Prominin‐1‐Specific Binding Peptide‐Modified Apoferritin Nanoparticle Carrying Irinotecan as a Novel Radiosensitizer for Colorectal Cancer Stem‐Like Cells

Resistance of cancer stem cells to radiotherapy remains a major obstacle to successful cancer management. Prominin‐1 (PROM1) is a cancer stem cell marker. Nanoparticle (NP) chemotherapeutics preferentially accumulate in tumors and are able to target cancer and cancer stem‐like cells through cancer cell‐specific ligands, making them uniquely suited as radiosensitizers for chemoradiation therapy. Using a biocompatible apoferritin NP, a PROM1‐targeted NP carrying irinotecan (PROM1‐NP) is engineered. The synergistic effect of the NP and irradiation is evaluated in PROM1‐overexpressing HCT‐116 colorectal cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo. PROM1‐NP has a size of 17.2 ± 0.2 nm and surface charge of ?13.5 ± 0.2 mV. It demonstrates higher intracellular uptake than nontargeted NP or irinotecan alone. Treatment with PROM1‐NPs decreases HCT‐116 cell proliferation in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. In vitro radiosensitization reveals that PROM1‐NP is significantly more effective as a radiosensitizer than nontargeted NP or irinotecan. HCT‐116 tumor xenograft growth is markedly slower following treatment with PROM1‐NP plus irradiation, suggesting that PROM1‐NP is more effective as a radiosensitizer than irinotecan and nontargeted NP in vivo. This study provides the first preclinical evidence of the effectiveness of PROM1‐targeted NP formulation of irinotecan as a radiosensitizer.     

A High-Power,Long-Wavelength Infrared ZnGeP<Subscript>2</Subscript> Opo Pumped by a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis>-Switched Tm,Ho:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> Laser

We report a high-power, long-wavelength infrared ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a Q-switched Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser. The wavelength tuning range of 7.8–9.9 μm is realized by rotating the external angle of the ZGP crystal. We obtain an output power over 30 mW across the whole wavelength range and achieve a 1.71 W output power at 8.08 μm by transmitting the OPO parameters, corresponding to an idler laser slope efficiency of 12.1%.     

Narrow Linewidth Tm:YLF Laser with Volume Bragg Grating Dual-End-Pumped by Equidirectional-Polarization Fiber-Coupled Laser Diode

We demonstrate a narrow linewidth Tm:YLF laser with a volume Bragg grating (VBG) that was pumped by an equidirectional-polarization fiber-coupled laser diode using a dual-end-pumping configuration. For an optimized output coupler with a radius of curvature of 150 mm and transmission of 15% at a wavelength of 1.91 μm, the maximum output power was 15.6 W for an absorbed pump power of 51.7 W at 1,907.93 nm, and the output had a narrow linewidth of 0.22 nm. This corresponds to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 30.2% and the slope efficiency was 36.7%.     

RF and field measurements of the SSC-LINAC RFQ

The 53.667 MHz continuous-wave heavy ion RFQ has been designed and manufactured for the SSC-LINAC project.This four-rod RFQ accelerates ions with maximum mass to charge ratio of 7 from 3.728 keV/u to 143 keV/u.Measurements have been carried out to check the RF performance of the cavity and the quality of the electric field.The S11 of the power coupler is adjusted to better than-44 dB,and the Q0 of the cavity is 6440.The quality of the electric field is evaluated by the perturbation method.The measurement procedure and data analysis will be discussed in detail.The error due to gravity of the perturbation bead has been corrected by averaging the fields in different quadrants.As a result,the unflatness of the electric field is±2.5%,and the dipole field component distributes from 0%to 20%in different longitudinal positions,which indicates the asymmetry of the quadrupole field.The unflatness of the quadrupole field distribution represents a good agreement with the simulation results.High power RF test and beam commissioning of the RFQ are on schedule in early 2014.     

Determination of the cluster spectroscopic factor of the 10.3 MeV state in 12Be

From an inelastic excitation and breakup experiment with a ¹²Be beam at 29 MeV/u, a large ⁴He+⁸He cluster decay width of 1.1(2) MeV is determined for a state at an excitation energy of 10.3 MeV and with a spin parity of 0+. By using the R-matrix analysis, a cluster spectroscopic factor of 0.53(10) is extracted from the cluster partial width, providing a strong support for the clustering structure in ¹²Be. A specially designed zero-degree telescope played an essential role in the present experiment and has been demonstrated to be a promising tool in future studies of the molecular-like resonances near the cluster separation threshold.     

Nonclassicality and Decoherence of the Variable Arcsine State in a Thermal Environment

A kind of non-Gaussian state—variable arcsine state is studied by using the input-output theories which relate the statistical properties of the output field to those of the input field. The variable arcsine state (VAS) is generated by using a variable beam splitter (BS), which means that the transmissivity (reflectivity) of the BS is adjustable continuously. The nonclassicality is investigated by studying the negativity of Wigner function (WF). It is shown that the variable arcsine state has negative values of WF when transmissivity is not equal to 1 or 0. The decoherence effect of the VAS is then studied by analytically deriving the time evolution formula of WF.     

Photovoltaic effect of TiO2 thick films with an ultrathin BiFeO3 as buffer layer

The photovoltaic (PV) effect of a bilayer anatase TiO₂/BiFeO₃ (BFO) film has been studied. The 20-nm ultrathin BFO layers were deposited on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates by the chemical solution deposition method. An anatase TiO₂ layer is deposited subsequently on the BFO surface via a screen-printing technique. It is found that the FTO/TiO₂/Au cell exhibits negligible PV effect under solar exposure, while the one after introducing an ultrathin BFO film between TiO₂ and FTO leads to a considerable PV effect with an open-circuit voltage of ?0.58 V and a photocurrent density of 18.27 µA/cm². The FTO/BiVO₄ (BVO)/TiO₂/Au cell was constructed to investigate the underlying mechanism for the observed effect. A negligible PV effect of the FTO/BVO/TiO₂/Au cell indicates that the PV effect of the FTO/BFO/TiO₂/Au cell arises mainly from a built-in electric field in the BFO film induced by the self-polarization. Our work opens up a new path to utilize TiO₂ and may influence the future design of solar cells.