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International audience; There is a growing need for evaluation tools allowing the quantification of the outcome after voice surgeries. Since the end of the 1990s, multiple unfruitful attempts have been made to reach a consensus, including the Dejonckere protocol for the European Laryngological Society in 2001. This suggested to perform objective and quantifiable measures in the following domains: perception, acoustic, aerodynamic, self-evaluation by the patient and videolaryngostroboscopy. But in a PubMed® search with the keywords “Voice Assessment” and “Voice Outcome” since 2001 retrieving 452 articles, only 33 of them were using methods taking into account the first four dimensions proposed by Dejonckere. To elaborate a new and simpler protocol, we chose to focus on unilateral vocal fold paralyses (UVFP), which represents a homogeneous disease in terms of physiology. This protocol was elaborated on the basis of a review of the literature and of the database and experience of the IFOS panel members. In summary, our group recommends the use and implementation of the ELS “basic protocol” with some minor modifications. Voice audio recordings are an indispensable prerequisite, and may even have medico-legal implications. We recommend the systematic use of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI). Perceptual analysis must be performed by using Hirano's GRB scale and voice breathiness has to be prioritized. Currently, acoustic analysis remains optional given the lack of data to support clinical usefulness. Aerodynamic studies should include at a minimum an evaluation of the Maximum Phonation Time, calculated in seconds following multiple trials in order to obtain a recording representing the patient's best possible glottis closure.

Aim To investigate the computed tomography (CT) findings in patients with stage IE/IIE extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL) arising in the nasal cavity and to evaluate whether imaging findings revealed by CT have prognostic value. Materials and methods The CT findings of 62 patients diagnosed with IE/IIE ENKTL arising in the nasal cavity were retrospectively reviewed. Imaging findings were investigated, and evaluated imaging findings were analysed for the prognostic value of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Results Of the 62 patients, 21 (34%) presented with a superficial infiltrative, 38 (61%) with a mass forming, and three (5%) with a combined pattern. Of all imaging findings, local invasiveness (n = 26, 42%), including bony destruction, erosion, or soft-tissue involvement, was the only independent prognostic factor for OS [p = 0.008; hazard ratio (HR): 3.85; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.42–10.44] and DFS (p = 0.001; HR: 4.25; 95% CI: 1.72–10.47). In a subgroup analysis of 36 cases with no local invasiveness, a superficial infiltrative pattern in one nasal cavity was a positive prognostic factor for OS (p = 0.028) and DFS (p = 0.008). Conclusion Imaging findings at CT provided clinically useful predictions for treatment outcomes. Local invasiveness revealed by CT findings was a strong prognostic factor for poor OS and DFS. In addition, in patients with no local invasiveness, a superficial infiltrative pattern in one nasal cavity predicted favourable OS and DFS.

A chemical wet etching technique is presented to form a nano-roughened surface with triangle-like morphology on n-side-up AlGaInP-based LEDs fabricated by adopting adhesive layer bonding scheme. A simple and commonly used H3PO4-based solution was applied for chemical wet etching. The morphology of nano-roughened surfaces is analyzed by the atomic force microscope (AFM) and significantly related to the enhancement factor of the LED output power. The output power shows 80% increase after optimizing the nano-roughened morphology of n-side surface, as compared to the ordinary flat surface LED.

Background: Asthma in the elderly (aged 65years old) is a significant concern with high morbidity, but the pathophysiology remains unclear particularly in late-onset asthma. Recent studies suggest staphylococcal enterotoxin IgE (SE-IgE) sensitization to be a risk factor for asthma in general populations; however, the associations have not been examined in late-onset elderly asthma. Objective: We aimed to examine the associations of SE-IgE sensitization with late-onset asthma in the elderly, using a database of elderly asthma cohort study. Methods: A total of 249 elderly patients with asthma and 98 controls were analysed. At baseline, patients were assessed for demographics, atopy, induced sputum profiles and comorbidities including chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Serum total IgE and SE-IgE levels were measured. Asthma severity was assessed on the basis of asthma outcomes during a 12-month follow-up period. Results: At baseline, serum SE-IgE concentrations were significantly higher in patients with asthma than in controls [median 0.16 (interquartile range 0.04-0.53) vs. 0.10 (0.01-0.19), P

An n-side-up AlGaInP-based LED operating at a wavelength of 630 nm with a stripe-patterned omni-directional reflector (ODR) was fabricated by adopting the adhesive-layer bonding scheme. It is demonstrated that the periodic and geometrical shape of the stripe-patterned array improves the light extraction efficiency by increasing the extraction of guided light. Compared to the conventional ODR LED, the stripe-patterned ODR LED significantly enhanced the output power and with only a slightly higher forward voltage. This improvement was analysed by the scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) and the optimized dimension of stripe patterns was also calculated on the basis of a Monte Carlo ray tracing simulation. According to the above analysis, the increase of light extraction could not only be attributed to the geometrical shape of the stripe patterns that redirect the trapped light towards the top-escaping cone of the LED surface but also to the repetitive stripe-patterned array of diffracting elements that effectively diffract the guided light outside the LED surface. Moreover, the optimized dimension of the stripe pattern is 3 µ mw ide, 2µm deep and spaced 3 µm apart, which coincides with experimental results. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells near ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated on a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) with parallel stripe along the 〈 1 1 ¯ 0 0 〉 sapphire direction by using low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The forward- and reverse-bias electrical characteristics of the stripe PSS LEDs are, respectively, similar and better than those of conventional LEDs on sapphire substrate. The output power of the epoxy package of stripe PSS LED was 20% higher than that of the conventional LEDs. The enhancement of output power is due not only to the reduction of dislocation density but also to the release of the guided light in LEDs by the geometric shape of the stripe PSS, according to the ray-tracing analysis.

HANBIT is a magnetic mirror confinement device. Recent physics experiments have been mainly focused on identifying discharge characteristics and on getting stable plasma production and operation modes, by using a 500 kW slot antenna system at a fixed RF frequency of 3.5 MHz and varying discharge conditions such as fueling rate, RF power, and B-field intensity in central cell. Two distinct operation modes are found to be very sensitive to the RF power as well as the ratio of the RF frequency to the ion cyclotron frequency. A MHD interchange mode of m = -1 is clearly observed and the stabilizing mechanism can be explained by the sideband coupling theory.

Summary Background Although asthma is a common cause of morbidity in adults, relatively few objectively measured population studies of asthma prevalence in adult populations have been conducted. Objective To evaluate the prevalence of asthma, based on both a questionnaire and methacholine bronchial provocation test, and to determine the risk factors of asthma prevalence in an adult population. Methods A total of 2467 adults, who were randomly selected from metropolitan urban, non-metropolitan urban and rural areas, responded to the modified ISAAC questionnaire, and underwent methacholine bronchial provocation tests and skin prick tests to locally common aeroallergens. Results The prevalence of current asthma based on the questionnaire and the methacholine challenge was 2.0% in adults younger than 40, 3.8% in 40- to 54-year-olds, 7.7% in 55- to 64-year-olds and 12.7% in those aged 65 or higher. For subjects of 55–64 years, active smoking was found to be significantly related with the prevalence of current asthma and bronchial hyper-responsiveness, although smoking was positively associated with percentage predictive value of forced expiratory volume of 1 s (FEV1). Conclusion The prevalence of current asthma is common among the elderly, and active smoking may play an important role in the development of asthma and bronchial hyper-responsiveness among the elderly.

The Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL) had started the 10 GeV PAL-XFEL project from 2011. The PAL-XFEL needs a highly stable electron beam. The very stable beam voltage of a klystron- modulator is essential to provide the stable acceleration field for an electron beam. Thus, the modulator system for the XFEL requires less than 50 ppm PFN voltage stability. To get this high stability on the modulator system, the inverter type HVPS is a pivot component. And the modulator needs lower noise and smart. We discuss the measurement of the stability and the test results of the pulse modulator system.

Background A recent investigation has suggested that citrus red mite (Panonychus citri, CRM) is a common sensitizing allergen among children living around citrus farms. Objective A cross-sectional survey was performed to evaluate the bronchial responsiveness to methacholine in CRM-sensitive children without asthmatic symptoms. Subjects and methods A total of 375 children living around citrus farms were enrolled in this study. There were 201 boys and 174 girls with a mean age of 12.5 (range 7–16) years. Each subject was evaluated by a questionnaire, a skin prick test with 13 common inhalant allergens including CRM, and a methacholine bronchial provocation test (MBPT). Results Positive rate of MBPT (PC20-methacholine

An n-side-up AlGaInP-based light-emitting diode (LED) with a stripe-patterned omni-directional reflector (ODR) was fabricated by adopting the adhesive-layer bonding scheme. Comparing to the conventional ODR LED, the stripe-patterned ODR LED significantly enhanced the output power with an only slight higher forward voltage. This improvement was analyzed by the scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) and could be attributable to the geometrical shape of stripe patterns that redirects the guided light towards to the escaping cone of the LED surface. The optimized dimension of stripe patterns was also calculated by simply modeling a LED dice with a stripe-patterned ODR structure, according to optical ray-tracing method.

Allergic rhinitis is now considered an inflammatory disorder where many leukocyte types, including eosinophils and T-lymphocytes, accumulate in increased numbers. Along with mast cells and other cells, they release a wide variety of mediators, cytokines, and granule constituents that can directly cause inflammation or activate the local vascular endothelium to further enhance the recruitment of leukocytes through the expression and function of adhesion molecules. While the understanding of the importance of leukocyte and endothelial adhesion molecules is still at a very early stage, recent evidence has already begun to implicate these cell surface molecules in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases such as rhinitis and asthma. Additional studies, including the use of adhesion molecule antagonists when available, will clarify the importance of these structures in the pathophysiology of these disorders.

Two types of neutral beam sources have been developed in order to measure plasma parameters on the Hanbit mirror device. The first source is a diagnostic neutral beam (DNB) which consists of a hydr...

Spark gaps are widely used switches for the development of high power pulser systems because of their simplicity and fast switching capability. We have already developed a pulser system using a single microplasma-assisted spark gap to generate short electrical pulses at the load with a repetition rate of 1 MHz. The single spark gap pulser system undergoes a few drawbacks such as low breakdown voltage and charging efficiency etc. The breakthrough of this problem is achieved by a parallel operation of two similar spark gaps in the pulser system by reducing the repetition rate, thereby increasing the voltage recovery of each spark gap. The operation of the pulser system with optimized charging circuit and spark gap parameters exhibited improved breakdown voltage and charging efficiency. Finally, the pulser system is extended for the parallel operation of four spark gaps system.

From 2011, the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL) had started the 10 GeV PAL-XFEL project. The PAL-XFEL needs a highly stable electron beam. The very stable beam voltage of a klystron- modulator is essential to provide the stable acceleration field for an electron beam[1]. Thus, the modulator system for the XFEL requires less than 50 ppm PFN voltage stability. To get this high stability on the modulator system, the inverter type HVPS is a pivot component. The requested specification of the inverter power supply is being developed the 50 kV, 5 kJ/sec 1 sets and 30 kJ/sec 4 sets at the PAL. In this paper, we will discuss the development and the test results of the inverter power supply for pulse modulator system for obtaining machine stability.

The growth and collapse of isolated voids in power-law viscous matrix materials are investigated. The study is restricted to axisymmetric remote stressing and to voids which are initially spheroidal with the axis of symmetry of the voids coincident with the axis of symmetry of the remote loading. Particular attention is given to the evolution of initially spherical voids, but the effect of initial void shape on subsequent void evolution is also investigated. For linearly viscous matrix materials, the voids evolve through spheroidal shapes and the work of Budiansky et al. (1982) provides the desired information about the history of void shape and volume. For nonlinear matrix materials, the void evolution is idealized as proceeding through a sequence of spheroidal shapes, and the rate of deformation for a given instant is evaluated using a Ritz procedure developed by Lee and Mear (1992). The results of the study demonstrate that the history of void volume and void shape is influenced significantly by the material nonlinearity, the remote stress state and the initial void aspect ratio.

A spark gap is an important component in a pulsed power system due to its fast switching capability. However, the rate of plasma de-ionization and subsequent cooling of the de-ionized plasma between switching pulses restrict the recovery time of the spark gap, thereby reducing its pulse repetition rate. In addition, the breakdown voltage for the spark gap switching in a self-breakdown mode is inversely proportional to the repetition rate under continuous operation. The author earlier used microplasma assisted single spark gap at the high repetition rate. This paper will present an extended work by operating two parallel spark gaps in the self breakdown mode to increase the repetition rate up to 1 MHz. The operating parameters of the spark gap are optimized for the repetition rate and the self-breakdown voltage capability.

In the present paper, we investigate the energy propagation direction in near-field thermal radiation between two semi-infinite surfaces separated by a vacuum gap. Based on the fluctuational electrodynamics, we demonstrate in detail that Poynting vectors for each parallel wavevector component (β) are decoupled due to the randomness of thermal radiation. The results reveal that the spectral radiative energy is transferred in infinite directions. By separately tracing the Poynting vector for each given β, the energy propagation direction in the vacuum gap is visualized. Depending on β values, there exist considerable lateral shifts of the energy streamline. The range of β values dominantly contributing to the spectral energy flux is identified for different wavelengths. Furthermore, the effect of surface polaritons on the lateral shift is also discussed.Copyright © 2008 by ASME

Seventy previously untreated patients with stage II, III, and IV intermediate- or high-grade lymphoma were treated with methotrexate, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, and bleomycin (MACOP-B) between September 1985 and November 1987. Forty-nine of these patients had diffuse large-cell lymphoma (DLCL), and eight of these patients were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive. Complete responses were achieved in 54% of all patients and 52% of those with DLCL. With follow-up extending to 36 months, 45% of all DLCL patients are alive, and 50% are still living, if the HIV-positive patients are excluded from the analysis. Chemotherapy was quite toxic. Seventy-five percent of patients had severe mucositis, 42% had peripheral neuropathy, 50% required hospitalization, and 54% experienced leukopenia with a WBC count below 1,000/microL. Seven percent (five patients) died of toxicity related to the chemotherapy. Our analysis of prognostic parameters indicated that B symptoms, a performance status below 80, and, to a lesser extent, elevation of serum lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) (in HIV-negative DLCL patients) were associated with an inferior survival. Advanced age, sex, and bulky disease were not found to have a statistically significant effect on survival. Our preliminary results indicate that MACOP-B chemotherapy is an effective regimen for high- and intermediate-grade lymphomas. However, the survival for patients with DLCL treated with MACOP-B is no different than that achieved with previous regimens at our institution.

In the first part of the paper in a short review the history of the development of gas-filled high power switches is described, including all the special switching devices, which had been proposed to overcome specific shortcomings of the basic configurations of gas-filled devices like spark gaps, cold and hot cathode thyratrons and triggered vacuum tubes. The second part treats in detail the most serious problem for gas-filled switches to be still competitive with solid-state switches: Lifetime limitation by electrode erosion. The pseudospark discharge as low-pressure cold cathode device is chosen to illustrate the most important mechanisms, which contribute to electrode erosion or are related to cathode emission processes in general. As next subject of the manuscript some promising new developments in the area of gas-filled switches are described. Those obviously show that there is still a variety of applications for them, which guarantee a bright future. Based upon the results of the previous part in the last part, the pros and cons are summarized with the goal to comment the on-going process of substitution or not-substitution of gas-filled switches by solid-state devices. Finally the physical and technological limits are listed together with an outlook to future chances with the development of both types of high power switches.

To investigate whether vitamin B6 supplementation has a beneficial effect on immune responses in critically ill patients. A single-blind intervention study. The study was performed at the Taichung Veterans General Hospital, the central part of Taiwan. Fifty-one subjects who stayed over 14 days in the intensive care unit completed the study. Subjects were not treated with any vitamin supplement before the intervention. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups, control (n=20), a daily injection of 50 mg vitamin B-6 (B6-50, n=15), or 100 mg vitamin B-6 (B6-100, n=16) for 14 days. Plasma pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP), pyridoxal (PL), 4-pyridoxic acid (4-PA), erythrocyte alanine (EALT-AC) and aspartate (EAST-AC) aminotransaminase activity coefficient, and urinary 4-PA were measured. The levels of serum albumin, hemoglobin, hematocrit, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and immune responses (white blood cell, neutrophils, total lymphocytes count (TLC), T- (CD3) and B-(CD19) lymphocytes, T-helper (CD4) and suppressor (CD8) cells) were determined. Plasma PLP, PL, 4-PA and urinary 4-PA concentrations significantly increased in two treated groups. T-lymphocyte and T-helper cell numbers and the percentage of T-suppressor cell significantly increased on day 14 in the B6-50 group. Total lymphocyte count, T-helper and T-suppressor cell numbers, the percentage of T-lymphocyte cells and T-suppressors significantly increased in the B6-100 group at the 14th day. There were no significant changes with respect to immune responses in the control group over 14 days. A large dose of vitamin B6 supplementation (50 or 100 mg/day) could compensate for the lack of responsiveness of plasma PLP to vitamin B6 intake, and further increase immune response of critically ill patients. This study was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, Republic of China (NSC-92-2320-B-040-026).

A media access control (MAC) protocol for integrated services on a dual-ring high-speed LAN is proposed. The protocol supports real-time synchronous voice and video services and multilevel priority asynchronous data traffic types using a packet-switched operation. The most important service requirement for packetized real-time traffic is guaranteed periodic access to the network with a small delay variation. The requirement is met by periodic generation of synchronous service tokens. The effect of service interruptions due to the synchronous traffic, i.e. voice and video, on the asynchronous data traffic is investigated by means of analytical and simulation methods. >

Accurate determination of energy expenditure is essential in patients receiving nutritional support to meet metabolic needs. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the energy expenditure as measured by indirect calorimetry (MEE) and estimated by 5 equations in the mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. Forty-six patients were divided into either enteral nutrition (EN) (n=l2), total parenteral nutrition (TPN) (n=16) or combined (EN plus TPN) (n=l8) groups. Patients' energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry on two occasions. Anthropometric and biochemical measurements, energy expenditure and medical status (APACHE II score) were also assessed in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Taichung Veteran General hospital. No significant difference was found in the MEE among the 3 groups. The type of nutritional support did not affect MEE. Energy expenditure calculated by using Harris- Benedict, Kleiber and Liu equations times the estimated stress factor did not significantly different than the values of MEE in all groups. There were significant correlations (P0.01) between MEE and patients' sex (r=-0.499), age (r=-0.402), height (r=0.533), knee height (r=0.431), current body weight (r=0.379), usual body weight (r=0.407), ideal body weight (r=0.466) and urinary urea nitrogen (r=0.383) in the pooled group. Results demonstrated that energy expenditure could be estimated in most critically ill patients by using Harris-Benedict, Kleiber and Liu equations if the estimated stress factor is in the reasonable value.

This paper proposes and investigates the performance of a combined preventive / reactive congestion control approach for high-speed LAN / MAN interconnection networks. The interconnection of low-speed LANs via a high-speed MAN faces a speed-mismatch. As the primary control component, the preventive rate control mechanism is designed to cope with the speed-mismatch problem by throttling the long-term average input traffic injected into the backbone network under a large propagation delay constraint. The reactive feedback control component complements the preventive rate control to enhance the overall congestion control performance. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed congestion control approach under different traffic conditions.

In this paper, the design, construction, and test procedure of a closing switch prototype based on thyristors is described. In particular, details are given about the design criteria and about the triggering board architecture, which is a high side biased, self supplied unit using the electrical energy derived from a local snubber network for the gate drive. The structure guarantees a hard firing gate pulse for the required high dI/dt application. Further, the results of the prototype tests are presented and discussed. The stack assembly has a holding voltage of 6.5 kV and is used for switching a series resonant circuit with a ringing frequency of 12 kHz for a pulsed inductive vacuum ultraviolet source. Maximum current amplitudes of 13 kA and pulse energies of more than 600 J were switched during the test procedure.

The structures and performances of surface emitting AlGaInP green light emitting diodes (LEDs) with emission wavelength around 565 nm were studied. The AlGaInP green LEDs with epitaxial structure grown on P-type GaAs substrate showed the best performance. This is the first paper ever reported for the fabrication of AlGaInP LEDs using P-type GaAs as a substrate. In AlGaInP LED structure using P-type GaAs substrate, the highly conductive n- type AlInP was consequently used as a top confining layer and the current crowding problem was significantly improved. Therefore, the green electroluminescence (EL) was uniformly emitted from the surface of LED dice.

Hyperthermal neutral beams have a great potential for material processes, especially for etching and thin film deposition for semiconductor and display fabrication as well as deposition for various thin film applications. Plasma-induced damage during plasma etching is a serious problem for manufacturing deep submicron semiconductor devices and is expected to be a problem for future nanoscale devices. Thermal and plasma-induced damage is also problematic for thin film depositions such as transparent conductive oxide films on organic light emitting diodes or flexible displays due to high temperature processes in plasma environments. These problems can be overcome by damage-free and low-temperature processes with hyperthermal neutral beams. We will present the status of the hyperthermal neutral beam development and the applications, especially, in semiconductor and display fabrication and introduce potential applications of thin film growing for optoelectronic devices such as light emitting diodes.

Varistors are important devices in the prevention of electric circuits from electric surges or in the stabilization of the operation current. Instead of the conventional granular type, varistors consisting of conductor/semiconductor multilayers grown on p-type semiconductor substrates are developed. In this work, the conductor used is indium tin oxide (ITO), the semiconductor is Si and the substrate is of p-type GaN. It was found that symmetric and nonlinear current-voltage curves are available by cascading two (ITO∕Si)N∕p-GaN films with a bridging Ag film. Furthermore, the current-voltage characteristics can be manipulated by depositing various periods of ITO∕Si multilayers on the p-type GaN substrates. The details of the design principle and the characterizations of the cascading (ITO∕Si)N∕p-GaN thin-film varistors are also discussed.

Bismuth-doped Y 2 O 3 :Eu is used as red phosphors with very high efficiency and appropriate emission wavelength. These red phosphors have been synthesized by homogeneous coprecipitation and solid-state reaction without anyflux, which may be used in the field of white LEDs (light-emitting diodes). The crystal structure of bismuth-doped Y 2 O 3 :Eu is cubic (space group: Ia3) with C 2 and S 6 sites. Y 2 O 3 :Eu can be excited by charge transfer (254 nm) and direct excitation (about 350-420 nm). When incorporated in Y 2 O 3 :Eu phosphors, Bi 3 + ions act as a sensitizer for Eu 3 + ions under 350 nm radiation. The energy transferred from Bi 3 + ions to Eu 3 + ions by a nonradiation process resulted in the final emission from excited Eu 3 + ions. The emission is observed at 610 nm, which is due to the electric dipole transition 5 D 0 → 7 F 2 induced by the lack of inversion symmetry (C 2 site). Moreover, luminescence intensity of Y 2 O 3 :Eu, Bi increases with sintering temperature. Bismuth concentration dependence energy transfer rate and color purity have been observed in this investigation.

Indium-tin oxide (ITO) transparent conducting films with a low resistivity of 2–3 × 10-4 Ω·cm have been introduced as a window layer in (Al0.7Ga0.7)0.5In0.5P/(Al0.1Ga0.9)0.5In0.5P double-heterostructure orange light-emitting diodes to obtain a uniform spatial distribution of the emission light, a good device performance and high reliability. An output power of 450 µW at 20 mA corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 1.1% for the 620 nm emission can be achieved.

High temperature, low threshold current, and transverse mode stabilised operation is achieved in a separate confinement heterostructure AlGaInP/Ga/sub 0.4/In/sub 0.6/P compressively strained multiquantum-well structure which was fabricated from an epitaxial wafer grown on misoriented

Visible light-emitting diodes (LEDs) emitting at 615 nm and employing the AlGaInP/GaInP double heterostructure (DH) grown on a lattice-matched GaAs/sub 0.7/P/sub 0.3/ substrate have been fabricated for the first. The external quantum efficiency of 0.156% for the orange LEDs can be achieved by introducing the GaP material as the current spreader and window layer for the DH LEDs. >

Seventy-nine men with Hodgkin's disease were treated with chemotherapy protocols at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and had pretreatment semen analysis performed at the area semen bank. The patients were evaluated to determine: the quality of pretreatment semen, the effect of treatment on spermatogenesis, and the success rate of artificial insemination after semen cryopreservation. Pretreatment sperm concentration, fresh motility, fresh progression, postthaw motility and postthaw progression were all significantly decreased in men with Hodgkin's disease compared with normal controls. Posttreatment semen analysis in 44 men showed azoospermia in 80%, sperm concentration, less than or equal to 10 X 10(6)/mL in 11%, and sperm concentration greater than 10 X 10(6)/mL in 9%. Eleven couples attempted artificial insemination using cryopreserved semen, thus far resulting in three pregnancies. Semen cryopreservation and artificial insemination offer a partial solution to posttreatment azoospermia in this population, but further methods are needed to minimize gonadal toxicity without compromising therapy for Hodgkin's disease.

Between January, 1975, and December, 1978, 118 patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease were treated with 8 months of alternating MOPP and adriamycin, bleomycin, dacarbazine and vinblastine (ABDV) combined with 1 month of low-dose radiation therapy (2,000 rad) to areas initially involved with bulky disease. Among 57 evaluable previously-untreated patients, 50/57 (88%) achieved complete and 7/57 (12%) partial remissions. The estimated relapse rate among the complete responders was 16% at 36 months from date of remission. Toxicity was comparable to that of other combination chemotherapy regimens. These results are among the best reported for the treatment of patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease.

We treated 51 patients with advanced malignant lymphoma refractory to conventional therapy with methyl-glyoxal-bis(guanylhydrazone) (methyl- GAG) at doses ranging from 400 to 800 mg/sq m. Therapy was started on a weekly schedule and was switched to every other week in responding patients at the onset of toxicity. Partial responses were observed in 6 of 13 evaluable patients with Hodgkin's disease (46%), 5 of 10 patients with diffuse poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma (50%), 2 of 4 patients with nodular poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma (50%), and 3 of 13 patients with diffuse histiocytic lymphoma (23%). Two of six patients with mycosis fungoides showed objective improvement in cutaneous disease. Toxicity was generally mild and included muscular weakness, myalgia, mucositis, and diarrhea; two patients developed bronchospasm following drug infusions. We conclude that methyl-GAG has major antitumor activity when administered on this schedule to patients with advanced malignant lymphoma. The low degree of toxicity, unique mechanism of action, and minimal myelosuppressive effects suggest that methyl-GAG will prove useful in future trials of combination chemotherapy regimens for the treatment of lymphoma.

Significant improvements have been made in the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Newer combination chemotherapy using PRO-MACE MOPP [1], M-BACOD [2] and the revised intermediate methotrexate dose m-BACOD [3] results in a high complete remission rate, with significant improvement in disease-free survival. Long term follow-up and confirmation of the initial success with these protocols will be very important.

A case of septicemia caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup 29E (Z') in a patient with plasma cell leukemia is described. The patient developed disseminated intravascular coagulation, had a cardiopulmonary arrest, and died. The effects of altered immune function leading to a predisposition to meningococcal infections are discussed.

The introduction of the MOPP (mustine, oncovin, procarbazine, and prednisone) combination by DeVita and colleagues (Longo et al. 1986) represented a dramatic advance in the treatment of patients with advanced Hodgkin’s disease. The complete remission (CR) rate at Memorial Hospital was at the lower end of those reported in the literature, perhaps reflecting the inclusion of advanced Hodgkin’s disease patients with a worse prognosis than those seen in other centers.