Side chain effect on conjugated polymer/fullerene interfaces in organic solar cells: a DFT study.

Considerable experimental research has been conducted on the influence of polymer alkyl side chains on the performance of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. However, greater insight into the role of alkyl side chains in the polymer/fullerene interfacial regions is still needed. Using the dispersion-corrected density functional theory, we investigate the effect of alkyl side chains on the binding energies and electronic structures of various molecular pairings of fullerenes and monomers of organic copolymers (e.

Conformational Analysis of the Supramolecular Complexation of Diaryl-Substituted Tetrathiafulvalene Vinylogues with Fullerenes.

Tetrathiafulvalene vinylogues (TTFVs) functionalized with diaryl substituents (aryl = 1-napthyl, 9-anthryl, and 1-pyrenyl) via click chemistry have been previously synthesized and studied as tweezer-type receptors for binding with C and C fullerenes. In particular, dianthryl-TTFV exhibits unique selectivity for C fullerene, giving rise to effective fluorescence turn-on sensing of C in the presence of a large excess of C fullerene. This observation indicated that dianthryl-TTFV has a preferential binding affinity for C over C fullerene, but the reason for such selectivity is unclear.

The role of the solvent and the size of the nanotube in the non-covalent dispersion of carbon nanotubes with short organic oligomers - a DFT study.

Among different dispersants of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), conjugated organic oligomers have the ability to interact strongly with SWCNTs and allow for effective dispersion in several organic solvents. Recently, we have carried out two computational investigations on the intermolecular interactions between conjugated organic oligomers and SWCNTs in order to gain insight into an important process of the non-covalent dispersion of carbon nanotubes with short oligomers. These studies highlighted the fact that two additional factors, namely, the effects of the solvent and the carbon nanotube's size on these interactions need further investigation.

DFT investigation of the interaction between single-walled carbon nanotubes and fluorene-based conjugated oligomers.

π-Conjugated oligomers with relatively short molecular backbones can be used effectively in dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In this paper, we present a systematic study on interactions between diphenylene-fluorene oligomers (DPFs) and single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Four DFT methods are used in this work: the long range (LR)-corrected CAM-B3LYP, the dispersion (D)-corrected B97D, the LR- and D-corrected wB97XD, and the hybrid B3LYP.

Hybrid Capture 2 is as effective as PCR testing for high-risk human papillomavirus in head and neck cancers.

High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a common cause of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, especially in young male nonsmokers. Accurately diagnosing HPV-associated oral cancers is important, because they have a better prognosis and may be treated differently than smoking-related oral carcinomas. Various methods have been validated to test for high-risk HPV in cervical tissue samples, and they are in routine clinical use to detect dysplasia before it progresses to invasive disease.

Genomic analyses of gynaecologic carcinosarcomas reveal frequent mutations in chromatin remodelling genes.

Malignant mixed Müllerian tumours, also known as carcinosarcomas, are rare tumours of gynaecological origin. Here we perform whole-exome analyses of 22 tumours using massively parallel sequencing to determine the mutational landscape of this tumour type. On average, we identify 43 mutations per tumour, excluding four cases with a mutator phenotype that harboured inactivating mutations in mismatch repair genes.

A molecular case report: functional assay of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in cells from a patient's primary renal cell carcinoma.

Current therapies for Renal Cell Carcinoma favor vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGF-R) tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitors (TKIs). In theory, these are most applicable in tumors that have lost VHL-with subsequent stabilization of HIF and upregulation of VEGF. A subset of patients harbor primary-refractory disease, as in this case, where there was no evidence for loss of VHL or chromosome 3p.

The effect of side-chain length on the solid-state structure and optoelectronic properties of fluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole based conjugated polymers--a DFT study.

Using the dispersion corrected density functional theory (DFT-D/B97D) approach, we have performed bulk solid-state calculations to investigate the influence of side-chain length on the molecular packing and optoelectronic properties of poly (9,9-di-n-alkylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) or FnBT's where n is the number of CH(2) units in the alkyl side-chains. Our results indicate that the FnBT's with longer side-chains in their most stable configurations, due to the significant intermolecular interactions between the side-chains, form lamellar crystal structures. On the other hand, for the FnBT's with shorter side-chains, two nearly degenerate stable crystal structures with nearly hexagonal symmetries have been found.

Dermal reflectivity determined by optical coherence tomography is an indicator of epidermal hyperplasia and dermal edema within inflamed skin.

Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disease resulting from genetic and environmental alterations of cutaneous immune responses. While numerous therapeutic targets involved in the immunopathogenesis of psoriasis have been identified, the in vivo dynamics of inflammation in psoriasis remain unclear. We undertook in vivo time course focus-tracked optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging to noninvasively document cutaneous alterations in mouse skin treated topically with Imiquimod (IMQ), an established model of a psoriasis-like disease.

Regulation of the psoriatic chemokine CCL20 by E3 ligases Trim32 and Piasy in keratinocytes.

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disorder with aberrant regulation of keratinocytes and immunocytes. Although it is well known that uncontrolled keratinocyte proliferation is largely driven by proinflammatory cytokines from the immunocytes, the functional role of keratinocytes in the regulation of immunocytes is poorly understood. Recently, we found that tripartite motif-containing protein 32 (Trim32), an E3-ubiquitin ligase, is elevated in the epidermal lesions of human psoriasis.

p73 expression modulates p63 and Mdm2 protein presence in complex with p53 family-specific DNA target sequence in squamous cell carcinogenesis.

The expression of p73 and p63 isoforms is frequently deregulated in human epithelial tumors. We previously showed that loss of p73 protein expression associates with malignant conversion in vivo and ionizing radiation (IR) resistance in vitro in a clonal model of mouse epidermal carcinogenesis. Here we show that loss of endogenous p73 expression in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells and tumors was concomitant with preferential DNA binding of the inhibitory DeltaNp63alpha isoform and reduction of transcriptionally active p63gamma isoforms binding to a p21 promoter sequence in vitro.

Microtubule disruption and tumor suppression by mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 4.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) is one of the downstream effectors of the Ras pathway whose activation is essential for the proliferation and survival of cancer cells. Erk activation is negatively regulated by mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatases (MKP), which are generally up-regulated by Erk activation, thus forming a feedback loop for regulation of Erk activity. In searching for early alterations in the Ras pathway in epidermal carcinogenesis, we identified MKP4, a cytosolic MKP with specificity to not only Erk, but also, to a lesser extent, c-jun-NH(2)-kinase and p38.

p73 loss triggers conversion to squamous cell carcinoma reversible upon reconstitution with TAp73alpha.

The expression level of the p53 family member, p73, is frequently deregulated in human epithelial cancers, correlating with tumor invasiveness, therapeutic resistance, and poor patient prognosis. However, the question remains whether p73 contributes directly to the process of malignant conversion or whether aberrant p73 expression represents a later selective event to maintain tumor viability. We explored the role of p73 in malignant conversion in a clonal model of epidermal carcinogenesis.

Imaging melanoma in a murine model using reflectance-mode confocal scanning laser microscopy and polarized light imaging.

The light-scattering properties of cutaneous tissues provide optical contrast for imaging the presence and depth of pigmented melanoma in a highly pigmented murine model, the C57/B6 mouse. Early lesions are difficult to identify when viewing black lesions on a black mouse. Two methods were used to image early lesions in this model.

Melanocyte and keratinocyte carcinogenesis: p53 family protein activities and intersecting mRNA expression profiles.

Melanocytes and keratinocytes were analyzed for potential roles of p53, p73, and p63 tumor suppressor family proteins and of malignancy-specific gene expression changes in the etiology of multi-step cancer. Melanocytes expressed deltaNp73alpha, two p63 isoforms and p53. Although p21 and Noxa mRNA levels increased following DNA damage, p53 family member binding to p21 and Noxa DNA probes was undetectable, suggesting p53 family-independent responses.

Facilitated search for specific genomic targets by p53 C-terminal basic DNA binding domain.

p53 is a unique DNA binding protein with two distinct DNA binding domains, the central domain for sequence-specific DNA binding and the C-terminal basic DNA binding domain (BD domain) for structure-specific DNA binding. In contrast to the apparent inhibitory effect of the BD domain on p53 binding to sequence-specific DNA in vitro, here we demonstrate that the BD domain enhances p53 binding to the endogenous p21(Waf1) promoter and mediates rapid transactivation of p21.(Waf1) This paradox is resolved by the observation that the BD domain is required for rapid binding to non-sequence-specific genomic DNA (NS-DNA) as evident from global chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis of p53 DNA binding in vivo.

Electrochemical Behavior of Sodium Anions.

Electrochemical studies of sodium and its salts were carried out in 0.1 M TBAP and in electrolyte-free tetrahydrofuran solutions at room temperature. Working electrodes employed in these studies were platinum and mercury film ultramicroelectrodes, as well as a sodium electrode.

Induction of gene amplification as a gain-of-function phenotype of mutant p53 proteins.

Gene amplification accompanies tumor progression and is involved in the development of drug resistance. Previously, we reported (A. Albor et al.