Summary
In patients with liver disease, thrombocytopenia is a clinical feature that may represent an obstacle to invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, chemotherapy, and anti‐viral treatment. ...Stimulation of the bone marrow is the most promising therapeutic intervention for thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic liver disease.
The description of thrombopoietin and its (de)regulation in patients with chronic liver disease have disclosed new treatment opportunities. Indeed, pharmacologic treatment options for thrombocytopenia can be divided into treatments targeted at the thrombopoietin receptor (synthetic thrombopoietins and thrombopoietin‐mimetic agents), and use of cytokines with general thrombopoietic potential. Unfortunately, use of synthetic thrombopoietin was hampered by the development of neutralizing antibodies, and thrombopoietin mimetic agents have not yet entered clinical studies. Interleukin‐11 proved to be useful in increasing platelet count in patients with chronic liver disease, although its use is limited by side‐effects.
Erythropoietin has shown promising results in improving thrombocytopenia in cirrhotic patients. In patients with chronic liver disease, safe and well‐tolerated treatments aimed at improving thrombocytopenia are still lacking. Larger studies are needed to evaluate and better characterize the thrombopoietic potential of erythropoietin. Human studies with thrombopoietin‐mimetic agents are eagerly awaited in order to assess both effectiveness and safety of these drugs.
Silicon and Germanium monopnictides SiP, SiAs, GeP and GeAs form a family of 2D layered semiconductors. We have succeeded in growing bulk single crystals of these compounds by melt-growth under high ...pressure (0.5-1GPa) in a cubic anvil hot press. Large (mm-size), shiny, micaceous crystals of GeP, GeAs and SiAs were obtained, and could be exfoliated into 2D flakes. Small and brittle crystals of SiP were yielded by this method. High-pressure sintered polycrystalline SiP and GeAs have also been successfully used as a precursor in the Chemical Vapor Transport growth of these crystals in the presence of I2 as a transport agent. All compounds are found to crystallize in the expected layered structure and do not undergo any structural transition at low temperature, as shown by Raman spectroscopy down to T=5K. All materials exhibit a semiconducting behavior. The electrical resistivity of GeP, GeAs and SiAs is found to depend on temperature following a 2D-Variable Range Hopping conduction mechanism. The availability of bulk crystals of these compounds opens new perspectives in the field of 2D semiconducting materials for device applications.
•Layered crystals of Si- and Ge-monopnictides have been grown.•Both high-pressure melt growth and chemical vapor transport were successfully used.•Si- and Ge-monopnictides are semiconductors in a 2D-Variable-Range-Hopping regime.
The discovery of ferromagnetism in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) crystals has generated widespread interest. Making further progress in this area requires quantitative knowledge of the ...magnetic properties of vdW magnets at the nanoscale. We used scanning single-spin magnetometry based on diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers to image the magnetization, localized defects, and magnetic domains of atomically thin crystals of the vdW magnet chromium(III) iodide (CrI
). We determined the magnetization of CrI
monolayers to be ≈16 Bohr magnetons per square nanometer, with comparable values in samples with odd numbers of layers; however, the magnetization vanishes when the number of layers is even. We also found that structural modifications can induce switching between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interlayer ordering. These results demonstrate the benefit of using single-spin scanning magnetometry to study the magnetism of 2D vdW magnets.
Linked Content
This article is linked to Pinato et al papers. To view these articles visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14356 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14394.
Charge density waves (CDWs) are understood in great detail in one dimension, but they remain largely enigmatic in two-dimensional systems. In particular, numerous aspects of the associated energy gap ...and the formation mechanism are not fully understood. Two long-standing riddles are the amplitude and position of the CDW gap with respect to the Fermi level (E_{F}) and the frequent absence of CDW contrast inversion (CI) between opposite bias scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images. Here, we find compelling evidence that these two issues are intimately related. Combining density functional theory and STM to analyze the CDW pattern and modulation amplitude in 1T-TiSe_{2}, we find that CI takes place at an unexpected negative sample bias because the CDW gap opens away from E_{F}, deep inside the valence band. This bias becomes increasingly negative as the CDW gap shifts to higher binding energy with electron doping. This study shows the importance of CI in STM images to identify periodic modulations with a CDW and to gain valuable insight into the CDW gap, whose measurement is notoriously controversial.
We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the candidate type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2 . Using laser-based angle-resolved photoemission, we resolve multiple distinct Fermi arcs on the ...inequivalent top and bottom (001) surfaces. All surface states observed experimentally are reproduced by an electronic structure calculation for the experimental crystal structure that predicts a topological Weyl semimetal state with eight type-II Weyl points. We further use systematic electronic structure calculations simulating different Weyl point arrangements to discuss the robustness of the identified Weyl semimetal state and the topological character of Fermi arcs in MoTe2 .
We report high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission measurements on single crystals of Pt2HgSe3 grown by high-pressure synthesis. Our data reveal a gapped Dirac nodal line whose (001) projection ...separates the surface Brillouin zone in topological and trivial areas. In the nontrivial k-space range, we find surface states with multiple saddle points in the dispersion, resulting in two van Hove singularities in the surface density of states. Based on density-functional theory calculations, we identify these surface states as signatures of a topological crystalline state, which coexists with a weak topological phase.
Abstract
We report the influence on the superconducting critical temperature
T
c
in doped SrTiO
3
of the substitution of the natural
16
O atoms by the heavier isotope
18
O. We observe that for a wide ...range of doping this substitution causes a strong (~50%) enhancement of
T
c
. Also the magnetic critical field
H
c
2
is increased by a factor ~2. Such a strong impact on
T
c
and
H
c
2
, with a sign opposite to conventional superconductors, is unprecedented. The observed effect could be the consequence of strong coupling of the doped electrons to lattice vibrations (phonons), a notion which finds support in numerous optical and photo-emission studies. The unusually large size of the observed isotope effect supports a recent model for superconductivity in these materials based on strong coupling to the ferroelectric soft modes of SrTiO
3
.
Liver enzyme alteration: a guide for clinicians Giannini, Edoardo G; Testa, Roberto; Savarino, Vincenzo
CMAJ. Canadian Medical Association journal,
2005-Feb-01, 2005-02-01, 20050201, Letnik:
172, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Isolated alterations of biochemical markers of liver damage in a seemingly healthy patient can present a challenge for the clinician. In this review we provide a guide to interpreting alterations to ...liver enzyme levels. The functional anatomy of the liver and pathophysiology of liver enzyme alteration are briefly reviewed. Using a schematic approach that classifies enzyme alterations as predominantly hepatocellular or predominantly cholestatic, we review abnormal enzymatic activity within the 2 subgroups, the most common causes of enzyme alteration and suggested initial investigations.
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