trans-Bis[1-(2-anilino-2-oxoeth­yl)-3-benzyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl]palladium(II) methanol disolvate

In the title compound, [Pd(C18H16N3O)2]·2CH3OH, the PdII atom is located on a crystallographic inversion center. It has a square-planar coordination geometry, with the two bidentate ligands coordinated in a trans fashion via the carbene C atom and the amido N atoms. The methanol solvent mol­ecules form O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds with the complex. Additional non-classical inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the complexes into a two-dimensional network parallel to (001)

Hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric thin-film transistor with a-InGaZnO channel fabricated at temperatures \u3c= 350°C

HfO2-based ferroelectric materials integrated with oxide-based thin-film transistors have been considered as potential candidates for back-end-of-line compatible ferroelectric field-effect transistors, which can be vertically stacked on silicon CMOS circuits to realize high-density neural network applications. However, the formation of ferroelectric orthorhombic phase in HfO2-based materials usually requires an annealing temperature of 400°C or higher. In this work, ferroelectric thin-film transistors (Fe-TFTs) were developed by monolithically integrating HfZrO2 (HZO) ferroelectric capacitors with amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFTs at a maximum processing temperature of 350°C on a glass substrate. A butterfly-shaped C-V curve was clearly observed in the low-temperature annealed metal-HZO-metal capacitor, indicating the formation of ferroelectricity in the HZO layer, as shown in Fig. 1. The positive and negative coercive voltages were 3 V and -2.4 V, respectively. The dielectric constant was 20.65. The field-effect mobility, threshold voltage, subthreshold swing and on/off current ratio of the a-IGZO TFT extracted from the transfer characteristics shown in Fig. 2 were 6.15 cm2V-1s-1, 1.5 V, 0.1 V/dec and 4.3´107, respectively. Fig. 3 shows the transfer hysteresis curves of the low-temperature Fe-TFTs in a metal-ferroelectric-metal-insulator-semiconductor configuration. The Fe-TFTs exhibited large hysteresis memory windows of 2.8 V and 3.8 V when the area ratios between ferroelectric capacitors and gate insulators (AFE / ADE) were 1/8 and 1/12, respectively. The result shows a great potential for back-end-of-line compatible memory applications. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

Clinical Manifestations Vary with Different Age Spectrums in Infants with Kawasaki Disease

Background. Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis with unknown etiology. The diagnosis of KD depends on clinical manifestations. The prevalence of coronary artery abnormality (CAA) is 11.0% and results in cardiac sequelae, such as myocardial infarction or coronary aneurysm, which are the most serious complications in KD. Methods. We divided KD's children into different age groups: ≤6 months old, 7 months to 1 year old, and >1 year old, respectively. Different parameters were compared in each group. Results. Infants ≤6 months old are less likely to fulfill KD's major diagnostic criteria within 10 days, are prone to develop incomplete KD with the lowest cholesterol level, and have the greatest chance to have CAA and the laboratory features associated with CAA, such as the longest time needed to confirm CA diagnosis, lower hemoglobin level, lower albumin level, and higher platelet count. Infants <1 year old develop higher percentage of leukocytosis and sterile pyuria. But this group has fewer patients with neck lymphadenopathy

Validation of bidimensional measurement in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our previous study showed a close relationship between computed tomography (CT)-derived bidimensional measurement of primary tumor and retropharyngeal nodes (BDMprn) and gross tumor volume of primary tumor and retropharyngeal nodes (GTVprn) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and better prognosis for NPC patients with smaller BDMprn. In this study, we report the results on of a study to validate the use of BDM in a separate cohort of NPC patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively reviewed 103 newly diagnosed NPC cases who were treated with radiotherapy/concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) or CCRT with adjuvant chemotherapy from 2002 to 2009. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure BDMprn. We calculated overall survival, recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survival curves and set a BDMprn cut off point to categorize patients into a high- or low-risk group. We then used Cox proportional hazard model to evaluate the prognostic influence of BDMprn after correcting age, gender and chemotherapy status.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After adjusting for age, gender, and chemotherapy status, BDMprn remained an independent prognostic factor for distant metastasis [Hazard ratio (HR) = 1.046; <it>P </it>= 0.042] and overall survival (HR = 1.012; <it>P </it>= 0.012). Patients with BDMprn < 15 cm²had a greater 3-year overall survival rate than those with BDMprn ≧ 15 cm²(92.3% vs. 73.7%; <it>P </it>= 0.009). They also had a greater 3-year distant metastasis-free survival (94% vs.75%; <it>P </it>= 0.034).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The predictive ability of BDMprn was validated in a separate NPC cohort. A BDMprn of 15 cm²can be used to separate NPC patients into high- and low-risk groups and predict survival rates and metastasis potential. It can, therefore, be used as a reference to design clinical trials, predict prognosis, and make treatment decisions.</p

Estimating quality weights for EQ-5D (EuroQol-5 dimensions) health states with the time trade-off method in Taiwan

Background/PurposeEQ-5D (EuroQol-5 dimensions) is a preference-based measure of health, which is widely used in cost–utility analyses. It has been suggested that each country should develop its own value set. We therefore sought to develop the quality weights of the EQ-5D health states with the time trade-off (TTO) method in Taiwan.MethodsA total of 745 respondents consisting of employees and volunteers in 17 different hospitals were recruited and interviewed. Each of them valued 13 of 73 EQ-5D health states using the TTO method. Based on the three exclusion criteria for valuation data, only 456 (61.21%) respondents were considered eligible for data analysis. The quality weights for all EQ-5D health states were modeled by generalized estimating equations (GEEs).ResultsOver half of the responses were given negative values, and the medical personnel seemed to have a significantly higher TTO value (+0.1) than others after controlling for other predictors. The N3 model (level 3 occurred within at least 1 dimension) yielded an acceptable fit for the observed OTT data [mean absolute error (MAE) = 0.056, R2 = 0.35]. The magnitude of mean absolute differences (MADs) between Taiwan data and those from the UK, Japan, and South Korea ranged from 0.146 to 0.592, but the rank correlation coefficients were all above 0.811.ConclusionThis study reaffirms the differences in health-related preference values across countries. The high proportion of negative values might indicate that we have also partially measured the intensity of fear in addition to the utility of different health states