Control of the orientation, diameter, and length of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) is achieved in large‐scale single‐crystalline SiNW arrays fabricated by a statistical electroless metal deposition technique. Taguchi methods are employed to optimize the diameter control and to understand the influence of all processing factors on the growth. The 〈100〉 directions are found to be the preferred crystallographic orientation of the growing SiNWs (see figure).

Terbufos (S-t-butylthiomethyl-O,O-diethyl phosphorodithioate) is a highly toxic organophosphate which is extensively used as an insecticide and nematicide. Chronic exposure to terbufos causes neuronal injury and predisposes to neurodegenerative diseases. Accumulating evidence has shown that the exposure to terbufos, as an occupational risk factor, may also cause reproductive disorders. However, the exact mechanisms of reproductive toxicity remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the toxic effect of terbufos on testicular cells and to explore the mechanism of toxicity on a cellular level. The cytotoxic effects of terbufos on mouse immortalized spermatogonia (GC-1), spermatocytes (GC-2), Leydig (TM3), and Sertoli (TM4) cell lines were assessed by MTT assays, caspase activation, flow cytometry, TUNEL assay, Western blot, and cell cycle analysis. The exposure to different concentrations of terbufos ranging from 50 to 800 μM for 6 h caused significant death in all the used testicular cell lines. Terbufos increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, and initiated apoptosis, which was confirmed by a dose-dependent increase in the number of TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells. Blocking ROS production by N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) protected GC-1 cells from terbufos-induced cell death. The results demonstrated that terbufos induces ROS, apoptosis, and DNA damage in testicular cell lines and it should be considered potentially hazardous to testis. Together, this study provided potential molecular mechanisms of terbufos-induced toxicity in testicular cells and suggests a possible protective measure. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 1888-1898, 2016.

Surgical treatment of acute basicervical fractures of femur by closed reduction and internal fixation with DHS was shown to be very effective.

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Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) has been proposed as a promising selective contact for holes in organic electronic devices. In this study, the strategy was undertaken for minimizing the possible charge recombination at electrode surfaces in the silicon-based hybrid solar cells and further allowed the exceptional capability for hole extraction. This was accomplished by inserting the mixed vanadium oxide (VO x ) phases based on a simplified low-temperature fabrication process. Detailed examinations of crystallinity, chemical states and compositions, topography, and optical transmittance of such VO x layer were performed, revealing the coexistence of V2O3 and V2O5 phases that facilitated the hole-selective contact due to establishing the ohmic-like interfaces as well as blocking the transport of electrons, and the optimal anneal treatment at 200 °C was further validated. On the basis of this, the insertion of a VO x electron-blocking layer in the integrated organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells was fully fabricated with solution processing methods, presenting the leading conversion efficiency of 14.4% being approximately 1.6 times superior than the conventional VO x -free hybrid solar cells. These results provided a viable rule toward realizing the high-performance and low-cost solar cells and might further offer the high potential for other functional applications based on hybrid material designs.

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BackgroundCancer is one of the major health issues worldwide. An increasing number of cancer patients are offered treatment with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most common complementary therapies offered to cancer patients in Taiwan. We designed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of TCM in patients with cancer.Methods/designIn this study, inclusion criteria are postoperative patients with histologically confirmed cancer within 3 years who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, more than 18 years old, have given signed informed consent, have the ability to read Chinese, and the ability for oral intake.Exclusion criteria include being pregnant, breast feeding, having completed chemotherapy or radiotherapy, brain metastasis with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of two to four, delusion or hallucinations, acute infection, and have received medications under other clinical trials.The patients were separated into an intervention group (Shen-Mai-San, SMS) and a placebo group for four weeks using a randomized, double-blind procedure. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life questionnaire (QOL-C30) was used to evaluate the quality of life. General data, hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), TCM diagnosis data and heart rate variability (HRV) were also recorded. These data were collected at baseline, two weeks and four weeks after receiving medication. The patients were prescribed granules which contained therapeutic medicines or placebo. Paired-T test was used for statistical analysis.DiscussionShen-Mai-San is composed of processed Ginseng radis, Liriope spicata, and Schizandrae fructus. It was found to be effective for treating cancer-related fatigue and had anti-fatigue activity. In TCM theory, SMS has a synergistic effect for qi and yin deficiency and has the ability to prevent fatigue. The symptoms of qi and yin deficiency are similar to chemotherapy- or radiotherapy-induced side effects. In order to evaluate the efficacy of SMS on cancer treatment, we designed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Trial registrationThis study is registered to Clinical Trails.gov NCT01580358

Ternary ZnO/Cu 2 O/Si nanowire arrays with vertical regularity were prepared with all-solution processed method at low temperature. In addition to the detailed characterizations of morphologies and crystallographic patterns, the analyses of photoluminescence and photocurrents revealed the sound carrier separation owing from the established step-like band structures. By modeling the photodegradation process of the prepared heterostructures through kinetic investigations and scavenger examinations, the photocatalytic removal of MB dyes was found to follow the second-order kinetic model with reaction constant more than 15.3 times higher than bare Si nanowires and achieved 5.7 times and 3.4 times than ZnO/Si and Cu 2 O/Si binary heterostructures, respectively. Moreover, the highly stable photoactivity of ZnO/Cu 2 O/Si photocatalysts was evidenced from the repeated photodegradation tests, which demonstrated the robust photocatalytic efficiency after cycling uses. The facile synthesis along with in-depth mechanism study of such ternary heterostructures could be potential for practical treatment for organic pollutants. Keywords HeterostructurePhotocatalystSilicon nanowire arraysKinetic study Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s11671-019-3093-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.