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The article presents a concise review of our investigations on the preferred transition paths followed as well as high-pressure-induced structural changes in nanocrystalline rare-earth sesquioxides that include Y2O3, Sm2O3, Gd2O3, Eu2O3, Dy2O3, Ho2O3, and Yb2O3. The starting phase in all samples was predominantly cubic, as characterized using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The pressure-induced structural changes were primarily tracked via changes in phonon modes in the Raman spectra. The structural transition sequences demonstrated behaviors differing from the polycrystalline trends usually observed; however, it was interesting to note that the onset pressures and subsequent shifts in the phonon modes followed a trend similar to the unpressurized samples when observed with respect to the f-electron number. The mode Grüneisen parameters were estimated from the high-pressure data, which indicated a swifter response to external stimuli as the particle size reduced below an average of 50 nm. It was also inferred that the presence of traces of disordered/nonstoichiometric material directly affected the structural transition sequence. A summary of the results and the mechanisms leading to such structural transitions is discussed.

AbstractObjective:Most incidences of basal cell carcinoma are cured by a number of surgical or non-surgical treatments. However, a few patients have lesions which have metastasized or progressed to an extent that surgery or other treatment options are not possible. The lesions associated with advanced basal cell carcinoma (aBCC) can be disfiguring, affecting patients’ psychological state, general quality-of-life (QoL), and potentially life expectancy. The objective of this study was to capture societal utility values for health states related to aBCC, using the time trade-off (TTO) methodology.Methods:Nine health states were developed with input from expert clinicians and literature. States included: complete response (CR), post-surgical, partial response (PR) (with differing sized lesions [2 or 6 cm]), stable disease (SD) (with differing size and number of lesions [2 or 6 cm, or multiple 2 cm]) and progressive disease (PD) (with differing sized lesions [2 or 6 cm]). A representative sample of 100 members of the UK general public participated in the valuation exercise. The TTO method was used to derive utility values based upon subjects’ responses to decision scenarios; between living in the health state for 10 years or living in a state of full health for 10-x years.Results:Mean utility scores were calculated for each state. The least burdensome state as valued by subjects was CR (mean  0.94; SD  0.08), suggesting only a minimal impact on QoL. The state valued as having a greatest impact on QoL was PD, with a 6 cm lesion (mean  0.67, SD  0.25).Limitations and conclusions:Not all possible presentations of aBCC were included; the disease is a challenging condition to characterise given its rarity, the nature of the patients affected, and its variable progression. Findings suggest that aBCC is associated with significant burden for individuals, even when their disease is stable or where surgical treatment has been successful.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods on Au patterned Si substrates were fabricated using vapor transport method. The XRD pattern showed the ZnO nanorods were highly c-axis oriented similar to ZnO thin films. The photoluminescence spectrum at 77 K of ZnO nanorods was consisting of the fundamental near band edge emission of ZnO in the UV region along with a broad defect induced emission around green band. The field emission properties of the nanorods showed a current density of 1mA/cm2 at an applied field of 10V/m, which is comparable to other reported values of ZnO nanorods. The patterned gold island formed by self-assembly of polystyrene ball on Si substrate acted as a catalyst in the growth of nanorods as well as stable ohmic contact for field emission.

Abstract The trace mineral vanadium inhibits cancer development in a variety of experimental animal models. The present study was to gain insight into a putative anticancer effect of vanadium in a rat model of colon carcinogenesis. The in vivo study was intended to clarify the effect of vanadium on DNA-protein cross-links (DPC), surface level changes of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and biotransformation status during 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (1,2-DMH) induced preneoplastic rat colon carcinogenesis. The comet assay showed statistically higher mean base values of DNA-protein mass (p<0.01) and mean frequencies of tailed cells (p<0.001) in the carcinogen-induced group after treatment with proteinase K. Treatment with vanadium in the form of ammonium monovanadate supplemented ad libitum in drinking water for the entire experimental period caused a significant (p<0.02) reduction (40%) in DNA-protein cross-links in colon cells. Further, the biotransformation status of vanadium was ascertained measuring the drug metabolising enzymes, glutathione S-transferase (GST) and cytochrome P-450 (Cyt P-450). Significantly, there was an increase in glutathione S-transferase and cytochrome P-450 levels (p<0.01 and p<0.02, respectively) in rats supplemented with vanadium as compared to their carcinogen controls. As an endpoint marker, we also evaluated the effect of vanadium on surface level changes of aberrant crypt foci induced by 1,2-DMH by scanning electron microscopy. Animals induced with 1,2-DMH and supplemented with vanadium showed a marked improvement in colonic architecture with less number of aberrant crypt foci in contrast to the animals induced with 1,2-DMH alone, thereby exhibiting its anticarcinogenicity by modulating the markers studied herein.

We suggest a modified factorization scheme within a supersymmetric framework which affords a consistent treatment of a wide class of Schrödinger potentials. A consequence of this is the possibility of deriving a boson-fermion Hamiltonian with linear interaction.