Malignant Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis in the Knee - Report of a Case with Rapid Clinical Progression

Malignant pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) (or malignant giant cell tumor of tendon sheath (GCTTS) is an extremely rare condition defined as a malignant lesion occurring with concomitant or previously documented PVNS at the same site. To date, only less than 20 cases have been reported in English literatures. We report a case of malignant PVNS in the knee in a 56-year-old woman with unpredictable rapid progression. This case raised a caution that when atypical components in specimens of recurrent benign PVNS are detected, even if low-grade or tiny, both pathologists and surgeons should consider the risk of malignant PVNS, which could display aggressive clinical progression

Evolution of superconductivity in isovalent Te-substituted KxFe2-ySe2 crystals

We report the evolution of superconductivity and the phase diagram of the KxFe2-ySe2-zTez (z=0-0.6) crystals grown by a simple one-step synthesis. No structural transition is observed in any crystals, while lattice parameters exhibit a systematic expansion with Te content. The Tc exhibits a gradual decrease with increasing Te content from Tconset = 32.9 K at z = 0 to Tconset = 27.9 K at z = 0.5, followed by a sudden suppression of superconductivity at z = 0.6. Upon approaching a Te concentration of 0.6, the shielding volume fraction decreases and eventually drops to zero. Simultaneously, hump positions in r-T curve shift to lower temperatures. These results suggest that isovalent substitution of Te for Se in KxFe2-ySe2 crystals suppresses the superconductivity in this system.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, 8 figure

Tartaric acid in red wine as one of the key factors to induce superconductivity in FeTe0.8S0.2

The red wine dependence of superconductivity in FeTe0.8S0.2 was investigated. Samples with a higher shielding volume fraction had a tendency to show a higher concentration of tartaric acid in red wine. We found the tartaric acid is one of the key factors to induce superconductivity in FeTe0.8S0.2.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Separated Transcriptomes of Male Gametophyte and Tapetum in Rice: Validity of a Laser Microdissection (LM) Microarray

In flowering plants, the male gametophyte, the pollen, develops in the anther. Complex patterns of gene expression in both the gametophytic and sporophytic tissues of the anther regulate this process. The gene expression profiles of the microspore/pollen and the sporophytic tapetum are of particular interest. In this study, a microarray technique combined with laser microdissection (44K LM-microarray) was developed and used to characterize separately the transcriptomes of the microspore/pollen and tapetum in rice. Expression profiles of 11 known tapetum specific-genes were consistent with previous reports. Based on their spatial and temporal expression patterns, 140 genes which had been previously defined as anther specific were further classified as male gametophyte specific (71 genes, 51%), tapetum-specific (seven genes, 5%) or expressed in both male gametophyte and tapetum (62 genes, 44%). These results indicate that the 44K LM-microarray is a reliable tool to analyze the gene expression profiles of two important cell types in the anther, the microspore/pollen and tapetum