Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have been used to redirect the specificity of autologous T cells against leukemia and lymphoma with promising clinical results. Extending this approach to allogeneic ...T cells is problematic as they carry a significant risk of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Natural killer (NK) cells are highly cytotoxic effectors, killing their targets in a non-antigen-specific manner without causing GVHD. Cord blood (CB) offers an attractive, allogeneic, off-the-self source of NK cells for immunotherapy. We transduced CB-derived NK cells with a retroviral vector incorporating the genes for CAR-CD19, IL-15 and inducible caspase-9-based suicide gene (iC9), and demonstrated efficient killing of CD19-expressing cell lines and primary leukemia cells in vitro, with marked prolongation of survival in a xenograft Raji lymphoma murine model. Interleukin-15 (IL-15) production by the transduced CB-NK cells critically improved their function. Moreover, iC9/CAR.19/IL-15 CB-NK cells were readily eliminated upon pharmacologic activation of the iC9 suicide gene. In conclusion, we have developed a novel approach to immunotherapy using engineered CB-derived NK cells, which are easy to produce, exhibit striking efficacy and incorporate safety measures to limit toxicity. This approach should greatly improve the logistics of delivering this therapy to large numbers of patients, a major limitation to current CAR-T-cell therapies.
X-ray absorption spectra (XAS), the density of states (DOS) and the electron density distribution of the HOMO and LUMO for flat and twisted rubrene molecules have been calculated using density ...functional theory (DFT). The simulated XAS spectra are validated by experimental C K-edge near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) data. We demonstrate that the NEXAFS spectra of rubrene thin films of different thicknesses can be explained in terms of different combinations of spectral intensity from the twisted and the flat randomly oriented molecules. All the fine structure of the NEXAFS spectra is well reproduced and the energetic positions of the resonances agree within a window of ±0.3 eV with the calculated XAS. Our calculation reveals that the peak at lowest photon energy (α') of the NEXAFS spectra at the lower coverage of rubrene molecules appears only from the twisted molecules. Other peaks in the case of the flat molecules appear either from the backbone or the wings, whereas, for the twisted molecules, the backbone and the wings contribute somewhat equally. Lowering of the HOMO-LUMO gap, as well as redistribution of the electron density of both the frontier orbitals, is found to take place in the case of the twisted molecule. The redistribution explains the reduction in conductivity for the twisted molecule compared to the flat one despite the lower band gap for the former. This finding will further strengthen the progress of rubrene thin film based devices.
An equally spaced linear chain of ions provides a test-bed for studying the defect formation during a topological phase transition from a linear to a zig-zag configuration. By using a particular ...axial potential leading to an homogeneous ion chain, the boundary conditions are not needed, allowing new rich defect dynamics to appear on an homogeneous system. A semi-empirical expression for the critical transition frequency provides an excellent agreement to the numerical results for low ion numbers. The non-adiabatic crossing of the phase transition shows different power-laws for the defect probability density for different quench rates regions. Information regarding defect dynamics is obtained through the measurement of the defect density at different times during the quench. By comparing the defect density and the correlation length dynamics among the different number of trapped ions, the role of the different defect loss mechanism can be deduced. An excellent agreement with the predictions given by the homogeneous Kibble-Zurek model is found on a finite size system of 30 ion system which can be tested in present ion trap experimental set-ups.
•F-LUMO, a hybridized state near EF confirms partial charge transfer.•Non-significant role of partial charge transfer in VL shift over push back effect.•Pyrrole sites affected for partial charge ...transfer from Cu and Ag substrates.•Negligible effect on pyrrole cites for Pt and Au substrates.
The performances of organic electronic devices are significantly associated with their energy level alignment at organic semiconductor/metal–electrode interfaces. The electronic character of an organic semiconducting molecular over-layer on a metal surface can vary from semiconducting to metallic, depending on the nature of the molecular orbitals with respect to the Fermi level of the electrode. The general tendency of extrapolating established models for single crystal substrates to ‘real’ device substrates is highly misleading. Hence, the importance of metal specific interaction, former lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (F-LUMO) and vacuum level (VL) shift have been investigated as a function of thickness of the deposited films by means of photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS) to understand the interface between CuPc and Cu, Ag, Pt and Au foils sequentially. The XPS data provides the signature of affectability of pyrrole sites of CuPc molecules for partial charge transfer from Cu and Ag substrates while a negligible effect on pyrrole cites resulted for Pt and Au substrates. Furthermore, the appearance of F-LUMO, a hybridized state close to the Fermi level gives confirmatory information about partial charge transfer. Contrary to the general belief that vacuum level shift caused by charge transfer can partially or totally cancel that for push back effect, our observation indicates that the partial charge transfer does not play significant role in the shift of vacuum level. The entire thickness dependent electronic energy level alignment of CuPc films on all noble metal substrates is explained in terms of a combined effect of partial charge transfer and photoemission final state relaxation energy. A systematic variation of HOMO-FWHM was observed with CuPc thickness due to continuous change in molecular orientation.
•Al-Mg alloy foams were produced by melt route.•This is the first time foam was produced without any thickening step.•MgAl2O4 and Mg-Al-O transition oxides in the form of particles formed in Al-Mg ...melts.•Mg addition resulted in the formation of these oxides that stabilize the foam.
Foaming behavior of Al-Mg alloy melts with and without a thickening step was studied. Stable foams were obtained in both the cases. Oxides formed in Al-Mg melts were studied using XRD, SEM and TEM. These studies revealed the formation of MgAl2O4, MgO and transition oxides in Al-Mg melts. The stabilization of Al-Mg foams was attributed to the formation of MgAl2O4 and transition oxides.
Background
Homeless street sweeps are frequent operations in many cities in the USA in which government agencies move unhoused people living in public outdoor areas. Little research exists on the ...health impact of street sweeps operations.
Objective
This study was created at the request of community advocacy groups to investigate and document the health impacts of street sweeps from the perspective of healthcare providers.
Design
This is a qualitative study using data gathered from open-ended questions.
Participants
We recruited 39 healthcare providers who provided health and wellness services in San Francisco for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) between January 2018 and January 2020.
Interventions
We administered a qualitative, open-ended questionnaire to healthcare providers using Qualtrics surveying their perspectives on the health impact of street sweeps.
Approach
We conducted qualitative thematic analysis on questionnaire results.
Key Results
Street sweeps may negatively impact health through two outcomes. The first outcome is material loss, including belongings and medical items. The second outcome is instability, including geographic displacement, community fragmentation, and loss to follow-up. These outcomes may contribute to less effective management of chronic health conditions, infectious diseases, and substance use disorders, and may increase physical injuries and worsen mental health. Providers also reported that sweeps may negatively impact the healthcare system by promoting increased usage of emergency departments and inpatient hospital care.
Conclusions
Sweeps may have several negative consequences for the physical and mental health of the PEH community and for the healthcare system.
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•Tailor-made Thin film Poly(piperizinamide) Composite membrane including copper moiety.•Selectivity in bivalent- monovalent salt depends on the sequence of reagents during interfacial ...polymerization.•Separation behavior of mono and disaccharides for all the membranes.•Separation behavior of Hexaconazole in different water matrices.•Development of antibacterial property related to E. Coli and Bacillus subtilis.
Thin film Poly(piperazine-amide) composite membranes using sequential interfacial polymerization with tuning by Cu2+ have brought significant findings in it. The hydrophobicity is relatively enhanced for the copper containing membranes. The membrane in which copper solution is applied prior to piperizine (Memb-III) exhibits higher hydrophobicity where as membrane (Memb-II) in which copper solution is applied following piperizine, possesses higher roughness compared to other two. Filtration experiments in terms of salts, mono/disaccharides and hexaconazole indicate that modified membranes are of different behaviours according to their sequence of preparative methods. Memb-III has shown lower SO4=/Cl− selectivity compared to Memb-II (i.e. 3.92), though they are in different range. The unmodified membrane (Memb-I) exhibits SO4=/Cl− selectivity 3.23 is in the same scale of Memb-III (2.27). Memb-III exhibits higher hexaconazole separation (91.5%) compared to Memb-II (i.e. 53.9%). The flux decline follows the order: field water > tap water > deionized water. The copper incorporated membrane (Memb-II) has shown a low flux decline compared to Memb-III as well as Memb-I. The antibacterial properties towards E. Coli and Bacillus subtilis are well reflected. The copper containing membranes have promising antibacterial properties and follows the order Memb-II > Memb-III > Memb-I.
Ro-vibrational spectra of different electronic states of molecules are often used as absolute wavelength or frequency standards. These standards are also used to mitigate any slow drift of laser ...frequency during an experiment. In the precision experiment, the two most commonly used molecular standards are iodine and tellurium, both are homo-nuclear diatomic molecules. The former is mostly used as standard for the long wavelength (600–900 nm) region, while the tellurium spectrum is widely used in short wavelength (400–550 nm) including near ultraviolet. A comprehensive data on tellurium spectra can be obtained from the tellurium atlas 1. However near the 455 nm range where a number of important atomic resonance line, the atlas provides no significant data. We have performed high resolution modulation transfer spectroscopy (MTS) on tellurium molecule in a hot cell in the region close to 455 nm wavelength thereby obtained more than 100 new spectral lines which were not observed before. The linewidth of each of these peaks is about a few tens of MHz, making them suitable for laser frequency locking.
Poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT)- and polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites were synthesized based on manganese dioxide in the form of Nanorod. Suitability of these composites was studied ...extensively as an electrode material for symmetric supercapacitor in a widened operating voltage window of 1.2V. Role of manganese dioxide during reverse microemulsion polymerization in n-hexane medium for PEDOT and aqueous dispersion polymerization for PANI, have been accounted through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Structural morphology as well as thermal characterization was carried out using XRD, SEM, TEM, IR and TGA. Charge storage mechanism in these nanocomposites have been investigated through cyclic voltammetry (CV) at different scan rates (2–20mV/s), where intercalation of metal ion during reduction and de-intercalation upon oxidation predominate over surface adsorption and desorption of metal ions into electrode material. Higher specific capacitance for PEDOT–MnO2 (315F/g) and PANI–MnO2 (221F/g) are observed in comparison with its constituent MnO2 (158F/g) where the internal pore volume plays a significant role over the total surface area. AC impedance measurement in the frequency range 10kHz to 10mHz with potential amplitude of 5mV were carried out to ascertain the pseudocapacitance (CFS) arising from the redox reactions over the electrical double layer capacitance (CDL) in the composite materials.
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