We investigate the evolution of the interfacial electronic structure at the interface of (sub)monolayer vanadyl naphthalocyanine (VONc) on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). Both the vacuum level and molecular energy levels show a significant but fundamentally different dependence on coverage, resulting in an overall change of the ionization potential with coverage. We use a simple model to show how this effect arises from the differential sensitivity of these levels to the near- and far-field properties of the dipole-layer-generated interfacial electric potential. These results help to unravel the electronic structure at organic/electrode interfaces, with direct implications for organic electronic devices.

Recent genomic studies have identified subtypes of uterine leiomyoma (LM) with distinctive genetic alterations. Here we report the elucidation of the biological characteristics of the two most prevalent LM subtypes, MED12 mutant (MED12-LM) and HMGA2-overexpressing (HMGA2-LM) LM. Since each tumor carries only one genetic alteration, both subtypes are considered to be monoclonal. Approximately 90% of cells in HMGA2-LM were smooth muscle cells (SMC) with HMGA2 overexpression. In contrast, MED12-LM consisted of similar numbers of SMC and non-SMC, which were mostly tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAF). Paradoxically, TAF carried no mutations in MED12, suggesting an interaction between SMC and TAF to coordinate their growth. The higher amount of ECM in MED12-LM than HMGA2-LM was partially due to the high concentration of collagen-producing TAF. SMC growth in a xenograft assay was driven by progesterone in both LM subtypes. In contrast, TAF in MED12-LM proliferated in response to estradiol, whereas progesterone had no effect. The high concentration of estrogen-responsive TAF in MED12-LM explains the inconsistent discoveries between in vivo and in vitro studies on the mitogenic effect of estrogen and raises questions regarding the accuracy of previous studies utilizing MED12-LM cell culture. In addition, the differential effects of estradiol and progesterone on these LM subtypes emphasize the importance of subtypes and genotypes in designing non-surgical therapeutic strategies for LM.

BackgroundExperimental data suggest that catecholamine hormones are involved in stimulating the aggressiveness of ovarian cancer, but few population-based studies have examined this association. We therefore conducted a population-based cohort study to examine whether ß-blockers affect mortality following ovarian cancer diagnosis.MethodsWe used the Danish Cancer Registry to identify all patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer in northern Denmark between 1999 and 2010 (n=6,626). Data on medication use, comorbidity, and survival were obtained from medical databases. According to the last redeemed prescription before diagnosis, ß-blocker use was categorized as current (within ≤90 days), previous (>90 days) or never. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusting for confounding factors.ResultsAmong the ovarian cancer patients, 373 (5.6%) were current, 87 (1.3%) previous, and 6,166 (93.1%) were nonusers of ß-blockers. Median duration of use was 19.0 months among current users and 43.0 months among previous users. Median follow-up was 2.55 years (IQR: 0.81-9.23). Nonusers and current users of ß-blockers had similar comorbidity burden whereas previous users had moderate comorbidity more frequently. Compared with nonusers, the adjusted HR was 1.17 (95% CI: 1.02–1.34) for current users and 1.18 (95% CI: 0.90–1.55) for previous users. Secondary analyses stratifying by cancer stage and duration of ß-blocker use supported the overall results.ConclusionsWe found no evidence that ß-blocker use was associated with decreased mortality following ovarian cancer diagnosis.

We investigate the interfacial electronic structure of the dipolar organic semiconductor vanadyl naphthalocyanine on Au(111) in a combined computational and experimental approach to understand the role of the permanent molecular dipole moment on energy-level alignment at this interface. First-principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations on such large systems are challenging, due to the large computational cost and the need to accurately consider dispersion interactions. Our DFT results with dispersion correction show a molecular deformation upon adsorption but no strong chemical bond formation. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show a considerable workfunction change of −0.73(2) eV upon growth of the first monolayer, which is well reproduced by the DFT calculations. This shift originates from a large electron density “push-back” effect at the gold surface, whereas the large out-of-plane vanadyl dipole moment plays only a minor role.