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This paper makes a research on the relationship between TFT transmittance and white color uniformity, which based on 1st ITO process optimization. The results show that the better TFT transmittance uniformity leads to better white color uniformity, and the ITO oxidation is an important factor for TFT transmittance uniformity improvement. Annealing and increase oxygen flow during ITO sputtering when annealing is skipped are both the effective methods to obtain an excellent white color uniformity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction – The beneficial health effects of traditional Chinese medicines are often attributed to their potent antioxidant activities, usually established in vitro. However, these wet chemical methods for determining antioxidant activities are timeconsuming, laborious, and expensive. Objectives – This study was conducted to establish a rapid determination of antioxidant activity of Radix Scutellariae using nearinfrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy. Material and methods – Antioxidant capabilities were evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrazyl (DPPH) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. The total flavonoid contents (TFCs) of Radix Scutellariae were measured by the aluminium chloride colorimetric method. The same sample was then scanned using NIR and MIR spectroscopy. Chemometrics analysis using partial least-squares (PLS) regression was performed to establish the models for predicting the antioxidant activities of Radix Scutellariae. Results – A better predictive performance was achieved using PLS models based on NIR data. The determination coefficient (R2) and the residual predictive deviation (RPD) for the validation set were 0.9298 and 2.84 for DPPH, and 0.9436 and 2.66 for TFCs, respectively.MIR-PLS algorithms gave a slightly lower reliability (R2 = 0.9090 and 0.9374, RPD = 2.01 and 2.42, for DPPH and TFC, respectively). Very comparable results for ORAC were obtained with the two methods. Conclusion – The developed spectroscopic method can be successfully applied in high-throughput screening of the antioxidant capability of Radix Scutellariae samples. It can also be a viable and advantageous alternative to laborious chemical procedures. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Flat warts are a common presenting complaint in adolescents and adults and may be a cosmetic problem as well. Patients suffering from flat warts are often unsatisfied with conventional medical care because of adverse effects such as intolerable pain, hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, or occasionally allergic contact dermatitis. To offset the possibilities of hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, and scar formation, the method of auricular acupuncture was used. Methods Single-blind method adopted, 60 subjects with flat warts were all outpatients and randomly allocated to a treatment group or a control group, with 30 patients in each group. Thirty subjects in the treatment group were treated with weekly auricular acupuncture for 10 weeks while the other subjects in the control group were treated with 0.1% of tretinoin ointment topically for 10 weeks. Results Sixteen subjects in the treatment group (53.33%) recovered fully from flat warts without recurrence during the ensuing six months' follow-up after 10 weeks' surgery compared with only one subject in the control group (3.33%). The therapeutic effect of the treatment group was statistically better than that of the control group by Mann-Whitney U-test with SPSS software ( P < 0.01). During the treatment period and the ensuing six months' follow-up, no adverse effects were observed by the investigators or reported by patients. Conclusions Our findings suggest that auricular acupuncture may be a viable alternative for the treatment of flat warts. Larger randomized studies are needed to fully evaluate auricular acupuncture against more conventional treatments, and these are planned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid and accurate size exclusion chromatography method for the simultaneous identification and quantification of dextran 20 and sucrose with optical activity in the lyophilized thrombin powder was developed and validated. The assay was conducted on a Hitachi model D-2000 Elite HPLC system with a TOSOH TSKgel G3000 PWxl column (30 cm × 7.8 mm, 7 μm particle size) and an Alltech 3300 evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water (46:54, v/v) mixture delivered at a flow rate of 0.7 mL min at 25 °C. The ELSD was operated at a nebulizer-gas flow rate of 2.0 L min and drift tube temperature of 90 °C, and the gain was set at one. Afterward, method validation system for the size exclusion chromatography analysis was developed. The linear range was 0.1-1.6 and 0.1-1.0 g L for dextran 20 and sucrose, respectively, and the detection limits were <0.02 g L for dextran 20 and <0.015 g L for sucrose. Inter-day and intra-day variabilities showed that RSD ranged from 0.27 to 4.20%. Recovery validation showed that average recovery was between 96.00 and 103.98%. The developed analytical procedure was successfully applied to determine the contents of dextran 20 and sucrose in the lyophilized thrombin powder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the antitumor activity and pharmacokinetics of podophyllotoxin (PPT) incorporated into solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), Kunming mice inoculated with flesh tumor were used as animal model. The mice received a single daily intraperitoneal injection of PPT in 20% ethanol (5 mg/kg) and PPT-SLN (5 mg/kg in PPT) for 3 weeks. Gross tumor volumes, body weight and clinical observations were recorded daily. The mice were sacrificed for 24 h after the last administration, and the tumor inhibition rate was calculated with the tumor weight. For the pharmacokinetics research, the mice were treated with intraperitoneal injection of PPT (10 mg/kg) and PPT-SLN (10 mg/kg in PPT). Blood samples were collected at different time to determine the PPT concentration in plasma by HPLC. Blood drug level-time curve was made and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. As a result of drug administration, the tumor volume and weight of the mice injected with PPT-SLN were significantly restrained compared with mice treated with PPT or negative control. The tumor inhibition rate of 58.13% showed a significant antitumor activity of PPT-SLN. At the same time, the increased weight gain of the mice injected with PPT-SLN suggested a reduced toxicity of PPT in SLN. Pharmacokinetics study displayed a higher blood concentration, a prolonged circulation time, and an increased bioavailability of PPT-SLN compared with those of PPT. Our results demonstrated that PPT-SLN could optimize pharmacokinetics, enhance antitumor activity and attenuate toxicity, so it has a promising prospect for the application in anti-tumor treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]