636 research outputs found
Prophylactic Use of Liposomal Amphotericin B in Preventing Fungal Infections Early After Liver Transplantation: a Retrospective, Single-Center Study
In this study the authors evaluated the efficacy of prophylaxis with liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) in the incidence of fungal infections (FI) during the first 3 months after liver transplant (LT). The study was retrospective and accessed a 4-year period from 2008 to 2011. All patients who died in the first 48 hours after LT were excluded. Patients were divided by the risk groups for FI: Group 1, high-risk (at least 1 of the following conditions: urgent LT; serum creatinine >2 mg/dL; early acute kidney injury [AKI] after LT; retransplantation; surgical exploration early post-LT; transfused cellular blood components [>40 U]); and Group 2, low-risk patients. Group 1 patients were further separated into those who received antifungal prophylaxis with L-AmB and those who did not. Prophylaxis with L-AmB consisted of intravenous administration of L-AmB, 100 mg daily for 14 days. Four hundred ninety-two patients underwent LT; 31 died in the first 48 hours after LT. From the remaining 461 patients, 104 presented with high-risk factors for FI (Group 1); of these, 66 patients received antifungal prophylaxis and 38 did not. In this group 8 FI were observed, 5 in patients without antifungal prophylaxis (P = .011). Three more FI were identified in Group 2. By logistic regression analysis, the categorical variable high-risk group was independently related to the occurrence of invasive FI (P = .006). We conclude that prophylaxis with L-AmB after LT was effective in reducing the incidence of FI. No influence on mortality was detected
A Comparative Study of Cardiovascular Tolerability with Slow Extended Dialysis Versus Continuous Haemodiafiltration in the Critical Patient
Background: In the haemodynamically unstable patient the method of treatment of acute renal failure is still largely controversial. The purpose of our study was to compare slow extended dialysis with continuous
haemodiafiltration in the critical patient with indication for renal replacement therapy and haemodynamic
instability. Patients and Methods: This is a cohort study comparing in 63 ventilated critical patients a 12 month
period when only continuous haemodiafiltration was used (n=25) with an equal period of slow extended
dialysis (n=38). Our primary objective was to evaluate the impact of the dialytic procedure on cardiovascular
stability in those patients. As secondary aims we considered system coagulation/thrombosis and predictors
of mortality. In the two groups we analysed the first session performed, the second session performed and
the average of all the sessions performed in each patient. Results: In these patients, mortality in the
intensive care unit was high (68% in the continuous haemodiafiltration group and 63% in the slow extended
dialysis group). We did not find any association between the dialytic technique used and death; only
the APACHE score was a predictor of death. Slow extended dialysis was a predictor of haemodynamic
stability, a negative predictor of sessions that had to be interrupted for haemodynamic instability, and a
predictor of achieving the volume removal initially sought. Slow extended dialysis was also associated
with less coagulation of the system. Conclusions: Our data suggested that slow extended dialysis use was
not inferior to continuous haemodiafiltration use in terms of cardiovascular tolerability
Tentative Detection of the Nitrosylium Ion in Space
We report the tentative detection in space of the nitrosylium ion, NO.
The observations were performed towards the cold dense core Barnard 1-b. The
identification of the NO =2--1 line is supported by new laboratory
measurements of NO rotational lines up to the =8--7 transition
(953207.189\,MHz), which leads to an improved set of molecular constants: \,MHz, \,kHz, and \,MHz. The profile of the feature assigned to NO exhibits two
velocity components at 6.5 and 7.5 km s, with column densities of and cm, respectively. New
observations of NO and HNO, also reported here, allow to estimate the following
abundance ratios: (NO)/(NO), and
(HNO)/(NO). This latter value provides important constraints
on the formation and destruction processes of HNO. The chemistry of NO and
other related nitrogen-bearing species is investigated by the means of a
time-dependent gas phase model which includes an updated chemical network
according to recent experimental studies. The predicted abundance for NO
and NO is found to be consistent with the observations. However, that of HNO
relative to NO is too high. No satisfactory chemical paths have been found to
explain the observed low abundance of HNO. HSCN and HNCS are also reported here
with an abundance ratio of . Finally, we have searched for NNO,
NO, HNNO, and NNOH, but only upper limits have been obtained for
their column density, except for the latter for which we report a tentative
3- detection.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal October 20, 201
Reactive Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Bismuth Tungstate Coatings for Water Treatment Applications under Natural Sunlight
Bismuth complex oxides, in particular, bismuth tungstate, have recently attracted attention as promising photocatalytic materials for water treatment processes. In the present work, photocatalytic bismuth tungstate films were prepared by pulsed direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering of Bi and W targets in an Ar/O2 atmosphere onto spherically-shaped glass beads. The uniform coverage of the substrate was enabled by the use of oscillating bowl placed underneath the magnetrons. The atomic ratio of Bi/W was varied through the variation of the power applied to the magnetrons. The deposited coatings were analyzed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The photocatalytic properties of the films were studied via the methylene blue (MB) degradation process under artificial (fluorescent light) and natural (sunlight) irradiation, and compared to the photocatalytic performance of titanium dioxide coatings deposited onto identical substrates. The results showed that the photocatalytic performance of bismuth tungstate and bismuth oxide-coated beads was superior to that exhibited by TiO2-coated beads. Overall, reactive magnetron co-sputtering has been shown to be a promising technique for deposition of narrow band gap bismuth-based semiconducting oxides onto irregularly-shaped substrates for potential use in water treatment applications
Liver Depurative Techniques: A Single Liver Transplantation Center Experience
In a liver transplant (LT) center, treatments with Prometheus were evaluated. The main outcome considered was 1 and 6 months survival.
Methods. During the study period, 74 patients underwent treatment with Prometheus; 64 were enrolled,with a mean age of 51 13 years; 47men underwent 212 treatments (mean, 3.02 per patient). The parameters evaluated were age, sex, laboratorial (liver enzymes, ammonia)
and clinical (model for end-stage liver disease and Child-Turcotte-Pugh score) data.
Results. Death was verified in 23 patients (35.9%) during the hospitalization period, 20 patients (31.3%) were submitted to liver transplantation, and 21 were discharged. LT was performed in 4 patients with acute liver failure (ALF, 23.7%), in 7 patients with acute on chronic liver failure (AoCLF, 43.7%), and in 6 patients with liver disease after LT (30%).
Seven patients who underwent LT died (35%). In the multivariate analysis, older age (P ¼ .015), higher international normalized ratio (INR) (P ¼ .019), and acute liver failure (P ¼ .039) were independently associated with an adverse 1-month clinical outcome. On the other hand, older age (P ¼ .011) and acute kidney injury (P ¼ .031) at presentation
were both related to worse 6-month outcome. For patients with ALF and AoCLF we did not observe the same differences.
Conclusions. In this cohort, older age was the most important parameter defining 1- and 6-month survival, although higher INR and presence of ALF were important for 1-month survival and AKI for 6-month survival. No difference was observed between patients who underwent LT or did not have LT
A new protonated molecule discovered in TMC-1: HCCNCH+
In recent years we have seen an important increase in the number of
protonated molecules detected in cold dense clouds. Here we report the
detection in TMC-1 of HCCNCH+, the protonated form of HCCNC, which is a
metastable isomer of HC3N. This is the first protonated form of a metastable
isomer detected in a cold dense cloud. The detection was based on observations
carried out with the Yebes 40m and IRAM 30m telescopes, which revealed four
harmonically related lines. We derive a rotational constant B = 4664.431891 +/-
0.000692 MHz and a centrifugal distortion constant D = 519.14 +/- 4.14 Hz. From
a high-level ab initio screening of potential carriers we confidently assign
the series of lines to the ion HCCNCH+. We derive a column density of (3.0 +/-
0.5)e10 cm-2 for HCCNCH+, which results in a HCCNCH+/HCCNC abundance ratio of
0.010 +/- 0.002. This value is well reproduced by a state-of-the-art chemical
model, which however is subject to important uncertainties regarding the
chemistry of HCCNCH+. The observational and theoretical status of protonated
molecules in cold dense clouds indicate that there exists a global trend in
which protonated-to-neutral abundance ratios MH+/M increase with increasing
proton affinity of the neutral M, although if one restricts to species M with
high proton affinities (>700 kJ/mol), MH+/M ratios fall in the range 0.001-0.1,
with no apparent correlation with proton affinity. We suggest various
protonated molecules that are good candidates for detection in cold dense
clouds in the near future.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
INFLUENCE OF THE MODEL SIZE IN THE NUMERICAL DETERMINATION OF THE AVERAGE THERMAL STRESSES IN AN MMC COMPOSITE
In previous works the authors discussed some issues related to a specific metallic matrix composites (MMC), the Aluminum matrix reinforced with SiC particles (Al+SiC) which has a metal matrix (powder) mixed with ceramic particles. These materials have some advantages when used as a structural material such as their high strength and good conformability. Their properties depend, among others, on the volumetric ratio, the particles size and distribution besides the matrix microstructure itself. Some of them are obtained at elevated temperature what produces a thermal stress state in the material. The Al+SiC is one of the later. The powder mix is extruded at 600oC and it is used at 20oC. Several numerical analyses were performed considering the random distribution of the particles and a non-linear behavior in the aluminum matrix. The results showed strong influence of the aluminum elastic-plastic behavior in the composite thermal stress distribution due to its manufacturing process. However, one issue remained: the size of the model. It represents the central portion of a Al+SiC bar which is only about 10 times the size of a single particle (~10L). The present work investigates, always numerically, the influence of the model size on the thermal stress distribution. It considers 2 sets of non-linear analyses with random distributed particles: one with 20 models with size of 20L each one, the other set with another 20 models with size 40L. This approach allows a view of the results tendency compared with the 10L ones. As done before, the modeled volumetric ratio has a very tight range of values with its average very near to the value in an actual Al+SiC composite. It is showed that the first model size was already enough to get good results without sacrificing neither the computer nor the analyst time
Discovery of interstellar NC4NH+: dicyanopolyynes are indeed abundant in space
The previous detection of two species related to the non polar molecule
cyanogen (NCCN), its protonated form (NCCNH+) and one metastable isomer (CNCN),
in cold dense clouds supported the hypothesis that dicyanopolyynes are abundant
in space. Here we report the first identification in space of NC4NH+, which is
the protonated form of NC4N, the second member of the series of dicyanopolyynes
after NCCN. The detection was based on the observation of six harmonically
related lines within the Yebes 40m line survey of TMC-1 QUIJOTE. The six lines
can be fitted to a rotational constant B = 1293.90840 +/- 0.00060 MHz and a
centrifugal distortion constant D = 28.59 +/- 1.21 Hz. We confidently assign
this series of lines to NC4NH+ based on high-level ab initio calculations,
which supports the previous identification of HC5NH+ by Marcelino et al. (2020)
from the observation of a series of lines with a rotational constant 2 MHz
lower than that derived here. The column density of NC4NH+ in TMC-1 is (1.1
+1.4 -0.6)e10 cm-2, which implies that NC4NH+ is eight times less abundant than
NCCNH+. The species CNCN, previously reported toward L483 and tentatively in
TMC-1, is confirmed in this latter source. We estimate that NCCN and NC4N are
present in TMC-1 with abundances a few times to one order of magnitude lower
than HC3N and HC5N, respectively. This means that dicyanopolyynes NC-(CC)n-CN
are present at a lower level than the corresponding monocyanopolyynes
HCC-(CC)n-CN. The reactions of the radicals CN and C3N with HNC arise as the
most likely formation pathways to NCCN and NC4N in cold dense clouds.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Velocity-resolved [CII] emission and [CII]/FIR Mapping along Orion with Herschel
We present the first 7.5'x11.5' velocity-resolved map of the [CII]158um line
toward the Orion molecular cloud-1 (OMC-1) taken with the Herschel/HIFI
instrument. In combination with far-infrared (FIR) photometric images and
velocity-resolved maps of the H41alpha hydrogen recombination and CO J=2-1
lines, this data set provides an unprecedented view of the intricate
small-scale kinematics of the ionized/PDR/molecular gas interfaces and of the
radiative feedback from massive stars. The main contribution to the [CII]
luminosity (~85%) is from the extended, FUV-illuminated face of the cloud
G_0>500, n_H>5x10^3 cm^-3) and from dense PDRs (G_0~10^4, n_H~10^5 cm^-3) at
the interface between OMC-1 and the HII region surrounding the Trapezium
cluster. Around 15% of the [CII] emission arises from a different gas component
without CO counterpart. The [CII] excitation, PDR gas turbulence, line opacity
(from [13CII]) and role of the geometry of the illuminating stars with respect
to the cloud are investigated. We construct maps of the [CII]/FIR and FIR/M_Gas
ratios and show that [CII]/FIR decreases from the extended cloud component
(10^-2-10^-3) to the more opaque star-forming cores (10^-3-10^-4). The lowest
values are reminiscent of the "[CII] deficit" seen in local ultra-luminous IR
galaxies hosting vigorous star formation. Spatial correlation analysis shows
that the decreasing [CII]/FIR ratio correlates better with the column density
of dust through the molecular cloud than with FIR/M_Gas. We conclude that the
[CII] emitting column relative to the total dust column along each line of
sight is responsible for the observed [CII]/FIR variations through the cloud.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal (2015 August 12). Figures 2, 6 and 7 are bitmapped to lower
resolution. This is version 2 after minor editorial changes. Notes added
after proofs include
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