Invited; Ultrathin organic transistors toward next-generation skin electronics

An ultimate goal of biological measurement is to monitor the states of a living body in a non-invasive, continuous, and accurate manner without disturbing the natural functions or activities of the living body. Because electronic devices in direct contact with biological tissues are inevitably exposed to physical disturbances caused by physical contact, considerable efforts have been made to minimize their effects [1]. In temperature measurement, for example, it is preferable to reduce the heat capacity or thermal conductance of a sensor to suppress the effect of heat transfer from the object [2]. Furthermore, mechanical compliance with electronics is important for biological objects, because the skin is soft and has a three-dimensional structure. Flexible and/or stretchable sensors have been proposed to reduce the effects of modulus differences between the skin and the electronics [3,4]. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

270 nm Ultra-Thin Self-Adhesive Conformable and Long-Term Air-Stable Complimentary Organic Transistors and Amplifiers

Lightweight, flexible, and conformal bioelectronics are essential for wearable technologies. This paper introduces 270 nm thin organic electronics amplifying circuits that are self-adhesive, skin conformal, and long-term air-stable. This report studies the effect of total device thickness, namely 3 μm and 270 nm devices, on the characterization of organic devices before and after buckling, the longevity of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) over 5 years, and the lamination of OFETs on the human skin. A single-stage organic complementary inverter and a pseudo-complementary amplifier are fabricated to compare their electrical characteristics, with amplification gains of 10 and 64, respectively. Finally, the study demonstrates a five-stage organic complementary inverter can successfully amplify artificial electromyogram and electrocardiogram signals with gains of 1000 and 1088, respectively

Methotrexate for the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: process to approval for JIA indication in Japan

Methotrexate (MTX), the primary treatment for the articular-type juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is effective and brings about radiological improvement. Patient compliance is good, and it is recognized that its known side effects, namely, disruption of liver function and induction of pulmonary lesions, are unlikely to be severe at the low MTX doses that are administered. In Japan, MTX was granted approval in 1999 by the then Ministry of Health and Welfare specifically for treating rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients, allowing it be generally used in medical institutions for patients having National Health Insurance. However, in the pediatric field, its use outside the indications has so far been unavoidable, and has been left to the discretion of the physician. Finally, at the present conference, expansion of the indications of MTX for JIA was approved in Japan. It is noteworthy that this expansion of indications was achieved without requiring clinical trials on children sponsored by the pharmaceutical company: it was achieved rather by collecting necessary information through ongoing efforts (including collection and analysis of information about approval status in foreign countries, adequate evidence from the literature, implementation of a clinical use survey in Japan, etc.). It also merits attention that the maximum dose (10 mg/m2) was set on the basis of pharmacokinetic data from children, rather than relying on the dosing method and dose for adults

Twenty barrel in situ pipe gun type solid hydrogen pellet injector for the Large Helical Device

A 20 barrel solid hydrogen pellet injector, which is able to inject 20 cylindrical pellets with a diameter and length of between 3.0 and 3.8 mm at the velocity of 1200 m/s, has been developed for the purpose of direct core fueling in LHD (Large Helical Device). The in situ pipe gun concept with the use of compact cryo-coolers enables stable operation as a fundamental facility in plasma experiments. The combination of the two types of pellet injection timing control modes, i.e., pre-programing mode and real-time control mode, allows the build-up and sustainment of high density plasma around the density limit. The pellet injector has demonstrated stable operation characteristics during the past three years of LHD experiments

Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy could have efficacy in severe sepsis

Critical careMEETING ABSTRCTSSepsis 2013 / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / 5-6 November 201

Antithrombin III concentrate may contribute to sepsis in nonovert disseminated intravascular coagulation

MEETING ABSTRACTSSepsis 2013 / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / 5-6 November 201

Serum protein profile in systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis differentiates response versus nonresponse to therapy

Systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) is a disease of unknown etiology with an unpredictable response to treatment. We examined two groups of patients to determine whether there are serum protein profiles reflective of active disease and predictive of response to therapy. The first group (n = 8) responded to conventional therapy. The second group (n = 15) responded to an experimental antibody to the IL-6 receptor (MRA). Paired sera from each patient were analyzed before and after treatment, using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS). Despite the small number of patients, highly significant and consistent differences were observed before and after response to therapy in all patients. Of 282 spectral peaks identified, 23 had mean signal intensities significantly different (P < 0.001) before treatment and after response to treatment. The majority of these differences were observed regardless of whether patients responded to conventional therapy or to MRA. These peaks represent potential biomarkers of active disease. One such peak was identified as serum amyloid A, a known acute-phase reactant in SJIA, validating the SELDI-TOF MS platform as a useful technology in this context. Finally, profiles from serum samples obtained at the time of active disease were compared between the two patient groups. Nine peaks had mean signal intensities significantly different (P < 0.001) between active disease in patients who responded to conventional therapy and in patients who failed to respond, suggesting a possible profile predictive of response. Collectively, these data demonstrate the presence of serum proteomic profiles in SJIA that are reflective of active disease and suggest the feasibility of using the SELDI-TOF MS platform used as a tool for proteomic profiling and discovery of novel biomarkers in autoimmune diseases