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The first example of triplet-triplet annihilation-based photon upconversion (TTA-UC) from green light to ultraviolet (UV) light sensitized by lead halide perovskite nanocrystals is demonstrated. The combination of a new transmitter that extracts triplet energy from perovskite and a UV emitter with a low triplet energy level lengthens the excitation wavelength of perovskite-sensitized upconverted UV emission.

Invited for this month's cover picture is the group of Professor Nobuhiro Yanai and Nobuo Kimizuka at Kyushu University. The cover picture shows visible-to-ultraviolet (vis-to-UV) triplet-triplet annihilation-based photon upconversion (TTA-UC) via triplet exciton diffusion in a chromophoric ionic liquid (IL). Chromophore moieties spontaneously form continuous arrays in non-polar nano-domains of the IL. The close arrangement of the chromophores in the IL allowed effective diffusion of triplet excitons, resulting in the vis-to-UV TTA-UC at a low excitation intensity. Read the full text of their Communication at https://doi.org/10.1002/open.201900304., (© 2020 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy of a version of Project EX that was adapted for implementation in the classroom context (Project EX-4). This paper reports the program outcomes based on pretest, six-month, and one-year follow-up surveys., Methods: An 8 session classroom-based curriculum was tested with a clustered randomized controlled trial that involved a total of 1097 students in 6 program and 6 control alternative high schools. Weekly and monthly smoking was assessed at the three time points. Outcome effects were analyzed with multi-level random coefficients models., Results: Students in the program condition experienced a greater reduction in weekly smoking and monthly smoking, at 6-and-12-month follow-ups. The net change varied between -5.1% and -7.6%, comparing the program condition to the control condition., Conclusions: The implementation of Project EX in a classroom setting produced decreases in smoking among students in the program, relative to those in the standard care control condition. It is likely that a classroom-based smoking prevention/cessation program can lead to lower overall smoking prevalence than a cessation program that is implemented in a school-based smoking cessation clinic format.

Objective: Researchers continue to try to develop effective teen tobacco use prevention and cessation programs. Three previous school clinic-based studies established the efficacy of Project EX for teen smoking cessation. This fourth study adapts Project EX to the classroom context. This paper reports the findings based on pretest and posttest surveys conducted immediately prior and post-intervention., Methods: An eight-session classroom-based curriculum was developed and tested with a randomized controlled trial that involved a total of 1097 students in six program and six control continuation high schools. Program-specific knowledge and smoking measures were assessed at both the pretest and posttest surveys, and were used to evaluate the program's effect on the immediate outcomes. The immediate outcomes effects were analyzed with multi-level random coefficients models., Results: Program students provided favorable process ratings of the overall program and each session. Compared with the students in the control condition, students in the program condition showed a greater change in correct knowledge responses from pretest to posttest (beta=+5.5%, p=0.0003). Students in the program condition also experienced a greater reduction in weekly smoking (beta=-6.9%, p=0.038), and intention for smoking in the next 12 months (beta=-0.21 in 5-level scale, p=0.023)., Conclusions: EX-4 immediate outcome results revealed favorable student responses to the program, increases in knowledge, and decreases in smoking relative to a standard care control condition.

Pretreatment of Hep G2 cells with beta-naphthoflavone (BNF 1-25microM) significantly increased cytosolic sulfation activities of 4-hydroxypropranolol (4-OH-PL) racemate. The profile was similar to those of sulfations towards dopamine and triiodothyronine in the same cytosolic fractions. Kinetic studies of 4-OH-PL sulfation in Hep G2 cytosolic fractions revealed that V(max) values increased but apparent K(m) values remained unchanged following the BNF pretreatment. Among five recombinant human SULT isoforms (SULT1A1, -1A3, -1B1, -1E1 and -2A1) examined, only SULT2A1 did not show 4-OH-PL sulfation activities under the conditions used. SULT1A3 and -1E1 exhibited an enantioselectivity of 4-OH-R-PL sulfation>4-OH-S-PL sulfation, which agreed with that of BNF-pretreated Hep G2 cells as well as of nontreated cells, whereas SULT1A1 and -1B1 showed a reversed enantioselectivity (R

This paper presents the Project EX research program. The historical background for Project EX is presented, including a brief summary of reasons youth fail to quit tobacco use, the disappointing status of previous cessation research, and the teen cessation trial that provided the template for the current project (Project TNT). Next, program development studies for Project EX are described. Through use of focus groups, a theme study (concept evaluation of written activity descriptions), a component study, and pilot studies, an eight-session program was developed. This program involves novel activities (e.g., "talk show enactments," games, and alternative medicine-type activities such as yoga and meditation) in combination with motivation enhancement and cognitive-behavioral strategies to motivate and instruct in cessation initiation and maintenance efforts. The outcomes of the first experimental trial of Project EX, a school-based clinic program, are described, followed by a posthoc analysis of its effects mediation. A second EX study, a multiple baseline single group pilot study design in Wuhan, China, is described next. Description of a second experimental trial follows, which tested EX with nicotine gum versus a natural herb. A third experimental trial that tests a classroom prevention/cessation version of EX is then introduced. Finally, the implications of this work are discussed. The intent-to-treat quit rate for Project EX is approximately 15% across studies, double that of a standard care comparison. Effects last up to a six-month post-program at regular and alternative high schools. Through a systematic protocol of empirical program development and field trials, an effective and replicable model teen tobacco use cessation program is established. Future cessation work might expand on this work.

Objective: To evaluate the changes in the articular cartilage and subchondral bone after an osteotomy designed to simulate an articular fracture., Design: The contribution of the cartilage and subchondral bone was evaluated twelve weeks after creating a 1.0-millimeter step-off in the medial plateau of the tibia of twelve adult domestic sheep. All animals surviving were labeled with fluorescent markers for bone production, oxytetracycline (fifty milligrams per kilogram), and calcein (twelve milligrams per kilogram) nine and 11.5 weeks after surgery. The knees were loaded in compression using an Instron materials tester with pressure-sensitive film to record joint contact pressures above and below the medial meniscus., Setting: The studies were performed in the research laboratories of the Orthopaedic Laboratory at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington and the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington., Animals: Twelve adult domestic sheep., Intervention: An intraarticular osteotomy of the medial tibial plateau with 1.0 millimeter of displacement was performed. The osteotomy was stabilized with 3.5-millimeter lag screws., Main Outcome Measures: The contact pressures of the knee joint and articular histology were evaluated twelve weeks after surgery. Samples of the articular cartilage were analyzed by light microscopy and electron microscopy to evaluate the response of the articular cartilage and subchondral bone of the differential joint loading because of the irregularity in the articular surface caused by the osteotomy., Results: The knees with an intraarticular step-off had two major contact areas with an intervening zone of reduced load corresponding to the edge of the depressed fragment. Coronal histologic sections through the articular surface showed the presence of thinning and fibrillation on the high side of the step-off and some compensatory hypertrophy of the cartilage. The subchondral bone was not responsible for restoring articular congruity because the rate of bone production was similar between the low side of the articular fracture (1.85 micrometers per day) and the high side of the fracture (1.67 micrometers per day). Scanning electron microscopy showed partial cartilage remodeling by deformation of the high side cartilage with bending of the vertical collagen fibrils, even in the unloaded state., Conclusions: In this model with a small fracture displacement (1.0 millimeter), which was less than the thickness of the articular cartilage (1.5 millimeters), the contour of the joint improved despite residual articular surface incongruency after the fracture healing.

We developed a new high-performance liquid chromatographic method using an ODS column and a chiral column for the assay of racemic 4-OH-PL sulfate and enantiomeric 4-OH-PL sulfates, respectively. The method was successfully applied to measure phenolsulfotransferase (PST) activities for 4-OH-PL in cytosolic fractions from livers of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) and for comparison with its activity of cytosolic fractions from rat, rabbit, dog, and human livers and Hep G2 cells. The activity was ranked as Hep G2 cells > monkeys = humans = dogs = rats > rabbits. To evaluate the Japanese monkey as a nonhuman animal model in drug metabolism studies, we further characterized sulfation of 4-OH-PL as a further metabolic pathway in monkey livers to compare that with human livers. Inhibition studies in which cytosolic fractions were preincubated at 43 degrees C or 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol (DCNP) used as a PST inhibitor indicated that two kinds of PSTs, thermolabile, low-Km and DCNP-resistant PST and thermostable, high-Km and DCNP-sensitive PST were involved in 4-OH-PL sulfation by monkey liver cytosol, which is very similar to the reported profile of 4-OH-PL sulfation by human liver cytosol. Sulfation kinetics in a low concentration range of 4-OH-PL enantiomers demonstrated that apparent Km values were similar between human and monkey liver cytosolic fractions, but the Vmax values were different, so that intrinsic clearance values (Vmax/Km, Clint) were higher in monkeys than in humans. Furthermore, enantiomer selectivity of [R(+)-4-OH-PL > S(-)-4-OH-PL] was observed in the Vmax and CLint values of monkey liver cytosol. These results indicate that the profile of sulfation of 4-OH-PL by liver cytosolic fractions is similar in humans and Japanese monkeys.

Details of a procedure for electrolytically preparing highly pure brushite (CaHPO4.2H2O) coatings on high surface area metal substrates are provided. The influence of current density and deposition time on coating morphology is described. After a discussion of procedures used to convert the brushite coatings to hydroxyapatite, results from a preliminary animal study that demonstrate the propensity of these coatings to stimulate bony ingrowth into porous plugs are presented.