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Introduction:The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of high-dose stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with an extended (48 h or more) interfraction interval for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ≤5 cm in size after incomplete response to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods:This multicenter prospective study included 54 patients with inoperable HCC of ≤5 cm size between July 2012 and June 2015. A total SBRT dose of 60 Gy in 3 fractions was administered within 14 days with ≥48-h interfraction interval to patients who showed an incomplete response after 1–5 sessions of TACE. Treatment responses were defined according to the modified Response Evaluation Criteria for Solid Tumors. Toxicities were evaluated using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. Results:Forty-eight patients were evaluated with a median follow-up period of 66 months (range, 2–126 months). The median tumor size was 2.0 cm (range, 1.0–4.5 cm), and most patients (87.5%) had a single lesion. The 1-, 2-, and 5-year local control (LC) rates were 100%, 94.8%, and 90.7%, respectively. The 1-, 2-, and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 63.4%, 56.9%, and 24.9%, respectively. The 1-, 2-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 95.6%, 90.9%, and 76.5%, respectively. None of the patients experienced grade 3+ gastrointestinal toxicity, while 1 patient developed non-classic radiation-induced liver disease 2 months after SBRT. Conclusion:High-dose SBRT with a ≥48-h interfraction interval after incomplete response to TACE is effective for HCC ≤5 cm in size as evidenced by the high rates of LC and OS and acceptable treatment-related toxicity.

ABSTRACTCollagen hydrolysate is a well-known nutritional supplement for the improvement of healthy skin. Here, collagen peptide NS (CPNS) from fish scale was prepared, and its physicochemical properties were investigated. Gly-Pro was revealed as a representative low molecular weight peptide of CPNS, by performing prep-HPLC and LC-MS/MS. CPNS treatment attenuated matrix metalloproteinase-1 production and increased the synthesis of type 1 procollagen in HDF cells. After orally administering CPNS to rats, the plasma concentrations of Gly-Pro and Pro-Hyp increased dramatically. To examine the protective effects of CPNS against ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced photoaging in vivo, the dorsal skins of hairless mice were exposed to UVB and supplemented with CPNS for 12 weeks. The CPNS consumption significantly attenuated UVB-induced wrinkle formation, transepidermal water loss, and epidermis thickness, and increased skin hydration. Collectively, these results suggest that bioactive peptides of CPNS, Gly-Pro and Pro-Hyp, exert beneficial effects on skin health.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has emerged as an effective treatment for localized prostate cancer. The purpose of this study was to compare the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics between conventionally fractionated external beam radiotherapy (CF-EBRT) and SBRT boost after whole pelvis EBRT (WP-EBRT) in localized prostate cancer.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has emerged as an effective treatment for localized prostate cancer. However, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics after SBRT has not been well characterized. The purpose of the current study is to assess the kinetics of PSA for low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients treated with SBRT using Cyberknife as both monotherapy and boost after whole pelvic radiotherapy (WPRT) in the absence of androgen deprivation therapy.

Tyrosinase is a key enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of melanin pigments. Abnormal accumulation of melanin pigments causes melasma, freckles, and senile lentigo, which can be substantially ameliorated by treatment with arbutin or other tyrosinase inhibitors. In this study, roots of Angelica koreana Maxim. (Umbelliferae) inhibited melanin production in α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH)-activated B16 melanoma cells or melan-a melanocytes. To elucidate the hypopigmenting principle of A. koreana, the plant extracts were subjected to bioassay-guided phytochemical analysis, resulting in the identification of bisabolangelone. Bisabolangelone dose-dependently inhibited α-MSH-induced melanin production in B16 or melan-a cells with IC50 values of 9- 17 μM. The positive control arbutin also inhibited melanin production in B16 cells with an IC50 value of 317 μM. Bisabolangelone suppressed α-MSHinducible protein levels of tyrosinase in B16 cells but could not significantly inhibit the catalytic activity of cell-free tyrosinase. Taken together, this study indicates that bisabolangelone is the primary hypopigmenting principle of A. koreana and may have pharmacological potential in the melanin-associated hyperpigmentation disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing demand for a better FPD image quality, better evaluation metrics and advanced display quality measurement methods are required to meet these needs. There are many measurement methods for evaluating the viewing angle of various display devices, but these methods, which include luminance drop, color shift, and contrast ratio decrease, are imperfect considering that human perception does not completely correlate to them. In this paper, a new method of measuring the perceptual angle of FPDs is proposed, considering human visual perception, which uses the color space of the color appearance model.

Ion–molecule reactions within ionized methane clusters were investigated utilizing electron ionization mass spectrometry. A number of ionic reaction products were observed and interpreted as series of cluster ions of the form (CH4)n·X⁺ where X=CH4, CH5, C2H2, C2H3, C2H4, C2H5, C2H6 and C2H7 and n0. These cluster series, except for X=C2H7 and C2H6, are interpreted in terms of known bimolecular ionic reactions with both electron impact energy and pressure dependences. The two cluster ions with X=C2H7 and C2H6 demonstrate cluster reactions occurring easily in a solvated environment. The C3H3⁺ and C3H5⁺ ions show evidence of consecutive ionic reactions. Possible reaction paths are discussed and compared with previous work using photoionization of methane clusters and high-pressure mass spectrometry. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Aqueous cleaning solutions were developed for postetch cleaning of tungsten layers to replace the amine-based organic strippers. They are composed of tetramethylammonium hydroxide, HF, and two additives. Even the cleaning recipes without a strong oxidant, such as hydrogen peroxide, could remove postetch residues formed by reactive ion etching and they also had the same particle removal efficiency compared to ammonium and hydrogen peroxide mixture known as RCA Standard Clean. The concentration of metal ion on the wafer surface after cleaning by them was under 1010atoms∕cm2. The effects of the cleaning could be explained by applying Pan’s double-layer model [ J. Electrochem. Soc. , 148 , G315 (2001) ]. In fact, these cleaning solutions made it possible to decrease the resistances of tungsten bit lines and metal contacts and contributed to yield enhancement.

As memory devices shrink, the introductions of new processes and materials have been prerequisite for high speed and reliability of semiconductors. Particularly, enlargement of processes using metal layers in fabricating devices led to many cleaning problems like metal corrosion, particle adsorption, and polymer remnants after stripping process. On account of the absence of an effective cleaning solution for metal layers, major semiconductor manufacturing companies have been experienced yield drops and endurance fails. In this study, we will report the development of novel cleaning solution for tungsten layers and its application of mass production line. New cleaning chemical is composed of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), hydrofluoric acid (HF), and two additives. It could remove polymers formed by RIE (reactive ion etching) without corrosion of metal layers and prevent the adsorption of particles and metal ions accumulated from consecutive cleaning processes. Compared with APM (ammonia peroxide mixture) used as the standard cleaning, this cleaning solution showed the same particle removal efficiency but didn't absorb metal ions on the silicon wafer surface. Furthermore, sidewall and bottoms polymers could be removed effectively in cleaning process of tungsten bit line and various contact holes. In addition, we could obtain the lower resistance of line and contact patterns, and enhancement of yield in memory production line, applying this novel solution to the corresponding cleaning processes instead of amine-based organic stripper.

The current conduction mechanism in radio frequency sputtered amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) films was investigated using model devices designed to mimic the carrier injection from an electrode to an a-IGZO channel in thin-film transistors. Interface-limited mechanisms, such as thermionic emission and Fowler–Nordheim tunneling, clearly fail to fit the current–voltage (I-V)curves. Instead, the I-Vcharacteristics of the a-IGZO devices fit well within the framework of space-charge-limited current, whereas the conduction is enhanced by the Frenkel effect at high field (0.1MV∕cm).

We study propagation and on-off switching of two colliding soliton sequences in the presence of second-order dispersion, Kerr nonlinearity, linear loss, cubic gain, and quintic loss. Employing a Lotka-Volterra (LV) model for dynamics of soliton amplitudes along with simulations with two perturbed coupled nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations, we show that stable long-distance propagation can be achieved for a wide range of the gain-loss coefficients, including values that are outside of the perturbative regime. Furthermore, we demonstrate robust on-off and off-on switching of one of the sequences by an abrupt change in the ratio of cubic gain and quintic loss coefficients, and extend the results to pulse sequences with periodically alternating phases. Our study significantly strengthens the recently found relation between collision dynamics of sequences of NLS solitons and population dynamics in LV models, and indicates that the relation might be further extended to solitary waves of the cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]