The excitation of surface plasmons in metallic nanoparticles induces optical properties hardly achievable in other optical materials, yielding a wide range of applications in many fields. This review ...presents an overview of surface plasmons in metallic nanoparticles. The concept of surface plasmons in nanoparticles is qualitatively described using a comparison with simple linear oscillators. The mathematical models to carry on calculations on surface plasmons are presented as well as the most common approximations. The different parameters governing the features of surface plasmons and their effect on the optical properties of the materials are reviewed. Finally, applications of surface plasmons in different fields as biomedicine, energy, environment protection and information technology are revised.
Aim: We have designed a study with the objective of describing the clinical impact of other viruses different from the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in hospitalized infants with bronchiolitis.
...Methods: A 3 year prospective study was conducted on infants admitted to the Paediatrics Department of the Severo Ochoa Hospital (Spain). We studied the frequency of 16 respiratory viruses. Clinical characteristics of RSV‐only infections were compared with other single agent viral infections.
Results: Positive results were confirmed in 275 (86.5%) of the 318 children studied. A single virus was detected in 196 patients and 79 were dual or multiple viral infections. RSV was detected in 61.3% of total bronchiolitis. Rhinovirus (RV) was 17.4% of the identified virus, followed by human bocavirus (HBoV), adenovirus and metapneumovirus (hMPV). Only RV, HBoV and hMPV were significant as single infections. RSV patients were younger than HBoV (p > 0.0001) and hMPV (p = 0.025). Seasonality was clearly different between them. Children with RSV infection needed treatment in the intensive care unit more frequently than others.
Conclusions: In hospitalized infants, RSV was the most frequent agent in bronchiolitis in winter, but other viruses were present in 47% of the patients. RV, HBoV and hMPV had a significant proportion of single infections. Clinical characteristics were similar amongst them, but seasonality was clearly different.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS-PDC) of Guam is an endemic neurodegenerative disease that features widespread tau tangles, occasional α-synuclein Lewy bodies, and ...sparse β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques distributed in the central nervous system. Extensive studies of genetic or environmental factors have failed to identify a cause of ALS-PDC. Building on prior work describing the detection of tau and Aβ prions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Down syndrome brains, we investigated ALS-PDC brain samples for the presence of prions. We obtained postmortem frozen brain tissue from 26 donors from Guam with ALS-PDC or no neurological impairment and 71 non-Guamanian donors with AD or no neurological impairment. We employed cellular bioassays to detect the prion conformers of tau, α-synuclein, and Aβ proteins in brain extracts. In ALS-PDC brain samples, we detected high titers of tau and Aβ prions, but we did not detect α-synuclein prions in either cohort. The specific activity of tau and Aβ prions was increased in Guam ALS-PDC compared with sporadic AD. Applying partial least squares regression to all biochemical and prion infectivity measurements, we demonstrated that the ALS-PDC cohort has a unique molecular signature distinguishable from AD. Our findings argue that Guam ALS-PDC is a distinct double-prion disorder featuring both tau and Aβ prions.
Ultrathin strut coronary drug-eluting stents (DES) have demonstrated improved safety and efficacy in large contemporary trials. The evaluation of an ultrathin strut DES in a post-market United States ...(US) patient population was undertaken.
The purpose of this post-approval study is to confirm that the clinical performance of an ultrathin strut bioresorbable polymer sirolimus-eluting stent (BP SES) in clinical practice is similar to that observed with BP SES in the BIOFLOW V pivotal trial.
BIOFLOW VII is a prospective, multicenter, single-arm US post-market approval study to confirm the clinical performance of BP SES in a real-world setting. The primary endpoint of 1-year target lesion failure (TLF) was compared with a performance goal of 6.9% based on an adapted BIOFLOW V trial BP SES TLF rate and TLF rates from other US market-released DES utilizing the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions definition for peri-procedural myocardial infarction (MI). Subjects undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with BP SES were consented within 24 h post-index procedure with planned follow-up through 5 years.
Among 556 enrolled patients, clinical demographics included: 34.7% female, 35.6% with diabetes mellitus, and 56.8% with acute coronary syndromes. The average stent length (mean ± standard deviation) was 20.2 ± 11.8 mm, and the mean number of stents per patient was 1.3 ± 0.6. Procedure success was 99.1% (551/556), and device success was 99.9% (689/690). Among 531 subjects included in the primary endpoint analysis, the 1-year rate of TLF rate was 1.7% (9/531), and the primary endpoint was met compared with the performance goal (p < 0.0001, 95% confidence interval: 0.69%, 3.43%). Rates of target vessel MI and clinically driven target lesion revascularization were 1.3% (7/531) and 0.9% (5/531), with no occurrence of cardiac death. Definite stent thrombosis was observed for two cases (0.4%; 2/556) with one acute (≤24 h) and one late (>30 days and ≤1 year) event.
In a post-approval study, 1-year clinical outcomes with BP SES were consistent with prior trials supporting the safety and effectiveness of ultrathin BP SES.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract Objective To estimate the prevalence and comorbidity of the most common mental disorders in primary care practice in Spain, using the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) ...questionnaire. Design A systematic sample of 7936 adult primary care patients was recruited by 1925 general practitioners in a large cross-sectional national epidemiological study. The PRIME-MD was used to diagnose psychiatric disorders. Setting 1356 primary care units proportionally distributed throughout the country. Results 53.6% of the sample presented one or more psychiatric disorder. The most prevalent were affective (35.8%), anxiety (25.6%), and somatoform (28.8%) disorders. 30.3% of the patients had more than one current mental disorder. 11.5% presented comorbidity between affective, anxiety, and somatoform disorders. Conclusions The study provides further evidence of the high prevalence and high comorbidity of mental disorders in primary care. Given the large overlap between affective, anxiety and somatoform disorders, future diagnostic classifications should reconsider the current separation between these entities.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The future of plastics recycling Garcia, Jeannette M.; Robertson, Megan L.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
11/2017, Volume:
358, Issue:
6365
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Chemical advances are increasing the proportion of polymer waste that can be recycled
The environmental consequences of plastic solid waste are visible in the ever-increasing levels of global plastic ...pollution both on land and in the oceans. But although there are important economic and environmental incentives for plastics recycling, end-of-life treatment options for plastic solid waste are in practice quite limited. Presorting of plastics before recycling is costly and time-intensive, recycling requires large amounts of energy and often leads to low-quality polymers, and current technologies cannot be applied to many polymeric materials. Recent research points the way toward chemical recycling methods with lower energy requirements, compatibilization of mixed plastic wastes to avoid the need for sorting, and expanding recycling technologies to traditionally nonrecyclable polymers.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
PDF
