Water Adsorption Isotherm and Surface Conductivity of Boroaluminosilicate Glasses.

The surface resistivity of boroaluminosilicate display glasses, which may affect the downstream display panel manufacturing, varies with the relative humidity (RH) of the environment, but the origin of this RH dependence has not been well understood. We have measured the water adsorption behavior on Corning Eagle XG (Glass-E) and Lotus NXT (Glass-L) glass panels using Brewster angle transmission infrared spectroscopy. The IR spectra of adsorbed water were analyzed to obtain the effective thickness of adsorbed water, the distribution of hydrogen-bonding interactions among the adsorbed water molecules, and the isosteric heat of water adsorption.

Prediction of glassy silica etching with hydrogen fluoride gas by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.

Understanding the surface properties of glass during the hydrogen fluoride (HF)-based vapor etching process is essential to optimize treatment processes in semiconductor and glass industries. In this work, we investigate an etching process of fused glassy silica by HF gas with kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations. Detailed pathways of surface reactions between gas molecules and the silica surface with activation energy sets are explicitly implemented in the KMC algorithm for both dry and humid conditions.

Passivation of Mid-Gap Electronic States at Calcium Aluminosilicate Glass Surfaces upon Water Exposure: An Study.

When a clean glass surface is exposed to humid air, a thin water layer forms on the hydrophilic surface. Using molecular dynamics, we simulate the changes in the electronic structure of a CaO-AlO-SiO glass model upon vacuum fracture and subsequent exposure to HO. When the glass is fractured, dangling bonds form, which lower the band gap of the surface by ∼1.

Engineering of the Recombinant Expression and PEGylation Efficiency of the Therapeutic Enzyme Human Thymidine Phosphorylase.

Human thymidine phosphorylase (HsTP) is an enzyme with important implications in the field of rare metabolic diseases. Defective mutations of HsTP lead to mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy (MNGIE), a disease with a high unmet medical need that is associated with severe neurological and gastrointestinal complications. Current efforts focus on the development of an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) using the ortholog (EcTP).

Arginase Therapy Combines Effectively with Immune Checkpoint Blockade or Agonist Anti-OX40 Immunotherapy to Control Tumor Growth.

Metabolic dysregulation is a hallmark of cancer. Many tumors exhibit auxotrophy for various amino acids, such as arginine, because they are unable to meet the demand for these amino acids through endogenous production. This vulnerability can be exploited by employing therapeutic strategies that deplete systemic arginine in order to limit the growth and survival of arginine auxotrophic tumors.

Limiting treatment plan complexity by applying a novel commercial tool.

Purpose: A recently introduced commercial tool is tested to assess whether it is able to reduce the complexity of a treatment plan and improve deliverability without compromising overall quality.

Methods: Ten prostate and ten oropharynx plans of previously treated patients were reoptimized using the aperture shape controller (ASC) tool recently introduced in Eclipse TPS (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA). The performance of ASC was assessed in terms of the overall plan quality using a plan quality metric, the reduction in plan complexity through the analysis of 14 of the most common plan complexity metrics, and the change in plan deliverability through 3D dosimetric measurements.

Preclinical safety and antitumor activity of the arginine-degrading therapeutic enzyme pegzilarginase, a PEGylated, cobalt-substituted recombinant human arginase 1.

Metabolic remodeling contributes to the development and progression of some cancers and exposes them to vulnerabilities, including specific nutrient dependencies that can be targeted therapeutically. Arginine is a semiessential amino acid, and several cancers are unable to endogenously synthesize sufficient levels of arginine for survival and proliferation, most commonly due to reduced expression of argininosuccinate synthase (ASS1). Such cancers are dependent on arginine and they can be targeted via enzyme-mediated depletion of systemic arginine.

Deformable registration-based segmentation of the bowel on Megavoltage CT during pelvic radiotherapy.

During pelvic radiotherapy bowel loops (BL) are subject to inter-fraction changes. MVCT images have the potential to provide daily bowel segmentation. We assess the feasibility of deformable registration and contour propagation in replacing manual BL segmentation on MVCT.

A missense mutation in ASRGL1 is involved in causing autosomal recessive retinal degeneration.

Inherited retinal dystrophies are a group of genetically heterogeneous conditions with broad phenotypic heterogeneity. We analyzed a large five-generation pedigree with early-onset recessive retinal degeneration to identify the causative mutation. Linkage analysis and homozygosity mapping combined with exome sequencing were carried out to map the disease locus and identify the p.

Metal exposure in cows grazing pasture contaminated by iron industry: Insights from magnetic particles used as tracers.

Magnetic particles (MP) emitted by an iron smelter were used to investigate the exposure of cows grazing on a grassland polluted by these MP and by large amounts of potentially toxic elements (PTE). The morphology as well as the chemical composition of the MP separated from cow dung were studied. Large amounts of typical MP were found (1.

Isolation of technogenic magnetic particles.

Technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs) emitted by various industrial sources, such as smelting plants, end up after atmospheric transfer on the soil surface. In the present study, we characterised the origin and composition of such particles emitted by a large iron smelting plant and deposited on particular substrates, namely tombstones, which act as a very interesting and appropriate matrix when compared to soil, tree bark, lichens or attic dust. The isolation and subsequent description of TMPs require a critical step of separation between different components of the sample and the magnetic particles; here, we described an efficient protocol that fulfils such a requirement: it resorts to water suspension, sonication, repeated magnetic extraction, sedimentation, sieving and organic matter destruction at 550 °C in some instances.

Discovery of a substrate selectivity motif in amino acid decarboxylases unveils a taurine biosynthesis pathway in prokaryotes.

Taurine, the most abundant free amino acid in mammals, with many critical roles such as neuronal development, had so far only been reported to be synthetized in eukaryotes. Taurine is the major product of cysteine metabolism in mammals, and its biosynthetic pathway consists of cysteine dioxygenase and cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase (hCSAD). Sequence, structural, and mutational analyses of the structurally and sequentially related hCSAD and human glutamic acid decarboxylase (hGAD) enzymes revealed a three residue substrate recognition motif (X1aa19X2aaX3), within the active site that is responsible for coordinating their respective preferred amino acid substrates.

Quality assurance of rapid arc treatments: performances and pre-clinical verifications of a planar detector (MapCHECK2).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of MapCHECK2 in a patient-specific quality assurance (QA) procedure for Rapid Arc (RA) radiotherapy and to obtain reference values of gamma index (γ) for different irradiation geometries. Dose distributions of 386 patients, optimized with Eclipse treatment planning system for RA on Varian Clinac 2300IX were exported and measured with MapCHECK2 detector array inserted in a MapPHAN dedicated phantom. Gamma index analysis was used to evaluate differences between calculated and delivered doses; collected data were analysed on the basis of complexity of plans and type of disease.

GFP reporter screens for the engineering of amino acid degrading enzymes from libraries expressed in bacteria.

There is significant interest in engineering human amino acid degrading enzymes as non-immunogenic chemotherapeutic agents. We describe a high-throughput fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) assay for detecting the catalytic activity of amino acid degrading enzymes in bacteria, at the single cell level. This assay relies on coupling the synthesis of the GFP reporter to the catalytic activity of the desired amino acid degrading enzyme in an appropriate E.

Uncoupling intramolecular processing and substrate hydrolysis in the N-terminal nucleophile hydrolase hASRGL1 by circular permutation.

The human asparaginase-like protein 1 (hASRGL1) catalyzes the hydrolysis of l-asparagine and isoaspartyl-dipeptides. As an N-terminal nucleophile (Ntn) hydrolase superfamily member, the active form of hASRGL1 is generated by an intramolecular cleavage step with Thr168 as the catalytic residue. However, in vitro, autoprocessing is incomplete (~50%), fettering the biophysical characterization of hASRGL1.

Engineering reduced-immunogenicity enzymes for amino acid depletion therapy in cancer.

Cancer has become the leading cause of death in the developed world and has remained one of the most difficult diseases to treat. One of the difficulties in treating cancer is that conventional chemotherapies often have unacceptable toxicities toward normal cells at the doses required to kill tumor cells. Thus, the demand for new and improved tumor specific therapeutics for the treatment of cancer remains high.

Ca2+ homeostasis modulation enhances the amenability of L444P glucosylcerebrosidase to proteostasis regulation in patient-derived fibroblasts.

Gaucher's disease is caused by deficiency of lysosomal glucocerebrosidase (GC) activity and accumulation of GC substrate, glucosylceramide. A number of point mutations in GC encoding gene have been reported to destabilize the enzyme native structure, resulting in protein misfolding and degradation. Particularly, the L444P GC variant, often associated with neuropathic manifestations of the disease, is severely destabilized and immediately degraded, resulting in complete loss of enzymatic activity.

Occurrence and risk factors for autoimmune thyroid disease in patients with atrophic body gastritis.

Purpose: To investigate the occurrence of and risk factors for autoimmune thyroid disease in atrophic body gastritis patients.

Methods: Cross-sectional study on 401 consecutive outpatients with atrophic body gastritis. Diagnostic work-up of thyroid disease was completed in 319 atrophic body gastritis patients (225 women, median age 55.

[The intraoperative cholangiography during videolaparoscopic cholecystectomy. What is its role? Results of a non randomized study].

Introduction: The routine use of intraoperative cholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy remains controversial. Mirizzi was the first to recommend the use of intraoperative cholangiography in 1931 based on the high incidence of unsuspected common bile duct stones. The use of intraoperative cholangiography before common bile duct exploration reduced the incidence of unnecessary common bile duct explorations from 66% to less than 5%.

Gallbladder carcinoma late metastases and incisional hernia at umbilical port site after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

A potentially serious complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the inadvertent dissemination of unsuspected gallbladder carcinoma. There are increasing reports of seeding of tumor at the trocar sites following laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with unexpected or inapparent gallbladder carcinoma. Although the mechanism of the abdominal wall recurrence is still unclear, laparoscopic handling of the tumor, perforation of the gallbladder, and extraction of the specimen without an endobag may be risk factors for the spreading of malignant cells.

Comparison of prazosin, terazosin and tamsulosin: functional and binding studies in isolated prostatic and vascular human tissues.

Background: Terazosin and tamsulosin are drugs currently used in the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). The potency of these two alpha(1) receptor antagonists and that of prazosin to inhibit contractions induced by noradrenaline and the binding of [(3)H]-prazosin in human prostate and four different human arterial and venous vessels (saphenous and umbilical veins, renal and mesenteric arteries) was studied.

Methods: By bioassay and binding studies, we examined the receptor affinities of different alpha(1) receptor antagonists in different human tissues.

Characterization of FR 172357, a new non-peptide bradykinin B(2) receptor antagonist, in human, pig and rabbit preparations.

FR 172357, a new non-peptide antagonist of the kinin B(2) receptor was tested in three isolated vessels, the human umbilical vein, the rabbit jugular vein, and the pig coronary artery, to evaluate its antagonistic activities against bradykinin. FR 172357 displaced to the right the concentration-response curves of bradykinin. The displacements were parallel to the controls without reduction of the maximum effect in the human umbilical vein and in the rabbit jugular vein, but not in the pig coronary artery.

Human vascular kinin receptors of the B2 type characterized by radioligand binding.

1. The human umbilical vein responds to bradykinin (BK) with contractions that are mediated by B2 receptors. In the present study, the corresponding vascular smooth muscle B2 binding sites have been investigated.

Influence of oral contraceptives on fasting gallbladder volume.

A total of 615 healthy fertile women (518 pill users and 97 non-users) were examined by real-time ultrasonography for fasting gallbladder volume, gallstones and biliary dysmorphism. None of the six examined combinations of oral contraceptives appeared to influence fasting gallbladder volume significantly. When fasting gallbladder volumes were reanalyzed according to the presence or absence of recognized biliary risk factors, significant modifications were detected, in both pill users and non-users.

Gastric schwannoma after Nissen fundoplication. A rare complication?

Surgical repair of an hiatal hernia results in changes in the local anatomy of the cardia and fundus that may be difficult to interpret by radiological examination. Endoscopy can clarify the radiological changes resulting from surgery, such as pseudodiverticula and pseudotumors, and, when conducted as part of the routine follow-up program, may reveal uncommon complications.