[en] Objective: To investigate the value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of breast carcinoma before and one course after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and to predict the response of breast carcinoma to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Twenty female patients with 21 breast carcinoma lesions were examined with diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and contrast-enhanced MRI within 7 days prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (adriamycin + taxinol), during 18-21 days after the first couse of therapy and within 7 days prior to the surgery resection. The tumors were divided into response group and relative nonresponse group by change of the tumor. The difference of ADC between the two groups before and after 1st course of chemotherapy was compared. Results: In chemotherapy response group with 15 lesions, the mean ADC was (0.98±0.15) x 10^-3 mm²/s before chemotherapy and increased to (1.22 ± 0.23) x 10^-3 mm²/s after 1 st course of chemotherapy (P<0.05), while in nonresponse group with 6 lesions, the mean ADC before and after chemocherapy was (1.09±0.08) x 10^-3 mm²/s and (1.11±0.07) x l0^-3 mm²/s, respectively, with no statistical difference( P>0.05). The mean ADC of response group prior to chemotherapy was significantly lower than that of nonresponse group (P<0.05). A significant negative correlation (r=-0.51, P<0.05) was observed between the ADC prior to treatment and change of ADC after the first couse therapy. Conclusion: Preliminary results revealed the initial ADC of the tumor in patient with breast carcinoma and the changes of ADC after 1st couse treatment may predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. (authors)

[en] Highlights: • In_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS and Al_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS solar cells are studied by numerical analysis. • Performances of In_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS solar cells enhanced with decreasing In content. • The electron barrier leads to the degraded efficiency of Al_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS solar cells. • GaN/SnS solar cell exhibits the highest efficiency 26.34%. - Abstract: In this work the photovoltaic properties of In_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS and Al_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS heterojunction solar cells are studied by numerical analysis. The photovoltaic performances of In_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS solar cells are enhanced with the decreasing In content and the GaN/SnS solar cell exhibits the highest efficiency. The efficiencies of GaN/SnS solar cell improve with the increased SnS thickness and the reduced GaN thickness. For the Al_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS solar cells, there is electron barrier in the Al_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS interface. The electron barrier becomes larger with increasing Al content and lead to the degraded efficiency of Al_xGa_1_−_xN/SnS solar cells. The simulation contributes to designing and fabricating SnS solar cells.