Impending carotid blowout stabilization using an LT-D tube

Adequate stabilization of a patient presenting with a carotid blowout is one of the most challenging issues an on-call ENT surgeon can be confronted with. Reducing the bleeding and securing the airway are essential before more definitive management. We present the case of a 72-year-old patient with head and neck cancer who arrived at the emergency room with a carotid blowout and who was successfully stabilized using a King LT-D ventilation tube

Neutron scattering study of ferroelectric Sn2P2S6 under pressure

Ferroelectric phase transition in the semiconductor Sn2P2S6 single crystal has been studied by means of neutron scattering in the pressure-temperature range adjacent to the anticipated tricritical Lifshitz point (p=0.18GPa, T=296K). The observations reveal a direct ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition in the whole investigated pressure range (0.18 - 0.6GPa). These results are in a clear disagreement with phase diagrams assumed in numerous earlier works, according to which a hypothetical intermediate incommensurate phase extends over several or even tens of degrees in the 0.5GPa pressure range. Temperature dependence of the anisotropic quasielastic diffuse scattering suggests that polarization fluctuations present above TC are strongly reduced in the ordered phase. Still, the temperature dependence of the (200) Bragg reflection intensity at p=0.18GPa can be remarkably well modeled assuming the order-parameter amplitude growth according to the power law with logarithmic corrections predicted for a uniaxial ferroelectric transition at the tricritical Lifshitz point

A monolithic MQW InP/InGaAsP-based comb generator

We report a monolithic optical frequency comb generator using quaternary/quaternary multiple quantum well InV/InGaAsP material as phase modulator and gain medium in a Frequency Modulated (FM) laser design. The modulation was generated by quantum confined Stark effect to achieve a comb-line spacing of 24.4 GHz. The laser was fabricated using a single epitaxial growth step and quantum well intermixing to realize low loss phase and modulation sections. The resulting comb generator produces lines with a spacing exactly given by the modulation frequency, differential phase noise between adjacent lines of -82 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset and a comb spectrum width of up to 2 THz

Spatiotemporal Calibration of Atmospheric Nitrogen Dioxide Concentration Estimates From an Air Quality Model for Connecticut

A spatiotemporal calibration and resolution refinement model was fitted to calibrate nitrogen dioxide (NO$_2$) concentration estimates from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, using two sources of observed data on NO$_2$ that differed in their spatial and temporal resolutions. To refine the spatial resolution of the CMAQ model estimates, we leveraged information using additional local covariates including total traffic volume within 2 km, population density, elevation, and land use characteristics. Predictions from this model greatly improved the bias in the CMAQ estimates, as observed by the much lower mean squared error (MSE) at the NO$_2$ monitor sites. The final model was used to predict the daily concentration of ambient NO$_2$ over the entire state of Connecticut on a grid with pixels of size 300 x 300 m. A comparison of the prediction map with a similar map for the CMAQ estimates showed marked improvement in the spatial resolution. The effect of local covariates was evident in the finer spatial resolution map, where the contribution of traffic on major highways to ambient NO$_2$ concentration stands out. An animation was also provided to show the change in the concentration of ambient NO$_2$ over space and time for 1994 and 1995.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, supplementary materia

A monolithic MQW InP-InGaAsP-Based optical comb generator

We report the first demonstration of a monolithic optical-frequency comb generator. The device is based on multi-section quaternary/quaternary eight-quantum-well InP-InGaAsP material in a frequency-modulated (FM) laser design. The modulation is generated using quantum-confined Stark-effect phase-induced refractive index modulation to achieve fast modulation up to 24.4 GHz. The laser was fabricated using a single epitaxial growth step and quantum-well intermixing to realize low-loss phase adjustment and modulation sections. The output was quasicontinuous wave with intensity modulation at less than 20% for a total output power of 2 mW. The linewidth of each line was limited by the linewidth of the free running laser at an optimum of 25 MHz full-width at half-maximum. The comb generator produces a number of lines with a spacing exactly equal to the modulation frequency (or a multiple of it), differential phase noise between adjacent lines of -82 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset (modulation source-limited), and a potential comb spectrum width of up to 2 THz (15 nm), though the comb spectrum was not continuous across the full span

Incidence of depression and associated factors in patients with type 2 diabetes in Quebec, Canada

It has been reported that the risk of depression is higher among people with type 2 diabetes compared with a nondiabetic population. Among diabetic patients, depression has been associated with worse self-care behaviors, poor glycemic control, and an increased risk of diabetes complications. Identifying factors associated with the occurrence of depression may help physicians identify earlier diabetic patients at a high risk of developing depression, improve prevention, and accelerate proper treatment. To our knowledge, very few population-based studies have reported on the incidence of clinically diagnosed depression as a consequence of type 2 diabetes over a long follow-up period. The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence of clinically diagnosed depression among type 2 diabetic patients newly treated with oral antidiabetic drugs (ADs) and to identify factors associated with the occurrence of depression. Administrative claims data from the public health insurance plan were used to identify a cohort of new oral AD users aged ≥18 years between 2000 and 2006. Patients were followed from oral AD treatment initiation until the diagnosis of depression, ineligibility for the public drug plan, death, or the end of the study, whichever came first. Incidence rates were determined using person-time analysis. Factors associated with depression were identified using multivariable Cox regression analysis. We identified 114,366 new oral AD users, of which 4808 had a diagnosis of depression. The overall incidence rate of depression was 9.47/1000 person-years (PYs) (10.72/1000 PYs for women and 8.27/1000 PYs for men). The incidence of depression was higher during the year after oral AD treatment initiation. Independent factors associated with depression included having had mental disorders other than depression, hospitalization, a higher number of different drugs taken and of physicians visited during the year before oral AD initiation. Moreover, we observed a statistically significant age-by-socioeconomic status interaction. The incidence of diagnosed depression is higher during the first year after oral AD treatment initiation. Clinicians could pay particular attention to women, patients starting an AD at a young age, those with a low socioeconomic status, and especially those with a history of anxiety or dementia

Adaptive latitudinal variation in Common Blackbird Turdus merula nest characteristics

Nest construction is taxonomically widespread, yet our understanding of adaptive intraspecific variation in nest design remains poor. Nest characteristics are expected to vary adaptively in response to predictable variation in spring temperatures over large spatial scales, yet such variation in nest design remains largely overlooked, particularly amongst open-cup-nesting birds. Here, we systematically examined the effects of latitudinal variation in spring temperatures and precipitation on the morphology, volume, composition, and insulatory properties of open-cup-nesting Common Blackbirds’ Turdus merula nests to test the hypothesis that birds living in cooler environments at more northerly latitudes would build better insulated nests than conspecifics living in warmer environments at more southerly latitudes. As spring temperatures increased with decreasing latitude, the external diameter of nests decreased. However, as nest wall thickness also decreased, there was no variation in the diameter of the internal nest cups. Only the mass of dry grasses within nests decreased with warmer temperatures at lower latitudes. The insulatory properties of nests declined with warmer temperatures at lower latitudes and nests containing greater amounts of dry grasses had higher insulatory properties. The insulatory properties of nests decreased with warmer temperatures at lower latitudes, via changes in morphology (wall thickness) and composition (dry grasses). Meanwhile, spring precipitation did not vary with latitude, and none of the nest characteristics varied with spring precipitation. This suggests that Common Blackbirds nesting at higher latitudes were building nests with thicker walls in order to counteract the cooler temperatures. We have provided evidence that the nest construction behavior of open-cup-nesting birds systematically varies in response to large-scale spatial variation in spring temperatures

Do ultrafast exciton-polaron decoherence dynamics govern photocarrier generation efficiencies in polymer solar cells?

All-organic-based photovoltaic solar cells have attracted considerable attention because of their low-cost processing and short energy payback time. In such systems the primary dissociation of an optical excitation into a pair of photocarriers has been recently shown to be extremely rapid and efficient, but the physical reason for this remains unclear. Here, two-dimensional photocurrent excitation spectroscopy, a novel non-linear optical spectroscopy, is used to probe the ultrafast coherent decay of photoexcitations into charge-producing states in a polymer:fullerene based solar cell. The two-dimensional photocurrent spectra are interpreted by introducing a theoretical model for the description of the coupling of the electronic states of the system to an external environment and to the applied laser fields. The experimental data show no cross-peaks in the two-dimensional photocurrent spectra, as predicted by the model for coherence times between the exciton and the photocurrent producing states of 20\,fs or less