Acupuncture in Preterm Babies during Minor Painful Procedures

ObjectiveTo evaluate analgesic effects of acupuncture in preterm neonates during minor painful procedures.MethodsTen preterm neonates requiring heel prick for blood gas analysis were enrolled in the study, which had a crossover design. Oxygen saturation, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate, and crying duration were recorded before and after heel prick. Babies were given expressed breast milk before each procedure. Patients were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture or not, and the groups were crossed over on the following day, so that patients who had received acupuncture received only breast milk, and the previous breast milk only group received both acupuncture and breast milk. The neonatal infant pain scale (NIPS) was used for pain evaluation.ResultsCrying duration and NIPS pain scores during heel prick were lower in the neonates who had received acupuncture.ConclusionAcupuncture is an effective method for the treatment of pain in neonates

When to Assess: Cognitive Impact of Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Operation in Elderly Adults with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

-OBJECTIVE: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) has clinical manifestations with different cognitive difficulties. Despite the intense interest, the change in cognitive functions after ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) treatment varies widely. The aims of this study were to monitor the effect of NPH on cognition in elderly and the progress of cognitive abilities after VPS surgery. -METHODS: Patients diagnosed with idiopathic NPH (iNPH) who had ventriculomegaly with narrow callosal angle and/or periventricular signal changes not attributable to ischemic changes were included in study. All patients (n = 30) underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and received programmable VPS. After VPS placement, 2 consecutive examinations were performed at approximately 6-month intervals. -RESULTS: At the baseline evaluation, patients with iNPH displayed poorer performance in executive functions (EFs) compared with the matched control group (n = 30). Among those patients, significant improvement was observed in semantic fluency (M = 13.94; standard deviation, 4.95) and clock drawing (M = 3.67; standard deviation, 1.57) at the second follow-up evaluation (P = 0.015 and P = 0.024, respectively). The other prominent finding was in memory process: patients with iNPH showed improvement in delayed recall (P = 0.011), recognition (P = 0.033), and learning scores (P = 0.041) at the second follow-up compared with evaluation before VPS placement. CONCLUSIONS: iNPH seems to have a detrimental effect predominantly on EFs. As EFs become corrupted, decline occurs in learning and recall processes of memory. VPS provides an improvement of cognitive deterioration; however, efficacy of this treatment on cognitive abilities displays in a longer period compared with other iNPH symptoms

Development of AZO TCOs with ALD for HEMT and HJSC solar cell applications

Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) films are widely used in optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, LEDs, and Lasers. Utilization of these contacts directly affects the device efficiencies. These films can be produced with solid, liquid and vapor phase deposition techniques. Generally, metal oxides such as CdO, In2O3, SnO2, Ga2O3 and ZnO can be used in these structures as intrinsic or extrinsic semiconductors. Purpose of this study is to reproduce widely studied Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) using a vapor phase technique, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and optimize the doping concentration, electrical and optical properties, thickness for (n+) a-Si:H surface of silicon heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs) and high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) applications. The results show that as-deposited films have 80-90% transmittance in the visible spectra, low resistance (1.57x10-3 ohm.cm) and good mobility (10.69 cm2/V.s)

Development of AZO TCOs with ALD for HEMT and HJSC Solar Cell Applications

Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) films are widely used in optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, LEDs, and Lasers. Utilization of these contacts directly affects the device efficiencies. Purpose of this study is to produce and optimize properties of Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) using a vapor phase technique, Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) for (n+) a-Si:H surface of silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells (HJSCs) and High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) applications. This study is focused on the effect of the deposition temperature and aluminum atomic concentration on structural, electrical and optical properties of ALD grown AZO ohmic contact films. The results show that as-deposited films have 80-90% transmittance in the visible spectra, low resistance (2.04x10-3 ohm.cm) and mobility value of 5.25 cm2/V.s

Comparison of ALD grown AZO and ZnO Thin Film Heater Performances

: Ideal properties for transparent thin film heaters (TTFHs) can be summarized as low sheet resistance, high transmittance in visible range and high thermal stability. Generally, the material of choice converts the electrical energy into heat by “Joule Heating Mechanism”. Therefore, achieved maximum temperature is related with applied voltage, sheet resistance and heat loss. Also, uniformity of such material is important due to heating consistency and stability of the entire film. Oxide films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) has advantages such as high uniformity, thickness control at angstrom level and excellent step coverage due to its self-limiting growth mechanisms . Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films growth by ALD expected to show ideal properties for a TTFH. The studies suggest that the AZO thin films are suitable to be used as heater on different substrates with different production methods, reason being chemical and thermal stability of AZO . In this work, Al doped and undoped ZnO thin films grown by ALD were demonstrated as TTFH. The growth of the thin films were done on quartz substrates. Growth temperature for AZO was varied between 175 and 225 °C, Al doping was kept between 2-4 atomic percent, and thickness was kept constant as 100 nm for all samples. The varying temperature and doping levels were utilized to establish relation between doping concentration of aluminum on the performance of the thin films. The variables for ZnO were pulse/purge variations, and growth temperatures. Growth temperature for ZnO was in between 125 and 150 °C, and DI water pulse and Diethylzinc (DEZ- Zn(C H ) ) pulse was selected as 15 ms and purge time was kept at 10s. Different growth temperatures were chosen to vary stoichiometry of ZnO. Different temperatures were utilized to establish relation between ZnO thin films. Also, one of the main purposes was comparing Al dopped and undoped ZnO thin films with similar sheet resistance to display Al effect to TTFH performance such as maximum temperature and overall responsiveness. The lowest resistivity values achieved with AZO sample with 3.5 Al atomic percent as 3.3 10 Ω.cm while the each produced thin films transparency were over 85% in spectral range. The expected maximum temperature values were over 70°C with applied fairly low voltage (≤10V) with heating rate of 20 °C/

Comparison of a modified anoscope and the purse-string anoscope in stapled haemorrhoidopexy

AIM: To compare the results of the anoscope of the PPH kit and a modified anoscope during stapled haemorrhoidopexy

ALD grown AZO contacts for AlGaN/GaN HEMT Device Applications

GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is a promising candidate for high-power and high-frequency applications due to it unique material properties. A low contact resistance (Rc) is curicial for the device performance including output power, high-efficiency, high-frequency and noise performances. Ti-based low-resistance ohmic contacts in AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices require high-temperature annealing (>800 oC) which can deteriorate material quality, surface morphology, and edge acuity of the metal stacks which makes it difficult to carry out further operations to form the gate region. Recently, non-alloyed ohmic contact which are not required high temperature post annealing have become a novel approach to form ohmic contacts. Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films are widely used as a reliable electrode material for electronic and opto-electronic. ALD grown AZO films, which show a low electrical resistance, smooth surface morphology and suitable bandgap of 3.3 eV could be an alternative way of forming ohmic contacts for GaN based HEMT structures.This study focused on ALD grown AZO ohmic contacts and their comparison of alloyed and non-alloyed ohmic contacts GaN/AlGaN HEMT. Contact morphologies and contact resistance were investigated for AZO ohmic contacts, alloyed and non-alloyed ohmic contacts. Comparison of output characteristics of the fabricated HEMT devices was also performed

Evaluation of peripheral perfusion in term newborns before and after Yintang (EX-HN 3) massage

OBJECTIVE: To identify how acupressure on the acupoint Yintang (EX-HN 3) impacts oxygen saturation, pulse rate, and peripheral perfusion in term-born infants without underlying disease. METHODS: Infants born between weeks 37 and 42 of gestation were included in this study. The polyclinic's neonatology room was noise-controlled and made half-dark to prevent the perfusion index from being confounded. A pulse oximeter was linked to the baby's left lower extremity. Acupressure was applied on Yintang (EX-HN 3) for 30 s clockwise, held for 30 s, and then acupressure was applied for another 30 s counterclockwise. The baby's SaO(2), pulse rate, and perfusion index were recorded for each minute before and after acupressure. RESULTS: When pre- and post-acupressure pulse rate values were compared, a significant decrease in pulse rate values after acupressure application was observed. When pre- and post-acupressure oxygen saturation values were compared, a significant increase in post-acupressure oxygen saturation was observed. In addition, peripheral perfusion increased significantly after acupressure. CONCLUSION: Acupressure application has been used in traditional medicine for many years. However, it is not yet widely used in modern medicine. This study shows the impact of acupressure on neonatal skin perfusion, oxygen saturation, and pulse rate. (C) 2015 JTCM. All rights reserved