What is an adequate margin for infiltrative soft-tissue sarcomas?

Objectives What constitutes an adequate margin of resection for infiltrative subtypes of soft-tissue sarcomas remains unclear. We aimed to determine the prognostic significance of the margin in millimetres for myxofibrosarcoma (MFS) and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS). Methods 305 patients diagnosed with either a high-grade, localised MFS (n = 98) or UPS (n = 207) were included. The relationship of closest margin in millimetres to viable tumour and oncological outcomes was analysed. Results The overall local recurrence (LR) rate for all patients were 12%: 19% with positive margin and 10% with negative margin (p = 0.051). The LR rate was similar in patients with negative but Conclusion The resection margin, when measured as a metric distance, correlates with a reduction in LR, and appears to be more significant on local control than radiotherapy. To minimise the risk of LR, a margin distance of at least 10 mm is advocated for MFS and UPS

Enhancement of Gastric Ulcer Healing and Angiogenesis by Cochinchina Momordica Seed Extract in Rats

Cochinchina momordica seed is the dried ripe seed of Momordica cochinchinensis, a perennial vine. The antiulcer effect of an extract from cochinchina momordica seeds (SK-MS10) was evaluated in a rat model of acetic acid-induced gastric ulcers. Gastric ulcers were produced by subserosal injection of acetic acid. SK-MS10 (200 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered orally once per day for 14 days after the acetic acid injection. The stomach was removed and the ulcer size measured at day 7 and 14 of the treatment. Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was assessed by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. In addition, the microvasculature density (MVD) adjacent to the ulcer margin was examined by immunohistochemistry. The treatment with SK-MS10 for 7 and 14 days significantly accelerated ulcer healing and increased the expression of mRNA (at day 7) as well as VEGF protein (at day 14) compared to the vehicle-treated rats. The MVD for factor VIII was also higher in the SK-MS10 treatment group compared to the vehicle-treated rats; however, these differences were not statistically significant. These results suggest that SK-MS10 treatment accelerates the healing of gastric ulcers via upregulation of VEGF and angiogenesis in an acetic acid rat model

Multiphoton Absorption Stimulated Metal Chalcogenide Quantum Dot Solar Cells under Ambient and Concentrated Irradiance

Colloidal metal chalcogenide quantum dots (QDs) have excellent quantum efficiency in light–matter interactions and good device stability. However, QDs have been brought to the forefront as viable building blocks in bottom‐up assembling semiconductor devices, the development of QD solar cell (QDSC) is still confronting considerable challenges compared to other QD technologies due to their low performance under natural sunlight, as a consequence of untapped potential from their quantized density‐of‐state and inorganic natures. This report is designed to address this long‐standing challenge by accessing the feasibility of using QDSC for indoor and concentration PV (CPV) applications. This work finds that above bandgap photon energy irradiation of QD solids can generate high densities of excitons via multi‐photon absorption (MPA), and these excitons are not limited to diffuse by Auger recombination up to 1.5 × 1019 cm−3 densities. Based on these findings, a 19.5% (2000 lux indoor light) and an 11.6% efficiency (1.5 Suns) have been facilely realized from ordinary QDSCs (9.55% under 1 Sun). To further illustrate the potential of the MPA in QDSCs, 21.29% efficiency polymer lens CPVs (4.08 Suns) and viable sensor networks powered by indoor QDSCs matrix have been demonstrated

Twist and Degrade-Impact of Molecular Structure on the Photostability of Nonfullerene Acceptors and Their Photovoltaic Blends

Nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) dominate organic photovoltaic (OPV) research due to their promising efficiencies and stabilities. However, there is very little investigation into the molecular processes of degradation, which is critical to guiding design of novel NFAs for long‐lived, commercially viable OPVs. Here, the important role of molecular structure and conformation in NFA photostability in air is investigated by comparing structurally similar but conformationally different promising NFAs: planar O‐IDTBR and nonplanar O‐IDFBR. A three‐phase degradation process is identified: i) initial photoinduced conformational change (i.e., torsion about the core–benzothiadiazole dihedral), induced by noncovalent interactions with environmental molecules, ii) followed by photo‐oxidation and fragmentation, leading to chromophore bleaching and degradation product formation, and iii) finally complete chromophore bleaching. Initial conformational change is a critical prerequisite for further degradation, providing fundamental understanding of the relative stability of IDTBR and IDFBR, where the already twisted IDFBR is more prone to degradation. When blended with the donor polymer poly(3‐hexylthiophene), both NFAs exhibit improved photostability while the photostability of the polymer itself is significantly reduced by the more miscible twisted NFA. The findings elucidate the important role of NFA molecular structure in photostability of OPV systems, and provide vital insights into molecular design rules for intrinsically photostable NFAs

Raw and Cooked Vegetable Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease:a Study of 400,000 Adults in UK Biobank

OBJECTIVES: Higher levels of vegetable consumption have been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the independent effect of raw and cooked vegetable consumption remains unclear. METHODS: From the UK Biobank cohort, 399,586 participants without prior CVD were included in the analysis. Raw and cooked vegetable intakes were measured with a validated dietary questionnaire at baseline. Multivariable Cox regression was used to estimate the associations between vegetable intake and CVD incidence and mortality, adjusted for socioeconomic status, health status, and lifestyle factors. The potential effect of residual confounding was assessed by calculating the percentage reduction in the likelihood ratio (LR) statistics after adjustment for the confounders. RESULTS: The mean age was 56 years and 55% were women. Mean intakes of raw and cooked vegetables were 2.3 and 2.8 tablespoons/day, respectively. During 12 years of follow-up, 18,052 major CVD events and 4,406 CVD deaths occurred. Raw vegetable intake was inversely associated with both CVD incidence (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) [95% CI] for the highest vs. lowest intake: 0.89 [0.83–0.95]) and CVD mortality (0.85 [0.74–0.97]), while cooked vegetable intake was not (1.00 [0.91–1.09] and 0.96 [0.80–1.13], respectively). Adjustment for potential confounders reduced the LR statistics for the associations of raw vegetables with CVD incidence and mortality by 82 and 87%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Higher intakes of raw, but not cooked, vegetables were associated with lower CVD risk. Residual confounding is likely to account for much, if not all, of the observed associations. This study suggests the need to reappraise the evidence on the burden of CVD disease attributable to low vegetable intake in the high-income populations

Photo-stability study of a solution-processed small molecule solar cell system: correlation between molecular conformation and degradation

<p>Solution-processed organic small molecule solar cells (SMSCs) have achieved efficiency over 11%. However, very few studies have focused on their stability under illumination and the origin of the degradation during the so-called burn-in period. Here, we studied the burn-in period of a solution-processed SMSC using benzodithiophene terthiophene rhodamine:[6,6]-phenyl C₇₁ butyric acid methyl ester (BTR:PC₇₁BM) with increasing solvent vapour annealing time applied to the active layer, controlling the crystallisation of the BTR phase. We find that the burn-in behaviour is strongly correlated to the crystallinity of BTR. To look at the possible degradation mechanisms, we studied the fresh and photo-aged blend films with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, UV–vis absorbance, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Although the crystallinity of BTR affects the performance drop during the burn-in period, the degradation is found not to originate from the crystallinity changes of the BTR phase, but correlates with changes in molecular conformation – rotation of the thiophene side chains, as resolved by Raman spectroscopy which could be correlated to slight photobleaching and changes in PL spectra.</p

Fluorine doped tin oxide as an alternative of indium tin oxide for bottom electrode of semi-transparent organic photovoltaic devices

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is commonly used as the transparent bottom electrode for organic solar cells. However, it is known that the cost of the ITO is quite high due to the indium element, and in some studies ITO coated glass substrate is found to be the most expensive component of device fabrication. Moreover, indium migration from ITO can cause stability issues in organic solar cells. Nevertheless, the use of ITO as the bottom electrode is still dominating in the field. Here, we explore the possibility of using fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) as an alternative to ITO for the bottom electrode of organic solar cells particularly on semi-transparent cells. We present side-by-side comparisons on their optical, morphological and device properties and suggest that FTO could be more suitable than ITO as the bottom electrode for glass substrate based organic photovoltaic devices

Magnetic vortex oscillator driven by dc spin-polarized current

Transfer of angular momentum from a spin-polarized current to a ferromagnet provides an efficient means to control the dynamics of nanomagnets. A peculiar consequence of this spin-torque, the ability to induce persistent oscillations of a nanomagnet by applying a dc current, has previously been reported only for spatially uniform nanomagnets. Here we demonstrate that a quintessentially nonuniform magnetic structure, a magnetic vortex, isolated within a nanoscale spin valve structure, can be excited into persistent microwave-frequency oscillations by a spin-polarized dc current. Comparison to micromagnetic simulations leads to identification of the oscillations with a precession of the vortex core. The oscillations, which can be obtained in essentially zero magnetic field, exhibit linewidths that can be narrower than 300 kHz, making these highly compact spin-torque vortex oscillator devices potential candidates for microwave signal-processing applications, and a powerful new tool for fundamental studies of vortex dynamics in magnetic nanostructures.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Single-cell analysis resolves the cell state transition and signaling dynamics associated with melanoma drug-induced resistance

Continuous BRAF inhibition of BRAF mutant melanomas triggers a series of cell state changes that lead to therapy resistance and escape from immune control before establishing acquired resistance genetically. We used genome-wide transcriptomics and single-cell phenotyping to explore the response kinetics to BRAF inhibition for a panel of patient-derived BRAF^(V600)-mutant melanoma cell lines. A subset of plastic cell lines, which followed a trajectory covering multiple known cell state transitions, provided models for more detailed biophysical investigations. Markov modeling revealed that the cell state transitions were reversible and mediated by both Lamarckian induction and nongenetic Darwinian selection of drug-tolerant states. Single-cell functional proteomics revealed activation of certain signaling networks shortly after BRAF inhibition, and before the appearance of drug-resistant phenotypes. Drug targeting those networks, in combination with BRAF inhibition, halted the adaptive transition and led to prolonged growth inhibition in multiple patient-derived cell lines