BackgroundRhus verniciflua Stokes is an Asian tree species that is used as a food supplement and traditional medicine in Korea. However, its use is restricted by its potential to cause allergy. Thus, allergen-free R. verniciflua extracts are currently being marketed as a functional health food in Korea. In the present study, three different allergen-free R. verniciflua extracts (DRVE, FRVE, and FFRVE) were produced by detoxification of R. verniciflua, and their properties and constituents were compared.MethodsThe main components and properties (antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer, and hepatic lipogenesis inhibitory effects) of the three allergen-free extracts were compared. Moreover, the major phenolic constituents of R. verniciflua, including gallic acid, fustin, fisetin, and quercetin, were analyzed in the three extracts.ResultsDRVE was superior to the two other extracts with regard to antioxidant activity, while FRVE was superior with regard to antimicrobial activity and suppression of hepatic lipogenesis. FRVE exhibited lipid-lowering effects by lowering sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 and triglyceride levels, and promoting the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor and AMP-activated protein kinase in an in vitro model of non-alcoholic fatty liver.ConclusionsOverall, our findings demonstrate various differences among the three extracts. This suggests that functional and bioactive compounds present in R. verniciflua could be altered by the detoxification process, and this property could be considered in the development of functional health foods in the future.

Transition tantalum induced crystallization of amorphous zinc tin oxide (a-ZTO) was observed at low temperature annealing of 300 °C. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) with an a-ZTO channel layer exhibited a reasonable field-effect mobility of 12.4 cm2/V s, subthreshold swing (SS) of 0.39 V/decade, threshold voltage (VTH) of 1.5 V, and ION/OFF ratio of ∼107. A significant improvement in the field-effect mobility (up to ∼33.5 cm2/V s) was achieved for crystallized ZTO TFTs: this improvement was accomplished without compromising the SS, VTH, or ION/OFF ratio due to the presence of a highly ordered microstructure.

This paper examined the effects of postdeposition annealing on the electrical properties of titanium-capped (TC) indium-zinc oxide (IZO) films and their IZO thin-film transistors. The TC IZO transistor oxidized at the temperature of 300°C exhibited a high field-effect mobility of 61.0 cm 2 /Vs, low subthreshold gate swing of 110 mV/decade, V th of −0.4 V, and high I ON/OFF ratio of 2.3 × 10 8 . In addition, the positive gate bias stress-induced stability of the TC IZO transistor was better than that of the control device without metal capping treatment. This was attributed to the scavenging effect of the loosely bonded oxygen species in the IZO semiconductor by titanium thermal oxidation.Index Terms-Indium zinc oxide (IZO), metal capping, mobility, oxygen-related defect, thin-film transistors (TFTs).