Diindenoperylene derivatives: A model to investigate the path from molecular structure via morphology to solar cell performance

Efficient organic electronic devices require a detailed understanding of the relation between molecular structure, thin film growth, and device performance, which is only partially understood at present. Here, we show that small changes in molecular structure of a donor absorber material lead to significant changes in the intermolecular arrangement within organic solar cells. For this purpose, phenyl rings and propyl side chains are fused to the diindenoperylene (DIP) molecule. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry turned out to be a powerful combination to gain detailed information about the thin film growth. Planar and bulk heterojunction solar cells with C60 as acceptor and the DIP derivatives as donor are fabricated to investigate the influence of film morphology on the device performance. Due to its planar structure, DIP is found to be highly crystalline in pristine and DIP:C60 blend films while its derivatives grow liquid-like crystalline. This indicates that the molecular arrangement is strongly disturbed by the steric hindrance induced by the phenyl rings. The high fill factor (FF) of more than 75% in planar heterojunction solar cells of the DIP derivatives indicates excellent charge transport in the pristine liquid-like crystalline absorber layers. However, bulk heterojunctions of these materials surprisingly result in a low FF of only 54% caused by a weak phase separation and thus poor charge carrier percolation paths due to the lower ordered thin film growth. In contrast, crystalline DIP:C60 heterojunctions lead to high FF of up to 65% as the crystalline growth induces better percolation for the charge carriers. However, the major drawback of this crystalline growth mode is the nearly upright standing orientation of the DIP molecules in both pristine and blend films. This arrangement results in low absorption and thus a photocurrent which is significantly lower than in the DIP derivative devices, where the liquid-like crystalline growth leads to a more horizontal molecular alignment. Our results underline the complexity of the molecular structure-device performance relation in organic semiconductor devices.     

MRI fuzzy segmentation of brain tissue using neighborhood attraction with neural-network optimization.

Image segmentation is an indispensable process in the visualization of human tissues, particularly during clinical analysis of magnetic resonance (MR) images. Unfortunately, MR images always contain a significant amount of noise caused by operator performance, equipment, and the environment, which can lead to serious inaccuracies with segmentation. A robust segmentation technique based on an extension to the traditional fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is proposed in this paper. A neighborhood attraction, which is dependent on the relative location and features of neighboring pixels, is shown to improve the segmentation performance dramatically. The degree of attraction is optimized by a neural-network model. Simulated and real brain MR images with different noise levels are segmented to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed technique compared to other FCM-based methods. This segmentation method is a key component of an MR image-based classification system for brain tumors, currently being developed. Index Terms-Improved fuzzy c-means clustering (IFCM), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), neighborhood attraction, segmentation.     

The location of inhibitory specificities in human mucus proteinase inhibitor (MPI): separate expression of the COOH-terminal domain yields an active inhibitor of three different proteinases

Human mucus proteinase inhibitor (MPI) consists of 107 aminoacids arranged in two domains showing high homology to eachother. This protein is an inhibitor of different serine proteinasesincluding trypsin, chymotrypsin, leukocyte elastase and cathepsinG. On the basis of sequence comparisons it has been suggestedthat the first domain inhibits trypsin, whereas the second onewas thought to be active against chymotrypsin and elastase.To prove the location of the different inhibitory activitiesgene fragments for both domains have been cloned separatelyand expressed in Escherichia coli. Inhibition assays with theisolated recombinant domains showed that the second domain isactive against chymotrypsin, neutrophil elastase and trypsin,whereas for the first domain only a weak activity against trypsincould be detected. These results suggest that the inhibitoryactivities of the native molecule towards these three proteinasesare all located in the second domain.     

Long-term aging of copper added to soils

Aging refers to the processes by which the mobility and bioavailability/toxicity of metals added to soil decline with time. Although long-term aging is a key process that needs to be considered in the risk assessment of metals in field soils, the long-term aging of Cu added to soils has not been studied in detail. In this study, the effects of aging on Cu isotopic exchangeability, total Cu in soil pore water, pore water free Cu2+ activity, and "available" Cu measured by the technique of diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT-Cu) were investigated in 19 European soils at two total Cu concentrations shown to inhibit plant (tomato) growth by 10 and 90%. After addition of Cu, the soils were leached, incubated outdoors, and sampled regularly over a 2-year period. The results showed that when water soluble Cu was added to soils, concentrations of Cu determined by each of the techniques tended to decrease rapidly initially, followed by further decreases at slow rates. Soil pH was a vital factor affecting the aging rate of Cu added to soils. The relatively low solubility products and low isotopic exchangeabilities of Cu in calcareous soils immediately after addition of soluble Cu2+ suggested Cu2+ probably precipitated in these soils as Cu2(OH)2CO3 (malachite) and Cu(OH)2. Isotopic dilution was found to be a robust technique for measuring rates of long-term aging reactions. A semi-mechanistic model was developed to describe the rate and extent of Cu aging across soils as affected by soil pH and other physicochemical parameters. Although not measured directly, it is inferred from soil physicochemical controls on Cu aging that processes of precipitation/nucleation of Cu in soils and hydrolysis of Cu2+ followed by a diffusion process controlled the decrease in Cu availability with time. The model was validated by testing it against field soils with different contamination histories and was found to successfully predict the isotopic exchangeability of Cu added to soils based on two parameters: soil pH and time.     

Comparative studies of a real-time PCR method and three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the detection of central nervous system tissues in meat products

The removal of certain central nervous system (CNS) tissues (part of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk material) from the food chain is one of the highest priority tasks associated with avoiding contamination of the human food chain with the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. A recently developed real-time PCR assay and three commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the detection of CNS tissues in minced meat and three types of heat-treated sausages were evaluated. Bovine brain was used for spiking of internal reference material, and its detectability was examined during storage times of 12 months (for frozen minced meat and liver sausage) and 24 months (for sausages treated with medium and high heat). The real-time PCR method and both ELISA kits detected 0.1% CNS tissue in frozen minced meat and 0.1 or 1% CNS tissue in heat-treated meat products. The detectability of the amplified mRNA target region with the PCR assay was similar to the detectability of antigen by the ELISAs. Because the real-time PCR method also can be used to distinguish cattle, ovine, and caprine CNS tissues from porcine CNS tissues, it seems to be suitable as a routine diagnostic test for the sensitive and specific detection of CNS tissues in meat and meat products.     

Vitamin E and its anticancer effects

Abstract

Vitamin E is a lipid soluble vitamin comprising of eight natural isoforms, namely, α, β, δ, γ isoforms of tocopherol and α, β, δ, γ isoforms of tocotrienol. Many studies have been performed to elucidate its role in cancer. Until last decade, major focus was on alpha tocopherol and its anticancer effects. However, major clinical trials using alpha-tocopherol like SELECT trial and ATBC trial did not yield meaningful results. Hence there was a shift of focus to gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol and tocotrienol. Unlike alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol and delta-tocopherol can scavenge reactive nitrogen species in addition to reactive oxygen species. Antiangiogenic effect, inhibition of HMG CoA reductase enzyme and inhibition of NF-κB pathway make the anti-cancer effects of tocotrienols unique compared to other vitamin E isoforms. Preclinical research on non-alpha tocopherol isoforms of vitamin E showed promising data on their anticancer effects. In this review, we deal with the current understanding on the potential mechanisms involved in the anticancer effects of vitamin E and the controversies in this field over last three decades. We also highlight the need to conduct further research on the anticancer effects of non-alpha-tocopherol isoforms in larger population and clinical setting.     

Chewing gum consumption in the United States among children,adolescents and adults

Data regarding chewing gum consumption habits and attitudes were collected for 963 children and adolescents (aged 6–14) and 3150 adolescents and adults (aged 13 years+) in the United States (U.S.) using a dedicated online food frequency questionnaire. A total of 79.6% of children/adolescents reported using chewing gum in the last 3 months, whereas 61.8% of adolescents/adults chewed gum in the previous 6 months. The mean and 90th percentile of consumption among children/adolescents aged 6–14 were 1.95 and 4.71 g day^?1, equivalent to 0.75 and 1.78 pieces per day, respectively. Stratification by gender and age brackets revealed that the consumption of chewing gum was more heavily reported in boys compared to girls. Among adolescents/adults aged 13 years and older, the mean and 90th percentile of consumption of chewing gum was estimated to be 2.98 and 7.67 g day^?1, or 1.05 and 3.00 pieces per day, respectively. Stratification by gender and by age brackets in this cohort did not reveal any marked patterns although it was noted that there was a decrease in the percent consuming with age (from 87.0 to 34.5%). The most commonly reported chew frequency among all ages was ‘two or three times a week’ (23.7 to 26.8%). The average and high-level estimates reported herein provide up-to-date estimates of chewing gum consumption in the U.S. Comparisons of the calculated intake values with those reported from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey dataset suggests that national nutrition surveys may result in an under-reporting of the percent consumers, but similar estimates for the daily intakes in g day^?1.     

Organic pollutant removal versus toxicity reduction in industrial wastewater treatment: the example of wastewater from fluorescent whitening agent production

Industrial wastewater treatment in the chemical industry aims at eliminating organic contaminants, as these pollutants may be persistent and ecotoxic. In a case study performed in collaboration with the chemical industry, we investigated the removal of a fluorescent whitening agent and its side products in the wastewater-treatment system. Adsorption to activated carbon and biological treatment were simulated in laboratory tests. Algae toxicity tests were performed to quantify the toxicity of the wastewater mixture and of single components. The contaminants identified accounted for up to 82% of the wastewater's total organic carbon (TOC). Adsorption to activated carbon eliminated the TOC and the single contaminants only slightly. Nevertheless, the toxicity of the wastewater decreased by 40%. In contrast, biological treatment reduced the TOC by up to 80%, and the whole effluent toxicity increased. These results indicate that new ecotoxic metabolites were formed during the biological treatment. They also illustrate that mere reduction of the TOC in the wastewater-treatment system is not sufficient for ensuring a reduction of environmental impact. Therefore, simultaneously conducting TOC measurements and toxicity tests, as demonstrated in the current work, is recommended.