Dipole induced vacuum level shift has been demonstrated to be responsible for the enhanced efficiency in polymer solar cells (PSCs).The modified energy level alignment could reduce the energy barrier ...and facilitate charge transport, thereby increasing the efficiency of PSCs. Herein, we report a new mechanism toward enhanced efficiency by using a nondipolar water/alcohol-soluble neutral fullerene derivative to reengineer the surface of the zinc oxide (ZnO) electron extraction layer (EEL) in inverted PSCs. Because of the neutral property (ion-free) of the fullerene derivatives, no dipole moment was introduced at the EEL/active layer interface. A negligible change in open-circuit voltage was observed from inverted PSCs with the neutral fullerene derivative layer. The neutral fullerene derivative layer greatly increased the surface electronic conductivity of the ZnO EEL, suppressed surface charge recombination, and increased the short-circuit current density and fill factor. An overall power conversion efficiency increase of more than 30% from inverted PSCs was obtained. These results demonstrate that the surface electronic conductivity of the EEL plays an important role in high performance inverted PSCs.
Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) mediate the transfer of an acetyl group from the cofactor, acetyl-CoA, to the side chain amino group of specific lysines in diverse protein substrates, most notably ...nuclear histones. The deregulation of HATs is connected to a number of disease states. Reliable and rapid biochemical assays for HATs are critical for understanding biological functions of protein acetylation, as well as for screening small-molecule inhibitors of HAT enzymes. In this report, we present a scintillation proximity assay (SPA) for the measurement of HAT enzymatic activities. The acetyl donor was (3)HAc-CoA, and a biotin-modified histone peptide served as the HAT substrate. After the HAT reaction, streptavidin-coated beads were added to induce proximity of acetylated substrate to the scintillant molecules. However, we observed strong nonspecific binding between the cofactor and the histone peptide substrates, which adversely complicated the SPA performance. To prevent this problem, a set of chemical agents were evaluated to eliminate the cofactor-substrate interaction, thus providing reliable SPA readings. With optimization, the SPA showed consistent and robust performance for HAT activity measurement and HAT inhibitor evaluation. Overall, this mix-and-measure assay does not require any washing procedure, can be utilized in the microplate format, and is well suited for high-throughput screening of HAT chemical modulators.
To assess combined effects on the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by the LOC387715 polymorphism, smoking, and inflammatory or hemostatic factors.
Population-based case-control study.
...Two hundred seventy-eight AMD cases (224 early, 54 late) and 557 controls matched for age, gender, and smoking, drawn from the Blue Mountains Eye Study cohort.
Subjects were genotyped for the LOC387715 Ala69Ser polymorphism (rs# 10490924). Smoking was self-reported. Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), fibrinogen, homocysteine, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), von Willebrand factor, and white cell count (WCC) were measured. Combined effects of this genetic variant plus any of these study factors on AMD risk were assessed using logistic regression models, adjusted for age and smoking. We defined interaction if the influence of 2 factors departed from the multiplicative scale, confirmed by a statistically significant interaction term. Otherwise, the combined effect was used.
Age-related macular degeneration was graded using the Wisconsin grading system.
Combined effects on the likelihood of early or late AMD were demonstrated for the LOC387715 Ala69Ser G/T and T/T genotypes with the markers high-sensitivity CRP (odds ratios ORs, 1.2 for the highest tertile alone, 1.6 for G/T and T/T genotypes alone, and 2.2 for both G/T and T/T genotypes plus the highest tertile, compared with the G/G genotype with the 2 lower tertiles), IL-6 (corresponding ORs, 1.1, 1.6, and 2.2), sICAM-1 (ORs, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.3, respectively), and PAI-1 (ORs, 1.3, 1.7, and 2.3, respectively), but not with WCC, fibrinogen, homocysteine, and von Willebrand factor. Findings were similar for early and late AMD separately. Current smokers with G/T and T/T genotypes had strong combined effects on late AMD risk compared with those who never smoked or past smokers with the G/G genotype (ORs, 1.2 for current smokers alone, 1.8 for G/T and T/T genotypes alone, and 6.1 for current smokers plus G/T and T/T genotypes).
We found no significant interaction but combined effects for the LOC387715 genotypes with 3 inflammatory markers and PAI-1 on the risk of early or late AMD, and with current smoking on the risk of late AMD.
We tested the general applicability of in situ proteolysis to form protein crystals suitable for structure determination by adding a protease (chymotrypsin or trypsin) digestion step to ...crystallization trials of 55 bacterial and 14 human proteins that had proven recalcitrant to our best efforts at crystallization or structure determination. This is a work in progress; so far we determined structures of 9 bacterial proteins and the human aminoimidazole ribonucleotide synthetase (AIRS) domain.
The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the use of a radiopaque tissue fiducial marker (TFM) in the treatment of prostate cancer patients who undergo post-prostatectomy radiotherapy ...(PPRT). TFM safety, its role and benefit in quantifying the set-up uncertainties in patients undergoing PPRT image-guided radiotherapy were assessed.
A total of 45 consecutive PPRT patients underwent transperineal implantation of TFM at the level of vesicourethral anastomosis in the retrovesical tissue prior to intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Prostate bed motion was calculated by measuring the position of the TFM relative to the pelvic bony anatomy on daily cone-beam computed tomography. The stability and visibility of the TFM were assessed in the initial 10 patients.
No postoperative complications were recorded. A total of 3,500 images were analysed. The calculated prostate bed motion for bony landmark matching relative to TFM were 2.25 mm in the left-right, 5.89 mm in the superior-inferior, and 6.59 mm in the anterior-posterior directions. A significant 36% reduction in the mean volume of rectum receiving 70 Gy (rV70) was achieved for a uniform planning target volume (PTV) margin of 7 mm compared with the Australian and New Zealand Faculty of Radiation Oncology Genito-Urinary Group recommended PTV margin of 10 mm.
The use of TFM was safe and can potentially eliminate set-up errors associated with bony landmark matching, thereby allowing for tighter PTV margins and a consequent favourable reduction in dose delivered to the bladder and rectum, with potential improvements in toxicities.
Cytogenetic risk stratification at diagnosis has long been one of the most useful tools to assess prognosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To examine the prognostic impact of cytogenetic ...abnormalities on outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, we studied 1731 adults with Philadelphia-negative ALL in complete remission who underwent myeloablative or reduced intensity/non-myeloablative conditioning transplant from unrelated or matched sibling donors reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. A total of 632 patients had abnormal conventional metaphase cytogenetics. The leukemia-free survival and overall survival rates at 5 years after transplantation in patients with abnormal cytogenetics were 40% and 42%, respectively, which were similar to those in patients with a normal karyotype. Of the previously established cytogenetic risk classifications, modified Medical Research Council-Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score was the only independent prognosticator of leukemia-free survival (
=0.03). In the multivariable analysis, monosomy 7 predicted post-transplant relapse hazard ratio (HR)=2.11; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.04-4.27 and treatment failure (HR=1.97; 95% CI: 1.20-3.24). Complex karyotype was prognostic for relapse (HR=1.69; 95% CI: 1.06-2.69), whereas t(8;14) predicted treatment failure (HR=2.85; 95% CI: 1.35-6.02) and overall mortality (HR=3.03; 95% CI: 1.44-6.41). This large study suggested a novel transplant-specific cytogenetic scheme with adverse monosomy 7, complex karyotype, del(7q), t(8;14), t(11;19), del(11q), tetraploidy/near triploidy, intermediate (normal karyotype and all other abnormalities), and favorable (high hyperdiploidy) risks to prognosticate leukemia-free survival (
=0.02). Although some previously established high-risk Philadelphia-negative cytogenetic abnormalities in ALL can be overcome by transplantation, monosomy 7, complex karyotype, and t(8;14) continue to pose significant risks and yield inferior outcomes.
Introduction
Conventional clinical staging for prostate cancer has many limitations. This study evaluates the impact of adding MRI scans to conventional clinical staging for guiding decisions about ...radiotherapy target coverage.
Methods
This was a retrospective review of 115 patients who were treated between February 2002 and September 2005 with radical radiotherapy for prostate cancer. All patients had MRI scans approximately 2 weeks before the initiation of radiotherapy. The T stage was assessed by both conventional clinical methods (cT‐staging) as well as by MRI (mT‐staging). The radiotherapy target volumes were determined first based on cT‐staging and then taking the additional mT staging into account. The number of times extracapsular extension or seminal vesicle invasion was incorporated into target volumes was quantified based on both cT‐staging and the additional mT‐staging.
Results
Extracapsular extension was incorporated into target volumes significantly more often with the addition of mT‐staging (46 patients (40%) ) compared with cT‐staging alone (37 patients (32%) ) (P = 0.002). Seminal vesicle invasion was incorporated into target volumes significantly more often with the addition of mT‐staging (21 patients (18%) ) compared with cT‐staging alone (three patients (3%) ) (P < 0.001). A total of 23 patients (20%) had changes to their target coverage based on the mT‐staging.
Conclusions
MRI scans can significantly change decisions about target coverage in radical radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
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