Dermoscopic Features of Actinic Cheilitis and Other Common Inflammatory Cheilitis: A Multicentric Retrospective Observational Study by the International Dermoscopy Society

Background: Clinical differentiation between different cheilitis variants may be difficult. Application of mucoscopy, in addition to clinical background, could provide additional diagnostic clues facilitating initial patient management. Objectives: To determine mucoscopic clues differentiating actinic cheilitis from the main forms of inflammatory cheilitis, including eczematous cheilitis, discoid lupus erythematosus, and lichen planus of the lips. Methods: This was a retrospective, multicenter study being a part of an ongoing project "Mucoscopy - an upcoming tool for oral mucosal disorders" under the aegis of the International Dermoscopy Society. Cases included in the current study were collected via an online call published on the IDS website (www.dermoscopy-ids.org) between January 2019 and December 2020. Results: Whitish-red background was found in actinic cheilitis as well as in cheilitis due to discoid lupus erythematous and lichen planus. Polymorphous vessels were more likely to be seen in actinic cheilitis compared to other causes of cheilitis. White scales, ulceration, and blood spots predominated in actinic cheilitis and lichen planus, whereas yellowish scales typified eczematous and discoid lupus erythematous cheilitis. Radiating white lines although most common in lichen planus patients were also seen in actinic cheilitis. Conclusion: Despite differences in the frequency of mucoscopic structures, we have not found pathognomonic features allowing for differentiation between analyzed variants of cheilitis

Dust Properties of NGC4753

We report BVR surface photometry of a lenticular galaxy, NGC4753 with prominent dust lanes. We have used the multicolor broadband photometry to study dust-extinction as a function of wavelength and derived the extinction curve. We find the extinction curve of NGC 4753 to be similar to the Galactic extinction curve in the visible region which implies that the sizes of dust grains responsible for optical extinction are similar to those in our Galaxy. We derive dust mass from optical extinction as well as from the far infrared fluxes observed with IRAS. The ratio of the two dust masses, $\frac{M_{d,IRAS}}{M_{d,optical}}$, is 2.28 for NGC 4753, which is significantly lower than the value of 8.4 \pm 1.3 found previously for a large sample of elliptical galaxies. The total mass of the observed dust within NGC4753 is about a factor of 10 higher than the mass of dust expected from loss of mass from red giant stars and destruction by sputtering and grain-grain collisions in low velocity shocks, and sputtering in supernova driven blast waves. We find evidence for the coexistence of dust and H$\alpha$ emitting gas within NGC4753. The current star formation rate of NGC4753, averaged over past $2\times10^{6} yr$, is estimated to be less than 0.21M_{\sun}yr^{-1}. A substantial amount of dust within NGC4753 exists in the form of cirrus.Comment: 15 pages, 8 jpeg figures, 5 tables in one file, AASTEX style, Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 1999 Augus

Fomento y transversalidad de la lengua inglesa en el Grado de Historia: propuesta interdisciplinar en torno a los conceptos de resiliencia y precariedad

Memoria ID-0099. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2017-2018

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Field Enhancement And Far-Field Radiation Using Parabolic Optical Antenna

Optical antennas are metal nano structures that convert strongly localized energy into radiation and vice versa with a high throughput. Metals are not perfect conductors at optical frequencies and their optical properties are strongly affected by the existence of Surface Plasmon Polariton (SSP) resonances. These modes are highly confined and can be controlled at the nano scale by shape and size of metals.Although the principles of nano-optical antennas have been derived from conventional antennas, but the quantitative evaluation of antennas cannot be simply scaled down for nano antennas owing to the unusual behavior of metals at optical frequencies. Since the behavior of such nano antennas is dominated by surface Plasmon resonances, a numerical solution/simulation based on Maxwell's equation is necessary to study the effects of size of nano antenna, dielectric and illumination conditions on the field.The focus of this thesis is to analyze the scattered field of gold parabolic nano-disc. The research is based on the theory of conventional parabolic dish as an efficient structure for transmission and reception of energy. The field profile of the nano-disc provides insight into the behavior of the disc with respect to directivity, gain and field enhancement. This leads to the plasmonic applications in lasing cavities, photo voltaic cells, microscopy and spectroscopy. The simulation is carried out in COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS as it incorporates the Finite Element method (FEM) to solve the equations with the boundary condition

High Power and High Efficiency Doherty Power Amplifier Design at 8GHz for Drone Application

New generation Drone transceiver systems require high linearity and high efficiency power amplifiers. Consumers need more transmitter range, hence more output power from a Power Amplifier. Doherty Power amplifier has been chosen for this application as it provides both high inearity and high efficiency. In this thesis DPA is designed for greater than 4W output power at 8GHz frequency, to be used as Phased array elements so as to provide a power combined output power of 40W for long range Drone transmission. The range of the Drone can be increased significantly with this approach.A high power and high efficiency, linear Doherty Power Amplifier is designed at 8GHz X band frequency using Cree’s 0.25um Discrete GaN HEMT DFN packaged power amplifiers. An output power of 38dBm is to be achieved and a gain of 12dB. The Doherty PA is housed on a Roger 4350B PCB. 50V supply voltages are used. The DC current is 40mA per PA. The target drain efficiency of 60% to be achieved. The PA was fabricated and performance issues has been discussed

Probing Interactions between AuNPs/AgNPs and Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) Using Hyperspectral Dark-field Microscopy

Noble metallic nanoparticles (NPs) such as gold and silver nanoparticles (AuNPs and AgNPs) have been shown to exhibit anti-tumor effect in anti-angiogenesis, photothermal and radio therapeutics. On the other hand, cell membranes are critical locales for specific targeting of cancerous cells. Therefore, NP-membrane interactions need be studied at molecular level to help better understand the underlying physicochemical mechanisms for future applications in cancer nanotechnology. Herein, we report our study on the interactions between citrate stabilized colloidal AuNPs/AgNPs (10 nm in size) and giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) using hyperspectral dark-field microscopy. GUVs are large model vesicle systems well established for the study of membrane dynamics. GUVs used in this study were prepared with dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and doped with cholesterol at various molar concentrations. Both imaging and spectral results support that AuNPs and AgNPs interact very differently with GUVs, i.e., AuNPs tend to integrate in between the lipid bilayer and form a uniform golden-brown crust on vesicles, whereas AgNPs are bejeweled on the vesicle surface as isolated particles or clusters with much varied configurations. The more disruptive capability of AuNPs is hypothesized to be responsible for the formation of golden brown crusts in AuNP-GUV interaction. GUVs of 20 mol% CHOL:DMPC were found to be a most economical concentration for GUVs to achieve the best integrity and the least permeability, consistent with the finding from other phase studies of lipid mixture that the liquid-ordered domains have the largest area fraction of the entire membrane at around 20 mol% of cholesterol