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Metabolite changes that constitute the Venn diagram in Figure 2. Significant changes listed are reductions (labelled "-1") or increases (labelled "1") in concentrations relative to the relevant controls.

Summary of baseline reproducibility of candidate plasma metabolite biomarkers (n=17 patients).

Characteristics of dose-dependent changes in candidate plasma metabolite pharmacodynamic biomarker concentrations in 41 patients, as determined on day 1 of pictilisib clinical trial. Cells with p-values

Changes in candidate plasma metabolite pharmacodynamic biomarker concentrations over first 2 weeks in 17 patients treated with {greater than or equal to}330 mg once-daily of pictilisib. Cells with p-values

Heat map of changes (relative to vehicle control) in candidate plasma and tumor metabolite biomarkers at 8 hours post-dosing of mice bearing U87MG xenografts with pictilisib 75mg/kg or buparlisib 60mg/kg (a, acyl; aa, acyl-acyl; ae, acyl-alkyl; Cx:y, where x is the number of carbons in the fatty acid side chain; y is the number of double bonds in the fatty acid side chain; AC, acylcarnitine; DC, decarboxyl; M, methyl; OH, hydroxyl; PC, phosphatidylcholine)

Changes in plasma metabolites across timepoints by patient/sample.

Time of day variation in metabolites in healthy volunteers and in patients treated with the MEK inhibitor.

Sodium zinc borate glasses doped with dysprosium and modified with different concentrations of barium oxide (0e50 mol %) were fabricated using the melting quenching technique. The structural properties of the prepared glass systems were characterized using XRD and FTIR methods. The absorption spectra of the prepared glasses were measured to determine their energy gap and their related optical properties. The density of the glasses and other physical parameters were also reported. Additionally, with the help of Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (PSD) software, we investigated the radiation shielding parameters of the prepared glass systems at different energy values. It was found that an increase in the density of the glasses by increasing the concentration of BaO significantly improved the gamma ray shielding ability of the samples. For practical results, a compatible irradiation set up was designed to check the shielding capability of the obtained glasses using a gamma ray source at 662 keV. The experimentally obtained results strongly agreed with the data obtained by PDS software at the same energy. These results demonstrated that the investigated glass system is a good candidate for several radiation shielding applications when comparing it with other commercial shielding glasses and concretes. Sodium zinc borate glasses doped with dysprosium and modified with different concentrations of barium oxide (0e50 mol %) were fabricated using the melting quenching technique. The structural properties of the prepared glass systems were characterized using XRD and FTIR methods. The absorption spectra of the prepared glasses were measured to determine their energy gap and their related optical properties. The density of the glasses and other physical parameters were also reported. Additionally, with the help of Photon Shielding and Dosimetry (PSD) software, we investigated the radiation shielding parameters of the prepared glass systems at different energy values. It was found that an increase in the density of the glasses by increasing the concentration of BaO significantly improved the gamma ray shielding ability of the samples. For practical results, a compatible irradiation set up was designed to check the shielding capability of the obtained glasses using a gamma ray source at 662 keV. The experimentally obtained results strongly agreed with the data obtained by PDS software at the same energy. These results demonstrated that the investigated glass system is a good candidate for several radiation shielding applications when comparing it with other commercial shielding glasses and concretes.

In this work, easy and simple structured perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are designed and characterized. Our effort was to reduce the cost of the fabrication of such PSC devices, first by using an inexpensive starting precursor (aqueous methylamine solution) for the perovskite materials and second by design in a PSC structure free of the expensive hole transport layer (HTL). The CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite sols were deposited onto a conductive FTO glass using the spin coating technique followed by heating at 100 °C for 10 min. The structure of the films was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and their optical properties by UV–VIS spectrophotometry and photoluminescence (PL). The obtained phase confirmed the formation of a tetragonal perovskite structure. Two different solvents have been used, dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The effect of the type and the concentration of the used solvent DMF and DMSO on the performance of the solar cells have been investigated. It was found that a 40% concentration of the perovskite material resulted in the optimum film thickness that gives the best photoelectric performance. The DMF-based PSC assembled solar cell exhibited the best performance with an open circuit voltage of 750 mV, a photocurrent density of 12.5 mA/cm2, and an overall photon to electric conversion efficiency of 5.7%; all these results are higher than those of cells made with DMSO. This work was supported financially partially by the PHC Al Maqdisi Grant No. 37038WF and the Palestinian German Joint Research Project PALGER2015-34-012. The authors would like to thank Mr. Ahmad Ashour for his assistance in UV–VIS measurements. In this work, easy and simple structured perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are designed and characterized. Our effort was to reduce the cost of the fabrication of such PSC devices, first by using an inexpensive starting precursor (aqueous methylamine solution) for the perovskite materials and second by design in a PSC structure free of the expensive hole transport layer (HTL). The CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite sols were deposited onto a conductive FTO glass using the spin coating technique followed by heating at 100 °C for 10 min. The structure of the films was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and their optical properties by UV–VIS spectrophotometry and photoluminescence (PL). The obtained phase confirmed the formation of a tetragonal perovskite structure. Two different solvents have been used, dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The effect of the type and the concentration of the used solvent DMF and DMSO on the performance of the solar cells have been investigated. It was found that a 40% concentration of the perovskite material resulted in the optimum film thickness that gives the best photoelectric performance. The DMF-based PSC assembled solar cell exhibited the best performance with an open circuit voltage of 750 mV, a photocurrent density of 12.5 mA/cm2, and an overall photon to electric conversion efficiency of 5.7%; all these results are higher than those of cells made with DMSO.

ZnO nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were synthesized usinghydrothermal and sol-gel techniquesusing zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn (CH3COO)2.2H2O) as a row material and methanol as a solvent. The structural properties of ZnO NPs were studied using EDX, XRD, TEM, and the optical properties were characterized using UV-VIS and PL spectroscopies. The synthesized ZnO NPs showedhigh purity and revealed a wurtzite (hexagonal) crystal structure with particle size (D) ranged from25 nm to 28 nm. The UV-VIS absorption spectra of ZnO NPs samples and sensitizing dyes were performed.The obtained ZnO NPs exhibited the direct optical bandgap 3.15 eV. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using synthesized ZnO NPsas a semiconducting layer, whichwas dyedwith different low cost dyes such as Eosin B (EB), Eosin Y (EY) and Rhodamine B (RB) that was used to sensitize the photoanode (ZnO NPs).The experimental results showed a significant efficiency for the fabricated DSSCs of synthesized ZnO NPs via sol gel technique comparing to hydrothermal technique. The EY dye exhibited the bestperformanceamong others, where a conversion efficiency showed a noteworthy improvement from 0.12 to 1.08 %. ZnO nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were synthesized usinghydrothermal and sol-gel techniquesusing zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn (CH3COO)2.2H2O) as a row material and methanol as a solvent. The structural properties of ZnO NPs were studied using EDX, XRD, TEM, and the optical properties were characterized using UV-VIS and PL spectroscopies. The synthesized ZnO NPs showedhigh purity and revealed a wurtzite (hexagonal) crystal structure with particle size (D) ranged from25 nm to 28 nm. The UV-VIS absorption spectra of ZnO NPs samples and sensitizing dyes were performed.The obtained ZnO NPs exhibited the direct optical bandgap 3.15 eV. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using synthesized ZnO NPsas a semiconducting layer, whichwas dyedwith different low cost dyes such as Eosin B (EB), Eosin Y (EY) and Rhodamine B (RB) that was used to sensitize the photoanode (ZnO NPs).The experimental results showed a significant efficiency for the fabricated DSSCs of synthesized ZnO NPs via sol gel technique comparing to hydrothermal technique. The EY dye exhibited the bestperformanceamong others, where a conversion efficiency showed a noteworthy improvement from 0.12 to 1.08 %.

ZnO nanostructure (NS) were prepared via hydrothermal route at various times of heat treatment. The structural properties of ZnO (NS) were reported using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM). The obtained XRD peaks matched with the standard hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure of ZnO ((ICSD) No. 067454)). Additionally, no noticed peaks corresponded to any phase. The crystal structure, lattice defects and the stress–strain parameters were examined using different models (Size–strain plot method (SPP) Williamson–Hall (W–H) and Halder–Wagner (H–W)), which showed a variation by changing the heating (aging) time (HT). It was found that crystal structure, lattice defects and the stress–strain parameters changed with changing HT. The obtained HR-TEM of the ZnO NS indicated good crystalline structure, spherical and uniform shape. The optical properties of the obtained ZnO NS as a function of HT were described using the spectroscopies: UV–Vis and photoluminescence (PL). The UV–Vis results exhibited a red shift for the absorption band edges, where the estimated optical energy gap (Eg) slightly decreased and shifted to the lower energy region with increasing of HT. The PL emission spectra of the ZnO NS decomposed into two sections ranged from visible to Near-Ultraviolet (NUV). The obtained optical properties are in full agreement with the variation of structural properties obtained using the different XRD models and HR-TEM results. The synthesized particles were used as photoanode in DSSCs sensitized by different organic dyes (Eosin B, Rhodamine B, and Eosin Y). A variation of the overall cell efficiency was observed by changing HT. the sensitizer Eosin Y showed the best efficiency over the other organic dyes with light to electric efficiency of 1%.

The effect of nanoplasmonic (Ag) on the performance of DSSCs has been studied in doped and undoped ZnO (DZ and UZ) NPs, which were prepared by the urea-assisted combustion route. Different techniques were conducted to characterize DZ and UZ NPs. XRD patterns were indexed to the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO NPs (ICSD-52362). The values of average crystalline size of UZ and DZ(1.0 mol% Ag) NPs were 20.45 and 22.30 nm, respectively. HR-TEM micrograph revealed good crystallization with an intermediate or poor agglomeration with distribution of semispherical morphologies of ZnO NPs. The energy bandgap of UZ and DZ NPs was changed from 3.21 to 3.31 eV. The deconvolution of the PL spectra recognized eight peaks into near ultraviolet (NUV) and visible regions. The PL emission of visible region overshadowed NUV transition. The photovoltaic cell with the doped photoanode DZ:1.0 mol% Ag exhibited the best performance parameters:Voc = 0.46 V, Jsc = 7.81 mA.cm-2, Pm = 1.91, FF = 51%, and η= 1.91%. A double exponential function was used as a powerful fitting function for the TOCVD data.The results revealed that τn in the UZ NPs photoanode was longer than that in theDZ:1.0 mol% Ag NPs photoanode. The authors would like to thank the Palestinian German Joint Research Project PALGER2015-34-012 and the PHC Al Maqdisi grant No. 37038WF for their partially financial support of this research. The authors would, also, like to thank Mr. Ahmad Ashour for his technical assistant The effect of nanoplasmonic (Ag) on the performance of DSSCs has been studied in doped and undoped ZnO (DZ and UZ) NPs, which were prepared by the urea-assisted combustion route. Different techniques were conducted to characterize DZ and UZ NPs. XRD patterns were indexed to the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO NPs (ICSD-52362). The values of average crystalline size of UZ and DZ(1.0 mol% Ag) NPs were 20.45 and 22.30 nm, respectively. HR-TEM micrograph revealed good crystallization with an intermediate or poor agglomeration with distribution of semispherical morphologies of ZnO NPs. The energy bandgap of UZ and DZ NPs was changed from 3.21 to 3.31 eV. The deconvolution of the PL spectra recognized eight peaks into near ultraviolet (NUV) and visible regions. The PL emission of visible region overshadowed NUV transition. The photovoltaic cell with the doped photoanode DZ:1.0 mol% Ag exhibited the best performance parameters:Voc = 0.46 V, Jsc = 7.81 mA.cm-2, Pm = 1.91, FF = 51%, and η= 1.91%. A double exponential function was used as a powerful fitting function for the TOCVD data.The results revealed that τn in the UZ NPs photoanode was longer than that in theDZ:1.0 mol% Ag NPs photoanode.

In the present work, ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple wet chemical (hydrothermal) technique using zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(CH3COO)2.2H2O) as a row material dissolved into absolute methanol and aqueous NaOH as precipitation agent. The X-ray diffractometer (XRD) patterns showed a standard hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO NPs with average particle size of about 28±2 nm. High resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) micrograph of ZnO NPs showed semi-spherical particles with an average size of about 25.3±6 nm, which agreed well with the XRD results. UV-Vis spectrum of the ZnO NPs revealed the highest absorption band at 366.4 nm and the optical energy gap (Eg) was about 3.12 eV. The Photoluminescence spectrophotometer (PL) spectrum emission illustrated lower UV emission than the visible emission. This indicated to the high defect density in ZnO sample. The effect of concentration of cost-effective Rhodamine B dye on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells) DSSCs) based on ZnO NPs has been studied. The best performance among the five concentrations was 0.7 mM. The photon to electric energy conversion efficiency of the DSSCs has been found to increase by eight times from 0.07 to 0.58 %. Transient open-circuit voltage decay (TOCVD) method has been used to investigate the electron lifetime (τn) and the electron recombination velocity (Krec) in DSSCs, by using the double exponential function. The results revealed that the Rhodamine B dye can be an efficient dye as a low-cost sensitizing dye for DSSCs. In the present work, ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple wet chemical (hydrothermal) technique using zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(CH3COO)2.2H2O) as a row material dissolved into absolute methanol and aqueous NaOH as precipitation agent. The X-ray diffractometer (XRD) patterns showed a standard hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO NPs with average particle size of about 28±2 nm. High resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) micrograph of ZnO NPs showed semi-spherical particles with an average size of about 25.3±6 nm, which agreed well with the XRD results. UV-Vis spectrum of the ZnO NPs revealed the highest absorption band at 366.4 nm and the optical energy gap (Eg) was about 3.12 eV. The Photoluminescence spectrophotometer (PL) spectrum emission illustrated lower UV emission than the visible emission. This indicated to the high defect density in ZnO sample. The effect of concentration of cost-effective Rhodamine B dye on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells) DSSCs) based on ZnO NPs has been studied. The best performance among the five concentrations was 0.7 mM. The photon to electric energy conversion efficiency of the DSSCs has been found to increase by eight times from 0.07 to 0.58 %. Transient open-circuit voltage decay (TOCVD) method has been used to investigate the electron lifetime (τn) and the electron recombination velocity (Krec) in DSSCs, by using the double exponential function. The results revealed that the Rhodamine B dye can be an efficient dye as a low-cost sensitizing dye for DSSCs.

Hepatitis C infection is a serious health issue worldwide caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). There is an urgent need of search for new direct acting antiviral drugs due to the rapid development of drug resistance. The HCV NS5A protein is involved in creating resistance against antiviral therapy and there are also many reports that vitamin A deficiency is associated with non-responsiveness to antiviral treatment in HCV infected patients. So the present in silico study was aimed to find the relation between vitamin A deficiency and the NS5A protein's function in antiviral resistance. Structure of NS5A protein was predicted by using I-Tasser (Interactive Tasser). Previous data on conservative domains and dimer formation were confirmed by using a series of current computational methods. The structure was employed for molecular docking analysis to investigate the interaction of ligand BMS411 (4-[(5,5-dimethyl-8-phenyl-6H-naphthalene-2-carbonyl)amino]benzoic acid), a vitamin A related compound with NS5A protein. Docking analysis showed that retinoid BMS411 can bind to HCV NS5A protein and may act as inhibitor of this protein. The functionally interacting amino acid residues surrounding the ligand molecule were identified and were shown to be involved in the formation of binding pocket. The present study suggests that retinoids may play an important role in the improvement of the outcomes of antiviral therapy against HCV through interaction with NS5A and inhibition of this protein. It is of great importance to check and verify if other retinoids could act as NS5A inhibitors.

In this article, we investigate the evolution of the quantum Fisher information and its flow based on quantum state estimation in the framework of the interaction between qubit and input field initially in the photon subtracted squeezed thermal states. We examine the effect of qubit motion and number of photons subtracted on the quantum Fisher flow and qubit-field entanglement during the time evolution. Finally, we present useful way to generate and maintain high amount of entanglement through controlling the number of photons subtracted and qubit motion.

ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using sol gel technique at differentcalcination temperature. The effect of calcination temperature on the structure and opticalproperties of ZnO NPs were studied in detail by using different techniques, X-raydiffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, UV-VIS spectroscopy andphotoluminescence spectroscopy.X-ray diffractionanalysis revealed that the ZnO NPs werecrystalized in a wurtzite structure and the estimated average particle size increased from24.7 to40.4 nm with increasingcalcinationtemperature. In addition, the d spacingincreased from 0.28196 nm to 0.28213 nm.High-resolution transmission electronmicroscopy analysisimage showed spherical ZnONPs were formed. UV-VIS absorptionmeasurement was employed to evaluate the absorption edge and the optical band gapusingTauc plot. Energy gaprevealed a red shift from 3.15 to 2.96 eV when thecalcinationtemperaturewas increased. Dye sensitized solar cells were fabricated using synthesizedZnO NPs as a semiconducting layer that were dyed withdifferentXanthene(CH2[C6H4]2O)dyesseparately;(Eosin B, Eosin Y and Rhodamine B) which arelow costdyes. Thin layer of ZnO were deposited on transparentfluorine doped tin oxideconductiveglass using doctor blade method. Eosin Y exhibited the bestphotosensitizing. Theconversion efficiency showed a significant improvement from 0.1% to 1.08%. This research activity carried out between Gaza-Palestine and Cairo-Egypt, which was financially supported by Qatar Charity IBHATH Project grant funded by the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Reconstruction of Gaza through the Islamic Development Bank. ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using sol gel technique at differentcalcination temperature. The effect of calcination temperature on the structure and opticalproperties of ZnO NPs were studied in detail by using different techniques, X-raydiffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, UV-VIS spectroscopy andphotoluminescence spectroscopy.X-ray diffractionanalysis revealed that the ZnO NPs werecrystalized in a wurtzite structure and the estimated average particle size increased from24.7 to40.4 nm with increasingcalcinationtemperature. In addition, the d spacingincreased from 0.28196 nm to 0.28213 nm.High-resolution transmission electronmicroscopy analysisimage showed spherical ZnONPs were formed. UV-VIS absorptionmeasurement was employed to evaluate the absorption edge and the optical band gapusingTauc plot. Energy gaprevealed a red shift from 3.15 to 2.96 eV when thecalcinationtemperaturewas increased. Dye sensitized solar cells were fabricated using synthesizedZnO NPs as a semiconducting layer that were dyed withdifferentXanthene(CH2[C6H4]2O)dyesseparately;(Eosin B, Eosin Y and Rhodamine B) which arelow costdyes. Thin layer of ZnO were deposited on transparentfluorine doped tin oxideconductiveglass using doctor blade method. Eosin Y exhibited the bestphotosensitizing. Theconversion efficiency showed a significant improvement from 0.1% to 1.08%.

MAPK pathway activation is frequently observed in human malignancies, including melanoma, and is associated with sensitivity to MEK inhibition and changes in cellular metabolism. Using quantitative mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, we identified in preclinical models 21 plasma metabolites including amino acids, propionylcarnitine, phosphatidylcholines, and sphingomyelins that were significantly altered in two B-RAF-mutant melanoma xenografts and that were reversed following a single dose of the potent and selective MEK inhibitor RO4987655. Treatment of non-tumor-bearing animals and mice bearing the PTEN-null U87MG human glioblastoma xenograft elicited plasma changes only in amino acids and propionylcarnitine. In patients with advanced melanoma treated with RO4987655, on-treatment changes of amino acids were observed in patients with disease progression and not in responders. In contrast, changes in phosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins were observed in responders. Furthermore, pretreatment levels of seven lipids identified in the preclinical screen were statistically significantly able to predict objective responses to RO4987655. The RO4987655 treatment-related changes were greater than baseline physiological variability in nontreated individuals. This study provides evidence of a translational exo-metabolomic plasma readout predictive of clinical efficacy together with pharmacodynamic utility following treatment with a signal transduction inhibitor.

A simple design for a circularly polarized single-feed microstrip square patch antenna is presented. The design method consists of incorporating a narrow slot at the center of microstrip patch, producing a triangle over the slot and placing a single feed along the diagonal of the square patch. By adjusting the dimensions of the narrow slot and triangle, a circularly polarized wave can be generated. The bandwidth of the microstrip antenna can be changed by varying the angle of the triangle produced over the slot. The measured results are in good agreement with the numerical results.

needed to increase the cure rate. In vitro experiments show strong antiviral effects of fluvastatin against HCV. Aim of the study: To asses the clinical outcome of fluvastatin addition to the standard regimen for treatment of chronic HCV in Egypt. Subjects and Methods: The study included 80 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection fulfilled clinical, laboratory and histo-pathological criteria to be ready for interferon therapy, divided into two groups: Group I (n = 40) received standard treatment for HCV (pegylated interferon and ribavirin) and group II (n = 40) received standard treatment plus fluvastatin (80mg/daily). Before and after 6 months of treatment liver function tests and HCV-RNA were evaluated. Results: Addition of fluvastatin to the standard HCV treatment (pegylated interferon and ribavirin) significantly increased SVR from (55% to 62.5%; P< 0.01) and significantly decreased viral load in relapser patients (P< 0.001). No significant differences and correlations were found between serum levels of LDL-cholesterol and viral load before and after treatment in both groups. Conclusion: Fluvastatin can be used to increase SVR when added to standard treatment (pegylated interferon and ribavirin) of chronic HCV.