Arsenic trioxide(As2O3) has proved highly effective in treating both refractory or primary cases of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The role of arsenic trioxide in APL treatment has been confirmed by study groups in China and in the USA. However, what is the role of As2O3 in treating APL? Should it be used as first line therapy, or should it be used as a second line drug. This still remains to be defined. Here, we report two cases of APL, who were treated successfully with As2O3 when they relapsed. Initially, both received all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) for primary remission induction therapy, and obtained a complete remission. For ethical or personal reasons, they did not receive chemotherapy as consolidation therapy and when they relapsed at 23 months and 12 months later respectively, they both received As2O3 therapy after being resistant to ATRA treatment. Two courses of As2O3 were given and both reached complete remission. There were very few adverse reactions to the drug, only mild abdominal cramps, mild fluid retention, and transient elevation of transaminases. They both had rather good quality of life throughout the treatment and both remain in remission for 32 months and 10 months since therapy, respectively.

This study investigated the temperature dependence of the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Al-doped MgxZn1-xO/p-AlGaN junction diodes. The n-type Al-doped MgxZn1-xO (AMZO) films were deposited on p-AlGaN using a radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering system followed by annealing at 700, 800, and 900°C in a nitrogen ambient for 60 s. The n-AMZO/p-AlGaN diode at a substrate temperature of 25°C showed the lowest leakage current in reverse bias. The n-AMZO/p-AlGaN diode with an AMZO annealed at 900°C demonstrated the lowest reverse leakage current. The temperature sensitivity coefficients of the I-V characterizations were obtained at different substrate temperatures (25, 50, 75 100, and 125°C), providing extracted values of 6.4, 7.6, and 5.6 mV/°C in forward bias and −20, 5.6, and 0.8 mV/°C in reverse bias for the AMZO films annealed at 700, 800, and 900°C, respectively. The n-AMZO/p-AlGaN junction diode fabricated with AMZO annealed at 900°C demonstrated the lowest temperature dependence. In addition, the light emission was derived from the forward-biased junction, and near-ultraviolet light emission was evident at all of the p-n diodes. Based on these findings, the n-AMZO/p-AlGaN diodes are suitable for GaN-based heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) and near-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Overnight polysomnography (PSG) is currently the standard diagnostic procedure for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It has been known that monitoring of head position in sleep is crucial not only for the diagnosis (positional sleep apnea) but also for the management of OSA (positional therapy). However, there are no sensor systems available clinically to hook up with PSG for accurate head position monitoring. In this paper, an accelerometer-based sensing system for accurate head position monitoring is developed and realized. The core CORDIC- (COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer-) based tilting sensing algorithm is realized in the system to quickly and accurately convert accelerometer raw data into the desired head position tilting angles. The system can hook up with PSG devices for diagnosis to have head position information integrated with other PSG-monitored signals. It has been applied in an IRB test in Taipei Veterans General Hospital and has been proved that it can meet the medical needs of accurate head position monitoring for PSG diagnosis.

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The residual stress of thin films during the deposition process can cause the components to have unpredictable deformation and damage, which could affect the service life and reliability of the microsystems. Developing an accurate and reliable method for measuring the residual stress of thin films at the micrometer and nanometer scale is a great challenge. To analyze the residual stress regarding factors such as the mechanical anisotropy and preferred orientation of the materials, information related to the in-depth lattice strain function is required when calculating the depth profiles of the residual strain. For depth-resolved measurements of residual stress, it is strategically advantageous to develop a measurement procedure that is microstructurally independent. Here, by performing an incremental focused ion beam (FIB) ring-core drilling experiment with various depth steps, the digital image correlation (DIC) of the specimen images was obtained. The feasibility of DIC to FIB images was evaluated after the translation test, and an appropriate procedure for reliable results was established. Furthermore, the condition of the film in the function of residual stress was assessed and compared to elucidate the applicability of this technology.