ALBERT

Description: We report the achievement of highly efficient 10 B enriched hexagonal boron nitride ( h- 10 BN) direct conversion neutron detectors. These detectors were realized from freestanding 4-in. diameter h- 10 BN wafers 43  μ m in thickness obtained from epitaxy growth and subsequent mechanical separation from sapphire substrates. Both sides of the film were subjected to ohmic contact deposition to form a simple vertical “photoconductor-type” detector. Transport measurements revealed excellent vertical transport properties including high electrical resistivity (〉10 13 Ω cm) and mobility-lifetime (μτ) products. A much larger μτ product for holes compared to that of electrons along the c-axis of h- BN was observed, implying that holes (electrons) behave like majority (minority) carriers in undoped h- BN. Exposure to thermal neutrons from a californium-252 ( 252 Cf) source moderated by a high density polyethylene moderator reveals that 43  μ m h- 10 BN detectors possess 51.4% detection efficiency at a bias voltage of 400 V, which is the highest reported efficiency for any semiconductor-based neutron detector. The results point to the possibility of obtaining highly efficient, compact solid-state neutron detectors with high gamma rejection and low manufacturing and maintenance costs.

Description: Alcohol is the most commonly abused drug worldwide, and chronic alcohol consumption is a major etiological factor in the development of multiple pathological sequelae, including alcoholic cardiomyopathy and hepatic cirrhosis. Here, we identify regulator of G protein signaling 6 (RGS6) as a critical regulator of both alcohol-seeking behaviors and the...

Description: Immune checkpoint inhibitors result in impressive clinical responses, but optimal results will require combination with each other and other therapies. This raises fundamental questions about mechanisms of non-redundancy and resistance. Here we report major tumour regressions in a subset of patients with metastatic melanoma treated with an anti-CTLA4 antibody (anti-CTLA4) and radiation, and reproduced this effect in mouse models. Although combined treatment improved responses in irradiated and unirradiated tumours, resistance was common. Unbiased analyses of mice revealed that resistance was due to upregulation of PD-L1 on melanoma cells and associated with T-cell exhaustion. Accordingly, optimal response in melanoma and other cancer types requires radiation, anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-L1/PD-1. Anti-CTLA4 predominantly inhibits T-regulatory cells (Treg cells), thereby increasing the CD8 T-cell to Treg (CD8/Treg) ratio. Radiation enhances the diversity of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of intratumoral T cells. Together, anti-CTLA4 promotes expansion of T cells, while radiation shapes the TCR repertoire of the expanded peripheral clones. Addition of PD-L1 blockade reverses T-cell exhaustion to mitigate depression in the CD8/Treg ratio and further encourages oligoclonal T-cell expansion. Similarly to results from mice, patients on our clinical trial with melanoma showing high PD-L1 did not respond to radiation plus anti-CTLA4, demonstrated persistent T-cell exhaustion, and rapidly progressed. Thus, PD-L1 on melanoma cells allows tumours to escape anti-CTLA4-based therapy, and the combination of radiation, anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-L1 promotes response and immunity through distinct mechanisms.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4401634/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4401634/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Twyman-Saint Victor, Christina -- Rech, Andrew J -- Maity, Amit -- Rengan, Ramesh -- Pauken, Kristen E -- Stelekati, Erietta -- Benci, Joseph L -- Xu, Bihui -- Dada, Hannah -- Odorizzi, Pamela M -- Herati, Ramin S -- Mansfield, Kathleen D -- Patsch, Dana -- Amaravadi, Ravi K -- Schuchter, Lynn M -- Ishwaran, Hemant -- Mick, Rosemarie -- Pryma, Daniel A -- Xu, Xiaowei -- Feldman, Michael D -- Gangadhar, Tara C -- Hahn, Stephen M -- Wherry, E John -- Vonderheide, Robert H -- Minn, Andy J -- KL2TR000139/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- P01AI112521/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 CA016672/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P30CA016520/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P50 CA174523/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P50CA174523/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI105343/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA158186/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA163739/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01AI105343/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01CA158186/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01CA163739/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01CA172651/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- T32DK007066/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- U01AI095608/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19 AI082630/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19AI082630/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- UL1RR024134/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 16;520(7547):373-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14292. Epub 2015 Mar 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Institute for Immunology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Institute for Immunology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; Division of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33136, USA. ; 1] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [3] Institute for Immunology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [3] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [4] Institute for Immunology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. ; 1] Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [2] Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [3] Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA [4] Institute for Immunology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25754329" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The application of bio-inspired robots on various engineering problem has become a fascinating subject. In this field, locomotion pattern of various insects has already been implemented in a notable way. The purpose of this paper is to add the magnetic adhesion principle with a bio-inspired modular robot which mimics the motion of an inchworm. This paper confines the climbing environment in a flat plane and describes a suitable climbing gait for the robot. The robot is modelled as a 4-link planar mechanism with three revolute joints actuated by DC servo motors. A 3D model is prepared and simulated in multi-body dynamics solver to investigate the kinematic and dynamic behaviour of the system. The simulated results provide an idea about the selection of servo motor specifications required to build the prototype.