Efficiency Enhancement of Organic Solar Cells Using Hydrophobic Antireflective Inverted Moth‐Eye Nanopatterned PDMS Films

Poly‐dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films with 2D periodic inverted moth‐eye nanopatterns on one surface are implemented as antireflection (AR) layers on a glass substrate for efficient light capture in encapsulated organic solar cells (OSCs). The inverted moth‐eye nanopatterned PDMS (IMN PDMS) films are fabricated by a soft imprint lithographic method using conical subwavelength grating patterns formed by laser interference lithography/dry etching. Their optical characteristics, together with theoretical analysis using rigorous coupled‐wave analysis simulation, and wetting behaviors are investigated. For a period of 380 nm, IMN PDMS films laminated on glass substrates exhibit a hydrophobic surface with a water contact angle (θ_CA) of ≈120° and solar weighted transmittance (SWT) of ≈94.2%, both significantly higher than those (θ_CA≈ 36° and SWT ≈ 90.3%) of bare glass substrates. By employing IMN PDMS films with a period of 380 nm on glass substrates for OSCs, an enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.19% is obtained mainly due to the increased short‐circuit current density (J_sc) of 19.74 mA cm^‐2 compared to the OSCs with the bare glass substrates (PCE = 5.16% and J_sc = 17.25 mA cm^‐2). For the OSCs, the device stability is also studied.     

Tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells alleviate concanavalin A-induced acute liver injury

Acute liver failure, the fatal deterioration of liver function, is the most common indication for emergency liver transplantation, and drug-induced liver injury and viral hepatitis are frequent in young adults. Stem cell therapy has come into the limelight as a potential therapeutic approach for various diseases, including liver failure and cirrhosis. In this study, we investigated therapeutic effects of tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (T-MSCs) in concanavalin A (ConA)- and acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury. ConA-induced hepatitis resembles viral and immune-mediated hepatic injury, and acetaminophen overdose is the most frequent cause of acute liver failure in the United States and Europe. Intravenous administration of T-MSCs significantly reduced ConA-induced hepatic toxicity, but not acetaminophen-induced liver injury, affirming the immunoregulatory capacity of T-MSCs. T-MSCs were successfully recruited to damaged liver and suppressed inflammatory cytokine secretion. T-MSCs expressed high levels of galectin-1 and -3, and galectin-1 knockdown which partially diminished interleukin-2 and tumor necrosis factor α secretion from cultured T-cells. Galectin-1 knockdown in T-MSCs also reversed the protective effect of T-MSCs on ConA-induced hepatitis. These results suggest that galectin-1 plays an important role in immunoregulation of T-MSCs, which contributes to their protective effect in immune-mediated hepatitis. Further, suppression of T-cell activation by frozen and thawed T-MSCs implies great potential of T-MSC banking for clinical utilization in immune-mediated disease.     

Melting curve analysis of SNPs (McSNP): a gel-free and inexpensive approach for SNP genotyping

High-throughput methods for assaying DNA variation require two important steps: (i) discriminating the variation and (ii) detecting the signal. In this report, we describe a novel SNP genotyping method that we refer to as melting curve analysis of SNPs (McSNP). McSNP combines a classic approach for discriminating alleles, restriction enzyme digestion, with a more recent method for detecting DNA fragments, melting curve analysis. Melting curve analysis is performed by slowly heating DNA fragments in the presence of the dsDNA-specific fluorescent dye SYBR Green I. As the sample is heated, fluorescence rapidly decreases when the melting temperature of a particular fragment is reached. We show that it is possible to determine the composition of simple mixtures of DNA fragments, such as those that result from restriction enzyme digestions of short PCR products. McSNP is well suited for high-throughput genotyping because 96 samples can be analyzed and automatically scored in 20 min. Our results clearly demonstrate that McSNP is a simple, inexpensive, and accurate means of genotyping SNP variation.     

Significant role for Fas in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes

Programmed cell death represents an important pathogenic mechanism in various autoimmune diseases. Type I diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is a T cell-dependent autoimmune disease resulting in selective destruction of the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans. beta cell apoptosis has been associated with IDDM onset in both animal models and newly diagnosed diabetic patients. Several apoptotic pathways have been implicated in beta cell destruction, including Fas, perforin, and TNF-alpha. Evidence for Fas-mediated lysis of beta cells in the pathogenesis of IDDM in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice includes: 1) Fas-deficient NOD mice bearing the lpr mutation (NOD-lpr/lpr) fail to develop IDDM; 2) transgenic expression of Fas ligand (FasL) on beta cells in NOD mice may result in accelerated IDDM; and 3) irradiated NOD-lpr/lpr mice are resistant to adoptive transfer of diabetes by cells from NOD mice. However, the interpretation of these results is complicated by the abnormal immune phenotype of NOD-lpr/lpr mice. Here we present novel evidence for the role of Fas/FasL interactions in the progression of NOD diabetes using two newly derived mouse strains. We show that NOD mice heterozygous for the FasL mutation gld, which have reduced functional FasL expression on T cells but no lymphadenopathy, fail to develop IDDM. Further, we show that NOD-lpr/lpr mice bearing the scid mutation (NOD-lpr/lpr-scid/scid), which eliminates the enhanced FasL-mediated lytic activity induced by Fas deficiency, still have delayed onset and reduced incidence of IDDM after adoptive transfer of diabetogenic NOD spleen cells. These results provide evidence that Fas/FasL-mediated programmed cell death plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes.     

大豆倒伏性相关QTL的整合及Overview分析

倒伏性是影响大豆产量的重要因素,发掘与大豆倒伏相关的基因对于培育抗倒伏优良高产大豆品种具有重要意义。目前利用不同群体所构建的遗传图谱已经定位了大量与大豆倒伏性相关的QTLs。本研究在对已报道的QTLs进行物理整合的基础上,选择元分析方法将这些倒伏性相关的QTLs进一步整合,鉴定出位于C2(6号染色体)、F(13号染色体)、L(19号染色体)这3个连锁群上重复次数较多的QTL区间6个。选用基于统计学原理的Overview方法进行优化,获得了这些QTL在各个连锁群上的有效遗传位置,这些QTL的置信区间长度最小可缩至0.2 cM。通过在这些区间内进一步筛选,获得一个稳定性较好的标记Satt277。本研究可为大豆抗倒伏基因发掘及分子标记辅助选择育种提供理论依据。     

棉铃虫单粒包埋型核型多角体病毒(HaSNPV)复制的研究——Ⅰ.细胞病理学和病毒复制的一些特性

本文报道了棉铃虫单粒包埋型核型多角体病毒(Heliothis armigera single nucleocapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus, HaSNPV)在棉铃虫及棉铃虫蛹卵巢细胞系SFE-HA-8212中的复制。HaSNPV的复制和其他的核型多角体病毒大体相符,复制过程也可分为形成出芽型病毒与形成包埋型病毒这两个时相。研究了影响病毒在细胞中复制的诸因素,包括病毒感染复数、细胞接种密度和细胞生长阶段等。在适宜的条件下平均每细胞可生产出芽型病毒14PFU,多角体24个。生成的病毒具有感染力。这些表明SFE-HA-8212细胞可供HaSNPV有效复制。同时,作为细胞群体该细胞系对HaSNPV感染的反应并非均一,其中有89.65±21.4％的感染细胞释放病毒,但仅有37.85±6.7％的细胞形成多角体。表明HaSNPV的感染并不一定导致形成多角体,在大部分感染细胞中病毒复制进行到产生病毒粒子就停止了。初步讨论了这种不均一性的原因。     

Probing domain swapping for the neuronal SNARE complex with electron paramagnetic resonance

Highly conserved soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins control membrane fusion at synapses. The target plasma membrane-associated SNARE proteins and the vesicle-associated SNARE protein assemble into a parallel four-helix bundle. Using a novel EPR approach, it is found that the SNARE four-helix bundles are interconnected via domain swapping that is achieved by substituting one of the two SNAP-25 helices with the identical helix from the second four-helical bundle. Domain swapping is likely to play a role in the multimerization of the SNARE complex that is required for successful membrane fusion. The new EPR application employed here should be useful to study other polymerizing proteins.