Autophagy in the corpus luteum correlates with tissue growth in pregnant rats.

The developmental activation of the corpus luteum (CL) structurally and functionally is critical for the temporally regulated establishment, maintenance, and termination of pregnancy in rats. In this study, we have investigated the possible involvement of autophagy in the regulation of the CL during pregnancy in rats. The expression ratio of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3)-II/-I, a widely used indicator of autophagic activity, in the CL remained relatively stable until day 15 of pregnancy. Subsequently, it progressively increased until day 21, and then declined until day 3 postpartum. This fluctuation was closely associated with the tissue weight of the CL rather than progesterone (P4) production activity. Light and electron microscopy revealed the presence of immunoreactive LC3 aggregates and irregularly shaped autolysosome-like microstructures in the cytoplasm of luteal cells during late pregnancy. Notably, a bolus intrabursal injection of the autophagy inhibitor bafilomycin A1 on day 15 of pregnancy resulted in a significant reduction in luteal cell size and disrupted the normal alteration of circulating P4 levels. Consequently, treatment with this inhibitor increased the likelihood of the varied timing (both advanced and delayed) of delivery and led to reduced body weight in neonates when compared with the vehicle-treated control group. Our findings suggest that autophagy in the rat CL contributes to luteal tissue growth, influences P4 production, and thereby fine-tunes the regulation of gestation length in rats.

Improvement of the light extraction efficiency of top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes by a two-dimensional diffraction layer fabricated using self-assembled nanoparticles.

The light extraction efficiency of top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) was improved by insertion of a two-dimensional (2D) diffraction layer. The 2D diffraction layer was fabricated by our original nanofabrication technique, the embedded particle monolayer method, which could form a self-assembled particle monolayer. As a result, the electroluminescence intensity of the device with the 2D diffraction layer was improved by 1.67 times (in total luminous flux) and 2.07 times (in peak wavelength). High luminance top-emitting OLEDs were fabricated using the potentially low-cost self-assembling technique.

Silicon nanowire grid polarizer for very deep ultraviolet fabricated from a shear-aligned diblock copolymer template.

A silicon (Si) nanowire grid ultraviolet (UV) transmission polarizer has been fabricated, and its performance was measured over the visible to deep UV range. A cylinder-forming polystyrene-b-poly(hexylmethacrylate) diblock copolymer was coated onto an amorphous Si layer supported on a fused silica substrate, then shear aligned and employed as a mask for reactive-ion etching, resulting in a Si grid of 33 nm period and multi-centimeter-squared area. Due to the high plasma frequency and UV reflectance of the deposited Si, this nanowire grid was able to polarize light down into the deep UV, including 193 nm.

Fabrication of subwavelength structure for improvement in light-extraction efficiency of light-emitting devices using a self-assembled pattern of block copolymer.

A new fabrication method to improve the optical extraction efficiency of light-emitting devices is presented. The morphology of a self-assembled block copolymer was transferred to the surface of a compound semiconductor to achieve a subwavelength columnar structure. The optical extraction efficiency of the substrates with subwavelength columnar structures of 350 nm pillar height, 130 nm diameter, and 180 nm pitch, improved 2.2 times compared to unprocessed substrates. This method does not require expensive exposure lithography tools and is therefore suitable for conventional semiconductor processes.