[Analysis of the clinical diagnosis of asbestosis complicated with malignant mesothelioma].

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of the clinical characteristics and prognosis of asbestosis complicated with malignant mesothelioma patients. METHODS: In 3 cases of asbestosis complicated with malignant mesothelioma were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In the 3 patients, 2 cases of pleural mesothelioma, with chest tightness, chest and back pain as initial symptom; 1 case of peritoneal mesothelioma, with abdominal distention, abdominal pain, dysuria as initial symptom. One case of the pleural mesothelioma misdiagnosed as tuberculous pleurisy. 3 patients were in CT or B ultrasound guided biopsy pathology confirmed to be malignant mesothelioma. 2 patients received systemic chemotherapy, another received symptomatic and supportive treatment. Up till now, 3 patients have died. CONCLUSION: The disease is a high degree of malignant, the early clinical manifestations are not specific, easily missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. The treatment effect is not ideal, the prognosis is poor. Biopsy is a reliable method for diagnosis of MM.

Reversible calcium alloying enables a practical room-temperature rechargeable calcium-ion battery with a high discharge voltage.

Calcium-ion batteries (CIBs) are attractive candidates for energy storage because Ca2+ has low polarization and a reduction potential (-2.87 V versus standard hydrogen electrode, SHE) close to that of Li+ (-3.04 V versus SHE), promising a wide voltage window for a full battery. However, their development is limited by difficulties such as the lack of proper cathode/anode materials for reversible Ca2+ intercalation/de-intercalation, low working voltages (<2 V), low cycling stability, and especially poor room-temperature performance. Here, we report a CIB that can work stably at room temperature in a new cell configuration using graphite as the cathode and tin foils as the anode as well as the current collector. This CIB operates on a highly reversible electrochemical reaction that combines hexafluorophosphate intercalation/de-intercalation at the cathode and a Ca-involved alloying/de-alloying reaction at the anode. An optimized CIB exhibits a working voltage of up to 4.45 V with capacity retention of 95% after 350 cycles.

Enhanced nucleation of diamond on three dimensional tools via stabilized colloidal nanodiamond in electrostatic self-assembly seeding process.

Nanocrystalline diamond particles are promising candidates for copious applications in materials science, biology and electronics. In this work, diamond nucleation density was unprecedentedly enhanced via a non-invasive electrostatic self-assembly seeding approach. By addition of glutamic acid to the nanodiamond seeding solution, the positively charged amino-group of glutamic acid, which is adsorbed on nanodiamond particles, enhances the adsorption on negative charged cemented carbide substrate. The highest nucleation density (1.0×1010cm-2) was achieved by utilizing glutamic acid at pH 4 as well as DI water at pH 2.2. This density was 20-1000 times higher than most earlier published results on WC-Co substrate. The concentration of the organic molecule, pH, concentration of ND particles and ultrasonication seeding time were found to be important for the seeding process. The colloidal stability was tweaked by pH of the dispersion and concentration of glutamic acid. The optimized parameters for nanodiamond adsorption on WC-Co substrate were found to be pH 4 at a concentration of 7×10-5M of glutamic acid at a nanodiamond concentration of 0.005wt%, while the seeding was conducted for 30min. The short ultrasonication time inhibits aggregation and void formation due to peeling off of nanodiamond patches at prolonged seeding times. Moreover, diamond thin films were deposited uniformly and densely on end mills made of cemented carbide. This work indicates that electrostatic induced adsorption of diamond nanoparticles is crucial for the development of ultra-high nucleation densities for the growth of high performance nanocrystalline diamond films, especially for micro sized tools with sharp cutting edges. It may serve as an approach for pinhole-free ultra-thin films deposition on micro-electromechanical system, and encapsulation coating in harsh environment.

Immunosuppressive therapy of cyclosporin A for severe benzene-induced haematopoietic disorders and a 6-month follow-up.

Long-term exposure to benzene can potentially result in severe haematotoxicities, including pancytopaenia, aplastic anaemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, which are often accompanied by life-threatening symptoms and high mortality. Previous studies demonstrate that benzene-induced haematotoxicities are immune-mediated and that cyclosporin A is a prominent treatment in acquired aplastic anaemia. This study aims to evaluate the potential role of cyclosporin A immunosuppressive therapy for severe benzene-induced haematotoxicity. Between January 2002 and December 2008, 41 patients with severe benzene-induced haematopoietic disorders from five hospitals were enrolled in the study, 22 patients received cyclosporin A, supportive treatments and/or oral testosterone undecanoate, 19 patients were treated with supportive treatments and/or oral testosterone undecanoate as the control group, and a 6-month follow-up was conducted. The results showed that in the cyclosporin A group, 19 of 22 patients (86.36%) had responded to the treatments completely or partially with increased platelets, white blood cells and hemoglobulin counts by the fourth week (P=0.005), the sixth week (P=0.001) and the third month post-treatment (P=0.034), respectively. However, in the control group treated by supportive methods, only 5 of 19 patients (26.32%) responded to the treatments partially (P<0.001). Cyclosporin A in conjunction with supportive treatments may be an effective treatment modality for patients with severe benzene-induced haematopoietic disorders, which in turn implies that these haematotoxicities are immune-mediated.