Intraoperative angiography should be standard in cerebral aneurysm surgery

Intraoperative angiography (IOA) has proven to be a safe and effective adjunct to surgical repair of cerebral aneurysms. Substantial practice variation exists regarding use of this modality in different centers, including use of IOA routinely, selectively, or rarely. In this editorial, we discuss our experience and review the existing literature to develop an argument for routine use of IOA during cerebral aneurysm surgery

Interactions among mitochondrial proteins altered in glioblastoma

Mitochondrial dysfunction is putatively central to glioblastoma (GBM) pathophysiology but there has been no systematic analysis in GBM of the proteins which are integral to mitochondrial function. Alterations in proteins in mitochondrial enriched fractions from patients with GBM were defined with label-free liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. 256 mitochondrially-associated proteins were identified in mitochondrial enriched fractions and 117 of these mitochondrial proteins were markedly (fold-change ≥2) and significantly altered in GBM (p ≤ 0.05). Proteins associated with oxidative damage (including catalase, superoxide dismutase 2, peroxiredoxin 1 and peroxiredoxin 4) were increased in GBM. Protein–protein interaction analysis highlighted a reduction in multiple proteins coupled to energy metabolism (in particular respiratory chain proteins, including 23 complex-I proteins). Qualitative ultrastructural analysis in GBM with electron microscopy showed a notably higher prevalence of mitochondria with cristolysis in GBM. This study highlights the complex mitochondrial proteomic adjustments which occur in GBM pathophysiology

Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diodes with Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanodot Hole Transport and Electronic Energy Transfer Layer

Electroluminescence efficiency is crucial for the application of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) in practical devices. We demonstrate that nitrogen-doped carbon nanodot (N-CD) interlayer improves electrical and luminescent properties of QD-LEDs. The N-CDs were prepared by solution-based bottom up synthesis and were inserted as a hole transport layer (HTL) between other multilayer HTL heterojunction and the red-QD layer. The QD-LEDs with N-CD interlayer represented superior electrical rectification and electroluminescent efficiency than those without the N-CD interlayer. The insertion of N-CD layer was found to provoke the Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from N-CD to QD layer, as confirmed by time-integrated and - resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. Moreover, hole-only devices (HODs) with N-CD interlayer presented high hole transport capability, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy also revealed that the N-CD interlayer reduced the highest hole barrier height. Thus, more balanced carrier injection with sufficient hole carrier transport feasibly lead to the superior electrical and electroluminescent properties of the QD-LEDs with N-CD interlayer. We further studied effect of N-CD interlayer thickness on electrical and luminescent performances for high-brightness QD-LEDs. The ability of the N-CD interlayer to improve both the electrical and luminescent characteristics of the QD-LEDs would be readily exploited as an emerging photoactive material for high-efficiency optoelectronic devices.ope

Paintable Battery

If the components of a battery, including electrodes, separator, electrolyte and the current collectors can be designed as paints and applied sequentially to build a complete battery, on any arbitrary surface, it would have significant impact on the design, implementation and integration of energy storage devices. Here, we establish a paradigm change in battery assembly by fabricating rechargeable Li-ion batteries solely by multi-step spray painting of its components on a variety of materials such as metals, glass, glazed ceramics and flexible polymer substrates. We also demonstrate the possibility of interconnected modular spray painted battery units to be coupled to energy conversion devices such as solar cells, with possibilities of building standalone energy capture-storage hybrid devices in different configurations

Laboratory-based evaluation of legionellosis epidemiology in Ontario, Canada, 1978 to 2006

BACKGROUND: Legionellosis is a common cause of severe community acquired pneumonia and respiratory disease outbreaks. The Ontario Public Health Laboratory (OPHL) has conducted most testing for Legionella species in the Canadian province of Ontario since 1978, and represents a multi-decade repository of population-based data on legionellosis epidemiology. We sought to provide a laboratory-based review of the epidemiology of legionellosis in Ontario over the past 3 decades, with a focus on changing rates of disease and species associated with legionellosis during that time period. METHODS: We analyzed cases that were submitted and tested positive for legionellosis from 1978 to 2006 using Poisson regression models incorporating temporal, spatial, and demographic covariates. Predictors of infection with culture-confirmed L. pneumophila serogroup 1 (LP1) were evaluated with logistic regression models. Results: 1,401 cases of legionellosis tested positive from 1978 to 2006. As in other studies, we found a late summer to early autumn seasonality in disease occurrence with disease risk increasing with age and in males. In contrast to other studies, we found a decreasing trend in cases in the recent decade (IRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.95, P-value = 0.001); only 66% of culture-confirmed isolates were found to be LP1. CONCLUSION: Despite similarities with disease epidemiology in other regions, legionellosis appears to have declined in the past decade in Ontario, in contrast to trends observed in the United States and parts of Europe. Furthermore, a different range of Legionella species is responsible for illness, suggesting a distinctive legionellosis epidemiology in this North American region

Prevalence of cardiovascular disease and risk factors in a rural district of Beijing, China: a population-based survey of 58,308 residents

Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of global disease burden. Although stroke was thought to be more prevalent than coronary heart disease (CHD) in Chinese, the epidemic pattern might have been changed in some rural areas nowadays. This study was to estimate up-to-date prevalence of CVD and its risk factors in rural communities of Fangshan District, Beijing, China. Methods A cross-sectional population survey was carried out by stratified cluster sampling. A total of 58,308 rural residents aged over 40 years were surveyed by face-to-face interview and physical examination during 2008 and 2010. The standardized prevalence was calculated according to adult sample data of China's 5th Population Census in 2000, and the adjusted prevalence odds ratio (POR) was calculated for the association of CHD/stroke with its cardiovascular risk factors in multivariate logistic regression models. Results Age- and sex-standardized prevalence was 5.6% for CHD (5.2% in males and 5.9% in females), higher than the counterpart of 3.7% (4.7% in males and 2.6% in females) for stroke. Compared with previous studies, higher prevalence of 7.7%, 47.2%, 53.3% in males and 8.2%, 44.8%, 60.7% in females for diabetes, hypertension and overweight/obesity were presented accordingly. Moreover, adjusted POR (95% confidence interval) of diabetes, obesity, stage 1 and stage 2 hypertension for CHD as 2.51 (2.29 to 2.75), 1.53 (1.38 to 1.70), 1.13 (1.02 to 1.26) and 1.35 (1.20 to 1.52), and for stroke as 2.24 (1.98 to 2.52), 1.25 (1.09 to 1.44), 1.44 (1.25 to 1.66) and 1.70 (1.46 to 1.98) were shown respectively in the multivariate logistic regression models. Conclusions High prevalence of CVD and probably changed epidemic pattern in rural communities of Beijing, together with the prevalent cardiovascular risk factors and population aging, might cause public health challenges in rural Chinese population

Large-Scale Fabrication of Boron Nitride Nanotubes via a Facile Chemical Vapor Reaction Route and Their Cathodoluminescence Properties

Cylinder- and bamboo-shaped boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been synthesized in large scale via a facile chemical vapor reaction route using ammonia borane as a precursor. The structure and chemical composition of the as-synthesized BNNTs are extensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected-area electron diffraction. The cylinder-shaped BNNTs have an average diameter of about 100 nm and length of hundreds of microns, while the bamboo-shaped BNNTs are 100–500 nm in diameter with length up to tens of microns. The formation mechanism of the BNNTs has been explored on the basis of our experimental observations and a growth model has been proposed accordingly. Ultraviolet–visible and cathodoluminescence spectroscopic analyses are performed on the BNNTs. Strong ultraviolet emissions are detected on both morphologies of BNNTs. The band gap of the BNNTs are around 5.82 eV and nearly unaffected by tube morphology. There exist two intermediate bands in the band gap of BNNTs, which could be distinguishably assigned to structural defects and chemical impurities

Quantum dynamics in strong fluctuating fields

A large number of multifaceted quantum transport processes in molecular systems and physical nanosystems can be treated in terms of quantum relaxation processes which couple to one or several fluctuating environments. A thermal equilibrium environment can conveniently be modelled by a thermal bath of harmonic oscillators. An archetype situation provides a two-state dissipative quantum dynamics, commonly known under the label of a spin-boson dynamics. An interesting and nontrivial physical situation emerges, however, when the quantum dynamics evolves far away from thermal equilibrium. This occurs, for example, when a charge transferring medium possesses nonequilibrium degrees of freedom, or when a strong time-dependent control field is applied externally. Accordingly, certain parameters of underlying quantum subsystem acquire stochastic character. Herein, we review the general theoretical framework which is based on the method of projector operators, yielding the quantum master equations for systems that are exposed to strong external fields. This allows one to investigate on a common basis the influence of nonequilibrium fluctuations and periodic electrical fields on quantum transport processes. Most importantly, such strong fluctuating fields induce a whole variety of nonlinear and nonequilibrium phenomena. A characteristic feature of such dynamics is the absence of thermal (quantum) detailed balance.Comment: review article, Advances in Physics (2005), in pres

A framework for increasing the value of predictive data-driven models by enriching problem domain characterization with novel features

The need to leverage knowledge through data mining has driven enterprises in a demand for more data. However, there is a gap between the availability of data and the application of extracted knowledge for improving decision support. In fact, more data do not necessarily imply better predictive data-driven marketing models, since it is often the case that the problem domain requires a deeper characterization. Aiming at such characterization, we propose a framework drawn on three feature selection strategies, where the goal is to unveil novel features that can effectively increase the value of data by providing a richer characterization of the problem domain. Such strategies involve encompassing context (e.g., social and economic variables), evaluating past history, and disaggregate the main problem into smaller but interesting subproblems. The framework is evaluated through an empirical analysis for a real bank telemarketing application, with the results proving the benefits of such approach, as the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve increased with each stage, improving previous model in terms of predictive performance.The work of P. Cortez was supported by FCT within the Project Scope UID/CEC/00319/2013. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio