Room-Temperature Columnar Liquid Crystals as Efficient Pure Deep-Blue Emitters in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with an External Quantum Efficiency of 4.0.

A novel design of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) active columnar (Col) luminomesogens is reported, and they are demonstrated to act as highly efficient deep-blue emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). All derivatives exhibit Col liquid crystalline (LC) behavior at room temperature over a wide temperature range and desirable alignment properties, which is very important in using them as materials for organic electronic devices. These new AIE active luminomesogens were found to act as highly efficient emitters in OLEDs and unveiled a maximum external quantum efficiency of 4.0% for the first time in Col LCs with Commission International de l'E'clairage coordinates of (0.17, 0.07), which closely matches the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard, corresponding to pure deep blue color. The detailed supramolecular assembly of the compounds has been characterized by modeling in the mesophase derived from small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering results.

[Effect of anti-androgen and progesterone on development of regrowth antlers in 6 year old sika deer].

To investigate the effects of anti-androgen drugs and melengestrol acetate (MGA) on development of regrowth antlers in 6 year old sika deer, twenty healthysika deerwith similar body weight and antler weightwere randomly divided into five groups by using single factor test design: flutamide (n=4), bicalutamide (n=4), progesterone acetate (CPA, n=4), melengestrol acetate (MGA, n=4), control(n=4). All deer were fed with same diets and were housed outside together in an opened fence of 15 m×30 m with free access to water and feed. Treatment groups were injected subcutaneously sustained-release agents of the four drugs respectively when two-branched antlers were harvested. The control group had no special treatment. In the experiment period of 60 d, blood sampleswere collected for 4 times for each deer. The concentration of testosterone in plasma was tested and analyzed to compare the changes between different groups. Development of regrowth antlers was observed. At the end of the experiment, regrowth antlers were weighted and analyzed. The resultsshowed that the weights of regrowth antlers in treatment groups were significantly greater than those from control group and the weight gain (as compared with the control group) was 100.50%, 64.46%, 87.16% and 117.46% respectively in flutamide group, bicalutamide group, progesterone acetate group and melengestrol acetate group. For plasma testosterone concentration, it was not significantly different in the early stage (in the first 35 d), but at the end of the experimen, it was significantly higher than that of earlier stage (P<0.01) in various groups. Testosterone concentration of flutamide treated group was significantly lower than that of the other groups (P<0.01), while the level inbicalutamide and MGA treated groups was significantly higher than that in other groups (P<0.01). The results showed that both anti-androgen drugs and MGA treatment promoted the development of regrowth antlers and increased the weight of regrowth antlers, where the effect was most significant by MGA treatment. From the morphological observation of the antlers, it was found that anti-androgen and MGA treatments prolonged the growth period of regrowth antlers through delaying the ossification of antlers. However, plasma testosterone concentration was not affected by the treatments.

Inhibition of tumor metastasis in vivo by combination of paclitaxel and hyaluronic acid.

There is little information about the inhibitory effects of hyaluronic acid with paclitaxel on tumor metastasis and ascites formation. The aim of present study is to determine whether the combined administration of hyaluronic acid (HA) with paclitaxel can produce additional or synergistic therapeutic effects in the control of Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) migration and ascites formation of U14 cervical tumor. The anti-metastasis effect of hyaluronic acid alone, paclitaxel alone and paclitaxel-hyaluronic acid combination were examined in a mouse model bearing LLC cells. i.v. Paclitaxel-hyaluronic acid, in the ratio of 1:3 (w/w), significantly reduced the migration of LLC cells in a synergistic fashion. In the experiment with mice bearing U14 tumor cells, i.p. paclitaxel-hyaluronic acid markedly improved the life span of mice and significantly decreased ascites formation when compared to paclitaxel alone or hyalunonan alone. We also analyzed the serum proteome of mice with lung neoplasm before and after treatment with paclitaxel-hyaluronic acid. Proteomic analysis on LLC mice was studied using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and mass spectrometry. The results showed that i.v. administration of hyaluronic acid in combination with paclitaxel had significantly up-regulated the expression of vitamin D(3) binding proteins (DBP), which is a macrophage-stimulating activator. In conclusion, the in vivo anti-metastasis effect was associated with the synergistic therapeutic effects of hyaluronic acid-paclitaxel combination and a significant promotion of immune proteins expression. These results demonstrated that the combination of paclitaxel and hyaluronic acid may be an effective way to inhibit tumor migration.

A fluorescence study of sodium hyaluronate/surfactant interactions in aqueous media.

The interactions between sodium hyaluronate, an anionic polysaccharide, with surfactants (anionic and nonionic) were investigated using pyrene fluorescence measurement methods. The change of micropolarity produced by the interaction was monitored by the measurement of emission intensity ratio between the first and third bands (I1/I3), and the intensity ratio of the excimer and the third vibration monomer band (I(E)/I(M)). Because the hydrophilic heads on the SDS were attracted by the domains formed by the hydroxyl groups of hyaluronate, the I1/I3 ratio was reduced by the addition of hyaluronate at lower than 0.06% of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) concentration. No aggregation was observed between hyaluronate and nonionic surfactants (Tween-80 and Cremophor EL) in the whole concentration range studied. At a higher concentration of surfactant, the I1/I3 ratio of hyaluronate/surfactant was influenced by the addition of saccharide (glucose, lactose, or mannitol). However, the effect of saccharide could be reduced by the addition of salt.