Dye-sensitized solar cells using nanocrystalline ZnO as the photoanode and a metal-free sensitizer with a benzothiadiazole entity directly connected to the 2-cyanoacrylic acid acceptor exhibited an efficiency (5.18%) higher than those using the TiO(2) photoanode. Use of a hierarchical ZnO back scattering layer further improved the efficiency to 5.82%.

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9) regulates plasma LDL-c levels by regulating the degradation of LDL receptors. Another proprotein convertase, furin, cleaves PCSK9 at Arg218-Gln219 in the surface-exposed '218-loop'. This cleaved form circulates in blood along with the intact form, albeit at lower concentrations. To gain a better understanding of how ...

Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) recognizes guanidine-rich single stranded viral RNA and is an important mediator of peripheral immune responses to several ssRNA viruses. However, the role that TLR7 plays in regulating the innate immune response to ssRNA virus infections in specific organs such as the central nervous system (CNS) is ...

Despite its experimental characterization, the detailed geometry and electronic structure of actinide metallofullerene U@C(82) have been rarely studied. We predict that (#5)C(82) and (#8)C(82) are the best cages for the encapsulation of monovalent and tetravalent U (i.e., U(+) and U(4+)), respectively; while (#9)C(82) is the best cage for divalent, trivalent, ...

Abstract While the disproportionate impact of HIV on young black men who have sex with men (MSM) is well documented, the reasons for this disparity remain less clear. Through in-depth interviews, we explored the role of familial, religious, and community influence on the experiences of young black MSM and identified ...

Permanent activation of the NF-κB pathway by the human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) Tax (Tax1) viral transactivator is a key event in the process of HTLV-1-induced T lymphocyte immortalization and leukemogenesis. Although encoding a Tax transactivator (Tax2) that activates the canonical NF-κB pathway, HTLV-2 does not cause ...

ICP4 is the major activator of herpes simplex virus (HSV) transcription. Previous studies have defined several regions of ICP4 that are important for viral gene expression, including a DNA binding domain and transactivation domains that are contained in the C-terminal and N-terminal 520 and 274 amino acids, respectively. Here we ...

BACKGROUND:An important objective in external quality assessment (EQA) is to evaluate systematic deviations between methods. However, this is not possible when noncommutable control materials are used. The aim of this study was to develop an EQA model that incorporates a method bias evaluation using native patient samples EQA schemes in ...

Mammalian hard α-keratins are fibre-reinforced biomaterials that consist of 10 nm intermediate filaments (IFs) embedded in an elastomeric protein matrix. Recent work suggests that the mechanical properties of IFs are highly sensitive to hydration, whereas hard α-keratins such as wool, hair and nail are relatively hydration insensitive. This raises the ...

Infection with parasites and pathogens is costly for hosts, causing loss of nutritional resources, reproductive potential, tissue integrity and even life. In response, animals have evolved behavioural and immunological strategies to avoid infection by pathogens and infestation by parasites. Scientists generally study these strategies in isolation from each other; however, ...

PURPOSE: More than 20 million archival tissue samples are stored annually in the United States as formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks, but RNA degradation during fixation and storage has prevented their use for transcriptional profiling. New and highly sensitive assays for whole-transcriptome microarray analysis of FFPE tissues are now available, but ...

Reversible encapsulation of [Ru(bpy)(3)](2+) within a self-assembled hexameric resorcin[4]arene capsule turns off the photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of an aliphatic sulfide. Upon addition of a competitive cationic guest, the Ru(ii) catalyst is released into solution where its catalytic activity is restored.

Many previous studies have demonstrated that changes in selective attention can alter the response magnitude of visual cortical neurons, but there has been little evidence for attention affecting response latency. Small latency differences, though hard to detect, can potentially be of functional importance, and may also give insight into the ...

Small pharmacies that produce and package (or repackage) specific drugs for individual patients are an important part of the medical landscape. These so-called compounding pharmacies formulate therapeutic and diagnostic products for physicians in practice and those engaged in research. They make individualized chemotherapeutic agents, noncommercial formulations (e.g., a liquid rather ...

Head and neck cancers positive for human papilloma virus (HPV) have a more favorable clinical outcome than HPV-negative cancers, but it is unknown why this is the case. We hypothesized that prognosis was affected by intrinsic features of HPV-infected tumor cells or differences in host immune response. In this study, ...

OBJECTIVE:To review the clinical trials, pharmacologic characteristics, safety, and efficacy of the elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir single tablet formulation (Stribild).DATA SOURCES:Literature searches were performed in MEDLINE (1948-September 2012) and PubMed (1966-September 2012) using the search terms GS-9137, elvitegravir, GS 9350, cobicistat, quad pill, Stribild, and integrase inhibitors. Abstracts from HIV/AIDS conferences were reviewed.STUDY ...

The major inducible 70-kDa heat shock protein (hsp70) is host protective in a mouse model of measles virus (MeV) brain infection. Transgenic constitutive expression of hsp70 in neurons, the primary target of MeV infection, abrogates neurovirulence in neonatal H-2(d) congenic C57BL/6 mice. A significant level of protection is retained after ...

Background:Change in headache diagnoses over time within the same individual is not well studied in the adult population. In this study, we prospectively examined the individual variation of migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) diagnoses over time.Methods:As part of the epidemiological Deutsche Migräne und Kopfschmerzgesellschaft (DMKG) headache study, 1312 participants were ...

Matrix isolation spectroscopy has been combined with ab initio calculations to characterize the 1:1 complexes of H(2) O(2) with OCS and CS(2) . The infrared spectra of the argon and nitrogen matrices doped with H(2) O(2) and OCS or CS(2) have been measured and analyzed. The geometries of the complexes ...

Two novel real-time PCR assays were developed for the detection of Rickettsia spp. One assay detects all tested Rickettsia spp.; the other is specific for Rickettsia rickettsii. Evaluation using DNA from human blood and tissue samples showed both assays to be more sensitive than nested PCR assays currently in use ...

In order for bloodborne stem cells to be effective in tissue regeneration, cells must cross vessel walls and enter the parenchyma. Although such transmigration does occur, the mechanism remains elusive. Leukocytes invade tissue by diapedesis; stem cells are commonly assumed to do likewise, but evidence is lacking. Cardiac-derived regenerative cells ...

Hydrogels with tunable degradability have potential uses in a range of applications including drug delivery and tissue scaffolds. A series of PEG hydrogels and amphiphilic PEG-PTMC hydrogels were prepared using copper-catalysed Huisgen's 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, or 'click' chemistry as the coupling chemistry. The fidelity of the coupling chemistry was confirmed using ...

Multimedia environmental fate models are valuable tools for investigating potential changes associated with global climate change, particularly because thermodynamic forcing on partitioning behavior as well as diffusive and nondiffusive exchange processes are implicitly considered. Similarly, food-web bioaccumulation models are capable of integrating the net effect of changes associated with factors ...

To evaluate whether the evolution of compensated pressure overload hypertrophy (POH) to overt heart failure (HF) is better predicted by systolic versus diastolic dysfunction, serial echocardiography was performed 1, 2, 4, 8, and 10 weeks after suprarenal aortic banding in 52 rats. One week after banding, at comparable extent of ...

We developed the 'Hanging droplet' long PCR, a generic and highly sensitive strategy to facilitate the identification of new human papillomavirus (HPV) genomes. The novel procedure used for the first time the 'hanging droplet' PCR technique for the amplification of long DNA fragments with generic primers targeting the L1 and ...

Recent evidence showed that miRNAs contributed to the biological effects of TLRs signaling on various cells. Our previous data showed that TLR9 signaling could enhance the growth and metastatic potential of human lung cancer cells. However, the potential role of miRNAs in the effects of TLR9 signaling on tumor biology ...

Heads and tails: GPI glycolipid monolayers on the air/liquid interface are characterized by the ordering of entire molecules, as observed by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction. Strong hydrogen bonding interactions are responsible for ordering of the head groups to form supercells. These forces are likely to be the key to the interactions ...

Palmar foot pain is frequently treated by steroid injections into the distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) in the anticipation that the steroid will diffuse to the navicular bursa and palmar foot structures. The object of this study was to determine if triamcinolone acetonide (TA) would in fact be able to locally ...

A 66-year-old man with hypertension presented with complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Score 14/24), dyspnea upon exertion, and episodes of noninjurious dream-enacting behavior. He reported tongue biting when sleeping in the right lateral decubitus position. Medications included atenolol 12.5 mg, lovastatin 20 mg, doxazosin 2 mg, amlodipine 5 ...

BackgroundWe evaluated which patient factors were associated with treatment tolerance and outcome in elderly colon cancer patients.DesignPopulation-based data from five regions included in the Netherlands Cancer Registry were used. Patients with resected stage III colon cancer aged ≥75 years diagnosed in 1997-2004 who received adjuvant chemotherapy (N = 216) were included as ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood. Although the clinical outcome for medulloblastoma patients has improved significantly, children afflicted with the disease frequently suffer from debilitating side effects related to the aggressive nature of currently available therapy. Alternative means for treating medulloblastoma are desperately needed. ...

Adaptive immunity requires signals from both the TCR and the costimulatory molecule CD28. These receptors activate multiple signaling pathways, including the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) cascade, and antigenic signals in the absence of costimulation result in a tolerant state that is enforced by the CDK inhibitory protein p27kip1. We find that ...

The role of mitral valve repair (MVR) during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) is uncertain. We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to determine whether repairing the mitral valve during CABG may improve functional capacity and left ventricular reverse remodeling compared with CABG ...

Many cells in both the central visual system and other sensory systems exhibit a center surround organization in their receptive field, where the response to a centrally placed stimulus is modified when a surrounding area is also stimulated. This can follow from laterally directed connections in the local circuit at ...

Mycobacterium bovis is responsible for a zoonosis originating in cattle. We report a case of a man with vertebral spondylodiscitis caused by Mycobacterium bovis. Diagnosis was complicated because of the lack of IS6110. These strains are rare, but microbiologists should be aware of their existence.

BACKGROUND: The complex interplay between host, environment, and microbe in the etiopathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) remains unclear. This study focuses on the host-microbe interaction, specifically the regulation of nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) against the pathogenic organism Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). NO and ROS play crucial ...

The methanol extract of dried fruits of Odyendyea gabonensis afforded one new quassinoid [(-)-odyendanol (1)], one new canthin-6-one alkaloid [9-hydroxy-5-methoxycanthin-6-one (4)], and two new steroids [22E, 24R-stigmasta-5,22-diene-3,7-dione (7) and 22E,24R-stigmast-22-ene-3,7-dione (8)] along with fourteen known compounds. The structures of all compounds were established by analyzing the spectroscopic data. The 13C-NMR ...

Abstract Type III interferon (IFN-λ) is a novel member of the interferon family, which preferentially promotes antiviral responses from epithelial cells and cooperates with type I IFNs in the clearance of viral infections. However, the effect of mIFN-λ(2) to the LA795 lung adenocarcinoma cell is largely unknown. In this study, ...

General anesthetics produce anesthesia by depressing central nervous system activity. Activation of inhibitory GABA(A) receptors plays a central role in the action of many clinically relevant general anesthetics. Even so, there is growing evidence that anesthetics can act at a pre-synaptic locus to inhibit neurotransmitter release. Our own data identified ...

Foamy viruses are retroviruses whose Pol protein is synthesized without Gag from a spliced mRNA. Unlike orthoretroviruses, reverse transcription occurs during viral assembly, leading to DNA-containing virions. When prototype foamy virus Pol is expressed as an orthoretroviral-like Gag-Pol fusion protein, reverse transcription also occurs late in viral replication, as measured ...

Abstract There is concern in many developed countries that school students are turning away from science. However, students may be choosing not to study science and dismissing the possibility of a scientific career because, in the junior secondary years, they gain a false view of science and the work of ...

Costly signalling theory has become a common explanation for honest communication when interests conflict. In this paper, we provide an alternative explanation for partially honest communication that does not require significant signal costs. We show that this alternative is at least as plausible as traditional costly signalling, and we suggest ...

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional observational cohort study was designed to investigate i) whether glycaemic variability in paediatric patients with type 1 diabetes is lower in those using an insulin pump (CSII) compared to those using multiple daily insulin injections (MDI) and ii) whether urinary F(2) -isoprostanes and/or urinary prostaglandin F(2α) excretion ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, biomarkers, and pharmacokinetics of rilotumumab, a fully human, monoclonal antibody against hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/scatter factor, combined with mitoxantrone and prednisone (MP) in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: This double-blinded phase 2 study randomized (1:1:1) patients with progressive, taxane-refractory CRPC to ...

BACKGROUND: Volatile anesthetics provide myocardial preconditioning in coronary surgery patients. We hypothesized that sevoflurane compared to propofol reduces the incidence of myocardial ischemia in patients undergoing major noncardiac surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: We enrolled 385 patients at cardiovascular risk in 3 centers. Patients were randomized to maintenance of anesthesia with ...

The transection of the inferior alveolar nerve (IANx) produces allodynia in the whisker pad (V2 division) of rats. Ectopic discharges from injured trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons and thalamocortical reorganization are possible contributors to the sensitization of uninjured V2 primary and CNS neurons. To test which factor is more important, TG ...

The neural crest is a unique structure in vertebrates. Wnt1-cre and Wnt1-GAL4 double transgenic (dTg) mice have been used in a variety of studies concerning neural crest cell lineages in which the Cre/loxP or GAL4/UAS system was applied. Here, we show psychiatric disorder-related behavioral abnormalities and histologic alterations in a ...

The isolation of Rapidly Growing Mycobacteria (RGM), particularly Mycobacterium abscessus in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) is associated with poor clinical outcome due to the broad drug resistance seen and difficulties in eradicating the organisms. Susceptibility testing is recommended to guide therapy. A disc diffusion method is used in the ...

Minimising the harm from inappropriate prescribing in older populations is a major urgent concern for modern healthcare systems. In everyday encounters between prescribers and patients, opportunities should be taken to identify patients at high risk of harm from polypharmacy and reappraise their need for specific drugs. Attempts to reconcile life ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Triticum monococcum L., an A genome diploid einkorn wheat, was the first domesticated crop. As a diploid, it is attractive genetic model for the study of gene structure and function of wheat-specific traits. Diploid wheat is currently not amenable to reverse genetics approaches such as insertion mutagenesis and ...