Evaluation Of Polymeric Coatings On Their Efficiency Of Inhibiting The Adhesion Of Inorganic Scale

The use of polymer coatings allows modulating wettability and can contribute decisively to mitigate the formation of scale in pipes and equipment. In this work critical surface energy (CSE) and surface free energy (SFE) were determined for several polymer coatings (epoxy phenol novolac resins and fluoropolymers), aiming the evaluation of their antifouling capacity against brines reproducing formation waters from pre salt wells. Coatings with lower values for SFE and CSE presented the lowest degree of fouling as determined by wet analysis using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP - AES).9

CVD of CrO2: towards a lower temperature deposition process

We report on the synthesis of highly oriented a-axis CrO2 films onto (0001) sapphire by atmospheric pressure CVD from CrO3 precursor, at growth temperatures down to 330 degree Celsius, i.e. close to 70 degrees lower than in published data for the same chemical system. The films keep the high quality magnetic behaviour as those deposited at higher temperature, which can be looked as a promising result in view of their use with thermally sensitive materials, e.g. narrow band gap semiconductors.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Love kills: Simulations in Penna Ageing Model

The standard Penna ageing model with sexual reproduction is enlarged by adding additional bit-strings for love: Marriage happens only if the male love strings are sufficiently different from the female ones. We simulate at what level of required difference the population dies out.Comment: 14 pages, including numerous figure

Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis and erythema multiforme drug-related hospitalisations in a national administrative database

BACKGROUND: Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) and erythema multiforme (EM) are immunologically-mediated dermatological disorders commonly triggered by drug exposure and/or other external agents. We aimed to characterise SJS/TEN- and EM-drug-related hospitalisations in a nationwide administrative database, focusing on demographic and clinical characteristics, and in the most frequently implicated drug classes. METHODS: We analysed all drug-related hospitalisations with associated diagnosis of SJS/TEN or EM in Portuguese hospitals between 2009 and 2014. We compared gender, age, comorbidities, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality and estimated the number of episodes per million packages sold of drug classes. Predictors of in-hospital mortality were investigated in both conditions by logistic regression. RESULTS: There were 132 SJS/TEN-related and 122 EM-related hospitalisations. Incidence and in-hospital mortality of SJS/TEN episodes (24.2%) were consistent with previous studies. HIV co-infection was more common among SJS/TEN hospitalisations (9 vs. 2% with EM; P = 0.009). Liver disease, advanced age, and a TEN diagnosis, were significantly associated with higher risk of mortality in patients with SJS/TEN. The highest numbers of SJS/TEN and EM episodes per million drug packages sold were observed for antivirals (8.7 and 1.5, respectively), antineoplastic/immunosuppressive drugs (5.6 and 3.9, respectively) and hypouricaemic drugs (5.0 and 2.4, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: SJS/TEN in-hospital mortality is high, and its risk factors include advanced age, liver disease, and TEN diagnosis. The drug classes most frequently associated with these conditions include antivirals, hypouricaemic drugs and antineoplastic/immunosuppressive drugs. Administrative databases seem useful in the study of SJS/TEN drug-related hospitalisations, yielding results consistent with previous studies and on a nationwide basis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio