Lung mass in a 28-year-old male: a case report of a rare tumor.

A twenty eight-year-old male presented with a two week history of dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, chest pain, and fever 38-39°C. He also complained of loss of appetite, general weakness and left leg pain for two months preceding admission. He was referred with suspicion of lung tumor to our institution. Chest X-ray showed almost total atelectasis of the right lung with compensatory overinflation of the contralateral lung. Using computed tomography (CT), a lesion of diameter of 19.3 x 14.1 x 19.1 cm in the right lung, pleuritis, Th3 osteolysis, and compensatory overinflation of the left lung was seen. Bronchoscopy revealed a total obstruction of the right main bronchus due to submucosal infiltration and compression of the right main bronchus with negative histology of bronchial biopsy specimens. Transthoracic fine needle aspiration revealed celullae suspectae probabiliter neoplasmaticae suggesting tumor fusocellularis. USG of the abdomen revealed liver with numerous heterogeneous, solid areas hypo- and hyperechogenic, some of them with features of liquid or the disintegration up to diameter of 74 mm. Subsequent fine needle aspirations of the thorax and liver revealed fibrolamellar hepatocarcinoma and carcinoma adenoides of the lung. Patient underwent chemotherapy with 5-FU/DDP/VCR with no response. This report presents a case of a rare lung metastasis from FL-HCC.

Electrical characteristics of core-shell p-n GaAs nanowire structures with Te as the n-dopant.

GaAs nanowire (NW)-based p-n photovoltaic devices, with two distinct p and n spatial distributions and where Te was the n-dopant, have been studied by impedance spectroscopy in the 10(3)-10(7) Hz frequency range and the - 1.5-1.5 V bias range. For a large n-core/p-shell overlap region within NWs in a coaxial geometry, the p-n junction properties (DC rectification and p-n depletion capacitance) are found to prevail. The impedance data at low bias for both NW devices show large frequency dispersions with relaxation frequencies that are compatible with carrier re-emission times from traps due to GaAs surface states. An increasing conductance with increasing frequency for low bias is observed, suggesting hopping transport through localized states. For large bias the conductance increases exponentially with bias and is frequency independent, indicating conduction through extended states in this regime.

Semiconductor optical amplifiers grown on a metamorphic substrate for long wavelength applications.

A semiconductor optical amplifier is grown on an InAsP metamorphic substrate to extend the long wavelength accessibility of the amplifier. The amplifier is shown to produce gain at wavelength exceeding 1640 nm while containing large tensile strain in the quantum wells. Also a laser diode is fabricated from the same device structure.

Oxidation of elemental sulfur by bacteria and fungi in soil.

Laboratory experiments were used to determine the effects of antibiotics, organic C and CaCO3 amendments of sterile reinoculated soil on S0 oxidation by bacteria and fungi. The rate of S0 oxidation in soil with nystatin added was higher than in soil amended with penicillin + streptomycin. This tells us that bacteria were more efficient than fungi in the S0 oxidation process. It was demonstrated that neutrophilic chemolithotrophs were more efficient in this process than heterotrophs. Glucose introduced to the soil had a negative effect and CaCO3 had a positive effect on S0 oxidation. In soil enriched with glucose the number of chemolithotrophs was very low in comparison with extremely numerous heterotrophic bacteria and fungi. It suggests that the role of heterotrophs in S0 oxidation could be important in habitats rich in organic C, e.g. rhizosphere. In soil containing S0, qualitative changes of fungal communities to genera with higher S0 oxidation ability was also noted. In the presented paper, after comparison of the own results with the data of others concerning the natural soils, the role of various microbial groups in S0 oxidation process in soils is discussed.

Establishing the direct-potentiometric "normal" range for Na/K: residual liquid junction potential and activity coefficient effects.

The observed reference ranges for sodium and potassium as determined by direct potentiometry vary from instrument to instrument, depending on the composition of the calibration standards. To resolve the existing confusion as to which reference intervals are most appropriately considered "normal," we propose a straightforward convention (based on plasma-water concentration units) in which the difference between direct (undiluted sample) and indirect (diluted sample) methodologies is accounted for by the volume displacement effect of proteins, lipids, and other dissolved substances in a typical plasma sample. Thus, the proposed reference intervals for sodium and potassium are approximately 7% greater by direct potentiometry than by procedures involving dilution. Data consistent with this convention can be obtained with a variety of aqueous-based calibrants, provided care is taken to minimize the errors resulting from activity coefficient and liquid junction potential effects. Additional experimental results are presented to show that these effects also account for the apparent suppression of the sodium ion concentration observed in the presence of bicarbonate ion.

Sorption of cadmium by microorganisms in competition with other soil constituents.

The fate of cadmium in soil is influenced to a great extent by microbial activity. Microorganisms were compared with abiotic soil components for their ability to sorb Cd from a liquid medium. When the same amount (on a dry weight basis) of bacterial cells (Serratia marcescens and Paracoccus sp.), clay (montmorillonite), or sand was separately incubated in 0.05 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 10 ppm of Cd (10 mug/ml), bacterial cells removed the largest quantity of Cd. Dead cells sorbed much more Cd from the medium than live cells. A comparative study of Cd removal from the medium by seven soil bacteria and four fungi did not indicate appreciable differences. With increasing microbial biomass, the relative efficiency of 0.1 M NaOH as an extractant of sorbed Cd increased, whereas the extraction efficiency of 0.005 M DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) decreased. It appeared that NaOH and DTPA extracted different chemical forms of Cd. This assumption was supported by vastly different correlation coefficients in the relative amount of Cd extracted by the two solvents.