Gender-Dependent Specificities in Cutaneous Melanoma Predisposition, Risk Factors, Somatic Mutations, Prognostic and Predictive Factors: A Systematic Review.

Over the last decades, the incidence of melanoma has been steadily growing, with 4.2% of the population worldwide affected by cutaneous melanoma (CM) in 2020 and with a higher incidence and mortality in men than in women. We investigated both the risk factors for CM development and the prognostic and predictive factors for survival, stratifying for both sex and gender. We conducted a systematic review of studies indexed in PUB-MED, EMBASE, and Scopus until 4 February 2021. We included reviews, meta-analyses, and pooled analyses investigating differences between women and men in CM risk factors and in prognostic and predictive factors for CM survival. Twenty-four studies were included, and relevant data extracted. Of these, 13 studies concerned potential risk factors, six concerned predictive factors, and five addressed prognostic factors of melanoma. The systematic review revealed no significant differences in genetic predisposition to CM between males and females, while there appear to be several gender disparities regarding CM risk factors, partly attributable to different lifestyles and behavioral habits between men and women. There is currently no clear evidence of whether the mutational landscapes of CM differ by sex/gender. Prognosis is justified by a complex combination of phenotypes and immune functions, while reported differences between genders in predicting the effectiveness of new treatments are inconsistent. Overall, the results emerging from the literature reveal the importance of considering the sex/gender variable in all studies and pave the way for including it towards precision medicine. Men and women differ genetically, biologically, and by social construct. Our systematic review shows that, although fundamental, the variable sex/gender is not among the ones collected and analyzed

Use of radio frequency power, silicon tetrafluoride and methane as parameters to tune structural properties of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon carbon alloys

International audienceIn the search for a material with electrical properties similar to those of amorphous silicon or amorphous silicon germanium, but stable under light soaking, hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon–carbon alloy (µc-Si1 − xCx:H) thin films are a promising candidate. The interest in these materials lies in the possibility of varying the effective band gap by changing the amount of carbon in the alloy composition, while keeping a high crystalline fraction to maintain stability under light-soaking. In this study, µc-Si1 − xCx:H thin films were deposited by radio frequency (RF) plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition using a silane and methane gas mixture highly diluted in hydrogen. Three deposition parameters were investigated as a means to control the film crystallinity: the RF power density, the methane flow rate and the presence of a small amount of silicon tetrafluoride in the gas mixture. Although all three parameters can result in materials with a Raman crystalline volume fraction above 50%, it is shown that they result in very different microstructures, as evidenced by x-ray diffraction and scanning transmission electron microscopy analyses. A growth model is proposed to explain the influence of each of these parameters on the final film structure

Density of states measurements of RF-power, SiF4 and CH4 –tuned-hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon carbon alloy thin films using Fourier transform photocurrent spectroscopy (FTPS)

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Chemical engineering of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 surfaces: An absolute deoxidation studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy signatures

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Direct Experimental Evidence of Halide IonicMigration under Bias in CH3NH3Pbl3et8722;xClxet8209;BasedPerovskite Solar Cells Using GD-OES Analysis

International audienceIn recent decades, the development oforganicet8722;inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs)has been increasing very quickly due to their high initialefficiency and low-cost process. However, key points suchas crystal growth mechanisms, currentet8722;voltage hysteresis,and instability remain still unexplained or misunderstood.Among several possibilities, ionic migration in PSCs hasbeen suggested to explain the hysteresis effect. However,direct experimental evidence of ionic migration underoperation or measurement conditions of PSCs is stillmissing. This work shows directly the ionic migration ofhalogen components (Iet8722; and Clet8722;) of a CH3NH3PbI3et8722;xClx perovskite film under an applied bias using glow dischargeoptical emission spectrometry (GD-OES). Furthermore, no migration of lead and nitrogen ions is observed on apolarization time scale less than 2 min. The ratio of fixed to mobile iodide ions is deduced from the evolution of the GDOESprofile lines as a function of the applied bias. The average length of iodide and chloride ion migration is deduced fromthe experimental results

Reduction of immunoreactivity of bovine beta-lactoglobulin upon combined physical and proteolytic treatment

Bovine \u3b2-lactoglobulin was hydrolyzed with trypsin or chymotrypsin before, during and after treatment at 600 MPa and pH 6.8 for 10 min at 30, 37 and 44\ub0C. The extent of \u3b2-lactoglobulin hydrolysis under pressure was noticeably higher than at atmospheric pressure, particularly when chymotrypsin was used. Addition of proteases at ambient pressure to previously pressure-treated \u3b2-lactoglobulin gave only a modest increase in proteolysis with respect to the untreated protein. Products of enzyme hydrolysis under pressure were separated by reverse-phase HPLC, and were found to be different from those obtained at atmospheric pressure when chymotrypsin was used. The residual immunochemical reactivity of the products of combined pressure-enzyme treatment was assessed on the unresolved hydrolysates by ELISA tests using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, and on individual hydrolytic fractions by Western Blotting using sera of paediatric patients allergic to whey proteins in cow milk. The immunoreactivity of the whole hydrolysates was related to their content of residual intact \u3b2-lactoglobulin, and no immunochemical reactivity was found for all the products of chymotrypsin hydrolysis under pressure. The results indicate that chymotrypsin effectively hydrolysed hydrophobic regions of \u3b2-lactoglobulin that were transiently exposed during the pressure treatments and that were not accessible in the native protein or in the protein that had been previously pressure treated