Automated radiofrequency-based US measurement of common carotid intima-media thickness in RA patients treated with synthetic vs synthetic and biologic DMARDs

Objective. To compare the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) assessed with automated radiofrequency-based US in RA patients treated with synthetic vs synthetic and biologic DMARDs and controls. Methods. Ninety-four RA patients and 94 sex-and age-matched controls were prospectively recruited at seven centres. Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and co-morbidities, RA characteristics and therapy were recorded. Common carotid artery (CCA)-IMT was assessed in RA patients and controls with automated radiofrequency-based US by the same investigator at each centre. Results. Forty-five (47.9%) RA patients had been treated with synthetic DMARDs and 49 (52.1%) with synthetic and biologic DMARDs. There were no significant differences between the RA patients and controls in demographics, CV co-morbidities and CV disease. There were significantly more smokers among RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs (P = 0.036). Disease duration and duration of CS and synthetic DMARD therapy was significantly longer in RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs (P<0.0005). The mean CCA-IMT was significantly greater in RA patients treated only with synthetic DMARDs than in controls [591.4 (98.6) vs 562.1 (85.8); P = 0.035] and in RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs [591.4 (98.6) vs 558.8 (95.3); P = 0.040). There was no significant difference between the mean CCA-IMT in RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs and controls (P = 0.997). Conclusion. Our results suggest that radiofrequency-based measurement of CCA-IMT can discriminate between RA patients treated with synthetic DMARDs vs RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs

Au nanoparticle-functionalised WO3 nanoneedles and their application in high sensitivity gas sensor devices

A new method of synthesising nanoparticle-functionalised nanostructured materials via Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (AACVD) has been developed. Co-deposition of Au nanoparticles with WO3 nanoneedles has been used to deposit a sensing layer directly onto gas sensor substrates providing devices with a six-fold increase in response to low concentrations of a test analyte (ethanol)

Distribution of Alarin Immunoreactivity in the Mouse Brain

Alarin is a 25 amino acid peptide that belongs to the galanin peptide family. It is derived from the galanin-like peptide gene by a splice variant, which excludes exon 3. Alarin was first identified in gangliocytes of neuroblastic tumors and later shown to have a vasoactive function in the skin. Recently, alarin was demonstrated to stimulate food intake as well as the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis in rodents, suggesting that it might be a neuromodulatory peptide in the brain. However, the individual neurons in the central nervous system that express alarin have not been identified. Here, we determined the distribution of alarin-like immunoreactivity (alarin-LI) in the adult murine brain. The specificity of the antibody against alarin was demonstrated by the absence of labeling after pre-absorption of the antiserum with synthetic alarin peptide and in transgenic mouse brains lacking neurons expressing the GALP gene. Alarin-LI was observed in different areas of the murine brain. A high intensity of alarin-LI was detected in the accessory olfactory bulb, the medial preoptic area, the amygdala, different nuclei of the hypothalamus such as the arcuate nucleus and the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, the trigeminal complex, the locus coeruleus, the ventral chochlear nucleus, the facial nucleus, and the epithelial layer of the plexus choroideus. The distinct expression pattern of alarin in the adult mouse brain suggests potential functions in reproduction and metabolism

Synthesis of iron-doped TiO2 nanoparticles by ball-milling process : the influence of process parameters on the structural, optical, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) absorbs only a small fraction of incoming sunlight in the visible region thus limiting its photocatalytic efficiency and concomitant photocatalytic ability. The large-scale application of TiO2 nanoparticles has been limited due to the need of using an ultraviolet excitation source to achieve high photocatalytic activity. The inclusion of foreign chemical elements in the TiO2 lattice can tune its band gap resulting in an absorption edge red-shifted to lower energies enhancing the photocatalytic performance in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this research work, TiO2 nanoparticles were doped with iron powder in a planetary ball-milling system using stainless steel balls. The correlation between milling rotation speeds with structural and morphologic characteristics, optical and magnetic properties, and photocatalytic abilities of bare and Fedoped TiO2 powders was studied and discussed.This work was partially financed by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia-under the project PTDC/FIS/120412/2010: "Nanobased concepts for Innovative & Eco-sustainable constructive material's surfaces.