Influence of Ageing, pH and Various Additives on Crystal Formation in Artificial Urine

In order to investigate the effect of various factors on urinary crystallization processes, a series of five experiments was carried out using an artificial urine (AU) in a rotary evaporator. The influence of ageing, pH and organic, inorganic and potential inhibitory additives formed the basis of the study. Precipitates were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. In the ageing experiment, AU aliquots, adjusted to various pH values, were allowed to stand for several days and were not evaporated. Calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) was formed at low pH, while whitlockite, apatite and struvite occurred at pH \u3e 7. In the second experiment, AU aliquots at various pH values, were evaporated. Similar results to those of series 1 were recorded but, in addition, calcium oxalate trihydrate (COT) precipitated in the pH range 3 to 6.5 and brushite at pH \u3e 5.5. In series 3, uric acid, creatinine and urea were included in AU aliquots (pH 5.5) which were subjected to evaporation. Uric acid promoted the formation of uric acid dihydrate; however, when present with creatinine, dihydrate formation was inhibited. Urea appeared to inhibit precipitation. In the fourth experiment, MgO, methylene blue and chondroitin sulphate A were independently included in the AU (pH 5.5). Precipitates of calcium oxalate mono-, di- and trihydrates were obtained. In the final experiment fluoride aliquots of variable concentrations were included in the AU (pH 5.5 and 6.5). COT crystals of superior quality to those observed in control solutions were obtained

One- and two-dimensional photonic crystal micro-cavities in single crystal diamond

The development of solid-state photonic quantum technologies is of great interest for fundamental studies of light-matter interactions and quantum information science. Diamond has turned out to be an attractive material for integrated quantum information processing due to the extraordinary properties of its colour centres enabling e.g. bright single photon emission and spin quantum bits. To control emitted photons and to interconnect distant quantum bits, micro-cavities directly fabricated in the diamond material are desired. However, the production of photonic devices in high-quality diamond has been a challenge so far. Here we present a method to fabricate one- and two-dimensional photonic crystal micro-cavities in single-crystal diamond, yielding quality factors up to 700. Using a post-processing etching technique, we tune the cavity modes into resonance with the zero phonon line of an ensemble of silicon-vacancy centres and measure an intensity enhancement by a factor of 2.8. The controlled coupling to small mode volume photonic crystal cavities paves the way to larger scale photonic quantum devices based on single-crystal diamond

Deposition of Aluminum-Doped ZnO Films by ICP-Assisted Sputtering

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted DC sputter deposition was used for the deposition of Al-doped ZnO (AZO or ZnO:Al) thin films. With increasing ICP RF power, film properties including deposition rate, crystallinity, transparency, and resistivity were improved. To understand the plasma-surface interaction, several plasma diagnostics were performed. Heat fluxes to the substrate were measured by thermal probes, number densities of sputtered metallic atom species were measured by absorption spectroscopy using hollow cathode lamps (HCL) and light emitting diodes (LEDs), and neutral gas temperatures were measured by external cavity diode laser (ECDL) absorption spectroscopy. As a result, it was revealed that the high-density ICP heated the substrate through a high heat flux to the substrate, resulting in a high-quality film deposition without the need for intentional substrate heating. The heat flux to the substrate was predominantly contributed by the plasma charged species, not by the neutral Ar atoms which were also significantly heated in the ICP. The substrate position where the highest quality films were obtained was found to coincide with the position where the substrate heat flux took the maximum value

Correlation of cytogenetic findings with clinical features in 18 patients with inv(3)(q21q26) or t(3;3)(q21;q26)

An inversion in the long arm of chromosome 3--inv(3)(q21q26)--or a translocation between both homologous chromosomes 3--t(3;3)(q21;q26)--is found specifically in myeloid neoplasias characterized by disturbances of thrombopoiesis and megakaryocyte development. Cytogenetic findings were correlated with clinical and hematological data in altogether 18 patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) and with inv(3) (13 patients) or t(3;3) (five patients), six of whom were male and 12 who were female. Chromosomal changes in addition to the 3q anomalies were demonstrated in 14 out of 18 patients, predominantly numerical and structural aberrations of chromosome 7 (12 cases) and/or abnormalities of 5q (five cases). Complex karyotype abnormalities were observed in six of 13 patients with inv(3), but in only one of five patients with t(3;3). In ten out of our 18 patients a preceding myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and/or exposure to mutagenic/carcinogenic agents had been established. In eight patients the morphology of ANLL blasts was immature (FAB subtype M1); in three patients ANLL-M4, and in two patients each ANLL-M5, M6, and M7 was diagnosed; in one patient with antecedent MDS the leukemic blasts were not classifiable according to the FAB criteria. A disturbed megakaryocyte development, characterized by an excess of micromegakaryocytes was observed in 14 patients, seven of them showed normal or elevated platelet counts as an unusual feature in patients with ANLL. The clinical course and outcome was extremely poor: 15 of 18 patients died within 10 months after the diagnosis of ANLL. Because of their missing response to conventional chemotherapy, patients with inv(3) or t(3;3) have to be estimated as at high risk. The characterization of genes affected by inv(3) or t(3;3) could help to elucidate molecular changes leading to impaired proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells, also of the megakaryocytic lineage. Based on molecular genetic findings new therapeutical approaches could be designed

Aerosolized amphotericin B inhalations as prophylaxis of invasive aspergillus infections during prolonged neutropenia: results of a prospective randomized multicenter trial

We performed a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial to evaluate the effectiveness of prophylactic inhalations with aerosolized amphotericin B (aeroAmB) to reduce the incidence of invasive aspergillus (IA) infections in patients after chemotherapy or autologous bone marrow transplantation and an expected duration of neutropenia of at least 10 days. From March 1993 until April 1996, 382 patients with leukemias, relapsed high-grade non-Hodgkin lymphomas, or solid tumors were randomized with a 13:10 ratio to receive either prophylactic aeroAmB inhalations at a dose of 10 mg twice daily or no inhalation prophylaxis in an unblinded fashion. The incidence of proven, probable, or possible IA infections was 10 of 227 (4%) in patients who received prophylactic aeroAmB. This did not differ significantly from the 11 of 155 (7%) incidence in patients who received no inhalation prophylaxis (P = .37). Moreover, no differences in the overall mortality (13% v 10%; P= .37) or in the infection-related mortality (8% v 7%;P = .79) were found. In contrast to other nonrandomized trials, we observed no benefit from prophylactic aeroAmB inhalations, but the overall incidence of IA infections was low

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation after reduced-intensity conditioning in patients with myelofibrosis: a prospective, multicenter study of the Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Contains fulltext : 79937.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)From 2002 to 2007, 103 patients with primary myelofibrosis or postessential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera myelofibrosis and a median age of 55 years (range, 32-68 years) were included in a prospective multicenter phase 2 trial to determine efficacy of a busulfan (10 mg/kg)/fludarabine (180 mg/m(2))-based reduced-intensity conditioning regimen followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation from related (n = 33) or unrelated donors (n = 70). All but 2 patients (2%) showed leukocyte and platelet engraftment after a median of 18 and 22 days, respectively. Acute graft-versus-host disease grade 2 to 4 occurred in 27% and chronic graft-versus-host disease in 43% of the patients. Cumulative incidence of nonrelapse mortality at 1 year was 16% (95% confidence interval, 9%-23%) and significantly lower for patients with a completely matched donor (12% vs 38%; P = .003). The cumulative incidence of relapse at 3 years was 22% (95% confidence interval, 13%-31%) and was influenced by Lille risk profile (low, 14%; intermediate, 22%; and high, 34%; P = .02). The estimated 5-year event-free and overall survival was 51% and 67%, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, age older than 55 years (hazard ratio = 2.70; P = .02) and human leukocyte antigen-mismatched donor (hazard ratio = 3.04; P = .006) remained significant factors for survival. The study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT 00599547