Hybrid Organosulfur Network/MWCNT Composite Cathodes for Li-S Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries hold a promising position as candidates for next-generation high-energy storage systems. Here, we combine inverse vulcanization of sulfur with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to increase the conductivity of cathode materials for Li-S batteries. The mixing process of inversely vulcanized sulfur copolymer networks with MWCNTs is aided by shear in a two-roll mill to take advantage of the soft nature of the copolymer.

Proximity-Induced Gap Opening by Twisted Plumbene in Epitaxial Graphene.

Besides graphene, further honeycomb 2D structures were successfully synthesized on various surfaces. However, almost flat plumbene hosting topologically protected edge states could not yet be realized. In this Letter, we investigated the intercalation of Pb on buffer layers on SiC(0001).

All-Carbon Monolithic Composites from Carbon Foam and Hierarchical Porous Carbon for Energy Storage.

We designed high-volumetric-energy-density supercapacitors from monolithic composites composed of self-standing carbon foam (CF) as the conducting matrix and embedded hierarchically organized porous carbon (PICK) as the active material. Using multiprobe scanning tunneling microscopy at selected areas, we were able to disentangle morphology-dependent contributions of the heterogeneous composite to the overall conductivity. Adding PICK is found to enhance the conductivity of the monoliths by providing additional links for the CF network, enabling high and stable performance.

Surface Transport Properties of Pb-Intercalated Graphene.

Intercalation experiments on epitaxial graphene are attracting a lot of attention at present as a tool to further boost the electronic properties of 2D graphene. In this work, we studied the intercalation of Pb using buffer layers on 6H-SiC(0001) by means of electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy and in situ surface transport. Large-area intercalation of a few Pb monolayers succeeded via surface defects.

High Mass Loading Asymmetric Micro-supercapacitors with Ultrahigh Areal Energy and Power Density.

High mass loading asymmetric micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) are key components for the development of high-performance energy and power supply systems. Here, a concept for achieving high mass loading electrodes is presented and applied to high mass loading micro-supercapacitors with ultrahigh areal energy and power density. The positive electrode is made from porous carbon with birnessite coverage and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as conducting additives (PIC-CNTs-MnO).

Topological Surface State in Epitaxial Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons.

Protected and spin-polarized transport channels are the hallmark of topological insulators, coming along with an intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling. Here we identified such corresponding chiral states in epitaxially grown zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zz-GNRs), albeit with an extremely weak spin-orbit interaction. While the bulk of the monolayer zz-GNR is fully suspended across a SiC facet, the lower edge merges into the SiC(0001) substrate and reveals a surface state at the Fermi energy, which is extended along the edge and splits in energy toward the bulk.

The Weak 3D Topological Insulator Bi Rh Sn I.

Topological insulators (TIs) gained high interest due to their protected electronic surface states that allow dissipation-free electron and information transport. In consequence, TIs are recommended as materials for spintronics and quantum computing. Yet, the number of well-characterized TIs is rather limited.

Decreased levels of genuine large free hCG alpha in men presenting with abnormal semen analysis.

Background: The pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and its free subunits (hCG alpha, hCG beta) are produced in the male reproductive tract and found in high concentrations in seminal fluid, in particular hCG alpha. This study aimed to elucidate changes in peptide hormone profiles in patients showing abnormal semen analyses and to determine the genuineness of the highly abundant hCG alpha.

Methods: Seminal plasma was obtained from 45 male patients undergoing semen analysis during infertility workups.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the male reproductive tract.

Normal hypothalamic-pituitary testicular and prostatic functions are essential for maintenance of male fertility, whereby glycoprotein hormones (GPH) as well as androgens are major endocrine and local regulators. We have investigated whether the GPH human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and the free alpha and beta subunits thereof are produced in the target organs themselves and potentially act as auto/paracrine modulators of fertility. Immunofluorometric assays (IFMAs) based on our panel of highly selective monoclonal antibodies, immunohistochemistry (IHC), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and 1- and 2D gel electrophoreses with subsequent western blotting have been utilized for the detection of hCGalpha, hCGbeta and its metabolite hCGbeta core fragment (cf) in human testis, prostate and seminal plasma.

Endothelial cell apoptosis in systemic sclerosis is induced by antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity via CD95.

Objective: Apoptosis of endothelial cells is a key event in the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of the present study was to analyze in vitro the mechanism causing endothelial cell apoptosis in SSc.

Methods: Human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMEC) or human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were cultured with native or heat-inactivated serum from SSc patients or controls with or without interleukin-2-activated natural killer (NK) cells or peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Gastric involvement in progressive systemic sclerosis: electrogastrographic and sonographic findings.

Objective: To determine whether electrogastrography (EGG) can discern sonographically demonstrated motility disorders in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to evaluate EGG as a possible diagnostic tool.

Design: Prospective study with control group and testing for reliability.

Subjects: 15 SSc patients [women aged 33-70 years (mean 53.

Modulation of irritation-induced increase of E-selectin mRNA in vivo by topically applied corticosteroids.

There is a continuous need for methods to evaluate the biologic effects of topically applied drugs in the skin. Irritation of the epidermis with sodium dodecyl sulfate leads to an upregulation of E-selectin on endothelial cells and E-selectin mRNA can be detected in vivo within a short time. This study was aimed to investigate whether this biologic response can be used as a read-out for the anti-inflammatory effect of topically administered corticosteroids.

In situ expression and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptors in patients with early stages of systemic sclerosis.

Objective: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is an important cytokine in the early stage of systemic sclerosis (SSc), which is characterized by mononuclear cell infiltration and microvascular alterations. Most effects of TNF-alpha are mediated by its interaction with 2 types of TNF receptors and depend on their surface expression on individual cell subsets. Our purpose was to correlate the serum levels of soluble TNF receptors-TNF-RI(p55) and RII(p75)-with (1) their in situ expression and distribution in lesional skin and on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and (2) the clinical disease progression and inflammatory serum variables in patients with SSc.

In situ expression and serum levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha receptors in patients with lichen planus.

In lichen planus (LP), an inflammatory skin disease of unknown origin, adhesion molecules and their ligands combined with the local and systemic release of various cytokines are fundamental in regulating inflammation. Therefore, we investigated the expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha receptor (TNF-R) I and II in lesional skin of 15 patients suffering from acute eruptive LP by means of immunohistochemistry. In addition, the serum levels of their soluble forms (sTNF-R) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), compared with those of healthy volunteers (n = 10) and correlated with the in situ inflammatory response.

Up-regulation of class II major histocompatibility complex and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression on scleroderma fibroblasts and endothelial cells by interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha in the early disease stage.

Objective: To investigate the expression patterns of interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), both of which are potent inducers of class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) expression, and their codistribution with HLA-DR and ICAM-1 in skin lesions, cultured fibroblasts, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients in different stages of disease.

Methods: Investigations were carried out using immunohistochemistry studies, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, dot-blot hybridization, and cytometric analysis. Serum levels of TNF alpha were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Endothelial cell apoptosis is a primary pathogenetic event underlying skin lesions in avian and human scleroderma.

The mechanism that may cause degenerative fibrotic skin lesions was studied in situ using skin biopsies from patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), localized scleroderma, or keloids, and at the initial disease stage in the University of California at Davis (UCD) lines 200/206 chickens, which develop a hereditary systemic connective tissue disease resembling human SSc and permit study of disease stages not accessible in humans. Frozen skin sections were analyzed simultaneously for apoptosis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated FITC-dUTP nick end labeling and indirect immunofluorescence staining of cell markers with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate conjugates. The results showed that endothelial cells are clearly the first cells to undergo apoptosis in the skin of UCD-200/206 chickens, a process that seems to be induced by anti-endothelial cell antibodies.

Cytokine levels in the seminal plasma of infertile males.

Cytokines released by various cell subsets in the male urogenital tract are capable of markedly influencing sperm function and fertility. We determined the cytokine content in the seminal plasma of patients with unexplained infertility and correlated the results with urogenital infections and sperm parameters. Routine sperm parameters, bacterial culture of seminal plasma and blood follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone were obtained from 14 infertile males and 8 healthy control subjects.

Correlation of soluble adhesion molecules in the peripheral blood of scleroderma patients with their in situ expression and with disease activity.

Objective: To correlate serum levels of the soluble adhesion molecules intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), E-selectin, and P-selectin with (a) clinical disease activity and progression and (b) the in situ expression and distribution of these adhesion molecules in lesional skin, in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods: Serum samples from 12 SSc patients and 36 healthy controls were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Immunohistologic staining was carried out on cryostat sections of lesional skin.

[Initial visceral involvement with diffuse systemic scleroderma].

Progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) is characterized in most patients by initially unspecific symptoms like acrocyanosis. Raynaud's phenomenon, general malaise or acral paresthesia. Clinical manifestations appear with an edematous-inflammatory stage of disease leading to a chronic-progressive phase with increasing fibrosclerosis of the skin and internal organs.

[Snake bite by a poisonous snake. Report of an unusual case].

We report on a 31-year-old white woman, who was bitten in her right calf by a "spitting cobra" (Neia nigricollis) during a safari in Tansania. Minor initial systemic symptoms such as nausea and vomiting were followed by severe oedematous swelling of the extremity after 2-3 h and demarcation of a 2.75 x 2.

Effects of cytokine application on glucocorticoid secretion in an animal model for systemic scleroderma.

We previously reported on an altered immune-endocrine feedback loop via the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in Obese strain (OS) chickens afflicted with spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis. These animals are deficient in plasma corticosterone increase after antigenic challenge or application of cytokine-containing conditioned medium of mitogen-stimulated spleen cells (CM). To investigate whether the impaired ability to respond to cytokines with glucocorticoid-increasing factor (GIF) activity, e.

Microcirculatory functions in systemic sclerosis: additional parameters for therapeutic concepts?

To study the functional reactivity of the cutaneous microcirculation in progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), hyperemic responses after arterial occlusion (3 min) and during local heating (42 degrees C) were investigated with simultaneous measurements of red blood cell flux and cutaneous oxygen tension (pcuO2) of the skin in female patients (n = 19) with PSS and in healthy female controls (n = 15). Additionally, serum levels of 6-keto-prostaglandin 1 alpha (PGF1 alpha), a stable metabolite of prostacyclin, were compared to the microcirculatory data, and both were used to evaluate further a standardized therapy with 10-d intravenous calcitonin (100 IU/d) infusion in six PSS patients. In PSS, the initial mean pcuO2 value was significantly reduced and was inversely proportional to flux and to PGF1 alpha levels, whereas the flux and pcuO2 responses to the above hyperemic stimuli showed significant reductions, revealing a pattern of "hyperemic hypoxia" probably due to exhausted functional reserves of cutaneous perfusion.

Effects of interferon-alpha-2b on the clinical course, inflammatory skin infiltrates and peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with severe atopic eczema.

Increased serum IgE and enhanced susceptibility to viral infections, decreased levels of interferons, lymphocytic skin infiltrates and IgE-bearing epidermal Langerhans cells are striking features in patients with atopic eczema (AE). Since the hyper-IgE syndrome is known to improve under alpha-interferon (alpha-IFN) therapy, we treated 7 patients with severe AE and high serum IgE exclusively with 3 x 10(6) units IFN alpha 2b thrice weekly for 3 months. Before treatment the skin infiltrates mainly consisted of CD3+/CD4+/TcR alpha/beta + lymphocytes, whereas the CD3+/CD8+ phenotype was limited to about 10% of cells.