Environment of Erbium in a-Si : H and a-SiOx : H

The chemical environment of Er in a-Si:H and a-SiOx:H was determined by extended x-ray absorption fine structure. Only one family of Er sites is found, coordinated on average with two to three O atoms (compared to six in Er2O3). We devised a new model for the incorporation of Er in a-Si:II and a-SiOx:H. According to the model, Er is incorporated in the form of [ErOdelta](+3-2 delta) complexes, with delta less than or equal to 3. The minimum configuration energy is achieved for delta = 3 when the valence requirements of Er are fulfilled. The complexes are low symmetry environments that allow the Er3+ luminescent transition at 1.54 mu m and make Er an acceptor in a-Si:H whereas it is donor in crystalline silicon. [S0031-9007(98)07668-6].81214652465

Canagliflozin and Renal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to 300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m 2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

Negated bio-events: Analysis and identification

Background: Negation occurs frequently in scientific literature, especially in biomedical literature. It has previously been reported that around 13% of sentences found in biomedical research articles contain negation. Historically, the main motivation for identifying negated events has been to ensure their exclusion from lists of extracted interactions. However, recently, there has been a growing interest in negative results, which has resulted in negation detection being identified as a key challenge in biomedical relation extraction. In this article, we focus on the problem of identifying negated bio-events, given gold standard event annotations.Results: We have conducted a detailed analysis of three open access bio-event corpora containing negation information (i.e., GENIA Event, BioInfer and BioNLP'09 ST), and have identified the main types of negated bio-events. We have analysed the key aspects of a machine learning solution to the problem of detecting negated events, including selection of negation cues, feature engineering and the choice of learning algorithm. Combining the best solutions for each aspect of the problem, we propose a novel framework for the identification of negated bio-events. We have evaluated our system on each of the three open access corpora mentioned above. The performance of the system significantly surpasses the best results previously reported on the BioNLP'09 ST corpus, and achieves even better results on the GENIA Event and BioInfer corpora, both of which contain more varied and complex events.Conclusions: Recently, in the field of biomedical text mining, the development and enhancement of event-based systems has received significant interest. The ability to identify negated events is a key performance element for these systems. We have conducted the first detailed study on the analysis and identification of negated bio-events. Our proposed framework can be integrated with state-of-the-art event extraction systems. The resulting systems will be able to extract bio-events with attached polarities from textual documents, which can serve as the foundation for more elaborate systems that are able to detect mutually contradicting bio-events. © 2013 Nawaz et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

O esôfago de Barrett associado à estenose cáustica do esôfago Barrett's esophagus associated to caustic stenosis of the esophagus

RACIONAL: A estenose esofágica secundária à ingestão de produtos cáusticos é freqüente no Brasil, principalmente como tentativa de suicídio. O esôfago de Barrett surge como conseqüência do refluxo gastroesofágico crônico. A literatura pesquisada mostrou que esta associação é muito rara. CASUÍSTICA E MÉTODOS: De 1981 a 2000 foram admitidos e tratados no Gastrocentro-UNICAMP (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP.) 120 doentes com estenose cáustica do esôfago e durante o seguimento destes, foram encontrados 9 casos associados com o esôfago de Barrett (7,5%). O tempo de ingestão do cáustico variou de 4 a 54 anos (média de 29 anos) e eram quatro homens e cinco mulheres, oito brancos e um negro, com idade média de 57,7 anos (43 a 72 anos). RESULTADOS: Todos os casos apresentavam disfagia e a endoscopia digestiva alta flexível mostrou áreas de estenose e seqüelas de esofagite cáustica. Três pacientes referiram sintomas de refluxo gastroesofágico, mas hérnia de hiato foi encontrada em apenas um caso. O esôfago de Barrett foi encontrado no terço médio do esôfago em três casos, acima das áreas de estenose, e nos demais, no terço distal. A disfagia foi tratada com dilatações esofágicas periódicas. Dois pacientes apresentando sintomas de refluxo grave foram submetidos a fundoplicatura à Nissen modificado através de videolaparoscopia, com bons resultados. CONCLUSÕES: O esôfago de Barrett nesses doentes poderia estar associado com a ingestão de cáustico, porque nem sempre esteve associado à esofagite por refluxo. É muito importante o seguimento desses doentes e realização periódica de endoscopias digestivas com biopsias do esôfago de Barrett, devido à possibilidade de malignização.<br>BACKGROUND: The esophageal stenosis secondary to the ingestion of caustic products is frequent in Brazil, mainly due to an attempt suicide. The Barrett's esophagus is consequence of the chronic gastroesophageal reflux. The literature consulted showed that are a rare association. CASUISTIC AND METHODS: From 1981 to 2000 were admitted and treated in the "Gastrocentro" State University of Campinas, SP, Brazil, 120 patients presenting caustic stenosis of the esophagus, and during the follow-up were found nine cases with Barrett's esophagus associated (7,5%). The time of caustic ingestion varied from 4 years to 54 years (mean 29 years), and they were four males and five females, eight whites and one black, with the mean age of 57,7 years (43 to 72 years). RESULTS: All the cases presented dysphagia and the flexible upper endoscopy showed stenotic areas and caustic esophagitis sequels. Three patients referred symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux, but hiatus hernia were found in only one case. The Barrett's esophagus was found in the middle third of the esophagus above the stenotic areas in three cases, and in the distal third in six cases. The dysphagia was treated with periodic esophageal dilatations. Two patients presenting severe symptoms of reflux were submitted to modified Nissen fundoplication by videolaparoscopy, with good results. CONCLUSIONS: The Barrett's esophagus in these patients could be associated to the caustic ingestion, because it is not situated in the distal third of the esophagus, as commonly found in reflux esophagitis. Its is very important the follow-up and biopsies of the Barrett's esophagus, due to the possibility of malignancy