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Blepharophimosis-ptosis-epicanthus inversus syndrome (BPES) is a rare autosomal-dominant genetic disorder, and mutations in the forkhead box L2 (FOXL2) gene are one of the major genetic causes. As this study shows, there are many patients with BPES who do not have FOXL2 mutations, as the screening results in all family members were negative. Using whole-exome sequence analysis, we discovered another possible mutational cause of BPES in integrin subunit beta 5 (ITGB5). The ITGB5 mutation (c.608T>C, p.Ile203Thr) appears in the base sequence of all BPES+ patients in this family, and it appears to be a three-generation-inherited mutation. It can cause changes in base sequence and protein function, and there may be cosegregation of disease phenotypes. ITGB5 is located on the long arm of chromosome three (3q21.2) and is close to the known pathogenic gene FOXL2 (3q23). This study is the first to report ITGB5 mutations in BPES, and we speculate that it may be directly involved in the pathogenesis of BPES or indirectly through the regulation of FOXL2.

Objectives: To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of single-use and reusable digital flexible ureteroscopy for the treatment of lower pole stones. Methods: We enrolled 135 patients underwent reusable flexible ureteroscopy (FURS) and 78 patients underwent single-use digital FURS. Demographic, clinical variables, anatomical parameters of the lower calyx and perioperative indicators were compared in the two groups. Results: Thirty-six patients in the infundibuloureter angle (IPA) < 45° subgroup had a mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mini-PCNL), including 25 patients in the reusable FURS group and 11 patients in the single-use FURS group. The demographic and clinical variables in the two FURS groups were comparable. There was no statistical difference in the success rate of stone searching (P > 0.05). In terms of the success rate of lithotripsy, there was also no statistical difference in the IPA ≥ 45° subgroup (P > 0.05), whereas single-use FURS was superior in the IPA < 45° subgroup (χ2 = 6.513, P = 0.011). The length of the working fiber in the reusable FURS and single-use FURS groups was 3.20 ± 0.68 mm and 1.75 ± 0.47 mm, respectively (t = 18.297, P < 0.05). The use of a stone basket in the reusable FURS (31/135, 23.0%) was significantly higher than that in the single-use FURS (8/78, 10.3%) (χ2 = 5.336, P = 0.021). Compared with the reusable FURS group, the single-use FURS group had shorter operation times (P < 0.05) and higher stone-free rate (SFR) (χ2 = 4.230, P = 0.040). There was no statistical difference in the intraoperative transfer of mini-PCNL and postoperative complications between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Single-use and reusable FURS are alternative methods for removal of lower pole stones (i.e., 2 cm or less). Single-use FURS has a high success rate of lithotripsy, shorter operation time, and high stone-free rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores a new method for synthesizing carbamoyl azides, which are important for creating amines. The authors propose using NHP esters and TMSN3 to form C-N bonds through a nucleophilic substitution process. They optimized the reaction conditions and demonstrated the method's effectiveness with various NHP esters. Control experiments were conducted to understand the mechanism, which involves the coordination of NHP esters with ferric acetate, nucleophilic attack, and Curtius rearrangement. This method offers a convenient and efficient approach for synthesizing carbamoyl azides. The authors of the article are Xiaobin Yuan, Yanjie Qu, Yajun Li, and Hongli Bao. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores a new method for synthesizing carbamoyl azides, which are important for creating amines. The authors propose using NHP esters and TMSN3 to form C-N bonds through a nucleophilic substitution process. They optimized the reaction conditions and demonstrated the method's effectiveness with various NHP esters. Control experiments were conducted to understand the mechanism, which involves the coordination of NHP esters with ferric acetate, nucleophilic attack, and Curtius rearrangement. This method offers a convenient and efficient approach for synthesizing carbamoyl azides. The authors of the article are Xiaobin Yuan, Yanjie Qu, Yajun Li, and Hongli Bao. [Extracted from the article]

Remote sensing image classification (RSIC) is designed to assign specific semantic labels to aerial images, which is significant and fundamental in many applications. In recent years, substantial work has been conducted on RSIC with the help of deep learning models. Even though these models have greatly enhanced the performance of RSIC, the issues of diversity in the same class and similarity between different classes in remote sensing images remain huge challenges for RSIC. To solve these problems, a duplex-hierarchy representation learning (DHRL) method is proposed. The proposed DHRL method aims to explore duplex-hierarchy spaces, including a common space and a label space, to learn discriminative representations for RSIC. The proposed DHRL method consists of three main steps: First, paired images are fed to a pretrained ResNet network for extracting the corresponding features. Second, the extracted features are further explored and mapped into a common space for reducing the intra-class scatter and enlarging the inter-class separation. Third, the obtained representations are used to predict the categories of the input images, and the discrimination loss in the label space is minimized to further promote the learning of discriminative representations. Meanwhile, a confusion score is computed and added to the classification loss for guiding the discriminative representation learning via backpropagation. The comprehensive experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the existing state-of-the-art methods on two challenging remote sensing image scene datasets, demonstrating that the proposed method is significantly effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Perineal extramammary paget's disease (EMPD) is characterized with high recurrence rate. Although numerous therapeutic measures for this disease have been reported so far, it is unknown whether there is significant difference in their recurrence-preventing efficiency. This study aims to compare the recurrence outcomes of reported perineal EMPD treatments. Methods: We searched public databases of for published studies concerning perineal EMPD treatments. After screening by inclusion and exclusion criteria, we extracted the data relevant to recurrence rate, and conducted network meta-analysis (NMA) by using Bayesian random-effects approach. Results: Our analysis included 29 previous studies (involving both male and female patients) and 11 treatment designs which are wide local excision (WLE), local excision (LE), Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), radiotherapy (RT), radical vulvectomy (RV), photodynamic therapy (PDT), lasers (LS), imiquimod, and WLE+RT, WLE+PDT, WLE+LS. Comparing with WLE, the MMS showed significant advantage in reducing recurrence [OR: 0.18 (0.03–0.87)], while none of the rest treatments has statistically significant results. After removing outlier studies, MMS still has the significant advantages [OR: 0.35 (0.11–0.82)], and LE turned to be the treatment with worst performance [OR: 13 (2.50–110)]. Covariance analysis of follow-up length, gender differences, and lesion locations indicated only short follow-up time could affect the recurrence statistics, which tend to conceal the real differences. Funnel plot demonstrated there is no significant small study effect. Conclusion: MMS has the best performance on reducing perineal EMPD recurrence, while LE exhibits the worst capability in such regard. Recurrence-preventing abilities of other treatments have no significant difference between each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon–nitrogen bond is one of the most prevalent chemical bonds in natural and artificial molecules, as many naturally existing organic molecules, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials contain at least one nitrogen atom. Radical decarboxylative carbon–nitrogen bond formation from readily available carboxylic acids and their derivatives has emerged as an attractive and valuable tool in modern synthetic chemistry. The promising achievements in this research topic have been demonstrated via utilizing this strategy in the synthesis of complex natural products. In this review, we will cover carbon–nitrogen bond formation via radical decarboxylation of carboxylic acids, Barton esters, MPDOC esters, N–hydroxyphthalimide esters (NHP esters), oxime esters, aryliodine(III) dicarboxylates, and others, respectively. This review aims to bring readers a comprehensive survey of the development in this rapidly expanding field. We hope that this review will emphasize the knowledge, highlight the proposed mechanisms, and further disclose the fascinating features in modern synthetic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A star-identification algorithm aimed at identifying imaged stars in a "lost in space" scene, named the global multi-triangle voting algorithm (GMTV), is presented in this paper. There are two core parts included in the proposed algorithm: in the initial match part, triangle feature units are treated as vote units to find the initial match relationship via matching vote units and counting the vote number of each catalog star. During this step, the principal component analysis (PCA) method is implemented to reduce feature dimensions, and a two-dimension lookup table and fuzzy match strategy are utilized to promote database searching efficiency and noise tolerance. After acquiring the initial match results, a verification part is implemented to filter potential errors from initial candidates by the largest cluster method and output the final identification results. The proposed algorithm achieves a 98.6% identification rate with 2.0 pixels position noise and exhibits more robustness to position noise, magnitude noise, and false stars of different levels than the two reference algorithms used in simulations. In addition, our algorithm's real-time performance is better than reference algorithms, but it requires a larger database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bipolar control-voltage waveforms, under which the control voltage alternates between positive and negative after each cycle, have been proposed to mitigate dielectric charging in electrostatically actuated RF microelectromechanical system capacitive switches. In this study, dielectric charging under bipolar waveforms is modeled and characterized quantitatively. In general, the experimental results agree with predictions based on the superposition of unipolar charging models that are extracted under positive and negative voltages, respectively. The basic assumptions for such a superposition model are examined in detail and validated experimentally. The current analysis indicates that, while bipolar waveforms can reduce charging, it is difficult to fine tune the waveforms to completely eliminate charging. Index Terms--Charge injection, dielectric films, dielectric materials, microelectromechanical devices, switches.

Introduction: The effect of icotinib on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR exon 19 deletions (19-Del) or L858R point mutation in exon 21 (21-L858R) remains inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of icotinib in patients with advanced NSCLC harboring these 2 EGFR mutations. Methods: We retrospectively assessed the clinical effects of first-line icotinib on advanced NSCLC patients with 2 classic EGFR mutations. Kinase activity assays were used to reaffirm the preclinical efficacy. Results: Among 2,757 patients, 2,365 (86%) harbored 19-Del (1,346/2,757, 49%) or 21-L858R (1,019/2,757, 37%) mutation. Patients with 19-Del had a higher response rate (ORR; 67.8 vs. 62.1%; p = 0.0039) and disease control rate (98.5 vs. 97.2%; p = 0.0223) than those with 21-L858R mutation. The median progression-free survival (PFS) in the 19-Del group (22.3 months, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 21.3–23.4) was significantly longer than that in the 21-L858R group (20.4 months, 95% CI: 19.5–21.7) (p = 0.004). In multivariate analysis, mutation types, clinical stage, and smoking history were significant factors for PFS. Additionally, an in vitro study indicated the 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of icotinib was lower for EGFR 19-Del than 21-L858R. Conclusion: These results suggest that EGFR 19-Del confers superior PFS and response to the icotinib treatment compared to 21-L858R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease and optimum gene targeting treatment is often impermissible. We aim to determine the intratumoral genomic heterogeneity of prostate cancer and explore candidate genes for targeted therapy. Exome sequencing was performed on 37 samples from 16 patients with prostate cancer. Somatic variant analysis, copy number variant (CNV) analysis, clonal evolution analysis and variant spectrum analysis were used to study the intratumoral genomic heterogeneity and genetic characteristics of metastatic prostate cancer. Our study confirmed the high intratumoral genetic heterogeneity of prostate cancer in many aspects, including number of shared variants, tumor mutation burden (TMB), variant genes, CNV burden, weighted genome instability index (wGII), CNV profiles, clonal evolutionary process, variant spectrum and mutational signatures. Moreover, we identified several common genetic characteristics of prostate cancer. Alterations of DNA damage repair genes, RTK/RAS pathway associated gene RASGRF1 and autophagy gene EPG5 may be involved in tumorigenesis in prostate cancer. CNV burden and DNA damage repair (DDR) genes may be associated with metastasis of prostate cancer. What's new? Prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease, making the development of gene targeting therapies difficult. This study confirmed the high intratumoral genetic heterogeneity of prostate cancer in the number of shared variants, tumor mutation and copy number variation (CNV) burden, weighted genome instability index, clonal evolutionary process, and variant spectrum as well as variant genes, CNV profiles, and mutational signatures. The authors could however identify several common genetic characteristics of prostate cancer. Thus, RASGRF1 and EPG5 may be involved in the tumorigenesis of prostate cancer. Furthermore, the CNV burden and DNA damage repair genes may be associated with metastatic prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) on erectile function (EF) utilizing a 160W GreenLight laser system with up to 36 months of follow-up in men with lower urinary tract symptoms caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia.Methods: A prospectively maintained database of patients who underwent GreenLight PVP was retrospectively reviewed. International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) questionnaire was used to assess EF. In total, 265 sexually active patients who underwent 160W GreenLight laser PVP were identified and divided into Group A with baseline IIEF-5 <19 and group B with baseline IIEF-5 ≥19. IIEF-5, International Prostate Symptom Score, quality of life, postvoid residual, and Qmax were recorded preoperatively, perioperatively, and at follow-up after 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months. Recorded data were analyzed statistically using t- and χ2 tests.Results: The preoperative and perioperative data of the 2 groups were comparable. Significant improvements in International Prostate Symptom Score, Qmax, quality of life, and postvoid residual were observed in both groups at every follow-up visit throughout the 36 months with no significant difference between the groups. EF was sustained postoperatively compared with the baseline in the whole study population. In Group A (preoperative IIEF-5 <19), EF was significantly improved at 1 month and 12 month (P= .02 and P= .002).Conclusion: In patients undergoing PVP by 160W GreenLight laser for lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia, no significant detrimental effect was observed in the EF at up to 3 years of follow-up. However, in patients with preoperative erectile dysfunction (ED), we showed a significant improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Store operated calcium channels (SOCCs) have been suggested to play a critical role in many diabetic complications. Diabetic cystopathy (DCP) is common in patients with diabetes, but the role of SOCCs in DCP is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of SOCCs in DCP with streptozocin (STZ)‑induced diabetic rats. Specifically, the authors investigated whether SOCCs were altered in streptozocin (STZ)‑induced diabetic rats and, if so, how this may contribute to the contraction of bladder detrusor strips and the intracellular Ca2+ concentration of bladder smooth muscle cells in diabetic rats. Cyclopiazonic acid (CPA, 10 µM) and SKF‑96365 (10 µM) were used to activate and inhibit SOCCs respectively, to research the effects of SOCCs on the contraction of the bladder detrusor strips in normal and STZ‑induced diabetic rats at the 4th, 8th and 12th week after the diabetic rat model was established. The changes of intracellular Ca2+ were also evaluated under confocal microscopy with pretreated Fluo‑4AM. In addition, the expressions of Orai1 and STIM1 were detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting at different time points. According to the results, the contractive frequency of diabetic bladder muscle strips was higher than that of controls in the 4th and 8th week. The increased fluorescence intensity was detected after using CPA and SKF‑96365 in diabetic groups. The expressions of Orai1 and STIM1 changed in a time‑dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) has been proven to be associated with apoptosis and plays a critical role in the development of many diabetic complications. In the pathogenesis of diabetic cystopathy (DCP), the role of ERS is still unclear. Our study is aimed at the investigation of the involvement of ERS-associated detrusor muscle apoptosis in streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods At different timepoints (4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after induction of type 1 diabetic rat models), hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining was performed to assess the histological changes of the diabetic detrusor; the sub-cellular ultrastructure, especially the zone of endoplasmic reticulum (ER), was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated DNA nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining was used to identify the enhanced apoptosis. Moreover, the expression of three hallmarks of ERS-associated apoptosis, including glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP), and caspase12, was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. Results Light microscopic impairments of histology, including progressive loosely packed muscle bundles and increased fibrous tissue, can be seen; the ultrastructural changes featuring the swollen and fused cisternaes in ER zone and deformed nucleus were also observed in the detrusor smooth muscle (DSM). Increased apoptosis and elevated expression of GRP78, CHOP, and caspase12 at both protein and mRNA levels in a time-dependent fashion were detected. Conclusions The occurrence of ERS-associated apoptosis may be involved in the development of DCP and may contribute to the diabetic detrusor impairment. Neurourol. Urodynam. 36:65-72, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: RCC is the most common solid renal malignancy in adults worldwide. To provide the insight of clinicopathologica epidemiological characteristics and change tendencies of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), 2154 cases were collected from Shanxi Province of China, including diagnose time, age, gender, tumor size, Fuhrman grade, tumor stage, tumor location, local advance or distant metastasis and first symptom from 2005 to 2014. This retrospectively investigation, as its general objective, was to analyze the clinicopathologica epidemiological characteristics and the change tendencies of RCC. Methods: Between 2005 and 2014, 2154 patients who were diagnosed with RCC in three large tertiary hospitals at Shanxi Province were included. The patients’ demographic features, pathological diagnoses and metastatic statuses were analyzed. Statistics methods include the chi-squared test, analysis of variance, Spearman’s correlation analysis, Logistic regression and ARIMA modeling. Results: Of the 2154 included patients, the constituent ratio of female /male was 63.1% and 36.9%, with the median age of 57 years old. Fuhrman grade distributions differed significantly between males and females (p = 0.024). Also, a significant difference in tumor size was found by different clinical stages (p < 0.001), with a linear correlation (p < 0.001). Moreover, Spearman’s analysis indicated tumor grade has a negative correlation with female (p = 0.009) and a positive correlation with tumor size (p = 0.000). It was found that the tumor diameter is bigger in the left side (p = 0.022). Furthermore, the metastasis rate was higher in the bigger tumor (p < 0.001) and the left-sided tumors (p = 0.027). Logistic regression also showed that tumor size is a risk factor for metastasis (OR = 1.724). The risk of local advance or distant metastasis in the left kidney was 1.6-fold greater than that of the right kidney. From 2005 to 2014 the number of RCC cases gradually increased (mainly for pathological grade II and III, but grade I and IV), while the average tumor size decreased, showing the severity increase mildly. Base on the results of a time series analysis-prediction the average RCC size would continue to decrease from the first quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016. Conclusions: The cases of RCC increased from 2005 to 2014 with clear cell type as the main pathological type in this population. The characteristics in the constituent ratios of the RCC vary depending on gender, pathological grade, tumor size, and location, which may be the important factors impacting treatment and prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design, analysis, and implementation of an accurate delay circuit used to synthesize critical paths in a microprocessor system are presented. The delay circuit includes a novel 64-step programmable calibration delay line that is highly uniform across a wide range of supply voltages and a reconfigurable delay path with tunable delay sensitivity to voltage variations. The calibration delay line generates delay step in picosecond range, which is less than 1% of the clock cycle time for the microprocessor. The reconfigurable path is capable of increasing voltage sensitivity of the delay circuit by 40% and emulating the steeper frequency versus voltage slope of the microprocessor in low-voltage domain. The proposed circuit is implemented inside the critical path monitor block placed on a test microprocessor core fabricated using 22-nm silicon-on-insulator CMOS process. Measurement results from nine test cores show that the circuit tracks microprocessor timing margin change with an error less than 1.3% of the core operating frequency over a wide supply voltage range. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of preoperative planning and real-time assisted surgical navigation for three-dimensional laparoscopic partial nephrectomy under the guidance of three-dimensional individual digital model (3D-IDM) created using three-dimensional medical image reconstructing and guiding system (3D-MIRGS). Patients and methods: Between May 2012 and February 2014, 44 patients with cT1 renal tumors underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) using a three-dimensional laparoscopic system. The 3D-IDMs were created using the 3D-MIRGS in 21 patients (3D-MIRGS group) between February 2013 and February 2014. After preoperative planning, operations were real-time assisted using composite 3D-IDMs, which were fused with two-dimensional retrolaparoscopic images. The remaining 23 patients underwent surgery without 3D-MIRGS between May 2012 and February 2013; 14 of these patients were selected as a control group. Preoperative aspects and dimensions used for an anatomical score, 'radius; exophytic/endophytic; nearness; anterior/posterior; location' nephrometry score, tumor size, operative time (OT), segmental renal artery clamping (SRAC) time, estimated blood loss (EBL), postoperative hospitalization, the preoperative serum creatinine level and ipsilateral glomerular filtration rate (GFR), as well as postoperative 6-month data were compared between groups. Results: All the SRAC procedures were technically successful, and each targeted tumor was excised completely; final pathological margin results were negative. The OT was shorter (159.0 vs. 193.2 min; $$p < 0.001$$ ), and EBL (148.1 vs. 176.1 mL; $$p < 0.001$$ ) was reduced in the 3D-MIRGS group compared with controls. No statistically significant differences in SRAC time or postoperative hospitalization were found between the groups. Neither group showed any statistically significant increases in serum creatinine level or decreases in ipsilateral GFR postoperatively. Conclusions: Preoperative planning and real-time assisted surgical navigation using the 3D-IDM reconstructed from 3D-MIRGS and combined with the 3D laparoscopic system can facilitate LPN and result in precise SRAC and accurate excision of tumor that is both effective and safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and efficient route for the preparation of terphenyl derivatives via palladium-catalyzed sequential directed C-H arylation/Suzuki-Miyaura in 'one-pot' has been developed. 4,4′-(Cyclohexane-1,1-diyl)diphenol is an essential ligand. This reaction can tolerate a series of functional groups and provides the terphenyl derivatives in moderate to good yield. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and safety of retroperitoneal laparoendoscopic single-site adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma (LESS-PHEO) and summarize our initial experience. Patients and Methods: Between June 2009 and June 2013, 21 patients with adrenal pheochromocytoma underwent adrenalectomy by means of LESS-PHEO in our department. Fifty-three patients with pheochromocytoma underwent conventional retrolaparoscopic adrenalectomy (RLAP-PHEO) between March 2001 and June 2013, of whom 42 were selected as a control group for a retrospective serial case-control analysis (1:2 matched-pair cohort). In the operation, the retroperitoneal space was created and dilated by blunt finger dissection and the pneumoperitoneal pressure was maintained below 10 mm Hg. As the first step, ligation of the adrenal central vein was performed. Intraoperative hemodynamic parameters, operating time, estimated blood loss, transfusion requirement, incidence of perioperative complications, visual analog pain scale (VAPS) score, time to resumption of oral intake and ambulation, and postoperative hospitalization were compared between the groups. Results: All the operations were technically successful, without reoperations or conversion to open procedures. The 24-hour postoperative VAPS score was lower in the LESS-PHEO group than in the control group (5 vs 7; p<0.001). Despite a longer median operative time (167.4 minutes vs 125.5 minutes; p<0.001), the patients in the LESS-PHEO group resumed oral intake sooner (1 day vs 2 days; p<0.001), ambulated sooner (1 day vs 2 days; p<0.001), and were discharged earlier (4 days vs 7 days; p<0.001). No perioperative complications occurred in both the groups. No statistically significant differences in hemodynamic parameters or estimated blood loss were found between the groups. Conclusion: Although more training and practice are needed to shorten its operative time, LESS-PHEO, as performed by an experienced laparoscopic urologist, is a feasible and safe procedure associated with less postoperative pain and faster recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New drug discovery in the pediatrics has dramatically improved survival, but with long- term adverse events. This motivates the examination of adverse outcomes such as long-term toxicity in a phase IV trial. An ideal approach to monitor long-term toxicity is to systematically follow the survivors, which is generally not feasible. Instead, cross-sectional surveys are conducted in Hudson et al. (2007), with one of the objectives to estimate the cumulative incidence rates along with specific interest in fixed-term (5 or 10 year) rates. We present inference procedures based on current status data to our motivating example with very interesting findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pd/C-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling between aryl bromides and arylboronic acids in 50% methanol aqueous solution proceeded smoothly in the presence of 18-crown-6. Various aryl bromides bearing electron-withdrawing groups and electron-donating groups coupled with arylboronic acid in high yields. In addition, the catalyst could be recycled five times without loss of activity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The confidence interval of the Kaplan-Meier estimate of the survival probability at a fixed time point is often constructed by the Greenwood formula. This normal approximation-based method can be looked as a Wald type confidence interval for a binomial proportion, the survival probability, using the 'effective' sample size defined by Cutler and Ederer. Wald-type binomial confidence interval has been shown to perform poorly comparing to other methods. We choose three methods of binomial confidence intervals for the construction of confidence interval for survival probability: Wilson's method, Agresti-Coull's method, and higher-order asymptotic likelihood method. The methods of 'effective' sample size proposed by Peto et al. and Dorey and Korn are also considered. The Greenwood formula is far from satisfactory, while confidence intervals based on the three methods of binomial proportion using Cutler and Ederer's 'effective' sample size have much better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transistor mismatch data and analysis from poly/SiON and high-k/metal-gate (HKMG) bulk CMOS technologies are presented. It is found that the traditional mismatch figure of merit from the Pelgrom plot (AVT) continuously scales down as technology advances. Furthermore, the AVT values for both nFET and pFET in the HKMG technology are significantly reduced from poly/SiON technologies. By normalizing the mismatch data against electrical oxide thickness (TINV), threshold voltage (VTH), and effective work function, a direct comparison of the mismatch data from various technologies is made. The differences in nFET and pFET mismatch behaviors in both poly/SiON and HKMG technologies are discussed in detail. Correlation between transistor VTH mismatch and flicker noise variation is observed in both poly/SiON and HKMG technologies. Finally, it is quantitatively demonstrated that effective work function variation does not generate significant VTH variability in the present HKMG technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr Xiaobin Yuan from the Microelectronics Division of IBM and author of the Letter ‘Transistor mismatch in 32 nm high-k metal-gate process’ on page 708 tells us more about his research into advanced process technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]