Glutamine-enriched enteral nutrition in very low birth weight infants, six years of follow-up

Fetter, W.P.F. [Promotor]Elburg, R.M. van [Copromotor

Experimental observation of nanoscale radiative heat flow due to surface plasmons in graphene and doped silicon

Owing to its two dimensional electronic structure, graphene exhibits many unique properties. One of them is a wave vector and temperature dependent plasmon in the infrared range. Theory predicts that due to these plasmons, graphene can be used as a universal material to enhance nanoscale radiative heat exchange for any dielectric substrate. Here we report on radiative heat transfer experiments between SiC and a SiO2 sphere which have non matching phonon polariton frequencies, and thus only weakly exchange heat in near field. We observed that the heat flux contribution of graphene epitaxially grown on SiC dominates at short distances. The influence of plasmons on radiative heat transfer is further supported with measurements for doped silicon. These results highlight graphenes strong potential in photonic nearfield and energy conversion devices.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Influence of water adsorbed on gold on van der Waals/Casimir forces

In this paper we investigate the influence of ultra thin water layer (1-1.5 nm) on the van der Waals/Casimir force between gold surfaces. Adsorbed water is inevitably present on gold surfaces at ambient conditions as jump-up-to contact during adhesion experiments demonstrate. Calculations based on the Lifshitz theory give very good agreement with the experiment in absence of any water layer for surface separations d>10 nm. However, a layer of thickness h<1.5 nm is allowed by the error margin in force measurements. At shorter separations, d<10 nm, the water layer can have a strong influence as calculations show for flat surfaces. Nonetheless, in reality the influence of surface roughness must also be considered, and it can overshadow any water layer influence at separations comparable to the total sphere-plate rms roughness w_{shp}+w.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Potentially Life-Threatening Interaction between Opioids and Intrathecal Baclofen in Individuals with a Childhood-Onset Neurological Disorder:A Case Series and Review of the Literature

BACKGROUND:  Spasticity and dystonia are movement impairments that can occur in childhood-onset neurological disorders. Severely affected individuals can be treated with intrathecal baclofen (ITB). Concomitant use of ITB and opioids has been associated with central nervous system (CNS) depression. This study aims to describe the clinical management of this interaction, based on a case series and review of literature. METHODS:  Four individuals with childhood-onset CNS disorders (age 8-24) and CNS-depressant overdose symptoms after the concomitant use of ITB and opioids are described. The Drug Interaction Probability Scale (DIPS) was calculated to assess the cause-relationship (doubtful 8) of the potential drug-drug interaction. A literature review of similar previously reported cases and the possible pharmacological mechanisms of opioid-baclofen interaction is provided. RESULTS:  After ITB and opioid co-administration, three out of four patients had decreased consciousness, and three developed respiratory depression. DIPS scores indicated a possible cause-relationship in one patient (DIPS: 4) and a probable cause-relationship in the others (DIPS: 6, 6, and 8). Discontinuation or adjusting ITB or opioid dosages resulted in clinical recovery. All patients recovered completely. In the literature, two articles describing nine unique cases were found. CONCLUSION:  Although the opioid-ITB interaction is incompletely understood, concomitant use may enhance the risk of symptoms of CNS-depressant overdose, which are potentially life-threatening. If concomitant use is desirable, we strongly recommend to closely monitor these patients to detect interaction symptoms early. Awareness and monitoring of the potential opioid-ITB interaction is essential to reduce the risk of severe complications

Influence of random roughness on the Casimir force at small separations

The influence of random surface roughness of Au films on the Casimir force is explored with atomic force microscopy in the plate-sphere geometry. The experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions for separations ranging between 20 and 200 nm. The optical response and roughness of the Au films were measured and used as input in theoretical predictions. It is found that at separations below 100 nm, the roughness effect is manifested through a strong deviation from the normal scaling of the force with separation distance. Moreover, deviations from theoretical predictions based on perturbation theory can be larger than 100%.Comment: 18, 5 figure

Characterization of optical properties and surface roughness profiles: The Casimir force between real materials

The Lifshitz theory provides a method to calculate the Casimir force between two flat plates if the frequency dependent dielectric function of the plates is known. In reality any plate is rough and its optical properties are known only to some degree. For high precision experiments the plates must be carefully characterized otherwise the experimental result cannot be compared with the theory or with other experiments. In this chapter we explain why optical properties of interacting materials are important for the Casimir force, how they can be measured, and how one can calculate the force using these properties. The surface roughness can be characterized, for example, with the atomic force microscope images. We introduce the main characteristics of a rough surface that can be extracted from these images, and explain how one can use them to calculate the roughness correction to the force. At small separations this correction becomes large as our experiments show. Finally we discuss the distance upon contact separating two rough surfaces, and explain the importance of this parameter for determination of the absolute separation between bodies.}Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures, to appear in Springer Lecture Notes in Physics, Volume on Casimir Physics, edited by Diego Dalvit, Peter Milonni, David Roberts, and Felipe da Ros

Influence of roughness on capillary forces between hydrophilic surfaces

Capillary forces have been measured by Atomic Force Microscopy in the plate-sphere setup between gold, borosilicate glass, GeSbTe, titanium, and UV irradiated amorphous titaniumdioxide surfaces. The force measurements were performed as a function contact time and surface roughness in the range 0.2 - 15 nm rms, and relative humidity ranging between 2 and 40 %. It is found that even for the lowest attainable relative humidity 2 % very large capillary forces are still present. The latter suggests the persistence of a nanometers thick adsorbed water layer that acts as a capillary bridge between contacting surfaces. Moreover, we found a significantly different scaling behavior of the force with rms roughness for materials with different hydrophilicity as compared to gold-gold surfaces

Hyperthermia Reduces Irradiation-Induced Tumor Repopulation in an In Vivo Pancreatic Carcinoma Model

Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis due to its aggressive nature and ability to metastasize at an&nbsp;early stage. Currently, its management is still a challenge because this neoplasm is resistant to conventional treatment approaches, among which is chemo-radiotherapy (CRT), due to the abundant stromal compartment involved in the mechanism of hypoxia. Hyperthermia, among other effects, counteracts hypoxia by promoting blood perfusion and thereby can enhance the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy (RT). Therefore, the establishment of integrated treatments would be a promising strategy for the management of pancreatic carcinoma. Here, the effects of joint radiotherapy/hyperthermia (RT/HT) on optimized chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) pancreatic tumor models are investigated. This model enables a thorough assessment of the tumor-arresting effect of the combined approach as well as the quantitative evaluation of hypoxia and cell cycle-associated mechanisms by both gene expression analysis and histology. The analysis of the lower CAM allows to investigate the variation of the metastatic behaviors of the cancer cells associated with the treatments. Overall, this study provides a potentially effective combined strategy for the non-invasive management of pancreatic carcinoma