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In order to improve in-field J c values of GdBCO CCs fabricated by the reactive co-evaporation by deposition and reaction (RCE-DR) process with the nominal composition of Gd:Ba:Cu = 1:1:2.5, the Gd2O3 particles trapped in the GdBCO superconducting matrix were refined by controlling the nucleation and growth temperature of Gd2O3 in the liquid phase before the growth of GdBCO film at the same growth conditions of 860 °C in 150 mTorr oxygen pressure. With decreasing the growth temperature of Gd2O3 from 860 to 820 °C in the oxygen pressure of 30 mTorr, the average particle size of Gd2O3 was monotonously decreased from 125 ± 41 to 73 ± 31 nm. With refining the average particle size of Gd2O3, while J c in a self-field was monotonously decreased, minimum in-field J c values were first increased and then decreased again. With lowering the growth temperature of Gd2O3, the gradual decrease of self-field J c may be mainly attributed to the gradual degradation of both in-plane and out-of-plane textures, the variation of the minimum in-field J c values might originate mainly from the variation of the stacking fault density, which, however, requires further analysis.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (allo-HCT) recipients are at increased risk for respiratory viral infections (RVIs), which invoke substantial morbidity and mortality. Limited effective antiviral options and drug resistance often hamper successful RVI treatment, creating additional burden for patients and the health care system.Using an open-source health care claims database, we examined differences in clinical outcomes, health resource utilization, and total reimbursements during the 1-year period following allo-HCT in patients with and without any RVI infection (respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, parainfluenza virus, and human metapneumovirus). RVIs were diagnosed at any time ≤1 year after allo-HCT and identified by International Classification of Disease codes. Analyses were stratified by the presence or absence of acute or chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).The study included 13 363 allo-HCT patients, 1368 (10.2%) of whom had a diagnostic code for any RVI. A higher proportion of patients with any RVI had pneumonia ≤1 year after allo-HCT compared to patients without any RVI, with or without GVHD. Patients with any RVI had higher all-cause mortality risk, longer length of post-allo-HCT hospital stay, higher readmission rate, and higher number of hospital days after allo-HCT compared to patients without the infection (all p .05). Total unadjusted median reimbursements were higher for those with any RVI and each specific RVI assessed than those without the specific infection, with or without GVHD.Allo-HCT patients with RVIs had significantly worse clinical outcomes and increased health resource utilization and reimbursements during the year following allo-HCT, with or without GVHD.

Synthesis of long-chain branched polymers has been a crucial concern in the polyolefin industry. In this study, a method to produce long-chain branches (LCBs) in coordinative chain transfer copolym...

We report the enhanced pinning properties of Sm-doped GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ (GdBCO) coated conductors (CCs) compared with those of GdBCO CCs by the reactive co-evaporation deposition and reaction process. For this paper, Sm-doped GdBCO CCs could be fabricated successfully using the same processing parameters with GdBCO CCs. While the GdBCO CCs exhibited higher critical temperature (T c ) and larger self-field critical current (I c ) at 77 K, Sm-doped GdBCO CCs possessed higher infield minimum critical current density (J c ) values in the field region of 1-5 T at 77 K most probably due to a refinement of (Gd,Sm) 2 O 3 nanoparticles trapped in the (Gd,Sm)BCO superconducting matrix.

Removal of gaseous radioactive iodine (131I and 129I) compounds from nuclear facilities is an important issue. Herein we assessed the adsorptive capacity of gaseous non-radioactive methyl iodide (CH3127I) as a simulant on two commercial TEDA-metal impregnated activated carbon(AC)s. The characterizations of the ACs were determined ICP-MS, XPS, and 77 K N2 isotherms. As a result, it was found that one AC has a small amount of TEDA but a well-developed porosity, and the other one was abundant with TEDA, but the porosity was relatively less developed. The methyl iodide removal performances were evaluated under 10 ppm and 400 ppm using breakthrough experiments under various relative humidities (RH). Desorption was also carried out using nitrogen after adsorption to investigate adsorption affinity. Methyl iodide adsorption capacity of TEDA-rich AC decreased significantly as RH increased at 10 ppm. Conversely, performance degradation was clearly observed from less TEDA-impregnated AC with well-developed porosity as RH increased at 400 ppm. It is demonstrated that the amount of physisorbed methyl iodide is decreased as RH increased. Although moisture decreases the adsorption amount, it enhances the adsorption affinity. Also, additional TEDA impregnation to ACs results in improving the performance under severe condition (RH90%, 400 ppm).

Conditioning regimens for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) are immunosuppressive and increase the risk for reactivation of and infection with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses, which contribute to morbidity and mortality after allo-HCT. This retrospective observational study evaluated the association of dsDNA viral infections with clinical outcomes, health resource utilization (HRU), and health care reimbursement after allo-HCT. Patients who underwent allo-HCT between 2012 and 2017 were identified from a US open-source claims database (Decision Resource Group Real-World Evidence Data Repository; n = 13,363) and categorized according to the presence or absence of dsDNA viral infection, defined as having ≥1 diagnosis code for cytomegalovirus (CMV), adenovirus (AdV), human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), or BK virus (BKV)/Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)/John Cunningham virus (JCV) (grouped together given a lack of specific diagnoses codes) within 1 year after allo-HCT. Only first allo-HCT data were used in patients who underwent multiple procedures. Study outcomes included clinical outcomes (eg, time to all-cause mortality, new diagnosis of renal impairment), HRU (hospital and intensive care unit length of stay [LOS], readmission rates), and health care reimbursement (total, inpatient, and outpatient costs as reported reimbursements from insurance claims). For all outcomes, patients were stratified by the presence/absence of any dsDNA viral infection and number (none, 1, 2, or ≥3) and type(s) of infection. The effect of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was assessed as well. Twenty-nine percent of patients were diagnosed with CMV, 13% with BKV/EBV/JCV, 5% with AdV, and 4% with HHV-6 in the year following their first allo-HCT. A single dsDNA viral infection was documented in 30% of individuals, 2 in 8%, and ≥3 in 2%. Patients with no viral infections had an overall hospital LOS (index hospitalization plus readmissions) of 41.3 days and a total health care reimbursement of $266,345. These numbers increased for every additional viral infection, regardless of the presence or absence of GVHD; the overall hospital LOS was 61.4 days and total healthcare reimbursement was $431,614 in patients with 1 viral infection, 77.0 days and $639,097 in patients with 2 viral infections, and 103.3 days and $964,378 in patients with ≥3 viral infections. An increase in the number of dsDNA viral infections was associated with a significantly higher adjusted hazard of all-cause mortality (1 versus 0 dsDNA viral infections: hazard ratio [HR], 1.5; [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.3 to 1.6]; 2 versus 0: HR, 2.0 [95% CI, 1.7 to 2.3]; ≥3 versus 0: HR, 2.4 [95% CI, 1.8 to 3.3]) and a significantly higher incidence of new diagnosis of renal impairment, regardless of the presence of GVHD (35% of patients with ≥3 infections, 31% of patients with 2 infections, 26% of patients with 1 infection, and 19% of patients with no infection). These results indicate that more directed prevention and treatment strategies for dsDNA viral infections could substantially improve clinical outcomes and reduce HRU.

Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) caused by viral infections such as BK virus, cytomegalovirus, and/or adenovirus after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) causes morbidity and mortality, affects quality of life, and poses a substantial burden to the health care system. At present, HC management is purely supportive, as there are no approved or recommended antivirals for virus-associated HC. The objective of this retrospective observational study was to compare the economic burden, health resource utilization (HRU), and clinical outcomes among allo-HCT recipients with virus-associated HC to those without virus-associated HC using a large US claims database. Claims data obtained from the Decision Resources Group Real-World Evidence Data Repository were used to identify patients with first (index) allo-HCT procedure from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2017. Outcomes were examined 1 year after allo-HCT and included total health care reimbursements, HRU, and clinical outcomes for allo-HCT patients with virus-associated HC versus those without. Further, a generalized linear model was used to determine adjusted reimbursements stratified by the presence or absence of any acute or chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after adjusting for age, health plan, underlying disease, stem cell source, number of comorbidities, baseline reimbursements, and follow-up time. Of 13,363 allo-HCT recipients, 759 (5.7%) patients met the prespecified criteria for virus-associated HC. Total unadjusted mean reimbursement was $632,870 for patients with virus-associated HC and $340,469 for patients without virus-associated HC. In a multivariable model, after adjusting for confounders, the adjusted reimbursements were significantly higher for virus-associated HC patients with and without GVHD compared to patients without virus-associated HC (P.0001). Patients with virus-associated HC stayed 7.9 additional days in the hospital (P.0001) and 6.1 additional days (P = .0009) in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the index hospitalization, as compared to patients without virus-associated HC. The hospital readmission rate was higher for allo-HCT patients with versus without virus-associated HC (P.0001), resulting in 12.9 more days in the hospital (P.0001) and 7.3 more days in the ICU (P.0001) after the index hospitalization. Among patients with GVHD, those with virus-associated HC had significantly higher all-cause mortality as compared to those without virus-associated HC (23.2% versus 18.4%; P = .0035). In an adjusted analysis, patients with virus-associated HC had a significantly higher risk of mortality, regardless of the presence of GVHD. When stratified by GVHD, there were no significant differences in the baseline risk for renal impairment; virus-associated HC was associated with increased risk for renal impairment in the follow-up period in patients with or without GVHD (P.0001 for both). After allo-HCT, patients with virus-associated HC have significantly higher health care reimbursements and HRU, with worse clinical outcomes, including renal impairment, irrespective of the presence of GVHD and significantly higher all-cause mortality in the presence of GVHD. Our results highlight the unmet clinical need for effective strategies to prevent and treat virus-associated HC in HCT recipients that may also reduce costs among these patients.

To minimize the high auxiliary energy consumption incurred in the thermal destruction process of waste HFC-134a, fuel, oxidants, refrigerants, and steam were injected into an incinerator in different forms, resulting in the development of an optimum burner. The new designed burner with two types of steam supply methods was used for comparing waste HFC-134a destruction characteristics. Two types of burners with 100% waste HFC-134a destruction efficiency during LPG (1.0 kg/h) combustion at excess air ratio of 1.1, were employed as auxiliary fuels. The results show: 1) internal temperature of the incinerator increases regardless of burner type when steam and waste HFC-134a are supplied at the same time, 2) maximum supply of waste HFC-134a is 2.8 kg/h in a destructor without steam supply, and 3) for injection of optimum steam supply (0.5 kg/h), the maximum rates of total thermal destruction of waste HFC-134a are 3.0 kg/h and 3.4 kg/h for type-1 and type-2 burners, respectively.

In this study, we proposed a strategy to fabricate vertically stacked subpixel (VSS) micro-light-emitting diodes (μ-LEDs) for future ultrahigh-resolution microdisplays. At first, to vertically stack the LED with different colors, we successfully adopted a bonding-interface-engineered monolithic integration method using SiO2/SiNx distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). It was found that an intermediate DBR structure could be used as the bonding layer and color filter, which could reflect and transmit desired wavelengths through the bonding interface. Furthermore, the optically pumped μ-LED array with a pitch of 0.4 μm corresponding to the ultrahigh-resolution of 63 500 PPI could be successfully fabricated using a typical semiconductor process, including electron-beam lithography. Compared with the pick-and-place strategy (limited by machine alignment accuracy), the proposed strategy leads to the fabrication of significantly improved high-density μ-LEDs. Finally, we systematically investigated the effects of surface traps using time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and two-dimensional simulations. The obtained results clearly demonstrated that performance improvements could be possible by employing optimal passivation techniques by diminishing the pixel size for fabricating low-power and highly efficient microdisplays.

We report the post-annealing effect on the pinning properties of GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ (GdBCO) coated conductors (CCs) fabricated by a reactive co-evaporation deposition and reaction process. The GdBCO CCs annealed at 750 °C in the PO 2 of 300 mtorr for 15 min show the most enhanced critical current densities (J c ) for B//c due to the stacking faults (SF) piled up along the c-axis. The minimum J c values of post-annealed samples in relatively higher fields such as 5 T at 77 K and 7 T at 65 K were larger than those of pristine sample; although their minimum J c values were lower in relatively lower fields such as 1 T at 77 K and 3 T at 65 K. In-field J c values for B//ab were closely related to the density of SFs within samples. Analysis results by transmission electron microscopy revealed that the SF density was remarkably reduced after the post-annealing process, which is responsible for enhanced minimum J c values and significantly degraded J c values for B//ab in relatively higher fields.

High-TC GdBa2Cu3O7−δ (GdBCO) superconductor has been popular for making superconductive tapes that have much potential for various fields of large-scale applications. We investigated aging effects on the microwave surface resistance (RS) of Ag-coated GdBCO layer on Hastelloy substrate, so called GdBCO coated conductors (CCs), and Ag-coated GdBCO films on LaAlO3 (LAO) single-crystal substrates at cryogenic temperatures and compared them with each other. Unlike the RS of Ag-coated GdBCO films showing significant degradation in 4 weeks, no significant aging effects were found in our Ag-coated GdBCO CCs aged 85 weeks. The reactive co-evaporation deposition and reaction (RCE-DR) method was used for preparing the Ag-coated GdBCO CCs. Such durability of the Ag-coated GdBCO CCs in terms of the RS could be explained by existence of a protective impurity phase, i.e., Gd-free Ba–Cu–O phase as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy study combined with the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements. Although the scope of this study is limited to the Ag-coated GdBCO CCs prepared by using the RCE-DR method, our results suggest that a solution for preventing the aging effects on transport properties of other kinds of Ag-coated GdBCO CCs could be realized by means of an artificially-grown protective impurity layer.

Background: Adenovirus (AdV) disease is one of the most difficult-to-manage complications in infants and children who have received allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Cidofovir has been used off-label as preemptive anti-adenoviral therapy. It is the current standard of care treatment, but data supporting its therapeutic value are lacking, and its use is limited by severe renal toxicity. Case: A 10-month-old male with infantile osteopetrosis underwent a single-unit umbilical cord blood transplant (TNC = 21.78 × 10 7/kg, CD34 = 10.5 × 10 5/kg) after myeloablative conditioning (busulfan, cyclophosphamide, and anti-thymocyte globulin). Cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) were used for graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. A positive test for adenovirus from a respiratory viral panel pre-transplant delayed conditioning for six weeks until the patient had two negative tests, one week apart. His post-transplant course was complicated by severe veno-occlusive disease starting on day +3, with secondary respiratory and renal failure. The patient was started on continuous renal replacement therapy along with intravenous defibrotide and high-dose steroids. Neutrophil engraftment did not occur until day +38. Post-engraftment, the patient developed a skin rash diagnosed as GVHD by biopsy, which was treated with corticosteroids at 2 mg/kg/day. As part of viral infection surveillance, the patient received a weekly blood PCR test for adenovirus; on day +25 it was noted he had reactivated adenovirus. He had been demonstrating overall clinical improvement, including declining hepatic transaminases and bilirubin, and reduced respiratory support requirements until day +39, when he developed fever with an increased need for respiratory support and rising transaminases. The respiratory viral panel showed that the patient was positive for adenovirus. Further workup also showed adenovirus PCR positive in stool and increase in quantitative adenoviremia, all consistent with disseminated adenoviral infection. The use of cidofovir was contraindicated in this patient due to renal toxicity. ALVR105 (Viralym-M), an allogeneic, off-the-shelf, multivirus-specific T-cell therapy (VST) that can target AdV, BKV, CMV, EBV, HHV-6, and JCV, was provided by AlloVir on a compassionate-use basis. A cell line that was HLA matched to the patient at 2 out of 8 HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-DR, and HLA-DQ alleles was identified. After emergency IND approval, institutional review board approval, and family consent, one ALVR105 dose of 0.7 × 10 7 cells was infused on day +48. The dosage was calculated based on the patient's age, weight (8.5 kg), body surface area (0.35 m 2), and the dosing regimen used in a previous phase 2 trial. The patient developed fever and low blood pressure around 30 hours post-infusion, requiring an increase in his existing inotropic support and stress dose hydrocortisone. This was likely associated with underlying post-transplant complications, but a possible association with ALVR105 infusion could not be ruled out. The patient's viral load decreased substantially in the following weeks (Table 1). Concurrently, his liver enzymes, pulmonary secretions, and respiratory support requirements all improved. His respiratory secretions became negative for adenovirus PCR at day +28 post-infusion of ALVR105. At the time of writing, the patient was day +100 post-transplant (day +56 post-infusion of ALVR105), and his veno-occlusive disease had improved. Supplemental oxygen was no longer required, but volume-assured pressure was still in use, likely due to hepatosplenomegaly. The patient had detectable adenovirus viremia but below the threshold of quantitative measurement ( Conclusion: In this infant with post allogeneic HCT disseminated adenovirus infection, ALVR105 appeared to be safe and was temporally associated with marked clinical improvement, suggesting VSTs may be of value in very young patients with adenovirus infection. This represents the first use of ALVR105 in an infant (< 1-year-old) patient. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Moon: Allovir: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. OffLabel Disclosure: Virus specific cell therapy, used against adenovirus infection in post-transplant setting.

Catalytic activity at temperature below 400 °C for N2O decomposition was investigated over catalysts based on cobalt oxide synthesized by a co-precipitation and impregnation method. The characteristics of the catalysts were assessed by XRD, BET, H2-TPR, O2-TPD, and XPS techniques, and the catalytic activity for N2O decomposition was examined in the presence of O2 and H2O. In general, it was observed that the catalytic activity was enhanced by the increase of surface area and redox ability of the catalyst. In particular, the N2O conversion of K/Co3O4 was notably higher than that of pure Co3O4, while the Co-CeO2 catalyst slightly improved the activity. The K/Co-CeO2 catalyst decomposed 100% of N2O at 375 °C reaction temperature without O2 and H2O in the reaction gas stream, and this value was lowered to 95.7% with the presence of O2 and H2O.

The direct thermochemical liquefaction of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was performed using sub- and supercritical solvents. The total feedstock conversion at 400 °C in tetralin reached 91.8%, and 97.1% with the addition of Fe 3 O 4 and H 2 . Increasing the reaction temperature to 450 °C with n -dodecane present led to a slight increase in the total feedstock conversion. At 400 and 450 °C in n -dodecane, the liquefaction reaction afforded almost identical feedstock conversions (>77%) and high liquid product yields; however, the reaction pressure exceeded 10 MPa. The variations of the reaction performance in the n -dodecane/tetralin mixture were correlated to the quantity of tetralin. Tetralin was an ideal solvent that promoted an efficient EFB liquefaction process and suppressed char formation. The solid residues collected after the liquefaction reaction were thermally activated, and some of them showed good CO 2 adsorption capacity when compared to activated carbons.

Co3O4 and K/Co3O4 were tested in catalytic N2O decomposition. K/Co3O4 exhibited higher activity than Co3O4, which was drastically and irrecoverably decreased with added NO. Studies revealed that the Co2+ valence state changed after NO adsorption, and that potassium strengthened the Co–NO bond, impeding NO desorption, even above 400 °C.