Evaluation of SLOG/TCI-III pediatric system on target control infusion of propofol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The target-controlled infusion-III (SLOG/TCI-III) system was derived from a model set up by the local pediatric population for target control infusion of propofol.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The current study aimed at evaluating the difference between target concentrations of propofol and performance, which was measured using the SLOG/TCI-III system in children. Thirty children fulfilling the I-II criteria according to American Society of Anesthesiology were enrolled in the study. The target plasma concentration of propofol was fed into the SLOG/TCI-III system and compared with the measured concentrations of propofol. Blood samples were collected and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector. The performance error (PE) was determined for each measured blood propofol concentration. The performances of the TCI-III system were determined by the median performance error (MDPE), the median absolute performance error (MDAPE), and Wobble (the median absolute deviation of each PE from the MDPE), respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Concentration against target concentration showed good linear correlation: concentration = 1.3428 target concentration - 0.2633 (r = 0.8667). The MDPE and MDAPE of the pediatric system were 10 and 22%, respectively, and the median value for Wobble was 24%. MDPE and MDAPE were less than 15 and 30%, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The performance of TCI-III system seems to be in the accepted limits for clinical practice in children.</p

Point-Contact Spectroscopy of Iron-Based Layered Superconductor LaO0.9_{0.9}F0.1−δ_{0.1-\delta}FeAs

We present point-contact spectroscopy data for junctions between a normal metal and the newly discovered F-doped superconductor LaO$_{0.9}$F$_{0.1-\delta}$FeAs (F-LaOFeAs). A zero-bias conductance peak was observed and its shape and magnitude suggests the presence of Andreev bound states at the surface of F-LaOFeAs, which provides a possible evidence of an unconventional pairing symmetry with a nodal gap function. The maximum gap value $\Delta_0\approx3.9\pm0.7$meV was determined from the measured spectra, in good agreement with the recent experiments on specific heat and lower critical field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure