A radiological visual scale to predict the potentially recruitable lung in ALI/ARDS patients

Introduction In ALI/ARDS patients the amount of potentially recruitable lung is extremely variable and it is poorly predictable by the changes of oxygenation, carbon dioxide or compliance during a PEEP trial [1]. At the present time the gold standard to compute the lung recruitability is the quantitative lung CT scan, in which each lung image, after being manually drawn, is analyzed by dedicated software. However, this is both a laborious and time-consuming technique. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of a visual radiological scale compared with lung CT scan analysis to predict the lung recruitability in ALI/ARDS patients. Methods A whole lung CT scan was performed at 5 and 45 cmH2O airway pressure. For CT scan analysis each lung image was manually outlined and analyzed by a dedicated software. The potentially recruitable lung was defi ned as the proportion of the nonaerated lung tissue in which aeration was restored [1]. For radiological visual scale analysis, two radiologists performed a blinded evaluation of the consolidation/collapsed areas in each lobe by visual inspection [2]. The overall lung change in consolidation/collapsed was obtained by the sum of each lobe and computed as the diff erence between the two conditions. Results Twenty-four ALI/ARDS patients (age 59 \ub1 15 years, BMI 26 \ub1 4 kg/m2, PaO2/FiO2 170 \ub1 60, PEEP 10 \ub1 2 cmH2O) were enrolled. The percentage of potentially recruitable lung was 16.2 \ub1 7.1% and 14.7 \ub1 7.0%, computed by CT scan and by the visual radiological scale, respectively. The mean diff erence between CT scan analysis and visual radiological analysis was 3.3 \ub1 4.6% (median: 2.91, interquartile range: 0.38 to 6.56). The error of the visual method was lower than 5% in 14 patients (58.3%), between 5% and 10% in eight patients (33.3%) and between 10% and 15% in two patients (8.3%). Conclusions The application of a radiological visual scale is able to predict the amount of potentially recruitable lung similarly to those obtained by a dedicated software avoiding the need of manually drawing each lung image. References 1. Gattinoni L, et al.: N Engl J Med 2006, 354:1775-1786. 2. Pierce RJ, et al.: Thorax 1980, 35:773-780

1,10-(1-H-imidazol-5-yl)decanephosphonic acid: a new compound with basic and acidic sites to fabricate proton-conducting solid electrolytes

reserved52-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-5-(10-bromodecyl)-1-(N,N-dimethylsulfamoyl)-imidazole and NaPO3 Et2 react at room temperature to yield the corresponding imidazole diethyl phosphonate, which when refluxed with concentrated HBr yields 1,10-(1-H-imidazol-5-yl)decanephosphonic acid hydrobromide (VI). Compound VI titrated with the required mole equivalents of NaOH yields 1,10-(1-H-imidazol-5-yl)decanephosphonic acid (VII) and 1,10-(1-H-imidazol-5-yl)decane (sodium)phosphonates (VIII). CP-MAS NMR (13C, 31P, and 15N) and IR spectroscopy indicate that only compound VII is likely to yield a polymeric structure where each phosphonic acid group is H bonded to the imidazole ring of the same molecule and to the imidazole ring of another molecule. For this reason, solid-state proton conductivity in VII is likely to be favored.E. MONTONERI; M.C. GALLAZZI; C. BERTARELLI; R. GOBETTO; L. SALASSAE., Montoneri; Gallazzi, MARIA CARMELA; Bertarelli, Chiara; R., Gobetto; L., Salass

Flexible photoelectrochemical devices based on conducting polymers

In this work, we have investigated the photoelectrochemical behavior of conjugated polymers in flexible solid-state devices exploring some unique features that they exhibit: the possibility of adjusting the band gap energy by employing different structures and improving the light harvesting by the addition of an organic dye. We also report the use of these materials as photoactive materials and counter-electrodes in optical devices, depending on their oxidized or reduced state. The overall conversion efficiency is higher than for other photoelectrochemical devices, which exploit the photoconductivity and photosensitivity of organic materials, and the performance remains constant when the devices are Bent; however, it is low in comparison to solid-state devices using inorganic materials. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.108215115

Photoelectrical properties of the system ITO/poly(4,4 '-dipenthoxy-3 '-dodecyl-2,2 ': 5 ',2 '-terthiophene)/Al: Effect of electrosynthesis conditions

The photoelectrical properties of the system ITO/poly(4,4"-dipenthoxy-3'-dodecyl-2,2':5',2"-terthiophene)/aluminium are strongly dependent on the electrochemical preparation parameters of the polymer. In particular the polymerization temperature has a significant influence on the photoelectronic characteristics of polymer. The best properties were attained with polymers prepared at higher temperatures (32-40 degreesC).31333533

Effect of the synthesis temperature and the length of alkyl substituents on photoelectrical properties of polyterthiophenes

Three poly(4,4 " -dipentoxy-3'-alkyl-2,2':5',2 " -terthiophene)s with different lengths of the alkyl side-chains (dodecyl, octyl and hexyl) were prepared by cyclic voltammetry. The morphology of these polymers was found to be regular and to depend on the temperature of electrosynthesis. Better morphology was obtained in all cases for polymers prepared at somewhat higher temperatures (from 40 degreesC to 25 degreesC). The photoelectrical properties of the polymers were improved by decreasing the length of the alkyl side-chain. For the same alkyl chain length, better photoelectrical properties were found for polymers with a more regular morphology.1141072107