Lyotropic Boron Nitride Nanotube Liquid Crystals: Preparation, Characterization, and Wet-Spinning for Fabrication of Composite Fiber.

Microfiber fabrication via wet-spinning of lyotropic liquid crystals (LCs) with anisotropic nanomaterials has gained increased attention due to the microfibers' excellent physical/chemical properties originating from the unidirectional alignment of anisotropic nanomaterials along the fiber axis with high packing density. For wet-spinning of the microfibers, however, preparing lyotropic LCs by achieving high colloidal stability of anisotropic nanomaterials, even at high concentrations, has been a critically unmet prerequisite, especially for recently emerging nanomaterials. Here, we propose a cationically charged polymeric stabilizer that can efficiently be adsorbed on the surface of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), which provide steric hindrance in combination with Coulombic repulsion leading to high colloidal stability of BNNTs up to 22 wt %.

Oleanolic acid 3-acetate, a minor element of ginsenosides, induces apoptotic cell death in ovarian carcinoma and endometrial carcinoma cells via the involvement of a reactive oxygen species-independent mitochondrial pathway.

Objectives: Oleanolic acid, a minor element of ginsenosides, and its derivatives have been shown to have cytotoxicity against some tumor cells. The impact of cytotoxic effect of oleanolic acid 3-acetate on ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells and endometrial cancer HEC-1A cells were examined both and to explore the underlying mechanisms.

Methods: Cytotoxic effects of oleanolic acid 3-acetate were assessed by cell viability, phosphatidylserine exposure on the cell surface, mitochondrial release of cytochrome C, nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor, depolarization of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨ), and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Electrohydrodynamic-Jet (EHD)-Printed Diketopyrrolopyroole-Based Copolymer for OFETs and Circuit Applications.

We report the employment of an electrohydrodynamic-jet (EHD)-printed diketopyrrolopyrrole-based copolymer (P-29-DPPDTSE) as the active layer of fabricated organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and circuits. The device produced at optimal conditions showed a field-effect mobility value of 0.45 cm/(Vs).

Data Collection as Disruption: Insights from a Longitudinal Study of Young Adulthood.

Research disrupts the social world, often by making respondents aware that they are being observed or by instigating reflection upon particular aspects of life via the very act of asking questions. Building on insights from the first Hawthorne studies, reflexive ethnographers, and methodologists concerned with panel conditioning, we draw on six years of research within a community in southern Malawi to introduce a conceptual framework for theorizing disruption in observational research. We present a series of poignant-yet-typical tales from the field and two additional tools-the refresher-sample-as-comparison and study-focused ethnography-for measuring disruption empirically in a longitudinal study.

Educational expansion and health disparities in Ethiopia, 2005-2016.

Research shows that basic education improves population health, yet it remains unclear whether the expansion of primary education decreases health disparities. In this paper, I assess whether disparities in healthcare utilization decreased in conjunction with educational expansion among women of reproductive age in Ethiopia. Healthcare utilization rates in low-resource countries are often confounded with simultaneous developments in education and access to basic healthcare.

A Quinacridone-Diphenylquinoxaline-Based Copolymer for Organic Field-Effect Transistors.

In this work, we characterized poly(quinacridone-diphenylquinoxaline) (PQCTQx). PQCTQx was synthesized by a Suzuki coupling reaction and the synthesized PQCTQx was used as a polymeric semiconducting material in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) to research the potential of using quinacridone derivatives. The measured field-effect mobility of the pristine PQCTQx film was 6.

"Off-clamp, non-renorrhaphy" laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with perirenal fat and Gerota's fascia reapproximation: initial experience and perioperative outcomes.

Purpose: To describe our initial experience of "off-clamp, non-renorrhaphy" laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (OCNR-LPN) with perirenal fat and Gerota's fascia reapproximation technique.

Patients And Methods: Between August 2012 and March 2013, 24 consecutive patients underwent OCNR-LPN at our institution. After the renal mass excision, biologic hemostatics such as FLOSEAL™ and TISSEEL™ (both from Baxter Healthcare Corp.

Factors Influencing the Operative Approach to Renal Tumors: Analyses According to RENAL Nephrometry Scores.

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between RENAL nephrometry score (RNS) and operative approach for renal masses.

Materials And Methods: This study included 206 consecutive patients who underwent renal tumor surgery between January 2008 and October 2012. We divided the patients into four groups by surgical approach: open radical nephrectomy (ORN, 53 patients), laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN, 83 patients), open partial nephrectomy (OPN, 31 patients), and laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN, 39 patients).

The efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced upper tract urothelial cell carcinoma.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy for locally advanced upper tract urothelial cell carcinoma (UTUC) following radical nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff resection (RNU) in terms of survival and recurrence.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2000 and January 2013, among 145 patients with upper tract urothelial cell carcinoma, a total of 65 patients with locally advanced UTUC (a diagnosis of pT3 or pT4 or pT1-2N1-3) underwent RNU. Of these 65 patients, 36 patients received at least three cycles of adjuvant gemcitabine plus cisplatin chemotherapy and the remaining 29 patient did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the suprapubic cystostomy tract with bladder involvement.

Herein we report a case of a squamous cell carcinoma of a well-healed suprapubic cystostomy tract scar involving the bladder mucosa in a 56-year-old man. He presented with a spontaneous suprapubic urinary leak from a suprapubic cystostomy tract scar. He had a history of urethral stricture and failed urethroplasty.

The effects of a 1.8 GHz continuous electromagnetic fields on mucociliary transport of human nasal mucosa.

Objectives/hypothesis: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a 1.8 GHz continuous electromagnetic fields (EMF) on human nasal mucociliary transport, and to determine the pathophysiology of ciliary beat frequency (CBF) during an EMF-induced change.

Methods: Human nasal mucosa cells were exposed to a 1.

Clinical features of recurrent or persistent benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Objectives: To identify clinical features and causes of recurrent or persistent benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and to analyze the effectiveness of frequently repeated canalith repositioning procedures (CRPs).

Study Design: Case series with chart review.

Setting: Academic university hospital.

Syndecan-1 overexpression promotes tumor growth and angiogenesis in an endometrial cancer xenograft model.

Objectives: Upregulation of syndecan-1, a member of the transmembranous proteoglycans that serves as a coreceptor for a wide pool of extracellular ligands, has been well documented in enabling the promotion of growth and invasion of endometrial cancer. As a step toward understanding a potential role for syndecan-1 in this process, we questioned whether syndecan-1 upregulates tumor-promoting characteristics, particularly, angiogenesis in an in vivo human xenograft tumor model.

Methods: Human syndecan-1 was stably transfected into human endometrial adenocarcinoma 1A cells, and resulting transfectants were subcutaneously grafted into athymic mice; their outcomes were examined with respect to the enhancement of tumor growth and angiogenesis by immunohistochemistry, immunoblotting, and zymography.

Evaluation of in vitro spermatogenesis using poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-based macroporous biodegradable scaffolds.

Successful in vitro differentiation of spermatogenic cells into spermatids appears to offer extremely attractive potential for the treatment of impaired spermatogenesis and male infertility. Experimental evidence indicates that biocompatible polymers may improve in vitro reconstitution and regeneration of tissues of various origins. Here, we fabricated highly porous biodegradable poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) or PLGA co-polymer scaffolds by combining the gas-foaming and salt-leaching methods, using ammonium bicarbonate as a porogen, which allowed us to generate polymer scaffolds with a high density of interconnected pores of 400-500 µm in average diameter, concomitant with a high malleability to mould a wide range of temporal tissue scaffolds requiring a specific shape and geometry.

Syndecan-1 enhances the endometrial cancer invasion by modulating matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression through nuclear factor kappaB.

Objectives: Up-regulated expression of syndecan-1, a member of the transmembranous proteoglycans that serves as a co-receptor for a wide pool of extracellular ligands, has been ascribed to the promotion of growth of various cancers including breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. Here, we have extended these observations to gain insight into correlation between the expression level of syndecan-1 and its tumor-promoting characteristics, particularly, cancer invasion, in endometrial cancer.

Methods: Human syndecan-1 was stably transfected into three human endometrial cancer cell lines, and its effects were examined with respect to cell survival/proliferation and invasion.