Thermodynamically Stable One-Component Metallic Quasicrystals

Classical density-functional theory is employed to study finite-temperature trends in the relative stabilities of one-component quasicrystals interacting via effective metallic pair potentials derived from pseudopotential theory. Comparing the free energies of several periodic crystals and rational approximant models of quasicrystals over a range of pseudopotential parameters, thermodynamically stable quasicrystals are predicted for parameters approaching the limits of mechanical stability of the crystalline structures. The results support and significantly extend conclusions of previous ground-state lattice-sum studies.Comment: REVTeX, 13 pages + 2 figures, to appear, Europhys. Let

Patients' perspective and lung function correlation:the importance of questionnaires in home mechanical ventilation

Classical physiological variables used to monitor respiratory function in patients under non-invasive ventilation (NIV), such as FEV1 or FVC, correlate poorly with reported impairment of physical function or overall health status and hence provide an incomplete picture of impaired health. Aim: to investigate the association between the Portuguese S3-non-invasive ventilation (S3-NIV) questionnaire score and objective measures of lung function. Consecutive adult patients with chronic respiratory failure, established on home NIV for at least 30 days were recruited in one outpatient clinic. Correlations between physiological variables and S3-NIV score were computed with Spearman rank coefficient. We studied 230 stable patients (126 male, 54.8%) with a mean age of 69.2 (± 11,0) years. Demographic and spirometry characteristics, and S3-NIV respiratory and total scores are presented on the table, according to disease groups. Spearman coefficient values are also presented. Neither the S3-NIV total score nor the respiratory symptoms subscore correlate with lung function impairment in any of the disease groups. This reinforces the notion that symptoms questionnaires and patient reported outcome measures must always be obtained directly from the patient and should be included in regular treatment monitoring

Response to ranibizumab therapy in neovascular AMD - an evaluation of good and bad responders

Background: Treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with Lucentis® shows a broad spectrum regarding the course of visual acuity (VA). While some patients show a good response (increase in VA), others disclose much less promising results. Patients and Methods: A retrospective data analysis of all eyes treated for neovascular AMD at the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland for at least 12 months was carried out. The courses of VA between the 90th (good responders, GR) and the 10th (bad responders, BR) percentiles were compared at 3, 12 and 24 months from baseline. An analysis regarding demographic data, lesion type and size as well as injection frequency and visits was done and predictive factors for GR and BR were evaluated. Results: Marked differences in the course of VA between GR (n = 30) and BR (n = 30) are already observed 3 months from baseline. In GR the gains in VA after 3, 12 and 24 were 15.7 ± 9 letters ETDRS, 25.3 ± 7 and 14.0 ± 14. BR showed a deterioration of 8.3 ± 11 letters ETDRS after 3, 22.1 ± 8 after 12 and 23.6 ± 13 after 24 months. The gender distribution was equal with a higher percentage of female patients (64 % in BR and 66 % in GR). The baseline VA was statistically significantly lower in GR (45.7 ± 10 vs. 55.4 ± 11, p < 0.05) than in BR. No other significant differences in baseline data were found, and no predictor for group membership could be identified. Conclusions: Only the course of VA in the first three months seems to be of value for an estimation of the response to treatment. In the future the response to treatment in the early phase may influence the treatment algorithm and the injection frequency

Soret Effect Study on High-Pressure CO2-Water Solutions Using UV-Raman Spectroscopy and a Concentric-Tube Optical Cell

Spatially resolved deep-UV Raman spectroscopy was applied to solutions of CO2 and H2O (or D2O), which were subject to a temperature gradient in a thermally regulated high-pressure concentric-tube Raman cell in an attempt to measure a Soret effect in the vicinity of the critical point of CO2. Although Raman spectra of solutions of CO2 dissolved in D2O at 10 MPa and temperatures near the critical point of CO2 had adequate signal-to-noise and spatial resolution to observe a Soret effect with a Soret coefficient with magnitude of |ST| &gt; 0.03, no evidence for an effect of this size was obtained for applied temperature gradients up to 19oC. The presence of 1 M NaCl did not make a difference. In contrast, the concentration of CO2 dissolved in H2O was shown to vary significantly across the temperature gradient when excess CO2 was present, but the results could be explained simply by the variation in CO2 solubility over the temperature range and not to kinetic factors. For mixtures of D2O dissolved in scCO2 at 10 MPa and temperatures close to the critical point of CO2, the Raman peaks for H2O were too weak to measure with confidence even at the limit of D2O solubility