Bigels based on polyelectrolyte complexes as vaginal drug delivery systems.

Bigels in which the cationic polymer -chitosan- is combined with an anionic polymer -karaya gum, pectin or xanthan gum- were prepared. These polymers, thanks to the attraction of their charged surface groups, are liable to form a polyelectrolyte complex that would modify the characteristics of the bigel. The obtained bigels were subsequently freeze-dried and tested to study their behavior against different conditions occurring in the vaginal environment.

Partial Response to Treatment with ALK Inhibitor in a Patient With SQSTM1-ALK Fusion Positive Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Introduction: Lung cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer deaths; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) constitutes about 85% of lung cancer cases, with ALK fusions representing 3-6% of them. The SQSTM1-ALK fusion is a rare finding in NSCLC, accounting for only 1.1% of ALK rearrangements.

Light-Modulated Humidity Sensing in Spiropyran Functionalized MoS Transistors.

The optically tuneable nature of hybrid organic/inorganic heterostructures tailored by interfacing photochromic molecules with 2D semiconductors (2DSs) can be exploited to endow multi-responsiveness to the exceptional physical properties of 2DSs. In this study, a spiropyran-molybdenum disulfide (MoS) light-switchable bi-functional field-effect transistor is realized. The spiropyran-merocyanine reversible photo-isomerization has been employed to remotely control both the electron transport and wettability of the hybrid structure.

Defect Engineering of MoTe via Thiol Treatment for Type III van der Waals Heterojunction Phototransistor.

Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe) nanosheets have displayed intriguing physicochemical properties and opto-electric characteristics as a result of their tunable and small band gap ( ∼ 1 eV), facilitating concurrent electron and hole transport. Despite the numerous efforts devoted to the development of p-type MoTe field-effect transistors (FETs), the presence of tellurium (Te) point vacancies has caused serious reliability issues. Here, we overcome this major limitation by treating the MoTe surface with thiolated molecules to heal Te vacancies.

Evaluating targeted COVID-19 vaccination strategies with agent-based modeling.

We evaluate approaches to vaccine distribution using an agent-based model of human activity and COVID-19 transmission calibrated to detailed trends in cases, hospitalizations, deaths, seroprevalence, and vaccine breakthrough infections in Florida, USA. We compare the incremental effectiveness for four different distribution strategies at four different levels of vaccine supply, starting in late 2020 through early 2022. Our analysis indicates that the best strategy to reduce severe outcomes would be to actively target high disease-risk individuals.