The SU(2 vertical bar 3) dynamic two-loop form factors

SCOAP

Optimization of an Electron Transport Layer to Enhance the Power Conversion Efficiency of Flexible Inverted Organic Solar Cells

The photovoltaic (PV) performance of flexible inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs) with an active layer consisting of a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6, 6]-phenyl C61-butlyric acid methyl ester was investigated by varying the thicknesses of ZnO seed layers and introducing ZnO nanorods (NRs). A ZnO seed layer or ZnO NRs grown on the seed layer were used as an electron transport layer and pathway to optimize PV performance. ZnO seed layers were deposited using spin coating at 3,000 rpm for 30 s onto indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated polyethersulphone (PES) substrates. The ZnO NRs were grown using an aqueous solution method at a low temperature (90°C). The optimized device with ZnO NRs exhibited a threefold increase in PV performance compared with that of a device consisting of a ZnO seed layer without ZnO NRs. Flexible IOSCs fabricated using ZnO NRs with improved PV performance may pave the way for the development of PV devices with larger interface areas for effective exciton dissociation and continuous carrier transport paths

Parity and total, ischemic heart disease and stroke mortality. The Adventist Health Study, 1976–1988

In a prospective study with information about life style and reproductive factors, we assessed the relationship between parity and total, ischemic heart disease, and stroke mortality. The large majority of the 19,688 California Seventh-day Adventist women included did not smoke or drink alcohol, 31 percent never ate meat and physical activity was relatively high. Cox proportional hazard analysis was conducted with parity as the main independent variable and with adjustment for a number of other possible confounders. During follow-up from 1976 through 1988, there were 3,122 deaths; 782 deaths from ischemic heart disease and 367 deaths due to stroke. There were no relationships between parity and total mortality (P-value for overall effect of parity = 0.32). Grand multiparous women (>4 children) had somewhat increased ischemic heart disease mortality (MRR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.84) before adjustment for educational level. After adjustment for educational level and marital status, there were no relationship with mortality from ischemic heart disease (P = 0.29) or stroke (P = 0.72). In parous women, there were, after adjustment for age at first delivery, some suggestions of an increased total mortality in women with one child. For ischemic heart disease and stroke mortality, no associations were found. Stratified and adjusted analyses confirmed these results. Thus, we found no consistent relationships between parity and total, ischemic heart disease or stroke mortality. However, a longer follow-up would have been helpful and the conclusions may be somewhat influenced by the lifestyle of the women included

Control of sulphide during anaerobic treatment of S-containing wastewaters by adding limited amounts of oxygen or nitrate

Sulphide generated during anaerobic treatment of S-containing wastewaters represents an environmental problem. Adding limited amounts of oxygen or nitrate (or nitrite) to biologically (or chemically) oxidise sulphide forms a simple process level strategy to control this problem. This short review evaluates the feasibility and limitations of this strategy on the basis of the results of bioreactor studies.Sulphide generated during anaerobic treatment of S-containing wastewaters represents an environmental problem. Adding limited amounts of oxygen or nitrate (or nitrite) to biologically (or chemically) oxidise sulphide forms a simple process level strategy to control this problem. This short review evaluates the feasibility and limitations of this strategy on the basis of the results of bioreactor studies.Spanish Ministry of Education and Science; AEA Technology Environment; Nova Energie; The Swedish Gas Centre; University of Southern Denmark

Lung epithelial stem cells and their niches : Fgf10 takes center stage

Throughout life adult animals crucially depend on stem cell populations to maintain and repair their tissues to ensure life-long organ function. Stem cells are characterized by their capacity to extensively self-renew and give rise to one or more differentiated cell types. These powerful stem cell properties are key to meet the changing demand for tissue replacement during normal lung homeostasis and regeneration after lung injury. Great strides have been made over the last few years to identify and characterize lung epithelial stem cells as well as their lineage relationships. Unfortunately, knowledge on what regulates the behavior and fate specification of lung epithelial stem cells is still limited, but involves communication with their microenvironment or niche, a local tissue environment that hosts and influences the behaviors or characteristics of stem cells and that comprises other cell types and extracellular matrix. As such, an intimate and dynamic epithelial-mesenchymal cross-talk, which is also essential during lung development, is required for normal homeostasis and to mount an appropriate regenerative response after lung injury. Fibroblast growth factor 10 (Fgf10) signaling in particular seems to be a well-conserved signaling pathway governing epithelial-mesenchymal interactions during lung development as well as between different adult lung epithelial stem cells and their niches. On the other hand, disruption of these reciprocal interactions leads to a dysfunctional epithelial stem cell-niche unit, which may culminate in chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic asthma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

バレイショ近縁種における種の分化 XIII. S.acaule X S.demissumより得た7倍雑種の染色体行動と両親ゲノムの類縁関係

中央アンデス産Acaulia群4倍種S. acaule (acl, 2n=48)とメキシコ産Demissa群6倍種S. demissum (dms, 2n=72)のゲノムの類縁関係を明らかにするために, 前者を母本として得た7倍雑種(2n=84)の還元分裂における染色体行動と稔性を調べた。以下その結果を要約する。両種間の交雑は極めて困難で, aclを母とした時のみ受粉花数当り0.02の低率で雑種が得られたにすぎない。得られた雑種は, 両親との形態的比較から, aclの非還元性卵とdmsの還元性花粉の受精に起因するものと推定された。この雑種の第1中期における染色体対合行動は甚だしく多様であったが, その対合型のモードは(12)_+(20)_+8_I, その平均対合頻度は(0.18)_V+(1.11)_+(11.73)_+(18.11)_+(7.26)_Iで, 著しく高頻度の3価形成を示す点が特徴的であった。このような対合行動はその後の染色体行動にも反映し, 第1後期では観察細胞のすべてに平均4.8の遅滞染色体がみられ, 第2中期では94%の細胞が分散染色体を示し, 数的平衡核板頻度は0.6%にすぎなかった。稔性は極めて低く, 調査花粉粒数の27%が一見正常であったが, 自殖及び戻交配のいずれにおいても全く種子を生じなかった。上記の観察結果, 特に高頻度で出現した3価染色体の成因を考察して次の知見を得た。すでにaclはAAA^aA^a, dmsはA^dA^dC_1C_1C_2C_2のゲノム型をもつことが知られているので, 当雑種のゲノム型はAAA^aA^aA^dC_1C_2となる。A^dゲノムは若干の構造的差異はもつもののAゲノム群に属することも知られている。したがって, 当雑種にみられる3価形成は, 主に, aclからのAAとdmsからのA^dの3ゲノム間の染色体対合に由来すると推論でき, 両種はこれらのゲノムの相同性によって相互に関係づけられているものと考えられる。 / Meiotic behavior and fertility were studied in a heptaploid F_1 hybrid (2n=84) obtained from crossing S. acaule (acl, 2n=48) with S. demissum (dms, 2n=72), with the aim of assessing a genomic relationship between the parent species. Crossability between the two species was very low, the number of hybrid plants per pollination being only 0.02. Morphological evidence indicated that the hybrid arose through the union of an unreduced egg of acl and a reduced pollen grain of dms. The hybrid had the mean pairing frequency of (0.18)_V+(1.11)_+(11.73)_+(18.11)_+(7.26)_I per cell at metaphase I, with (12)_+(20)_+8_I as the modal configuration. Its subsequent behaviors were extremely irregular, showing several laggards in all the cells and chromatid bridges in occasional cells at anaphase I and also scattered chromosomes in 94% of the cells at metaphase II. The hybrid gave only 27% stainable pollen and no seed either on selfing or on backcrossing with both parents. The pattern of chromosome pairing found in the hybrid was interpreted in terms of genomic relationship between both parent species. From this, it was suggested that one (A) of the two genomes (designated AA^a) which acl possess in its gametes seems to be closely similar to, but not identical with, one (A^d) of the three genomes (A^dC_1C_2) which dms possess in its gemetes