Investigating the electronic properties of multi-junction ZnS/CdS/CdTe graded bandgap solar cells

The fabrication of multi-junction graded bandgap solar cells have been successfully implemented by electroplating three binary compound semiconductors from II-VI family. The three semiconductor materials grown by electroplating techniques are ZnS, CdS and CdTe thin films. The electrical conductivity type and energy bandgap of each of the three semiconductors were determined using photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell measurement and UV-Vis spectrophotometry techniques respectively. The PEC cell results show that all the three semiconductor materials have n-type electrical conductivity. These two material characterisation techniques were considered in this paper in order to establish the relevant energy band diagram for device results, analysis and interpretation. Solar cells with the device structure glass/FTO/n-ZnS/n-CdS/n-CdTe/Au were then fabricated and characterised using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. From the I-V characteristics measurement, the fabricated device structures yielded an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 670 mV, short circuit current density (Jsc) of 41.5 mAcm-2 and fill-factor (FF) of 0.46 resulting in ∼12.8% efficiency when measured at room temperature under AM1.5 illumination conditions. The device structure showed an excellent rectification factor (RF) of 104.3 and ideality factor (n) of 1.88. The results obtained from the C-V measurement also showed that the device structures have a moderate doping level of 5.2×1015 cm-3

Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism combination pattern of the Klotho gene with non-cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with an elevated risk of all-cause mortality, with cardiovascular death being extensively investigated. However, non-cardiovascular mortality represents the biggest percentage, showing an evident increase in recent years. Klotho is a gene highly expressed in the kidney, with a clear influence on lifespan. Low levels of Klotho have been linked to CKD progression and adverse outcomes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the Klotho gene have been associated with several diseases, but studies investigating the association of Klotho SNPs with noncardiovascular death in CKD populations are lacking. The main aim of this study was to assess whether 11 Klotho SNPs were associated with non-cardiovascular death in a subpopulation of the National Observatory of Atherosclerosis in Nephrology (NEFRONA) study (n ¼ 2185 CKD patients). After 48 months of follow-up, 62 cardiovascular deaths and 108 non-cardiovascular deaths were recorded. We identified a high non-cardiovascular death risk combination of SNPs corresponding to individuals carrying the most frequent allele (G) at rs562020, the rare allele (C) at rs2283368 and homozygotes for the rare allele (G) at rs2320762 (rs562020 GG/AG þ rs2283368 CC/CT þ rs2320762 GG). Among the patients with the three SNPs genotyped (n ¼ 1016), 75 (7.4%) showed this combination. Furthermore, 95 (9.3%) patients showed a low-risk combination carrying all the opposite genotypes (rs562020 AA þ rs2283368 TT þ rs2320762 GT/TT). All the other combinations [n ¼ 846 (83.3%)] were considered as normal risk. Using competing risk regression analysis, we confirmed that the proposed combinations are independently associated with a higher fhazard ratio [HR] 3.28 [confidence interval (CI) 1.51-7.12]g and lower [HR 6 × 10- (95% CI 3.3 × 10--1.1 × 10-)] risk of suffering a non-cardiovascular death in the CKD population of the NEFRONA cohort compared with patients with the normal-risk combination. Determination of three SNPs of the Klotho gene could help in the prediction of non-cardiovascular death in CKD

Association of candidate gene polymorphisms with chronic kidney disease : Results of a case-control analysis in the NEFRONA cohort

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major risk factor for end-stage renal disease, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Despite classical clinical risk factors for CKD and some genetic risk factors have been identified, the residual risk observed in prediction models is still high. Therefore, new risk factors need to be identified in order to better predict the risk of CKD in the population. Here, we analyzed the genetic association of 79 SNPs of proteins associated with mineral metabolism disturbances with CKD in a cohort that includes 2,445 CKD cases and 559 controls. Genotyping was performed with matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. We used logistic regression models considering different genetic inheritance models to assess the association of the SNPs with the prevalence of CKD, adjusting for known risk factors. Eight SNPs (rs1126616, rs35068180, rs2238135, rs1800247, rs385564, rs4236, rs2248359, and rs1564858) were associated with CKD even after adjusting by sex, age and race. A model containing five of these SNPs (rs1126616, rs35068180, rs1800247, rs4236, and rs2248359), diabetes and hypertension showed better performance than models considering only clinical risk factors, significantly increasing the area under the curve of the model without polymorphisms. Furthermore, one of the SNPs (the rs2248359) showed an interaction with hypertension, being the risk genotype affecting only hypertensive patients. We conclude that 5 SNPs related to proteins implicated in mineral metabolism disturbances (Osteopontin, osteocalcin, matrix gla protein, matrix metalloprotease 3 and 24 hydroxylase) are associated to an increased risk of suffering CKD

Implementation of the classical nucleation theory for precipitation

International audienc

Buscando precisión en el montaje en articulador

Fil: Rodríguez, A.N. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Técnica de Prótesis; Argentina.Fil: Acevedo, M.L. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Técnica de Prótesis; Argentina.Fil: Pacchioni, A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Técnica de Prótesis; Argentina.Fil: Edelberg, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Técnica de Prótesis; Argentina.Se presenta una técnica de montaje de precisión, de fácil ejecución y al alcance del odontólogo y del técnico de laboratorio, destinada a brindar un mejor resultado clínico de los procedimientos restauradores tanto protéticos como ortodóncicos

Volatile Secondary Metabolites in Cascarillo (Ocotea caparrapi (Sandino-Groot ex Nates) Dugand - Lauraceae)

In this work, the chemical analysis of the volatile fractions obtained by simultaneous distillation-extraction of aerial parts of a species of Ocotea aff. O. caparrapi known as “Cascarillo” was carried out by GC-MS. The main components identified were: α-pinene (23.9 %) and β-pinene (14.7 %), in the resin; α- terpineol (26.6 %) and methyleugenol (14.7 %), in the leaves; elemicin (31.3 %) and methyleugenol (31.1 %), in the branch bark; myristicin (35.4-46.1 %), terpinen-4-ol (14.9-26.3 %), and α-terpineol (17.5-21.3 %), in stem bark. A high content of monoterpene hydrocarbons (82.6 % and 51.8 %) were found in the resin and leaves; and propenylbenzenes (66.5 %), in the branch bark. Oxygenated monoterpenes (44.5-57.3 %) and propenylbenzenes (52.3-38.7 %) constituted the stem bark. The identification of methyleugenol, elemicin and myristicin, in the volatile fractions, allowed us to establish a relationship between the Ocotea sp. of our study with O. caparrapi and O. cymbarum