortality rate is associated with more than 0.1 million patients. Moreover, it is also associated with drug resistance globally which makes the disease more dreadful. Other than antibiotics, various flavonoids showed medicinal effects against many diseases including S. typhi infection. Flavonoids are a type of plant bioactive metabolite that have potential medicinal efficacy. The goal of this study was to see if certain flavonoids (ellagic acid, eriodictyol, and naringenin) could interact with the outer membrane of osmoporin (PDB ID: 3uu2) receptor in Salmonella and helps in inhibiting its growth. To look for probable ligand-receptor binding relationships, we used Pyrxmolecular docking software. The molecular docking results were analyzed using the Biovia discovery studio visualizer. The current study discovered that selected plant-based compounds interacted with an outer membrane of the osmoporin receptor, resulting in minimization of energy in the range of-6.6 to -7.8 Kcal/mol

STRIDE: Single-video based Temporally Continuous Occlusion Robust 3D Pose Estimation

The capability to accurately estimate 3D human poses is crucial for diverse fields such as action recognition, gait recognition, and virtual/augmented reality. However, a persistent and significant challenge within this field is the accurate prediction of human poses under conditions of severe occlusion. Traditional image-based estimators struggle with heavy occlusions due to a lack of temporal context, resulting in inconsistent predictions. While video-based models benefit from processing temporal data, they encounter limitations when faced with prolonged occlusions that extend over multiple frames. This challenge arises because these models struggle to generalize beyond their training datasets, and the variety of occlusions is hard to capture in the training data. Addressing these challenges, we propose STRIDE (Single-video based TempoRally contInuous occlusion Robust 3D Pose Estimation), a novel Test-Time Training (TTT) approach to fit a human motion prior for each video. This approach specifically handles occlusions that were not encountered during the model's training. By employing STRIDE, we can refine a sequence of noisy initial pose estimates into accurate, temporally coherent poses during test time, effectively overcoming the limitations of prior methods. Our framework demonstrates flexibility by being model-agnostic, allowing us to use any off-the-shelf 3D pose estimation method for improving robustness and temporal consistency. We validate STRIDE's efficacy through comprehensive experiments on challenging datasets like Occluded Human3.6M, Human3.6M, and OCMotion, where it not only outperforms existing single-image and video-based pose estimation models but also showcases superior handling of substantial occlusions, achieving fast, robust, accurate, and temporally consistent 3D pose estimates

In Silico Targeting of influenza virus haemagglutinin receptor protein using Diosmetin, Tangeritin, and Anthocyanidins as potential drugs

Influenza viruses cause acute respiratory illnesses in birds, humans, and other mammals, and are a major public health concern around the world. Pandemic flu could be caused by an unforeseen human adaptation of an influenza subtype or strain rather than currently circulating influenza viruses. The need for plant metabolites-based new anti-influenza drugs appears to be urgent. Blocking Haemeagglutinin (HA) protein is one of the most appealing drug targets to halt the growth of the virus. The influenza virus can acquire resistance to currently existing therapies, therefore necessitating the development of new medications. The plant's bioactive metabolites, flavanoids are having potential medicinal efficacy. The current study aimed to identify certain flavonoids (Diosmetin, Tangeritin, and Anthocyanidins) that might interact with the HA protein of the influenza virus and help in inhibiting its growth. We used PyRx v0.8 for virtual screening and docking studies. The highest binding affinity docked structures were analyzed using PyMOL and Discovery Studio Visualizer. The present study revealed that these naturally occurring compounds interacted with HA protein, resulting in the minimization of energy in the range of -5.2 to -7.0 kcal/mol. Diosmetin showed the best binding affinity of -7.0Kcal/mol. The molecular binding studies revealed that Diosmetin, Tangeritin, and Anthocyanidins are potential compounds to test against HA protein and can be used to develop effective anti-influenza agents

A Single Step Catalytic Process for the Production of Higher Range Hydrocarbon Fuel Stocks from Naphtha

A novel concept of cracking-based oligomerization of naphtha (C5-C8) to produce higher range hydrocarbons (C9-C15) suitable for the jet fuel applications has been explored by using various zeolite type catalysts. Among the bi-metallic BEA, MOR, Y, ZSM-5 and Nano ZSM-5 based catalysts, the bi-functional Pt-Sn/Nano ZSM-5 catalyst exhibited promising catalytic activity to give higher range hydrocarbons in a single step vapor phase reaction. The catalyst produced 47 wt.% higher range hydrocarbons (C9-C15) from naphtha (C5-C8) at 400 ºC and 15 bar pressure, which is first of its kind to observe on any solid acid catalyst to the best of our knowledge. Further, the studies are also conducted on various other zeolites metal functionalized by similar manner so as to understand the effect of zeolite type and the metals

Whole genome expression and biochemical correlates of extreme constitutional types defined in Ayurveda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ayurveda is an ancient system of personalized medicine documented and practiced in India since 1500 B.C. According to this system an individual's basic constitution to a large extent determines predisposition and prognosis to diseases as well as therapy and life-style regime. Ayurveda describes seven broad constitution types (<it>Prakriti</it>s) each with a varying degree of predisposition to different diseases. Amongst these, three most contrasting types, <it>Vata</it>, <it>Pitta</it>, <it>Kapha</it>, are the most vulnerable to diseases. In the realm of modern predictive medicine, efforts are being directed towards capturing disease phenotypes with greater precision for successful identification of markers for prospective disease conditions. In this study, we explore whether the different constitution types as described in Ayurveda has molecular correlates.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal individuals of the three most contrasting constitutional types were identified following phenotyping criteria described in Ayurveda in Indian population of Indo-European origin. The peripheral blood samples of these individuals were analysed for genome wide expression levels, biochemical and hematological parameters. Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway based analysis was carried out on differentially expressed genes to explore if there were significant enrichments of functional categories among <it>Prakriti </it>types.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Individuals from the three most contrasting constitutional types exhibit striking differences with respect to biochemical and hematological parameters and at genome wide expression levels. Biochemical profiles like liver function tests, lipid profiles, and hematological parameters like haemoglobin exhibited differences between <it>Prakriti </it>types. Functional categories of genes showing differential expression among <it>Prakriti </it>types were significantly enriched in core biological processes like transport, regulation of cyclin dependent protein kinase activity, immune response and regulation of blood coagulation. A significant enrichment of housekeeping, disease related and hub genes were observed in these extreme constitution types.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Ayurveda based method of phenotypic classification of extreme constitutional types allows us to uncover genes that may contribute to system level differences in normal individuals which could lead to differential disease predisposition. This is a first attempt towards unraveling the clinical phenotyping principle of a traditional system of medicine in terms of modern biology. An integration of Ayurveda with genomics holds potential and promise for future predictive medicine.</p

Filtering Medline for a clinical discipline: diagnostic test assessment framework

Objective To develop and test a Medline filter that allows clinicians to search for articles within a clinical discipline, rather than searching the entire Medline database

Non-approximated series resistance evaluation by considering high ideality factor in organic solar cell

The quality performance analysis of any solar cell can only be predicted through the parameters extracted from its current-voltage characteristics. Herein, we demonstrate an efficient analytical method to calculate the series resistance of organic solar cells without any pre approximation. It has been shown that the inaccuracy in series resistance takes place due to the high ideality factor of the organic based solar cells, usually ranging from 2-5. Using a systemic approach, we solved the single diode solar cell model to determine the series resistance expression. The dependence of series resistance on ideality factor of the device and the reverse saturation current calculation through the illuminated current-voltage characteristics has been presented here for the first time. The entire method has been programmatically realized in MAT-LAB. The extracted parameters values have been compared to the other methods for the proof of validation and it shows good agreement where as some outputs are better resolved. Additionally, the effectiveness of the present method is also matched with NREL certified silicon solar cell (reference cell model 60623) parameter extracted from K24XX cell software provided with PET cell tester model, CT200AAA solar simulators. The present proposed method is not restricted to the organic solar cell only but it can also be applied for the other type of solar cell as well. Therefore, the proposed method shows the relevance in the present scenario of solar cell research and development