Using phosphine-free and "green" chalcogen precursors, controlled synthesis of high quality CdS/ZnSe/ZnS core/shell1/shell2 nanocrystals has been successfully carried out using different sized CdS nanocrystals as cores. The properties and structures of the synthesized nanocrystals were characterized by absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transm...

B cells express randomly rearranged surface Ig that forms part of a multiprotein complex known as the B cell receptor (BCR). Recognition of Ag via this receptor results in its capture, internalization, proteolysis and presentation to CD4+ T cells. The recognition of Ag by CD4+ T cells is critical for the selection of individual B cells, leading to the eventual secretion of a high affinity versi...

Minimal residual disease (MRD) before myeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is associated with adverse outcome in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR1). To compare this association with that for patients in second complete remission (CR2) and to examine the quantitative impact of MRD, we studied 253 consecutive patients receiving myeloablative HCT for A...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease and its pathogenesis is unknown. SLE is regulated by complement receptors, proteins and antibodies such as complement receptor 2 (CR2/CD21), anti-dsDNA antibodies, Cysteine p Guanidine DNA (CpG DNA), toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), interluekin-6 (IL-6), and interferon(IFN-α). Upon activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells by bacte...

Complement activation plays a significant role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) pathogenesis, and polymorphisms interfering with factor H (fH) function, a complement alternative pathway (AP) inhibitor, are associated with increased AMD risk. We have previously validated an AP inhibitor, a fusion protein consisting of a complement receptor 2 fragment linked to the inhibitory domain of f...

Using directed evolution and site-directed mutagenesis, we have isolated a highly thermostable variant of Aspergillus niger glucoamylase (GA), designated CR2-1. CR2-1 includes the previously described mutations Asn20Cys and Ala27Cys (forming a new disulfide bond), Ser30Pro, Thr62Ala, Ser119Pro, Gly137Ala, Thr290Ala, His391Tyr and Ser436Pro. In addition, CR2-1 includes several new putative therm...

Complement receptor 2-deficient (Cr2(-/-)) mice are resistant to mesenteric ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury because they lack a component of the natural Ab repertoire. Neither the nature of the Abs that are involved in I/R injury nor the composition of the target Ag, to which recognition is lacking in Cr2(-/-) mice, is known. Because anti-phospholipid Abs have been shown to mediate fetal grow...

The high pressure band structure, density of states, metallization, structural phase transition and superconductivity of cubic zinc blende type zinc selenide (ZnSe) and cadmium selenide (CdSe) are investigated using the full potential linear muffin-tin orbital (FP-LMTO) method. The ground state properties and band gap values are compared with the experimental results. The equilibrium lattice co...

We demonstrate an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on random phase matching in a polycrystalline χ material, ZnSe. The subharmonic OPO utilized a 1.5-mm-long polished ZnSe ceramic sample placed at the Brewster's angle and was synchronously pumped by a Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:ZnS laser with a central wavelength of 2.35 μm, a pulse duration of 62 fs, and a repetition frequency of 79 MHz...

Ag2Se nanobelts are prepared through employing ZnSe nanobelts as templates via a facile cation exchange approach. The templates are derived from precursor ZnSe·0.5N2 H4 nanobelts, which are synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. As-synthesized precursor nanobelts are with 200 nm in width and several hundreds of micrometers in length. Annealed in N2 , they are transformed into ZnSe nanobel...