Medicamentos e ingestión de alcohol: estudio del almotriptan

Diversos investigadors de l'Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol i de l'empresa farmacèutica Laboratorios Almirall han dut a terme un estudi per comprovar quin és l'efecte terapèutic de l'almotriptan -un fàrmac utilitzat en el tractament de les crisis de migranya- en relació al consum d'alcohol. Els resultats obtinguts en la recerca indiquen que no és necessari modificar la dosificació del medicament quan s'administra en un pacient en què la crisi de migranya s'ha produït després de la presa d'alcohol.Diversos investigadores del Hospital Universitario Germans Trias i Pujol y de la empresa farmacéutica Laboratorios Almirall han llevado a cabo un estudio para comprobar cuál es el efecto terapéutico del almotriptan - un fármaco utilizado en el tratamiento de las crisis de migraña- en relación al consumo de alcohol. Los resultados obtenidos en la investigación indican que no es necesario modificar la dosificación del medicamento cuando se administra en un paciente en que la crisis de migraña se ha producido después de la ingestión de alcohol

Unravelling a simple method for the low temperature synthesis of silicon nanocrystals and monolithic nanocrystalline thin films

In this work, we present new results on the plasma processing and structure of hydrogenated polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H) thin films. pm-Si:H thin films consist of a low volume fraction of silicon nanocrystals embedded in a silicon matrix with medium range order, and they possess this morphology as a significant contribution to their growth comes from the impact on the substrate of silicon clusters and nanocrystals synthesized in the plasma. Quadrupole mass spectrometry, ion flux measurements, and material characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy all provide insight on the contribution to the growth by silicon nanocrystals during PECVD deposition. In particular, cross-section TEM measurements show for the first time that the silicon nanocrystals are uniformly distributed across the thickness of the pm-Si:H film. Moreover, parametric studies indicate that the best pm-Si:H material is obtained at the conditions after the transition between a pristine plasma and one containing nanocrystals, namely a total gas pressure around 2 Torr and a silane to hydrogen ratio between 0.05 to 0.1. From a practical point of view these conditions also correspond to the highest deposition rate achievable for a given RF power and silane flow rate.ope

Absorbing photonic crystals for thin film photovoltaics

The absorption of thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers can be efficiently enhanced through a controlled periodic patterning. Light is trapped through coupling with photonic Bloch modes of the periodic structures, which act as an absorbing planar photonic crystal. We theoretically demonstrate this absorption enhancement through one or two dimensional patterning, and show the experimental feasibility through large area holographic patterning. Numerical simulations show over 50% absorption enhancement over the part of the solar spectrum comprised between 380 and 750nm. It is experimentally confirmed by optical measurements performed on planar photonic crystals fabricated by laser holography and reactive ion etching.Comment: 6 pages. SPIE Photonics Europe pape

Epitaxial growth of silicon and germanium on (100)-oriented crystalline substrates by RF PECVD at 175 °C

We report on the epitaxial growth of crystalline Si and Ge thin films by standard radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 175 °C on (100)-oriented silicon substrates. We also demonstrate the epitaxial growth of silicon films on epitaxially grown germanium layers so that multilayer samples sustaining epitaxy could be produced. We used spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction to characterize the structure of the films (amorphous, crystalline). These techniques were found to provide consistent results and provided information on the crystallinity and constraints in such lattice-mismatched structures. These results open the way to multiple quantum-well structures, which have been so far limited to few techniques such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy or MetalOrganic Chemical Vapor Deposition