A low critical tensile strain of 0.52% was measured for a film thickness of 80 nm. The critical tensile strain increased to 2.4% at a film thickness of 5 nm. In accordance with fracture mechanics modeling, JNJ-64619178 cost the critical tensile strains and the

saturation crack densities scaled as (1/h)(1/2) where h is the Al2O3 ALD film thickness. The fracture toughness for cracking, K-IC, of the Al2O3 ALD film was also determined to be K-IC=2.30 MPa m(1/2). Thinner Al2O3 ALD film thicknesses also had higher critical strains for cracking from compressive strains. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images revealed that Al2O3 ALD films with thicknesses of 30-50 nm on Teflon fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) substrates cracked at a critical compressive strain of similar to 1.0%. The critical compressive strain increased to similar to 2.0%

at a film thickness of similar to 20 nm. A comparison of the critical tensile strains on HSPEN substrates and critical compressive strains on Teflon FEP substrates revealed some similarities. The critical strain was similar to 1.0% for film thicknesses of 30-50 nm for both tensile and compressive strains. The critical compressive strain then increased more rapidly than the critical tensile strain for thinner films with thicknesses < 30 nm. The high critical tensile PF-562271 and compressive strains for thin Al2O3 ALD films should be very useful for

flexible gas diffusion barriers on polymers. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3567912]“
“Aims: The optimal management for patients with unresectable locally advanced adenocarcinoma AP26113 nmr of the pancreas (LAPC) is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the outcome of patients treated with chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with or without induction chemotherapy.

Materials and methods: We conducted a multi-centre retrospective analysis of 48 patients with biopsy-proven LAPC treated with CRT in four regional oncology centres in the UK between March 2000 and October 2007. The prescribed radiotherapy dose was 4500-5040 cGy in 25-28 fractions and was given concurrent with gemcitabine (n = 37), gemcitabine/cisplatin (n = 9), 5-fluorouracil (n = 1) or capecitabine (n = 1).

Results: Four patients (8.3%) did not complete the intended treatment due to CRT-related toxicities. The disease control rate (Objective response rate (ORR) and stable disease (SD)) was 81.3%. The median overall survival was 17 months (range 5-66 months). In subgroup analysis, a trend towards improved survival was seen in patients who completed the intended treatment (17.1 months vs 11.0 months, P = 0.06) and in patients undergoing surgery (27 months vs 16 months, P = 0.023).

Conclusions: This is the largest reported series from the UK focussing on patients who received CRT for pancreas cancer.