Thermal characterization of micrometric polymeric thin films by photoacoustic spectroscopy

In materials science, the knowledge of the thermal properties of thin films on thick substrates is crucial in determining the role of the film in the physical properties of the entire system. Even though the role of the film can be very important, the determination of its thermal properties is a challenging task due to the fact that its contribution to heat transfer is generally hard to single out from the influence of the substrate. Herein, a simple analytical methodology, based on the photoacoustic technique, useful in the thermal characterization of thin films on thick substrates, is presented. The approach is based on illuminating one side of the substrate with a modulated laser beam and monitoring the thermal contrast when a thin film is formed on the opposite side. This methodology allows to unambiguously determine the volumetric heat capacity of micrometric polymeric thin films. The limits of applicability of the method as well as the possibility of performing a full characterization of the thermal properties of the film are discussed

Intravenous versus subcutaneous tocilizumab in Takayasu arteritis: multicentre retrospective study

ObjectivesIn this large multicentre study, we compared the effectiveness and safety of tocilizumab intravenous versus subcutaneous (SC) in 109 Takayasu arteritis (TAK) patients.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective multicentre study in referral centres from France, Italy, Spain, Armenia, Israel, Japan, Tunisia and Russia regarding biological-targeted therapies in TAK, since January 2017 to September 2019.ResultsA total of 109 TAK patients received at least 3 months tocilizumab therapy and were included in this study. Among them, 91 and 18 patients received intravenous and SC tocilizumab, respectively. A complete response (NIH <2 with less than 7.5 mg/day of prednisone) at 6 months was evidenced in 69% of TAK patients, of whom 57 (70%) and 11 (69%) patients were on intravenous and SC tocilizumab, respectively (p=0.95). The factors associated with complete response to tocilizumab at 6 months in multivariate analysis, only age <30 years (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.14 to 7.12; p=0.027) and time between TAK diagnosis and tocilizumab initiation (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.36; p=0.034). During the median follow-up of 30.1 months (0.4; 105.8) and 10.8 (0.1; 46.4) (p<0.0001) in patients who received tocilizumab in intravenous and SC forms, respectively, the risk of relapse was significantly higher in TAK patients on SC tocilizumab (HR=2.55, 95% CI 1.08 to 6.02; p=0.033). The overall cumulative incidence of relapse at 12 months in TAK patients was at 13.7% (95% CI 7.6% to 21.5%), with 10.3% (95% CI 4.8% to 18.4%) for those on intravenous tocilizumab vs 30.9% (95% CI 10.5% to 54.2%) for patients receiving SC tocilizumab. Adverse events occurred in 14 (15%) patients on intravenous route and in 2 (11%) on SC tocilizumab.ConclusionIn this study, we confirm that tocilizumab is effective in TAK, with complete remission being achieving by 70% of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs-refractory TAK patients at 6 months

Music and facial emotion recognition and its relationship with alexithymia

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of alexithymia on the ability to identify emotions through visual and auditory stimuli. We assessed Alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). As visual stimuli, we employed the images of faces from the Ekman 60 Faces Test, while the auditory stimuli consisted of fragments of instrumental music. A total of 303 students participated, 139 in secondary education and 164 in the first year of university (M = 17.58 years; SD = 4.16). The results show higher alexithymia levels in the female participants than in the male participants, mainly in the difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) and difficulty describing feelings (DDF) factors, and higher in the secondary students than in the university students, especially in externally oriented thinking (EOT). In terms of the identification of emotions through auditory stimuli, the EOT factor showed a strong predictive effect for the emotions of surprise and anger. For the visual stimuli, the EOT factor showed predictive validity for identifying happiness, while the DDF factor showed predictive validity for identifying sadness. We conclude that there is a relationship between alexithymia levels and emotion recognition, which varies depending on the nature of the stimulus

Asymmetric Synthesis of Rauhut–Currier type Products by a Regioselective Mukaiyama Reaction under Bifunctional Catalysis

The reactivity and the regioselective functionalization of silyl–diene enol ethers under a bifunctional organocatalyst provokes a dramatic change in the regioselectivity, from the 1,5- to the 1,3-functionalization. This variation makes possible the 1,3-addition of silyl–dienol ethers to nitroalkenes, giving access to the synthesis of tri- and tetrasubstituted double bonds in Rauhut–Currier type products. The process takes place under smooth conditions, nonanionic conditions, and with a high enantiomeric excess. A rational mechanistic pathway is presented based on DFT and mechanistic experiments

Density Functional Theory and Electrochemical Studies: Structure–Efficiency Relationship on Corrosion Inhibition

The relationship between structure and corrosion inhibition of a series of 30 imidazol, benzimidazol, and pyridine derivatives has been established through the investigation of quantum descriptors calculated with PBE/6-311++G**. A quantitative structure–property relationship model was obtained by examination of these descriptors using a genetic functional approximation method based on a multiple linear regression analysis. Our results indicate that the efficiency of corrosion inhibitors is strongly associated with aromaticity, electron donor ability, and molecular volume descriptors. In order to calibrate and validate the proposed model, we performed electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies on imidazole, 2-methylimidazole, benzimidazole, 2-chloromethylbenzimidazole, pyridine, and 2-aminopyridine compounds. The experimental values for efficiency of corrosion inhibition are in good agreement with the estimated values obtained by our model, thus confirming that our approach represents a promising and suitable tool to predict the inhibition of corrosion attributes of nitrogen containing heterocyclic compounds. The adsorption behavior of imidazole or benzimidazole heterocyclic molecules on the Fe(110) surface was also studied to elucidate the inhibition mechanism; the aromaticity played an important role in the adsorbate–surface complex