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Objectives. Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a more severe inflammatory form of CRS that often coexists with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, little is known about the relationship between OSA and the immune profile in patients with CRSwNP. We aimed to investigate the immune profile of patients with CRSwNP according to OSA severity.Methods. This study included 63 patients with CRSwNP and nine control subjects. Protein levels of inflammatory mediators were determined using multiplex immunoassays. All patients underwent standard polysomnography.Results. In patients with eosinophilic CRSwNP (ECRSwNP), interleukin (IL)-6 and chemokine [C-X-C motif] ligand (CXCL)-1 (type 1 immune-related markers) were upregulated in cases of moderate-to-severe OSA. Additionally, IL-4, IL-13, C-C motif chemokine (CCL)-11, CCL-24 (type 2 immune-related markers), and IL-17A (a type 3 immune-related marker) were present at elevated levels in patients with moderate-to-severe OSA. Although there were no significant differences in type 1, 2, or 3 immune-related markers among patients with non-eosinophilic CRSwNP (NECRSwNP) according to the severity of OSA, transforming growth factor-beta expression was higher in those with moderate-to-severe OSA. Furthermore, in ECRSwNP with moderate-to-severe OSA, associations were detected between serum markers and some upregulated inflammatory markers.Conclusion. OSA may increase the heterogeneity of the immune profile (types 1, 2, and 3) in patients with ECRSwNP, but not in those with NECRSwNP.

Many epidemiologic and clinical studies have shown significant links between the degree of sleep disturbance and severity of impairment of selective cognitive functions, including the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the sleep parameters that affect cognitive function in old age are unclear. Therefore, we investigated the association between sleep parameters and cognitive function in older patients. Patients aged above 65 years who complained of sleep-disordered breathing were enrolled consecutively. The Mini-Mental-State Examination tool was used to evaluate cognitive function. Eighty patients (normal cognitive function, n = 32 and cognitive impairment, n = 42) were included in this study. Multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to explain the relationship between sleep parameters and cognitive function. We found that the body mass index (BMI) was significantly lower in the cognitive impairment group than in the normal cognitive function group. Additionally, the cognitive impairment group showed significantly decreased sleep efficiency and an increased apnea index compared with normal subjects. Moreover, lower BMI, reduced sleep efficiency, and high frequency of apnea events during sleep were associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment.

As the use of semiconductors in industrial site increases, research on ultra-low refrigerators is required to increase the life and quality of the semiconductors. While various types of refrigerato...

Selective Epitaxial Growth of SiGe and/or Si-cap/SiGe heterostructures offer an elegant way to improve pMOS device performance. This paper discusses some important challenges and characteristics of the corresponding epi process. Loading effects are strongly reduced by choosing the growth conditions away from the mass transport regime, i.e. by reducing the growth pressure and/or increasing the gas velocity. Anomalous SiGe thickening at convex corners of recessed areas and the impact of the underlying SiGe on the growth behavior during Si- capping are discussed as well. The limits of the chemical and thermal budgets during pre-epi treatments as defined by the device concepts require some process optimization but are not a show stopper.

This paper describes thermal desorption silicon etching (TDSE)/channel-epi transistor, which has improved the profile and the electrical characteristics of channel-epi transistor. Thermal desorption silicon etching (TDSE) process is introduced before Si channel-epi growth using ultrahigh vacuum system to improve transistor performance at dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device. TDSE process for etching active silicon was carried out using Cl2 gas at 700°C in UHV chamber. Following the TDSE process, in-situ Si channel-epi was grown at the same chamber. We evaluated the electrical characteristics of TDSE/channel-epi transistor, and also measured the reliability of gate oxide. Compared with the conventional channel-epi which shows the degradation of transistor characteristics due to the raised active profile, TDSE process with channel-epi presents superior transistor performance in terms of transistor hump characteristics and inverse narrow width effect (INWE). TDSE induced interface and junction leakages, however, are observed. To solve these problems, H2 added TDSE process or H2 anneal process after TDSE has been developed.

Background Mild hypothermia may be frequently induced due to cool environments in the operating room. The study analyzed patient recovery time and response to sugammadex after a prolonged rocuronium-induced deep neuromuscular block (NMB) during mild hypothermia. Methods Sixty patients were randomly (1:1) allocated to the mild hypothermia and normothermia groups, defined as having core temperatures between 34.5 - 35°C and 36.5 - 37°C, respectively. Patients received 0.6 mg/kg of rocuronium, followed by 7 – 10 μg/kg/min to maintain a deep NMB [post-tetanic count (PTC) 1–2]. After surgery, the deep NMB was reversed with sugammadex 4.0 mg/kg. The primary end-point was the time until the train-of-four (TOF) ratio was 0.9. Results The appropriate neuromuscular function (TOF ratio ≥ 0.9) was restored after sugammadex was administered, even after hypothermia. The length of recovery in the hypothermia patients [mean (SD), 171.1 (62.1) seconds (s)] was significantly slower compared with the normothermia patients [124.9 (59.2) s] (p = 0.005). There were no adverse effects from sugammadex. Conclusions Sugammadex safely and securely reversed deep rocuronium-induced NMB during mild hypothermia. An additional 46 s was required for recovery from a deep NMB in hypothermia patients. Based on the results, we think this prolonged recovery time is clinically acceptable. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01965067.

The structural phase transitions in Pb2CoWO6 have been investigated by means of x-ray powder diffraction, dielectric constant and DSC measurements. The basic structure of the incommensurate phase (II) has been identified as monoclinic from the x-ray diffraction profile. The cubic-incommensurate phase transition at Tc1 ≅27°C on cooling is strongly first order, which is confirmed by dielectric thermal hysteresis. The incommensurate-orthorhombic phase transition at Tc2≅-35°C on cooling has been characterized by very weak dielectric constant anomaly and distinct heat capacity anomaly. DSC curves have revealed that the enthalpy change associated with Tc1 is twice as much as that associated with Tc2

LEG (laser-induced epitaxial growth) process has been proposed to obtain the single c-Si layer over oxide and successfully demonstrated with cell-stacked high density SRAM. With LEG process, the energy density of laser beam and the seed formation are the key factors to determine the crystal quality of Si layer on oxide. CMOSFETs on Si film prepared by LEG process have excellent behaviors in terms of both performance and its variations. It is found that high density LEG SRAMs with stacked cell transistor have fully worked with the lowest stand-by current of less than 0.3 uA/Mb to date. LEG process is believed to be a promising technology for providing the high quality Si channel layer to the stacked memory devices.

This paper demonstrates for the first time the integration of an HfO2/TiN/poly gate stack and a recessed SiGe S/D module. It also shows that by combining the SiGe stressor with a compressive nitride contact etch stop layer, it is possible to reach improvements in IDSAT of up to 65%, showing that the various strain mechanisms are additive on advanced gate stacks. This way an IDSAT of 422 muA/mum at 20pA/mum I OFF and VDD = 1.1 V can be obtained when a 25% SiGe S/D module is combined with a 1.5 GPa compressive sCESL layer

This work discusses the influence of the underlying SiGe on the growth kinetics during the deposition of the Si-cap layer. The importance and feasibility of the required process control is demonstrated by charge pumping measurements and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) on pMOS devices. The analysis clearly demonstrates the influence of the Si thickness on the quality of the gate dielectric/channel interface. We also discuss the presence of thermal loading effects, by comparing the growth behavior with and without Si recess prior to the SEG

For the first time, a highly manufacturable fin-channel array transistor (FCAT) on a bulk Si substrate has been successfully integrated in a 512 M density DRAM with sub-70nm technology. The FCAT shows an excellent short channel behavior, such as extremely low subthreshold swing (SS) (/spl sim/75mV/dec) and DIBL (/spl sim/13mV/V), and a high cell transistor drive current with remarkably low subthreshold leakage current (/spl sim/0.2fA/cell).

Nano scale body-tied FinFETs have been firstly fabricated. They have fin top width of 30 nm, fin bottom width of 61 nm, fin height of 99 nm, and gate length of 60 nm. This Omega MOSFET shows excellent transistor characteristics, such as very low subthreshold swing, Drain Induced Barrier Lowering (DIBL) of 24 mV/V, almost no body bias effect, and orders of magnitude lower I/sub SUB//I/sub D/ than planar type DRAM cell transistors.

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