Mixed Sn–Ge Perovskite for Enhanced Perovskite Solar Cell Performance in Air

Lead-based perovskite solar cells have gained ground in recent years, showing efficiency as high as 20%, which is on par with that of silicon solar cells. However, the toxicity of lead makes it a nonideal candidate for use in solar cells. Alternatively, tin-based perovskites have been proposed because of their nontoxic nature and abundance. Unfortunately, these solar cells suffer from low efficiency and stability. Here, we propose a new type of perovskite material based on mixed tin and germanium. The material showed a band gap around 1.4–1.5 eV as measured from photoacoustic spectroscopy, which is ideal from the perspective of solar cells. In a solar cell device with inverted planar structure, pure tin perovskite solar cell showed a moderate efficiency of 3.31%. With 5% doping of germanium into the perovskite, the efficiency improved up to 4.48% (6.90% after 72 h) when measured in air without encapsulation

Novel functional anti-HER3 monoclonal antibodies with potent anti-cancer effects on various human epithelial cancers

Resistance of progressive cancers against chemotherapy is a serious clinical problem. In this context, human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) can play important roles in drug resistance to HER1- and HER2- targeted therapies. Since clinical testing of anti-HER3 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) such as patritumab could not show remarkable effect compared with existing drugs, we generated novel mAbs against anti-HER3. Novel rat mAbs reacted with HEK293 cells expressing HER3, but not with cells expressing HER1, HER2 or HER4. Specificity of mAbs was substantiated by the loss of mAb binding with knockdown by siRNA and knockout of CRISPR/Cas9-based genome-editing. Analyses of CDR sequence and germline segment have revealed that seven mAbs are classified to four groups, and the binding of patritumab was inhibited by one of seven mAbs. Seven mAbs have shown reactivity with various human epithelial cancer cells, strong internalization activity of cell-surface HER3, and inhibition of NRG1 binding, NRG1-dependent HER3 phosphorylation and cell growth. Anti-HER3 mAbs were also reactive with in vivo tumor tissues and cancer tissue-originated spheroid. Ab4 inhibited in vivo tumor growth of human colon cancer cells in nude mice. Present mAbs may be superior to existing anti-HER3 mAbs and support existing anti-cancer therapeutic mAbs

Validation of MIMGO: a method to identify differentially expressed GO terms in a microarray dataset

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We previously proposed an algorithm for the identification of GO terms that commonly annotate genes whose expression is upregulated or downregulated in some microarray data compared with in other microarray data. We call these “differentially expressed GO terms” and have named the algorithm “matrix-assisted identification method of differentially expressed GO terms” (MIMGO). MIMGO can also identify microarray data in which genes annotated with a differentially expressed GO term are upregulated or downregulated. However, MIMGO has not yet been validated on a real microarray dataset using all available GO terms.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We combined Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) with MIMGO to identify differentially expressed GO terms in a yeast cell cycle microarray dataset. GSEA followed by MIMGO (GSEA + MIMGO) correctly identified (<it>p</it> < 0.05) microarray data in which genes annotated to differentially expressed GO terms are upregulated. We found that GSEA + MIMGO was slightly less effective than, or comparable to, GSEA (Pearson), a method that uses Pearson’s correlation as a metric, at detecting true differentially expressed GO terms. However, unlike other methods including GSEA (Pearson), GSEA + MIMGO can comprehensively identify the microarray data in which genes annotated with a differentially expressed GO term are upregulated or downregulated.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>MIMGO is a reliable method to identify differentially expressed GO terms comprehensively.</p

直腸癌前方切除後の直腸膣瘻に対して一期的閉鎖術を成し得た1例

直腸癌に対するdouble stapling technique (DST)を用いた低位前方切除術の合併症としての直腸膣瘻は比較的稀である.しかし直腸膣瘻を合併した場合,その治療に苦慮することも多い.今回,直腸膣瘻に対し経膣的閉鎖術で治癒した症例を経験したので報告する.症例は51歳,女性.子宮への直接浸潤が疑われた直腸癌に対し, DSTによる低位前方切除術,子宮全摘術を施行した.術後約2ヵ月よりときどき膣より糞便の漏出を認めるようになったため,大腸内視鏡検査を施行したところ,直腸膣瘻を認めた.瘻孔発症後6ヵ月を過ぎても軽快しないため手術目的に入院した.注腸造影検査で吻合部に一致して径約3mmの直腸膣瘻を認めた.大腸内視鏡検査では肛門縁より約5cmの直腸前壁に瘻孔開口部を認めた.手術は腰椎麻酔,載石位で施行した.左右の大陰唇,小陰唇に2-0絹糸を等間隔にかけ,その各糸の一端を大陰唇より約5cm離れた大腿皮膚にかけ,それぞれを結紮し,膣内腔を伸展した.膣内腔に径約1mmの瘻孔開口部を認めた.粘膜下にエピネフリン入り1%キシロカインを注入し,膣壁と直腸壁を解離し,膣壁を紡錐形に切除し,それに続けて瘻管を切除した.直腸壁は4-0吸収糸でGambee縫合を7針施行した.膣壁は4-0吸収糸で全層結節縫合を8針施行し,手術を終了した.摘出した瘻孔に癌の遺残は認めなかった.術後5日目より経口摂取を開始し,経過良好であった.術後約2ヵ月の大腸内視鏡検査では瘻孔部は瘢痕として認められるのみであった.術後12ヵ月後の現在も直腸膣瘻の再発は認めていない.直腸癌に対するDSTを用いた低位前方切除術の合併症としての直腸膣瘻に対し,経膣的閉鎖術を行った.本例のような小瘻孔に対してはこのような方法も有効であると考えられる.Rectovaginal fistula (RVF) is a rare disease that may occur as a stapler-related complication after a double-stapled anastomosis in a low anterior resection. We report a successfully treated case of RVF by transvaginal primary closure without fecal diversion. A 51-year-old woman developed RVF 6 months after a low anterior resection because of rectal cancer. The walls of the vagina and the rectum were separated by injecting 1% xylocaine with epinephrine into the vaginal submucosa and the fistula was excised. The rectal wall and the vaginal wall was each closed separately by interrupted sutures, which cured the disease without fecal diversion

直腸癌前方切除後の直腸膣瘻に対して一期的閉鎖術を成し得た1例

直腸癌に対するdouble stapling technique (DST)を用いた低位前方切除術の合併症としての直腸膣瘻は比較的稀である.しかし直腸膣瘻を合併した場合,その治療に苦慮することも多い.今回,直腸膣瘻に対し経膣的閉鎖術で治癒した症例を経験したので報告する.症例は51歳,女性.子宮への直接浸潤が疑われた直腸癌に対し, DSTによる低位前方切除術,子宮全摘術を施行した.術後約2ヵ月よりときどき膣より糞便の漏出を認めるようになったため,大腸内視鏡検査を施行したところ,直腸膣瘻を認めた.瘻孔発症後6ヵ月を過ぎても軽快しないため手術目的に入院した.注腸造影検査で吻合部に一致して径約3mmの直腸膣瘻を認めた.大腸内視鏡検査では肛門縁より約5cmの直腸前壁に瘻孔開口部を認めた.手術は腰椎麻酔,載石位で施行した.左右の大陰唇,小陰唇に2-0絹糸を等間隔にかけ,その各糸の一端を大陰唇より約5cm離れた大腿皮膚にかけ,それぞれを結紮し,膣内腔を伸展した.膣内腔に径約1mmの瘻孔開口部を認めた.粘膜下にエピネフリン入り1%キシロカインを注入し,膣壁と直腸壁を解離し,膣壁を紡錐形に切除し,それに続けて瘻管を切除した.直腸壁は4-0吸収糸でGambee縫合を7針施行した.膣壁は4-0吸収糸で全層結節縫合を8針施行し,手術を終了した.摘出した瘻孔に癌の遺残は認めなかった.術後5日目より経口摂取を開始し,経過良好であった.術後約2ヵ月の大腸内視鏡検査では瘻孔部は瘢痕として認められるのみであった.術後12ヵ月後の現在も直腸膣瘻の再発は認めていない.直腸癌に対するDSTを用いた低位前方切除術の合併症としての直腸膣瘻に対し,経膣的閉鎖術を行った.本例のような小瘻孔に対してはこのような方法も有効であると考えられる.Rectovaginal fistula (RVF) is a rare disease that may occur as a stapler-related complication after a double-stapled anastomosis in a low anterior resection. We report a successfully treated case of RVF by transvaginal primary closure without fecal diversion. A 51-year-old woman developed RVF 6 months after a low anterior resection because of rectal cancer. The walls of the vagina and the rectum were separated by injecting 1% xylocaine with epinephrine into the vaginal submucosa and the fistula was excised. The rectal wall and the vaginal wall was each closed separately by interrupted sutures, which cured the disease without fecal diversion