Green preparation and spectroscopic characterization of plasmonic silver nanoparticles using fruits as reducing agents

Chemicals typically available in plants have the capability to reduce silver and gold salts and to create silver and gold nanoparticles. We report the preparation of silver nanoparticles with sizes between 10 and 300 nm from silver nitrate using fruit extract collected from pineapples and oranges as reducing agents. The evolvement of a characteristic surface plasmon extinction spectrum in the range of 420 nm to 480 nm indicates the formation of silver nanoparticles after mixing silver nitrate solution and fruit extract. Shifts in plasmon peaks over time indicate the growth of nanoparticles. Electron microscopy shows that the shapes of the nanoparticles are different depending on the fruit used for preparation. The green preparation process can result in individual nanoparticles with a very poor tendency to form aggregates with narrow gaps even when aggregation is forced by the addition of NaCl. This explains only modest enhancement factors for near-infrared-excited surface enhanced Raman scattering. In addition to the surface plasmon band, UV–visible absorption spectra show features in the UV range which indicates also the presence of small silver clusters, such as Ag42+. The increase of the plasmon absorption correlates with the decrease of absorption band in the UV. This confirms the evolution of silver nanoparticles from silver clusters. The presence of various silver clusters on the surface of the “green” plasmonic silver nanoparticles is also supported by a strong multicolor luminesce signal emitted by the plasmonic particles during 473 nm excitation

Kantsoner mellom jordbruksareal og vassdrag - Kartbasert analyse av kantsoneareal og grenselinje

Rapporten er skrevet på oppdrag for Miljødirektoratet og viser tall for grenselinje og kantsoneareal mellom vassdrag og jordbruksareal i Norge. I rapporten presenteres valgte datasett og brukt metode for å beregne tallene. Videre oppsummeres det hvordan resultatene kan brukes til fremtidig analyse for å finne kantsoneareal som kan reetableres med naturlig kantvegetasjon.Kantsoner mellom jordbruksareal og vassdrag - Kartbasert analyse av kantsoneareal og grenselinjepublishedVersio

Superfield Formulation for Non-Relativistic Chern-Simons-Matter Theory

We construct a superfield formulation for non-relativistic Chern-Simons-Matter theories with manifest dynamical supersymmetry. By eliminating all the auxiliary fields, we show that the simple action reduces to the one obtained by taking non-relativistic limit from the relativistic Chern-Simons-Matter theory proposed in the literature. As a further application, we give a manifestly supersymmetric derivation of the non-relativistic ABJM theory.Comment: 18 page

A No-Go Theorem for the Nonabelian Topological Mass Mechanism in Four Dimensions

We prove that there is no power-counting renormalizable nonabelian generalization of the abelian topological mass mechanism in four dimensions. The argument is based on the technique of consistent deformations of the master equation developed by G. Barnich and one of the authors. Recent attempts involving extra fields are also commented upon.Comment: 12 pages, latex fil

Red blood cell transfusion in septic shock - clinical characteristics and outcome of unselected patients in a prospective, multicentre cohort

BACKGROUND: Treating anaemia with red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is frequent, but controversial, in patients with septic shock. Therefore we assessed characteristics and outcome associated with RBC transfusion in this group of high risk patients. METHODS: We did a prospective cohort study at 7 general intensive care units (ICUs) including all adult patients with septic shock in a 5-month period. RESULTS: Ninety-five of the 213 included patients (45%) received median 3 (interquartile range 2–5) RBC units during shock. The median pre-transfusion haemoglobin level was 8.1 (7.4–8.9) g/dl and independent of shock day and bleeding. Patients with cardiovascular disease were transfused at higher haemoglobin levels. Transfused patients had higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II (56 (45-69) vs. 48 (37-61), p = 0.0005), more bleeding episodes, lower haemoglobin levels days 1 to 5, higher Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores (days 1 and 5), more days in shock (5 (3-10) vs. 2 (2-4), p = 0.0001), more days in ICU (10 (4-19) vs. 4 (2-8), p = 0.0001) and higher 90-day mortality (66 vs. 43%, p = 0.001). The latter association was lost after adjustment for admission category and SAPS II and SOFA-score on day 1. CONCLUSIONS: The decision to transfuse patients with septic shock was likely affected by disease severity and bleeding, but haemoglobin level was the only measure that consistently differed between transfused and non-transfused patients

Path Integral Approach to 't Hooft's Derivation of Quantum from Classical Physics

We present a path-integral formulation of 't Hooft's derivation of quantum from classical physics. The crucial ingredient of this formulation is Gozzi et al.'s supersymmetric path integral of classical mechanics. We quantize explicitly two simple classical systems: the planar mathematical pendulum and the Roessler dynamical system.Comment: 29 pages, RevTeX, revised version with minor changes, accepted to Phys. Rev.

Stable or improved neurological manifestations during miglustat therapy in patients from the international disease registry for Niemann-Pick disease type C: an observational cohort study

Background: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare neurovisceral disease characterised by progressive neurological degeneration, where the rate of neurological disease progression varies depending on age at neurological onset. We report longitudinal data on functional disease progression and safety observations in patients in the international NPC Registry who received continuous treatment with miglustat. Methods: The NPC Registry is a prospective observational cohort of NP-C patients. Enrolled patients who received ≥1 year of continuous miglustat therapy (for ≥90 % of the observation period, with no single treatment interruption >28 days) were included in this analysis. Disability was measured using a scale rating the four domains, ambulation, manipulation, language and swallowing from 0 (normal) to 1 (worst). Neurological disease progression was analysed in all patients based on: 1) annual progression rates between enrolment and last follow up, and; 2) categorical analysis with patients categorised as 'improved/stable' if ≥3/4 domain scores were lower/unchanged, and as 'progressed' if <3 scores were lower/unchanged between enrolment and last follow-up visit. Results: In total, 283 patients were enrolled from 28 centers in 13 European countries, Canada and Australia between September 2009 and October 2013; 92 patients received continuous miglustat therapy. The mean (SD) miglustat exposure during the observation period (enrolment to last follow-up) was 2.0 (0.7) years. Among 84 evaluable patients, 9 (11 %) had early-infantile (<2 years), 27 (32 %) had late-infantile (2 to <6 years), 30 (36 %) had juvenile (6 to <15 years) and 18 (21 %) had adolescent/adult (≥15 years) onset of neurological manifestations. The mean (95%CI) composite disability score among all patients was 0.37 (0.32,0.42) at enrolment and 0.44 (0.38,0.50) at last follow-up visit, and the mean annual progression rate was 0.038 (0.018,0.059). Progression of composite disability scores appeared highest among patients with neurological onset during infancy or childhood and lowest in those with adolescent/adult-onset. Overall, 59/86 evaluable patients (69 %) were categorized as improved/stable and the proportion of improved/stable patients increased with age at neurological onset. Safety findings were consistent with previous data. Conclusions: Disability status was improved/stable in the majority of patients who received continuous miglustat therapy for an average period of 2 years