Flexible solar cells based on foldable silicon wafers with blunted edges.

Flexible solar cells have a lot of market potential for application in photovoltaics integrated into buildings and wearable electronics because they are lightweight, shockproof and self-powered. Silicon solar cells have been successfully used in large power plants. However, despite the efforts made for more than 50 years, there has been no notable progress in the development of flexible silicon solar cells because of their rigidity1-4. Here we provide a strategy for fabricating large-scale, foldable silicon wafers and manufacturing flexible solar cells. A textured crystalline silicon wafer always starts to crack at the sharp channels between surface pyramids in the marginal region of the wafer. This fact enabled us to improve the flexibility of silicon wafers by blunting the pyramidal structure in the marginal regions. This edge-blunting technique enables commercial production of large-scale (>240 cm2), high-efficiency (>24%) silicon solar cells that can be rolled similarly to a sheet of paper. The cells retain 100% of their power conversion efficiency after 1,000 side-to-side bending cycles. After being assembled into large (>10,000 cm2) flexible modules, these cells retain 99.62% of their power after thermal cycling between -70 °C and 85 °C for 120 h. Furthermore, they retain 96.03% of their power after 20 min of exposure to air flow when attached to a soft gasbag, which models wind blowing during a violent storm.

Is platelet to lymphocyte ratio predictive of preeclampsia? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the value of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in predicting preeclampsia (PE) in pregnant women. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases were searched for observational studies (cohort, case-control or cross-sectional) that reported pre-treatment maternal PLR values in women with and without PE. The analysis was done using a random effects model. Pooled effect sizes were reported as weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to evaluate the risk of bias. RESULTS: Twenty-five studies with 7755 patients were included in this meta-analysis. PLR was comparable in patients with PE and healthy pregnant women (WMD -2.97; 95% CI: -11.95 to 6.02; N = 16). Patients with mild (WMD -3.00; 95% CI: -17.40 to 11.41; N = 12) and severe PE (WMD -5.77; 95% CI: -25.48 to 13.94; N = 14) had statistically similar PLR, compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show similar PLR in PE and healthy pregnancies. PLR, therefore, may not be used to differentiate between PE and normal pregnancy or for assessing the severity of PE. The majority of included studies were case-control, potentially introducing bias, and we identified evidence of publication bias as well.

This study assessed the use of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) for the prediction of preeclampsia (PE) in pregnant women. After reviewing 25 studies involving 7755 pregnant women, the researchers found that PLR values were similar in women with PE and those with healthy pregnancies. Additionally, PLR did not differ significantly in cases of mild or severe PE, compared to healthy pregnancies. This study concluded that the PLR may not a reliable predictor for PE in pregnant women, nor can it be used to assess the severity of PE. Further research is needed to identify more effective methods for predicting and managing PE in pregnant women.

Treatment with the herbal formula Songyou Yin inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma through downregulation of TGF-ß1 expression and inhibition of the SMAD2/3 signaling pathway.

It was previously reported that treatment with the herbal formula Songyou Yin (SYY) may serve a role in attenuating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In the present study, the effect of treatment with SYY on transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1)-induced EMT was investigated and the potential underlying molecular mechanisms were evaluated. MHCC97H cells were pretreated with SYY for 4 weeks and subsequently named MHCC97HSYY cells. Simultaneously, MHCC97H cells were cultured for 4 weeks without SYY and used as a negative control. Western blot analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays demonstrated that treatment with SYY inhibited EMT-associated changes and TGF-ß1 expression in MHCC97H cells. MHCC97H and MHCC97HSYY cells were treated with 10 ng/ml TGF-ß1 to induce EMT. The results of the present study demonstrated that pretreatment with SYY markedly inhibited TGF-ß1-induced morphological changes, and reversed the expression of the EMT markers E-cadherin and N-cadherin. In addition, expression levels of the TGF-ß1 downstream proteins, phosphorylated mothers against decapentaplegic homologs (p-SMAD)2 and 3, were reduced. Transwell assays indicated that pretreatment with SYY inhibited TGF-ß1-induced cancer cell invasion and migration. The results of the present study indicate that SYY inhibited EMT through attenuation of TGF-ß1 expression, and downregulation of p-SMAD2 and 3.