Methodologies of Application of Sol-Gel Based Solution onto Substrate: A Review

Just as the diverse as the various substrates that can be coated is the choice of several coating methods by which the coating can be applied to these pretreated surfaces. They include the manual methods, where great skills and experience is needed, on the other hand there are automated and robotics coating control methods where coating can be applied with more precise manner. Sol-gel process is one of the promising bottom up nano-coating technologies to develop thin film over various metallic substrates. The property and characteristic of the resulting film is strongly influenced by the various parameters and reaction conditions of the sol-gel process and of course on the deposition techniques. In this review, we have thrown some lights on different coating application processes covering theoretical principle, advantages, disadvantages, and special various parameters controlling the final film quality

Hadoop File System with Elastic Replication Management: An Overview

ABSTRACT-This paper gives an overview of how Hadoop File System manages massive data as well as handles small files. As data is exponentially pouring in from all sides in all domains, it has become a necessity to manage and analyze such huge amount of data to extract useful information. This huge amount of data is technically termed as Big Data, which in turn falls under Data Science. Currently a lot of research is going on how to handle such vast pool of data. The Apache Hadoop is a software framework that uses simple programming paradigm to process and analyze large data sets(Big Data) across clusters of computers. The Hadoop Distributed File System(HDFS) is one such technology that manages the Big Data efficiently. In this paper, an insight of "how HDFS handles big as well as small amount of data" is presented, reviewed and analyzed. As a result, summarized limitations of existing sys-tems are described in the paper along with the future scope of it

Cetuximab and anemia prevention in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy

BACKGROUND: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation is associated with increased production of interleukin 6 (IL6), which is intensified by radiotherapy (RT) induced inflammatory response. Elevated IL6 levels intensifies RT-induced anemia by upregulating hepcidin causing functional iron deficiency. Cetuximab, an EGFR inhibitor, has been associated with lower rates of anemia for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We hypothesized that concomitant cetuximab could prevent RT-induced anemia. METHODS: We queried our institutional head and neck cancers database for non-metastatic HNSCC cases that received RT with concomitant cetuximab or RT-only between 2006 and 2018. Cetuximab was administered for some high-risk cases medically unfit for platinum agents per multidisciplinary team evaluation. We only included patients who had at least one complete blood count in the 4 months preceding and after RT. We compared the prevalence of anemia (defined as hemoglobin (Hb) below 12 g/dL in females and 13 g/dL in males) and mean Hb levels at baseline and after RT. Improvement of anemia/Hb (resolution of baseline anemia and/or an increase of baseline Hb ≥1 g/dL after RT), and overall survival (OS) in relation to anemia/Hb dynamics were also compared. RESULTS: A total of 171 patients were identified equally distributed between cetuximab-plus-RT and RT-only groups. The cetuximab-plus-RT group had more locally-advanced stage, oropharyngeal and high grade tumors (p \u3c 0.001 for all). Baseline anemia/Hb were similar, however anemia after RT conclusion was higher in the cetuximab-plus-RT vs RT-only (63.5% vs. 44.2%; p = 0.017), with a mean Hb of 11.98 g/dL vs. 12.9 g/dL; p = 0.003, for both respectively. This contributed to significantly worse anemia/Hb improvement for cetuximab-plus-RT (18.8% vs. 37.2%; p = 0.007). This effect was maintained after adjusting for other factors in multivariate analysis. The prevalence of iron, vitamin-B12 and folate deficiencies; and chronic kidney disease, was non-different. Baseline anemia was associated with worse OS (p = 0.0052) for the whole study cohort. Nevertheless, improvement of anemia/Hb was only marginally associated with better OS (p = 0.068). CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to previous studies, cetuximab was not associated with lower rates of anemia after RT for nonmetastatic HNSCC patients compared to RT-alone. Dedicated prospective studies are needed to elucidate the effect of cetuximab on RT-induced anemia

Sol-Gel Chemistry Materials for Anti-Corrosion Coatings

This review paper summarizes the current state of the art of sol-gel technology for formulating anti corrosive protective coating. A brief description of the mechanism of sol-gel reactions, various parameters that influence the property of the final product and the course of the sol-gel reaction has been given. Different types of metal precursors that are extensively used in sol preparation and the advantages and disadvantages have also been mentioned in brief. Surface chemistry of sol-gel matrix and various stabilizing and destabilizing forces that are active on the surface of colloidal particles have also been discussed. Problems related to obtaining good quality product with uniformly distributed concentrations have been outlined. Possible pathways for further improvement of anti-corrosive properties of the coating have been described, such as incorporation of various types of additives into the sol matrix prior to coating. As a whole the present study summarizes the superiority and benefits of organic-inorganic hybrid coatings using sol-gel technique and having good protective and anti-corrosive properties

Amphiphilic Double-Brush Polymers Based on Itaconate Diesters

Itaconic anhydride, a biosourced molecule, was readily transformed to polymerizable nonionic amphiphiles of the type R-Ita-R′; these amphiphiles carry an <i>exo</i>-chain double bond, which upon polymerization yielded amphiphilic double-brush polymers, especially when R and R′ are immiscible, and consequently exhibit a tendency to self-segregate. DSC, WAXS, SAXS, and variable temperature FT-IR studies of these amphiphilic double-brush polymers confirm the occurrence of self-segregation followed by crystallization of the cetyl segments; in most cases a lamellar morphology is seen wherein the two immiscible segments form the alternating lamellae and the polymer backbone presumably lie along their interface. C16-Ita-HEG, which carries a hydrophobic cetyl chain and a hydrophilic heptaethylene glycol monomethyl ether unit, forms a hydrogel upon polymerization at concentrations above 2.5 wt %; an interesting feature of this hydrogel is that it exhibits a reversible thermal and shear-induced transformation to a sol, a property that could be of interest for biomedical applications

Real-world effectiveness of the pegfilgrastim on-body injector in preventing severe neutropenia

INTRODUCTION: Granulocyte colony-stimulating factors are used in medical oncology for the prevention of neutropenia. On-body injectors (OBI) have an advantage over the traditional injection (TI) method of not requiring a second visit to the clinic, but these devices are subject to failure. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of OBIs in the real-world. METHODS: Women with breast cancer diagnosed between June 2015 and June 2016 treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy and a granulocyte colony-stimulating factor were retrospectively identified from the medical records of Henry Ford Hospital. The primary outcome was the incidence of severe neutropenia (SN), defined as an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≤500. Secondary outcomes included incidence of neutropenia (ANC ≤ 1500), neutropenic fever, and mortality. A secondary analysis of the data was performed to identify predictors of SN. RESULTS: A total of 837 cycles of chemotherapy were analyzed. The OBI was used in 395 cycles and the TI in 442. The OBI group had patients that were older, had higher baseline ANC, and were more often white. The incidences of SN, neutropenic fever and neutropenia were not different between groups. Patients with a lower baseline ANC and white ethnicity were at a higher risk for SN. AC (doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide) was the most commonly used chemotherapy regimen (38% of total cycles). CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in the efficacy of the OBI and TI methods for preventing SN, neutropenic fever and neutropenia

Does Cetuximab Reduce the Risk of Anemia in Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy for Head and Neck Cancers?

Purpose/Objective(s): Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation is associated with increased production of interleukin 6 (IL6), which is intensified by radiotherapy (RT) induced inflammatory response. Elevated IL6 levels promote RT-induced anemia by upregulating hepcidin causing functional iron deficiency. Cetuximab, an EGFR inhibitor, resulted in significantly lower rates of RT induced anemia for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients receiving definitive RT vs RT-alone according to Bonner et al; and other studies compared to concomitant chemotherapy. However, little is known for cases receiving cetuximab with RT in the adjuvant setting. Materials/Methods: We queried our institutional HNSCC database for surgically staged non-metastatic cases that received adjuvant RT with or without concomitant cetuximab between 2006-2018. Cetuximab was administered for some high-risk cases medically unfit for platinum agents per multidisciplinary team evaluation. All included patients need to have at least one complete blood count pre- and post-RT end. We compared RT-cetuximab vs RT-alone for prevalence of baseline and post-RT anemia, defined as Hb below 12g/dL in females and 13g/dL in males, and mean hemoglobin (Hb) levels. We also assessed the improvement in Hb level post-RT (resolution of baseline anemia or Hb increase of at least 1g/dL above baseline), in addition to overall survival (OS) in relation to anemia/Hb dynamics. Results: We were able to identify 66 patients who fit our inclusion criteria, of which 27 (41%) received RT-cetuximab, with the remaining receiving RT-alone (n=39, 59%). Median age was 62.5 years (range, 34-88 years), males 80%, black 29%, and 85% had a smoking history. The majority of cases (73%) were locally advanced. Oral cavity and oropharynx were the most common subsites (37.5% each), with HPV+ve cases representing 52% of the later. The study groups were well-balanced, except for higher rates of positive final surgical margins, and extracapsular space invasion and median RT dose (p\u3c0.05). Baseline anemia was diagnosed in 70.4% in RT-cetuximab vs 76.9% in the RT-alone, p=0.76; with similar mean Hb level (11.7g/dL in both). Meanwhile, baseline iron, vitamin-B12 and folate deficiencies, and chronic kidney disease were non-different. After completion of RT, mean Hb was significantly higher in the RT-alone (12.9±1.4 g/dL) compared to RT-Cetuximab (11.9±2.1 g/dL), p=0.02. Nevertheless, higher anemia levels (70% vs 51%) and lower improvement of Hb post-RT (81.5% vs 92.3%) were both non-significant for RT-cetuximab vs RT-alone respectively, p\u3e0.05 for both. On multivariate analysis, baseline anemia was associated with worse OS (p=0.0052), unlike improvement of Hb post-RT (p=0.14) with a corresponding better improvement of Hb (56.4% vs. 25.9%, p=0.014), albeit lower anemia levels (70% vs. 51%), was non significant (p=0.195). On multivariate analysis, lack of baseline anemia was associated with better OS (p=0.0052), whereas improvement of Hb post-RT was only marginal (p=0.068). Conclusion: In a homogenous cohort of HNSCC patients treated postoperatively, concomitant cetuximab was not associated with lower RT-induced anemia, in contrast to previous studies