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To identify the mineral grade ore, two distinct Malaysian ilmenite ores (FeTiO3) from different placers deposits were examined. The sources of ilmenite ore were the Kinta Valley in Perak and the Langkawi Black Sand Beach in Kedah. Both of the ores were reduced by palm char as a sustainable carbon reductant. The study examined carbon characteristics and phase transitions following carbothermal reduction at 1550°C. Prior to the studies, the reductant palm char was characterized by XRF, BET surface area measurement, SEM, and ultimate with proximate analyses. It is shown that the palm char had low moisture (4.10 wt.%) and high fixed carbon (75.40 wt.%). The high carbon content, volatile matter, and porous structure of palm char played a significant role in the gas generated during the carbothermal reduction of ilmenite ores. Carbothermal reduction of both ilmenite ores with palm char- produced rutile, iron, titanium carbide, and pseudobrookite. The XRF analysis exhibits the existence of 18.41 and 35.76 wt.% of Fe and TiO2 respectively in Perak ilmenite ore. While Langkawi ilmenite ore shows 9.28 and 22.72 wt.% of Fe and TiO2 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yoshikazu Yamaguchi,1,2 Alok Moharir,1,2 Candice Burrier,1,2 Takeshi Nomura,3 Joseph D Tobias1,2 1Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA; 2Department of Anesthesiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; 3Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, JapanCorrespondence: Yoshikazu YamaguchiDepartment of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Children’s Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, USATel +1 614 722-4200Fax +1 614 722-4203Email yoshikaz@rd6.so-net.ne.jpAbstract: This review focuses on the current technique and evidence regarding the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to evaluate lung isolation for thorax surgery in infants and children. Previous reports in infants and children are presented. Figures and high-quality video are used to demonstrate the technique for POCUS in pediatric patients and to highlight differences between pediatric and patients. Lung sliding in B-mode and the seashore sign in M-mode suggest that the lung is ventilated. Pediatric anesthesiologists should be familiar with this technique as it is non-invasive and may also be more accurate when compared with auscultation.Keywords: one-lung ventilation, point-of-care ultrasound, POCUS, thoracic surgery, lung ultrasound, ultrasonography

Under magnetic fields, quantum magnets often undergo exotic phase transitions with various kinds of order. The discovery of a sequence of fractional magnetization plateaus in the Shastry-Sutherland compound SrCu2(BO3)2 has played a central role in the high-field research on quantum materials, but so far this system could only be probed up to half the saturation value of the magnetization. Here, we report the first experimental and theoretical investigation of this compound up to the saturation magnetic field of 140 T and beyond. Using ultrasound and magnetostriction techniques combined with extensive tensor-network calculations (iPEPS), several spin-supersolid phases are revealed between the 1/2 plateau and saturation (1/1 plateau). Quite remarkably, the sound velocity of the 1/2 plateau exhibits a drastic decrease of -50%, related to the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic instability of the checkerboard-type magnon crystal. The unveiled nature of this paradigmatic quantum system is a new milestone for exploring exotic quantum states of matter emerging in extreme conditions. The Shastry-Sutherland compound SrCu2(BO3)2 is a frustrated magnet that displays multiple magnetization plateaus in high magnetic fields. Nomura et al. report ultrasound and magnetostriction experiments reaching the saturation field for the first time and reveal new features in the phase diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shunsuke Nojiri,1 Atsunori Kusakabe,1 Kei Fujiwara,1 Noboru Shinkai,1 Kentaro Matsuura,1 Etsuko Iio,1 Tomokatsu Miyaki,1 Tomoyuki Nomura,2 Satoshi Sobue,3 Hitoshi Sano,4 Izumi Hasegawa,5 Tomoyoshi Ohno,5 Yoshitsugu Takahashi,6 Etsuro Orito,7 Takashi Joh11Department of Gastroenterology and Metabolism, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, 2Inabe General Hospital, Inabe, 3Kasugai Municipal Hospital, Kasugai, 4Tajimi Prefectural Hospital, Tajimi, 5Social Chukyo Insurance Hospital, Nagoya, 6Chita Kousei Hospital, Aichi-ken, 7Nagoya Daini Red Cross Hospital, Showa-ku, JapanBackground: Sorafenib has been approved in the indication of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, but there are many cases in which administration of the drug is discontinued due to severe side effects. In this study, we compared the characteristics of patients who continued and discontinued sorafenib.Methods: Ninety-six patients (75 men and 21 women) were initiated on sorafenib from July 2009 through September 2011. The patient characteristics of interest included gender, age, etiology, Child-Pugh classification, treatment history and frequency, and levels of α-fetoprotein, des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin, aspartate amino acid transferase, and alanine aminotransferase. Duration of administration of sorafenib and reasons for its discontinuation were compared.Results: Median overall survival was 11.8 months. Discontinuation of sorafenib within 90 days was identified as an independent prognostic factor for overall survival on multivariate analysis (P < 0.0001). Transarterial chemoembolization performed six times or more (P = 0.013) was also identified as an independent factor contributing to discontinuation of sorafenib within 90 days in multivariate analysis. Patients who received sorafenib for ≥90 days had significantly longer overall survival than those who discontinued it (P < 0.0001).Conclusion: Prolonged treatment with sorafenib is an important factor in achieving extended overall survival. We recommend starting sorafenib before latent liver damage has occurred as a result of too many transarterial chemoembolization procedures.Keywords: sorafenib, hepatocellular continuation, discontinuation, efficacy

(a-f) Bullous pemphigoid disease area index (BPDAI), anti-BP180 NC16A IgG (BP180), thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), the visual analogue scales for pruritus (VAS-pruritus) are shown with closed circles, open boxes, open circles and inverted open triangles, respectively. Actually, our previous report showed TARC was superior to VAS-pruritus or anti-BP180 in a single patient.[6] In the present study, we included 30 patients (Table 1) to evaluate the utility of visual analogue scales for pruritus (VAS-pruritus),[7] TARC and anti-BP180 in a time series. Serum thymus and activation-regulated chemokine is a surrogate marker for bullous pemphigoid disease activity. [Extracted from the article]

Production of diploid males is disadvantageous for populations of haplodiploid species, because it increases the genetic load and decreases fitness. In social species, the damage becomes more serious because of increased colony mortality and decreased colony growth rates. As a parameter to quantify diploid male production, the proportion of diploids that are males, Φ , has been estimated using multiple-loci marker genotypes. In these studies, Φ is separately estimated for individual marker locus, and then the estimates are averaged over marker loci. In this paper, we propose a simple method for combining genotypes of multiple-marker loci to obtain a single estimate of Φ , which is expected to enhance the quality of estimate. As an application, Φ in a threatened bumble bee population in Japan is estimated from genotype data of multiple microsatellite loci. Under the separate analysis of individual marker locus the detectability of diploid males, measured by the probability that a diploid is heterozygous, is within the range of 0.196–0.554, whereas the detectability from the proposed method increases to 0.834, giving an estimate of Φ with a higher degree of precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]