We report that defect-free Au nanowires show superplasticity on tensile deformation. Evidences from high-resolution electron microscopes indicated that the plastic deformation proceeds layer-by-layer in an atomically coherent fashion to a long distance. Furthermore, the stress-strain curve provides full interpretation of the deformation. After initial superelastic deformation, the nanowire shows superplastic deformation induced by coherent twin propagation, completely reorientating the crystal from <110> to <100>. Uniquely well-disciplined and long-propagating atomic movements deduced here are ascribed to the superb crystallinity as well as the radial confinement of the Au nanowires.

In vivo 31P MRS demonstrates that human melanoma xenografts in immunosuppressed mice treated with lonidamine (LND, 100 mg/kg, i.p.) exhibit a decrease in intracellular pH (pHi) from 6.90 ± 0.05 to 6.33 ± 0.10 (p < 0.001), a slight decrease in extracellular pH (pHe) from 7.00 ± 0.04 to 6.80 ± 0.07 (p > 0.05), and a monotonic decline in bioenergetics (NTP/Pi) by 66.8 ± 5.7% (p < 0.001) relative to the baseline level. Both bioenergetics and pHi decreases were sustained for at least 3 hr following LND treatment. Liver exhibited a transient intracellular acidification by 0.2 ± 0.1 pH units (p > 0.05) at 20 min post-LND with no significant change in pHe and a small transient decrease in bioenergetics, 32.9 ± 10.6 % (p > 0.05), at 40 min post-LND. No changes in pHi or ATP/Pi were detected in the brain (pHi, bioenergetics; p > 0.1) or skeletal muscle (pHi, pHe, bioenergetics; p > 0.1) for at least 120 min post-LND. Steady-state tumor lactate monitored by 1H MRS with a selective multiquantum pulse sequence with Hadamard localization increased ~3-fold (p = 0.009). Treatment with LND increased systemic melanoma response to melphalan (LPAM; 7.5 mg/kg, i.v.) producing a growth delay of 19.9 ± 2.0 d (tumor doubling time = 6.15 ± 0.31d, log10 cell-kill = 0.975 ± 0.110, cell-kill = 89.4 ± 2.2%) compared to LND alone of 1.1 ± 0.1 d and LPAM alone of 4.0 ± 0.0 d. The study demonstrates that the effects of LND on tumor pHi and bioenergetics may sensitize melanoma to pH-dependent therapeutics such as chemotherapy with alkylating agents or hyperthermia.

BackgroundSpinal anesthesia is the most common regional anesthesia conducted for many surgical procedures. Multiple factors can affect the success, the side effects, and patient satisfaction with the procedure. This study was undertaken prospectively to discover factors affecting dissatisfaction and refusal of spinal anesthesia.MethodsStarting in December 2007, patients who underwent spinal anesthesia in the operating rooms of our hospital were surveyed over a period of a year. Before attempting the procedure, patient characteristics and previous history of anesthesia were recorded. Spinal anesthesia was administered with 0.5% heavy bupivacaine combined with fentanyl 0-20 µg. Intraoperative data and postoperative data on the day after surgery were collected. The patients were also asked about their general satisfaction with spinal anesthesia, causes of dissatisfaction with the procedure, and causes of their refusal to have spinal anesthesia again.ResultsSix patients among 1,197 cases were excluded from the study because of spinal anesthesia failure. The dissatisfaction rate of spinal anesthesia was 3.7%, and its risk factors were more than three puncture attempts, paresthesia at puncture, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and postoperative backache. The refusal rate to have spinal anesthesia again was 3.2%, and its risk factors were postoperative backache and dissatisfaction.ConclusionsAlthough spinal anesthesia was conducted safely during the study and revealed a high rate of patient satisfaction (96.3%), side effects still occurred. Therefore, attending anesthesiologists must perform the procedure carefully and always pay attention to patients under spinal anesthesia.

Propofol or remifentanil anesthesia was associated with a higher incidence of OCR during pediatric strabismus surgery than sevoflurane and desflurane anesthesia, when either ketamine or midazolam was used as an induction agent.

We report magnetism in Cu doped single-crystalline GaN nanowires. The typical diameter and the length of the Ga1-xCuxN nanowires (x = 0.01, 0.024) are 10-100 nm and tens of micrometers, respectively. The saturation magnetic moments are measured to be higher than 0.86 microB/Cu at 300 K, and the Curie temperatures are far above room temperature. Anomalous X-ray scattering and X-ray diffraction measurement make it clear that Cu atoms substitute the Ga sites, and they largely take part in the wurtzite network of host GaN. X-ray absorption and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra at Cu L(2,3) edges show that doped Cu has local magnetic moment and the electronic configuration of it is mainly 3d9 but mixed with a small portion of trivalent component. It seems that the ionocovalent bonding nature of Cu 3d orbital with surrounding semiconductor medium makes Cu atom a mixed electron configuration and local magnetic moments. These outcomes suggest that the Ga1-xCuxN system is a room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor.