A dual natural lithium formate/L-alanine EPR dosimeter for a mixed radiation field in a boron neutron capture therapy irradiation facility

Standard commercial L-alanine pellets and specially prepared natural lithium formate monohydrate powder samples of specific granulometry were irradiated in a 60Co gamma-ray irradiation plant and in the mixed field (thermal neutrons and gamma photons) of a boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) experimental facility. The γ-doses applied with the 60Co source range from 0.1 to 50 kGy, while those in the BNCT facility go from ∼7 Gy to 150 Gy. The thermal neutron fluences range from 1012 neutrons cm-2 to 2 1013 neutrons cm-2. The irradiation of materials promotes the creation of stable electronic defects (generally free radicals) which constitute paramagnetic centers that can be detected and quantified by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). After irradiation, the EPR characterization of the samples was performed by determining the EPR intensity of the spectrum relative to a reference standard constituted by Mn2+ impurities diluted into a MgO single crystal. As expected, L-alanine has revealed to be largely insensitive to thermal neutrons fluence in the investigated range. On the contrary, it is shown that the EPR intensity of irradiated natural lithium formate monohydrate powders is clearly sensitive to thermal neutrons and has a linear dependence with the γ-dose. We propose a dual dosimeter by combining L-alanine pellets and formate powders that would allow to determine the γ-dose and thermal neutron fluence in a selected position of the BNCT irradiation facility. Moreover, we demonstrate that the 6Li enrichment that has been proposed in the literature to enhance the performance of lithium-based EPR dosimeters is not crucial in our case. Instead, the natural isotopic abundance of lithium is large enough to obtain a satisfactory sensibility to thermal neutrons in our BNCT facility for fluencies >1012 neutrons cm-2.Fil: Alejandro, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Bariloche | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Bariloche.; ArgentinaFil: Longhino, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Bariloche | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Bariloche.; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear; ArgentinaFil: Pawlak, Eva. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; ArgentinaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Bariloche | Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnologia - Nodo Bariloche.; Argentin

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Relaxation dynamics of ferromagnetic FePt thin films in a broad frequency range

The dynamical behaviour of FePt thin films in the chemically disordered fcc phase has been studied using ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy in a broad range of frequencies, from 1 to 100 GHz. A set of samples with thicknesses between 9 and 94 nm was investigated at room temperature in order to analyse the damping of the magnetization as a function of the excitation frequency. As expected, the increase in frequency is accompanied by larger resonance fields and linewidths. These two quantities also display an anisotropic response when the external applied field is rotated from the in-plane to the out-of-plane direction. We have observed that in the thicker samples the linewidth is different for fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the film plane which, in principle, should not occur in homogeneous ferromagnetic films. This behaviour could be understood by the presence of a frequency-independent anisotropic inhomogeneous broadening that depends on film thickness, in addition to the Gilbert damping term (α) which gives a linear frequency dependence. Although this last term is in general isotropic, we have measured different values of α for in-plane (α = 0.025(1)) and out-of-plane (α⊥ = 0.021(1)) geometries. These values of the damping constant are considerably smaller than those previously reported in chemically.Fil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Alejandro, Gabriela. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Javier Enrique. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Goovaerts, E. . Universiteit Antwerpen; BélgicaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Critical thickness for stripe domain formation in FePt thin films: Dependence on residual stress

Magnetically soft FePt thin films of varying thickness (20 nm ≤ d ≤ 100 nm) were sputter-deposited at different Ar pressures in order to systematically modify the residual stress and hence the magnetic anisotropy. The magnetic domain structure of FePt thin films showed a transition from planar to nearly parallel stripes above a critical thickness, dcr, which was found to depend on an anisotropy contribution perpendicular to the film plane, originated essentially in magnetoelastic effects. A careful structural characterization was made in order to obtain the strain and the stress induced magnetic anisotropy in the samples. Vibrating sample magnetometry and magnetic force microscopy were used to investigate the changes occurring in the magnetic domain structure and the critical thickness of each set of films. Joining together structural and magnetic results, we have been able to construct a phase diagram that divided regions of different domain structures, either by changing the film thickness or the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The experimental results could be satisfactorily explained by using a model developed by Murayama. The observed dependence of the magnetic properties of soft FePt thin films on the fabrication conditions opens the possibility to tune the magnetic domain configuration from planar to stripe-like domains by changing the argon sputtering pressure used during film deposition.Fil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Javier Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; ArgentinaFil: Moya Riffo, Alvaro Esteban. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Gerencia de Ingeniería Nuclear (CAB). División Neutrones y Reactores; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vicente Alvarez, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Gerencia de Ingeniería Nuclear (CAB). División Neutrones y Reactores; ArgentinaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Spin transport parameters in Ni80 Fe20/ Ru and Ni80 Fe20/ Ta bilayers

We present a systematic study of the spin transport properties in two different bilayer systems, Ni80Fe20/Ru and Ni80Fe20/Ta, combining ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) voltage measurements. We have estimated the effective spin mixing conductance g↑↓ by analyzing the permalloy (Py) thickness dependence of the FMR linewidth obtaining g↑↓=(3.8±0.7)×1015cm-2 and g↑↓=(1.3±0.4)×1015cm-2 for Py/Ru and Py/Ta, respectively. Analyzing the Ta thickness dependence of the ISHE voltage, we have been able to extract the spin diffusion length, λSD=1.5±0.5 nm, and spin Hall angle, ΘSH=-0.03±0.01, of Ta. From the two series of Py/Ta bilayers - with thickness variation of ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic layers, respectively - we demonstrate a path to estimate the spin diffusion length from the experimental data, independent of the spin Hall angle and the microwave field amplitude.Fil: Gomez, Javier Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche | Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Zerai Tedlla, B.. Universiteit Antwerp; BélgicaFil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche | Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Alejandro, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche | Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Goovaerts, E.. Universiteit Antwerp; BélgicaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche | Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentin

Tunable stress induced magnetic domain configuration in FePt thin films

We present a study of the magnetic properties of chemically disordered ferromagnetic FePt films of 100 nm thickness that have been grown by sputtering with different Ar pressures (3 mTorr ≤PAr < 13 mTorr). We found that the residual stress can be controlled by the sputtering pressure, which in turn allows to tune the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy due to magnetoelastic effects. Films deposited at lower Ar pressures display an in-plane compressive stress that favors an out of plane component of the magnetization and the formation of a magnetic domain structure in the form of stripes. For higher pressures the stress is relaxed and the magnetic configuration changes to planar domains. These results show the possibility to accurately tune the initial magnetic state in films with potential applications in magnetoelectrically coupled devices.Fil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Vázquez Montalbetti, M. E.. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Regional Villa Maria; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Javier Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Moya Riffo, Alvaro Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Vicente Alvarez, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Goovaerts, E.. University of Antwerp; BélgicaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; Argentina. Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentin

Abnormal Temperature Dependence of the Coercive Feld in FePt thin films

We have observed notable changes in the magnetic response of FePt thin films that we have attributed to a transition in the magnetic domain structure when the film thickness or the temperature is varied. The critical thickness for this transition depends on the Q-factor, Q=Kperp/2PiMs^2, so that a change in thedomain structure is expected when changes in the perpendicular anisotropy, Kperp , or the saturation magnetization, Ms, occur. At room temperature these samples have Q ~ 0:3, and a transition between planar to stripe-like domains occurs for a film thickness d ~ 30 nm. Due to the different thermal expansion of the FePt alloy and the Si substrate a reduction in Q is predicted when the temperature is lowered. From magnetization vs. field loops measured at different temperatures below T=300 K, we have effectively observed a change in the coercive field which can be associated to a transition from stripe-like to in-plane domains. The transition temperature range is broad, indicating a gradual variation between the two magnetic configurations, but changes systematically with film thickness, consistent with an interfacial induced stress. A model that includes the temperature dependence of the strain and the magnetization, predicts correctly the observation of a larger critical thickness at lower temperatures.Fil: Guzmán, Jonás Manuel. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Salva, Horacio Ramon. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Vasquez Mansilla, Marcelo. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Javier Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; ArgentinaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Centro Atomico Bariloche; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentin

Strain effects on the magnetic order of epitaxial FeRh thin films

In this work, we report the experimental results obtained on a set of ∼90 nm thick FeRh epitaxial films deposited on MgO (001), MgO (111), and Al2O3 (0001) single crystal substrates. The magnetic characterization was achieved by measuring magnetization curves and ferromagnetic resonance as a function of temperature and orientation of the films with respect to the applied magnetic field. We discuss our results by comparing the characteristics of the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic transition among FeRh films of the same thickness but exposed to different post-growth annealings and deposited on substrates of different crystalline orientations. We have found that there is a correlation between the strain present in the films and their magnetic behavior, observing that a change in the in-plane stress from compressive to tensile tends to shift the magnetic transition by more than 60 K. The interplay between magnetic and elastic properties was further analyzed by ferromagnetic resonance, and we have found that the magnetoelastic component of the anisotropy varies from out-of-plane to in-plane, depending on the substrate. These findings could be of great importance if a precise tuning of the magnetic transition temperature or the magnetic anisotropy is needed for a specific application.Fil: Kumar, H.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Cornejo, Daniel Reinaldo. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Morelhao, S. L.. University of Guelph; Canadá. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Kycia, S.. University of Guelph; CanadáFil: Montellano Duran, Ivar Mauricio. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; ArgentinaFil: Alejandro, Gabriela. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; ArgentinaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentin

Magnetic coupling of stripe domains in FePt/Ni80Fe20 bilayers

Equiatomic FePt in the A1 soft magnetic phase and Ni80Fe20 (permalloy) thin films form a stripe-like magnetic domain structure above a critical thickness. This critical thickness is considerably different in the two alloys and allows us to study the influence of the magnetic coupling in the domain configuration in bilayers. Using dc magnetron sputtering techniques, we fabricated two different sets of FePt/Ni80Fe20 bilayers, keeping one thickness fixed and varying the other, and investigated the dc magnetic properties and the magnetic domain configuration of the structure. In all cases, magnetization reversal occurred at a single coercive field, indicating a relatively strong magnetic exchange coupling between both layers. The observed stripe period was also consistent with a model of spring magnet-like behavior. However, for certain values of FePt and permalloy thickness a complex nonparallel double stripe structure was found, which may be attributed to the influence of the dipolar stray field of the thicker layer on the stripe structure of the thinner film.Fil: Alvarez, Nadia Roxana. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Javier Enrique. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Vasquez Mansilla, Marcelo. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Pianciola, Betiana Noelia. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Actis, Daniel Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Gilardi, Gonzalo José. Universidad Nacional del Sur; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Leiva, L.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Milano, Julian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; ArgentinaFil: Butera, Alejandro Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Resonancias Magnéticas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentin

Intraoperative transfusion practices in Europe

Transfusion of allogeneic blood influences outcome after surgery. Despite widespread availability of transfusion guidelines, transfusion practices might vary among physicians, departments, hospitals and countries. Our aim was to determine the amount of packed red blood cells (pRBC) and blood products transfused intraoperatively, and to describe factors determining transfusion throughout Europe. We did a prospective observational cohort study enrolling 5803 patients in 126 European centres that received at least one pRBC unit intraoperatively, during a continuous three month period in 2013. The overall intraoperative transfusion rate was 1.8%; 59% of transfusions were at least partially initiated as a result of a physiological transfusion trigger- mostly because of hypotension (55.4%) and/or tachycardia (30.7%). Haemoglobin (Hb)- based transfusion trigger alone initiated only 8.5% of transfusions. The Hb concentration [mean (sd)] just before transfusion was 8.1 (1.7) g dl and increased to 9.8 (1.8) g dl after transfusion. The mean number of intraoperatively transfused pRBC units was 2.5 (2.7) units (median 2). Although European Society of Anaesthesiology transfusion guidelines are moderately implemented in Europe with respect to Hb threshold for transfusion (7-9 g dl), there is still an urgent need for further educational efforts that focus on the number of pRBC units to be transfused at this threshold