Three different reasons for surface damages of glasses after machine dishwashing

Α variety of glass eups has been investigated after treatment in a machine dishwasher. Three types of surface damages were found. The first type consists of clouding on the inner and outer surfaces appearing after about 1000 washing cycles. It can be related to the long range granular structure of glass, which is believed to be formed by thermal density fluctuation. During washing both water and detergents act as weak etchants, first eroding the smooth glass skin, then revealing the granular structure. As soon as the linkages between the granules are entirely broken by the etching, holes will manifest themselves at these sites. When the size of the holes (the hole width) reaches the half of the light wavelength, light scattering occurs and the glass seems cloudy. The second type is the sheet clouding on the outer surface appearing after about 100 washing cycles. It can be related to holes on the surface, which are formed by the loss of the sphere domain phase from the SiO2-rich matrix during washing. These domains result from phase separation induced by round-meldng of the sharp cutting edge, which is responsible for local clouding of glass. The third type is a golden film on the inner surface. These films are probably formed by complex formation between the glass surface and the organic compounds in the drinks. All of the damages studied here are irreversible

Multiple giant scalp metastases of a follicular thyroid carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The occurrence of skin metastases are rare events in the course of a follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) and usually indicate advanced tumor stages. The scalp is the most affected area of these metastases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a case of a 76 year old Woman with multiple giant scalp metastases of a follicular carcinoma. These metastases had been resected and wounds had been closed with mesh graft. The 14-months follow up is presented.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrate another case with multicentric form. Because of its location and size a primary wound closure was not possible. A healing could be reached using vacuum therapy and mesh graft transplantation.</p

Combinatorial preparation and characterization of thin-film multilayer electro-optical devices

In this article we present a setup for the combinatorial vapor deposition of thin-film multilayer devices as well as methods for the fast and efficient analytic screening of the libraries obtained. The preparation setup is based on a commercially available evaporation chamber equipped with various evaporation sources for both organic and metallic materials. The combinatorial approach is realized by the combination of a rotation stage for the substrate, a five-mask sampler, and an additional mask whose position can be deliberately varied along one axis during the evaporation process. The latter is used to evaporate linear as well as step gradients by continuous or stepwise movement of a shutter mask. The mask sampler allows to define the sectors of the library and to evaporate more complex structures, e.g., an electrode layout. Finally, the simultaneous evaporation of two or more materials enables us to produce layers of varying composition ratio in general and doped materials, in particular. For the control of the evaporation process we have developed an automation software, which is particularly helpful for complex library designs and which grants excellent repeatability of experiments. Efficient and fast characterization of the obtained libraries is realized by (i) a purely optical setup and (ii) an electro-optical setup. (i) The UV/vis reader FLASHScan (R) 530 permits to map out the UV/vis absorbance or fluorescence of the whole library. The UV/vis absorbance is primarily used to determine layer thicknesses and to confirm thickness uniformity across larger regions. The fluorescence measurements are used to determine the composition of layers containing fluorescent dyes. (ii) For a detailed short- and long-term electro-optical analysis we have developed an automated measurement system, which allows the characterization of 8x8 optoelectronic devices and to study their degradation behavior. Both solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes can be tested. Finally, we have developed a data analysis software to extract characteristic values from the huge amount of data and with this facilitate the finding of systematic dependencies. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics

Crystallization-induced switching of the morphology of poly(ethylene Oxide)-block-polybutadiene micelles

We studied the morphology of micelles formed by a well-defined poly(1,2-butadiene)-block-poly( ethylene oxide) diblock copolymer (PB-b-PEO). Dissolved in n-heptane at 70 degrees C, that is, above the melting point of PEO, spherical micelles are formed due to the selectivity of the solvent for the PB-block. If the solutions are cooled down to low temperatures, the liquid PEO-block crystallizes within the cores of the spherical micelles that remain stable. If, however, the solutions are quenched to 30 degrees C, the spherical micelles aggregate to a novel meander-like structure within several minutes. In its final state, the meander-like super-structure is crystalline, as revealed by time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering. The super-structure is shown to result from crystallization-induced aggregation of spherical micelles. Moreover, crystallization leads to well-defined angles between subsequent aggregating units. A quantitative Avrami-type analysis of the crystallization kinetics demonstrates that the formation of the meander-type structure resembles a 2D growth process combined with a breakout crystallization, showing an Avrami-exponent of 2.5. In contrast to this, crystallization at low temperatures resembles a confined crystallization with a low Avrami-exponent of 0.7. All data demonstrate that the morphology of block copolymers having a crystallizable block can be switched by the competition of aggregation and crystallization

Reversible tuning of a block-copolymer nanostructure via electric fields

Block copolymers consisting of incompatible components self-assemble into microphase-separated domains yielding highly regular structures with characteristic length scales of the order of several tens of nanometres. Therefore, in the past decades, block copolymers have gained considerable potential for nanotechnological applications, such as in nanostructured networks and membranes, nanoparticle templates and high-density data storage media. However, the characteristic size of the resulting structures is usually determined by molecular parameters of the constituent polymer molecules and cannot easily be adjusted on demand. Here, we show that electric d.c. fields can be used to tune the characteristic spacing of a block-copolymer nanostructure with high accuracy by as much as 6% in a fully reversible way on a timescale in the range of several milliseconds. We discuss the influence of various physical parameters on the tuning process and study the time response of the nanostructure to the applied field. A tentative explanation of the observed effect is given on the basis of anisotropic polarizabilities and permanent dipole moments of the monomeric constituents. This electric-field-induced effect further enhances the high technological potential of block-copolymer-based soft-lithography applications

Adaptation of Hepatic Mitochondrial Function in Humans with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Is Lost in Steatohepatitis

SummaryThe association of hepatic mitochondrial function with insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) or steatohepatitis (NASH) remains unclear. This study applied high-resolution respirometry to directly quantify mitochondrial respiration in liver biopsies of obese insulin-resistant humans without (n = 18) or with (n = 16) histologically proven NAFL or with NASH (n = 7) compared to lean individuals (n = 12). Despite similar mitochondrial content, obese humans with or without NAFL had 4.3- to 5.0-fold higher maximal respiration rates in isolated mitochondria than lean persons. NASH patients featured higher mitochondrial mass, but 31%–40% lower maximal respiration, which associated with greater hepatic insulin resistance, mitochondrial uncoupling, and leaking activity. In NASH, augmented hepatic oxidative stress (H2O2, lipid peroxides) and oxidative DNA damage (8-OH-deoxyguanosine) was paralleled by reduced anti-oxidant defense capacity and increased inflammatory response. These data suggest adaptation of the liver (“hepatic mitochondrial flexibility”) at early stages of obesity-related insulin resistance, which is subsequently lost in NASH

New Model for Gastroenteropancreatic Large-Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: Establishment of Two Clinically Relevant Cell Lines

<div><p>Recently, a novel WHO-classification has been introduced that divided gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NEN) according to their proliferation index into G1- or G2-neuroendocrine tumors (NET) and poorly differentiated small-cell or large-cell G3-neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC). Our knowledge on primary NECs of the GEP-system is limited due to the rarity of these tumors and chemotherapeutic concepts of highly aggressive NEC do not provide convincing results. The aim of this study was to establish a reliable cell line model for NEC that could be helpful in identifying novel druggable molecular targets. Cell lines were established from liver (NEC-DUE1) or lymph node metastases (NEC-DUE2) from large cell NECs of the gastroesophageal junction and the large intestine, respectively. Morphological characteristics and expression of neuroendocrine markers were extensively analyzed. Chromosomal aberrations were mapped by array comparative genomic hybridization and DNA profiling was analyzed by DNA fingerprinting. <i>In vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> tumorigenicity was evaluated and the sensitivity against chemotherapeutic agents assessed. Both cell lines exhibited typical morphological and molecular features of large cell NEC. <i>In vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> experiments demonstrated that both cell lines retained their malignant properties. Whereas NEC-DUE1 and -DUE2 were resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs such as cisplatin, etoposide and oxaliplatin, a high sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil was observed for the NEC-DUE1 cell line. Taken together, we established and characterized the first GEP large-cell NEC cell lines that might serve as a helpful tool not only to understand the biology of these tumors, but also to establish novel targeted therapies in a preclinical setup.</p></div

Immunohistochemical expression analyses of the cell lines NEC-DUE1 and NEC-DUE2.

<p>NSE neuron-specific enolase, VMAT vesicular monoamine transporter, CD56 cluster of differentiation 56, NCAM Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule, SSTR somatostatin receptor, CK cytokeratin, CEA carcinoembryonic antigen, Ca 19.9 carbohydrate antigen 19-9, TTF1 thyroid transcription factor 1, CDX2 caudal type homeobox 2.</p

Cytogenetic changes in large-cell NEC cell lines.

<p>DNA was isolated from the cell lines, primary tumors (PT) and hepatic or lymphatic metastases (M) and genetic aberrations were analyzed by aCGH analysis. Amplitudes over the midline reflect chromosomal gains, amplitudes under the midline losses. M I and M II represent the atypically resected liver metastases of the gastroesophageal NEC.</p

NEC-DUE1 and NEC-DUE2 retain the expression of neuroendocrine marker with increasing numbers of passage.

<p>RNA from cultured NEC cell lines NEC-DUE1 (<b>A</b>) and NEC-DUE2 (<b>B</b>) at indicated culture passages was isolated and RT-PCR analyses performed for neuroendocrine markers. Immunocytochemical staining of selected neuroendocrine markers was performed in NEC-DUE1 (<b>C</b>) and NEC-DUE2 (<b>D</b>) cells grown on cover slips at different numbers of culture passage. NC = negative control, p = number of passage.</p