This work provides an efficient way to facilitate both electron and hole extraction in the designated interfaces of perovskite solar cells. A record power conversion efficiency of 23.6% for mixed Sn–Pb perovskite solar cell devices is realized.

Background Preoperative imaging is widely used and extremely helpful in hepatobiliary surgery. However, transfer of preoperative data to a intraoperative situation is very difficult. Surgeons need intraoperative anatomical information using imaging data for safe and precise operation in the field of hepatobiliary surgery. We have developed a new system for mapping liver segments and cholangiograms using intraoperative indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence under infrared light observation. Method The imaging technique for mapping liver segments and cholangiogram based on ICG fluorescence used an infrared-based navigation system. Eighty one patients with liver tumors underwent hepatectomy from 2006, January to 2009, March. In liver surgery, 1 ml of ICG was injected via the portal vein under observation by the fluorescent imaging system. Fourteen patients were underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for chronic cholecystitis with gallstones. In laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 5 ml of ICG was administered intravenously just before operation and the bile duct was observed using the infrared-based navigation system. Result This new technique successfully identified stained subsegments and segments of the liver in 73 of 81 patients (90.1%). Moreover, clear mapping of liver segments was obtained even against a background of liver cirrhosis. Fluorescent cholangiography clearly showed the common bile duct and cystic duct in 10 of 14 patients (71.4%). No adverse reactions to the ICG were encountered. Conclusion Application of this technique allows intraoperative identification of anatomical landmark in hepatobiliary surgery.

Ganglioside G M3 is a major glycosphingolipid in the plasma membrane and is widely distributed in vertebrates. We describe here the isolation of a human cDNA whose protein product is responsible for the synthesis of G M3 . The cloned cDNA spanned 2,359 base pairs, with an open reading frame encoding a protein of 362 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 41.7 kDa. The deduced primary structure shows features characteristic of the sialyltransferase family, including a type II transmembrane topology and the sialylmotifs L at the center and S at the C-terminal region. An amino acid substitution from aspartic acid to histidine was demonstrated at a position invariant in sialylmotif L of all the other sialyltransferases so far cloned. The best acceptor substrate for the gene product was lactosylceramide, and cells transfected with the cloned cDNA clearly exhibited de novo synthesis of G M3 , with a measurable decrease in the precursor lactosylceramide. Despite the ubiquitous distribution of ganglioside G M3 in human tissues, a major 2.4-kilobase transcript of the gene was found in a tissue-specific manner, with predominant expression in brain, skeletal muscle, and testis, and very low expression in liver.It is known that sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids, gangliosides, have various important biological functions (1, 2), and their functions as well as their biosynthesis are currently clarified. In vertebrates, almost all the ganglio-series gangliosides are synthesized from a common precursor, ganglioside G M3 , 1 which has the simplest structure among the major gangliosides. G M3 itself is known to participate in induction of differentiation (3, 4), modulation of proliferation (2, 5), maintenance of fibroblast morphology (6), signal transduction (7), and integrin-mediated cell adhesion (8).Molecular cloning of genes whose protein products catalyze the transfer of sialic acid through an ␣-2,3 linkage has been reported (14 -17), and these protein products had the same acceptor substrates, i.e. the oligosaccharides of O-and N-linked glycoproteins and glycolipids. However, none of the gene products so far reported is known to be involved in the synthesis of ganglioside G M3 . We demonstrated previously that the level of G M3 synthase activity was dramatically enhanced during the monocytic differentiation of . Using a cDNA library prepared from the differentiated HL-60 cells, we have isolated a cDNA encoding the G M3 synthase by a modified expression cloning method. In the present study, we demonstrate that the G M3 synthase shows some features clearly distinct from those of all the other sialyltransferases so far cloned, although it possesses several features common to members of the sialyltransferase family. MATERIALS AND METHODSCell Culture-The human myelogenous leukemia cell line HL-60, and the mouse lung carcinoma cell line 3LL-J5 (22), which completely lacks acidic glycosphingolipids, and its derivative cell lines, 3LL-HK46, which stably expresses the polyoma virus large tumor antigen, and 3LL-ST28, w...

To investigate the role of cell surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), including heparan sulfate (HS), on HIV-1 infection in human T cells, HIV-1 binding and infection were determined after treatment of 'T-cell lines and CD4+ T cells from normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with GAG-degrading enzyme or a GAG metabolic sulfation inhibitor. Heparitinase I (hep I) and sodium chlorate prevented binding of HIV-1/IIIB to MT-4 cells as revealed by indirect immunofluorescence procedures, thereby inhibiting infection. Hep I was less effective in the binding inhibition of the macrophage-tropic strain HIV-1/SF162

Volatiles were extracted from rice plants of various growth stages with solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify attractants that cause invasion of the rice leaf bug Trigonotylus caelestialium (Kirkaldy) into paddy fields. The composition of volatile blends produced by rice plants changed with rice development. In addition, volatile blend compositions differed between the panicles and the stems and leaves. The relative geranyl acetone content was high in all plant structures analyzed. In volatiles from whole plants in the fourth-leaf stage and panicles in the full-ripe stage, the relative content of green leaf volatiles (GLVs) was higher than that found in other rice plant structures. In contrast, relative terpene levels emitted from whole plants in the panicle-formation stage and by panicles and stems and leaves in the flowering stage were higher than those of other rice plant structures. However, the type of terpenes found differed between the panicles and the stems and leaves. Relative levels of β-caryophyllene in whole plants in the panicle-formation stage and panicles in the flowering stage were much higher than that in stems and leaves in the flowering stage. Our previous studies demonstrated that the odor from whole plants in the panicle-formation stage and panicles in the flowering stage is attractive to rice leaf bugs. Here, the attractiveness of β-caryophyllene to adult bugs was investigated in olfactometer assays. Adult females were attracted to β-caryophyllene at a concentration of 0.001%, which is approximately equivalent to the concentration produced by flowering rice panicles. However, β-caryophyllene also was present in the odor of whole plants in the fourth-leaf stage and in stems and leaves in the flowering stage. Furthermore, the amounts of this compound emitted from these structures were similar. Therefore, we suggest that the relative abundance of this compound in a volatile blend is important for attractance of the bugs.