In this study a novel method was implemented and investigated in order to destroy cancer cells inside the mouse body on a clinical level. In the case of in-vitro study, MTT assay was employed to discover an effective dose of applied plasma and distinguish the plasma effect in direct and in indirect treatments. Tumor growth was also measured in in-vivo section so that the effectiveness of direct and indirect treatments could be compared. Furthermore, an investigation was conducted to study the interferences between a conventional method (chemotherapy) and plasma treatment so as to increase the effectiveness of treatment inside the body. Hematoxylin and Eosin, Flow Cytometry, TUNEL and Western Blot assay were used to investigate any cell alteration and the impact of various treatment methods on cancer cell and amount of their apoptosis and protein levels. Radiology and CT scan images were taken to determine the final tumor volume. The results showed a significant cell death and substantial reduction in tumor growth in direct plasma treatment in comparison with indirect plasma treatment. Eventually, dramatic destruction of cancer cells was observed while using of indirect plasma-chemotherapy combination, thus introducing an effective method for deep tissue tumors can be introduced.
According to high incidence and prevalence of pressure ulcers worldwide, the purpose of this study is using of non-thermal atmospheric plasma as a novel therapy for pressure ulcers. Cold plasma was produced by applying a high-voltage (5 kV) and high-frequency (25 kHz), to helium gas. Under general anesthesia and sterile conditions, two circular magnets were used to create pressure ulcers on the dorsal skin of adult rats. The wounds were divided randomly into control and plasma-treated groups. Animals in the plasma-treated group received plasma radiation for 5 days, each day 3 times and every time 60 s. Mechanical assays were performed to determine plasma effects on the mechanical strength of the repaired tissue. The results showed that mechanical strength of repaired wound in the plasma-treated group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, evidence from histological studies indicates a significantly accelerated wound re-epithelialization in comparison with the control group; angiogenesis and fibrosis (collagen synthesis) were also significantly increased and the inflammation phase of wound healing was shorter in the plasma-treated group. The plasma treatment also resulted in significant wound contraction and acceleration of wound healing. The findings of present study indicate the effects of cold plasma on pressure ulcer treatment.
Atomically thin semiconductors hold great potential for nanoscale photonic and optoelectronic devices because of their strong light absorption and emission. Despite progress, their application in integrated photonics is hindered particularly by a lack of stable layered semiconductors emitting in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Here we show that titanium trisulfide (TiS3), a layered van der Waals material consisting of quasi-1D chains, emits near infrared light centered around 0.91 eV (1360 nm). Its photoluminescence exhibits linear polarization anisotropy and an emission lifetime of 210 ps. At low temperature, we distinguish two spectral contributions with opposite linear polarizations attributed to excitons and defects. Moreover, the dependence on excitation power and temperature suggests that free and bound excitons dominate the excitonic emission at high and low temperatures, respectively. Our results demonstrate the promising properties of TiS3 as a stable semiconductor for optoelectronic and nanophotonic devices operating at telecommunication wavelengths.
14 October 2019 in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Lévy flights are paradigmatic generalised random walk processes, in which the independent stationary increments—the ‘jump lengths’—are drawn from an -stable jump length distribution with long-tailed, power-law asymptote. As a result, the variance of Lévy flights diverges and the trajectory is characterised by occasional extremely long jumps. Such long jumps significantly decrease the probability to revisit previous points of visitation, rendering Lévy flights efficient search processes in one and two dimensions. To further quantify their precise property as random search strategies we here study the first-passage time properties of Lévy flights in one-dimensional semi-infinite and bounded domains for symmetric and asymmetric jump length distributions. To obtain the full probability density function of first-passage times for these cases we employ two complementary methods. One approach is based on the space-fractional diffusion equation for the probability density function, from which the survival probability is obtained for different values of the stable index and the skewness (asymmetry) parameter . The other approach is based on the stochastic Langevin equation with -stable driving noise. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages for explicit calculations and numerical evaluation, and the complementary approach involving both methods will be profitable for concrete applications. We also make use of the Skorokhod theorem for processes with independent increments and demonstrate that the numerical results are in good agreement with the analytical expressions for the probability density function of the first-passage times.