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Abstract: To further elucidate the mechanism and determine the biomarker of neuropathy induced by carbon disulfide (CS2), we performed a longitudinal observational study of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) in rat cerebral cortex, hippocampus, spinal cord and serum after 0, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks of CS2 administration. CS2 exposure was found to markedly increase ROS and MDA levels in cerebral cortex, hippocampus, spinal cord and serum of rats in both time and symptom-dependent manners. Although SOD activities slightly increased, there was a decrease in the GSH contents and GSH-Px, CAT activities in cerebral cortex, hippocampus, spinal cord and serum after 2, 4, 8 or 12 weeks’ CS2 intoxication and at gait score of 2, 3, or 4. The activities of T-AOC also decreased in all three nerve tissues and serum as time went on and symptom developed. Furthermore, significant correlations between LPO and gait abnormality were observed as symptom developed. Oxidation stress also resulted in Ca2+ concentrations and calmodulin (CaM) levels increases in cerebral cortex, hippocampus and spinal cord. Thus, CS2 intoxication was associated with elevation of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduction of antioxidant status, and the time and symptom-dependent changes of these indexes in rats’ nerve tissues and serum suggested that ROS and concomitant LPO, at least in part, were involved in CS2-induced neuropathy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We demonstrate that the angular-dependence effect in blue emission top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (TOLEDs) can be resolved in a very simple and effective way via introducing gratings and filling process. In this method, the shift of the peak emission wavelength with the viewing angle is successfully suppressed in TOLEDs. A desired emission pattern of approximately Lambertian is obtained. Moreover, we can observe almost the same current density and luminance in TOLEDs with and without gratings. Their maximal luminance are 10,776cd/m2 and 11,290cd/m2, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objectives: Aim of the study was to investigate efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma after failure of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) therapy. Patients and methods: Patients who were diagnosed with stage IIIB or stage IV lung adenocarcinoma, and benefited from one prior EGFR-TKI therapy and then failed, were eligible. No more than one previous chemotherapy regimen was permitted. Patients received oral sorafenib 400mg twice daily continuously until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Primary endpoint was disease control rate (DCR). Secondary endpoints included safety, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). For patients who agreed to provide peripheral blood or tumor tissue, we analyzed the genotype of Bcl-2-interacting mediator of cell death (BIM) deletion polymorphism and EGFR mutation status. Results: Of 65 enrolled patients, 64 were evaluable. The DCR was 32.8%, which did not meet the predefined statistical hypothesis of 38.4%. The median PFS and OS were 3.7 months [95% (confidence interval), 3.5–3.9 months] and 7.4 months (95% CI, 5.7–9.2 months), respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed no correlation between DCR and age, gender, smoking status and performance status. Hand-foot syndrome (HFS) was the predominant toxicity occurring in 71.9% of patients. Fourteen patients (21.9%) had ≥grade 2 dermatologic reactions that resulted sorafenib dose reduction in three patients (4.7%). Of 36 patients, the BIM deletion polymorphism was found in 3, and no response to sorafenib was observed. In 30 tumor tissues, 22 EGFR active mutations were found. The DCR had no significant difference between mutation-positive and wild-type patients (31.8% vs. 42.9%, respectively; HR, 0.622; p =0.665). Conclusion: Sorafenib monotherapy did not achieve positive result in patients defined in our trial and we need better biomarker to determine the population who can benefit from sorafenib treatment (ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT00922584). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Novel triphenylamine-based dendrimers were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The linear photophysical properties including absorption, one-photon induced fluorescence and the fluorescence lifetimes in different solvents were investigated. The two-photon induced fluorescence behavior was recorded in toluene solution, employing a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulse. The dendrimers both emit strong blue–green fluorescence under irradiation. Two-photon excited state fluorescence cross-sections were also obtained. The two dendrimers displayed a large two-photon absorption. The polytriphenylamine dendrimer shows larger two-photon excited state fluorescence cross-sections in toluene relative to the tristriphenylamine analog, indicating that there is cooperative enhancement originating from inter-branch coupling and an increase of light-harvesting ability with increasing dendrimer size. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]