A Case of Giant Bladder Carcinosarcoma without Submucosal Invasion

Carcinosarcoma is a rare biphasic neoplasia containing both malignant mesenchymal and epithelial elements. Bladder carcinosarcoma commonly presented as high-grade, advanced stage, and aggressive behavior with a poor prognosis. An 83-year-old male presented with painless gross hematuria to our hospital. Cystoscopy revealed massive nonpapillary bladder tumor on the right wall. The 91 g tumor could be completely removed with transurethral resection. Histology of the tumor was diagnosed as carcinosarcoma with no submucosal invasion composed of biphasic malignant epithelial and mesenchymal cells. Epithelial malignancy was urothelial cancer and mesenchymal one was chondrosarcoma and leiomyosarcoma. The specimens taken at the second-look TUR-Bt revealed that carcinoma in situ (urothelial cancer) but not sarcoma existed at the mucosa surrounding the previous tumor site. 80 mg of BCG instillation intravesically every week for six weeks was successfully administered to the patient. There is no tumor recurrence for 6 months after treatments

Surgical Castration in Hormone-Refractory Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients Can Be an Alternative for Medical Castration

Background. Most patients with metastatic prostate cancer are endocrinologically treated with LHRH agonist, but finally castration-refractory and hormone-refractory cancers occur. Serum testosterone levels get low to “the castration level” by LHRH agonists but may not get low enough against castration-refractory prostate cancer. Methods. As case series, twelve patients suffering from hormone-refractory prostate cancer continuously on LHRH agonist underwent surgical castration. Additionally, one hundred and thirty-nine prostate cancer patients on LHRH agonist or surgical castration were tested for serum total testosterone levels. Results. Surgical castration caused decrease in serum PSA in one out of 12 hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients with PSA reduction rate 74%. Serum total testosterone levels were below the sensitivity threshold (0.05 ng/mL) in 40 of 89 (44.9%) medically castrated patients and 33 of 50 (66.0%) surgically castrated patients (P = .20). Conclusion. Even hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients are candidates for surgical castration because of endocrinological, oncological, and economical reasons

Synthesis of Diazenido-Ligated Vanadium Nanoparticles

Metallic vanadium nanoparticles stabilized with 4-octylphenyldiazenido groups (particle size: 1.7 ± 0.2 nm) were synthesized via the reduction of VCl₄ with superhydride (LiBHEt₃) in the presence of 4-octylphenyldiazonium salt in an Ar-filled glovebox. The resulting particles were characterized using TEM, elemental analysis, and XPS measurements. The unusual reaction on the surface resulted in the passivation of V–NN–Ar covalent bonds

Effective Method for Micro-Patterning Arene-Terminated Monolayers on a Si(111) Electrode

Microstructured electrodes are significant to modern electrochemistry. A representative aromatic group, 4-ferrocenylphenyl one, was covalently bound to a micropatterned silicon electrode via the arylation of a hydrogen-terminated silicon(111) surface formed selectively on a Si wafer. Starting from a silicon(100)-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, the aromatic monolayer was attached sequentially by spin-coating a resist, electron beam lithography, Cr/Au deposition, lift-off, anisotropic etching with aqueous KOH solution, and Pd-catalyzed arylation. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to characterize the coupling reaction between 4-ferrocenyl group and silicon substrate, and to confirm performance of the final modified microsized electrode. These data show that this synthetic protocol gives chemically well-defined and robust functionalized monolayers on a silicon semiconducting surface with a small electrode

A New Method To Generate Arene-Terminated Si(111) and Ge(111) Surfaces via a Palladium-Catalyzed Arylation Reaction

Formation of silicon–aryl and germanium–aryl direct bonds on the semiconductor surface is a key issue to realize molecular electronic devices, but the conventional methods based on radical intermediates have problems to accompany the side reactions. We developed the first example of versatile and efficient methods to form clean organic monolayers with Si–aryl and Ge–aryl bonds on hydrogen-terminated silicon and germanium surfaces by applying our original catalytic arylation reactions of hydrosilanes and hydrogermanes using Pd catalyst and base in homogeneous systems. We could immobilize aromatic groups with redox-active and photoluminescent properties, and further applied in the field of rigid π-conjugated redox molecular wire composites, as confirmed by the successive coordination of terpyridine molecules with transition metal ions. The surfaces were characterized using cyclic voltammetry (CV), water contact angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fluorescence spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Especially, the AFM analysis of 17 nm-long metal complex molecular wires confirmed their vertical connection to the plane surface

Photocurrent Generation of Reconstituted Photosystem II on a Self-Assembled Gold Film

Photosystem II (PSII)-modified gold electrodes were prepared by the deposition of PSII reconstituted with platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) on Au electrodes. PtNPs modified with 1-[15-(3,5,6-trimethyl-1,4-benzoquinone-2-yl)]­pentadecyl disulfide ((TMQ­(CH₂)₁₅S)₂) were incorporated into the Q_B site of PSII isolated from thermophilic cyanobacterium <i>Thermosynechococcus elongatus</i>. The reconstitution was confirmed by Q_A-reoxidation measurements. PSII reconstituted with PtNPs was deposited and integrated on a Au(111) surface modified with 4,4′-biphenyldithiol. The cross section of the reconstituted PSII film on the Au electrode was investigated by SEM. Absorption spectra showed that the surface coverage of the electrode was about 18 pmol PSII cm^–2. A photocurrent density of 15 nAcm^–2 at <i>E</i> = +0.10 V (vs Ag/AgCl) was observed under 680 nm irradiation. The photoresponse showed good reversibility under alternating light and dark conditions. Clear photoresponses were not observed in the absence of PSII and molecular wire. These results supported the photocurrent originated from PSII and moved to a gold electrode by light irradiation, which also confirmed conjugation with orientation through the molecular wire