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Major neuroendocrine tumors contain many somatostatin receptors. This feature allows for the localization of primary tumors and tumor metastases by scintigraphy with the radiolabeled somatostatin analog octreotide. We describe a patient with nonspecific clinical data and ultrasonography and CT that showed an isolated focal lesion in the liver. In-111 octreotide scintigraphy was essential in establishing the diagnosis of liver metastasis from a neuroendocrine tumor confirmed by pathologic findings. Because clinical symptoms recurred, ultrasonography and CT were performed a few months after surgery. Both were negative. However, In-111 octreotide scintigraphy suggested multiple bone metastases and established the diagnosis of bone metastases from a neuroendocrine tumor, which was confirmed by Tc-99m MDP bone scans and MRI.

The diagnosis of Paget's bone disease (PD) is often reached fortuitously with X-ray or scintigraphy. The peculiar distribution of the bone tracer in some skeletal locations, such as vertebra, may be highly suggestive of this disorder. Indeed, there are two distinct vertebral images on the bone scan highly specific of PD: the "clover" and the "heart" images. It has been previously reported that the specificity of these images for PD diagnosis is very high, nearly 100%, then suggesting that these findings could be patognomonic of this process. We have recently observed a 55-year-old male patient with back pain secondary to a vertebral metastasis due to a hepatocellular carcinoma. Initially, the bone scan showed the characteristic "clover" image at T-12 level and he was misdiagnosed with PD. Afterwards, the MRI suggested the diagnosis of a vertebral metastasis, and a computed tomography-guided needle biopsy further confirmed the diagnosis. In view of the present data, this image cannot be considered as patognomonic of PD.

Hypertension is a common complication observed after renal transplantation. If the hypertension is of renovascular origin, transluminal angioplasty or surgery of the renal artery stenosis can lead help cure the hypertension. The blood pressure of a 31-year-old man who underwent renal transplantation 2 years earlier gradually increased. Arteriography showed stenosis (>80%) in the two branches of the renal artery. To help confirm the presence of renovascular hypertension, captopril renography was performed but showed no significant changes compared with baseline renography. Renography was performed again after losartan administration and showed impaired renal function. In this case, losartan renography was more useful than captopril in suggesting renovascular hypertension.

A patient with chronically increased hypercalcemia had a chest X-ray that demonstrated an enlarged mass in the upper mediastinum. Cervicothoracic CT was performed to determine the origin of this mass, but was inconclusive. The patient underwent parathyroid Tc-99m sestamibi scintigraphy which showed a large mass with increased uptake and a photopenic area inside, suggesting a parathyroid lesion. After surgery, a 30 g mass with cysts and hemorrhagic areas inside was histologically confirmed as a parathyroid adenoma.

Technetium-99m sestamibi scintigraphy has become a valuable tool in locating parathyroid glands in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. The aim of this study was to evaluate its usefulness in secondary hyperparathyroidism. Twenty patients were injected intravenously with 740 MBq of 99mTc-sestamibi and images were obtained at 15 min and 2 h post injection. All patients underwent parathyroid ultrasonography (US) as well as bilateral surgical neck exploration and 64 parathyroid glands were removed. US revealed at least one enlarged gland in 15/20 patients (75%), while 99mTc-sestamibi scintigraphy showed focal areas of increased uptake in at least one gland in 17/20 patients (85%). When imaging results for all glands were evaluated according to surgical results, sensitivity was 54% for parathyroid scintigraphy and 41% for US, and specificity was 89% for both imaging techniques. There was a discrepancy between the two imaging modalities in 28 glands (35%). The mean surgical weight of US-positive glands (1492+/-1436 mg) was significantly higher than that of US-negative glands (775+/-703 mg) (P0.05). However, there were no significant differences in weight between sestamibi-positive and sestamibi-negative glands. When only sestamibi-positive glands were considered, a positive correlation between uptake and weight was found (r=0.4, P0.05). In conclusion, parathyroid US and 99mTc-sestamibi scintigraphy are complementary imaging techniques in the preoperative localization of abnormal parathyroid glands in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. The limited sensitivity of the techniques means that patients will still require bilateral neck exploration; therefore routine preoperative parathyroid scanning in renal patients is not justified.

An 85-year-old woman who had an invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast and elevated alkaline phosphatases (420 U/L) was referred for Tc-99m MDP bone scintigraphy for initial evaluation of skeletal metastases. Bone symptoms were limited to chronic pain in both knees. A bone scan revealed pagetoid findings in both calcanei. Feet and toes on plain x-rays of the calcaneus were unremarkable. Findings were stable in the 2-year follow up, excluding other potential diagnosis as extensive metastases or stress fractures.

Taboada, A. G. et al., We report on the mask-less integration of GaAs crystals several microns in size on patterned Si substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy. The lattice parameter mismatch is bridged by first growing 2-μm-tall intermediate Ge mesas on 8-μm-tall Si pillars by low-energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. We investigate the morphological evolution of the GaAs crystals towards full pyramids exhibiting energetically stable {111} facets with decreasing Si pillar size. The release of the strain induced by the mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients in the GaAs crystals has been studied by X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements. The strain release mechanism is discussed within the framework of linear elasticity theory by Finite Element Method simulations, based on realistic geometries extracted from scanning electron microscopy images. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC., Financial support by the Swiss Federal Program Nano-Tera through projects NEXRAY and COSMICMOS and Spanish MINECO and CAM through projects EPIC-NANOTICS and Q&C Light are gratefully acknowledged.

Resumen Varon de 56 anos con fiebre y dolor lumbar al que se realizo TC abdominal mostrando cambios artrosicos lumbares, aunque sin poder descartar patologia infecciosa en L5/S1. Se solicito gammagrafia osea que evidencio hipercaptacion heterogenea que no permitio excluir una espondilodiscitis en esta localizacion. La gammagrafia con 67Ga-citrato excluyo patologia infecciosa en columna lumbar. Sin embargo, visualizo una captacion patologica en fosa iliaca izquierda sugestiva de absceso del psoas, confirmada mediante ecografia aislandose estreptococo viridans.

In this work we develop a detailed experimental study of the exciton recombination dynamics as a function of temperature on QD-ensembles and single QDs in two low density samples having 16.5 and 25 dots/¼m2. We corroborate at the single QD level the limitation of the exciton recombination time in the smallest QDs of the distribution by thermionic emission (electron emission in transient conditions). A portion of these emitted carriers is retrapped again in other (larger) QDs, but not very distant from those emitting the carriers, because the process is limited by the diffusion length at the considered temperature.

5 páginas, 5 figuras., We have fabricated an array of closely spaced quantum dashes starting from a planar array of self-assembled semiconductor quantum wires. The array is embedded in a metallic nanogap which we investigate by micro-photoluminescence as a function of a lateral electric field. We demonstrate that the net electric charge and emission energy of individual quantum dashes can be modified externally with the performance limited by the size inhomogeneity of the self-assembling process., The authors acknowledge financial support from Spanish MEC and CAM through grants NANINPHO-QD (TEC2008- 06756-C03-01/03), NANOCOMIC (S-505/ESP/000200) and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 QOIT (CSD2006-0019).

e15598 Background: 1) To evaluate the usefulness of Positron Emission Tomography with combined 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose with Computed Tomography (PET/CT) in the diagnosis of distant metastases in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) compared to spiral double contrast thoracoabdominal Computed Tomography (CT); 2) To establish the utility of PET/CT in the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis compared to laparoscopy. Methods: Thirty prospective patients (22 men, 8 women; mean age 67±11) who underwent endoscopic ultrasound and were classified as T2–3N1 or T3Nx GAC were included in this study. Whole body images were obtained 1 hour after injection of 370 MBq of 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose. CT was performed within 2 weeks of PET/CT. Laparoscopy was performed without remarkable incidences. All findings were confirmed by histopathology examination and/or by at least 6 months follow- up. Results: Distant metastases were found in 9/30 cases: carcinomatosis (3), retroperitoneal (3) or mediastinal (2) pathological lymph nodes and one case of bone metastases (1). PET/CT diagnosed unsuspected distant metastases by CT in 4/9 patients (retroperitoneal (1) or mediastinal (2) pathological lymph nodes and 1 case of bone metastasis in the spine). In 1/3 patients with histopathological confirmed diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis by laparoscopic findings was negative by PET/CT, and considered as a false negative case. On the other hand, 3 patients with initially positive peritoneal carcinomatosis by invasive laparoscopy were finally diagnosed as benign lesions. These lesions did not show significant uptake in PET/CT and were considered as true negative cases. Conclusions: 1) PET/CT is useful in the diagnosis of distant metastases in patients with GAC 2) Further studies are needed to establish the role of PET/CT to detect peritoneal carcinomatosis. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

10553 Background: Small changes in tumor size or density on computed tomography (CT) are sensitive and specific methods to assess response of GISTs and correlates well with positron emission tomography with 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) in untreated GIST patients (pts). Despite of it, there is inconsistent prospective data in imatinib (IM) refractory disease. Methods: This multicenter phase I-II study prospectively evaluated 26 pts with metastatic high-dose IM refractory GISTs treated with doxorubicin 15 - 20 mg/m2/weekly per 4 cycles, followed by IM maintanance (400mg p.o.qd). CT and FDG-PET were performed at baseline and after 2 months of therapy. Response rate was assessed by RECIST criteria by Principal Investigator (PI). CT and FDG-PET (EORTC criteria) were reviewed by two experts in abdominal CT (AR) and one expert on Nuclear Medicine in one Institution. Results: Tumor density measurements were not assessed on CT because some studies were not available in DICOM format and different tube currents were used. There were significant lower number of lesions identified by PI (n=73; median 2, range 1–6) than AR (n=122; median 5, range 1–10). Twenty-eight out of 122 lesions identified by CT did not demonstrate significant uptake in FDG-PET at baseline (upon 800mg/day of IM treatment) on FDG-PET. Mean baseline tumor size on CT was 5.9cm (ranging from 0.9 to 28cm), and mean baseline SUVmax on FDG-PET was 7.2 (ranging from 1.9 to 26.4). Nine patients responded on FDG-PET compared with 2 pts and 5 pts with RECIST or modified RECIST criteria (decrease in tumor size more than 10%), respectively. The sensitivity for RECIST or modified RECIST in identifying PET responders was 22% and 55%, showing a 100% of specificity by both methods. Good responders on FDG-PET at 2 months had significantly longer progression free survival (264 days) than non-responders (64 days) (P=0.01). Conclusions: FDG-PET is sensitive and specific to assess response of GISTs pts refractory to high-dose IM. If the prognostic value of FDG-PET can be confirmed should be employed in future studies of pts with refractory GIST. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

In this work we extend the droplet epitaxy growth technique to the fabrication of low density InAs quantum dots (QDs) on GaAs (001) substrates with control in size, energy emission, and top surface location. In particular, depending on the amount of InAs material deposited, it has been possible to tune the QD energy emission over a range of 1.12–1.40 eV while keeping constant the nanostructures density at 2×108 cm−2. Moreover, the capping growth process of these QD shows mounding features that permit their spatial identification once embedded by a GaAs capping layer., The authors acknowledge the financial support by Spanish MEC and CAM through Project Nos. TEC-2005-05781- C03-01/-03 and NAN2004-09109-C04-01/-03, by Consolider Grant No. QOIT CSD2006-0019 and S-505/ESP/ 000200.

http://link.aip.org/link/?JAPIAU/104/033523/1, Self-assembled InAs/InP (001) quantum wire stacks have been investigated by means of Raman scattering. The characteristics of the observed vibrational modes show clear evidence of confinement and atomic intermixing between As and P atoms from the wire and the spacer. The change in the intermixing with spacer layer thickness and growth temperature is investigated. Likewise, the effect of annealing on the exchange of As and P atoms is also studied. Resonance effects in confined and interface phonons are discussed for excitation in the vicinity of the InAs E1 critical point. Finally, the energy of the interface modes is related to the structural characteristics of the wires by comparing the experimental data with a lattice dynamic calculation based on the dielectric continuum model., The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain (Project No. MAT2006-01825,FEDER), the Generalitat Valenciana, and the European Network SANDIE (Grant No. NMP4-CT-2004-500101) for financial support.

10520 Background: In Ewing sarcoma cell lines expressing KIT, the addition of DX to IM increase apoptosis, compared to IM or DX alone. Based on ‘’in vitro” data, we conducted a phase I-II trial of ...

Atomic steps at growth surfaces are important heterogeneous sources for nucleation of epitaxial nano-objects. In the presence of misfit strain, we show that the nucleation process takes place referentially at the upper terrace of the step as a result of the local stress relaxation. Evidence for strain-induced nucleation comes from the direct observation by postgrowth, atomic resolution, Z-contrast imaging of an InAs-rich region in a nanowire located on the upper terrace surface of an interfacial diatomic step., This work was supported by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (MV and SJP), the SANDiE European Network of Excellence (Contract No. NMP4-CT-2004-500101), the Spanish MEC (TEC2005-05781-C03-01 y 02, NAN2004-09109-C04-01, and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 CSD2006-00019), the CAM (S 0505ESP 0200), and the Junta de Andalucia (PAI research groups TEP-120 and TIC-145; Project No. PAI05-TEP-00383).

6 páginas, 5 figuras. In this work we explore the first stages of quantum wire (QWR) formation studying the evolution of the growth front for InAs coverages below the critical thickness, θc, determined by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Our results obtained by in situ measurement of the accumulated stress evolution during InAs growth on InP(001) show that the relaxation process starts at a certain InAs coverage θRθR this ensemble of isolated nanostructures progressively evolves towards QWRs that cover the whole surface for θ = θc. These results allow for a better understanding of the self-assembling process of QWRs and enable the study of the individual properties of InAs/InP self-assembled single quantum wires. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Spanish MEC and CAM through project nos. TEC-2005-05781-C03-01, NAN2004-09109-C04-01 and S-505/ESP/-000200, and by the European Commission through SANDIE Network of Excellence (No. NMP4-CT-2004-500101).

Isolated InAs/InP self-assembled quantum wires have been grown using in situ accumulated stress measurements to adjust the optimal InAs thickness. Atomic force microscopy imaging shows highly asymmetric nanostructures with average length exceeding more than ten times their width. High resolution optical investigation of as-grown samples reveals strong photoluminescence from individual quantum wires at 1.5 µm. Additional sharp features are related to monolayer fluctuations of the two-dimensional InAs layer present during the early stages of the quantum wire self-assembling process., The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Spanish MEC and CAM through Project Nos. TEC-2005-05781-C03-01/03, NAN2004-09109-C04-01/03, CSD2006-0019, and S-505/ESP/000200, and by the European Commission through SANDIE Network of Excellence (No. NMP4-CT-2004-500101).

3 páginas, 4 figuras., In this work, the authors present results on the growth by atomic layer molecular beam epitaxy and characterization of lasers with one and three stacked layers of InAs quantum wires (QWRs) as active zone and aluminum-free waveguides on (001) InP substrates. The separated confinement heterostructure consists of n-p InP claddings and a waveguide formed by short period superlattices of (InP)5/(GaInAs)4 lattice matched to the InP substrate. The optimum growth conditions (substrate temperature and As and P pressures) have been determined to obtain waveguides with a flat surface in order to get a uniform QWR distribution. Lasing emission is observed at a wavelength of ~1.66 µm up to 270 K from 15×3000 µm2 devices, with a threshold current density at that temperature of 2 kA/cm2., This work was financed by Spanish project Nos. MEC TEC-2005-05781-C03-01 and CAM S 0505ESP 0200, by the SANDIE Network of excellence (Contract No. NMP4-CT-2004-500101), and by the European Commission Growth program NANOMAT project, Contract No. G5RD-CT-2001-00545.

A 35-year-old man operated on 3 years earlier for preaortic extra-adrenal paraganglioma was examined for dorsal spine pain. MRI showed metastases in the thoracic spine (at T3, T5, and T7), with a tumoral mass extending to the posterior epidural space, which was later removed. Pathologic study confirmed that it corresponded to a metastasis of paraganglioma with a high degree of malignancy. 1-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine whole-body scintigraphy and a Tc-99m MDP bone scan were performed to determine the extent of the disease.

Varon de 56 anos con cirrosis hepatica de larga evolucion, complicada por numerosos episodios de hemorragia digestiva. Esplenectomizado a los 13 anos por rotura esplenica traumatica. Presento dolor abdominal derecho de caracter continuo, la ecografia abdominal demostro focos de esplenosis en asa ileal. Tras la exeresis quirurgica del asa ileal, y ante la persistencia del dolor abdominal, se realizo una gammagrafia con sulfuro coloidal 99mTc, demostrando multiples focos de esplenosis abdominales. Los depositos extrahepaticos de sulfuro coloidal son sugestivos de esplenosis en pacientes con antecedentes de rotura esplenica traumatica.

Background International guidelines recommend 4 weeks of treatment with ampicillin plus gentamicin (A+G) for uncomplicated native valve Enterococcus faecalis infective endocarditis (EFIE) and 6 weeks in the remaining cases. Ampicillin plus ceftriaxone (A+C) is always recommended for at least 6w, with no available studies assessing its suitability for 4w. We aimed to investigate differences in the outcome of EFIE according to the duration (4 versus 6 weeks) of antibiotic treatment (A+G or A+C). Methods Retrospective analysis from a prospectively collected cohort of 78 EFIE patients treated with either A+G or A+C. Results 32 cases (41%) were treated with A+G (9 for 4w, 28%) and 46 (59%) with A+C (14 for 4w, 30%). No significant differences were found in 1-year mortality according to the type of treatment (31% and 24% in A+G and A+C, respectively; P = 0.646) or duration (26% and 27% at 4 and 6w, respectively; P = 0.863). Relapses were more frequent among survivors treated for 4w than in those treated for 6w (3/18 [17%] at 4w and 1/41 [2%] at 6w; P = 0.045). Three out of 4 (75%) relapses occurred in cirrhotic patients. Conclusions A 4-week course of antibiotic treatment might not be suitable neither for A+G nor A+C for treating uncomplicated native valve EFIE.

Early diagnosis of infective endocarditis (IE) is based on the yielding of blood cultures and echocardiographic findings. However, they have limitations and sometimes the diagnosis is inconclusive, particularly in patients with prosthetic valves (PV) and implantable cardiac electronic devices (ICED). The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in patients with suspected IE an ICED infection. METHODS: A prospective study with 80 consecutive patients with suspected IE and ICED infection (65 men and 15 women with a mean age of 68±13 years old) between June 2013 and May 2015 was performed in our hospital. The inclusion criteria was clinically suspected IE and ICED infection at the following locations: native valve (NV) (n = 21), PV (n = 29) or ICED (n = 30) [(automatic implantable defibrillator (n = 11) or pacemaker (n = 19)]. Whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT with a myocardial uptake suppression protocol with unfractionated heparin was performed in all patients. The final diagnosis of infection was established by the IE study Group according to the clinical, echocardiographic and microbiological findings. RESULTS: A final diagnosis of infection was confirmed in 31 patients: NV (n = 6), PV (n = 12) and ICED (n = 13). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for 18F-FDG PET/CT was 82%, 96%, 94% and 87%, respectively. 18F-FDG PET/CT was false negative in all cases with infected NV. 18F-FDG PET/CT was able to reclassify 63/70 (90%) patients initially classified as possible IE by modified Duke criteria. In 18/70 cases 18F-FDG PET/CT changed possible to definite IE (26%) and in 45/70 cases changed possible to rejected IE (64%). Additionally, 18F-FDG PET/CT identified 8 cases of septic embolism and 3 colorectal cancer in patients with final diagnosis of IE. CONCLUSION: 18F-FDG PET/CT proved to be a useful diagnostic tool in suspected IE and ICED infection and should be included in the diagnostic algorithm for early diagnosis. 18F-FDG PET/CT is not useful in the diagnosis of IE in NV, but should be also considered in the initial assessment of this complex scenario to rule out extracardiac complications and possible neoplasms.

Comunicación presentada al 2003 MRS Fall Meeting., Size and spatial distribution homogeneity of nanostructures is greatly improved by making stacks of nanostructures separated by thin spacers. In this work we present in situ and in real time stress measurements and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) observations and ex situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization of stacked layers of InAs quantum wires (QWr) separated by InP spacer layers, d(InP), of thickness between 3 and 20 nm. For d(InP) < 20 nm, the amount of InAs involved in the newly created QWr from the 2nd stack layer on, exceeds that provided by the In cell. Our results suggest that in those cases InAs 3D islands formation starts at the P/As switching and lasts during further InAs deposition. We propose an explanation for this process that is strongly supported on TEM observations. The results obtained in this work imply that concepts like the existence of a critical thickness for 2D-3D growth mode transition should be revised in correlated QWr stacks of layers.

The purpose of our study was to compare the usefulness of hydrocolonic sonography and (99m)Tc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO)--labeled leukocyte scintigraphy in the examination of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, using precise sonographic criteria of bowel involvement.Sixty-eight consecutive patients with active inflammatory bowel disease (34 ulcerative colitis and 34 Crohn's disease), 12 with inactive inflammatory bowel disease, and 10 control subjects were prospectively studied. Patients with active disease underwent clinical assessment, hydrocolonic sonography, scintigraphy, and colonoscopy within 72 hr, whereas patients with inactive disease and control subjects underwent clinical examination and hydrocolonic sonography.Involvement of a colonic segment by active inflammatory bowel disease was best defined by mucosal thickness greater than 1.5 mm, bowel wall thickness greater than 4 mm, mucosal irregularity, or the absence of haustra; and involvement of the terminal ileum by bowel wall thickness greater than 4 mm. Using these criteria, hydrocolonic sonography had 100% sensitivity for identifying patients with active inflammatory bowel disease and a greater overall accuracy (87%) than scintigraphy (77%) in the assessment of disease extension. In addition, strong correlation was shown between a hydrocolonic sonography activity index and clinical and endoscopic activity indexes.This prospective study provides precise sonographic criteria for the definition of bowel involvement by active inflammatory bowel disease. Hydrocolonic sonography has a greater accuracy than scintigraphy for assessing disease extension and activity. Therefore, hydrocolonic sonography should be considered a first-choice technique to complete the study of inflammatory bowel disease after confirmation of the diagnosis by histology.

3 páginas, 4 figuras.-- Conferencia (IPRM-17) celebrada en Glasgow, Escocia (2005)., In this work we present the characterization by photoluminescence (PL) and photocurrent (PC) of laser structures growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on InP(100) substrates with active region formed by stacked layers of InAs quantum wires (QWR)., This work has been supported by: European Commission Sandie Network of excellence (NMP4-CT-2004-500 10 l), European Commission NANOMAT project (G5RD-CT-200 1- 00545) and Spanish MCYT NANOSELF project (TlC2002-04096-CO3-03).

This study was performed to determine the value of dipyridamole-99 mTc-methoxy-isobutyl isonitrile perfusion (99mTC-MIBI) tomographic scintigraphy in the assessment of cardiac risk in patients being evaluated prior to combined pancreas-kidney transplantation (PKT). We performed perfusion tomographic scintigraphy using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) on 77 patients. The tomographic images did not show clinically relevant findings in 65 patients. In the remaining 12 patients, coronary arteriography was performed: 2 showed normal results, 4 showed no stenosis, and 6 showed significant stenosis (≥ 70%). Seventy-two patients underwent PKT. During the follow-up (6–48 months), there were seven cardiac events, 4 patients with significant stenosis, and 3 with nonsignificant stenosis upon coronary arteriography, and all had pathological tomographic images. 99mTc-MIBI tomographic scintigraphy may be useful in identifying patients at low risk of incurring cardiac events after PKT and may, in a large group of patients, obviate the need for routine coronary angiography.

Simplified methods based on a single blood sample have been proposed to estimate the clearance of 131I-hippuran (HIP) and 99Tcm-mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG). The blood sample is usually drawn at that time which yields a minimum error between the estimated clearance and that obtained by the standard nine-sample method. In this paper, we establish the regression equations to obtain the HIP and MAG clearances using one sample withdrawn during a fixed time interval. As HIP has long been the agent of choice, we have also established regression equations to estimate the clearance of HIP using one sample after MAG administration. Our results suggest that it is possible to obtain plasma samples 30-50 min post-injection which result in an error of the estimate only slightly higher than the minimum.

The growth of compound semiconductors on silicon has been widely sought after for decades, but reliable methods for defect-free combination of these materials have remained elusive. Recently, interconnected GaAs nanoscale membranes have been used as templates for the scalable integration of nanowire networks on III-V substrates. Here, we demonstrate how GaAs nanoscale membranes can be seamlessly integrated on silicon by controlling the density of nuclei in the initial stages of growth. We also correlate the absence or presence of defects with the existence of a single or multiple nucleation regime for the single membranes. Certain defects exhibit well-differentiated spectroscopic features that we identify with cathodoluminescence and micro-photoluminescence techniques. Overall, this work presents a new approach for the seamless integration of compound semiconductors on silicon., LMSC acknowledges funding from Swiss National Science Foundation through the NCCR QSIT and project nr IZLRZ2_163861. H2020 program through project Indeed. VGD acknowledges Russian Science Foundation for financial support under grant 19-72-30004. IMN acknowledge funding from the Spanish MINECO (TEC2015-64189-C3-2-R, EUIN2017- 88844, RYC-2017-21995, BES-2013-065340), the Community of Madrid (P2018/EMT-4308), and the European Union FEDER, FSE. EURAMET EMPIR 17FUN06 SIQUST. AMR acknowledges the service from the X-SEM Laboratory at IMN, and funding from MINECO under project CSIC13-4E-1794 with support from EU (FEDER, FSE). SMS acknowledges funding from “Programa Internacional de Becas ‘la Caixa’-Severo Ochoa”. ICN2 acknowledge funding from Generalitat de Catalunya 2017 SGR 327. ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from Spanish MINECO (grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and is funded by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Part of the present work has been performed in the framework of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Materials Science PhD program. Part of the HAADF-STEM microscopy was conducted in the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas at Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon-Universidad de Zaragoza. This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 654360 NFFA-Europe. We acknowledge support from CSIC Research Platform on Quantum Technologies PTI-001. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 823717 – ESTEEM3.

Esophageal cancer is characterized by an overall poor prognosis. Due to late onset of symptoms and early metastatic spread, only about 15–20% of patients undergo curative resection [1]. Accurate staging in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is essential to decide the correct therapeutic strategy. Currently, a limited number of patients are candidates for curative resection while in those with advanced-stage disease a combination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy followed by surgery is recommended.