Aerosol Jet Printing of 3D Pillar Arrays from Photopolymer Ink

An aerosol jet printing (AJP) printing head built on top of precise motion systems can provide positioning deviation down to 3 μm, printing areas as large as 20 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm, and five-axis freedom of movement. Typical uses of AJP are 2D printing on complex or flexible substrates, primarily for applications in printed electronics. Nearly all commercially available AJP inks for 2D printing are designed and optimized to reach desired electronic properties. In this work, we explore AJP for the 3D printing of free-standing pillar arrays. We utilize aryl epoxy photopolymer as ink coupled with a cross-linking “on the fly” technique. Pillar structures 550 μm in height and with a diameter of 50 μm were 3D printed. Pillar structures were characterized via scanning electron microscopy, where the morphology, number of printed layers and side effects of the AJP technique were investigated. Satellite droplets and over-spray seem to be unavoidable for structures smaller than 70 μm. Nevertheless, reactive ion etching (RIE) as a post-processing step can mitigate AJP side effects. AJP-RIE together with photopolymer-based ink can be promising for the 3D printing of microstructures, offering fast and maskless manufacturing without wet chemistry development and heat treatment post-processing

The effect of solvent and electric field on the size distribution of iron oxide microdots: Exploitation of self-assembly strategies for photoelectrodes

An increasing number of technologies benefit from or require patterned surfaces on a micro- and nanoscale. Methods developed to structure polymer films can be adapted to fabricate low-cost patterned ceramics using nonlithographic techniques, for example, dewetting and phase separation in thin films. In this paper we describe a simple patterning process that does not require a template and is able to produce Fe2O3 microdots with a spatial periodicity. Our method involves the dewetting of a silicon substrate by a thin metal oxide precursor film, in which the liquid film breaks up because of fluctuations in the film thickness induced by solvent evaporation or an external applied electric field. The patterning is followed by a thermal treatment at 550 °C to produce crystalline Fe2O3 microdots with a diameter range of 200 nm to 3 μ

Body mass index and waist circumference as determinants of hemostatic factors in participants of a population-based study

Background: In contrast to studies in patients, an association between obesity and blood coagulation factors has not been established in the population. If confirmed it could become a target for primary prevention. Objective: To investigate the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) with plasma concentrations of antithrombin III, D-dimers, fibrinogen D, protein S, factor VIII, activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), quick value, and international normalized ratio (INR) in the general population. Materials and Methods: Participants of the Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA) S4 study who took part in the KORA Fit follow-up (2018–2019, aged 54–74 years) examination were eligible. Citrate plasma samples were collected in fasted participants. After the exclusion of participants with anticoagulative treatment, 776 participants (420 women and 356 men) with analytic data on hemostatic factors were included in the present analysis. Linear regression models were used to explore the association between BMI or WC with hemostatic markers, adjusted for sex, age, alcohol consumption, education, smoking status, and physical activity. In a second model, additional adjustments were made for the prevalence of stroke, hypertension, myocardial infarction, serum non-HDL cholesterol, and serum triglycerides. Results: In the multivariable models (with or without health conditions), significant positive associations with BMI were obtained for plasma concentrations of D-dimers, factor VIII, fibrinogen D, protein S, and quick value, while INR and antithrombin III were inversely associated. Similar to BMI, WC was significantly associated with all hemostatic factors, except for aPTT. Conclusion: In this population-based study, both increasing BMI and WC affect the blood coagulation system. Thus, modification of a prothrombotic coagulation profile emerged as a potential target for primary prevention in obese subjects

Prognostic value of stress hyperglycemia ratio on short- and long-term mortality after acute myocardial infarction

Aims: Prior studies demonstrated an association between hospital admission blood glucose and mortality in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Because stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) has been suggested as a more reliable marker of stress hyperglycemia this study investigated to what extent SHR in comparison with admission blood glucose is associated with short- and long-term mortality in diabetic and non-diabetic AMI patients. Methods: The analysis was based on 2,311 AMI patients aged 25–84 years from the population-based Myocardial Infarction Registry Augsburg (median follow-up time 6.5 years [IQR: 4.9–8.1]). The SHR was calculated as admission glucose (mg/dl)/(28.7 × HbA1c (%)—46.7). Using logistic and COX regression analyses the associations between SHR and admission glucose and mortality were investigated. Result: Higher admission glucose and higher SHR were significantly and nonlinearly associated with higher 28-day mortality in AMI patients with and without diabetes. In patients without diabetes, the AUC for SHR was significantly lower than for admission glucose (SHR: 0.6912 [95%CI 0.6317–0.7496], admission glucose: 0.716 [95%CI 0.6572–0.7736], p-value: 0.0351). In patients with diabetes the AUCs were similar for SHR and admission glucose. Increasing admission glucose and SHR were significantly nonlinearly associated with higher 5-year all-cause mortality in AMI patients with diabetes but not in non-diabetic patients. AUC values indicated a comparable prediction of 5-year mortality for both measures in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Conclusions: Stress hyperglycemia in AMI patients plays a significant role mainly with regard to short-term prognosis, but barely so for long-term prognosis, underlining the assumption that it is a transient dynamic disorder that occurs to varying degrees during the acute event, thereby affecting prognosis

Body fat distribution and risk of incident ischemic stroke in men and women aged 50 to 74 years from the general population: the KORA Augsburg cohort study

It remains controversial whether measures of general or abdominal adiposity are better risk predictors for ischemic stroke. Furthermore, so far it is unclear whether body fat mass index (BFMI) and fat free mass index (FFMI) are risk predictors for ischemic stroke. This study examined the sex-specific relevance of body mass index (BMI), BROCA Index, waist circumference (WC), waist-height ratio (WHtR), BFMI and FFMI for the development of ischemic stroke in a Caucasian population.The prospective population-based cohort study was based on 1917 men and 1832 women (aged 50 to 74 years) who participated in the third (1994/95) or fourth (1999/2001) MONICA/KORA Augsburg survey. Subjects were free of stroke at baseline. Standardized anthropometric and bioelectric impedance measurements were obtained at baseline. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated from Cox proportional hazard models.During a median follow-up of 9.3 years 128 ischemic strokes occurred in men and 81 in women, respectively. Coded as quartiles WC and WHtR were significantly associated with incident stroke in multivariable analyses in women (comparing the 4th vs. the bottom quartile), but none of the adiposity measures was significantly associated with incident stroke in multivariable adjusted analyses in men. When anthropometric measures were used as continuous variables, these findings were confirmed. After multivariable adjustment the associations between obesity measures and incident ischemic stroke were statistically significant only for WC (HR 1.39, 95%CI 1.12-1.72) and WHtR in women (HR 1.39, 95%CI 1.12-1.73) per increase of 1 standard deviation. In both sexes the measures BFMI and FFMI were no independent predictors for incident ischemic stroke.Abdominal obesity measures are independent predictors of incident ischemic stroke in women but not in men from the general adult population. Thus, it may be of particular importance for women to prevent central obesity in order to reduce their risk of ischemic stroke

Shock index and modified shock index are predictors of long-term mortality not only in STEMI but also in NSTEMI patients

BACKGROUND: Shock index (SI) and modified shock index (mSI) are useful instruments for early risk stratification in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. They are strong predictors for short-term mortality. Nevertheless, the association between SI or mSI and long-term mortality in AMI patients has not yet been sufficiently examined. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For this study, a total of 10,174 patients with AMI was included. All cases were prospectively recorded by the population-based Augsburg Myocardial Infarction Registry from 2000 until 2017. Endpoint was all-cause mortality with a median observational time of 6.5 years [IQR: 3.5–7.4]. Using ROC analysis and calculating Youden-Index, the sample was dichotomized into a low and a high SI and mSI group, respectively. Moreover, multivariable adjusted COX regression models were calculated. All analyses were performed for the total sample as well as for STEMI and NSTEMI cases separately. RESULTS: Optimal cut-off values were 0.580 for SI and 0.852 for mSI (total sample). AUC values were 0.6382 (95% CI: 0.6223–0.6549) for SI and 0.6552 (95% CI: 0.6397–0.6713) for mSI. Fully adjusted COX regression models revealed significantly higher long-term mortality for patients with high SI and high mSI compared to patients with low indices (high SI HR: 1.42 [1.32–1.52], high mSI HR: 1.46 [1.36–1.57]). Furthermore, the predictive ability was slightly better for mSI compared to SI and more reliable in NSTEMI cases compared to STEMI cases (for SI and mSI). CONCLUSION: High SI and mSI are useful tools for early risk stratification including long-term outcome especially in NSTEMI cases, which can help physicians to make decision on therapy. NSTEMI patients with high SI and mSI might especially benefit from immediate invasive therapy. KEY MESSAGES: Shock index and modified shock index are predictors of long-term mortality after acute myocardial infarction. Both indices predict long-term mortality not only for STEMI cases, but even more so for NSTEMI cases

Hvilke oppfatninger er knyttet til en bedrifts navneendring hos forbrukere, og i hvilken grad vil tidligere erfaringer hos bedriften påvirke disse oppfatningene?

Denne bacheloroppgaven tar for seg oppfatninger knyttet til en navneendring hos en bedrift, og i hvilken grad tidligere erfaringer vil påvirke oppfatningene. Vi har valgt å ta for oss bedriftene Telia, Circle K og stiftelsen Høyskolen Kristiania, nettopp på grunn av at alle tre nylig har vært igjennom en navneendring prosess. Problemstillingen for dette studiet er følgende: “Hvilke oppfatninger er knyttet til en bedrifts navneendring hos forbrukere, og i hvilken grad vil tidligere erfaringer påvirke disse oppfatningene?” For å kunne besvare vår problemstilling har vi valgt en kvantitativ tilnærming på studiet. Vi konstruerte en spørreundersøkelse på bakgrunn av teori innenfor det aktuelle temaet. På bakgrunn av denne teorien har vi også laget tre hypoteser som skal hjelpe oss å besvare vår problemstilling. Spørreundersøkelsen ble distribuert via sosiale medier og e-post via skolens læringsplattform, Luvit. Vårt utvalg har vært bestående av studenter på Høyskolen Kristiania. Vi fikk inn 112 svar på undersøkelsen, noe som var under det vi hadde håpet på, men allikevel grunnlag til å gjennomføre en statistisk undersøkelse. På bakgrunn av vår problemstilling og relevant teori utarbeidet vi tre hypoteser, som skulle være med å svare på vår problemstilling, gjennom svar fra vår spørreundersøkelse. Av våre 3 hypoteser, fikk vi interessante funn, hvor resultatene ga støtte til 2 av disse 3. Resultatene våre vil være med å vise til at en navneendring er avhengig av svært mange ulike faktorer. Her vil eksempelvis om man er aktiv bruker, spille en stor rolle, noe resultatene fra hypotese to og tre viser til. Her viste resultatene at aktive brukere av et produkt/tjeneste gjerne er mer negativ mot en navneendring enn ikke aktive brukere, noe vår teori på forhånd kunne indikere. En av våre hypoteser viste også til at en navneendring både kan skape negative oppfatninger, så vel som positive oppfatninger. I følge vår undersøkelse ser det ut til at våre respondenter har mer positive oppfatning av Telia enn hva de hadde til Netcom, mens respondentene ser ut til å foretrekke Statoil fremfor Circle K. Oppfatningene mot Høyskolen Kristianias navn, vil som nevnt over være preget av om man var bruker før eller etter endringen

Treatment of thyroid dysfunctions decreases the risk of cerebrovascular events in men but not in women: results of the MONICA/KORA Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE:Thyroid disorders are well known to be associated with cardiovascular diseases. Some studies have shown that the negative effects of thyroid disorders are partially reversible after adequate treatment. The aim of this analysis was to assess the risk of incident ischemic cerebrovascular diseases in study participants treated for thyroid dysfunctions in a population-based cohort study. METHODS:For the presented analyses data from 8564 male and 8714 female individuals aged 25 to 74 years of the MONICA/KORA cohort were used (median follow-up 14.0 years). A combined binary variable "thyroid disorder" (TDC) was created utilizing data on self-reported physician-treated thyroid disorders and information about medication use. To examine the association between TDC and incident ischemic cerebrovascular events, we performed multiple adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression models and calculated hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (HR, 95%CI). RESULTS:During follow-up between 1984 and 2008/2009, 514 incident fatal and non-fatal ischemic cerebrovascular events occurred in men and 323 in women. At baseline, 3.5% of men and 15.6% of women reported TDC. In the fully adjusted model, males who reported TDC had a significantly reduced risk of ischemic cerebrovascular events (HR = 0.52, 95%CI = 0.29-0.92). A similar result was obtained in men, when we utilized information on thyroid hormones use only. For the total study population and for women with TDC we found no association with ischemic cerebrovascular events. CONCLUSIONS:In our longitudinal analyses subjects with treated thyroid diseases had no increased risk of incident ischemic cerebrovascular events. Surprisingly in males, even a significantly reduced risk of incident ischemic cerebrovascular events was found, a result that deserves further clarification