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The present study aims to investigate whether malnutrition defined by the Global Leadership Initiative in Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria using hand-grip strength (HGS) adequately predict postoperative complications and long-term survival in patients underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer in a similar manner to GLIM-defined malnutrition using skeletal muscle index (SMI).Patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer from August 2014 to June 2019 were included in this study. Clinical data were prospectively collected. Malnutrition was diagnosed based on the two-step approach following the GLIM criteria. Skeletal muscle mass was assessed using SMI based on abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans, or assessed using HGS.A total of 1359 patients were included in this study, in which 36.2% of the patients were at risk of malnutrition (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 scores ≥3). The incidence of malnutrition was 28.2% and 27.5% using SMI and HGS, respectively. There was a high agreement between the two criteria of malnutrition (kappa = 0.863, P 0.001). Both of the two criteria of malnutrition were independently associated with postoperative complications (SMI-GLIM, P = 0.041; HGS-GLIM, P = 0.023), overall survival (P 0.001, both), and disease-free survival (P 0.001, both), with similar odds ratio or hazard ratio after adjusting for the same confounding variables. HGS-GLIM malnutrition (P = 0.046) but not SMI-GLIM malnutrition (P = 0.270) was associated with a higher incidence of severe complications.GLIM criteria using HGS is a useful tool to diagnose malnutrition and has a similar or even better predictive value for postoperative complications and long-term survival after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer compared with GLIM criteria using SMI.

The applicability of laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy for elderly patients with gastric cancer is still not well clarified. The aim of this double-center study was to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy on elderly patients with gastric cancer. We prospectively collected data of patients who underwent gastrectomy for cancer in two centers from June 2016 to December 2019. Propensity score matching was performed at a ratio of 1:1 to compare the laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy group and open radical gastrectomy group. Univariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses evaluating the risk factors for total, surgical, and medical complications were performed. A total of 481 patients with gastric cancer met the inclusion criteria and were included in this study. After propensity score analysis, 258 patients were matched each other (laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy (LAG) group, n = 129; open radical gastrectomy (OG) group, n = 129). LAG group had lower rate of surgical complications (P = 0.009), lower rate of severe complications (P = 0.046), shorter postoperative hospital stay (P = 0.001), and lower readmission rate (P = 0.039). Multivariate analyses revealed that anemia, Charlson comorbidity index, and combined resection were independent risk factors in the LAG group, whereas body mass index and American Society of Anesthesiology grade in the OG group. Laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy was relative safe even effective in elderly gastric cancer patients. We should pay attention to the different risk factors when performing different surgical procedures for gastric cancer in elderly patients.

This study aims to explore the impact of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) deficiency on skeletal muscle autophagy and the development of sarcopenia. LC3b, P62, Bnip3, Lamp-1, and AMPK protein levels were measured in muscle from young, middle-aged, old Nrf2−/− (knockout, KO) mice and age-matched wild-type (WT) C57/BL6 mice. Autophagy flux was measured in young WT, young KO, old WT, old KO mice, using colchicine as autophagy inhibitor. There was a trend of higher accumulation of LC3b-II, P62, Bnip3, Lamp-1 induced by colchicine in old WT mice compared with young WT mice. Colchicine induced a significantly higher accumulation of LC3b-II, P62, Bnip3, Lamp-1 in KO mice compared with WT mice, both in the young and old groups. AMPK and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were unregulated following Nrf2 KO and increasing age, which was consistent with the increasing trend of autophagy flux following Nrf2 KO and increasing age. Nrf2 KO and increasing age caused decreased cross-sectional area of extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles. We concluded that Nrf2 deficiency and increasing age may activate AMPK and ROS signals to cause excessive autophagy activation in skeletal muscle, which can be a potential mechanism for the development of sarcopenia.

Summary Background The present study aims to investigate the prognostic value of Global Leadership Initiative in Malnutrition (GLIM)-defined malnutrition in overweight patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer, and to explore whether the addition of muscle quality, strength and gait speed could improve the predictive power for postoperative outcomes. Methods Overweight patients (body mass index (BMI) ≥23 kg/m2) who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer were included in this study. Malnutrition was diagnosed using the two-step approach following the GLIM criteria. Skeletal muscle mass and quality was assessed using computed tomography (CT) determined skeletal muscle index (SMI) and skeletal muscle density (SMD), respectively. Hand-grip strength and 6-m gait speed were measured before surgery. Results A total of 587 overweight patients were included, in which 262 patients were identified as having obesity (BMI ≥25 kg/m2). The prevalence of malnutrition was 11.9% and 10.7% for overweight and obese patients, respectively. GLIM-defined malnutrition alone was not predictive for postoperative complications in overweight patients. The addition of low gait speed or muscle quality to GLIM-defined malnutrition led to a significant predictive value for postoperative complications. Low gait speed plus GLIM-defined malnutrition remained significant in the multivariate analysis. GLIM-defined malnutrition was predictive for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Addition of low gait speed to GLIM-defined malnutrition increased the hazard ratio (HR) for the prediction of OS and DFS (univariate analysis: 2.880 vs. 2.238 for OS, 2.410 vs. 1.937 for DFS; multivariate analysis: 2.836 vs. 1.841 for OS, 2.433 vs. 1.634 for DFS). Addition of low hand-grip strength to GLIM-defined malnutrition led to a higher HR for the prediction of OS (2.144 vs. 1.841) in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion Muscle quality, strength and gait speed added prognostic value to GLIM-defined malnutrition for the prediction of postoperative complications and/or survival in overweight patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer, especially gait speed, which could be incorporated into nutritional assessment protocols.

Background: Nutritional risk and sarcopenia are both associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality following elective surgery. This study aimed to investigate whether sarcopenia has additional predictive value for postoperative complications and long-term survival besides nutritional screening tools. Methods: Clinical data of patients underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer was prospectively collected. Sarcopenia was diagnosed by grip strength plus muscle quanlity/quality based on preoperative abdominal CT scans. Nutritional screening was performed using 4 common nutritional screening tools, including Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS)-2002, Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), and Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ). Results: A total of 880 patients were analyzed, in which 167 (18.98%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. The incidence of nutritional risk identified by the 4 tools were 44.66% (MUST ≥1), 35.23% (NRS-2002 ≥3), 29.89% (MST ≥2), and 20.34% (SNAQ ≥2). Multivariate analyses showed that nutritional risk identified by the 4 nutritional screening tools were not independently associated with postoperative complications, overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS), except for NRS-2002 ≥3 as an independent risk factor of OS. Sarcopenia was always an independent risk factor for postoperative complications, OS, and DFS after adjusting for nutritional risk and the other covariates in the multivariate analyses. Conclusions: MUST, NRS-2002, MST, and SNAQ had low predictive power for postoperative complications and long-term survival in patients underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Sarcopenia had additional predictive value for postoperative complications and long-term survival besides these nutritional screening tools and should be implemented in the preoperative assessments.

This paper studies the overseas online shopping phenomenon from the perspective of consumer behavior. The methods of literature review, the research present situation of consumers' risk perception, the adoption of questionnaire and interview method to collect overseas online shopping consumer perception of risk dimension data, the relevant data processing method is adopted to build overseas online shopping consumer perceived risk impact on consumer buying behavior model, from overseas online shopping consumer perspective to explore the risk perception of consumers the internal influence mechanism of consumer purchase decisions and avoid risk strategy is put forward. Overseas online shopping refers to the online shopping behavior in which consumers browse and select commodities on overseas commercial websites through the Internet, submit electronic orders and complete the payment through electronic payment, deliver the goods directly through international express, or transfer companies collect the goods on behalf and forward them to consumers. Chinese consumers' overseas online shopping behavior originated from the 2008 Chinese dairy products contamination incident. With the development of economy, the demand for foreign products also increases, and overseas online shopping comes into being. With the help of Internet technology, payment means and logistics technology, overseas shopping becomes more and more convenient, and more Chinese consumers begin to "overseas online shopping".

Objectives We investigated whether measurement of muscle quantity/quality has additional predictive value for postoperative complications and long-term survival after gastrectomy for gastric cancer in patients with probable sarcopenia, as defined by the new European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 consensus. Methods We conducted a prospective study of patients who underwent a radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer between August 2014 and June 2019. Muscle strength was measured using a handgrip dynamometer. Computed tomography images at the third lumbar vertebra level were used to assess muscle quantity and quality by the measuring cross-sectional muscle area and mean muscle attenuation, respectively. Probable sarcopenia was defined by low muscle strength. Sarcopenia was diagnosed by additional low muscle quantity or quality. Clinical outcomes were obtained by prospective data collection and follow up. Results Probable sarcopenia was identified in 419 patients, including 285 patients with sarcopenia. Patients with sarcopenia had a higher incidence of postoperative complications, higher costs, longer length of postoperative hospital stay, and worse overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) compared with patients with low muscle strength only. The multivariate logistic analysis showed that sarcopenia and hypoproteinemia were independent risk factors for postoperative complications in patients with probable sarcopenia. Moreover, multivariate Cox analyses showed that sarcopenia remained an independent risk factor for OS and DFS in patients with probable sarcopenia. Conclusions The measurement of muscle quantity/quality has additional predictive value for postoperative complications, OS, and DFS after gastrectomy for gastric cancer in patients with probable sarcopenia.

Ginsenoside Rb1 (GRb1), which is one of the main ingredients derived from Panax ginseng, has been widely used to treat various gastrointestinal disorders. The present study aimed to determine whether GRb1 was able to prevent intestinal mucosal barrier damage in rats following peritoneal air exposure for 3 h. GRb1 (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) was orally administrated via gavage four times prior to and following surgery. Blood and terminal ileum were sampled 24 h following surgery. Levels of serum D-lactate (D-LA) were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Intestinal permeability was assessed by determining the intestinal clearance of fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FD4). Activity of intestinal myeloperoxidase was measured to assess intestinal inflammation, and intestinal histopathology was assessed by light microscopy. The results showed that GRb1 reduced the level of serum D-LA, intestinal clearance of FD4, and the activity of intestinal myeloperoxidase. Intestinal edema and inflammation were also ameliorated by GRb1, and the Chiu's scores employed for assessing intestinal mucosal damage were also reduced in the GRb1-treated peritoneal air exposure group. In addition, GRb1 induced a significant difference at 10 and 20 mg/kg, indicating a dose-dependent effect. The results of the present study suggest that GRb1 may be able to protect the intestinal mucosal barrier against damage induced by peritoneal air exposure, which may be associated with its anti-inflammatory action.

Imatinib is the first line of therapy for patients with metastatic or gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). However, drug resistance limits the long-term effect of imatinib. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key players in regulating drug resistance in cancer. In this study, we investigated the association between lncRNA CCDC26 and IGF-1R in GIST and their involvement in drug resistance. Considering the key role of lncRNAs in drug resistance in cancer, we hypothesized that IGF-1R is regulated by lncRNAs. The expression of a series of reported drug resistance-related lncRNAs, including CCDC26, ARF, H19, NBR2, NEAT1, and HOTAIR, in GIST cells treated with imatinib H19 was examined at various time-points by qRT-PCR. Based on our results and published literature, CCDC26, a strongly down-regulated lncRNA following imatinib treatment, was chosen as our research target. GIST cells with high expression of CCDC26 were sensitive to imatinib treatment while knockdown of CCDC26 significantly increased the resistance to imatinib. Furthermore, we found that CCDC26 interacted with c-KIT by RNA pull down, and that CCDC26 knockdown up-regulated the expression of IGF-1R. Moreover, IGF-1R inhibition reversed CCDC26 knockdown-mediated imatinib resistance in GIST. These results indicated that treatments targeting CCDC26-IGF-1R axis would be useful in increasing sensitivity to imatinib in GIST.

The effects of oxygen ambiance on electrical characteristic degradation phenomena in a-InGaZnO thin film transistor with different biases and temperatures are investigated. It can be found that oxygen is substantially adsorbed on the backchannel and results in device instabilities during positive gate bias stress. However, visible light irradiation is found to desorb the adsorbed oxygen ions and this verifies that oxygen dominates the degradation behavior. Moreover, comparing with that in vacuum, hot-carrier stress in oxygen ambiance leads to an extra potential barrier height near the drain side due to oxygen adsorption and causes asymmetric degradation. Furthermore, the asymmetric degradation behavior after hot-carrier stress in oxygen ambiance is suppressed at high temperature due to temperature-induced oxygen desorption or heat-induced holes injecting into the gate insulator.

This paper investigates the temperature and ambiance effects on various reliability issues for InGaZnO thin film transistors with an organic passivation layer. Hot-carrier stress and gate-bias stress are carried out under different environmental temperatures and ambient gases. The device exhibits relatively good stability under room temperture, whereas high temperature enhances degradation. Futhermore, different degradation behaviors after gate-bias stress in atmosphere and in vacuum can be attributed to gas adsorption/desorption-induced instability. Moreover, capacitance-voltage measurement techinique is utilized to analyze the degradation mechanism and to extract the density of state (DOS). The result reveals that the threshold voltage shift after both hot-carrier and gate-bias stress originates from the charge-trapping effect at the interface of gate insulator and active layer, with the extra trap states generated during stress responsible for C-V curve distortion. In addition, the asymmetric degradation behavior of gate-to-drain capacitance (Cgd) and gate-to-source capacitance (Cgs) indicates that trap states are generated near the drain side.

A solution-processed anthradithiophene derivative, 5,11-bis(4-triethylsilylphenylethynyl)anthradithiophene (TESPE-ADT), is studied for use as the semiconducting material in thin-film transistors (TFTs). To enhance the electrical performance of the devices, two different kinds of solution processing (spin-coating and drop-casting) on various gate dielectrics as well as additional post-treatment are employed on thin films of TESPE-ADT, and p-channel OTFT transport with hole mobilities as high as ~0.12 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) are achieved. The film morphologies and formed microstructures of the semiconductor films are characterized in terms of film processing conditions and are correlated with variations in device performance.

This letter studies the hot-carrier effect in indium–gallium–zinc oxide (IGZO) thin film transistors with symmetric and asymmetric source/drain structures. The different degradation behaviors after hot-carrier stress in symmetric and asymmetric source/drain devices indicate that different mechanisms dominate the degradation. Since the C–V measurement is highly sensitive to trap states compared to the I–V characterization, C–V curves are utilized to analyze the hot-carrier stress-induced trap state generation. Furthermore, the asymmetric C–V measurements C GD (gate-to-drain capacitance) and C GS (gate-to-source capacitance) are used to analyze the trap state in channel location. The asymmetric source/drain structure under hot-carrier stress induces an asymmetric electrical field and causes different degradation behaviors. In this work, the on-current and subthreshold swing (S.S.) degrade under low electrical field, whereas an apparent V t shift occurs under large electrical field. The different degradation behaviors indicate that trap states are generated under a low electrical field and the channel-hot-electron (CHE) effect occurs under a large electrical field.

Eichhornia crassipes (E.C.) is a special aquatic plant, which exhibits excellent tolerance to heavy metals and can be used for the large scale removal of heavy metals from waste water. Here the E.C was used to capture Cd2+, then as an in situ bio-template to successfully synthesize photoelectric CdS microcrystals. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and fluorescence spectrometer. The results indicated that the peanut-like microcrystals with a length of 1.5–1.8 µm were oriented along (002) plane. The main organic groups in E.C including hydroxyl, primary amide and carboxylate played inducing and controlling roles during the formation of CdS microcrystals in the solution. The PL spectrum showed an emission peak at 450 nm and indicated that the product may have applications in an electronic light device. This approach provided an inspiration on the post-processing of the secondary pollution.

A flexible thin film transistor (TFT) backplane, OLED, and the flexible projective capacitive touch sensing film were successfully developed and integrated with colorless and transparent Polyimide (PI) substrate for the first flexible touch AMOLED display based on the flexible universal plane for display (FlexUPD) technology. This unique substrate handling technology is not only compatible with the current TFT manufacturing facilities but also allows us to use the same design rule of TFT backplane as that on the glass.

A series of benzo[d,d]thieno[3,2-b;4,5-b]dithiophene (BTDT) derivatives, end-functionalized with phenyl (P) and benzothiophenyl (BT), were synthesized and characterized. A facile, one-pot synthesis of BTDT was developed which enables the efficient realization of a new BTDT-based semiconductor series for organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). The crystal structure of P-BTDT was determined via single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Various combinations of dielectric surface treatment methods, substrate temperature, and deposition flux rate sequences have significant effects on device performance. Films deposited on octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS)-treated SiO2 substrates under properly adjusted substrate temperature and deposition flux rate achieve an efficaceous compromise between high film crystallinity and good film grain interconnectivity, resulting in good OTFT performance, with mobility greater than 0.70 cm2 V−1 s−1 and Ion/Ioff greater than 108.

Four new solution-processable pentacene- (PEN) and anthradithiophene- (ADT) based organic semiconductors bearing two phenylethynyl (PE-) or triethylsilylphenylethynyl (TESPE-) substituents have been synthesized, characterized, and incorporated in thin-film transistors (TFTs). The molecular structures of these four materials have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Thin films of all four compounds have been fabricated via drop-casting and exhibited p-channel OTFT transport with hole mobilities as high as ∼0.01 cm2/V s. Compared to PEN derivatives, ADT-based compounds exhibited superior device performance and photooxidative stability in ambient. The film morphologies and microstructures of these compounds have been characterized by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction to rationalize device performance trends.

In this study, we propose a new laser-induced implantation based approach for embedding electronic interconnects in this study. Direct implantations of silver particles, vaporized by a pulsed laser from a silver film initially pre-coated on a transparent glass substrate, into poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-encapsulated organic electronic devices as electronic conducting circuits are demonstrated. Two test carriers are the devices of organic thin-film transistors and polymeric light-emitting diodes. Device property characterizations indicate the implanted circuits can work smoothly. The implantation process is driven by the high-energy ejected particles that soften and melt the PVA layer and penetrate into it until their momentums are totally lost. The penetration depth increases with the number of laser pulses and is becoming saturated as the pulse number is getting high. A conducting circuit, with length of [email protected], can be completely embedded within 3 laser pulses. Due to its flexibility in embedding metals into an encapsulated device, this technique can be used for repairing internal circuit damage. Besides, all steps can be executed in the ambient environment and at room temperature that is suitable for plastic substrate processing.

We have fabricated organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) of top contact (TC) structures using silver electrode based on triethylsilylethynyl anthradithiophene (TES-ADT) with mobility above 0.41 cm2 s-1 V-1, current modulation higher than 5 times 107 and sub-threshold swing below 0.65 V/dec. The electrical characteristics of OTFTs are not only corresponding to the work function of source and drain electrodes materials but also to the surface tension and deposition energy of them. The effects of work function and surface tension dominate the electrical characteristics in bottom contact (BC) device. On the other hand, TC device is affected by deposition energy dominantly.

Cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) is an important member of the cytochrome P450 enzyme superfamily with responsibility for metabolizing many important exogenous and endogenous compounds in many species of microorganisms, plants and animals. CYP2C9 is related to the oxidative of 16% of all therapeutics in current clinical use and has adverse drug effects, such as, enzyme induction and inhibition. In order to understand the metabolic mechanism of various drugs, two crystal structures of CYP2C9 have been studied, and their structural differences and structure-activity relationships with the drugs of Fluoxetine, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Suprofen, and Mefenamic acid were investigated. By a series of docking studies and MD simulations, the binding pockets of CYP2C9 for the five drugs are explicitly defined that will be very useful for conducting mutagenesis studies, providing insights into the metabolic mechanism, which may be of relevance to the personalized drug.

High-performance bottom-contact devices based on an air-stable n-type organic semiconductor N,N-bis(4-trifluoromethoxybenzyl)-perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic di-imide, were fabricated, and the effects of crystal packing on indium tin oxide and molybdenum–tungsten alloy were shown in two different electric characteristics. The estimated work function of indium tin oxide and molybdenum–tungsten alloy were 4.7 and 5.0 eV. The calculated lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level of the organic material was 3.7 eV. Transistors with indium tin oxide bottom electrodes exhibited a high mobility of 3.37 × 10 −2 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , an on/off current ratio of 6.5 × 10 5 and threshold voltage of −4.0 V.

The synthesis, single-crystal structures, and device performance of novel naphthalene-diimide are described. The crystal structure has revealed the importance of a withdrawing group on solid-state packing. Metal molybdenum use as source/drain (S/D) electrodes can improve the performance of the bottom-contact device. The bottom-contact device based on a material of N,N′-bis (4-trifluoromethoxybenzyl) naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic acid diimide has a high mobility of 3.58 × 10−2 cm2 V−1 s−1, a threshold voltage of 1.3 V, and an on/off current ratio of 5.2 × 105.

aDepartment of Physics, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan bAdvanced Optoelectronics Technology Center, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan cDepartment of Photonics & Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan dDepartment of Photonics & Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan eIndustrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, 31040, Taiwan

To study the development of waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC) in children and adolescents in Shandong province, and to provide scientific data for developing related reference values for screening central obesity in Chinese children and adolescents.Using data from 'Student physical fitness and health surveillance 2010 project' in Shandong province, a total of 42 275 students aged 7 - 18 years were selected to participate in this study. WC, HC, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and wrist-to-stature ratio (WSR) of subjects were measured. Comparison of data from the current study and other similar studies was made.The mean values of WC increased with age, and boys all significantly higher than girls in all age categories (P0.01). There were two crosses on gender regarding the HC curves: before the age of 11 years, with mean HC higher in boys than in girls, but girls were higher than boys between the age of 12 to 14 while boys were also higher than girls after the age of 15 years. The 50(th) percentiles (P(50)) of WC of children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years in Shandong appeared above the figures by 1.3 - 3.1 cm (boys) and 1.2 - 2.0 cm (girls) from 15 provinces in China as well as above the data from Hong Kong by 1.9 - 5.4 cm (boys) and 2.0 - 6.5 cm (girls), respectively. Overall, 20.20% of the boys and 16.57% of the girls had a WC of ≥ 90(th) percentile and 15.73% and 7.38% of the boys and girls had a WHtR of ≥ 0.5 which both showed significant differences between genders (P0.01).Children and adolescents from Shandong province had a high level of WC.

To explore effects of telomerase RNA-targeting phosphorothioate antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (PS-ASODN) on growth of human gastrointestinal stromal tumors transplanted in mice.A SCID mouse model for transplantation of human gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) was established using tumor cells from a patient who was diagnosed with GIST and consequently had been treated with imatinib. GIST cells cultured for 10 passages were used for inoculation into mice. Transfection of PS-ASODN was carried out with Lipotap Liposomal Transfection Reagent. GISTs that subsequently developed in SCID mice were subjected to intra-tumoral injection once daily from day 7 to day 28 post-inoculation, and mice were divided into the following four groups according to treatment: PS-ASODN group (5.00 μmoL/L of oligonucleotide, each mouse received 0.2 mL once daily); imatinib group (0.1 mg/g body weight); liposome negative control group (0.01 mL/g); and saline group (0.01 mL/g). On day 28, the mice were sacrificed, and tumor attributes including weight and longest and shortest diameters were measured. Tumor growth was compared between treatment groups, and telomerase activity was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to detect expression of the mRNA encoding the apoptosis inhibition B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (bcl-2) gene.In the PS-ASODN group, tumor growth was inhibited by 59.437%, which was markedly higher than in the imatinib group (11.071%) and liposome negative control group (2.759%) [tumor inhibition = (mean tumor weight of control group--mean tumor weight of treatment group)/(mean tumor weight of control group) × 100%]. Telomerase activity was significantly lower (P0.01) in the PS-ASODN group (0.689 ± 0.158) compared with the imatinib group (1.838 ± 0.241), liposome negative control group (2.013 ± 0.273), and saline group (2.004 ± 0.163). Flow cytometry revealed that the apoptosis rate of tumor cells treated with PS-ASODN was 20.751% ± 0.789%, which was higher (P0.01) than that of the imatinib group (1.163% ± 0.469%), liposome negative control group (1.212% ± 0.310%), and saline group (1.172% ± 0.403%). Expression of bcl-2 mRNA in the transplanted GISTs was markedly downregulated (P0.01) in the PS-ASODN group (7.245 ± 0.739) compared with the imatinib group (14.153 ± 1.618) and liposome negative control group (16.396 ± 1.351).PS-ASODN can repress GIST growth, mediated perhaps by inhibition of telomerase activity and downregulation of bcl-2 expression.

Three new benzothieno[3,2-b]thiophene (BTT; 1) derivatives, which were end-functionalized with phenyl (BTT-P; 2), benzothiophenyl (BTT-BT; 3), and benzothieno[3,2-b]thiophenyl groups (BBTT; 4; dimer of 1), were synthesized and characterized in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). A new and improved synthetic method for BTTs was developed, which enabled the efficient realization of new BTT-based semiconductors. The crystal structure of BBTT was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Within this family, BBTT, which had the largest conjugation of the BTT derivatives in this study, exhibited the highest p-channel characteristic, with a carrier mobility as high as 0.22 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and a current on/off ratio of 1×10(7) , as well as good ambient stability for bottom-contact/bottom-gate OTFT devices. The device characteristics were correlated with the film morphologies and microstructures of the corresponding compounds.

A series of benzo[d,d]thieno[3,2-b;4,5-b]dithiophene (BTDT) derivatives, end-functionalized with phenyl (PBTDT), benzothiophenyl (BT-BTDT) were synthesized and characterized. A facile, one-pot synthesis of BTDT was developed which enables the efficient realization of a new BTDT-based semiconductor series for organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). The crystal structure of P-BTDT was determined via single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Various combinations of surface treatment methods, substrate temperature, and deposition flux rate sequences have significant effects on device performance. Films deposited on octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS)- treated SiO 2 substrates under properly adjusted substrate temperature and deposition flux rate achieve an efficaceous compromise between high film crystallinity and good film grain interconnectivity, resulting in good OTFT performance, with mobility greater than 0.70 cm 2 V -1 s -1 and I on /I off greater than 10 8 .

Through incorporating with the technique of rapid polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) lift-off, this study reports on a new laser transfer method that is applicable to printing metallic thin film on a flexible substrate. Aluminum line patterns, with line widths of 40 and 100 µm and deposited on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate, are presented. The patterned film is demonstrated to be a good conductor, with resistivity of 2.95×10−6 Ω-cm, and with very good adhesion strength through the scotch-tape test.

Cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) is among most important members of the cytochrome P450 enzyme superfamily, which metabolizes many important exogenous and endogenous compounds in many species of microorganisms, plants and animals. CYP2C9 is related to the oxidative of 16% of all therapeutics in clinical use and has adverse drug effects, for example, enzyme induction and inhibition. In order to understand the metabolic mechanism of various drugs, two crystal structures of CYP2C9 have been studied, and their structure-activity relationships with the drugs of Fluoxetine, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Suprofen, and Mefenamic acid investigated. By series of docking studies and MD simulations, the binding pockets of CYP2C9 for the five drugs are explicitly defined that will be very useful for conducting mutagenesis studies, providing insights into the metabolic mechanism, which may of relevance to the personalized drug.

Mono-chrome phosphorescence Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) operated by organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) with a 32×32 array are fabricated with a novel method, and the results reveal a fabulous demonstration. The later isolation, which segregated source/drain electrodes and an OLED cathode, was designed in our OTFT-OLED pixel. In the OTFT-OLED process; we used the polymer isolating layer which was deposited by spin coating and patterned by traditional photo-lithography before the organic semiconductor and OLED deposition. However, the residue polymer affect of OTFT electric properties which have poor mobility (5×10-4 cm2/V-s), a lower on/off ratio (~103), and a positive threshold voltage (4.5 V), and devices, have poor uniformity. Using UV-Ozone treatment could enhance OTFT mobility (2×10-2 cm2/V-s) and permit higher devices uniformity, but the threshold voltage would still have a positive 5.1 V. This threshold voltage was not a good operation mode for display application because this operation voltage was not fit for our driving systems. In order to overcome this problem, a new structure of OTFT-OLED pixel was designed and combined with a new-material isolating layer process. This new process could fabricate an OTFT-OLED array successfully and have a nice uniformity. After the isolating layer process, OTFT devices have a higher mobility (0.1×10-2 cm2/V-s), a higher on-off ratio (~107) a lower threshold voltage (-9.7 V), and a higher devices uniformity.

This letter investigates the effect of repeated bending of flexible p-channel low-temperature polycrystalline–silicon thin-film transistors employing an ultra-low-temperature process (

A set of signal processing methods comprising fast Fourier transform interpolation, maximum entropy deconvolution and wavelet transformation has been successfully integrated to improve the equality of the extracted C K-edge spectra from electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) series. Fast Fourier transform interpolation is used to improve the dispersion arising from discrete sampling of ESI series in the energy space. The maximum entropy method is used to dispel the convolution effect resulting from that ESI series acquired with a finite energy window. Wavelet transformation is applied to de-noise the extracted ESI spectrum. The post-processed ESI spectrum has quality as good as that of a probe-acquired spectrum and makes semi-quantitative analysis of the two-dimensional sp2/sp3 ratio map in diamond-like carbon thin film possible. In general, this method is applicable for reconstructing good quality core-loss electron energy-loss spectra from a nanometre-sized area, so that it may be possible to quantitatively analyse two-dimensional information about electronic structure in materials with near nanometre resolution.

An abnormal sub-threshold leakage current is observed at high temperature in amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs). This phenomenon occurs due to a reduced number of defects in the device's a-IGZO active layer after the device has undergone N2O plasma treatment. Experimental verification shows that the N2O plasma treatment enhances the thin film bonding strength, thereby suppressing the formation of temperature-dependent holes, which are generated above 400 K by oxygen atoms leaving their original sites. The N2O plasma treatment devices have better stability performance than as-fabricated devices. The results suggest that the density of defects for a-IGZO TFTs with N2O plasma treatment is much lower than that in as-fabricated devices. The N2O plasma treatment repairs the defects and suppresses temperature-dependent sub-threshold leakage current.

This letter investigates the degradation behavior under hot-carrier stress in InGaZnO thin film transistors with I- and U-shaped asymmetric electrodes. After hot-carrier stress, a serious Vt shift, as well as on-current and subthreshold swing degradations are observed in Id-Vg transfer curve under reverse mode. Moreover, it is found that the Vt instability is caused by hot-electron injection near the drain side, and this phenomenon which is verified by C-V measurement. Furthermore, the location of trapped hot-electron is estimated from the two-stage rise in the gate-to-drain/gate-to-source capacitance curves and then verified by the simulation tool.

This letter investigates the effect of temperature on hot-carrier stress-induced degradation behavior in InGaZnO thin film transistors. After hot-carrier stress at 25 °C, serious on-current and subthreshold swing degradations are observed due to trap state generation near the drain side. For identical stress performed at elevated temperatures, current degradation in the I-V transfer curve under reverse mode is gradually suppressed and the anomalous hump in the gate-to-drain capacitance-voltage curve becomes more severe. These suppressed degradations and the more severe hump can be both attributed to hole-trapping near the drain side due to high drain bias at high temperature.

In-cell touch sensor that can be integrated with display pixel circuit using dual gate InGaZnO thin-film transistor is proposed. Under bottom gate operation, device characteristics are not sensitive to light illumination. On the contrary, light can lead to evident subthreshold leakage when operated with top gate. This behavior allows touch sensor to be realized by sensing the ambient light using top gate operation, without affecting normal bottom gate operated devices in display pixel. Further, the proposed operation method of touch sensor needs no additional fabrication and cost, and even black matrix is not required either.

The reduction of photo-leakage current of amorphous silicon thin-film transistors (a-Si TFTs) is investigated and is found to be successfully suppressed by the use of an n-doped nanocrystalline silicon layer (n+ nc-Si) as an ohmic contact layer. The shallow-level defects of n+ nc-Si can become trapping centres of photo-induced electrons as the a-Si TFT is operated under light illumination. A lower oxygen concentration during n+ nc-Si deposition can increase the creation of shallow-level defects and improve the contrast ratio of active matrix organic light-emitting diode panels.

A 4.1-inch flexible QVGA AMOLED display with microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) TFTs backplane on colorless polyamide (PI) substrate is demonstrated. The PI substrate has the features of high Tg (∼350°C) and high light transmittance (∼90%). The bottom-gate μc-Si:H TFTs backplane is fabricated at 200°C by a conventional (13.56 MHz) plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. The flexible μc-Si:H TFTs backplane shows better electrical stability, flexibility, and uniformity.

A 3.1-inch flexible active matrix OTFT-OLED display had been demonstrated on the plastic substrate with process temperature below 200°C. To realize the flexible AMOLED, we replace ITO by Ag and develop surface control method to achieve high uniformity OTFT array and the lifetime of half Id is over 5000hrs.

AIM: To explore the correlation between the expressions of gastrin (GAS), somatostatin (SS) and cyclin, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) in colorectal cancer, and to detect the specific regulatory sites where gastrointestinal hormone regulates cell proliferation. METHODS: Seventy-nine resected large intestine carcinomatous specimens were randomly selected. Immunohistochemical staining for GAS, SS, cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin A, cyclin B1, CDK2 and CDK4 was performed according to the standard streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase (S-P) method. According to the semi-quantitative integral evaluation, SS and GAS were divided into high, middle and low groups. Cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin A, cyclin B1, CDK2, CDK4 expressions in the three GAS and SS groups were assessed. RESULTS: The positive expression rate of cyclin D1 was significantly higher in high (78.6%, 11/14) and middle GAS groups (73.9%, 17/23) than in low GAS group (45.2%, 19/42) (P