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This study aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes of causative microorganisms in obstructive pyelonephritis associated with ureteral stones (OPU) and their antibiotic susceptibilities. This retrospective cohort study included female patients diagnosed with community-acquired acute pyelonephritis (APN) at a tertiary-care hospital between 2008 and 2017. A comparison of APN cases associated with the obstruction of the upper urinary tract by ureteral stones and APN cases without complications was performed. Propensity score (PS) matching was used to adjust the heterogeneity within each group. Of the 588 female patients with community-acquired APN, 107 were diagnosed with OPU and 481 with uncomplicated APN. After PS matching, Enterobacteriaceae strains isolated from OPU cases were more resistant to fluoroquinolones (51.9% vs 16.0%, P.001). Extended-spectrum β-lactamase was detected in 22.2% and 21.0% of the Enterobacteriaceae strains isolated from OPU and uncomplicated APN cases, respectively (P = 1.000). The treatment failure rate was similar in OPU and uncomplicated APN groups (16.0% vs 21.0%, P = .545). Patients with OPU may be empirically treated with antibiotics in accordance with the treatment protocol for general pyelonephritis. Clinicians should exercise caution in prescribing fluoroquinolones for treating OPU.

Background This study aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes and antibiotic susceptibilities of causative microorganisms in patients with obstructive pyelonephritis associated with ureteral stones (OPU). Methods This retrospective cohort study included female patients diagnosed with community-acquired acute pyelonephritis (APN) at a tertiary care hospital from 2008 to 2017. Cases of APN associated with obstruction of the upper urinary tract due to the presence of ureteral stones and cases of APN without complications were compared. Propensity score matching was used to adjust for heterogeneity within each group. Results Of the 588 female patients with community-acquired APN, 107 patients were diagnosed with OPU and 481 patients were diagnosed with uncomplicated APN. Propensity score matching revealed that Enterobacteriaceae strains isolated from OPU cases were more resistant to fluoroquinolones (51.9% vs. 16.0%, p p = 1.000). The treatment failure rate was similar in the OPU and uncomplicated APN groups (16.0% vs. 21.0%, p = 0.545). Conclusions Antibiotic treatment for patients with OPU may be empirically selected in accordance with the treatment protocol for general pyelonephritis. Clinicians should exercise caution before prescribing fluoroquinolones for the treatment of OPU.

We have surveyed 22,155 analyses issues to know the portion of surface analysis at the total analyses activities. According to the survey result, the contribution of SIMS in the total analyses issues was about 7%. The portions of semiconductor process control, composition and contamination in the SIMS analyses issues are 25%, 29% and 16%, respectively. In this article, some examples of the semiconductor device process control, identification of contaminants, and failure analyses have been reviewed. The behavior of H, O, and Ti at the Pt/Ti/GaInZnO interfaces and their influences on the electrical property of thin film transistor are demonstrated. Also discolor issues including organic material contamination problem on Au pad are discussed in detail.

An international round-robin study was undertaken under the auspices of ISO TC201/SC6 to determine the best analytical conditions and the level of interlaboratory agreement for the determination of the implantation dose of arsenic in silicon by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Fifteen SIMS laboratories, as well as two laboratories that performed low energy electron-induced X-ray emission spectrometry (LEXES) and one that made measurements by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) were asked to determine the implanted arsenic doses in three unknown samples using as a comparator NIST Standard Reference Material® 2134. The use of a common reference material by all laboratories resulted in better interlaboratory agreement than was seen in a previous round-robin that lacked a common comparator. The relative standard deviation among laboratories was less than 4% for the medium-dose sample, but several percent larger for the low- and high-dose samples. The high-dose sample showed a significant difference between point-by-point and average matrix normalization because the matrix signal decreased in the vicinity of the implant peak, as observed in a previous study. The dose from point-by-point normalization was in close agreement with that determined by INAA. No clear difference in measurement repeatability was seen when comparing Si2− and Si3− as matrix references with AsSi−.

SIMS with low energy (down to 250 eV) primary ions has been widely used for ultra-shallow dopant profiling for ULSI device development. In spite of its high performance in depth resolution, there still remain ambiguities to be overcome in SIMS technique for accurate depth and concentration calibrations in the shallow depth regions. In order to get accurate ultra-shallow boron depth profiles, BN-delta-doped multilayer reference materials were developed and evaluated in a round-robin study using low energy SIMS. Those delta-doped layers were used to measure the sputter rate change in the initial stage of oxygen–ion bombardment.

This study reports the evaluation of an optical waveguide fabricated on a bulk-Si platform by using an epitaxially grown Si layer. The epitaxial growth of Si is obtained by the solid phase epitaxy (SPE) using a hot furnace annealing method. It is observed that an optical propagation loss of the waveguide decreases with increasing the epitaxially grown area in the waveguide. In this study, an epitaxial growth rate is greatly enhanced by an (100) growth orientation due to the lower atomic close packing density along the (100) orientation. The optical propagation loss is also improved with the (100) growth orientation because of the higher crystalline quality and full epitaxial growth of Si.

We firstly report the degradation analysis of multilayer structured WOLED by using spectroscopic and microscopic analytical methods. Our analytical results demonstrated that the interface between cathode and electron-transporting layer is responsible for the intrinsic long-term degradation of WOLEDs.