Structure and Transport in Coatings from Multiscale Computed Tomography of Coatings-New Perspectives for Eelectrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Modeling?

Computed Tomography (CT) is an approach that has been extensively applied in many areas of science from understanding structures in living organisms to materials science. In materials science, the study of structures within coatings presents challenges on at least two different levels. First, the structure of the coatings needs to be understood from the atomic scale, where dissolution reactions begin, up to length scales which cover the aggregation of inhibitors and other additives, which take place at ∼10−5 m, i.e. 4 to 5 orders of magnitude. CT is a favourable imaging technique since it allows multiscale information to be obtained non-destructively down to tens of nanometres. In this study X-ray absorption contrast imaging has been used to examine structures created using strontium chromate (SrCrO4) particles embedded in an epoxy film. It has been found that SrCrO4 particles can form clusters that extend a few hundred microns in the plane of the film, span the thickness of the film and have fractal characteristics. There are also volumes of low density epoxy of similar sizes and characteristics to the SrCrO4 clusters. The SrCrO4 clusters have a strong influence on the leaching behaviour since the release changes with time. Initially, leaching is controlled by direct dissolution but, as the clusters dissolve, the release is dominated by the fractal dimension of the cluster. The dissolved clusters leave behind voids filled with electrolyte that provide alternative transport pathways for corrosive ions through the polymer. In this paper, the nature of these clusters will be reviewed and the implication for transport properties and electrochemical assessment will be explored

Self-Organized Ni Nanocrystal Embedded in BaTiO3 Epitaxial Film

Ni nanocrystals (NCs) were embedded in BaTiO3 epitaxial films using the laser molecular beam epitaxy. The processes involving the self-organization of Ni NCs and the epitaxial growth of BaTiO3 were discussed. With the in situ monitoring of reflection high-energy electron diffraction, the nanocomposite films were engineered controllably by the fine alternation of the self-organization of Ni NCs and the epitaxial growth of BaTiO3. The transmission electron microscopy and the X-ray diffraction characterization confirmed that the composite film consists of the Ni NCs layers alternating with the (001)/(100)-oriented epitaxial BaTiO3 separation layers

Caregivers' active role in palliative home care – to encourage or to dissuade? A qualitative descriptive study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Spouses' involvement in palliative care is often a prerequisite for home death, but it is unclear whether active involvement of the spouse, e.g. administering and being in charge of oral or subcutaneous medication or taking care of the patient's personal hygiene, could be harmful or have negative effects on the spouse's experience of the palliative course of disease. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of bereaved spouses' active involvement in medical and physical care on their experience of the palliative course of disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was a qualitative, descriptive study based on semi-structured individual interviews with seven bereaved spouses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four main categories were found: Degree of involvement, Positive and Negative impact and Prerequisites. The prerequisites found for a positive outcome were Safety (24-hour back-up), Confidence (Professionals' confidence in the spouses' abilities) and Dialog (Spouses' influence on decision-making and being asked).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results from this study identified important issues whenever spouses take an active part in medical treatment and physical care of critically ill patients in palliative care. The results question the previous research that active involvement of family care givers could be harmful and add preconditions to a positive outcome. More research into these preconditions is needed.</p

Cell arrest and cell death in mammalian preimplantation development

The causes, modes, biological role and prospective significance of cell death in preimplantation development in humans and other mammals are still poorly understood. Early bovine embryos represent a very attractive experimental model for the investigation of this fundamental and important issue. To obtain reference data on the temporal and spatial occurrence of cell death in early bovine embryogenesis, three-dimensionally preserved embryos of different ages and stages of development up to hatched blastocysts were examined in toto by confocal laser scanning microscopy. In parallel, transcript abundance profiles for selected apoptosis-related genes were analyzed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Our study documents that in vitro as well as in vivo, the first four cleavage cycles are prone to a high failure rate including different types of permanent cell cycle arrest and subsequent non-apoptotic blastomere death. In vitro produced and in vivo derived blastocysts showed a significant incidence of cell death in the inner cell mass (ICM), but only in part with morphological features of apoptosis. Importantly, transcripts for CASP3, CASP9, CASP8 and FAS/FASLG were not detectable or found at very low abundances. In vitro and in vivo, errors and failures of the first and the next three cleavage divisions frequently cause immediate embryo death or lead to aberrant subsequent development, and are the main source of developmental heterogeneity. A substantial occurrence of cell death in the ICM even in fast developing blastocysts strongly suggests a regular developmentally controlled elimination of cells, while the nature and mechanisms of ICM cell death are unclear. Morphological findings as well as transcript levels measured for important apoptosis-related genes are in conflict with the view that classical caspase-mediated apoptosis is the major cause of cell death in early bovine development

Protein Microarray On-Demand: A Novel Protein Microarray System

We describe a novel, simple and low-cost protein microarray strategy wherein the microarrays are generated by printing expression ready plasmid DNAs onto slides that can be converted into protein arrays on-demand. The printed expression plasmids serve dual purposes as they not only direct the synthesis of the protein of interest; they also serve to capture the newly synthesized proteins through a high affinity DNA-protein interaction. To accomplish this we have exploited the high-affinity binding (∼3–7×10 −13 M) of E. coli Tus protein to Ter, a 20 bp DNA sequence involved in the regulation of E. coli DNA replication. In our system, each protein of interest is synthesized as a Tus fusion protein and each expression construct directing the protein synthesis contains embedded Ter DNA sequence. The embedded Ter sequence functions as a capture reagent for the newly synthesized Tus fusion protein. This “all DNA” microarray can be converted to a protein microarray on-demand without need for any additional capture reagent.

Bifactor analysis of motivation for charity sport event participation

The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the existing subscales of charity sport events (CSEs) participation motivation by adopting both a second-order modeling and a bifactor modeling approaches. The results with 488 college students revealed that the bifactor model provided a better interpretation of the data compared to second-order model. The five-factor CSE motivation significantly predict the intention to participate in CSEs along with two domain-specific motivations, namely ‘sport and event’ and ‘cause’ while other three domain-specific motivations including ‘philanthropic’, ‘social interaction’, and ‘reference group’ are not statistically significant predictors. The results suggest that the bifactor model is more useful in predicting this group’s participation in charity sport events. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Increasing abdominal pressure with and without PEEP: effects on intra-peritoneal, intra-organ and intra-vascular pressures

Intra-organ and intra-vascular pressures can be used to estimate intra-abdominal pressure. The aim of this prospective, interventional study was to assess the effect of PEEP on the accuracy of pressure estimation at different measurement sites in a model of increased abdominal pressure

Increasing abdominal pressure with and without PEEP: effects on intra-peritoneal, intra-organ and intra-vascular pressures

Intra-organ and intra-vascular pressures can be used to estimate intra-abdominal pressure. The aim of this prospective, interventional study was to assess the effect of PEEP on the accuracy of pressure estimation at different measurement sites in a model of increased abdominal pressure