A new organic electro-optic (EO) molecule was designed with two modifications aimed at increasing acentric order. The molecule is based on the well-known CLD donor-π bridge-acceptor template. The first structural modification introduces rigid aromatic fluorenyl and naphthyl site-isolation units (sterically bulky functional groups) to reduce aggregation. Site isolation units have been used in the past, but this is the first time that both the "front" and "back" of the CLD tetraene bridge have been modified with site-isolation units, and we had to introduce new synthetic methodology to do so. The second design element was the inclusion of cooperatively interacting aromatic dendron (HD) and fluoroaromatic dendron (FD) side groups to increase the acentric order. HD/FD units have previously been successfully used to increase EO performance, but we changed their location on the chromophore: they are attached to the donor and acceptor ends of the molecule to better match side chain ordering with the dipole moment of the molecule. Comparison chromophores were synthesized with alkyl (-MOM), hydroxyl (-OH), or HD units on the acceptor end of the molecule and either the traditional CLD bridge (T-bridge) or modified bridge (BB-bridge) for a family of eight chromophores. The HD/FD units increased glass transition temperature, T g , by 4−21 °C, and the bulky bridge modification increased T g by 27−44 °C, which is very beneficial as that results in extra thermal stability of the poling-induced acentric order. UV/vis absorbance spectroscopy shows that the site-isolation units reduce aggregation. Unfortunately, poor film formation of the neat materials precluded full chromophore evaluation in poling and r 33 experiments. The EO performance obtained for HD-BB-FD and HD-BB-OH was lower than expected, with r 33 /E p ≈ 1 nm 2 V −2 at 1310 nm. We found that blending in 25 wt % YLD124 improved film-forming and poling efficiency. Due to the effect of blending and improved site isolation, r 33 /E p improved to 2.1−2.3 nm 2 V −2 for 3:1 HD-BB-FD:YLD124, HD-BB-OH:YLD124, and HD-BB-MOM:YLD124, and r 33 as high as 351 pm V −1 was obtained with 3:1 HD-BB-MOM:YLD124. Chromophore blends were also evaluated in plasmonic organic hybrid (POH) phase modulators with slot lengths of 5−20 μm. In POH devices, r 33 was as high as 325 pm V −1 at 1260 nm and 220 pm V −1 at 1520 nm. Overall, the increase in acentric order afforded by the HD/FD interactions was found to be small and resulted in no increase in r 33 due to the reduced number density. Ultimately, the increase in r 33 /E p afforded by the site isolation and blending resulted in a modest increase in r 33 /E p relative to YLD124, but combined with the increased T g , the chromophore system is a significant improvement and points to an important design strategy.

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Transplantation is the rescue treatment for end-stage organ failure with more than 110,000 solid organs transplantations performed worldwide annually. Recent advances in transplantation procedures and posttransplantation management have improved long-term survival and quality of life of transplant recipients, shifting the focus from acute perioperative critical care needs toward long-term chronic medical problems. Neurologic complications affect up to 30-60 % of solid organ transplant recipients. Common etiologies include opportunistic infections and toxicities of antirejection medications, and wide spectrum of toxic and metabolic disturbances. Most complications are common to all allograft types, but some are relatively specific for individual allograft types (e.g., central pontine myelinolysis in liver transplant recipients). Close collaboration between neurologists and other transplant team members is essential for effective management. Early recognition of complications and accurate diagnosis leading to timely treatment is essential to reduce the morbidity and improve the overall transplant outcome.

Hypertrophic pachymeningitis (HP) is characterized by inflammation of the dura mater. It has been described in the setting of numerous systemic inflammatory diseases including immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease as well as granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). In this case report, we describe a 48-year-old man presenting with headache who was found to have HP and had systemic features of both GPA and IgG4-related disease as well as seropositivity for both cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (c-ANCA) and IgG4. He was treated with prednisone and rituximab with improvement in his symptoms. Co-occurrence of IgG4 and ANCA against myeloperoxidase has been reported in other cases of HP. The overlap between IgG4 and ANCA has also been described in other systemic manifestations of the diseases. These reports suggest a clinical overlap between ANCA and IgG4-related disease, and the case presented herein suggests an overlap between GPA and IgG4-related disease.