A Case of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Thromboembolism after Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy

Although high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is generally considered a safe medication for various immune-mediated diseases, thrombotic events have been reported as a complication of the therapy. We report a case who developed thrombotic complications after receiving IVIG. A 56-yr-old woman with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura received IVIG at a dose of 400 mg/kg/day for five days. Three days after the administration of IVIG, the patient developed painful edema in the left leg. Lower extremity doppler ultrasound revealed deep vein thrombosis in the left leg. Chest computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a filling defect indicating thromboembolism of the right pulmonary artery. After three weeks of enoxaparin therapy, her symptoms and pulmonary embolism on CT improved. This case suggests clinicians should be cautious in the development of thromboembolism by administration of IVIG, especially in patients with thrombophilia

Superior outcomes and high-risk features with carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone combination therapy for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma: Results of the multicenter KMMWP2201 study

Carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd) combination therapy improves the survival of patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Nonetheless, evidence on the use of KRd in Asian populations remains scarce. Accordingly, this study aimed at investigating this regimen’s efficacy in a large group of patients. This retrospective study included patients with RRMM who were treated with KRd at 21 centers between February 2018 and October 2020. Overall, 364 patients were included (median age: 63 years). The overall response rate was 90% in responseevaluable patients, including 69% who achieved a very good partial response or deeper responses. With a median follow-up duration of 34.8 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 23.4 months and overall survival (OS) was 59.5 months. Among adverse factors affecting PFS, highrisk cytogenetics, extramedullary disease, and doubling of monoclonal protein within 2 to 3 months prior to start of KRd treatment significantly decreased PFS and overall survival (OS) in multivariate analyses. Patients who underwent post-KRd stem cell transplantation (i.e.delayed transplant) showed prolonged PFS and OS. Grade 3 or higher adverse events (AEs) were observed in 56% of the patients, and non-fatal or fatal AE’s that resulted in discontinuation of KRd were reported in 7% and 2% of patients, respectively. Cardiovascular toxicity was comparable to that reported in the ASPIRE study. In summary, KRd was effective in a large real-world cohort of patients with RRMM with long-term follow-up. These findings may further inform treatment choices in the treatment of patients with RRMM

Resource-Aware Distributed Particle Filtering for Cluster-Based Object Tracking in Wireless Camera Networks

This paper presents a novel resource-aware framework for the implementation of distributed particle filters in resource-constrained wireless camera networks (WCNs). WCNs often suffer from communication failures caused by physical limitations of the communication channel as well as network congestion. Unreliable communication degrades the visual information shared by the cameras, such as visual feature data, and consequently leads to inaccurate vision processing at individual camera nodes. This paper focuses on the effects of communication failures on object tracking performance and presents a novel communication resource-aware tracking methodology, which adjusts the amount of data packets transmitted by the cameras according to the network conditions. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework using three different mechanisms to share the particle information among nodes: synchronised particles, Gaussian mixture models, and Parzen windows. The experimental results show that the proposed resource-aware method makes the distributed particle filters more tolerant to packet losses and also more energy efficient

CO Oxidation on Positively and Negatively Charged Ag₁₃ Nanoparticles

Utilizing density functional theory calculations and a modified kinetic model, we report the CO oxidation reactivity of negatively and positively charged isolated cuboctahedron (COh) and icosahedron (Ih) Ag₁₃ nanoparticles. Charging the nanoparticles modifies the electron distribution in the core and shell atoms as well as the structural stability of the Ag nanoparticles. During the reaction, Ih Ag₁₃ nanoparticles can be easily deformed into an amorphous or COh structure, which is more stable than the Ih structure. However, it does not function well as a renewable catalyst. Although a neutral COh Ag₁₃ nanoparticle exhibits relatively poor reactivity, the reactivity is enhanced significantly by excess electrons. This study provides fundamental insight into how the electronic and structural interaction between an oxide support and the supported nanoparticle affects the catalytic activity of the general nanocatalyst

DC and AC Sensing Characteristics of a Si-nanowire BioFET for Urea Detection

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Molecular Dipoles as a Surface Flattening and Interface Stabilizing Agent for Lithium‐Metal Batteries

Abstract Reaching the border of the capable energy limit in existing battery technology has turned research attention away from the rebirth of unstable Li‐metal anode chemistry in order to achieve exceptional performance. Strict regulation of the dendritic Li surface reaction, which results in a short circuit and safety issues, should be achieved to realize Li‐metal batteries. Herein, this study reports a surface‐flattening and interface product stabilizing agent employing methyl pyrrolidone (MP) molecular dipoles in the electrolyte for cyclable Li‐metal batteries. The excellent stability of the Li‐metal electrode over 600 cycles at a high current density of 5 mA cm−2 has been demonstrated using an optimal concentration of the MP additive. This study has identified the flattening surface reconstruction and crystal rearrangement behavior along the stable (110) plane assisted by the MP molecular dipoles. The stabilization of the Li‐metal anodes using molecular dipole agents has helped develop next‐generation energy storage devices using Li‐metal anodes, such as Li–air, Li–S, and semi‐solid‐state batteries

Sensing Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Using Aptamer-Functionalized Si-Based Electrolyte-Gated Field-Effect Transistor (EGT)

The sensing responses of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using top-down-fabricated Si-based electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs) have been investigated. An aptamer was employed as a receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The EGT demonstrated excellent intrinsic characteristics and higher sensitivity in the subthreshold regime compared to the linear regime. The limit of detection (LOD) was achieved as low as 0.94 pg/mL and 20 pg/mL for the current and voltage sensitivity, respectively. To analyze the sensing responses of EGT in detecting the aptamer–SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conjugate, a lumped-capacitive model with the presence of an effective dipole potential and an effective capacitance of the functionalized layer component was employed. The aptamer-functionalized EGT showed high sensitivity even in 10 mM phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution. These results suggest that Si-based EGTs are a highly promising method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins

Ag2S-CoS hetero-nanowires terminated with stepped surfaces for improved oxygen evolution reaction

Water electrolysis has received great attention for producing hydrogen, but sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has remained a big challenge. Recently, cobalt sulfide materials have been widely explored as great choice in highly efficient electrocatalysts due to their good electrical conductivity and bi-functionality toward OER and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, cobalt sulfide shows outstanding HER activity, but its OER activity should be improved. Herein, hexagonal-phase cobalt sulfide (CoS) nanowires with abundant stepped surfaces and defect sites were prepared via a seed-growth approach with silver sulfide (Ag2S) nanoparticles. The Ag2S-CoS hetero-nanowires (HNWs) exhibited excellent electrochemical performances for oxygen evolution reaction (overpotential = 275 mV, Tafel slope = 77.1 mVdec???1, charge transfer resistance = 1.3 ??) in 1.0 M KOH solution. The origin of superior activity was investigated using a combined experimental and theoretical approach. This work highlights the importance of surface defects for improving oxygen evolution reaction performance of water electrolysis