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Sepsis, sepsis-induced hyperinflammation and subsequent sepsis-associated immunosuppression (SAIS) are important causes of death. Here we show in humans that the loss of the major reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger, glutathione (GSH), during SAIS directly correlates with an increase in the expression of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3). In endotoxin-stimulated monocytes, ROS stress strongly superinduced NF-E2--related factor 2 (NRF2)-dependent ATF3. In vivo, this ROS-mediated superinduction of ATF3 protected against endotoxic shock by inhibiting innate cytokines, as [Atf3.sup.-/-] mice remained susceptible to endotoxic shock even under conditions of ROS stress. Although it protected against endotoxic shock, this ROS-mediated superinduction of ATF3 caused high susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections through the suppression of interleukin 6 (IL-6). As a result, [Atf3.sup.-/-] mice were protected against bacterial and fungal infections, even under conditions of ROS stress, whereas [Atf3.sup.-/-] [Il6.sup.-/-] mice were highly susceptible to these infections. Moreover, in a model of SAIS, secondary infections caused considerably less mortality in [Atf3.sup.-/-] mice than in wild-type mice, indicating that ROSinduced ATF3 crucially determines susceptibility to secondary infections during SAIS., Sepsis and sepsis-associated multiorgan failure are major causes of death worldwide (1-3). During sepsis, some people die early from bacteremia or from sepsis-induced hyperinflammation, an uncontrolled overactivation of the innate [...]

Here, we report on heteroepitaxial α -Ga2O3 MOSFETs with a breakdown voltage (BV) of 2.3 kV at a specific on-resistance of 335 mΩ cm2. High-quality α -Ga2O3 layers were grown on a sapphire substrate via halide vapor-phase epitaxy (HVPE). A stack of Ti/Al/Ni/Au was used for the S/D electrode, exhibiting significantly reduced contact resistance as compared with a conventional Ti/Au stack. Consequently, the record BV and mobility of 20.4 cm2 Vâˆ'1 sâˆ'1 were achieved. Moreover, a consistent critical field of 1 MV cmâˆ'1 was obtained for variable LGD. Our results are superior to recently reported heteroepitaxial α -/ β -Ga2O3 MOSFETs, which is promising toward HVPE α -Ga2O3 based power devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

α-Ga2O3 has the corundum structure analogous to that of α-Al2O3. The bandgap energy of α-Ga2O3 is 5.3 eV and is greater than that of β-Ga2O3, making the α-phase attractive for devices that benefit from its wider bandgap. The O–H and O–D centers produced by the implantation of H+ and D+ into α-Ga2O3 have been studied by infrared spectroscopy and complementary theory. An O–H line at 3269 cm−1 is assigned to H complexed with a Ga vacancy (VGa), similar to the case of H trapped by an Al vacancy (VAl) in α-Al2O3. The isolated VGa and VAl defects in α-Ga2O3 and α-Al2O3 are found by theory to have a "shifted" vacancy-interstitial-vacancy equilibrium configuration, similar to VGa in β-Ga2O3, which also has shifted structures. However, the addition of H causes the complex with H trapped at an unshifted vacancy to have the lowest energy in both α-Ga2O3 and α-Al2O3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) based on single β-Ga2O3 nanowire with a diameter of ∼60 nm transferred to Si substrate is demonstrated. The FinFET device shows good saturation performance within a drain-to-source voltage up to 5 V and exhibits a high on/off ratio of ∼4 × 108, a system-limit low leakage current (∼4 fA), and a relatively low subthreshold swing (∼110 mV). Simulation shows that the channel of the FinFET depletes much faster than that of the back-gate FET with negative gate bias, which is consistent with the measurement results. Moreover, trap-related 1/f noise and 1/f2 noise have been identified according to low frequency noise analysis, and a carrier number fluctuation is expected to be the dominant 1/f noise mechanism in the β-Ga2O3 FinFET in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactococcus lactis can become resistant to stress during starvation and also changes shape and rearranges its plasmids to form new plasmids. The resulting isolates have a survival advantage over the wild type when grown in energy-limited media.

Surgical resection with lymphadenectomy and perioperative chemotherapy is the universal mainstay for curative treatment of gastric cancer (GC) patients with locoregional disease. However, GC survival remains asymmetric in West‐ and East‐world regions. We hypothesize that this asymmetry derives from differential clinical management. Therefore, we collected chemo‐naïve GC patients from Portugal and South Korea to explore specific immunophenotypic profiles related to disease aggressiveness and clinicopathological factors potentially explaining associated overall survival (OS) differences. Clinicopathological and survival data were collected from chemo‐naïve surgical cohorts from Portugal (West‐Europe cohort [WE‐C]; n = 170) and South Korea (East‐Asia cohort [EA‐C]; n = 367) and correlated with immunohistochemical expression profiles of E‐cadherin and CD44v6 obtained from consecutive tissue microarrays sections. Survival analysis revealed a subset of 12.4% of WE‐C patients, whose tumors concomitantly express E‐cadherin_abnormal and CD44v6_very high, displaying extremely poor OS, even at TNM stages I and II. These WE‐C stage‐I and ‐II patients tumors were particularly aggressive compared to all others, invading deeper into the gastric wall (P =.032) and more often permeating the vasculature (P =.018) and nerves (P =.009). A similar immunophenotypic profile was found in 11.9% of EA‐C patients, but unrelated to survival. Tumours, from stage‐I and ‐II EA‐C patients, that display both biomarkers, also permeated more lymphatic vessels (P =.003), promoting lymph node (LN) metastasis (P =.019), being diagnosed on average 8 years earlier and submitted to more extensive LN dissection than WE‐C. Concomitant E‐cadherin_abnormal/CD44v6_very‐high expression predicts aggressiveness and poor survival of stage‐I and ‐II GC submitted to conservative lymphadenectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact self-powered solar-blind UV-C photodiode was demonstrated using an ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) α-Ga2O3 thin film as a wavelength-selective absorber layer. The UWBG-based Schottky junction architecture renders the use of low-performance and bulky solar-blind UV bandpass filters unnecessary. High-quality α-Ga2O3 thin films with a thickness of 1.25 µm were grown on a (0001) sapphire substrate via the halide vapor-phase epitaxy technique. The self-powered solar-blind UV-C photodetector based on the Ni/α-Ga2O3 Schottky junction exhibited excellent responsivity (1.17 × 10−4 A/W), photo-to-dark current ratio (1.12 × 105), and reproducibility, as well as fast rise/decay characteristics without persistent photoconductivity upon exposure to UV-C radiation (254 nm wavelength). The relationship between light intensity (I) and photocurrent (P) was modeled by I ∼ P0.69, indicating the high-quality of the halide vapor-phase epitaxy-grown α-Ga2O3 thin film. Upon exposure to natural sunlight, the fabricated solar-blind photodetector showed excellent solar blindness with sensitivity to UV-C radiation and did not require an external power source. Therefore, this UWBG α-Ga2O3 thin-film Schottky barrier photodiode is expected to facilitate the development of a compact and energy-independent next-generation UV-C photodetector with solar blindness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background Methods Results Conclusions This study aimed to compare long‐term clinical outcomes of percutaneous needle biopsy (PCNB) versus surgical biopsy in patients with peripheral, small‐sized clinical stage 1 non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with computed tomography (CT)‐defined visceral pleural invasion (VPI).We retrospectively analyzed patients who underwent surgery for NSCLC with CT‐defined VPI between 2010 and 2017. We excluded patients with non‐peripheral NSCLC, or cancers > 3 cm. Propensity score matching was carried out to adjust for confounding variables. The primary endpoint was ipsilateral pleural recurrence‐free survival, while secondary endpoints included overall survival and recurrence‐free survival.Of the 1671 patients with peripheral, small‐sized clinical stage 1 NSCLC with CT‐defined VPI, 805 underwent PCNB, and 866 had a surgical biopsy. Propensity score matching assigned 562 patients to each group. Before matching, the PCNB group demonstrated worse baseline characteristics, including older age, higher smoking history, and more adverse pathological findings. After matching, the 5‐year recurrence‐free survival for ipsilateral pleural recurrence (98.6% vs. 96.0%, p = 0.002) and overall survival (93.8% vs. 90.2%, p = 0.003) were significantly higher in the surgical biopsy group compared with the PCNB group. Multivariable analysis revealed that PCNB significantly increased the risks of all‐cause mortality and various recurrences before and after matching.Compared with surgery biopsy, PCNB was associated with higher risks of all‐cause mortality and recurrences, including ipsilateral pleural recurrence. PCNB should be considered with caution in cases of peripheral stage 1 NSCLC where CT‐defined VPI is suspected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]