Rats were fed a hypercholesterolemic diet (5% lard, 0.5% cholesterol, and 0.25% sodium cholate) containing 5% of dietary phospholipid as safflower phospholipid (SAP), soybean phospholipid (SOP), or egg yolk phospholipid (EGP), or 5% of soybean oil (SO) as a control for 4 weeks. The concentrations of plasma cholesterol were significantly higher in rats fed the EGP diet than those of the other diets. Similarly, the concentrations of chylomicron plus very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol were higher in rats fed the EGP diet. The phospholipid diets induced a significant increase of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in comparision with the SO diet. The concentrations of liver cholesterol were significantly lower in rats fed the phospholipid diets than those of the SO diet. Among phospholipid-fed rats, the SAP and SOP diets decreased the concentrations of liver cholesterol compared with the EGP diet. The activity of plasma lecithin-cholesterol acyl transferase (LCAT) was significantly increased in rats fed the phos pholipid diets. The phospholipid diets caused an enhanced excretion of neutral steroids into feces. Among phospholipid-fed rats, the SAP and SOP diets increased the excretion of fecal neutral steroids compared with the EGP diet. The fatty acid composition of HDL phospholipid was slightly reflected by the major dietary fat source. These results suggest that SAP and SOP inhibit markedly the absorption of dietary cholesterol in the small intestine of hypercholesterolemic rats and that the effect of SAP and SOP on plasma cholesterol metabolism may be different from that of EGP.

Pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) having a SiO2 gate dielectric treated with oxygen plasma have been investigated for control of the threshold voltage. The threshold voltage changed in the wide range from −15 to 80 V, depending on plasma treatment time, AC power for plasma generation, and gate dielectric thickness. The threshold voltage change was attributed to negative charges induced on and/or near the surface of the gate dielectric. The threshold voltage change on the order of 1 V was particularly proportional to plasma treatment time. The predictable change enables the control of threshold voltage in this range. In addition, the effect of gate bias stress on threshold voltage was examined. The results suggested that gate bias stress does not negate the threshold voltage change induced by plasma treatment.

The threshold voltage in p-channel organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) having dinaphthothienothiophene as a channel material has been investigated toward their applicability to logic circuits. Oxygen plasma treatment of the gate dielectric surface was carried out to control the threshold voltage. The threshold voltage changed in the range from −6.4 to 9.4 V, depending on plasma treatment time and the thickness of the gate dielectric. The surface charge after plasma treatment was estimated from the dependence of the threshold voltage. Operation of logic inverters consisting of TFTs with different threshold voltages was demonstrated as an application of TFTs with controlled threshold voltage.

No abstract

Solution sensors are required to detect analytes in liquids with high sensitivity and response speed for environmental and health monitoring. In this study, we introduce the concept of a Cu oxide thin film having nanowires as a solution sensor for detecting ethanol in water. The Cu oxide sensor with grains and nanowires of different shapes was fabricated by a simple method of heating a Cu thin film and dropping an Ag conductive paste. Sensing parameters and mechanisms were evaluated by current–voltage and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. In the Cu oxide sensor formed on thin film having a large number of nanowires fabricated by heating at 400 °C for 5 h, the sensor sensitivity was 0.96 at 0.1 vol % ethanol concentration, and the response time was 313 s at a voltage of 0.1 V. The Cu oxide sensor detects ethanol by the change in electrical resistance caused by the reaction between ethanol molecules and the lattice oxygen on the Cu oxide surface. Therefore, the large nanowire surface area leads to a higher sensor sensitivity and a faster response time. Furthermore, the grain and nanowire regions on the thin film are represented by equivalent circuits. A high correlation was observed between the sensor sensitivity and the time constant calculated from the equivalent circuit. The proposed Cu oxide solution sensor and detection mechanism offer designs to improve the performance of chemical sensors.