Solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are attractive due to their low-cost, large area displays, and lighting features. Small molecules as well as polymers can be used as host ...materials within the solution-processed emitting layer. Herein, we report two 3,3'-bicarbazole-based host small molecules, which possess a structural isomer relationship. 9,9'-Di-4-n-butylphenyl-9
,9'
-3,3'-bicarbazole (
) and 9,9'-di-4-t-butylphenyl-9
,9'
-3,3'-bicarbazole (
) exhibited similar optical properties within solutions but different photoluminescence within films. A solution-processed green phosphorescent OLED with the
host exhibited a high maximum current efficiency and power efficiency of 43.1 cd/A and 40.0 lm/W, respectively, compared to the device with the
host.
To develop high-performance de- or anti-frosting/icing devices based on transparent heaters, it is necessary to study the evaporation-rate control of droplets on heater surfaces. However, almost no ...research has been done on the evaporation-rate control of liquid droplets on transparent heaters. In this study, we investigate the evaporation characteristics of water droplets on transparent heater surfaces and determine that they depend upon the surface wettability, by modifying which, the complete evaporation time can be controlled. In addition, we study the defrosting and deicing performances through the surface wettability, by placing the flexible transparent heater on a webcam. The obtained results can be used as fundamental data for the transparent defrosting and deicing systems of closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera lenses, smart windows, vehicle backup cameras, aircraft windows, and sensor applications.
C‐type regenerating islet derived‐3 (Reg3) lectins defend against pathogens and keep commensal bacteria at a distance. Deficiency of Reg3g and Reg3b facilitates alcohol‐induced bacterial ...translocation and alcoholic liver disease. Intestinal Reg3g is down‐regulated in animal models of diet‐induced obesity, but the functional consequences for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Reg3 lectins in NASH. NASH was induced by a Western‐style fast‐food diet in mice deficient for Reg3g or Reg3b and in transgenic mice overexpressing Reg3g in intestinal epithelial cells (Reg3gTg). Glucose tolerance was assessed after 18 weeks and insulin resistance after 19 weeks of feeding. After 20 weeks, mice were assessed for features of the metabolic syndrome. Obesity was not different in genetically modified mice compared with their respective wild‐type littermates. Glucose intolerance, liver injury, hepatic inflammation, steatosis, fibrosis, and bacterial translocation to mesenteric lymph nodes and to the liver were not different in Reg3g‐deficient mice compared with wild‐type littermates. Plasma endotoxin levels were higher in Reg3g‐deficient mice. Reg3b deficiency protected against glucose intolerance, but liver disease, bacterial translocation, and plasma endotoxin levels were similar to wild‐type littermates. Absence of either REG3G or REG3B protein in the ileum was not compensated for by up‐regulation of the respective other REG3 protein. Transgenic Reg3g mice also developed liver injury, steatosis, and fibrosis similar to their wild‐type littermates. Conclusion: In contrast to alcoholic liver disease, loss of intestinal Reg3 lectins is not sufficient to aggravate diet‐induced obesity and NASH. This supports a multi‐hit pathogenesis in NASH. Only glucose metabolism is affected by Reg3b deficiency. (Hepatology Communications 2018;2:393‐406)
Reg3g and Reg3b do not influence bacterial translocation and liver disease in western‐style diet induced NASH. Reg3b might be important in pancreatic islet damage in type 2 diabetes, because Reg3b deficient mice did not develop glucose intolerance and insulin resistance.
Tissue engineering has played a very significant role in the medical field with an ever-growing demand for various tissue donations. One crucial factor is the fabrication of a desirable artificial ...three-dimensional (3D) tissue scaffold to act as the extracellular matrix (ECM), meeting the complex requirements for specific cell cultures. Existing scaffold fabrication techniques and systems used in constructing extracellular matrix are two-dimensionally limiting, expensive, and time-consuming. For instance, some simple fabrication methods cannot control fabricated structures with morphologies accurately, while others may introduce harmful organic solvents into scaffolds during the fabrication processes. To achieve an optimal scaffold for tissue engineering, we developed a novel 3D printing system capable of printing tissue scaffold structures with improved efficiency. The uniqueness of our system is the transparent diffractive optical elements (DOEs) of linear binary Fresnel lens fabricated to control the luminous intensity distribution. These DOEs of different patterns are arranged in series on a coverslip with each optical element designed to diffact and focus incident light at a particular plane within the device. Coupled with other optical components of the system, 3D woodpile scaffolds were printed in an effective and efficient one-step light exposure process to photo cross-link the polymer solution upon demand. The combination of photo cross-linking and diffractive optical technique incorporated within our system enables the patterning of polymer solutions within seconds, making large-scale fast production not only feasible, but also making printing of complex features simple. With this system, 3D two-layered woodpile structures were successfully fabricated within 3 seconds. While cell toxicity studies showed that the scaffold can be used for tissue engineering.
End-stage liver disease caused by non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the second leading indication for liver transplantation. To date, only moderately effective pharmacotherapies exist to treat ...NASH. Understanding the pathogenesis of NASH is therefore crucial for the development of new therapies. The inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is important for the progression of liver disease. TNF signaling
TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) has been hypothesized to be important for the development of NASH and hepatocellular carcinoma in whole-body knockout animal models.
To investigate the role of TNFR1 signaling in hepatocytes for steatohepatitis development in a mouse model of diet-induced NASH.
NASH was induced by a western-style fast-food diet in mice deficient for TNFR1 in hepatocytes (TNFR1
) and their wild-type littermates (TNFR1
). Glucose tolerance was assessed after 18 wk and insulin resistance after 19 wk of feeding. After 20 wk mice were assessed for features of NASH and the metabolic syndrome such as liver weight, liver steatosis, liver fibrosis and markers of liver inflammation.
Obesity, liver injury, inflammation, steatosis and fibrosis was not different between TNFR1
and TNFR1
mice. However,
deficiency in hepatocytes protected against glucose intolerance and insulin resistance.
Our results indicate that deficiency of TNFR1 signaling in hepatocytes does not protect from diet-induced NASH. However, improved insulin resistance in this model strengthens the role of the liver in glucose homeostasis.
Chronic liver disease due to alcohol-use disorder contributes markedly to the global burden of disease and mortality
. Alcoholic hepatitis is a severe and life-threatening form of alcohol-associated ...liver disease. The gut microbiota promotes ethanol-induced liver disease in mice
, but little is known about the microbial factors that are responsible for this process. Here we identify cytolysin-a two-subunit exotoxin that is secreted by Enterococcus faecalis
-as a cause of hepatocyte death and liver injury. Compared with non-alcoholic individuals or patients with alcohol-use disorder, patients with alcoholic hepatitis have increased faecal numbers of E. faecalis. The presence of cytolysin-positive (cytolytic) E. faecalis correlated with the severity of liver disease and with mortality in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. Using humanized mice that were colonized with bacteria from the faeces of patients with alcoholic hepatitis, we investigated the therapeutic effects of bacteriophages that target cytolytic E. faecalis. We found that these bacteriophages decrease cytolysin in the liver and abolish ethanol-induced liver disease in humanized mice. Our findings link cytolytic E. faecalis with more severe clinical outcomes and increased mortality in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. We show that bacteriophages can specifically target cytolytic E. faecalis, which provides a method for precisely editing the intestinal microbiota. A clinical trial with a larger cohort is required to validate the relevance of our findings in humans, and to test whether this therapeutic approach is effective for patients with alcoholic hepatitis.
Long-term durability of perovskite (ABO3)-based cathodes in solid oxide fuel cells has been largely limited by surface segregation of A-site dopant and thermal agglomeration. Since a deposition of an ...atomically thin oxide has proven to be highly effective in suppressing electrode agglomeration, a successful suppression of dopant segregation with the same approach will enhance the durability of cathodes significantly by killing two birds with one stone. In this report, we demonstrate that an atomic-scale overcoat with a nominal thickness of 2–3 Å is indeed an effective approach of tuning Sr segregation behavior in La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM) if a proper choice of the overcoat material is made. Coating of a binary oxide with multi-valent cations (CeO2 and TiO2) desegregates Sr species into the lattice of LSM while an overcoat with single valent cations (ZrO2 and Y2O3) exhibits little effect on Sr segregation. A mechanistic interpretation of the behavior is also presented based upon a series of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical analyses.
•Angstrom-level overcoat clearly tunes Sr segregation behavior in perovskites.•A mechanistic interpretation of the overcoat effect on segregation is provided.•Oxide overcoats with multivalent cations are effective in deterring Sr segregation.•Chemical potential gradient of oxygen vacancies is suggested to drive Sr movement.
This work demonstrates the superior thermostability of silver-based nanoparticle cathodes under continuous solid oxide fuel cell operation by coating the samarium-doped ceria (SDC) thin shell over ...silver nanoparticles. The Ag-core/SDC-shell (Ag@SDC) nanoparticles prepared by solvothermal synthesis (Ag core diameter = 48 nm; average SDC shell thickness = 2–5 nm) is inkjet-printed on electrolyte substrates as a thin film cathode. The Ag@SDC film survives the 48-h thermal annealing and its most porosities remain visibly un-agglomerated. The results of fuel cell current stability test show that the cell using the Ag@SDC nanoparticle cathode have only 3% of current degradation after 25 h, which is remarkably lower than that of the cell using the bare Ag nanoparticle cathode (96.1%). In addition, the electrochemical performance of the bare silver cathode in oxygen reduction reaction has significantly improved because of the enhanced surface oxygen adsorption/dissociation process provided by the SDC thin shell.
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•One – pot solvothermal synthesis of Ag@SDC core-shell nanoparticles.•High thermostability at high temperatures with the retention of major porosity.•Low current degradation rate for prolonged LT-SOFC operation at 450 °C.•Improved surface oxygen exchanged for ORR due to the thin SDC layer.
Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, fabricates objects in a layer-by-layer manner. In recent years, extensive efforts have been made to evolve 3D printing technologies from rapid ...prototyping technologies to enable industrial implementation. To this end, numerous researchers have investigated the effect of process parameters on final properties of printed parts such as mechanical properties or dimensional and geometric accuracy, proposed hardware, and software modifications to improve these properties, or implemented in-process monitoring capabilities during manufacturing to enable the detection of defects without the need for destructive testing and therefore enable part quality assessment. However, whilst in-process monitoring efforts are essential, these are limited to only flag defects rather than preventing them. Consequently, these efforts do not ensure part quality and do not reduce material waste in the form of scrap parts. As a result, researchers have more recently proposed the implementation of real-time process parameter control in order to correct defects formed during manufacturing and prevent these from continuously occurring. This review summarizes real-time in-process control of process parameters of non-metallic and metallic additive manufacturing technologies. The reviewed work is further classified according to the process parameters that were used for control, mainly dividing these into heat source and non-heat source process parameters.
•Real-time process parameter control literatures were far lacking compared to numerous existing process parameter studies.•Understanding process parameters by dividing them into heat-source and non-heat source, and how it affects.•Non-metallic real-time control and a confirmation of real-time control of metallic additive manufacturing has reviewed.•Real-time control in order to correct defects formed during manufacturing and prevent these from continuously occurring.•The reviewed work classified according to the process parameters that were used for control.
Abstract Direct Energy Deposition (DED) 3D printing has gained significant importance in various industries due to its ability to fabricate complex and functional parts with reduced material waste, ...and to repair existing components. Titanium alloys, known for their exceptional mechanical properties and biocompatibility, are widely used in DED 3D printing applications, where they offer benefits such as lightweight design possibilities and high strength-to-weight ratio. However, given the high material cost of titanium alloys, certain applications can benefit from the coating capabilities of DED to achieve the advantages of titanium on a distinct material substrate. Nevertheless, challenges related to material incompatibility and the development of unwanted brittle phases still affect the successful deposition of titanium alloys on steel substrates with DED 3D printing. This paper investigates the processing challenges and reviews delamination prevention methods, specifically targeting titanium-steel interfaces. In particular, the formation of unwanted brittle Ti–Fe intermetallics and methods to circumvent their formation are explored. The findings of this research contribute to a deeper understanding of the processing challenges and delamination prevention methods in DED 3D printing.
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