Epidermal growth factor receptor mutation and pattern of brain metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We investigated the time taken for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to develop brain metastases (BM), as well as their subsequent overall median survival following diagnosis, considering the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutational status. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated the medical records of 259 patients diagnosed with advanced NSCLC from January 2010 to August 2013, who were tested for EGFR mutations. The time from the diagnosis of advanced NSCLC to the development of BM and the overall median survival after BM development (BM-OS) were evaluated and compared by EGFR mutational status. RESULTS: Sixty-seven patients (25.9%) developed BM. Synchronous BM occurred more often in patients with EGFR mutation type (MT) (n = 20, 27.4%) compared with EGFR wild type (WT) (n = 27, 14.5%, p < 0.009). The median BM-OS was significantly longer in patients with EGFR MT than in those with EGFR WT (25.7 months vs. 3.8 months, p < 0.001), and a similar trend was noticed for patients with synchronous BM (25.7 months for EGFR MT vs. 6.8 months for EGFR WT, p < 0.001). However, in patients with metachronous BM development, the difference in BM-OS between patients with EGFR MT (14.6 months) and EGFR WT (2.5 months) did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.230). CONCLUSIONS: Synchronous BM was more common in NSCLC patients with EGFR MT than in those with EGFR WT. However, EGFR mutations were associated with significantly longer median BM-OS, especially when the brain was the first metastatic site.

The Properties of Cu Thin Films on Ru Depending on the ALD Temperature.

The copper thin films were deposited by Atomic layer deposition (ALD) on a ruthenium depending on the substrate temperatures. The substrate deposited Ru and TaN on SiO2 by plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD) before Cu deposition for an adhesion layer between Si and Cu. The copper thin films were deposited 200 cycles. The thickness of Cu was different depending on the substrate temperatures. The properties of copper thin films were investigated by a 4 point probe, SEM, and AFM. TaN and Ru layers were deposited by plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD) for the adhesion layer. Also, TaN and Ru layers were observed as TEM because the thickness was too thin. The thickness and roughness of Cu thin film increased depending on the deposition temperatures but, Cu thin film was not deposited at 110 °C. The best sheet resistance of the copper thin film was obtained at a deposition temperature of 170 °C.

Manufacture and Evaluation of Light Emitting Diode Package Substrate Using Flexible Printed Circuit Board.

Unlike other light sources such as fluorescent lamps and incandescent bulbs, light-emitting diodes (LED) convert 70-80% of energy into heat. If the heat produced an LED chip is not effectively released, its luminous efficiency and lifespan are reduced. Therefore, as a method effectively release heat, an LED PKG substrate containing a heat-releasing material with excellent thermal conductance was fabricated, and its thermal resistance and luminous efficiency were analyzed. In this experiment, a thin polyimide film with excellent ductility was used to fabricate the LED PKG substrate. A 35-µm-thick Cu foil with excellent thermal conductance was subjected to high temperature and pressure and attached to both sides of the polyimide film. By electroplating Ag or Au, which has excellent thermal conductance, for us as the electrode and heat-releasing material, LED PKG substrate was fabricated with a thickness of approximately 170 µm. (-40 °C --> RT --> 120 °C). The results revealed that the LED PKG substrate having a Ag electrode with excellent thermal conductance had an excellent thermal resistance of approximately 4.2 °C/W (Au electrode: 5.6 °C/W). The luminous flux after 100 cycles in the thermal shock test was reduced by approximately 0.09% (Au electrode: 2.77%), indicating that the LED PKG substrate had excellent thermal resistance without any mechanical and material defects in a rapid-temperature-changing environment. The advantages and excellent thermal resistance can be exploited in cellular phones and LCD panels, and heat-releasing problems in thin panels be solved.

Effects of Complex Structured Anodic Oxide Dielectric Layer Grown in Pore Matrix for Aluminum Capacitor.

Anodization of aluminum is generally divided up into two types of anodic aluminum oxide structures depending on electrolyte type. In this study, an anodization process was carried out in two steps to obtain high dielectric strength and break down voltage. In the first step, evaporated high purity Al on Si wafer was anodized in oxalic acidic aqueous solution at various times at a constant temperature of 5 degrees C. In the second step, citric acidic aqueous solution was used to obtain a thickly grown sub-barrier layer. During the second anodization process, the anodizing potential of various ranges was applied at room temperature. An increased thickness of the sub-barrier layer in the porous matrix was obtained according to the increment of the applied anodizing potential. The microstructures and the growth of the sub-barrier layer were then observed with an increasing anodizing potential of 40 to 300 V by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). An impedance analyzer was used to observe the change of electrical properties, including the capacitance, dissipation factor, impedance, and equivalent series resistance (ESR) depending on the thickness increase of the sub-barrier layer. In addition, the breakdown voltage was measured. The results revealed that dielectric strength was improved with the increase of sub-barrier layer thickness.

Electroless nickel alloy deposition on SiO2 for application as a diffusion barrier and seed layer in 3D copper interconnect technology.

Electroless Ni-P films were investigated with the aim of application as barrier and seed layers in 3D interconnect technology. Different shapes of blind-via holes were fabricated with a deep reactive ion etcher and SiO2 formed on these holes as an insulating layer. The surface of the substrate has been made hydrophilic by O2 plasma treatment with 100 W of power for 20 min. Electroless Ni-P films were deposited as both a diffusion barrier and a seed layer for Cu filling process. Prior to plating, substrates were activated in a palladium chloride solution after sensitization in a tin chloride solution with various conditions in order to deposit uniform films in TSV. After the formation of the electroless barrier layer, electro Cu was plated directly on the barrier layer. Ni-P films fabricated in blind-via holes were observed by scanning electron microscope. Energy dispersive spectroscopy line scanning was carried out for evaluating the diffusion barrier properties of the Ni-P films. The electroless Ni-P layer worked well as a Cu diffusion barrier until 300 degrees C. However, Cu ions diffused into barrier layer when the annealing temperature increases over 400 degrees C.

Effect of thiourea on electrochemical nucleation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of electrodeposited tin on a copper substrate in a sulfate bath.

The effect of thiourea on the electrochemical nucleation of tin on a copper substrate from a sulfate bath was studied using voltammetry, chronoamperometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Without thiourea, electrodeposition of tin showed very poor surface coverage. However, re-nucleation and growth of tin occurred after the addition of thiourea. In particular, very rapid re-nucleation and growth behavior of tin were observed when up to 6 g/L of thiourea was added. Furthermore, impedance analysis allowed the estimation of the change in the growth behavior of tin when up to 6 g/L of thiourea was added.

Corrosion resistance of ultrasonic electrodeposited Ni-Co-Fe ternary alloy films according to current density.

Ni-Co-Fe ternary alloy films were deposited on Copper clad laminate (CCL) by ultrasonic electroplating at different current densities from a sulfate bath. The corrosion properties of the ultrasonically-electrodeposited Ni-Co-Fe films were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). We found that Ni, Co, and Fe component ratios changed according to the current density. The Ni content increased when the current density increased, but the Co and Fe content of the films decreased. Ni-Co-Fe ternary alloy films with a high Ni content and lower Fe content showed good resistance to corrosion. We also found that ultrasonically-electrodeposited Ni-Co-Fe films had higher corrosion resistance than non-ultrasonically electrodeposited Ni-Co-Fe films. Ultrasonically electrodeposited Ni-Co-Fe films had a higher Ni content than electrodeposited Ni-Co-Fe ternary alloys. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the Ni-Co-Fe films comprised a mixture of both FCC (face centered cubic) and BCC (body centered cubic) structures.

The Unusual Suspect: Anemia-induced Systolic Anterior Motion of the Mitral Valve and Intraventricular Dynamic Obstruction in a Hyperdynamic Heart as Unexpected Causes of Exertional Dyspnea after Cardiac Surgery.

Dynamic left ventricular (LV) outflow tract obstruction is a characteristic feature of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; however, it can also occur in association with hyperdynamic LV contraction and/or changes in the cardiac loading condition, even in a structurally normal or near-normal heart. Here, we report a case of anemia-induced systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve and the resultant intraventricular obstruction in a patient who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting and suffered from anemia associated with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding.

Evaluation of stress in korean patients with diabetes mellitus using the problem areas in diabetes-Korea questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: It is known that diabetes and stress are directly or indirectly related, and that it is important to evaluate stress in patients with diabetes. The relationship between Korean diabetics and diabetes-related stress has never been reported. The objective of this study was to develop a stress questionnaire suitable for use with Korean diabetics and to evaluate its utility. METHODS: This study subjects were 307 Korean diabetics, aged 40 to 74 years old, who visited the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Gachon University Gil Hospital, Yeungnam University Medical Center, and Inha University Hospital in Korea between March 2006 and February 2008. We developed a Korean version of Polonsky's Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) stress questionnaire (PAID-K) and used it to assess degrees of stress in our sample of Korean patients. We evaluated the utility of the questionnaire and analyzed the relationships between clinical characteristics of the study subjects and degrees of stress. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha for PAID-K was 0.95, and PAID-K scores were significantly correlated with Hypoglycemia Fear Survey scores (r=0.44, P<0.05) and State Trait Anxiety Inventory-6 scores (r=0.21, P<0.05). PAID-K scores were significantly higher in patients with longer durations of diabetes, patients using insulin, and female patients (P=0.02, P=0.038, and P=0.001, respectively). The score also tended to increase as HbA1c levels increased, except for very high HbA1c levels (above 11%) (P for trend<0.05). CONCLUSION: We developed the PAID-K questionnaire and demonstrated its utility to evaluate levels of stress in diabetic patients in Korea.