Relationship between antihypertensive medications and cognitive impairment: Part II. Review of Physiology and animal studies

Purpose of Review There is an established association between hypertension and increased risk of poor cognitive performance and dementia including Alzheimer’s disease; however, associations between antihypertensive medications (AHM) and dementia risk are less clear. An increased interest in AHM has resulted in expanding publications; however, none of the recent reviews provide comprehensive review. Our extensive review includes 24 mechanistic animal and human studies published over the last 5 years assessing relationship between AHM and cognitive function. Recent Findings All classes of AHM showed similar result patterns in animal studies. The mechanism by which AHM exert their effect was extensively studied by evaluating well-established pathways of AD disease process, including amyloid beta (Aβ), vascular, oxidative stress and inflammation pathways, but only few studies evaluated the blood pressure lowering effect on the AD disease process. Summary Methodological limitations of the studies prevent comprehensive conclusions prior to further work evaluating AHM in animals and larger human observational studies, and selecting those with promising results for future RCTs

Relationship between antihypertensive medications and cognitive impairment: Part I. review of human studies and clinical trials

Purpose of review: There is an established association between hypertension and increased risk of poor cognitive performance and dementia including Alzheimer’s disease; however, associations between antihypertensive medications (AHMs) and dementia risk are less consistent. An increased interest in AHM has resulted in expanding publications; however, none of the recent reviews are comprehensive. Our extensive review includes 15 observational and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published over the last 5 years, assessing the relationship between AHM and cognitive impairment. Recent findings: All classes of AHM showed similar result patterns in human studies with the majority of study results reporting point estimates below one and only a small number of studies (N = 15) reporting statistically significant results in favor of a specific class. Summary: Only a small number of studies reported statistically significant results in favor of a specific class of AHM. Methodological limitations of the studies prevent definitive conclusions. Further work is now needed to evaluate the class of AHM and cognitive outcomes in future RCTs, with a particular focus on the drugs with the promising results in both animals and human observational studies

Spatial electron density and electric field strength measurements in microwave cavity experiments

Measurements of electron density and electric field strength have been made in an argon plasma contained in a resonant microwave cavity at 2.45 GHz. Spatial measurements of electron density, n sub e, are correlated with fluorescence observations of the discharge. Measurements of n sub e were made with Stark broadening and compared with n sub 3 calculated from measured plasma conductivity. Additional measurements of n sub 3 as a function of pressure and in mixtures of argon and oxygen are presented for pressures from 10 Torr to 1 atm. Measurements in flowing gases and in static systems are presented. In addition, limitations of these measurements are identified

Percutaneous cholecystostomy:Single centre experience in 111 patients with an acute cholecystitis

'Purpose: 'To evaluate the safety and long-term outcome of percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) under radiologic guidance for acute calculous cholecystitis (ACC) and acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) in all patients undergoing that procedure at our institution. 'Materials and methods: 'We performed a retrospective analysis of 111 patients who underwent PC from 2004 to 2012. Patients were divided into two groups: AAC and ACC. For all patients, comorbidity and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification were determined. The indications, complications, recurrence rate and long-term outcome for both groups were analysed. The mean follow-up was 55 months. 'Results: 'Twenty-four patients with AAC and 87 patients with ACC underwent PC. The most common sonographic findings of ACC and AAC were gallbladder wall thickening (90,9%) and hydrops (72,9%). Twelve of 24 patients with AAC (50%) were hospitalized at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Overall, the procedure failed in 2 (1,8%) patients. There were 4 (3,6%) abscesses and 2 (1,8%) fistulas post PC. Drain dislodgment was found without sequelae in 8 (7,2%) patients. Elective cholecystectomy was performed in 35/111 (31,5%). Fifty-one of 87 (58,6%) patients with gallstones underwent cholecystectomy; 36/87 (41,3%) did not undergo surgery due to a too short follow-up or death of nonbiliary disease. In the AAC group, there was no recurrent cholecystitis in 17/24 (70,8%) patients; 3/24 (12,5%) underwent surgery and 4/24 (16,6%) patients died in the ICU. 'Conclusion: 'PC is a minimally invasive treatment with low complication rate for patients with acute cholecystitis whom considered being at high-risk for urgent cholecystectomy. Good selection (ASA III and IV) and indication is needed in patients with ACC before PC because the majority will be operated later on. AAC can be managed nonoperatively and further treatment might not be needed

Unconventional carrier-mediated ferromagnetism above room temperature in ion-implanted (Ga, Mn)P:C

Ion implantation of Mn ions into hole-doped GaP has been used to induce ferromagnetic behavior above room temperature for optimized Mn concentrations near 3 at.%. The magnetism is suppressed when the Mn dose is increased or decreased away from the 3 at.% value, or when n-type GaP substrates are used. At low temperatures the saturated moment is on the order of one Bohr magneton, and the spin wave stiffness inferred from the Bloch-law T^3/2 dependence of the magnetization provides an estimate Tc = 385K of the Curie temperature that exceeds the experimental value, Tc = 270K. The presence of ferromagnetic clusters and hysteresis to temperatures of at least 330K is attributed to disorder and proximity to a metal-insulating transition.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (RevTex4

Study of resonance light scattering for remote optical probing

Enhanced scattering and fluorescence processes in the visible and UV were investigated which will enable improved remote measurements of gas properties. The theoretical relationship between scattering and fluorescence from an isolated molecule in the approach to resonance is examined through analysis of the time dependence of re-emitted light following excitation of pulsed incident light. Quantitative estimates are developed for the relative and absolute intensities of fluorescence and resonance scattering. New results are obtained for depolarization of scattering excited by light at wavelengths within a dissociative continuum. The experimental work was performed in two separate facilities. One of these utilizes argon and krypton lasers, single moded by a tilted etalon, and a 3/4 meter double monochromator. This facility was used to determine properties of the re-emission from NO2, I2 and O3 excited by visible light. The second facility involves a narrow-line dye laser, and a 3/4 meter single monochromator. The dye laser produces pulsed light with 5 nsec pulse duration and 0.005 nm spectral width