Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

Neonatal abstinence syndrome is defined by signs and symptoms of withdrawal that infants develop after intrauterine maternal drug exposure. All infants with documented in utero opioid exposure, or a high pre-test probability of exposure should have monitoring with a standard assessment instrument such as a Finnegan Score. A Finnegan score of \u3e8 is suggestive of opioid exposure, even in the absence of declared use during pregnancy. At least half of infants in most locales can be treated without the use of pharmacologic means. For this reason, symptom scores will drive the decision for pharmacologic therapy. Nevertheless, all infants, regardless of initial manifestations, should be first be managed with non-pharmacologic approaches which in turn, should not be considered as the sole alternative to drug therapy, but rather, as the base upon which all patients are treated. Those who continue to have symptoms despite supportive care should be pharmacologically treated, which in the most severe cases, is life-saving

Neonatal abstinence syndrome: Pharmacologic strategies for the mother and infant.

Opioid use in pregnancy has increased dramatically over the past decade. Since prenatal opioid use is associated with numerous obstetrical and neonatal complications, this now has become a major public health problem. In particular, in utero opioid exposure can result in neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) which is a serious condition characterized by central nervous system hyperirritability and autonomic nervous system dysfunction. The present review seeks to define current practices regarding the approach to the pregnant mother and neonate with prenatal opiate exposure. Although the cornerstone of prenatal management of opioid dependence is opioid maintenance therapy, the ideal agent has yet to be definitively established. Pharmacologic management of NAS is also highly variable and may include an opioid, barbiturate, and/or α-agonist. Genetic factors appear to be associated with the incidence and severity of NAS. Establishing pharmacogenetic risk factors for the development of NAS has the potential for creating opportunities for personalized genomic medicine and novel, individualized therapeutic interventions

Sympathetic Cooling of Lithium by Laser-cooled Cesium

We present first indications of sympathetic cooling between two neutral, optically trapped atomic species. Lithium and cesium atoms are simultaneously stored in an optical dipole trap formed by the focus of a CO$_2$ laser, and allowed to interact for a given period of time. The temperature of the lithium gas is found to decrease when in thermal contact with cold cesium. The timescale of thermalization yields an estimate for the Li-Cs cross-section.Comment: 4 pages, proceedings of ICOLS 200

Mixture of ultracold lithium and cesium atoms in an optical dipole trap

We present the first simultaneous trapping of two different ultracold atomic species in a conservative trap. Lithium and cesium atoms are stored in an optical dipole trap formed by the focus of a CO$_2$ laser. Techniques for loading both species of atoms are discussed and observations of elastic and inelastic collisions between the two species are presented. A model for sympathetic cooling of two species with strongly different mass in the presence of slow evaporation is developed. From the observed Cs-induced evaporation of Li atoms we estimate a cross section for cold elastic Li-Cs collisions.Comment: 10 pages 9 figures, submitted to Appl. Phys. B; v2: Corrected evaporation formulas and some postscript problem

Development of a low actuation voltage RF MEMS switch

This paper reports on the design of a novel ultra low actuation voltage, low loss radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF MEMS) capacitive shunt switch. The concept of the switch relies on a mechanically unconstrained armature actuated over a coplanar waveguide using electrostatic forces. The minimum actuation voltage of the switch is <2V, with an isolation of 40dB and insertion loss <0.7dB at 78GHz

Ion-Induced Soot Nucleation Using a New Potential for Curved Aromatics

A potential able to capture the properties and interactions of curved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) was developed and used to investigate the nucleation behaviour and structure of nascent soot particles. The flexoelectric charge polarisation of cPAHs caused by pentagon integration was included through the introduction of off-site virtual atoms, and enhanced dispersion interaction parameters were fitted. The electric polarisation and intermolecular interactions of cPAHs were accurately reproduced compared to ab initio calculations. This potential was used within molecular dynamics simulations to examine the homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation behaviour of the cPAH corannulene and planar PAH coronene across a range of temperatures relevant to combustion. The enhanced interactions between cPAHs and potassium ions resulted in significant and rapid nucleation of stable clusters compared to all other systems, highlighting their importance in soot nucleation. In addition, the resulting cPAH clusters present morphologies distinct from the stacked planar PAH clusters.This work used the ARCHER UK National Supercomputing Service (http://www.archer.ac.uk). K.B. is grateful to the Cambridge Trust and the Stanley Studentship at King’s College, Cambridge for their financial support. This project is also supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme

Exploring the internal structure of soot particles using nanoindentation: A reactive molecular dynamics study

The mechanical properties and internal structure of soot nanoparticles is investigated using reactive molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation of model soot particles. The particles that are provided as inputs to the simulations are generated using reactive molecular dynamics to create 3D networks of crosslinked coronene, circumanthracene and core-shell mixtures of coronene and circumanthracene. The results of the simulated nanoindentation experiments are analysed as a function of the degree of crosslinking (defined as the number of crosslinks per monomer in the particles), the size and the core-shell structure of the particles. In the case of homogeneous particles (i.e. those without a core-shell structure), the simulations show a unique relationship between the degree of crosslinking (CL) and the simulated hardness, Young’s modulus and deformation ratio. In the case of particles with a core-shell structure, a unique relationship was only found by considering the core-shell ratio and the degree of crosslinking in both the core and the shell. Our results allow for interpretation of the nanoindentation experiments as suggesting crosslinks are present in mature soot particles and preliminary evidence that crosslinks also are present within the interior of soot particles

Correlative Microscopy of Morphology and Luminescence of Cu porphyrin aggregates

Transfer of energy and information through molecule aggregates requires as one important building block anisotropic, cable-like structures. Knowledge on the spatial correlation of luminescence and morphology represents a prerequisite in the understanding of internal processes and will be important for architecting suitable landscapes. In this context we study the morphology, fluorescence and phosphorescence of molecule aggregate structures on surfaces in a spatially correlative way. We consider as two morphologies, lengthy strands and isotropic islands. It turns out that phosphorescence is quite strong compared to fluorescence and the spatial variation of the observed intensities is largely in line with the amount of dye. However in proportion, the strands exhibit more fluorescence than the isotropic islands suggesting weaker non-radiative channels. The ratio fluorescence to phosphorescence appears to be correlated with the degree of aggregation or internal order. The heights at which luminescence saturates is explained in the context of attenuation and emission multireflection, inside the dye. This is supported by correlative photoemission electron microscopy which is more sensitive to the surface region. The lengthy structures exhibit a pronounced polarization dependence of the luminescence with a relative dichroism up to about 60%, revealing substantial perpendicular orientation preference of the molecules with respect to the substrate and parallel with respect to the strands