Zirconia nanotubes

Hollow nanotubes of zirconia as well as of yttria-stabilized zirconia are successfully prepared by first coating the carbon nanotubes appropriately with the oxidic material and then burning off the carbon of the template

Nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes containing small amounts of nitrogen are produced by the pyrolysis of aza-aromatics such as pyridine, methylpyrimidine and triazine over cobalt nanoparticles in an Ar atmosphere; good yields of such nanotubes are obtained by carrying out the pyrolysis of a mixture of pyridine and Fe(CO)5 in flowing Ar+H2

Acute Decline in Renal Function, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Risk after an Acute Coronary Syndrome

Background and objectives: Chronic kidney disease is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular outcomes. The prognostic significance of worsening renal function has also been shown in various cohorts of cardiac disease; however, the predictors of worsening renal function and the contribution of inflammation remains to be established. Design, setting, participants, & measurements: Worsening renal function was defined as a 25% or more decrease in estimated GFR (eGFR) over a 1-mo period in patients after a non-ST or ST elevation acute coronary syndromes participating in the Aggrastat-to-Zocor Trial; this occurred in 5% of the 3795 participants. Results: A baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) in the fourth quartile was a significant predictor of developing worsening renal function (odds ratio, 2.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.49, 4.14). After adjusting for baseline CRP and eGFR, worsening renal function remained a strong multivariate predictor for the combined cardiovascular composite of CV death, recurrent myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure or stroke (hazard ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1, 2.3). Conclusions: Patients with an early decline in renal function after an acute coronary syndrome are at a significant increased risk for recurrent cardiovascular events. CRP is an independent predictor for subsequent decline in renal function and reinforces the idea that inflammation may be related to the pathophysiology of progressive renal disease

A method for the reconstruction of unknown non-monotonic growth functions in the chemostat

We propose an adaptive control law that allows one to identify unstable steady states of the open-loop system in the single-species chemostat model without the knowledge of the growth function. We then show how one can use this control law to trace out (reconstruct) the whole graph of the growth function. The process of tracing out the graph can be performed either continuously or step-wise. We present and compare both approaches. Even in the case of two species in competition, which is not directly accessible with our approach due to lack of controllability, feedback control improves identifiability of the non-dominant growth rate.Comment: expansion of ideas from proceedings paper (17 pages, 8 figures), proceedings paper is version v

Growth of Epitaxial Tungsten Nanorods

A simple vapour deposition technique was used to prepare WO3 one-dimensional nanostructures.WO3 is sublimated at a relatively low temperature (550 1C) in air at atmospheric pressure.The sublimated species are condensed on mica substrate at 500 1C.Single crystalline nanorods are grown in epitaxy on the mica surface with a growth axis along [0 1 0] directions and (0 0 1) plane parallel to the substrate.A growth process is proposed in which the formation of a onedimensional tetragonal tungsten bronze as precursor is the determining factor

Quantum Interference Effects in Electronic Transport through Nanotube Contacts

Quantum interference has dramatic effects on electronic transport through nanotube contacts. In optimal configuration the intertube conductance can approach that of a perfect nanotube ($4e^2/h$). The maximum conductance increases rapidly with the contact length up to 10 nm, beyond which it exhibits long wavelength oscillations. This is attributed to the resonant cavity-like interference phenomena in the contact region. For two concentric nanotubes symmetry breaking reduces the maximum intertube conductance from $4e^2/h$ to $2e^2/h$. The phenomena discussed here can serve as a foundation for building nanotube electronic circuits and high speed nanoscale electromechanical devices

Catheter ablation vs. thoracoscopic surgical ablation in long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation: CASA-AF randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: Long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (LSPAF) is challenging to treat with suboptimal catheter ablation (CA) outcomes. Thoracoscopic surgical ablation (SA) has shown promising efficacy in atrial fibrillation (AF). This multicentre randomized controlled trial tested whether SA was superior to CA as the first interventional strategy in de novo LSPAF. METHODS AND RESULTS: We randomized 120 LSPAF patients to SA or CA. All patients underwent predetermined lesion sets and implantable loop recorder insertion. Primary outcome was single procedure freedom from AF/atrial tachycardia (AT) ≥30 s without anti-arrhythmic drugs at 12 months. Secondary outcomes included clinical success (≥75% reduction in AF/AT burden); procedure-related serious adverse events; changes in patients' symptoms and quality-of-life scores; and cost-effectiveness. At 12 months, freedom from AF/AT was recorded in 26% (14/54) of patients in SA vs. 28% (17/60) in the CA group [OR 1.128, 95% CI (0.46-2.83), P = 0.83]. Reduction in AF/AT burden ≥75% was recorded in 67% (36/54) vs. 77% (46/60) [OR 1.13, 95% CI (0.67-4.08), P = 0.3] in SA and CA groups, respectively. Procedure-related serious adverse events within 30 days of intervention were reported in 15% (8/55) of patients in SA vs. 10% (6/60) in CA, P = 0.46. One death was reported after SA. Improvements in AF symptoms were greater following CA. Over 12 months, SA was more expensive and provided fewer quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) compared with CA (0.78 vs. 0.85, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Single procedure thoracoscopic SA is not superior to CA in treating LSPAF. Catheter ablation provided greater improvements in symptoms and accrued significantly more QALYs during follow-up than SA. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN18250790 and ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02755688

Detection, Mapping, and Quantification of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Histological Specimens with Photoacoustic Microscopy

Contains fulltext : 110845.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)AIMS: In the present study, the efficacy of multi-scale photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) was investigated to detect, map, and quantify trace amounts [nanograms (ng) to micrograms (microg)] of SWCNTs in a variety of histological tissue specimens consisting of cancer and benign tissue biopsies (histological specimens from implanted tissue engineering scaffolds). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Optical-resolution (OR) and acoustic-resolution (AR)--Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) was employed to detect, map and quantify the SWCNTs in a variety of tissue histological specimens and compared with other optical techniques (bright-field optical microscopy, Raman microscopy, near infrared (NIR) fluorescence microscopy). RESULTS: Both optical-resolution and acoustic-resolution PAM, allow the detection and quantification of SWCNTs in histological specimens with scalable spatial resolution and depth penetration. The noise-equivalent detection sensitivity to SWCNTs in the specimens was calculated to be as low as approximately 7 pg. Image processing analysis further allowed the mapping, distribution, and quantification of the SWCNTs in the histological sections. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate the potential of PAM as a promising imaging technique to detect, map, and quantify SWCNTs in histological specimens, and could complement the capabilities of current optical and electron microscopy techniques in the analysis of histological specimens containing SWCNTs