High-mobility InSnZnO Thin Film Transistors via Introducing Water Vapor Sputtering Gas.

There is always a doubt that introducing water during oxide growing has a positive or negative effect on the properties of oxide films and devices. Herein, a comparison experiment on the condition of keeping the same oxygen atom flux in the sputtering chamber is designed to examine the influences of H2O on In-Sn-Zn-O (ITZO) films and their transistors. In comparison to no-water films, numerous unstable hydrogen-related defects are induced on with-water films at the as-deposited state. Paradoxically, this induction triggers an ordered enhancement in the microstructure of the films during conventional annealing, characterized by a reduction in H-related and vacancy (Vo) defects as well as an increase in film packing density and the M-O network ordering. Ultimately, the no-water thin-film transistors (TFTs) exhibit nonswitching behavior, whereas 5 sccm-water TFT demonstrates excellent electrical performance with a remarkable saturation field-effect mobility (µFE) of 122.10 ± 5.00 cm2·V-1·s-1, a low threshold (Vth) of -2.30 ± 0.40 V, a steep sub-threshold swing (SS) of 0.18 V·dec-1, a high output current (Ion) of 1420 µA, and a small threshold voltage shift ΔVth of -0.77 V in the negative bias stability test (3600 s).

Iron reduction and diopside-based glass ceramic preparation based on mineral carbonation of steel slag.

In this article, a new process for treating steel slag and CO2 simultaneously and preparing calcium carbonate, metallic iron, and glass ceramics without wastewater or gas production is proposed. The reduction of iron and preparation of diopside glass ceramics are studied in this paper, and the results show that the carbon thermal reduction product of the original slag does not reach its melting point, and the slag and iron are well separated in the samples containing the leached steel slag and added silica. Part of the parent glass is converted into a glass ceramic after heat treatment, and the crystalline phases of samples are melilite, diopside, and partial melilite, and diopside and anorthite, respectively. The crystallization activation energy of the best sample in this article is E = 660.664 kJ/mol. The Avrami indices calculated at different heating rates are all less than 3, which indicates that the crystallization mode of the glass involves surface crystallization. This finding is consistent with the results for the prepared glass ceramics.

CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells play a role in tuberculous hydrothorax rather than malignant hydrothorax.

BACKGROUND: Foxp3(+) T cells regulate inflammation and tumorigenesis. However, little is known about the role of different subsets of Foxp3(+) T cells in malignant or tuberculous hydrothorax. METHODS: The numbers of CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+), CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells and the levels of some inflammatory cytokines in patients with tuberculous hydrothorax, malignant hydrothorax, and healthy controls (HCs) were examined by flow cytometry and ELISA. The potential association between the numbers of different subsets of Foxp3 + T cells and the values of clinical measures were analyzed. RESULTS: The numbers of peripheral blood CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) T cells were greater in malignant hydrothorax patients than in HCs, but fewer than those of hydrothorax in patients. The percentages of circulating IL-10(+) or LAP(+) CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) T cells were higher than in the hydrothorax in patients with malignant hydrothorax. The numbers of circulating CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells were significantly fewer in patients with tuberculous hydrothorax than in HCs, and both the numbers of circulating CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) and CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells were significantly fewer than in the hydrothorax in patients. Significantly higher percentages of circulating IL-10(+) or LAP(+) CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) and CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells were detected in tuberculous hydrothorax patients. The numbers of CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) and CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells were associated with hydrothorax adenosine deaminase (ADA) levels in tuberculous hydrothorax patients, while CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) T cells were associated with carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) in malignant hydrothorax patients. The concentrations of serum IL-6 and TGF-ß in the patients were significantly higher than that in the HCs, but lower than that in the corresponding hydrothorax. A similar pattern of IL-10 was observed in different groups, except that there was no significant difference in the levels of serum IL-10 between the tuberculous hydrothorax patients and HCs. CONCLUSIONS: CD4(+)CD25(-)Foxp3(+) T cells, which have lower inhibitory function than CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) T cells, may play a role in tuberculous hydrothorax.

The role of the serum IL-33/sST2 axis and inflammatory cytokines in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The IL-33/sST2 axis is associated with inflammation and cardiac stress. This study examined the roles of serum IL-33/sST2 and other inflammatory cytokines in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, with or without chronic cor pulmonale (CCP). The levels of serum IL-33 and sST2 in 36 COPD patients without CCP, 42 cases with CCP, and 37 healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The concentrations of serum TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12 were analyzed by cytometric bead array. The pulmonary function was also determined. The levels of IL-33 in COPD patients were lower than in patients with CCP during the acute episode stage and HCs, and increased as patients transitioned into the stable phase, especially in patients whose modified medical research council scale values decreased. IL-33 levels were correlated positively with FEV1%pre, FVC%pre, FEF50%pre, and MMEF75/25%pre, while they correlated negatively with center airway resistance. There were no differences in the levels of sST2 among these groups. The concentrations of IL-6 and IL-10 in COPD patients during acute episodes were significantly higher, and decreased during stable phases. IL-33 may be considered an important factor in the pathogenesis of COPD, and decreased IL-33 levels may be an indicator of the pulmonary function decline of COPD patients.