Influence of Radiation on the Properties and the Stability of Hybrid Perovskites

Organic–inorganic perovskites are well suited for optoelectronic applications. In particular, perovskite single and perovskite tandem solar cells with silicon are close to their market entry. Despite their swift rise in efficiency to more than 21%, solar cell lifetimes are way below the needed 25 years. In fact, comparison of the time when the device performance has degraded to 80% of its initial value (T₈₀ lifetime) of numerous solar cells throughout the literature reveals a strongly reduced stability under illumination. Herein, the various detrimental effects are discussed. Most notably, moisture‐ and heat‐related degradation can be mitigated easily by now. Recently, however, several photoinduced degradation mechanisms have been observed. Under illumination, mixed perovskites tend to phase segregate, while, further, oxygen catalyzes deprotonation of the organic cations. Additionally, during illumination photogenerated charge can be trapped in the N? H antibonding orbitals causing dissociation of the organic cation. On the other hand, organic–inorganic perovskites exhibit a high radiation hardness that is superior to crystalline silicon. Here, the proposed degradation mechanisms reported in the literature are thoroughly reviewed and the microscopic mechanisms and their implications for solar cells are discussed.     

N‐Stearoylethanolamine Restores Pancreas Lipid Composition in Obesity‐Induced Insulin Resistant Rats

This study investigates the protective effect of N‐stearoylethanolamine (NSE), a bioactive N‐acylethanolamine , on the lipid profile distribution in the pancreas of obesity‐induced insulin resistant (IR) rats fed with prolonged high fat diet (58 % of fat for 6 months). The phospholipid composition was determined using 2D thin‐layer chromatography. The level of individual phospholipids was estimated by measuring inorganic phosphorus content. The fatty acid (FA) composition and cholesterol level were investigated by gas–liquid chromatography. Compared to controls, plasma levels of triglycerides and insulin were significantly increased in IR rats. The pancreas lipid composition indicated a significant reduction of the free cholesterol level and some phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho), phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn), phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns), phosphatidylserine (PtdSer) compared to controls. Moreover, the FA composition of pancreas showed a significant redistribution of the main FA (18:1n‐9, 18:2n‐6, 18:3n‐6 and 20:4n‐6) levels between phospholipid, free FA, triglyceride fractions under IR conditions that was accompanied by a change in the estimated activities of Δ9‐, Δ6‐, Δ5‐desaturase. Administration of N‐stearoylethanolamine (NSE, 50 mg/kg daily per os for 2 weeks) IR rats triggered an increase in the content of free cholesterol, PtdCho and normalization of PtdEtn, PtdSer level. Furthermore, the NSE modulated the activity of desaturases, thus influenced FA composition and restored the FA ratios in the lipid fractions. These NSE‐induced changes were associated with a normalization of plasma triglyceride content, considerable decrease of insulin and index HOMA‐IR level in rats under IR conditions.     

An automated imaging system for radiation biodosimetry

We describe here an automated imaging system developed at the Center for High Throughput Minimally Invasive Radiation Biodosimetry. The imaging system is built around a fast, sensitive sCMOS camera and rapid switchable LED light source. It features complete automation of all the steps of the imaging process and contains built‐in feedback loops to ensure proper operation. The imaging system is intended as a back end to the RABiT—a robotic platform for radiation biodosimetry. It is intended to automate image acquisition and analysis for four biodosimetry assays for which we have developed automated protocols: The Cytokinesis Blocked Micronucleus assay, the γ‐H2AX assay, the Dicentric assay (using PNA or FISH probes) and the RABiT‐BAND assay. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:587–598, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

ParCorr: efficient parallel methods to identify similar time series pairs across sliding windows

Consider the problem of finding the highly correlated pairs of time series over a time window and then sliding that window to find the highly correlated pairs over successive co-temporous windows such that each successive window starts only a little time after the previous window. Doing this efficiently and in parallel could help in applications such as sensor fusion, financial trading, or communications network monitoring, to name a few. We have developed a parallel incremental random vector/sketching approach to this problem and compared it with the state-of-the-art nearest neighbor method iSAX. Whereas iSAX achieves 100% recall and precision for Euclidean distance, the sketching approach is, empirically, at least 10 times faster and achieves 95% recall and 100% precision on real and simulated data. For many applications this speedup is worth the minor reduction in recall. Our method scales up to 100 million time series and scales linearly in its expensive steps (but quadratic in the less expensive ones).     

Metformin Attenuates Postinfarction Myocardial Fibrosis and Inflammation in Mice

Diabetes is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease with a higher incidence of myocardial infarction. This study explores the role of metformin, a first-line antihyperglycemic agent, in postinfarction fibrotic and inflammatory remodeling in mice. Three-month-old C57BI/6J mice were submitted to 30 min cardiac ischemia followed by reperfusion for 14 days. Intraperitoneal treatment with metformin (5 mg/kg) was initiated 15 min after the onset of reperfusion and maintained for 14 days. Real-time PCR was used to determine the levels of COL3A1, αSMA, CD68, TNF-α and IL-6. Increased collagen deposition and infiltration of macrophages in heart tissues are associated with upregulation of the inflammation-associated genes in mice after 14 days of reperfusion. Metformin treatment markedly reduced postinfarction fibrotic remodeling and CD68-positive cell population in mice. Moreover, metformin resulted in reduced expression of COL3A1, αSMA and CD68 after 14 days of reperfusion. Taken together, these results open new perspectives for the use of metformin as a drug that counteracts adverse myocardial fibroticand inflammatory remodeling after MI.     

Arc-Sprayed Iron-Based Coatings for Erosion-Corrosion Protection of Boiler Tubes at Elevated Temperatures

Wire arc spraying is an economically attractive thermal spray process that is especially interesting for the protection of large-scale parts or constructions. This study presents the results of the development and investigation of a number of cored wires based on the Fe-Cr-Al system with minor addition of alloying elements (B, Mn, Ni, Si, Ti, Mg, etc.). The microstructure of the coatings, their electrochemical behavior, and isothermal oxidation performance over a temperature range of 20-700 °C were investigated. Erosion resistance at elevated temperatures was determined with a laboratory test unit under test conditions that have simulated the work conditions in fossil-fuel-fired boilers. It was established that the oxidation resistance and the gas-abrasive wear resistance of arc-sprayed coatings depend mostly on the coating microstructure and homogeneity of element distribution rather than on the general alloying level and microhardness of the coating. A new parameter for coating characterization, namely, the coefficient of chemical microheterogeneity, K _CMH, is introduced to quantify this influence. Formation of the coating microstructure at elevated temperatures and its influence on the protection ability of the coating are discussed.     

Ultrathin Polymeric Coatings Based on Hydrogen‐Bonded Polyphenol for Protection of Pancreatic Islet Cells

Though transplantation of pancreatic islet cells has emerged as a promising treatment for Type 1 diabetes its clinical application remains limited due to a number of limitations including both pathogenic innate and adaptive immune responses. This paper reports on a novel type of multifunctional cytoprotective material applied to coat living pancreatic islets. The coating utilizes hydrogen‐bonded interactions of a natural polyphenol (tannic acid) with poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone) deposited on the islet surface via non‐ionic layer‐by‐layer assembly. It is demonstrated that the coating is conformal over the surface of mammalian islets including those derived from rat, non‐human primate (NHP), and human. In contrast to unmodified controls, the coated islets maintain their viability and β‐cell functionality for at least 96 hours in vitro. It is also determined that the coating demonstrates immunomodulatory cytoprotective properties suppressing pro‐inflammatory cytokine synthesis in stimulated bone marrow‐derived macrophages and diabetogenic BDC‐2.5 T cells. The coating material combines high chemical stability under physiologically relevant conditions with capability of suppressing cytokine synthesis, crucial parameters for prolonged islet integrity, viability, and function in vivo. This study offers new opportunities in the area of advanced multifunctional materials to be used for a cell‐based transplantation therapy