Safety and efficacy of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab combination therapy in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing dialysis: a case series.

Three patients aged 79, 75, and 81 years with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and undergoing maintenance hemodialysis were treated with a combination of atezolizumab and bevacizumab. The patients, respectively, received their 22nd, 2nd, and 4th treatment cycles, and one achieved long-term stable disease. No serious adverse events, including immune-related adverse events, were observed in any patient. Remarkable progress has been made in chemotherapy for cancer; however, the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy in patients undergoing hemodialysis have not been adequately elucidated. This report provides novel insights into the feasibility and outcomes of atezolizumab and bevacizumab combination therapy in patients with HCC undergoing hemodialysis, highlighting its potential as a viable treatment option with manageable side effects.

Strongly Enhanced Polarization in a Ferroelectric Crystal by Conduction-Proton Flow.

Ion conductors comprising noncentrosymmetric frameworks have emerged as new functional materials. However, strongly correlated polarity functionality and ion transport have not been achieved. Herein, we report a ferroelectric proton conductor, K2MnN(CN)4·H2O (1·H2O), exhibiting the strong correlation between its polar skeleton and conductive ions that generate anomalous ferroelectricity via the proton-bias phenomenon. The application of an electric field of ±1 kV/cm (0.1 Hz) on 1·H2O at 298 K produced the ferroelectricity (polarization = 1.5 × 104 µC/cm2), which was enhanced by the ferroelectric-skeleton-trapped conductive protons. Furthermore, the strong polarity-proton transport coupling of 1·H2O induced a proton-rectification-like directional ion-conductive behavior that could be adjusted by the magnitude and direction of DC electric fields. Moreover, 1·H2O exhibited reversible polarity switching between the polar 1·H2O and its dehydrated form, 1, with a centrosymmetric structure comprising an order-disorder-type transition of the nitrido-bridged chains.

Thermal multiferroics in all-inorganic quasi-two-dimensional halide perovskites.

Multiferroic materials, particularly those possessing simultaneous electric and magnetic orders, offer a platform for design technologies and to study modern physics. Despite the substantial progress and evolution of multiferroics, one priority in the field remains to be the discovery of unexplored materials, especially those offering different mechanisms for controlling electric and magnetic orders1. Here we demonstrate the simultaneous thermal control of electric and magnetic polarizations in quasi-two-dimensional halides (K,Rb)3Mn2Cl7, arising from a polar-antipolar transition, as evidenced using both X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. Our density functional theory calculations indicate a possible polarization-switching path including a strong coupling between the electric and magnetic orders in our halide materials, suggesting a magnetoelectric coupling and a situation not realized in oxide analogues. We expect our findings to stimulate the exploration of non-oxide multiferroics and magnetoelectrics to open access to alternative mechanisms, beyond conventional electric and magnetic control, for coupling ferroic orders.

Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in Iron-Based Spin-Ladder Compound BaFe2+δ(S1-xSex)3.

The iron-based superconductors had a significant impact on condensed matter physics. They have a common structural motif of a two-dimensional square iron lattice and exhibit fruitful physical properties as a strongly correlated electron system. During the extensive investigations, quasi-one-dimensional iron-based spin-ladder compounds attracted much attention as a platform for studying the interplay between magnetic and orbital ordering. In these compounds, BaFe2S3 and BaFe2Se3 were found to exhibit superconductivity under high pressure, having a different crystal and magnetic structure at low temperature. We report a brief review of the iron-based spin-ladder compound and recent studies for BaFe2+δ(S1-xSex)3. BaFe2(S0.75 Se0.25)3 is in the vicinity of the boundary of two different magnetic phases and it is intriguing to perform high pressure experiments for studying superconductivity, since effects of large magnetic fluctuations on superconductivity are expected. The effect of iron stoichiometry on the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity is also studied by changing the iron concentration in BaFe2+δSe3.

Positive and Negative Two-Dimensional Thermal Expansion via Relaxation of Node Distortions.

The ability to tune physical properties is attractive for the development of new materials for myriad applications. Understanding and controlling the structural dynamics in complicated network structures like coordination polymers (CPs) is particularly challenging. We report a series of two-dimensional CPs [Mn(salen)]2[M(CN)4]· xH2O (M = Pt (1), PtI2 (2), and MnN (3)) incorporating zigzag cyano-network layers that display composition-dependent anisotropic thermal expansion properties. Variable-temperature single-crystal X-ray structural analyses demonstrated that the thermal expansion behavior is caused by double structural distortions involving [Mn(salen)]+ units incorporated into the zigzag layers. Thermal relaxations produce structural transformations resulting in positive thermal expansion for 2·H2O and negative thermal expansion for 3. In the case of 1·H2O, the relaxation does not occur and zero thermal expansion results in the plane between 200 to 380 K. The present study proposes a new strategy based on structural distortions in coordination networks to control thermal responsivities of frameworks.

Electric-Field-Induced Reorientation of the Magnetic Easy Plane in a Co-Substituted BiFeO3 Single Crystal.

Single crystals of BiFe0.9Co0.1O3 and BiFe0.892Mn0.008Co0.1O3, room temperature ferroelectric ferromagnets, were successfully grown by a flux method at a high pressure of 3 GPa. Remanent magnetization measurements along 18 crystallographic directions revealed the existence of a magnetic easy plane perpendicular to the electric polarization. Reorientation of the magnetic easy plane occurred in connection with 71° ferroelectric switching by applying an electric field. This is the first demonstration of an electric field affecting the local magnetic moment of Co-substituted BiFeO3.

Magnetic Precursor of the Pressure-Induced Superconductivity in Fe-Ladder Compounds.

The pressure effects on the antiferromagentic orders in iron-based ladder compounds CsFe_{2}Se_{3} and BaFe_{2}S_{3} have been studied using neutron diffraction. With identical crystal structure and similar magnetic structures, the two compounds exhibit highly contrasting magnetic behaviors under moderate external pressures. In CsFe_{2}Se_{3} the ladders are brought much closer to each other by pressure, but the stripe-type magnetic order shows no observable change. In contrast, the stripe order in BaFe_{2}S_{3} undergoes a quantum phase transition where an abrupt increase of Néel temperature by more than 50% occurs at about 1 GPa, accompanied by a jump in the ordered moment. With its spin structure unchanged, BaFe_{2}S_{3} enters an enhanced magnetic phase that bears the characteristics of an orbital selective Mott phase, which is the true neighbor of superconductivity emerging at higher pressures.

Individual identification with high frequency ECG : preprocessing and classification by neural network.

In this research, we proposed that high frequency component of HFECG was applicable biometric feature for new identification system. We developed identification method by using neural network (NN), and aimed at the improvement of the classification rate. Preprocessing prior to NN is performed by justification on time axis and normalization on amplitude. As a result, an average of 99% classification rate was obtained from 9 subjects. We also made an attempt to identify in shorter time by shifting of the HFECG by a few samples to NN.