Optical emission spectroscopy on Ar/N/sub 2/ and Ar/N/sub 2//C/sub 2/H/sub 2/ expanding thermal plasmas

This work has been carried out in connection with the possibilities to deposit carbon nitride materials by expansion thermal plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition (ETP-A-CVD). With the same technique high deposition rates and good quality a-Si:H and a-C:H materials have been obtained. A study of the intensity of atomic lines and molecular bands in a Ar/N/sub 2/ and Ar/N/sub 2//C/sub 2/H/sub 2/ expanding thermal plasma has been performed. In the case of the Ar/N/sub 2//C/sub 2/H/sub 2/ mixture rotational and vibrational temperatures were obtained by comparing computer simulated spectra of the CN(B/sup 2/ Sigma -X/sup 2/ Sigma , Delta v=0) spectral system bands with the experimental spectra. The CN ground state density is determined by taking into account the self-absorption of the CN band

Stability of additive-free water-in-oil emulsions

We calculate ion distributions near a planar oil-water interface within non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann theory, taking into account the Born self-energy of the ions in the two media. For unequal self-energies of cations and anions, a spontaneous charge separation is found such that the water and oil phase become oppositely charged, in slabs with a typical thickness of the Debye screening length in the two media. From the analytical solutions, the corresponding interfacial charge density and the contribution to the interfacial tension is derived, together with an estimate for the Yukawa-potential between two spherical water droplets in oil. The parameter regime is explored where the plasma coupling parameter exceeds the crystallization threshold, i.e. where the droplets are expected to form crystalline structures due to a strong Yukawa repulsion, as recently observed experimentally. Extensions of the theory that we discuss briefly include numerical calculations on spherical water droplets in oil, and analytical calculations of the linear PB-equation for a finite oil-water interfacial width.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted by JPCM for proceedings of LMC

Effective Prolonged Therapy with Voriconazole in a Lung Transplant Recipient with Spondylodiscitis Induced by Scedosporium apiospermum

Scedosporium/Pseudallescheria species are frequently seen in cystic fibrosis patients. However, disseminated forms after lung transplantation in these patients are rarely seen, but often with poor outcome. In this case report we describe a lung transplant recipient with cystic fibrosis who developed a spondylodiscitis that was caused by Scedosporium apiospermum. The patient was treated with anti-fungal treatment by voriconazole for over three years with a clinical good response and without the need for surgical intervention. To our opinion this is the first anti-fungal treated case of invasive disease caused by Scedosporium/Pseudallescheria in a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient who underwent lung transplantation that survived

99mTc-sestamibi is a substrate for P-glycoprotein and the multidrug resistance-associated protein.

99mTc-sestamibi (99mTc-MIBI) is a substrate for the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) pump but it is not known whether it is a substrate for the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) pump. Therefore, 99mTc-MIBI was evaluated in the GLC4 cell line and its doxorubicin-resistant MRP-, but not P-gp-, overexpressing GLC4/ADR sublines as well as in the S1 cell line and its MRP-transfected subline S1-MRP. 99mTc-MIBI concentration decreased in the GLC4/ADR sublines with increasing MRP overexpression and was lower in S1-MRP than in S1. 99mTc-MIBI plus vincristine increased 99mTc-MIBI concentration in GLC4 lines compared with 99mTc-MIBI alone. 99mTc-MIBI efflux raised with increasing MRP expression in the GLC4 lines. Glutathione depletion elevated 99mTc-MIBI concentration in GLC4/ADR150x. Cross resistance for 99Tc-MIBI, used to test cytotoxicity of the Tc compound, was observed in GLC4/ADR150x vs GLC4. 99Tc-MIBI induced a synergistic effect on vincristine cytotoxicity in GLC4/ADR150x. These results show that 99mTc-MIBI is involved in MRP-mediated efflux. The fact that 99mTc-MIBI efflux is influenced by MDR1 and MRP expression must be taken into account when this gamma-rays-emitting complex is tested for tumour efflux measurements

Health-related quality of life and symptom burden of epithelioid hemangioendothelioma patients:A global patient-driven Facebook study in a very rare malignancy

Contains fulltext : 225963.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Purpose: Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an ultra-rare vascular sarcoma with unique clinical features. EHE is characterized by an unpredictable, often protracted, clinical course and highly variable clinical presentation. Due to difficulty recruiting ultra-rare cancer patients, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of EHE patients has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to assess EHE symptom burden and its impact on HRQoL and psychological distress.Methods: The study was initiated after EHE patients' foundations approached our research group to study HRQoL. Patients were recruited from the international EHE Facebook group from May through October 2018. Data were collected using the online PROFILES registry. Latent class cluster analysis was performed to identify groups based on frequently reported symptoms. Differences in HRQoL (EORTC-QLQ-C30) and psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) between symptom-based clusters were examined.Results: Among 115 EHE patients from 20 countries, three clusters were identified, with low-, intermediate- and high-symptom burden, respectively. Highly symptomatic patients (33%) had clinically relevantly lower scores on HRQoL compared to the other two groups (p < 0.001). These patients suffered mostly from pain, insomnia and fatigue. Symptom burden significantly correlated with reduced daily functioning and high levels of psychological distress. Only for highly symptomatic patients, HRQoL and symptom levels were worse compared to healthy individuals.Conclusion: For the first time, we studied HRQoL in a large international cohort of ultra-rare cancer patients with distinct clinical characteristics, enabled by collaboration with patients and use of social media. We showed a considerable number of EHE patients were highly symptomatic, with a significant impact on HRQoL and psychological distress

Predictive Value of Multislice Computed Tomography Variables of Atherosclerosis for Ischemia on Stress-Rest Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)

BACKGROUND: -Previous studies have shown that the presence of stenosis alone on multislice computed tomography (MSCT) has a limited positive predictive value for the presence of ischemia on myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). The purpose of this study was to assess which variables of atherosclerosis on MSCT angiography are related to ischemia on MPI. METHODS AND RESULTS: -Both MSCT and MPI were performed in 514 patients. On MSCT, the calcium score, degree of stenosis (>/=50% and >/=70% stenosis), plaque extent and location were determined. Plaque composition was classified as non-calcified, mixed or calcified. Ischemia was defined as a summed difference score >/=2 on a per patient basis. Ischemia was observed in 137 patients (27%). On a patient basis, multivariate analysis showed that the degree of stenosis (presence of >/=70% stenosis, OR 3.5), plaque extent and composition (mixed plaques >/=3, OR 1.7 and calcified plaques >/=3, OR 2.0) and location (atherosclerotic disease in left main coronary artery and/or proximal left anterior descending coronary artery, OR 1.6) were independent predictors for ischemia on MPI. In addition, MSCT variables of atherosclerosis such as plaque extent, composition and location had significant incremental value for the prediction of ischemia over the presence of >/=70% stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: -In addition to the degree of stenosis, MSCT variables of atherosclerosis describing plaque extent, composition and location are predictive of the presence of ischemia on MPI

Text-mining in electronic healthcare records can be used as efficient tool for screening and data collection in cardiovascular trials: a multicenter validation study

Objective: This study aimed to validate trial patient eligibility screening and baseline data collection using text-mining in electronic healthcare records (EHRs), comparing the results to those of an international trial. Study Design and Setting: In three medical centers with different EHR vendors, EHR-based text-mining was used to automatically screen patients for trial eligibility and extract baseline data on nineteen characteristics. First, the yield of screening with automated EHR text-mining search was compared with manual screening by research personnel. Second, the accuracy of extracted baseline data by EHR text mining was compared to manual data entry by research personnel. Results: Of the 92,466 patients visiting the out-patient cardiology departments, 568 (0.6%) were enrolled in the trial during its recruitment period using manual screening methods. Automated EHR data screening of all patients showed that the number of patients needed to screen could be reduced by 73,863 (79.9%). The remaining 18,603 (20.1%) contained 458 of the actual participants (82.4% of participants). In trial participants, automated EHR text-mining missed a median of 2.8% (Interquartile range [IQR] across all variables 0.4e8.5%) of all data points compared to manually collected data. The overall accuracy of automatically extracted data was 88.0% (IQR 84.7e92.8%). Conclusion: Automatically extracting data from EHRs using text-mining can be used to identify trial participants and to collect baseline informatio