The efficacy of halofantrine in the treatment of acute malaria in nonimmune travelers

A multicenter prospective trial was performed to investigate the efficacy and the tolerability of halofantrine in nonimmune patients with malaria imported from areas with drug-resistant falciparum parasites (mainly Africa). Forty-five of the 74 subjects were treated with a one-day regimen (3 x 500 mg) of halofantrine, and the other 29 received the same regimen with an additional treatment on day 7. In the second group, a 100% efficacy rate was demonstrated, but in the group receiving the one-day regimen, four recrudescences were observed in patients with falciparum malaria. Only five mild adverse reactions were seen, which disappeared spontaneously after the end of the treatment. We conclude that halofantrine is highly effective in curing malaria in nonimmune subjects. The treatment scheme for such persons should include an additional treatment on day 7 for nonimmune individuals. This drug was well tolerated in our patients, indicating that halofantrine will be useful in the treatment of multidrug-resistant malaria in nonimmune persons

A free-standing LiFePO<inf>4</inf>-carbon paper hybrid cathode for flexible lithium-ion batteries

© 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely implemented to power portable electronic devices and are increasingly in demand for large-scale applications. One of the major obstacles for this technology is still the low cost-efficiency of its electrochemical active materials and production processes. In this work, we present a novel impregnation-carbothermal reduction method to generate a LiFePO4-carbon paper hybrid electrode, which doesn't require a metallic current collector, polymeric binder or conducting additives to function as a cathode material in a LIB system. A shell of LiFePO4 crystals was grown in situ on carbon fibres during the carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose. The LiFePO4-carbon paper electrode achieved an initial reversible areal capacity of 197 μA h cm-2 increasing to 222 μA h cm-2 after 500 cycles at a current density of 0.1 mA cm-2. The hybrid electrode also demonstrated a superior cycling performance for up to 1000 cycles. The free-standing electrode could be potentially applied for flexible lithium-ion batteries

A highly efficient titanium-based olefin polymerisation catalyst with a monoanionic iminoimidazolidide pi-donor ancillary ligand

The titanium complex Cp[1,3-(2',6' Me2C6H3) (2)(CH2N)(2)C=N] Ti(CH2Ph)(2), with a monoanionic eta(1)-iminoimidazolidide ancillary ligand, is shown to be a highly efficient catalyst for olefin polymerisation when activated with the Lewis acid B(C6F5)(3)

Metric Features of a Dipolar Model

The lattice spin model, with nearest neighbor ferromagnetic exchange and long range dipolar interaction, is studied by the method of time series for observables based on cluster configurations and associated partitions, such as Shannon entropy, Hamming and Rohlin distances. Previous results based on the two peaks shape of the specific heat, suggested the existence of two possible transitions. By the analysis of the Shannon entropy we are able to prove that the first one is a true phase transition corresponding to a particular melting process of oriented domains, where colored noise is present almost independently of true fractality. The second one is not a real transition and it may be ascribed to a smooth balancing between two geometrical effects: a progressive fragmentation of the big clusters (possibly creating fractals), and the slow onset of a small clusters chaotic phase. Comparison with the nearest neighbor Ising ferromagnetic system points out a substantial difference in the cluster geometrical properties of the two models and in their critical behavior.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, submitted to JPhys

Improved limits on nuebar emission from mu+ decay

We investigated mu+ decays at rest produced at the ISIS beam stop target. Lepton flavor (LF) conservation has been tested by searching for \nueb via the detection reaction p(\nueb,e+)n. No \nueb signal from LF violating mu+ decays was identified. We extract upper limits of the branching ratio for the LF violating decay mu+ -> e+ \nueb \nu compared to the Standard Model (SM) mu+ -> e+ nue numub decay: BR < 0.9(1.7)x10^{-3} (90%CL) depending on the spectral distribution of \nueb characterized by the Michel parameter rho=0.75 (0.0). These results improve earlier limits by one order of magnitude and restrict extensions of the SM in which \nueb emission from mu+ decay is allowed with considerable strength. The decay \mupdeb as source for the \nueb signal observed in the LSND experiment can be excluded.Comment: 10 pages, including 1 figure, 1 tabl

Ordering of dipolar Ising crystals

We study Ising systems of spins with dipolar interactions. We find a simple approximate relation for the interaction energy between pairs of parallel lattice columns of spins running along the Ising spin direction. This relation provides insight into the relation between lattice geometry and the nature of the ordered state. It can be used to calculate ground state energies. We have also obtained ground state energies and ordering temperatures T_0 from Monte Carlo simulations. Simple empirical relations, that give T_0 for simple and body centered tetragonal lattices in terms of lattice parameters are also established. Finally, the nature of the ordered state and T_0 are determined for Fe_8 clusters, which crystallize on a triclinic lattice.Comment: 13 pages, 4 eps figures, to be published in PRB. For related work, see http://pipe.unizar.es/~jf

Increasing Dominance - the Role of Advertising, Pricing and Product Design

Despite the empirical relevance of advertising strategies in concentrated markets, the economics literature is largely silent on the effect of persuasive advertising strategies on pricing, market structure and increasing (or decreasing) dominance. In a simple model of persuasive advertising and pricing with differentiated goods, we analyze the interdependencies between ex-ante asymmetries in consumer appeal, advertising and prices. Products with larger initial appeal to consumers will be advertised more heavily but priced at a higher level - that is, advertising and price discounts are strategic substitutes for products with asymmetric initial appeal. We find that the escalating effect of advertising dominates the moderating effect of pricing so that post-competition market shares are more asymmetric than pre-competition differences in consumer appeal. We further find that collusive advertising (but competitive pricing) generates the same market outcomes, and that network effects lead to even more extreme market outcomes, both directly and via the effect on advertising

η\eta-weak-pseudo-Hermiticity generators and radially symmetric Hamiltonians

A class of spherically symmetric non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and their \eta-weak-pseudo-Hermiticity generators are presented. An operators-based procedure is introduced so that the results for the 1D Schrodinger Hamiltonian may very well be reproduced. A generalization beyond the nodeless states is proposed. Our illustrative examples include \eta-weak-pseudo-Hermiticity generators for the non-Hermitian weakly perturbed 1D and radial oscillators, the non-Hermitian perturbed radial Coulomb, and the non-Hermitian radial Morse models.Comment: 14 pages, content revised/regularized to cover 1D and 3D case