Organic thin-film devices are of interest for a variety of forthcoming ubiquitous electronic applications. [1,2] In order to take full advantage of the potential of organic semiconductors, the improvement of crystallinity is indispensable. Unfortunately, promising organic molecules that have a large overlap of p-orbitals between the molecules cannot migrate freely on a substrate [3] because of the stronger cohesion between the molecules than the interaction between the molecule and the substrate. Therefore, enhancement of the molecule-substrate interaction, that is, the 'molecular wettability' should promote crystallization. Here, we show that the use of a substrate covered with an atomically flat pentacene (C 22 H 14 ) monomolecular layer can drastically increase the crystallinity of C 60 films and increase the field-effect mobilities of C 60 transistors to 2.0-4.9 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , which is a four-to fivefold improvement over C 60 films grown without a pentacene buffer. The observation of the initial growth stages indicates that control of the molecular wettability of the substrate by an atomically flat pentacene buffer caused the improvement of crystallinity in the C 60 films. Molecular-wetting-controlled substrates can thus offer a general solution to the fabrication of high-performance crystalline plastic and molecular-electronic applications. In order to fabricate complex electronic devices such as field-effect transistors (FETs), for ubiquitous electronics, organic thin films need to be grown on many different substrate materials to fit the requirements of particular applications.However, most organic compounds grown on such practical substrates as oxide dielectrics show a poor crystallinity. Because poor crystallinity of the active layers suppresses the device performance markedly, crystalline organic films that have good crystallinity and few grain boundaries are required for a high-performance operation. The molecular wettability of a substrate controls the distance of the lateral migration of the molecules at the film growth front and thus largely determines the morphology of the growing film. The wettability on a substrate surface is determined by the ratio of the cohesion strength among the molecules and the adhesion of the molecules to the substrate surface, as shown in Figure 1a. If the balance between the cohesion and adhesion forces could be controlled by inserting a thin buffer layer, we would expect to obtain organic films with improved crystallinity. Surface modification of a substrate by self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) has been used for the suppression of disorder in organic films near electrodes, [4] and for controlling the carrier density in organic FETs.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), as well as the hyperplastic lesions of intestinal neural tissue and its supporting structures, is a gastrointestinal complication of type 1 neurofibromatosis (NF1) (von Recklinghausen's disease). In the present study, we analyzed the histologic and immunohistochemical features, and the c-kit and PDGFRA gene mutations of 36 GISTs derived from 9 NF1 patients. Distinctively, multiple GISTs arose preferentially in the small intestine. The histologic features of NF1-associated GISTs are almost similar to those of non-NF1 GISTs, but characteristically most of the NF1-associated GISTs contained skeinoid fibers. Thirty-three GISTs (92%) showed immunoreactivity for KIT, and 23 tumors (64%) showed diffuse or mosaic-like immunoreactivity for S-100 protein. Hyperplasic lesions, which may be the hyperplasia of interstitial cells of Cajal, were observed around some GISTs. Exons 9, 11, 13, and 17 of the c-kit gene and exons 12 and 18 of the PDGFRA gene were amplified and directly sequenced. Point mutations of c-kit gene or PDGFRA gene were identified only in three (8%) and two (6%) tumors, respectively. NF1-associated GISTs, showing the dual differentiation of interstitial cells of Cajal and Schwann cells, develop in close association with the myenteric nerve structure of gastrointestinal tract of NF1 patients. The point mutations of c-kit and PDGFRA gene may play a limited role in the tumorigenesis of NF1-associated GISTs.

Aromatic ring-condensed TTF derivatives exhibited excellent p-type FET performances in thin films. Introduction of fused benzene and pyrazine rings to the TTF skeleton was effective to enhance the intermolecular interactions and stability to oxygen. Ordered molecular alignment was confirmed by XRD studies. A pi-stacking structure was observed in the single crystal of diquinoxalinoTTF.

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Effect of various intragranular inclusions or precipitates (MnS, VC and V(C,N)) on the microstructure and kinetics of intragranular ferrite transformation at the temperatures between 973 and 823 K was studied using various Fe-2Mn-(0.13, 0.2)C(mass%) alloys with the small addition of sulfur, vanadium, and nitrogen. In Fe-2Mn-0.13C-50ppmS and Fe-2Mn-0.2C-470ppmS alloys, MnS particles, mostly incoherent in austenite, do not act as effective nucleation sites of ferrite. V addition slightly improves the potency of MnS as ferrite nucleation site by forming MnSϩVC complex precipitates. The addition of both V and N largely enhances the intragranular nucleation of ferrite idiomorph on the MnSϩV(C,N) complex precipitate. It is considered that two factors, i.e., (1) the advantage in the balance of interphase boundary energy and (2) the increase in the fraction of V(C,N) precipitate by the addition of nitrogen, are mainly responsible for the promotion of intragranular ferrite formation on the MnSϩV(C,N) complex precipitate.KEY WORDS: phase transformation; precipitation; steel; austenite; ferrite; carbide; nitride; sulfide; inclusion; crystallography; interphase boundary. contain similar dispersion of MnS as that of Steel C. In Steel D, VC precipitates in austenite with the addition of 0.3 mass% V. V(C,N) precipitation occurs in Steel E due to the addition of both V and N. The solution temperatures of inclusion/precipitate phases in austenite were calculated by using the solubility product equation proposed by Turkdogan 9) for MnS and Thermo-Calc for VC and V(C,N). Figure 1 shows the heat treatments employed in the present study. Austenitizing was made at 1 473 K for 0.6 ks after homogenizing at 1 473 K for 43.2 ks of hot-rolled plates. The average grain sizes of austenite after this treatment were 520 mm for Steel A, 450 mm for Steel B, and nearly equal to 150 mm for all of Steels C-E. After austenitizing at 1 473 K, the precipitation treatments of VC and V(C,N) at 1 173 K for various periods were performed for Steels D and E, followed by isothermal holding in the temperature range between 973 and 823 K to promote proeutectoid ferrite transformation.Microstructures of the transformed specimens were observed by means of optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). Volume fractions of ferrite were determined by point counting in optical micrographs. Electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and TEM-EDS (energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) analyses were made for identifying precipitate phases which act as ferrite nucleation sites. For optical and SEM observations, specimens were etched with 5 % nital. TEM thin foil specimens, 3 mm in diameter, were prepared by mechanical thinning followed by Argon ion thinning. TEM observation was performed by using Joel JEM-200CX and Philips CM200, CM200FEG operated at 200 kV. Figure 2(a) shows the optical microstructure of the specimen water-quenched after austenitizing in Steel C containing 470 ppm of S. Because the specimens were hot-rolled, MnS particles are aligned ...

Crystallographic orientation relationships between intragranular ferrites, the MnSϩV(C, N) complex precipitates acting as ferrite nucleation sites, and austenite matrix were studied in Fe-Mn-C alloys by scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. VC holds a cube-cube orientation relationship (͗001͘ g // ͗001͘ VC ) when it is formed directly within austenite grains in an Fe-12Mn-0.8C-0.3V alloy. When VC precipitates nucleate on incoherent MnS particles dispersed in austenite, there is no specific orientation relationship between the three phases. Intragranular ferrite idiomorphs nucleating on the MnSϩV(C, N) complex precipitate in austenite in Fe-1.5Mn-0.2C and Fe-2Mn-0.2C alloys often hold the Baker-Nutting orientation relationship ((001) a //(001) V(C, N) , [110] a //[100] V(C, N) ). Although several irrational ferrite/ V(C, N) orientation relationships were observed, misorientation for either low-index planes or directions are relatively small between ferrite and V(C, N) for those relationships. The orientation relationships between intragranular ferrite and austenite were estimated by examining the misorientations between the ferrite and the neighboring martensite lathes from the Kurdjumov-Sachs inter-variant relationships. There is no specific orientation relationship between the intragranular ferrite idiomorph and the austenite matrix because of the low-energy orientation relationships between ferrite and V(C, N).KEY WORDS: phase transformation; precipitation; steel; austenite; ferrite; carbide; nitride; sulfide; inclusion; crystallography; interface.involved for intragranular ferrite transformation.In the present study, the detail of multiphase relationship between ferrite, MnSϩV(C, N) complex precipitate and austenite is discussed based on the observation using scanning and transmission electron microcopy. Table 1 shows the chemical composition of the alloys used in the present study. In an Fe-20Cr-10Ni austenitic alloy which contains a small amount of Mn and S, MnS is fully dissolved in austenite by the solutionizing at 1 473 K and precipitate during aging at 1 273 K based on the calculation with the equation proposed by Turkdogan. Experimental Procedure10) The solution temperatures of MnS in austenite for the other three alloys are well above the melting temperature of austenite, and thus, MnS cannot be dissolved in austenite after solidification. In an Fe-12Mn-0.8C-0.3V austenitic alloy which was used in the study on intragranular pearlite transformation, 7) V(C, N) can be dissolved into austenite by solutionizing treatments at high temperatures and precipitate during aging at lower temperatures. Thus, in this alloy, the measurement of precipitate/austenite orientation relationship was made both for coherent VC which precipitate directly in austenite as well as incoherent MnSϩVC complex precipitate. The solution temperatures of V(C, N) were estimated from the Thermo-Calc calculation. The specimens were homogenized at 1 473 K for 86.4 ks, cold rolled by 70 % and solution treated at 1 473 K...

We describe here a rapid, high-throughput genotyping procedure that allows the simultaneous detection of 16 high-and low-risk genital human papillomavirus (HPV) types by multiplex PCR in a single reaction tube. Multiplex PCR is based on the amplification of HPV DNA by sets of HPV genotype-specific primers, and the genotypes of HPV are visually identified by the sizes of amplicons after they are separated by capillary electrophoresis. The procedure does not include a hybridization step with HPV-specific probes and is rapid and labor-saving. We detected all 16 HPV genotypes (types 16, 58, 52, 51, 56, 31, 18, 39, 66, 59, 6, 33, 30, 35, 45, and 11) with a high sensitivity and a high degree of reproducibility. By using this newly developed method, we conducted a pilot study to examine the correlation between the prevalence and genotype distributions of HPV and the cytological group classifications for 547 cervical samples. Compared with the group of samples considered normal (14.7%), there was a significant increase in the prevalence of HPV in women with atypical squamous cells of unknown significance (61.3%), low-grade intraepithelial lesions (75.8%), and high-grade intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) (82.2%). The prevalence and distribution of type 58 were correlated with cytological malignancies, with the highest prevalence in women with HSILs. In conclusion, the novel multiplex PCR method described appears to be highly suitable not only for the screening of cervical cancer precursor lesions but also for the characterization of genotype distributions in large-scale epidemiological studies and HPV vaccination trials.Accumulating evidence indicates that persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is indeed a major causative factor in the development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cervical carcinoma (42,10,8,5,40,27,11,30). The HPV family includes over 100 genotypes, 30 to 40 of which are mucosotropic, and at least 15 types of the mucosotropic HPVs have been linked to cervical cancer (5,8,10,42). In addition, some of these types are also related to other cancers of the genital tract (21,22) and to cancers of other organs (14, 28). Light microscopic examination of a Papanicolaou (Pap)-stained smear is of primary importance for the detection of cervical cancer precursor lesions. It has been demonstrated that concomitant testing for DNA of the highrisk HPV types by the Pap test can clearly identify women at high risk for cervical cancer, particularly if persistent infection by high-risk HPV types is diagnosed (5,8,10,11,27,30,40). Furthermore, HPV genotyping is of critical importance for the investigation of the clinical behavior and the epidemiology of HPV infection, for population studies for HPV vaccination trials, and for monitoring of the efficacy of HPV vaccines. Several genotyping methods have been developed in order to identify high-risk HPV in liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples and tissue samples (1,12,34). The molecular techniques that have been applied for HPV DNA detect...

Some infants with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) have responded to oral atropine treatment. To achieve sufficient effect of atropine, it must be administered intravenously (i.v.). Therefore, with ultrasonography, we studied the changes in the pyloric muscle in HPS during and after intravenous administration of atropine. Twenty-three infants were studied. Atropine sulfate was initially administered at a dose of 0.04 mg/kg day i.v., and the dose was increased by 0.01 mg/kg/day until vomiting ceased. When vomiting ceased after administration of intravenous atropine sulfate, the infants received oral atropine sulfate at twice the effective intravenous dose; this was continued for 2 weeks. Ultrasonography was repeated until pyloric muscles normalized. Twenty-two infants were free from vomiting after 1-8 days of intravenous atropine sulfate (dosages of 0.04-0.11 mg/kg/day). In 21 infants, weight gain continued after atropine treatment even though no change in thickness of the pyloric muscles was demonstrated ultrasonographically. Only 2 infants required pyloromyotomy because of prolonged treatment or a mistake in underdosing of oral atropine. All of the 21 infants who recovered after intravenous atropine without surgery had normalization of pyloric muscle caliber, as shown by ultrasonography 4-12 months after treatment. Atropine is an effective medicine for HPS. Regression of pyloric thickening after vomiting has been controlled implies that pyloric muscle hypertrophy could be worsened by the spasm that occurs in HPS.