Effect of a hepatocyte growth factor/heparin-immobilized collagen system on albumin synthesis and spheroid formation by hepatocytes

A hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/heparin-immobilized collagen system was used as a synthetic extracellular matrix for hepatocyte culture. The albumin synthesis, nucleus numbers and morphology of the hepatocytes were determined separately to evaluate the hepatocyte number and hepatocyte-specific function under this system. The benefits of the HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen system for hepatocyte culture were confirmed by three types of culture methods in vitro, namely 2D film cultures, 2D gel cultures and 3D gel cultures. In 2D collagen film cultures, hepatocytes exhibited the highest albumin synthesis (1.42 μg/well/day) in HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen films at 7 days of culture. Heparin inhibited hepatocyte adhesion while HGF promoted hepatocyte migration, and spheroid formation was easily detected in HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen films. In 2D collagen gel cultures, albumin synthesis of around 15 μg/well/day was detected and maintained for more than 18 days on HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen gels. Similar findings were obtained in 3D HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen gel cultures, which exhibited albumin synthesis of up to 30 μg/well/day. The albumin synthesis by hepatocytes was two-fold higher in 3D gel cultures compared with 2D gel cultures, and was maintained for over 2 weeks compared with 2D film cultures using the HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen system. Taken together, the HGF/heparin-immobilized collagen system was effective for albumin synthesis by hepatocytes in both 2D film cultures and 3D gel cultures, and therefore shows good potential for tissue engineering use.     

Long‐Lived Flexible Displays Employing Efficient and Stable Inverted Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes

Although organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) are promising for use in applications such as in flexible displays, reports of long‐lived flexible OLED‐based devices are limited due to the poor environmental stability of OLEDs. Flexible substrates such as plastic allow ambient oxygen and moisture to permeate into devices, which degrades the alkali metals used for the electron‐injection layer in conventional OLEDs (cOLEDs). Here, the fabrication of a long‐lived flexible display is reported using efficient and stable inverted OLEDs (iOLEDs), in which electrons can be effectively injected without the use of alkali metals. The flexible display employing iOLEDs can emit light for over 1 year with simplified encapsulation, whereas a flexible display employing cOLEDs exhibits almost no luminescence after only 21 d with the same encapsulation. These results demonstrate the great potential of iOLEDs to replace cOLEDs employing alkali metals for use in a wide variety of flexible organic optoelectronic devices.     

Expression of a liver-specific function by a hepatoblastoma cell line cocultured with three-dimensional endothelialized tubes in collagen gels

A human hepatoblastoma cell line, Hep G2, showed albumin production activity, a hepatic function, when cocultured with three-dimensional endothelialized tubes in collagen gels. The albumin production rate of the collagen-based liver-like constructs increased with increasing length of the endothelialized tube in the construct.     

Interdiffusion in copper-rich cu-ag solid solutions

Interdiffusion was studied in the temperature between 974 and 1273 K, using conventional sandwich-type diffusion couples consisting of pure copper and Cu-2.1 at. pct Ag alloy. The interdiffusion coefficient, , increased slightly with increasing the atomic fraction of silver, N_Ag. Values of were well represented by the parameters of ₀ = 0.21 x 10^-4 (m²/s) and ≈ = 184.5 - 143.0 N_Ag (kJ/g-atom) up toNAg = 0.02. The Kirkendall effect during diffu-sion treatments at 1174 K for up to 1.4724 x 10⁶ s was also studied. The marker moved always toward the silver-rich side. The ratio, D*_Ag / D*_Cu,was 5.6 for N_Ag = 0.011, while it was 4.2 for N_Ag = 0.     

Development of flexible displays using back‐channel‐etched In–Sn–Zn–O thin‐film transistors and air‐stable inverted organic light‐emitting diodes

We developed flexible displays using back‐channel‐etched In–Sn–Zn–O (ITZO) thin‐film transistors (TFTs) and air‐stable inverted organic light‐emitting diodes (iOLEDs). The TFTs fabricated on a polyimide film exhibited high mobility (32.9 cm²/Vs) and stability by utilization of a solution‐processed organic passivation layer. ITZO was also used as an electron injection layer (EIL) in the iOLEDs instead of conventional air‐sensitive materials. The iOLED with ITZO as an EIL exhibited higher efficiency and a lower driving voltage than that of conventional iOLEDs. Our approach of the simultaneous formation of ITZO film as both of a channel layer in TFTs and of an EIL in iOLEDs offers simple fabrication process.     

Preparation of a single-chain variable fragment and a recombinant antigen-binding fragment against the anti-malarial drugs, artemisinin and artesunate, and their application in an ELISA

Two different recombinant antibodies, a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) and an antigen-binding fragment (Fab), were prepared against artemisinin (AM) and artesunate (AS) and were developed for use in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The recombinant antibodies, which were derived from a single monoclonal antibody against AM and AS (mAb 1C1) prepared by us, were expressed by Escherichia coli cells and their reactivity and specificity were characterized. As a result, to obtain sufficient signal in indirect ELISA, a much greater amount of a first antibody was needed in the use of scFv due to the differences of the secondary antibody and conformational stability. Therefore, we focused on the development of the recombinant Fab antibodies and applied it to indirect competitive ELISA. The specificity of the Fab was similar to that of mAb 1C1 in that it showed specific reactivity toward AM and AS only. The sensitivity of the icELISA (0.16 μg/mL to 40 μg/mL for AM and 8.0 ng/mL to 60 ng/mL for AS) was sufficient for analysis of antimalarial drugs, and its utility for quality control of analysis of Artemisia spp. was validated. The Fab expression and refolding systems provided a good yield of high-quality antibodies. The recombinant antibody against AM and AS provides an essential component of an economically attractive immunoassay and will be useful in other immunochemical applications for the analysis and purification of antimalarial drugs.     

III-V complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor electronics on silicon substrates

One of the major challenges in further advancement of III-V electronics is to integrate high mobility complementary transistors on the same substrate. The difficulty is due to the large lattice mismatch of the optimal p- and n-type III-V semiconductors. In this work, we employ a two-step epitaxial layer transfer process for the heterogeneous assembly of ultrathin membranes of III-V compound semiconductors on Si/SiO(2) substrates. In this III-V-on-insulator (XOI) concept, ultrathin-body InAs (thickness, 13 nm) and InGaSb (thickness, 7 nm) layers are used for enhancement-mode n- and p- MOSFETs, respectively. The peak effective mobilities of the complementary devices are ～1190 and ～370 cm(2)/(V s) for electrons and holes, respectively, both of which are higher than the state-of-the-art Si MOSFETs. We demonstrate the first proof-of-concept III-V CMOS logic operation by fabricating NOT and NAND gates, highlighting the utility of the XOI platform.     

Nanoscale InGaSb heterostructure membranes on Si substrates for high hole mobility transistors

As of yet, III-V p-type field-effect transistors (p-FETs) on Si have not been reported, due partly to materials and processing challenges, presenting an important bottleneck in the development of complementary III-V electronics. Here, we report the first high-mobility III-V p-FET on Si, enabled by the epitaxial layer transfer of InGaSb heterostructures with nanoscale thicknesses. Importantly, the use of ultrathin (thickness, ~2.5 nm) InAs cladding layers results in drastic performance enhancements arising from (i) surface passivation of the InGaSb channel, (ii) mobility enhancement due to the confinement of holes in InGaSb, and (iii) low-resistance, dopant-free contacts due to the type III band alignment of the heterojunction. The fabricated p-FETs display a peak effective mobility of ~820 cm(2)/(V s) for holes with a subthreshold swing of ~130 mV/decade. The results present an important advance in the field of III-V electronics.     

Characterisation of a TES-Based X-ray Microcalorimeter in the Energy Range from 150 to 1800 eV Using an Adiabatic Demagnetisation Refrigerator

We characterised a TES-based X-ray microcalorimeter in an adiabatic demagnetisation refrigerator (ADR) using synchrotron radiation. The detector response and energy resolution was measured at the beam-line in the PTB radiometry laboratory at the electron storage ring BESSY II in the range from 200 to 1800 eV. We present and discuss the results of the energy resolution measurements as a function of energy, beam intensity and detector working point. The measured energy resolution ranges between 1.5 to 2.1 eV in the investigated energy range and is weakly dependent on the detector set point. A first analysis shows a count-rate capability, without considerable loss of performance, of about 500 counts per second.