Dense KNN Polycrystals Doped by ErO Obtained by Hot Pressing with Hexagonal Boron Nitride Protective Layer.

Analysis of dense Potassium Sodium Niobate (KNN) ceramic obtained by hot pressing (HP) method at 1100 °C are presented in this paper. The synthesis of KNN-based piezoelectrics meets the following challenges-low density of material, uncontrolled K/Na ratio, multiphase composition and formation of different KNN structures. The classical hot pressing approach results in contamination by carbon originating from graphite molds.

Identification of a tumor-reactive T-cell repertoire in the immune infiltrate of patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: The devastating prognosis of patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) presents an urgent need for the development of therapeutic strategies targeting disseminated tumor cells. Until now, T-cell therapy has been scarcely pursued in PDA, due to the prevailing view that it represents a poorly immunogenic tumor.

Experimental Design: We systematically analyzed T-cell infiltrates in tumor biopsies from 127 patients with resectable PDA by means of immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, T-cell receptor (TCR) deep-sequencing and functional analysis of expanded T-cell cultures.

[Interaction between cigarette smoking and glucocorticoids therapy and therapeutic doses of radioiodine (131I) in patients with Graves’ disease].

Unlabelled: The present study evaluated the effects of smoking on the amount of therapeutic doses of radioiodine ((131)I) given to patients with Graves’ disease (GB). The study also retrospectively analyzed the relationship between the onset of symptoms of thyroid ophthalmopathy (OT) after treatment with (131)I within 2 years and changes of TSHR-Abs levels, and the impact of prednisone administration before and after the therapy on OT development in both smoking and non-smoking patients.

Materials And Methods: The study group included 116 patients, 97 women and 19 men, aged 28 ÷ 77 years (average 51 years) who were diagnosed with GB and treated with therapeutic doses of (131)I.

Three-dimensional microstructural characterization of porous cubic zirconia.

A set of cubic zirconia samples were investigated using 3-dimensional electron backscatter diffraction (3D EBSD) to analyze the grain structure, grain boundary networks and pore morphology. 3D EBSD is a variation of conventional EBSD, whereby a focused ion beam (FIB) is used in a dual beam scanning electron microscope (SEM) i.e.

Crystallographic control on the substructure of nacre tablets.

Nacre tablets of mollusks develop two kinds of features when either the calcium carbonate or the organic portions are removed: (1) parallel lineations (vermiculations) formed by elongated carbonate rods, and (2) hourglass patterns, which appear in high relief when etched or in low relief if bleached. In untreated tablets, SEM and AFM data show that vermiculations correspond to aligned and fused aragonite nanogloblules, which are partly surrounded by thin organic pellicles. EBSD mapping of the surfaces of tablets indicates that the vermiculations are invariably parallel to the crystallographic a-axis of aragonite and that the triangles are aligned with the b-axis and correspond to the advance of the {010} faces during the growth of the tablet.