Thin film deposition and characterization of pure and iron-doped electron-beam evaporated tungsten oxide for gas sensors

Pure Tungsten Oxide (WO3) and Iron-doped (10 at%) Tungsten Oxide (WO3:Fe) nanostructured thin films were prepared using a dual crucible Electron Beam Evaporation techniques. The films were deposited at room temperature in high vacuum condition on glass substrate and post-heat treated at 300 oC for 1 hour. From the study of X-ray diffraction and Raman the characteristics of the as-deposited WO3 and WO3:Fe films indicated non-crystalline nature. The surface roughness of all the films showed in the order of 2.5 nm as observed using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed tungsten oxide films with stoichiometry close to WO3. The addition of Fe to WO3 produced a smaller particle size and lower porosity as observed using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). A slight difference in optical band gap energies of 3.22 eV and 3.12 eV were found between the as-deposited WO3 and WO3:Fe films, respectively. However, the difference in the band gap energies of the annealed films were significantly higher having values of 3.12 eV and 2.61 eV for the WO3 and WO3:Fe films, respectively. The heat treated samples were investigated for gas sensing applications using noise spectroscopy and doping of Fe to WO3 reduced the sensitivity to certain gasses. Detailed study of the WO3 and WO3:Fe films gas sensing properties is the subject of another paper

Study protocol for Smartphone Monitoring for Atrial fibrillation in Real-Time in India (SMART-India): a community-based screening and referral programme

INTRODUCTION: Atrial fibrillation (AF), the world\u27s most common arrhythmia, often goes undetected and untreated in low-resource communities, including India, where AF epidemiology is undefined. AF is an important risk factor for stroke, which plagues an estimated 1.6 million Indians annually. As such, early detection of AF and management of high-risk patients is critically important to decrease stroke burden in individuals with AF. This study aims to describe the epidemiology of AF in Anand District, Gujarat, India, characterise the clinical profile of individuals who are diagnosed with AF and determine the performance of two mobile technologies for community-based AF screening. METHODS: This observational study builds on findings from a previous feasibility study and leverages two novel technologies as well as an existing community health programme to perform door-to-door AF screening for 2000 people from 60 villages of Anand District, Gujarat, India using local health workers. A single-lead ECG and a pulse-based application is used to screen each individual for AF three times over a period of 5 days. Participants with suspected arrhythmias are followed up by study cardiologist who makes final diagnoses. Participants diagnosed with AF are initiated on treatment based on current anticoagulation guidelines and clinical reasoning. ANALYTICAL PLAN: Age-stratified and sex-stratified prevalence of AF in the Anand District will be calculated for sample and estimated for Anand distribution using survey design weights. Sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with AF will be evaluated using multivariable regression methods. Performance of each mobile technology in detecting AF will be evaluated using a 12-lead ECG interpretation as the gold standard. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved separately by the Institutional Review Board of University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Human Research Ethics Committee at Charutar Arogya Mandal. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences

Effect of salt identity on the phase diagram for a globularprotein in aqueous electrolyte solution

Monte Carlo simulations are used to establish the potential of mean force between two globular proteins in an aqueous electrolyte solution. This potential includes nonelectrostatic contributions arising from dispersion forces first, between the globular proteins, and second, between ions in solution and between each ion and the globular protein. These latter contributions are missing from standard models. The potential of mean force, obtained from simulation, is fitted to an analytic equation. Using our analytic potential of mean force and Barker-Henderson perturbation theory, we obtain phase diagrams for lysozyme solutions that include stable and metastable fluid-fluid and solid-fluid phases when the electrolyte is 0.2 M NaSCN or NaI or NaCl. The nature of the electrolyte has a significant effect on the phase diagram

High Burden of Unrecognized Atrial Fibrillation in Rural India: An Innovative Community-Based Cross-Sectional Screening Program

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation, the world\u27s most common arrhythmia, is a leading risk factor for stroke, a disease striking nearly 1.6 million Indians annually. Early detection and management of atrial fibrillation is a promising opportunity to prevent stroke but widespread screening programs in limited resource settings using conventional methods is difficult and costly. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to screen people for atrial fibrillation in rural western India using a US Food and Drug Administration-approved single-lead electrocardiography device, Alivecor. METHODS: Residents from 6 villages in Anand District, Gujarat, India, comprised the base population. After obtaining informed consent, a team of trained research coordinators and community health workers enrolled a total of 354 participants aged 50 years and older and screened them at their residences using Alivecor for 2 minutes on 5 consecutive days over a period of 6 weeks beginning June, 2015. RESULTS: Almost two-thirds of study participants were 55 years or older, nearly half were female, one-third did not receive any formal education, and more than one-half were from households earning less than US $2 per day. Twelve participants screened positive for atrial fibrillation yielding a sample prevalence of 5.1% (95% CI 2.7-8.7). Only one participant had persistent atrial fibrillation throughout all of the screenings, and 9 screened positive only once. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests a prevalence of atrial fibrillation in this Indian region (5.1%) that is markedly higher than has been previously reported in India and similar to the prevalence estimates reported in studies of persons from North America and Europe. Historically low reported burden of atrial fibrillation among individuals from low and middle-income countries may be due to a lack of routine screening. Mobile technologies may help overcome resource limitations for atrial fibrillation screening in underserved and low-resource settings

Burden of Psychosocial and Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

BACKGROUND: Impairments in psychosocial status and cognition relate to poor clinical outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, how often these conditions co-occur and associations between burden of psychosocial and cognitive impairment and quality of life (QoL) have not been systematically examined in patients with AF. METHODS: A total of 218 patients with symptomatic AF were enrolled in a prospective study of AF and psychosocial factors between May 2013 and October 2014 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Cognitive function, depression, and anxiety were assessed at baseline and AF-specific QoL was assessed 6 months after enrollment using validated instruments. Demographic and clinical information were obtained from a structured interview and medical record review. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 63.5 +/- 10.2 years, 35% were male, and 81% had paroxysmal AF. Prevalences of impairment in 1, 2, and 3 psychosocial/cognitive domains (eg, depression, anxiety, or cognition) were 75 (34.4%), 51 (23.4%), and 16 (7.3%), respectively. Patients with co-occurring psychosocial/cognitive impairments (eg, \u3e 1 domain) were older, more likely to smoke, had less education, and were more likely to have heart failure (all P \u3c 0.05). Compared with participants with no psychosocial/cognitive impairments, AF-specific QoL at 6 months was significantly poorer among participants with baseline impairment in 2 (B = -13.6, 95% CI: -21.7 to -5.4) or 3 (B = -15.1, 95% CI: -28.0 to -2.2) psychosocial/cognitive domains. CONCLUSION: Depression, anxiety, and impaired cognition were common in our cohort of patients with symptomatic AF and often co-occurred. Higher burden of psychosocial/cognitive impairment was associated with poorer AF-specific QoL

Engineering meniscus structure and function via multi-layered mesenchymal stem cell-seeded nanofibrous scaffolds

Despite advances in tissue engineering for the knee meniscus, it remains a challenge to match the complex macroscopic and microscopic structural features of native tissue, including the circumferentially and radially aligned collagen bundles essential for mechanical function. To mimic this structural hierarchy, this study developed multi-lamellar mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-seeded nanofibrous constructs. Bovine MSCs were seeded onto nanofibrous scaffolds comprised of poly(ε-caprolactone) with fibers aligned in a single direction (0° or 90° to the scaffold long axis) or circumferentially aligned (C). Multi-layer groups (0°/0°/0°, 90°/90°/90°, 0°/90°/0°, 90°/0°/90°, and C/C/C) were created and cultured for a total of 6 weeks under conditions favoring fibrocartilaginous tissue formation. Tensile testing showed that 0° and C single layer constructs had stiffness values several fold higher than 90° constructs. For multi-layer groups, the stiffness of 0°/0°/0° constructs was higher than all other groups, while 90°/90°/90° constructs had the lowest values. Data for collagen content showed a general positive interactive effect for multi-layers relative to single layer constructs, while a positive interaction for stiffness was found only for the C/C/C group. Collagen content and cell infiltration occurred independent of scaffold alignment, and newly formed collagenous matrix followed the scaffold fiber direction. Structural hierarchies within multi-lamellar constructs dictated biomechanical properties, and only the C/C/C constructs with non-orthogonal alignment within layers featured positive mechanical reinforcement as a consequence of the layered construction. These multi-layer constructs may serve as functional substitutes for the meniscus as well as test beds to understand the complex mechanical principles that enable meniscus function

The meaning of life in a developing universe

The evolution of life on Earth has produced an organism that is beginning to model and understand its own evolution and the possible future evolution of life in the universe. These models and associated evidence show that evolution on Earth has a trajectory. The scale over which living processes are organized cooperatively has increased progressively, as has its evolvability. Recent theoretical advances raise the possibility that this trajectory is itself part of a wider developmental process. According to these theories, the developmental process has been shaped by a larger evolutionary process that involves the reproduction of universes. This evolutionary process has tuned the key parameters of the universe to increase the likelihood that life will emerge and develop to produce outcomes that are successful in the larger process (e.g. a key outcome may be to produce life and intelligence that intentionally reproduces the universe and tunes the parameters of ‘offspring’ universes). Theory suggests that when life emerges on a planet, it moves along this trajectory of its own accord. However, at a particular point evolution will continue to advance only if organisms emerge that decide to advance the evolutionary process intentionally. The organisms must be prepared to make this commitment even though the ultimate nature and destination of the process is uncertain, and may forever remain unknown. Organisms that complete this transition to intentional evolution will drive the further development of life and intelligence in the universe. Humanity’s increasing understanding of the evolution of life in the universe is rapidly bringing it to the threshold of this major evolutionary transition

Nonlinear ion-acoustic (IA) waves driven in a cylindrically symmetric flow

By employing a self-similar, two-fluid MHD model in a cylindrical geometry, we study the features of nonlinear ion-acoustic (IA) waves which propagate in the direction of external magnetic field lines in space plasmas. Numerical calculations not only expose the well-known three shapes of nonlinear structures (sinusoidal, sawtooth, and spiky or bipolar) which are observed by numerous satellites and simulated by models in a Cartesian geometry, but also illustrate new results, such as, two reversely propagating nonlinear waves, density dips and humps, diverging and converging electric shocks, etc. A case study on Cluster satellite data is also introduced.Comment: accepted by AS

Revealing the reporting disparity: VigiBase highlights underreporting of clozapine in other Western European countries compared to the UK

Background: Pharmacovigilance studies indicate clozapine history is marked by adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Objective: In a 2021 article, the United Kingdom (UK) had >90 % of European clozapine-related fatal outcomes in VigiBase, the World Health Organization's pharmacovigilance database. Two possibly opposing hypotheses could explain this disparity: 1) fewer reported fatal outcomes in other Western European countries mainly reflect underreporting to VigiBase, and 2) the higher number of UK reports reflects higher real relative mortality. Methods: VigiBase reports from clozapine's introduction to December 31, 2022, were studied for ADRs and the top 10 causes of fatal outcomes. The UK was compared with 11 other top reporting Western countries (Germany, Denmark, France, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). Nine countries (except Ireland and Switzerland) were compared after controlling for population and clozapine prescriptions. Results: The UK accounted for 29 % of worldwide clozapine-related fatal outcomes, Germany 2 % and <1 % in each of the other countries. The nonspecific label "death" was the top cause in the world (46 %) and in the UK (33 %). "Pneumonia" was second in the world (8 %), the UK (12 %), Ireland (8 %) and Finland (14 %). Assuming that our corrections for population and clozapine use are correct, other countries underreported only 1-10 % of the UK clozapine fatal outcome number. Conclusions: Different Western European countries consistently underreport to VigiBase compared to the UK, but have different reporting/publishing styles for clozapine-related ADRs/fatal outcomes. Three Scandinavian registries suggest lives are saved as clozapine use increases, but this cannot be studied in pharmacovigilance databases