Search

Low-voltage, high-performance thin film transistors (TFTs) that use amorphous metal oxide (MO) semiconductors as the active layer have been getting tremendous attention due to their essential role in future portable electronic devices and systems. However, reducing the operating voltage of these devices to or below 1 V is a very challenging task because it is very difficult to obtain low threshold voltage (VTH) and small subthreshold swing (SS) MO TFTs. In this article, indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) TFTs that use solution-deposited Ta2O5 operating at 1 V are demonstrated. To enhance the dielectric properties of the fabricated ultrathin (d ~ 22 nm ± ~ 2 nm) tantalum pentoxide films, n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) was used. The morphology and electrical properties of both pristine and OTS-treated Ta2O5 films have been studied. The optimized Ta2O5/OTS IGZO TFTs operate at 1 V with saturation field-effect mobility larger than 2.3 cm2/V ⋅ s, threshold voltage of around 400 mV, SSs below 90 mV/dec, and current ON- OFF ratios well above 105. The performance of the presented TFTs is high enough for many commercial applications such as disposable sensors or throwaway, low-end electronics significantly reducing the cost of their production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crocin is a carotenoid compound in saffron with anti-cancer properties. However, its therapeutic application is limited by its low absorption, bioavailability, and stability, which can be overcome through nanocarrier delivery systems. This study used surface-modified Nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC) to deliver crocin to cancer cells. NCC modified with CTAB were loaded with crocin and then conjugated with folic acid (NCF-CR-NPs). The synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) were characterized using FTIR, XRD, DLS, and FESEM. The crystallinity index of NCC was 66.64%, higher than microcrystalline cellulose (61.4%). The crocin loading and encapsulation efficiency in NCF-CR-NPs were evaluated. Toxicity testing by MTT assay showed that NCF-CR-NPs had higher toxicity against various cancer cell lines, including colon cancer HT-29 cells (IC50 ~ 11.6 μg/ml), compared to free crocin. Fluorescent staining, flow cytometry, and molecular analysis confirmed that NCF-CR-NPs induced apoptosis in HT-29 cells by increasing p53 and caspase 8 expression. The antioxidant capacity of NCF-CR-NPs was also evaluated using ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging assays. NCF-CR-NPs exhibited high free radical scavenging ability, with an IC50 of ~ 46.5 μg/ml for ABTS. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the potential of NCF-CR-NPs to deliver crocin to cancer cells effectively. The NPs exhibited enhanced anti-cancer and antioxidant activities compared to free crocin, making them a promising nanocarrier system for crocin-based cancer therapy., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Light exposure is a vital regulator of physiology and behavior in humans. However, monitoring of light exposure is not included in current wearable Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and only recently have international standards defined [Formula: see text] -optic equivalent daylight illuminance (EDI) measures for how the eye responds to light. This article reports a wearable light sensor node that can be incorporated into the IoT to provide monitoring of EDI exposure in real-world settings. We present the system design, electronic performance testing, and accuracy of EDI measurements when compared to a calibrated spectral source. This includes consideration of the directional response of the sensor, and a comparison of performance when placed on different parts of the body, and a demonstration of practical use over 7 days. Our device operates for 3.5 days between charges, with a sampling period of 30 s. It has 10 channels of measurement, over the range 415-910 nm, balancing accuracy and cost considerations. Measured [Formula: see text]-opic EDI results for 13 devices show a mean absolute error of less than 0.07 log lx, and a minimum between device correlation of 0.99. These findings demonstrate that accurate light sensing is feasible, including at wrist worn locations. We provide an experimental platform for use in future investigations in real-world light exposure monitoring and IoT-based lighting control., (2327-4662 © 2024 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.)

Experimental and interventional studies show that light can regulate sleep timing and sleepiness while awake by setting the phase of circadian rhythms and supporting alertness. The extent to which differences in light exposure explain variations in sleep and sleepiness within and between individuals in everyday life remains less clear. Here, we establish a method to address this deficit, incorporating an open-source wearable wrist-worn light logger (SpectraWear) and smartphone-based online data collection. We use it to simultaneously record longitudinal light exposure (in melanopic equivalent daylight illuminance), sleep timing, and subjective alertness over seven days in a convenience sample of 59 UK adults without externally imposed circadian challenge (e.g., shift work or jetlag). Participants reliably had strong daily rhythms in light exposure but frequently were exposed to less light during the daytime and more light in pre-bedtime and sleep episodes than recommended [T. M. Brown et al. , PLoS Biol. 20 , e3001571 (2022)]. Prior light exposure over several hours was associated with lower subjective sleepiness with, in particular, brighter light in the late sleep episode and after wake linked to reduced early morning sleepiness (sleep inertia). Higher pre-bedtime light exposure was associated with longer sleep onset latency. Early sleep timing was correlated with more reproducible and robust daily patterns of light exposure and higher daytime/lower night-time light exposure. Our study establishes a method for collecting longitudinal sleep and health/performance data in everyday life and provides evidence of associations between light exposure and important determinants of sleep health and performance.

Conventional head-up displays (HUDs) suffer from a limited exit pupil and a lack of compactness mainly due to the use of bulky optics. HUDs need a high-quality image with a large field of view (FOV) in small packaging to gain commercial acceptability. Holographic HUDs are phase-only devices that allow vision correction and focus adjustment while having a wide FOV. However, the limited bandwidth of a spatial light modulator (SLM) imposes a trade-off between the FOV and eye-box size. Combining a holographic system with an image-replicating element eliminates such a tradeoff. For image replication, we designed and fabricated a compact 2D diffractive beam splitter formed from two perpendicular volume gratings operating in the Raman-Nath regime. The gratings were recorded holographically in photo-thermo-refractive (PTR) glass, with optimized index modulation, thickness, and period to provide uniform intensity distribution across all desired orders for the fundamental red, green and blue (RGB) colors. We demonstrated a full-color holographic projection with an eye-box expanded by the designed 2D diffractive beam splitters.

Food security, which is considered to be a public health-related socioeconomic factor, ensures the health of society's people and plays a significant role in improving governance. This concept is closely related to the concept of stability of food. The stability of food means that there should be adequate, quality, and nutritious food for all human beings, in all places and at all times, and no factor should prevent this important issue. Stability in food production and supply is at the heart of food security and makes food systems resilient in times of crisis. The negative impact of climate change on agricultural production, intensified inflationary trends, high food prices, increasing food waste, increasing the need for food imports, and, more significantly, ongoing international sanctions make it difficult to access affordable food and pose challenges to Iran's food security. Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis has reduced the incomes of families and government by intensifying economic pressures on government incomes as well as rising unemployment, which has directly exacerbated food insecurity. The link between indicators of food stability and food security in Iran is the subject of this article. The key indicators selected are the percent of arable land equipped for irrigation, the cereal imports dependency ratio, the value of food imports over total merchandise exports, per capita food production variability, and, per capita food supply variability. Results show Iran is vulnerable to the arable land equipped for irrigation, food imports over total merchandise exports, and the cereal imports dependency ratio while being resilient per capita food production and food supply variability., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (Copyright © 2022 Ghalibaf et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.)

Past beam-shaping techniques, developed to transform a Gaussian beam into other waveforms, rely on a wide selection of available tools ranging from physical apertures, diffractive optical elements, phase masks, free-form optics to spatial light modulators. However, these devices - whether active or passive - do not address the underlying monochromatic nature of their embedded phase profiles, while being hampered by the complex, high-cost manufacturing process and a restrictive laser-induced damage threshold. Recently, a new type of passive phase devices for beam transformation - referred to as holographic phase masks (HPMs), was developed to address these critical shortcomings. In this work, we demonstrated the first integration of HPMs into a laser cavity for the generation of arbitrary spatial modes. Our approach allowed for different phase patterns to be embedded into the outputs of a laser system, while preserving the spatial structure of its intracavity beams. The optical system further possessed a unique ability to simultaneously emit distinct spatial modes into separate beampaths, owning to the multiplexing capability of HPMs. We also confirmed the achromatic nature of these HPMs in a wavelength-tunable cavity, contrary to other known passive or active beam-shaping tools. The achromatism of HPMs, coupled to their ability to withstand up to kW level of average power, makes possible future developments in high-power broadband sources, capable of generating light beams with arbitrary phase distribution covering any desirable spectral regions from near ultraviolet to near infrared.

Background and Purpose: Tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease, a 27 KDa protein, consists of the catalytic domain of nuclear inclusion a (NIa) protein produced by Tobacco etch virus. Because of its unique sequence, TEV protease is used for purging fusion tags from proteins. It also has many advantages such as stability and activity in a board range of temperature and pH and overproduction in Escherichia coli and these benefits make this protease valuable. Despite all these benefits, TEV protease has problems like low solubility (less than 1 mg/mL). There are methods for enhancing protein solubility and in this study, the effect of additives during cell lysis was studied., Experimental Approach: Eleven different additives that made twelve different lysis buffers were used and their effect on TEV protease solubility analyzed by Plackett-Burman and response surface methodology methods., Findings / Results: Three best effective additives on TEV solubility (L-proline, sodium selenite, and CuCl2) were selected according to software analysis and the best concentration of them was applied to optimize TEV protease solubility., Conclusion and Implications: The obtained results provided the composition of an optimum solvent for obtaining soluble TEV protease., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest in this study., (Copyright: © 2020 Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences.)

Anodically oxidized, ultra-thin (d < 10 nm) aluminium films emerge as the dielectric of choice for low-cost thin film capacitors (TFCs), thin film transistors (TFTs), and bio- and chemical sensors. In this work, the dielectric properties of ultra-thin aluminium oxide films grown by anodization in aqueous solutions of citric acid (CA) have been studied. It is observed that the electrolyte strength variation from 0.1 mM to 1000 mM has virtually no influence on the chemical composition, surface morphology and the dielectric properties of the fabricated alumina films. The anodized films are very smooth having RMS area roughness around ∼5 Å. This was further improved after deposition of n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) to ∼4 Å. Also, the XRD and elemental analysis using EDS and XPS unambiguously confirms that the obtained oxide films are amorphous, stoichiometric Al 2 O 3 without any carbon contamination. The fabricated Al/Al 2 O 3 /Al MIM capacitors show almost ideal capacitor characteristics from 10 Hz to 100 kHz. It has been found that the OTS coating does not only improve the capacitor frequency response further but also reduces the leakage current through the dielectric layer by passivating reactive dangling bonds on the oxide surface. As a result of the favourable properties of the anodized Al 2 O 3 /OTS films, high-performance, low threshold voltage organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) operating below 1 V are successfully demonstrated.

Introduction: The main reason for this study is regarding the importance of correct estimation, which can consequently decreases the risk of under or over estimation., Methods: This was an observational analytic cross-sectional study. An online data collection tool "Google Form" was used to gather personal information and self-assessment score., Results: From the 121 participants, the majority of them (76) were women. Most of the participants (33.9%) were seventh-year medical students. The results of this study showed that 100% of the participants believed that they possessed the skillset to measure BP correctly with an average self-assessment score of 8.20 ± 1.05. However, the mean total score for the participants was 3.69 ± 1.59, with only two of the participants scoring as high as 7., Conclusion: The majority of participants attained low average score of correct blood pressure measurements. However, they noted high self-assessment scores before conducting the study. This disparity between reported results may show and emphasizes the importance of considering these 11 tips in the BP training courses.

Low-voltage, solution-processed organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have tremendous potential to be key components in low-cost, flexible and large-area electronics. However, for these devices to operate at low voltage, robust and high capacitance gate dielectrics are urgently needed. Herein, the fabrication of OTFTs that operate at 1 V is reported. These devices comprise a solution-processed, self-assembled monolayer (SAM) modified tantalum pentoxide (Ta 2 O 5 ) as the gate dielectric. The morphology and dielectric properties of the anodized Ta 2 O 5 films with and without n -octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) SAM treatment have been studied. The thickness of the Ta 2 O 5 film was optimized by varying the anodization voltage. The results show that organic TFTs gated with OTS-modified tantalum pentoxide anodized at 3 V (d ~7 nm) exhibit the best performance. The devices operate at 1 V with a saturation field-effect mobility larger than 0.2 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , threshold voltage -0.55 V, subthreshold swing 120 mV/dec, and current on/off ratio in excess of 5 × 10 3 . As a result, the demonstrated OTFTs display a promising performance for applications in low-voltage, portable electronics.

Millimeter wave imaging systems are a promising candidate for several applications such as indoor security, industrial non-destructive evaluation, and automotive radar systems. In this paper, we compare the performance of various array configurations that can be enabled by recent automotive radar chips, for imaging applications. High resolution real-time imaging requires an extensive number of measurements which demands a large number of emitters and receivers. Hence, cost and size become major considerations in the design process. In an attempt to reduce the number of emitter and receiver elements, we compare various antenna array architectures to optimize the hardware implementation for high resolution imaging. We consider mono-static single-input-single-output (SISO), multi-static multiple-input-multiple-output (Full-MIMO), and hybrid localized MIMO-SISO (Local-MIMO) architectures. The computationally reconstructed image quality and point spread function from each architecture are compared and traded for the system engineering complexity and cost. We present measurement results from a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system based on an automotive radar sensor to ensure it is representative of the system's physics. The comparative results of the SISO, Full-MIMO and Local-MIMO simulations provide for affordable alternatives to the high cost SISO approach.

In this research, we present results of simulated annealing (SA), a heuristic optimization algorithm, for focusing light through a turbid medium. Performance of the algorithm on phase and amplitude modulations has been evaluated. A number of tips to tune the optimization parameters are provided. The effect of measurement noise on the performance of the SA algorithm is explored. Additionally, SA performance is compared with continuous sequential and briefly with other optimization algorithms.

The growing use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a plethora of applications has provided to us a motivation to investigate CNT synthesis by new methods. In this study, ultrasonic-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method was employed to synthesize CNTs. The difficulty of controlling the size of clusters and achieving uniform distribution&mdash;the major problem in previous methods&mdash;was solved by using ultrasonic bath and dissolving ferrocene in xylene outside the reactor. The operating conditions were optimized using a rotatable central composite design (CCD), which helped optimize the operating conditions of the method. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to analyze these experiments. Using statistical software was very effective, considering that it decreased the number of experiments needed to achieve the optimum conditions. Synthesis of CNTs was studied as a function of three independent parameters viz. hydrogen flow rate (120⁻280 cm³/min), catalyst concentration (2⁻6 wt %), and synthesis temperature (800⁻1200 &deg;C). Optimum conditions for the synthesis of CNTs were found to be 3.78 wt %, 184 cm³/min, and 976 &deg;C for catalyst concentration, hydrogen flow rate, and synthesis temperature, respectively. Under these conditions, Raman spectrum indicates high values of ( I G / I D ), which means high-quality CNTs.

The two-point complex coherence function constitutes a complete representation for scalar quasi-monochromatic optical fields. Exploiting dynamically reconfigurable slits implemented with a digital micromirror device, we report on measurements of the complex two-point coherence function for partially coherent light scattering from a "scene" composing one or two objects at different transverse and axial positions with respect to the source. Although the intensity shows no discernible shadows in the absence of a lens, numerically back-propagating the measured complex coherence function allows estimating the objects' sizes and locations and, thus, the reconstruction of the scene subject to the effects of occlusion and shadowing.

With the growing application of photoacoustic imaging (PAI) in medical fields, there is a need to make them more compact, portable, and affordable. Therefore, we designed very low-cost PAI systems by replacing the expensive and sophisticated laser with a very low-energy laser diode. We implemented photoacoustic (PA) microscopy, both reflection and transmission modes, as well as PA computed tomography systems. The images obtained from tissue-mimicking phantoms and biological samples determine the feasibility of using a very low-energy laser diode in these configurations.

In the absence of a lens to form an image, incoherent or partially coherent light scattering off an obstructive or reflective object forms a broad intensity distribution in the far field with only feeble spatial features. We show here that measuring the complex spatial coherence function can help in the identification of the size and location of a one-dimensional object placed in the path of a partially coherent light source. The complex coherence function is measured in the far field through wavefront sampling, which is performed via dynamically reconfigurable slits implemented on a digital micromirror device (DMD). The impact of an object - parameterized by size and location - that either intercepts or reflects incoherent light is studied. The experimental results show that measuring the spatial coherence function as a function of the separation between two slits located symmetrically around the optical axis can identify the object transverse location and angle subtended from the detection plane (the ratio of the object width to the axial distance from the detector). The measurements are in good agreement with numerical simulations of a forward model based on Fresnel propagators. The rapid refresh rate of DMDs may enable real-time operation of such a lensless coherency imaging scheme.

We have investigated the influence of perovskite morphology on slow and fast charge transport in the perovskite solar cells. Solar cells with different perovskite cuboid sizes (50-300 nm) have been fabricated using various methylammonium iodide concentrations. Both the low-frequency capacitance and hysteresis are maximum for the cell with the largest perovskite grains (300 nm). The low-frequency capacitance is about three orders of magnitude greater than the intermediate frequency capacitance, indicating the great role of ions on the slow responses and hysteresis. The measurement of open-circuit voltage decay indicates that for the large grains of 300 nm up to 70% of V oc remains across the cell, even after passing ∼40 s. Such a long time V oc decay demonstrates the large accumulation of the ions at the perovskite interfaces with electron and hole transport layers, which conduct slow redistribution of the charges after the light is turned off.

A simple and practical approach is introduced for the deposition of CuI as an inexpensive inorganic hole-transport material (HTM) for the fabrication of low cost perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by gas-solid phase transformation of Cu to CuI. The method provides a uniform and well-controlled CuI layer with large grains and good compactness that prevents the direct connection between the contact electrodes. Solar cells prepared with CuI as the HTM with Au electrodes displays an exceptionally high short-circuit current density of 32 mA cm(-2) , owing to an interfacial species formed between the perovskite and the Cu resulting in a long wavelength contribution to the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE), and an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.4 %. The growth of crystalline and uniform CuI on a low roughness perovskite layer leads to remarkably high charge extraction in the cells, which originates from the high hole mobility of CuI in addition to a large number of contact points between CuI and the perovskite layer. In addition, the solvent-free method has no damaging side effect on the perovskite layer, which makes it an appropriate method for large scale applications of CuI in perovskite solar cells., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Introduction: Alcea rosea L. is used in Asian folk medicine as a remedy for a wide range of ailments. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Alcea rosea roots on ethylene glycol-induced kidney calculi in rats., Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, ethylene glycol (EG), curative and preventive groups. Control group received tap drinking water for 28 days. Ethylene glycol (EG), curative and preventive groups received 1% ethylene glycol for induction of calcium oxalate (CaOx) calculus formation; preventive and curative subjects also received the hydroalcoholic extract of Alcea rosea roots in drinking water at dose of 170 mg/kg, since day 0 or day 14, respectively. Urinary oxalate concentration was measured by spectrophotometer on days 0, 14 and 28. On day 28, the kidneys were removed and examined histopathologically under light microscopy for counting the calcium oxalate deposits in 50 microscopic fields., Results: In both preventive and curative protocols, treatment of rats with hydroalcoholic extract of Alcea rosea roots significantly reduced the number of kidney calcium oxalate deposits compared to ethylene glycol group. Administration of Alcea rosea extract also reduced the elevated urinary oxalate due to ethylene glycol., Conclusion: Alcea rosea showed a beneficial effect in preventing and eliminating calcium oxalate deposition in the rat kidney. This effect is possibly due to diuretic and anti-inflammatory effects or presence of mucilaginous polysaccharides in the plant. It may also be related to lowering of urinary concentration of stone-forming constituents.

Background: Systematic treatments such as hormone and chemotherapy are selected according to tumor characteristic after major therapeutic approaches such as surgery. This study attempted to analyze and compare the status of Estrogen Receptor (ER) and Progesterone Receptor (PR) in primary and recurrent sites of breast cancer in patients., Methods: We reviewed all medical records of breast cancer women who were treated between January 1995 and December 2008. One hundred eighty two out of 2241 patients (8.12%) had a metastatic breast cancer. Amongst them 48 patients had tumor and biopsy-driven samples, however 13 samples were destroyed and only 35 samples were investigated in this study, therefore 35 malignant biopsy specimens of breast cancer patients were examined by immunohistochemistry essay for ER and PR. Binominal proportional test and Chi square test were conducted to determine the significant correlation between positive cases of hormone receptors among primary and metastases sites., Results: Hormone Receptor in the primary tumor (HR1) of 9 patients (25.7%) was positive (ER1 and/or PR1) and in the recurrent areas (HR2) of 8 patients (22.9%) was positive (either ER2 or PR2 positive). Kappa coefficients of diagnostic agreement in primary and recurrent cases were 0.077 and 0.125 for estrogen and progesterone, respectively which indicated that the amount of coefficient of agreement is not considerable between primary and recurrent sites., Conclusion: The current study indicated that receptor status in recurrent tumors did not pose predictable value based on the analysis of hormone receptors in primary stage, so it is not an appropriate basis to set up therapeutic protocol in the metastatic patients. Therefore, tissue sampling and hormone receptor re-analyzing of metastatic sites should be considered in these cases.

Purpose: To assess the beneficial effect of different fractions of Cynodon dactylon (C. dactylon) on ethylene glycol-induced kidney calculi in rats., Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, ethylene glycol, curative, and preventive groups. The control group received tap drinking water for 35 days. Ethylene glycol, curative, and preventive groups received 1% ethylene glycol for induction of calcium oxalate (CaOx) calculus formation. Preventive and curative subjects also received different fractions of C. dactylon extract in drinking water at 12.8 mg/kg, since day 0 and day 14, respectively. After 35 days, the kidneys were removed and examined for histopathological findings and counting the CaOx deposits in 50 microscopic fields., Results: In curative protocol, treatment of rats with C. dactylon N-butanol fraction and N-butanol phase remnant significantly reduced the number of the kidney CaOx deposits compared to ethylene glycol group. In preventive protocol, treatment of rats with C. dactylon ethyl acetate fraction significantly decreased the number of CaOx deposits compared to ethylene glycol group., Conclusion: Fractions of C. dactylon showed a beneficial effect on preventing and eliminating CaOx deposition in the rat kidney. These results provide a scientific rational for preventive and treatment roles of C. dactylon in human kidney stone disease.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of thymoquinone, a major component of Nigella Sativa seeds on ethylene glycol-induced kidney calculi in rats., Materials and Methods: Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (intact control, ethylene glycol control, and 4 experimental groups) and treated for 28 days according to the protocol of the study. The rats in experimental groups received ethylene glycol and intraperitoneal injection of thymoquinone either from the first day of the study or the 15th day, with either doses of 5 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg. Blood and 24-hour urine samples were collected at baseline and on day 28. Urine oxalate and citrate and serum electrolytes were also measured. On day 29, all rats were decapitated and their kidney specimens were studied., Results: On day 28, urine oxalate concentration significantly decreased in the experimental groups compared to the ethylene glycol group (P < .001). Also, serum calcium levels were significantly higher in the experimental groups (P = .001). Calcium oxalate deposits were smaller in the experimental groups than the ethylene glycol group. The mean number of deposits was lower in these groups, too (P < .001). Treatment with the lower dose of thymoquinone was associated with fewer deposits., Conclusion: Thymoquinone significantly decreased the number and size of calcium oxalate deposits in the renal tubules. The dose and duration of treatment, however, does not have a linear relation with the outcomes. Further studies on thymoquinone as a preventive and therapeutic drug for kidney calculi are suggested.

Introduction: We evaluated the ratio of free to total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and PSA to protein concentrations in saliva and serum of healthy men., Materials and Methods: Concentrations of protein, free PSA, and total PSA in serum and saliva were measured in 30 healthy men aged 42 to 73 years, and their ratios were compared between the two fluids., Results: There was a significant direct correlation between serum free-total PSA ratios of serum and saliva (P = .04) and between total PSA-protein ratios of serum and saliva (P = .02). Also, there were significant correlations between total and free PSA levels in saliva (P = .05) and between those in serum (P < .001). Significant inverse and direct correlations were detected between the body mass index and serum values of total PSA-protein (P = .04) and free-total PSA (P = .01), respectively., Conclusion: We can use saliva sample instead of serum sample for estimation of free-total PSA and total PSA-protein levels in men without prostate diseases. There is, however, a pressing need for much additional research in this area before the true clinical value of saliva as a diagnostic fluid can be determined.

We evaluated the concordance rate and diagnostic accuracy of digital cytology slides reviewed by experienced pathologists at the University of Miami and the Ohio State University in comparison with review of conventional glass slides by the pathologist at the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. In addition, we evaluated interobserver reproducibility in telecytology diagnosis in pleural effusion smears between Ohio State and Miami University. For this, we selected 50 pleural effusion smears with different diagnoses. For each case, digital images were sent via the Internet to the consulting pathologists at the two US universities. The accuracy of the telecytology diagnoses was 83% and 87% at the two US universities and the accuracy of glass slide review was 89%. The inter-observer reproducibility of telecytology diagnosis between these two universities was 0.71. The concordance rate, inter-observer reproducibility and diagnostic accuracy of telecytology diagnosis in pleural effusion smears between the three institutions were good. Telecytology diagnosis of pleural effusion smears is potentially useful in screening and diagnosis and may allow more efficient use of scarce cytopathologist resources and expertise.