A Case of Cerebral Erdheim-Chester Disease With Progressive Cerebellar Syndrome

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare non-Langerhans form of histiocytosis. Cerebellar involvement is rare in this syndrome. We report a 37-year-old woman with slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia, dysmetria of limbs, nystagmus, and dysarthria, bilateral painful axillary masses, and generalized arthralgia. Brain MRI revealed cerebellar atrophy with focal lesions in the pons, middle cerebellar peduncle, and the cerebellum. She underwent incisional biopsy of her axillary masses which showed findings consistent with ECD. An MRI of her lower extremities revealed lesions in the diaphyses, metaphyses, and epiphyses of the proximal tibia and distal femur bilaterally. This is a rare case of cerebral ECD with progressive cerebellar syndrome associated with cerebellar atrophy

One-step synthesis of TOP capped PbSe pyramidal nanocrystals

Nano layers of PbSe have been fabricated in liquid medium via direct reaction of lead acetate and n-trioctylphosphine bonded selenium. The effect of temperature on particles diameter is studied. The scanning electron microscopy reveals that the layer-by-layer deposition has taken place with average diameter of the particle of about < 20 nm. The XRD measurement shows that higher temperature is favorable for layered nanocrystals of PbSe and NIR measurement shows that absorption at 3.31 mu m is due to size quantization effect thus increasing the band gap energy from 0.27 to 0.56 eV, which is the reported value for bulk PbSe. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reservedclose1

A novel synthesis of indium phosphide nanoparticles

Nanosized indium phosphide has been prepared by direct reaction of sodium phosphide and anhydrous indium trichloride in N,N' -dimethylformamide (DMF) at a temperature between 120 and 160 degreesC under argon atmosphere. This is the first report on the synthesis of indium phosphide at normal pressure by the use of sodium phosphide. The product was characterized by solution UV-visible measurement, photoluminescence (PL) study and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). Solution absorption measurements indicate a blue shift of about 400 nm when compared with bulk indium phosphide, and an air-stable blue-green light emission has been observed with lambda(em.) at 462 and 550 ntn, depending upon the reaction conditions. Powder X-ray measurements showed a broad pattern that match well with the amorphous nature indiurn phosphide. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reservedclose

Surgical palliation of unresectable pancreatic head cancer in elderly patients

AIM: To determine if surgical biliary bypass would provide improved quality of residual life and safe palliation in elderly patients with unresectable pancreatic head cancer

Phenomenally High Molar Extinction Coefficient Sensitizer with "Donor- Acceptor” Ligands for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Applications

A phenomenally high molar extinction coefficient heteroleptic ruthenium(II) complex [Ru(4,4′-carboxylic acid-2,2′- bipyridine)(4,4′-(4-{4-methyl-2,5-bis[3-methylbutoxy]styryl}-2,5-bis[3- methylbutoxy]-2,2′-bipyridine)(NCS)2] (DCSC13) was synthesized by incorporating donor-acceptor ligands. The absorption spectrum of the DCSC13 sensitizer is dominated by metal-to-ligand charge-transfer transitions (MLCT) in the visible region, with absorption maxima appearing at 442 and 554 nm. The lowest MLCT absorption bands are red- shifted, and the molar extinction coefficients of these bands are significantly higher at 72 100 and 30 600 M-1 cm-1, respectively, when compared to those of the analogous [Ru(4,4′-carboxylic acid-2,2′-bipyridine)(4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′- bipyridine)(NCS)2] (N820) sensitizer. The DCSC13 complex, when anchored on nanocrystalline TiO2 films, exhibited increased short-circuit photocurrent and consequent power-conversion efficiency when compared with the N820 sensitizer

Surface Modification of TiO₂ for Obtaining High Resistance against Poisoning during Photocatalytic Decomposition of Toluene

Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanostructures, the most widely used photocatalysts, are known to suffer from poisoning of the active sites during photocatalytic decomposition of volatile organic compounds. Partially oxidized organic compounds with low volatility stick to the catalyst surface, limiting the practical application for air purification. In this work, we studied the UV-driven photocatalytic activity of bare TiO2 toward toluene decomposition under various conditions and found that surface deactivation is pronounced either under dry conditions or humid conditions with a very high toluene concentration (~442 ppm). In contrast, when the humidity was relatively high (~34 %RH) and toluene concentration was low (~66 ppm), such deactivation was not significant. We then modified TiO2 surfaces by deposition of polydimethylsiloxane and subsequent annealing, which yielded a more hydrophilic surface. We provide experimental evidence that our hydrophilic TiO2 does not show deactivation under the conditions that induce significant deactivation with bare TiO2. Conversion of toluene into dimethylacetamide was observed on the hydrophilic TiO2 and did not result in poisoning of active sites. Our hydrophilic TiO2 shows high potential for application in air purification for extended time, which is not possible using bare TiO2 due to the significant poisoning of active sites

Outcome of laparoscopic cholecystectomy is not influenced by chronological age in the elderly

AIM: To evaluate the outcome of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in patients aged 80 years and older

Unveiling the Complexity of the Degradation Mechanism of Semiconducting Organic Polymers: Visible-Light-Induced Oxidation of P3HT Films on ZnO/ITO under Atmospheric Conditions

The oxidation of poly­(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) films deposited on ZnO/indium tin oxide (ITO) under blue light irradiation in either dry or humid atmospheres was studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in combination with UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. From results up to 12 h of reaction, ring-opening was hardly found, and it is suggested that the water molecules chemisorbed competitively against O₂ (i.e., the major oxidizing agent), thereby decreasing the oxidation of P3HT. Beyond 12 h, thiophene ring-opening took place at the topmost surface layer of P3HT, and the humidity facilitated the ring-opening of P3HT. Regarding the oxidation of the entire P3HT thin film, the humidity did not have a large influence on the oxidation behavior of P3HT. Here, the degree of oxidation of P3HT abruptly increased when the reaction time exceeded 12 h. This suggests that the rate of oxidation of the entire P3HT film is determined by the slow diffusion of the activated oxygen species into the deeper layers of the P3HT films. We also demonstrate that the photoinduced degradation of P3HT can be retarded by turning off light between irradiation, which may be due to the reversible desorption of activated oxygen species under dark conditions