Prognostic impact of additional HPV diagnostics in 102 patients with p16-stratified advanced oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose!#!p16 overexpression was considered as surrogate marker to identify human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCCs).!##!Methods!#!102 patients with advanced stage OPSCCs treated primarily by transoral lasermicrosurgery were included. Prognostic associations of p16- and HPV-status were analyzed separately and combined.!##!Results!#!In contrast to p16, the HPV-status resulted in no significant survival discrepancies (5-year overall survival (OS) HPV-positive 64.9%, HPV-negative 78.7%). Combining both markers, p16-positive (p16-positive/HPV-positive, p16-positive/HPV-negative) and p16-negative/HPV-negative groups demonstrated comparable high survival (OS 78.1% vs. 85.6% vs. 73.6%). Lowest survival was observed for patients with p16-negative/HPV-positive OPSCCs (OS 40.8%). Never smoking patients with p16-positive OPSCCs demonstrated the highest survival, whereas within former/current smokers with p16-positive and p16-negative disease it was comparable low (OS 90.0% vs. 63.0% vs. 57.4%).!##!Conclusions!#!p16- and HPV-status should not be considered as equivalent markers for a better prognosis. Furthermore, they should not generally predominate patient associated factors like smoking

Advances in atomic force microscopy

This article reviews the progress of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in ultra-high vacuum, starting with its invention and covering most of the recent developments. Today, dynamic force microscopy allows to image surfaces of conductors \emph{and} insulators in vacuum with atomic resolution. The mostly used technique for atomic resolution AFM in vacuum is frequency modulation AFM (FM-AFM). This technique, as well as other dynamic AFM methods, are explained in detail in this article. In the last few years many groups have expanded the empirical knowledge and deepened the theoretical understanding of FM-AFM. Consequently, the spatial resolution and ease of use have been increased dramatically. Vacuum AFM opens up new classes of experiments, ranging from imaging of insulators with true atomic resolution to the measurement of forces between individual atoms.Comment: In press (Reviews of Modern Physics, scheduled for July 2003), 86 pages, 44 figure

SmBaCuO films grown at low temperature and pressure

We have fabricated SmBaCuO thin films at 550-850°C and at oxygen pressures of 1.2-6.0×10-5 mbar in the presence of ozone. Various groups have reported on the existence of a solid solubility region in bulk Sm1+xBa2-xCu3Oy made at atmospheric oxygen pressure and 975°C. For these conditions, the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, is known to drop to zero as x is increased from 0 to 0.5. In contrast, we find hardly any decreases of Tc in our films in the range 0<x<1 and 750°C<Tgrowth<800°C, with Tc's about 90 K, from which we conclude that the solid solubility is strongly reduced or absent at low oxygen/ozone pressure in this growth temperature range. For this range of composition and growth temperature, we also observe no change in the c-axis lattice constant. The growth temperature that is needed to obtain a film with Tc,0 above 80 K equals 750°C, which is roughly 100°C higher than in the case of YBaCuO films grown under comparable conditions. These results are discussed using thermodynamic equilibrium data of RE1+xBa2-xCu3Oy (REY, Sm, La). At low temperature on a SrTiO3 substrate we observe an I-centered cubic phase

Efficiency comparison of the full bridge converters in considered magnetic saturation

The operating efficiency of the full bridge converters via one and two output inductors was evaluated and analyzed based on the same power devices, magnetic components, output voltage ripple and switching frequency, is presented in this paper. Since the core losses of the output inductor and primary MOSFET ZVS performance will be affected by the output inductance at different load currents, the operating efficiency of the full bridge converter will be deteriorated without proper consideration the magnetic saturation characteristics of the core material. In order to take account the magnetic saturated effects of the core material, a nonlinear inductance model is used. As a result, the output current ripple and AC flux density variation at a different load current can be estimated more accurately in the design evaluation stage. After formulating the power losses of the key components, the operating efficiency of the 800W/12V/66A full bridge converter is estimated. From the estimated results, the one output inductor scheme has smaller power losses in the full CCM load range through proper design output inductance based on the output voltage ripple. Furthermore, the converters were further built and the experimental results were coincident with previous estimation. Finally, some simulation and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this study. © 2008 IEEE.link_to_subscribed_fulltex