Desmoplastic small round cell tumour in a 74 year old man: an uncommon cause of ascites (case report)

A rare case is provided of a 74 year old man who presented with ascites of unknown etiology. CT scan of the abdomen revealed extensive omental caking, and omental biopsy cytogenetics showed findings in keeping with a diagnosis of desmoplastic small round cell tumour (DSRCT). This case is unique in that it involves a significantly older patient, negative WT1 immunohistochemical staining, and negative cytology. Despite repeated paracenteses and fluid management, the patient died in hospital secondary to renal complications

Conducting linear chains of sulphur inside carbon nanotubes

Despite extensive research for more than 200 years, the experimental isolation of monatomic sulphur chains, which are believed to exhibit a conducting character, has eluded scientists. Here we report the synthesis of a previously unobserved composite material of elemental sulphur, consisting of monatomic chains stabilized in the constraining volume of a carbon nanotube. This one-dimensional phase is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Interestingly, these one-dimensional sulphur chains exhibit long domain sizes of up to 160 nm and high thermal stability (∼800 K). Synchrotron X-ray diffraction shows a sharp structural transition of the one-dimensional sulphur occurring at ∼450-650 K. Our observations, and corresponding electronic structure and quantum transport calculations, indicate the conducting character of the one-dimensional sulphur chains under ambient pressure. This is in stark contrast to bulk sulphur that needs ultrahigh pressures exceeding ∼90 GPa to become metallic