Comparison of properties of titanium aluminium nitride film produced by using two different types of Ti–Al target

This work aims to study the influence of two different types of Ti–Al target (sintered and melted) which have same nominal composition (50 at% Ti, 50 at% Al) on the properties of thin films coated by using arc ion plating (AIP) method. The hardness of the melted target was of higher value than that of the sintered target. The property of the film is related to the microstructure and phase analysis of both types of target that have quite different phases. Ti and Al metals were found as major phases and TiAl₂ as minor phase in the sintered target but only TiAl compound was found in the melted target. After film coating at the same operation parameters, it was found that although the phase structures of the sintered and melted targets were quite different, the coated thin films using these targets showed the same phase structure of Ti_0.5 Al_0.5 N. However, the microstructure of films coated by using the sintered target showed higher density of droplets and pores than those of film produced by using the melted target. As a result, the hardness and adhesion strength of thin film produced by using the melted target were slightly higher than those values of film produced by using the sintered target. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kallikrein-11, in Association with Coiled-Coil Domain Containing 25, as a Potential Prognostic Marker for Cholangiocarcinoma with Lymph Node Metastasis

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignancy arising from cholangiocytes. Currently, the treatment and prognosis for CCA are mostly poor. Recently, we have reported that coiled-coil domain containing 25 (CCDC25) protein level in the sera may be a diagnostic marker for CCA. Subsequently, we identified three binding proteins of CCDC25 and found that kallikrein-11 (KLK11) expression was highest among those binding proteins. In this study, we investigated CCDC25 and KLK11 expression in CCA and adjacent normal tissues (n = 18) using immunohistochemistry. The results demonstrated that the expressions of CCDC25 and KLK11 in CCA tissues were both significantly higher than the adjacent tissues (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Then, using GEPIA bioinformatics analysis, KLK11 mRNA was significantly overexpressed in CCA tumor tissues compared with normal tissues (p < 0.05). Moreover, CCDC25 expression was positively correlated with KLK11 expression in CCA with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.028, r = 0.593). An analysis for the interaction of KLK11 with CCDC25 and other proteins, using STRING version 11.0, revealed that CCDC25 and KLK11 correlated with metastasis-related proteins. In addition, Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis revealed that a high expression of KLK11 was associated with the poor prognosis of CCA. In conclusion, KLK11 is, as a binding protein for CCDC25, possibly involved in the metastatic process of CCA. KLK11 may be used as a prognostic marker for CCA.     

Bioinformatic Prediction of Signaling Pathways for Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endodeoxyribonuclease 1 (APEX1) and Its Role in Cholangiocarcinoma Cells

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1 (APEX1) is involved in the DNA damage repair pathways and associates with the metastasis of several human cancers. However, the signaling pathway of APEX1 in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) has never been reported. In this study, to predict the signaling pathways of APEX1 and related proteins and their functions, the effects of APEX1 gene silencing on APEX1 and related protein expression in CCA cell lines were investigated using mass spectrometry and bioinformatics tools. Bioinformatic analyses predicted that APEX1 might interact with cell division cycle 42 (CDC42) and son of sevenless homolog 1 (SOS1), which are involved in tumor metastasis. RNA and protein expression levels of APEX1 and its related proteins, retrieved from the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and the Human Protein Atlas databases, revealed that their expressions were higher in CCA than in the normal group. Moreover, higher levels of APEX1 expression and its related proteins were correlated with shorter survival time. In conclusion, the signaling pathway of APEX1 in metastasis might be mediated via CDC42 and SOS1. Furthermore, expression of APEX1 and related proteins is able to predict poor survival of CCA patients.     

Characterization of acidity in [B], [Al], and [Ga] isomorphously substituted ZSM‐5: Embedded DFT/UFF approach

The structure and electronic properties of the Brønsted acid site in B, Al or Ga isomorphously substituted ZSM‐5 zeolites were studied by using quantum cluster and embedded ONIOM approaches. In the former approach, zeolites are modeled by 5T and 12T quantum clusters, where T represents a Si or Al atom. In the latter model, called “Embedded ONIOM”, the long‐range interactions of the zeolite lattice beyond the 12T quantum cluster is included via optimized point charges added to the ONIOM(B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p):UFF). Inclusion of the extended zeolitic framework covering the nanocavity has an effect on the structure and adsorption properties. We found that the OH distances and v OH of the acidic proton in zeolite obtained from both models can predict the trend of acid strength as: B‐ZSM‐5 < Ga‐ZSM‐5 < Al‐ZSM‐5, which is in very good agreement with the experimental sequence. Furthermore, the PA data calculated from E‐ONIOM is also consistent with the experimental trend: B‐ZSM‐5 < Ga‐ZSM‐5 < Al‐ZSM‐5. It has, therefore, been demonstrated that our embedded ONIOM model provides accurate performance and can be one of the useful and affordable methods for future mechanistic studies involving petrochemical reactions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Synthesis and properties of oligofluorene-thiophenes as emissive materials for organic electroluminescent devices: color-tuning from deep blue to orange

A series of oligofluorene-thiophenes end-capped with 3,6-di-tert-butylcarbazole and pyrene were designed and synthesized for application as color tunable emissive materials for organic electroluminescent devices. They were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, UV–vis, PL spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. Theoretical calculations revealed that the carbazole moiety attached to the end of the molecule is nearly perpendicular to oligofluorene-thiophene-pyrene plane and π-electrons in the ground state delocalize over the entire molecule. Their optical, thermal, and electrochemical properties could be tuned by varying the number of thiophene units in the molecule. All were electrochemically and thermally stable molecules. OLED devices of these materials emitted brightly in various colors from deep blue to orange. Particularly, deep blue (CIE coordinates of 0.16, 0.14) and green (CIE coordinates of 0.27, 0.61) devices showed high color quality close to the NTSC standards with high luminance efficiencies of 1.14 and 11.15 cd/A, respectively.     

Gelation of micellar solutions of diblock-copoly (oxyethylene/oxybutylene) in aqueous K2SO4. An investigation of excluded volume effects

The micellization and gelation properties of oxyethylene/oxybutylene diblock copolymers E₄₀B₁₀ and E₄₁B₈ in aqueous K₂SO₄ solutions were investigated. The thermodynamic and hydrodynamic volumes of the micelles in salt solutions of various concentrations up to 0.4 mol dm^?3 were determined by static and dynamic light scattering, respectively. The related changes in the gelation behavior of concentrated micellar solutions of the copolymers were explained as thermodynamic (excluded) volume effects. The thermodynamic volumes of micelles measured in moderately concentrated solution were used successfully to predict the critical gel concentrations of concentrated solutions. ©1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An unusual synthesis of 2,3-dihydrophosphindole 1-oxides

A very simple route to dimeric phosphole oxides is reported as is the pyrolytic decomposition of these phosphorus-bridged dimers. Like similar dimeric phosphole sulfides, these phosphole oxide dimers readily eliminate the bridging phosphorus grouping upon strong heating but, unlike the analogous sulfides, hydrogen transfer to give a 2,3-dihydrophosphindole 1-oxide rather than hydrogen elimination to give the fully unsaturated phosphindole oxide occurs. This hydrogen transfer is shown to be non-stereospecific and some mechanistic implications of this are briefly discussed.