Regulating Deposition Pressures During Rapid Thermal Evaporation Processes to Enable Efficient Sb2 Se3 Solar Cells.

Sb2 Se3 solar cells deposited by rapid thermal evaporation (RTE) have drawn extensive attention owing to their compatibility with the commercial production line of CdTe solar cells and can be used to fabricate high-quality Sb2 Se3 films with high reproducibility. However, the deposition pressure during the RTE process has not been clearly explored, although it has a significant effect on the Sb2 Se3 film quality. A novel two-step deposition strategy is proposed that finely regulates the deposition pressure to improve the quality of Sb2 Se3 absorber layers, thereby improving the device performance of Sb2 Se3 solar cells. This novel method includes a rapid deposition process under a low pressure (5 mTorr) and an in situ annealing process under a relatively high pressure (200 Torr). The maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of Sb2 Se3 solar cells fabricated by two-step deposited approach is up to 8.12%. The PCE enhancement is attributed to the increased grain size, reduced grain boundaries, modified surface Fermi level gradient of the absorber layer, and improved defect performance. This innovative deposition technique is expected to benefit other low-melting-point metal sulfoselenides for solar cell applications.

Influence of age on static postural control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study.

Aim: It was the aim of this study to assess static postural control characteristics in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) of different ages using a force platform. A relationship was also established between static postural control parameters and age in this study. Methods: A total of 706 participants with T2D were included in this study. The participants were stratified into three age groups: Group 1 (<60 years old), Group 2 (60-70 years old), and Group 3 (>70 years old). Static postural control assessment during two-leg stance was performed on a force platform by all participants. The center of pressure (CoP)-related parameters were measured under two stance conditions (eyes open and closed). Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied to explore the difference among the different age groups. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine the relation between age and static postural control parameters. Results: Group 1 (<60 years old) had significantly less CoP total tracking length (TTL), sway area (SA), and CoP velocity along the Y direction (V-Y) under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions compared with Group 2 (60-70 years old) and Group 3 (>70 years old). Group 1 (<60 years old) had significantly less CoP maximum sway length along the X direction (MSL_X) and longer tracking length each area unit (TTL/SA) under the eyes-open condition compared with Group 2 (60-70 years old) and Group 3 (>70 years old). There was a significantly positive correlation between age and the most static postural parameters such as CoP TTL, SA, MSL-X, MSL-Y, and V-Y. There was a significantly negative correlation between age and TTL/SA. Conclusion: This study suggested that older T2D participants had worse static postural control ability than younger ones. Most static postural parameters presented a significant correlation with age; the higher the age, the worse the static postural control.

[Application of external skin expansion in repair of massive skin and soft tissue defects].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical effect of external tissue expansion in the repair of massive skin and soft tissue defects. METHODS: From August 1998 to January 2004, 10 patients with massive skin and soft tissue defects ( the area ranging from 10 cm x 4 cm to 24 cm x 15 cm) , including 7 with wounds in the leg, 2 with wounds in knee region, and 1 with wounds in the forearm, were enrolled in the study. All patients were subjected to external tissue expansion together with external skeletal fixation for 2 -3 weeks, then the wounds were closed with suturing or supplemented with skin flaps. RESULTS: The defects were closed completely after external expansion in 4 cases, and in other 5 cases the wounds were significantly decreased in area, and the residual wounds were covered with free skin grafting. In I case the wound could only be reduced in size, and the residual wound was closed with a local flap. Follow-up from 1 to 12 months showed that the wounds were closed with normal cutaneous sensation and good appearance. CONCLUSION: External skin expansion is a simple, economical method for repair of massive skin soft-tissue defect, which can significantly be reduced or entirely closed.

[Application of pedicled anterolateral thigh flap transferring for coverage of oversized skin defect of hand].

OBJECTIVE: To introduce the application of the pedicled anterolateral thigh flap transferring for coverage of the oversized skin defect of the hand. METHODS: The pedicled anterolateral thigh flap was transferred to cover the large skin defects of the hands or the skin defects of the abdomen after the abdominal flap transferred to the hand in 5 male patients aged 16-44 years from April 2002 to August 2005. The injured sites were as follows:4 right hands and 1 left hand, including 2 hands injured by a machine and 3 hands injured by burning. The mechanically injured patients underwent an operation within 6 hours after the injury. The burned patients were reconstructed by the flap transferring 4-7 days after the burn when the decayed tissues could be clearly indentified. The areas of the hand defects were 12-19 cm x 18-22 cm. The areas of the pedicled anterolateral thigh flaps were 7-12 cm x 16-24 cm. The areas of the abdominal flaps were 13-20 cm x 19-23 cm. The pedicles were separated 3 weeks after the repairing operation. RESULTS: All the flaps survived well and there was no vascular crisis, with the wound healing of the first intention. The skin defects of the hand were covered completely. Five patients were followed up for 6-12 months. The texture of the flaps was soft and the flaps had a good blood circulation. Of the patients, 3 underwent the finger exclusion and degreasing operation 4-7 months after operation. All the flaps of the hands had protective sensation, which could meet the requirement of the daily life. CONCLUSION: The pedicled anterolateral thigh flap can provide the large coverage for the skin defects of the hands. The risk of the operation can be greatly decreased by obviation of the vessel anastomosis. It can be an optimal choice for the management of the oversized skin defects of the hands.

Amplification and overexpression of prosaposin in prostate cancer.

We identified prosaposin (PSAP) as a secreted protein expressed in androgen-independent (AI) prostate cancer cells by cloning/sequencing, after probing a PC-3 cDNA library expressed in the lambdaTriplEx phagemid expression vector with a polyclonal rabbit antibody generated against pooled human seminal plasma. PSAP is a neurotrophic molecule; its deficiency or inactivation has proved to be lethal in man and mice, and in mice, it leads to abnormal development and atrophy of the prostate gland, despite normal testosterone levels. We used Southern hybridization, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and/or single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array analysis, and we now report the genomic amplification of PSAP in the metastatic AI prostate cancer cell lines, PC-3, DU-145, MDA-PCa 2b, M-12, and NCI-H660. In addition, by using SNP arrays and a set of 25 punch biopsy samples of human prostate cancer xenografts (LAPC3, LuCaP 23.1, 35, 49, 58, 73, 77, 81, 86.2, 92.1, 93, 96, 105, and 115), lymph nodes, and visceral-organ metastases, we detected amplification of the PSAP locus (10q22.1) in LuCaP 58 and 96 xenografts and two lymph node metastases. In addition, AI metastatic prostate cancer cell lines C4-2B and IA8-ARCaP over-expressed PSAP mRNA without evidence of genomic amplification. Taken together with prior data that demonstrated the growth-, migration-, and invasion-promoting activities, the activation of multiple signal transduction pathways, and the antiapoptotic effect of PSAP (or one of its active domains, saposin C) in prostate cancer cells, our current observation of PSAP amplification or overexpression in prostate cancer suggests, for the first time, a role for this molecule in the process of carcinogenesis or cancer progression in the prostate.