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Background. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) associated with solid tumors such as mature cystic teratomas is rare and poorly understood. Here, we report a successfully treated case of secondary AIHA in a mature cystic teratoma containing antibodies against red blood cells. Case description. A 22-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with progressive anemia. Laboratory findings revealed hemolysis with a positive direct and indirect antiglobulin test. Imaging studies identified a left ovarian mass, suspected to be a mature cystic teratoma, which was later confirmed by histopathology after laparoscopic oophorocystectomy. The patient was treated with prednisolone, resulting in improved anemia. To examine the relationship between the tumor and AIHA, an indirect antiglobulin test was performed on the tumor contents. Stronger aggregations were observed at any concentration diluted by 10 times from 10 to 10,000 times of the tumor contents compared to the patient’s serum. Additionally, immunofixation electrophoresis of the tumor contents revealed the presence of monoclonal immunoglobulin G-κ. Conclusion. The presence of monoclonal IgG-κ in the tumor suggests intratumoral antibody production as a possible mechanism. Further research is necessary to elucidate the pathogenic relationship between such tumors and AIHA. The report also highlights the importance of considering secondary AIHA in patients with unexplained anemia and solid tumors.

Requirements coming from the customer, as well as internal needs of improvements consequent to the increasing complexity of the layout of the newest devices, lead to the necessity of exploring all the potential improvements achievable at the mask manufacturing inspection process. A key point to manage for the better DB inspections is that of being able to achieve a proper matching between the images to be compared, tasks which is accomplished by the tool architecture by means of a pre-swath calibration process on which the quality of the focus is playing a relevant role. From here the decision to focus on this parameter aiming of working out and evaluate a different approach to be used to set the scanning focus on the inspection tool moving from the vendor theory based on the edge speed on a specific test plate to a new one based on intensity measurements into specific features on a purposely designed test vehicle. A matter of relevant importance for mask makers, either for the smoothness of the inspection process or for the homogeneity of the quality of the products being delivered, but on which any tool vendor likes providing official commitments, is that of correlating the overall performance of similar tools. This was accomplished with the new approach with two different tools achieving optical images with similar grey scale distributions into the most critical features. Moreover, the improvement of the matching of the images being compared allows extending the usage of the tool for products for which the complexity of the layout forced the inspection with different pixels or with more advanced tools, with a positive impact either on costs or on the cycle time of the masks being delivered. A careful assessment-verification of the shadowing limitation induced by the frame of the pellicle was another task successfully carried out with the new methodology, with some improvement regarding the inspectable area. The extended its usage the wider the field of application will become, but few advantages can be appreciated since the beginning: the focus will be set on a production like layer, its choice will not be depending on a human decision, it will be a simple, fast and reliable process runable at any time and at any operating level.

193nm binary photomasks are still used in the semiconductor industry for the lithography of some critical layers for the nodes 90nm and 65nm, with high volumes and over long period. These 193nm binary masks seem to be well-known but recent studies have shown surprising degrading effects, like Electric Field induced chromium Migration (EFM) [1] or chromium migration [2] [3]. Phase shift Masks (PSM) or Opaque MoSi On Glass (OMOG) might not be concerned by these effects [4] [6]under certain conditions. In this paper, we will focus our study on two layers gate and metal lines. We will detail the effects of mask aging, with SEM top view pictures revealing a degraded chromium edge profile and TEM chemical analyses demonstrating the growth of a chromium oxide on the sidewall. SEMCD measurements after volume production indicated a modified CD with respect to initial CD data after manufacture. A regression analysis of these CD measurements shows a radial effect, a die effect and an isolated-dense effect. Mask cleaning effectiveness has also been investigated, with sulphate or ozone cleans, to recover the mask quality in terms of CD. In complement, wafer intrafield CD measurements have been performed on the most sensitive structure to monitor the evolution of the aging effect on mask CD uniformity. Mask CD drift have been correlated with exposure dose drift and isolated-dense bias CD drift on wafers. In the end, we will try to propose a physical explanation of this aging phenomenon and a solution to prevent from it occurring.

The bark of Eucommia ulmoidesis a well-known crude drug in oriental medicine, and its leaves have been consumed as a beverage. From the green leaves of this plant, three new iridoids (1−3) were isolated, together with 12 known compounds. Compound 1is the first iridoid possessing a saturated bond between C-3 and C-4 and having an ether linkage between C-3 and C-2 of the glucose unit. Furthermore, 2and 3may be regarded as the first naturally occurring conjugates of an iridoid and an amino acid.

Divergent synthesis of multifunctional molecular probes based on caprolactam-derived dipeptidic γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs), Compound E (CE) and LY411575 analogue (DBZ), was efficiently accomplished by means of Cu(I)-catalyzed azide/alkyne fusion reaction. Photoaffinity labeling experiments using these derivatives coupled to photoactivatable and biotin moieties provided direct evidence that the molecular targets of CE and DBZ are the N-terminal fragment of presenilin 1 within the γ-secretase complex. Moreover, these photoprobes directly targeted signal peptide peptidase. These data suggest that the divergent synthesis of molecular probes has been successfully applied to characterize the interaction of GSIs with their molecular targets and define the structural requirements for inhibitor binding to intramembrane-cleaving proteases.

We previously reported a potent calpain inhibitor 1 (SJA6017, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-l-valyl-l-leucinal), which displayed relatively low oral bioavailability (BA). Replacing the metabolically labile aldehyde moiety of 1 with more chemically stable warheads, such as a cyclic hemiacetal, hydrazone, and α-ketoamide, provided the inhibitors with improved in vitro metabolic stability. Cyclic hemiacetal 2 was the most stable of these compounds. The optimization of 2 led to hemiacetal 8 (SNJ-1715) which exhibited high potency, good aqueous solubility, excellent oral BA, and prolonged plasma half-life in rats. Furthermore, 8 showed neuroprotective efficacy via oral administration in a rat retinal ischemia model.

Recently, radiation therapy has been reported to be effective in patients with low-grade lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) of the stomach. We describe changes in endoscopic ultrasonographic (EUS) findings after radiation therapy in a patient with low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma. Endoscopic ultrasonography initially showed enlargement of regional lymph nodes and diffuse thickening of the second and third mural layers in the gastric body. Two months after the end of radiation therapy, EUS showed hypoechoic changes in the third layer that corresponded to the ulcer scar but no wall thickening or lymph node enlargement. The hypoechoic changes were thought to reflect inflammatory change. We conclude that EUS is useful for assessing the response to radiation therapy in patients with low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma.

To verify the role of the α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→4)-[α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)]-β-d-glucopyranosyl (chacotriosyl) moiety of steroidal glycosides from Solaumplants in their antitumor and antivirus activities, chacotriosides of diosgenin, cholesterol, and glycrrhetic acid were synthesized by developing our trans-oligoglycosidation. The chacotriosyl trichloroacetimidate was linked to the aglycones to afford neoglycosides as a mixture of α and β anomers, that was easily separated with ODS chromatography.

Sézary syndrome is a rare leukemic type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma characterized by the presence of neoplastic T cells with cerebriform nuclei (Sézary cells) in the skin, lymph nodes, and peripheral blood. Typical Sézary cells have a CD3+CD4+CD8– phenotype; however, in cases of the aberrant loss of antigens on Sézary cells, especially the loss of critically important T-cell antigens such as CD4, there is a possibility of misdiagnosing the disease or underestimating the tumor burden of the disease. Here, we report a rare case of Sézary syndrome with CD4/CD8 double-negative Sézary cells in the peripheral blood. Most of the Sézary cells in the peripheral blood had lost CD4 expression, and we diagnosed the disease and evaluated the tumor burden by multicolor flow cytometry. Intriguingly, the Sézary cells showed a typical CD4+CD8–CD7– phenotype in the skin even though the cells in the peripheral blood lacked CD4. The patient responded well to treatment with bexarotene and narrow-band ultraviolet B therapy. Analysis by multicolor flow cytometry is essential to diagnose this rare type of Sézary syndrome and evaluate the tumor burden.

Organic ferroelectric gate field-effect transistor (FET) memories have been fabricated using pentacene as the semiconductor and a poly(vinylidene fluoride--tetrafluoroethylene) [P(VDF--TeFE)] thin film as the ferroelectric gate. The P(VDF--TeFE) film is prepared by spin coating and annealing at 170 \mbox{\circC} for 2.5 h, and pentacene is prepared by vacuum evaporation. The polarization--electric field ($P$--$E$) hysteresis of the P(VDF--TeFE) thin film is observed and enhanced by poling treatment. The obtained $P_{\text{r}}$ of 4 \mbox{$\mu$}C/cm2is sufficient for controlling pentacene surface potential. Good memory characteristics are obtained in the P(VDF--TeFE) gate FET. For such a FET, the ON/OFF ratio of drain current is 830, the carrier mobility is 0.11 cm2V-1s-1, and the memory retention is over 16 h.

Intercalation compounds of layered niobate K4Nb6O17with organoammonium ions adsorbed 2,4-dicholorophenol and phenol dissolved in water. Their adsorption properties were greatly influenced by the organoammonium species pre-intercalated; modification by dioctadecyldimethylammonium ions gave peculiar affinity for 2,4-dichlorophenol.

The plant Thalictrum squarrosum has been used in the traditional Chinese medicine as an antacid.

Title substances (I) and (II) as well as eight known diterpenoids are found in A.

Review: 12 refs.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.