Multivalent interactions can be applied universally for a targeted strengthening of an interaction between different interfaces or molecules. The binding partners form cooperative, multiple receptor–ligand interactions that are based on individually weak, noncovalent bonds and are thus generally reversible. Hence, multi‐ and polyvalent interactions play a decisive role in biological systems for recognition, adhesion, and signal processes. The scientific and practical realization of this principle will be demonstrated by the development of simple artificial and theoretical models, from natural systems to functional, application‐oriented systems. In a systematic review of scaffold architectures, the underlying effects and control options will be demonstrated, and suggestions will be given for designing effective multivalent binding systems, as well as for polyvalent therapeutics.

In this study, TiO 2 nanotube (TNT)/reduced graphene oxide (hGO) composites were prepared by an alkaline hydrothermal process. This was achieved by decorating graphene oxide (GO) layers with commercially available TiO 2 nanoparticles (P90) followed by hydrothermal synthesis, which converts the TiO 2 nanoparticles to small diameter (∼9 nm) TNTs on the hGO surface. The alkaline medium used to synthesize the TNTs simultaneously converts GO to deoxygenated graphene oxide (hGO). Compared to GO, the hGO has a ∼70% reduction of oxygenated species after alkaline hydrothermal treatment. The graphene nature of hGO in the composites was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, FTIR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The photocatalytic performance of the hGO-TNT composites was evaluated for the photodegradation of malachite green. It was found that the ratio of hGO to TNT in the composites significantly affects the photocatalytic activity. Higher amounts of hGO in hGO-TNT composites showed lower photocatalytic activity than pure TNTs. The composite with 10% hGO showed the highest photocatalytic activity, with a 3-fold enhancement in photocatalytic efficiency over pure TNTs. It is expected that the synthesis of "high surface area-small diameter" TiO 2 nanotubes and simultaneous conversion of GO to graphene like hGO "without using strong reducing agents" could be a promising strategy for preparing other types of carbon based TiO 2 nanotube composite photocatalysts.

We study the effect of monolayer quality on the electrical transport through n-Si/C(n)H(2n+1)/Hg junctions (n = 12, 14, and 18) and find that truly high quality layers and only they, yield the type of data, reported by us in Phys. Rev. Lett. 2005, 95, 266807, data that are consistent with the theoretically predicted behavior of a Schottky barrier coupled to a tunnel barrier. By using that agreement as our starting point, we can assess the effects of changing the quality of the alkyl monolayers, as judged from ellipsometer, contact angle, XPS, and ATR-FTIR measurements, on the electrical transport. Although low monolayer quality layers are easily identified by one or more of those characterization tools, as well as from the current-voltage measurements, even a combination of characterization techniques may not suffice to distinguish between monolayers with minor differences in quality, which, nevertheless, are evident in the transport measurement. The thermionic emission mechanism, which in these systems dominates at low forward bias, is the one that is most sensitive to monolayer quality. It serves thus as the best quality control. This is important because, even where tunneling characteristics appear rather insensitive to slightly diminished quality, their correct analysis will be affected, especially if layers of different lengths are also of different quality.

Background:We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes' (TILs) expression in pretreatment specimens from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT).Methods:The prevalence of CD3+, CD8+, CD4+ and FOXP3+ TILs was assessed using immunohistochemistry in tumour tissue obtained from 101 patients before CRT and was correlated with clinicopathological characteristics as well as local failure-free- (LFFS), distant metastases free- (DMFS), progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Survival curves were measured using the Kaplan–Meier method, and differences in survival between the groups were estimated using the log-rank test. Prognostic effects of TIL subset density were determined using the Cox regression analysis.Results:With a mean follow-up of 25 months (range, 2.3–63 months), OS at 2 years was 57.4% for the entire cohort. Patients with high immunohistochemical CD3 and CD8 expression had significantly increased OS (P=0.024 and P=0.028), PFS (P=0.044 and P=0.047) and DMFS (P=0.021 and P=0.026) but not LFFS (P=0.90 and P=0.104) in multivariate analysis that included predictive clinicopathologic factors, such as age, sex, T-stage, N-stage, tumour grading and localisation. Neither CD4 nor FOXP3 expression showed significance for the clinical outcome. The lower N-stage was associated with improved OS in the multivariate analysis (P=0.049).Conclusion:The positive correlation between a high number of infiltrating CD3+ and CD8+ cells and clinical outcome indicates that TILs may have a beneficial role in HNSCC patients and may serve as a biomarker to identify patients likely to benefit from definitive CRT.