Effects of C and Al on hydrogen embrittlement mechanism in medium Mn-Ni steels

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Investigation of grain-boundary effect on hydrogen behaviors in single- and poly- crystalline medium-entropy CrCoNi alloy

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Severe congenital neutropenia mimicking chronic idiopathic neutropenia: a case report

Severe chronic neutropenia is classified as severe congenital, cyclic, autoimmune, or idiopathic. However, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the diagnosis of severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) and chronic idiopathic neutropenia, and this uncertainty affects further evaluations and treatments. A 20-year-old man presented with fever and knee abrasions after a bicycle accident. On admission, his initial absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was 30/µL. He had no medical history of persistent severe neutropenia with periodic oscillation of ANC. Although his fever resolved after appropriate antibiotic therapy, ANC remained at 80/µL. Bone marrow (BM) aspiration and biopsy were performed, and a BM smear showed myeloid maturation arrest. Moreover, genetic mutation test results showed a heterozygous missense variant in exon 4 of the neutrophil elastase ELANE: c597+1G>C (pV190-F199del). The patient was diagnosed with SCN. After discharge, we routinely checked his ANC level and monitored any signs of infection with minimum use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), considering its potential risk of leukemic transformation. Considering that SCN can be fatal, timely diagnosis and appropriate management with G-CSF are essential. We report the case of a patient with SCN caused by ELANE mutation who had atypical clinical manifestations. For a more accurate diagnosis and treatment of severe chronic neutropenia, further studies are needed to elucidate the various clinical features of ELANE

Reduction of Dichlorosilane-Based Tungsten Silicide Resistivity by Amorphization and Its Applicability as an Electrode

The impact of ion implantation on dichlorosilane-based tungsten silicide is reported with an emphasis on structural changes and the formation of low-resistivity silicide. It was found that implantation to the as-deposited dichlorosilane-based tungsten layer with the hexagonal close-packed structure resulted in amorphization. After thermal annealing for crystallization, the amorphized silicide was converted to the large-grain-sized tetragonal structure in which the resistivity of the silicide was about 30% lower than that of the conventional structure. In addition, the surface of the implanted silicide was smoother than that of the conventional one. The resistivity after thermal activation depended on the implantation conditions: implantation species, energy, and dose. Among all implantation species tested, phosophorus ions were found to be the most effective in terms of device fabrication. For optimized device performance, the energy should be controlled to contain the ions in the silicide. With this condition, device performance was not adversely affected, and line resistance and dopant depletion were improved