Monitoring of the avidin-biotylinated dextran interaction on Au- and Ti/TiO 2-electrode surfaces using a charge integrating device

In the present paper we report the use of a homemade electronic device (Multipulser), for monitoring interactions between biomolecules that may change the capacitance of an electrode. Multipulser can be used as a stand-alone, low-cost, yet effective alternative monitoring device instead of other well established commercial instruments. The operation of Multipulser is based on the integration of the electric charge used for the repetitive charging of the electrochemical cell capacitance after the application of a predetermined number of short-duration, low-amplitude voltage pulses (perturbation pulses). Multipulser was used to monitor the binding of biotinylated dextran on two different avidin modified electrode assemblies; one based on a thiol SAMs on gold and another based on Ti/TiO 2 semiconductor. Measurements conducted in parallel with a commercial frequency response analyzer gave similar reaction patterns. Pulse polarity dependent behavior was revealed in the case of the Ti/TiO 2-electrode assembly when bipolar potential perturbation modes were used with Multipulser. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

EULAR/eumusc.net standards of care for rheumatoid arthritis: cross-sectional analyses of importance, level of implementation and care gaps experienced by patients and rheumatologists across 35 European countries

Objective As part of European League against Rheumatism (EULAR)/European Musculoskeletal Conditions Surveillance and Information Network, 20 user-focused standards of care (SoCs) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) addressing 16 domains of care were developed. This study aimed to explore gaps in implementation of these SoCs across Europe.Methods Two cross-sectional surveys on the importance, level of and barriers (patients only) to implementation of each SoC (0-10, 10 highest) were designed to be conducted among patients and rheumatologists in 50 European countries. Care gaps were calculated as the difference between the actual and maximum possible score for implementation (ie, 10) multiplied by the care importance score, resulting in care gaps (0-100, maximal gap). Factors associated with the problematic care gaps (ie, gap >= 30 and importance >= 6 and implementation= 6) were further analysed in multilevel logistic regression models.Results Overall, 26 and 31 countries provided data from 1873 patients and 1131 rheumatologists, respectively. 19 out of 20 SoCs were problematic from the perspectives of more than 20% of patients, while this was true for only 10 SoCs for rheumatologists. Rheumatologists in countries with lower gross domestic product and non-European Union countries were more likely to report problematic gaps in 15 of 20 SoCs, while virtually no differences were observed among patients. Lack of relevance of some SoCs (71%) and limited time of professionals (66%) were the most frequent implementation barriers identified by patients.Conclusions Many problematic gaps were reported across several essential aspects of RA care. More efforts need to be devoted to implementation of EULAR SoCs.Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease