Synthesis by wet chemistry and characterization of LiNbO3 nanoparticles

Actually, lithium niobate (LiNbO3) has been used for optical wavelength conversion and ultrafast optical signal processing because of its outstanding rapid nonlinear optical response behavior, low switching power and broad conversion bandwidth. LiNbO3nanoparticles, which belong to the ferroelectric oxide class, were synthesized by chemical reaction with wetchemistry. Their sizedistributionwascenteredaround200 nm. Xray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to further investigate the quality of the obtained LiNbO3powders.The present work shows thatby employingthis chemical method the correct stoichiometric phasewas obtained. This wascorroborated by XPS (X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) results. Also, the nanoparticles showed a defined crystallinity and uniform morphology. This way of obtaining nanoparticles is innovative because of its low cost and simple way to reproduce it. It isan important method of increasing the surfacearea, controlling thephase purityand reducing theparticle size distribution. The samples were obtained under low temperature annealing at500, 650 and 800 ºC. Those features can be controlled using variables such temperature, time of synthesis,and calcination. In previous worksit wasfound that hydrothermal methods offer many advantages over conventional ceramic synthesis methods

Reducing the duration of antibiotic therapy in surgical patients through a specific nationwide antimicrobial stewardship program. A prospective, interventional cohort study

Background: Guidelines recommend 5-7 days of antibiotic treatment in patients with surgical infection and adequate source control. This nationwide stewardship intervention aimed to reduce the duration of treatments in surgical patients to 7 days were evaluated using a linear regression model and Pearson's correlation coefficients. Results: A total of 32,499 patients were included. Of these, 13.7% had treatments ≥7 days. In all, 3,912 stewardship interventions were performed, primarily in general surgery (90.7%) and urology (8.1%). The main types of infection were intra-abdominal (73.4%), skin/soft tissues (9.8%) and urinary (9.2%). The septic focus was considered controlled in 59.9% of cases. Out of 5,458 antibiotic prescriptions, the most frequently analysed drugs were piperacillin/tazobactam (21.7%), metronidazole (11.2%), amoxicillin/clavulanate (10.3%), meropenem (10.7%), ceftriaxone (9.3%) and ciprofloxacin (6.7%). The main recommendations issued were: treatment discontinuation (35.0%), maintenance (40.0%) or de-escalation (15.5%), and the overall adherence rate was 91.5%. With adequate source control, the most frequent recommendation was to terminate treatment (51.2%). Throughout the study period, a significant decrease in the percentage of prolonged treatments was observed (Pc=-0.69;p<0.001). Conclusions: This stewardship programme reduced the duration of treatments in surgical departments. Preference was given to general surgery services, intra-abdominal infection, and beta-lactam antibiotics, including carbapenems. Adherence to the issued recommendations was high

The Oxygen Paradox, the French Paradox, and age-related diseases

open46openDavies, Joanna M. S.; Cillard, Josiane; Friguet, Bertrand; Cadenas, Enrique; Cadet, Jean; Cayce, Rachael; Fishmann, Andrew; Liao, David; Bulteau, Anne-Laure; Derbré, Frédéric; Rébillard, Amélie; Burstein, Steven; Hirsch, Etienne; Kloner, Robert A.; Jakowec, Michael; Petzinger, Giselle; Sauce, Delphine; Sennlaub, Florian; Limon, Isabelle; Ursini, Fulvio; Maiorino, Matilde; Economides, Christina; Pike, Christian J.; Cohen, Pinchas; Salvayre, Anne Negre; Halliday, Matthew R.; Lundquist, Adam J.; Jakowec, Nicolaus A.; Mechta-Grigoriou, Fatima; Mericskay, Mathias; Mariani, Jean; Li, Zhenlin; Huang, David; Grant, Ellsworth; Forman, Henry J.; Finch, Caleb E.; Sun, Patrick Y.; Pomatto, Laura C. D.; Agbulut, Onnik; Warburton, David; Neri, Christian; Rouis, Mustapha; Cillard, Pierre; Capeau, Jacqueline; Rosenbaum, Jean; Davies, Kelvin J. A.Davies, Joanna M. S.; Cillard, Josiane; Friguet, Bertrand; Cadenas, Enrique; Cadet, Jean; Cayce, Rachael; Fishmann, Andrew; Liao, David; Bulteau, Anne-Laure; Derbré, Frédéric; Rébillard, Amélie; Burstein, Steven; Hirsch, Etienne; Kloner, Robert A.; Jakowec, Michael; Petzinger, Giselle; Sauce, Delphine; Sennlaub, Florian; Limon, Isabelle; Ursini, Fulvio; Maiorino, Matilde; Economides, Christina; Pike, Christian J.; Cohen, Pinchas; Salvayre, Anne Negre; Halliday, Matthew R.; Lundquist, Adam J.; Jakowec, Nicolaus A.; Mechta-Grigoriou, Fatima; Mericskay, Mathias; Mariani, Jean; Li, Zhenlin; Huang, David; Grant, Ellsworth; Forman, HENRY J.; Finch, Caleb E.; Sun, Patrick Y.; Pomatto, Laura C. D.; Agbulut, Onnik; Warburton, David; Neri, Christian; Rouis, Mustapha; Cillard, Pierre; Capeau, Jacqueline; Rosenbaum, Jean; Davies, Kelvin J. A

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Validation of the catheter-related bloodstream infection: data among the hospitals of the VINCat Program.

Introduction: During the last three decades, the surveillance of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) has been recognized as the cornerstone of an effective program of prevention and control of HAIs. Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) are one of the most common types of HAIs. In 2018, the VINCat program (vigilància de les infeccions nosocomials als hospitals de Catalunya) conducted a national validation of CRBSIs´ data to validate the actual recorded rates and assess the data concordance between VINCat and the participating hospitals. Objectives: To validate the declared CRBSIs data of the hospitals participating in the VINCat program Methods: This validation included 44 participating hospitals divided into 3 main groups according to bed number. All hospitals were asked to submit microbilogical data lists of all registered cases of CRBSIs with Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) and Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) reported to the VINCat during the cut period (March to December) and were subject for validation. Main outcomes were false negative cases of CRBSIs that should have been declared to VINCat and false positive cases that do not comply VINCat criteria for a CRBSI.To evaluate the agreement between the two validators statistically, the Cohen's Kappa value is used with '1' being the highest value of concordance. Results: The total number of validated cases of bacteremia was 2327, of which 585 were cases of CRBSIs. In total, 89 (5%) were discordant cases of which 2 cases (2%) were not declared, 4 cases (5%) did not meet the VINCat criteria and 83 cases (93%) were not shown in the list of microbiology provided by hospitals. The Kappa value between the two validators was 0.92. Conclusion: This validation shows a high level of concordance between the CRBSIs´data declared to the VINCat program and the participating hospitals up to 96% (almost perfect). Therefore, the CRBSIs ´data within the VINCat program are reliable and eligible for the benchmarking and for public declaration

A Current Monitor System in High-Voltage Applications in a Range from Picoamps to Microamps

In this article, we present a system to measure current in the range of 0 to 10 μA with high-voltage isolation up to 5 kV. This current monitor consists of three ammeters connected in series, to improve the resolution in the measurement. The design features several innovative elements such as using low voltage to provide power to the devices to measure the current and digitize it with a sampling frequency of 1 KHz, it is generated based on a DC-DC converter that produces three voltages, +12 V, −12 V, and 5 V, from a conventional 10 V source. The three voltages are referenced to the same floating ground. The DC-DC converter has a high voltage insulation up to 5 kV and four optocouplers with an insulation up to 20 kV are used to read the digitized data. The introduction of a DC-DC converter contributed to reduce the noise level in the analog part of the circuit which has been resolved implementing shields inside the board. In particle physics, several systems are used to detect particles in high-energy physics experiments such as Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM), micromegas, etc. GEMs suffer small deteriorations due to discharges in constant operation and require monitoring the current consumption at high frequency (1 kHz). In this work, we present the design and operation of a 0 to 10 μA auto scale ammeter. The results obtained by monitoring the current in a 10 × 10 cm2 GEM are shown

A Current Monitor System in High-Voltage Applications in a Range from Picoamps to Microamps

In this article, we present a system to measure current in the range of 0 to 10 &mu;A with high-voltage isolation up to 5 kV. This current monitor consists of three ammeters connected in series, to improve the resolution in the measurement. The design features several innovative elements such as using low voltage to provide power to the devices to measure the current and digitize it with a sampling frequency of 1 KHz, it is generated based on a DC-DC converter that produces three voltages, +12 V, &minus;12 V, and 5 V, from a conventional 10 V source. The three voltages are referenced to the same floating ground. The DC-DC converter has a high voltage insulation up to 5 kV and four optocouplers with an insulation up to 20 kV are used to read the digitized data. The introduction of a DC-DC converter contributed to reduce the noise level in the analog part of the circuit which has been resolved implementing shields inside the board. In particle physics, several systems are used to detect particles in high-energy physics experiments such as Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM), micromegas, etc. GEMs suffer small deteriorations due to discharges in constant operation and require monitoring the current consumption at high frequency (1 kHz). In this work, we present the design and operation of a 0 to 10 &mu;A auto scale ammeter. The results obtained by monitoring the current in a 10 &times; 10 cm2 GEM are shown

Trends in the epidemiology of catheter-related bloodstream infections; towards a paradigm shift, Spain, 2007 to 2019

The use of vascular devices in hospitalised patients is essential for their treatment, which frequently involves the administration of drugs and fluids, parenteral nutrition, or haemodialysis. The prevalence of peripheral (PVC) and central (CVC) venous catheter use among hospitalised patients estimated in different European surveys in the last decade is around 70% and 10% respectively [1-3]. In in a prospective cohort study published in 2010, catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) were the most important complications reported from 15 Spanish hospitals, with 821 bloodstream infections (BSI) episodes, representing almost 25% of all nosocomial BSI [4]. According to a paper from 2006 reporting a systematic review of 200 published prospective studies, the incidence rate of CRBSI per 1,000 catheter days generally ranges from 0.1 episodes for PVC to 2.7 episodes for CVC. CRBSI are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Patients with these infections usually have more severe underlying illness and are more likely to have other healthcare-associated infections (HAI) during their admission, with a mortality ranging from 12% to 25%, according to a prospective nationwide surveillance study in the United States (US) from March 1995 through September 2002 [6]. CRBSI are also associated with longer hospital admissions and higher economic costs. The application of prevention programmes in intensive care units (ICU) in recent decades has resulted in significant reductions of CRBSI incidence rates [8]. Bundles of preventive measures have been applied including hand hygiene, use of chlorhexidine alcohol solution for skin antisepsis, full barrier precautions, daily review of need for catheterisation and femoral site avoidance. The Infection Control Catalan Programme (VINCat) was launched in 2006, with the main objective of reducing the incidence of HAI through continuous active monitoring and implementation of preventive programmes. Surveillance of CRBSI at the hospitals in our region is a priority [9]. The aim of this study is to describe the changes in the incidence and epidemiology of CRBSI in the hospitals participating in the VINCat programme over a 13-year period