Peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK) is a complication of collagen-vascular diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other systemic vasculitides. We report three cases of erythema elevatum diutinum with PUK. These patients presented with nodules and plaques consistent with erythema elevatum diutinum on the extremities and crusted or ulcerated purpuric lesions on the soles. Histopathological examination of these lesions revealed a dense neutrophilic infiltrate with nuclear dust and fibrin around blood vessels. All the patients developed PUK concomitant with the development of the skin lesions. The rheumatoid factor was positive at high titre in all three patients; this was associated with probable RA in one. Cutaneous lesions were dramatically improved by administration of dapsone in all cases. Dapsone was also effective in treating the ocular lesions in two patients.

Abstract-We are developing a Compton camera based on Si and CdTe semiconductor imaging devices with high energy resolution. In this paper, results from the most recent prototype are reported. The Compton camera consists of six layered doublesided Si Strip detectors and CdTe pixel detectors, which are read out with low noise analog ASICs, VA32TAs. We obtained Compton reconstructed images and spectra of line gamma-rays from 122 keV to 662 keV. The energy resolution is 9.1 keV and 14 keV at 356 keV and 511 keV, respectively.

Objective To identify the risk factors for upper urinaryResults The univariate analysis showed low vesical compliance, a high level of MUCP and the presence of DSD tract deterioration in a retrospective study of patients with myelodysplasia.to be significant factors for the incidence of VUR. Low vesical compliance and a high level of MUCP also Patients and methods The medical history, radiographic studies and urodynamic results from 39 children with correlated with the incidence of hydronephrosis. The multivariate analysis showed a significant relationship myelodysplasia who were treated at our hospital were reviewed retrospectively to obtain more accurate data between urodynamic values and upper urinary tract deterioration. The incidence of VUR was strongly in the prognosis of such patients. The upper urinary tracts were assessed by cysto-urethrography and correlated with a high MUCP and the presence of DSD. A high MUCP was also a significant factor in the excretory urography to determine the incidence of vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR) and hydronephrosis. The incidence of hydronephrosis. Conclusion Urodynamic results associated directly with relationships between the urodynamic variables, including vesical compliance, detrusor hyper-reflexia, the abnormal function of urethral control are significantly correlated with the cause of upper tract deteriordetrusor-sphincter dyssynergia (DSD) and the maximum urethral closing pressure (MUCP) to such upper ation in patients with myelodysplasia. Keywords Myelodysplasia, vesico-ureteric reflux, tract deterioration were evaluated using both univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis.detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia, prognosis an objective statistical analysis to determine whether

Detachment of glomerular epithelial cells (GEC) from glomerular basement membrane (GBM) could account for a part of the pathogenic mechanism of proteinuria seen in primary and secondary renal diseases. The Wilms' tumour suppresser gene (WT1) is strictly expressed in GEC in the adult kidney. Mutations of WT1 gene have been implicated in progressive renal damage. Utilizing nested RT-PCR we detected mRNA of WT1 in the urine of patients with renal diseases. Seven of 20 (35%) chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN), eight of 20 (40%) diabetes mellitus (DM) with proteinuria, and two of 24 (8.3%) rheumatic diseases were WT1 positive. Interestingly, only one of 51 (2%) DM without proteinuria was WT1 positive. None of the healthy volunteers or cystitis patients were WT1 positive. This is the first report describing the detection of endogenous WT1 mRNA, an important gene in progressive renal failure, from patients' urine. This technique could be a powerful tool in the search for information about glomerular damage in clinical settings as well as for WT1 mutations or isoform imbalance at the research level without renal biopsy.

For design of multi-layered environmental barrier coatings (EBCs), it is essential to assure mechanical reliability against interface crack initiation and propagation induced by thermal stress owing to a misfit of the coefficients of thermal expansion between the coating layers and SiC/SiC substrate. We conducted finite element method (FEM) analyses to evaluate energy release rate (ERR) for interface cracks and performed experiment to obtain interface fracture toughness to assess mechanical reliability of an EBC with a function of thermal barrier (T/EBC; SiC/SiAlON/mullite/Yb-silicate gradient composition layer/Yb 2 SiO 5 with porous segment structure) on an SiC/SiC substrate under thermal stress due to cooling in fabrication process. Our FEM analysis revealed that a thinner SiAlON layer and a thicker mullite layer are most suitable to reduce ERRs for crack initiation at the SiC/SiAlON, SiAlON/mullite and mullite/Yb 2 Si 2 O 7 interfaces. Interface fracture tests of the T/EBC with layer thicknesses within the proposed range exhibited fracture at the SiC/SiAlON and SiAlON/mullite interfaces. We also estimated the approximate fracture toughness for the SiC/SiAlON and SiAlON/mullite interfaces and lower limit of fracture toughness for the mullite/Yb 2 Si 2 O 7 interface. Comparison between ERR and fracture toughness indicates that the fabricated T/EBC possesses sufficient mechanical reliability against interface crack initiation and propagation.Coatings 2019, 9, 697 2 of 27 with the following properties as the water vapor shielding layer; significant wall-thinning resistance in the combustion gas environment, and coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) being close to that of the SiC/SiC. Klemm conducted burner-rig tests for various heat-resistant materials under the condition simulating the actual combustion gas environment to quantitatively evaluate relationship between CTEs and wall-thinning rate [8]. The result indicated that ytterbium silicate (Yb 2 SiO 5 ; YbMS and Yb 2 Si 2 O 7 ; YbDS) has prominent wall-thinning resistance. He reported that the resistance of YbMS is particularly outstanding and that the CTE of YbMS is slightly larger than that of the SiC/SiC substrate, which is almost equal to that of YbDS. Yb-silicate is unlikely to fracture by phase transition during thermal cycle because phase transition causing the large volume change does not appear in the material throughout a wide temperature range from room temperature to high temperature. On the basis of these features, Yb-silicate is considered to be an attractive material as the water vapor shielding layer. By the way, YbMS is expected to be applied as the thermal barrier coating (TBC) for SiC/SiC substrate because the thermal conductivity of YbMS [9] is smaller than that of Y 2 O 3 -ZrO 2 (YSZ), which is used as TBC for Nickel-based super alloys.Under the combustion gas environment, EBCs are exposed to a steep gradient of oxygen chemical potential (dµ O ). It is known that, in an oxide layer under the environment of high temperature and dµ O , th...