Improved Performance of Amorphous InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistor with Ta2O5 Gate Dielectric by using La Incorporation

published_or_final_versio

Measurement of the Branching Fraction of J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0

Using 58 million J/psi and 14 million psi' decays obtained by the BESII experiment, the branching fraction of J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0 is determined. The result is (2.10+/-0.12)X10^{-2}, which is significantly higher than previous measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, RevTex

First observation of psi(2S)-->K_S K_L

The decay psi(2S)-->K_S K_L is observed for the first time using psi(2S) data collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC); the branching ratio is determined to be B(psi(2S)-->K_S K_L) = (5.24\pm 0.47 \pm 0.48)\times 10^{-5}. Compared with J/psi-->K_S K_L, the psi(2S) branching ratio is enhanced relative to the prediction of the perturbative QCD ``12%'' rule. The result, together with the branching ratios of psi(2S) decays to other pseudoscalar meson pairs (\pi^+\pi^- and K^+K^-), is used to investigate the relative phase between the three-gluon and the one-photon annihilation amplitudes of psi(2S) decays.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Direct Measurement of B(D0->phiX0) and B(D+->phiX+)

The first measurement of B(0->phi X0) and an upper limit for B(D+->phi X+) are determined from 22.3 pb-1 of e+e- annihilation data at a C. M. energy of 4.03 GeV. The data were recorded by the Beijing Spectrometer (BES) at BEPC. A recoil charge method is applied for the first time to charm threshold data to determine the charge of the D meson in the recoil from 9054+-309+-416 reconstructed D0, D+ mesons. The branching fractions B(D->phiX0) =(1.71+0.76-0.71+-0.17)%, and B(D+->phiX+) <1.8% are determined from 10 events with a reconstructed D and a recoiling phi. In addition, a 90% C.L. upper limit of B(D+->phi e+X0)<1.6% is determined from a search for semileptonic decays of the D+.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Coherent magnetic semiconductor nanodot arrays

In searching appropriate candidates of magnetic semiconductors compatible with mainstream Si technology for future spintronic devices, extensive attention has been focused on Mn-doped Ge magnetic semiconductors. Up to now, lack of reliable methods to obtain high-quality MnGe nanostructures with a desired shape and a good controllability has been a barrier to make these materials practically applicable for spintronic devices. Here, we report, for the first time, an innovative growth approach to produce self-assembled and coherent magnetic MnGe nanodot arrays with an excellent reproducibility. Magnetotransport experiments reveal that the nanodot arrays possess giant magneto-resistance associated with geometrical effects. The discovery of the MnGe nanodot arrays paves the way towards next-generation high-density magnetic memories and spintronic devices with low-power dissipation

Validated spectrophotometric methods for determination of Alendronate sodium in tablets through nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alendronate (ALD) is a member of the bisphosphonate family which is used for the treatment of osteoporosis, bone metastasis, Paget's disease, hypocalcaemia associated with malignancy and other conditions that feature bone fragility. ALD is a non-chromophoric compound so its determination by conventional spectrophotometric methods is not possible. So two derivatization reactions were proposed for determination of ALD through the reaction with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl) and 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) as chromogenic derivatizing reagents.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three simple and sensitive spectrophotometric methods are described for the determination of ALD. Method I is based on the reaction of ALD with NBD-Cl. Method II involved heat-catalyzed derivatization of ALD with DNFB, while, Method III is based on micellar-catalyzed reaction of the studied drug with DNFB at room temperature. The reactions products were measured at 472, 378 and 374 nm, for methods I, II and III, respectively. Beer's law was obeyed over the concentration ranges of 1.0-20.0, 4.0-40.0 and 1.5-30.0 μg/mL with lower limits of detection of 0.09, 1.06 and 0.06 μg/mL for Methods I, II and III, respectively. The proposed methods were applied for quantitation of the studied drug in its pure form with mean percentage recoveries of 100.47 ± 1.12, 100.17 ± 1.21 and 99.23 ± 1.26 for Methods I, II and III, respectively. Moreover the proposed methods were successfully applied for determination of ALD in different tablets. Proposals of the reactions pathways have been postulated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proposed spectrophotometric methods provided sensitive, specific and inexpensive analytical procedures for determination of the non-chromophoric drug alendronate either per se or in its tablet dosage forms without interference from common excipients.</p> <p>Graphical abstract</p> <p><display-formula><graphic file="1752-153X-6-25-i3.gif"/></display-formula></p

SOX2 is frequently downregulated in gastric cancers and inhibits cell growth through cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis

SOX transcription factors are essential for embryonic development and play critical roles in cell fate determination, differentiation and proliferation. We previously reported that the SOX2 protein is expressed in normal gastric mucosae but downregulated in some human gastric carcinomas. To clarify the roles of SOX2 in gastric carcinogenesis, we carried out functional characterisation of SOX2 in gastric epithelial cell lines. Exogenous expression of SOX2 suppressed cell proliferation in gastric epithelial cell lines. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that SOX2-overexpressing cells exhibited cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. We found that SOX2-mediated cell-cycle arrest was associated with decreased levels of cyclin D1 and phosphorylated Rb, and an increased p27Kip1 level. These cells exhibited further characteristics of apoptosis, such as DNA laddering and caspase-3 activation. SOX2 hypermethylation signals were observed in some cultured and primary gastric cancers with no or weak SOX2 expression. Among the 52 patients with advanced gastric cancers, those with cancers showing SOX2 methylation had a significantly shorter survival time than those without this methylation (P=0.0062). Hence, SOX2 plays important roles in growth inhibition through cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in gastric epithelial cells, and the loss of SOX2 expression may be related to gastric carcinogenesis and poor prognosis