High Performance Molybdenum Disulfide Amorphous Silicon Heterojunction Photodetector

One important use of layered semiconductors such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) could be in making novel heterojunction devices leading to functionalities unachievable using conventional semiconductors. Here we demonstrate an ultrafast metal-semiconductor-metal heterojunction photodetector, made of MoS2 and amorphous silicon (a-Si), with rise and fall times of about 0.3 ms. This is more than an order of magnitude improvement over response times of conventional a-Si (~5 ms) and best reported MoS2 devices (~50 ms). The van-der-waals heterojunction presented here yields a high photoresponsivity of 210 mA/W at green light-the wavelength used in commercial imaging systems. This responsivity is 4X larger than that of the best MoS2 devices, and 2X larger than that of commercial a-Si devices. The 10X improvement in speed with high photoresponsivity provides a potential solution to a decades-long problem for thin film imagers and could find applications in large area electronics such as biomedical imaging and x-ray fluoroscopy

MicroRNA-129-1 acts as tumour suppressor and induces cell cycle arrest of GBM cancer cells through targeting IGF2BP3 and MAPK1

Background MicroRNA-129-1 (miR-129-1) seems to behave as a tumour suppressor since its decreased expression is associated with different tumours such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). GBM is the most common form of brain tumours originating from glial cells. The impact of miR-129-1 downregulation on GBM pathogenesis has yet to be elucidated. Methods MiR-129-1 was overexpressed in GBM cells, and its effect on proliferation was investigated by cell cycle assay. MiR-129-1 predicted targets (CDK6, IGF1, HDAC2, IGF2BP3 and MAPK1) were also evaluated by western blot and luciferase assay. Results Restoration of miR-129-1 reduced cell proliferation and induced G1 accumulation, significantly. Several functional assays confirmed IGF2BP3, MAPK1 and CDK6 as targets of miR-129-1. Despite the fact that IGF1 expression can be suppressed by miR-129-1, through 30-untranslated region complementary sequence, we could not find any association between IGF1 expression and GBM. MiR-129-1 expression inversely correlates with CDK6, IGF2BP3 and MAPK1 in primary clinical samples. Conclusion This is the first study to propose miR129-1 as a negative regulator of IGF2BP3 and MAPK1 and also a cell cycle arrest inducer in GBM cells. Our data suggests miR-129-1 as a potential tumour suppressor and presents a rationale for the use of miR-129-1 as a novel strategy to improve treatment response in GBM

Evaluating the affected the factors of research in Ilam university of Medical Sciences during 2006-2011

Research is one of the most important parameter in developing of each country, for this .... Universities are of most importance. The faculty members are more interested in education rather than research due to different factors. The current study aimed to evaluate such factors among the faculty members of Ilam university of Medical Sciences during 2006 until 2011. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study based on data collected by a questionnaire and interview. Data analyzed using descriptive statistics by SPSS package 18. Totally a research projects from researchers was enrolled in this study of which 74.6 men and 93.4 were married. 59.6 of researchers has BSc (51.1), MSc and PhD (31.9) and 16.6 worked of educational Deputy of this university. Accessing to scientific data banks, and lack of English language skills were among the most effective factors n research and satisfaction of researchers while good communication with staff of university research Department was in high importance

Effect of ta additions on the microstructure, damping, and shape memory behaviour of prealloyed Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloys

The influence of Ta additions on the microstructure and properties of Cu-Al-Ni shapememory alloys was investigated in this paper. The addition of Ta significantly affects the green and porosity densities; the minimum percentage of porosity was observed with the modified prealloyed Cu-Al-Ni-2.0wt.% Ta. The phase transformation temperatures were shifted towards the highest values after Ta was added. Based on the damping capacity results, the alloy of Cu-Al-Ni-3.0 wt.% Ta has very high internal friction with the maximum equivalent internal friction value twice as high as that of the prealloyed Cu-Al-Ni SMA. Moreover, the prealloyed Cu-Al-Ni SMAs with the addition of 2.0wt.% Ta exhibited the highest shape recovery ratio in the first cycle (i.e., 100% recovery), and when the number of cycles is increased, this ratio tends to decrease. On the other hand, the modified alloys with 1.0 and 3.0 wt.% Ta implied a linear increment in the shape recovery ratio with increasing number of cycles. Polarization tests in NaCl solution showed that the corrosion resistance of Cu-Al-Ni-Ta SMA improved with escalating Ta concentration as shown by lower corrosion current densities, higher corrosion potential, and formation of stable passive film

How Should Governments Address High Levels of Natural Radiation and Radon--Lessons from the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident and Ramsar, Iran

The authors discuss the high levels of natural background radiation in Ramsar, Iran, and offer data indicating that this has had little effect on the health of Ramsar\u27s inhabitants. The authors then examine the implications their research could have for public health policy

Biological Activities of Essential Oils: From Plant Chemoecology to Traditional Healing Systems

Essential oils are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons and their oxygenated derivatives arising from two different isoprenoid pathways. Essential oils are produced by glandular trichomes and other secretory structures, specialized secretory tissues mainly diffused onto the surface of plant organs, particularly flowers and leaves, thus exerting a pivotal ecological role in plant. In addition, essential oils have been used, since ancient times, in many different traditional healing systems all over the world, because of their biological activities. Many preclinical studies have documented antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of essential oils in a number of cell and animal models, also elucidating their mechanism of action and pharmacological targets, though the paucity of in human studies limits the potential of essential oils as effective and safe phytotherapeutic agents. More well-designed clinical trials are needed in order to ascertain the real efficacy and safety of these plant products

Evaluation of electronarcosis and clove oil for short-term anesthesia in common carp, Cyprinus carpio L. 1758

Anesthesia is considered to be the best way to ensure animal welfare during handling etc. Clove oil and electronarcosis are among the most popular chemical and physical anesthetics used in fisheries and biology;however there is a little information available on the effect of anesthesia using direct electric current in fish. In the present study, the impacts of clove oil (30 mg.l-1) and electro-anesthesia (constant direct current, 0.5 v.cm-1) (DC) were assessed in common carp, Cyprinus carpio during narcotic stage in two experimental sets. Experiment 1 was conducted to quantitatively compare induction of anesthesia and recovery time. The biochemical and hematological effects of anesthetics were analyzed as experiment 2. The results revealed that induction and recovery times in fish anesthetized with electric current were significantly lower than clove oil treatment.Significant differences were observed in cortisol concentrations, red blood cells and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration between anesthetic methods. Our results suggest that constant direct current electronarcosis was more quickly than clove oil and associated with lower side effects in common carp

Electrophysiological Assessment of Injury to the Infra-patellar Branch(es) of the Saphenous Nerve during Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Using Medial Hamstring Auto-grafts: Vertical versus Oblique Harvest Site Incisions

Background: It was suggested that the direction of incision for medial hamstring tendons harvesting\n influences the incidence of injury to the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve\n (IPBSN), a common complication following arthroscopically-assisted anterior cruciate\n ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Objectives: The main purpose of current study was to compare the incidence of IPBSN injury between\n vertical and oblique incisions utilizing electrophysiological evaluation. Patients and Methods: There were 60 patients underwent arthroscopically-assisted ACLR assigned to two equal\n vertical or oblique incision groups, randomly. One year postoperatively, the patients\n were electrophysiologically examined to detect whether IPBSN is injured. The Lysholm\n score was completed. The patients' satisfaction with surgical outcomes determined\n utilizing visual analogue scale (VAS). Finally, two groups were compared and the effect\n of IPBSN injury on function and satisfaction was investigated. Results: The incidence of IPBSN injury was higher in the vertical group (4 patients vs. 10\n patients), but the difference was not statistically significant. The mean of Lysholm and\n VAS scores were the same. Also, the mean of Lysholm score was the same in patients with\n and without IPBSN injury. However, patients without IPBSN injury were more satisfied\n (8.9 ± 9 vs. 7.4 ± 1.1; P < 0.001). Conclusions: IPBSN injury is a common complication following arthroscopically-assisted ACLR and, if\n not significant, oblique direction of the incision is associated with decreased\n incidence of the injury. IPBSN injury has no effect on the function but because of the\n disturbance with patients' satisfaction, authors believe the oblique incision is\n preferable to avoid the nerve injury during medial hamstring tendons harvesting

Decadal changes of the Western Arabian sea ecosystem

Historical data from oceanographic expeditions and remotely sensed data on outgoing longwave radiation, temperature, wind speed and ocean color in the western Arabian Sea (1950–2010) were used to investigate decadal trends in the physical and biochemical properties of the upper 300 m. 72 % of the 29,043 vertical profiles retrieved originated from USA and UK expeditions. Increasing outgoing longwave radiation, surface air temperatures and sea surface temperature were identified on decadal timescales. These were well correlated with decreasing wind speeds associated with a reduced Siberian High atmospheric anomaly. Shoaling of the oxycline and nitracline was observed as well as acidification of the upper 300 m. These physical and chemical changes were accompanied by declining chlorophyll-a concentrations, vertical macrofaunal habitat compression, declining sardine landings and an increase of fish kill incidents along the Omani coast

Mec-associated dru typing in the epidemiological analysis of ST239 MRSA in Malaysia.

The usefulness of mec-associated dru typing in the epidemiological analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated in Malaysia was investigated and compared with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and spa and SCCmec typing. The isolates studied included all MRSA types in Malaysia. Multilocus sequence type ST188 and ST1 isolates were highly clonal by all typing methods. However, the dru typing of ST239 isolates produced the clearest discrimination between SCCmec IIIa and III isolates, yielding more subtypes than any other method. Evaluation of the discriminatory power for each method identified dru typing and PFGE as the most discriminatory, with Simpson’s index of diversity (SID) values over 89%, including an isolate which was non-typeable by spa, but dru-typed as dt13j. The discriminatory ability of dru typing, especially with closely related MRSA ST239 strains (e.g., Brazilian and Hungarian), underscores its utility as a tool for the epidemiological investigation of MRSA