Summary
Peripheral T‐cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are a heterogeneous group of haematological cancers with generally poor clinical outcomes. However, a subset of patients experience durable disease ...control, and little is known regarding long‐term outcomes. The International T‐cell Lymphoma Project (ITCLP) is the largest prospectively collected cohort of patients with PTCLs, providing insight into clinical outcomes at academic medical centres globally. We performed a long‐term outcome analysis on patients from the ITCLP with available 10‐year follow‐up data (n = 735). The overall response rate to first‐line therapy was 68%, while 5‐ and 10‐year overall survival estimates were 49% and 40% respectively. Most deaths occurred prior to 5 years, and for patients alive at 5 years, the chance of surviving to 10 years was 84%. However, lymphoma remained the leading cause of death in the 5‐ to 10‐year period (67%). Low‐risk International Prognostic Index and Prognostic Index for T‐cell lymphoma scores both identified patients with improved survival, while in multivariate analysis, age >60 years and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 2–4 were associated with inferior outcomes. The favourable survival seen in patients achieving durable initial disease control emphasizes the unmet need for optimal front‐line therapeutic approaches in PTCLs.
The International T‐cell Lymphoma Project is the largest prospectively collected cohort of patients with peripheral T‐cell lymphomas (PTCLs). In the long‐term outcome analysis of patients with available 10‐year follow‐up data (n = 735), 5‐ and 10‐year overall survival (OS) estimates were 49% and 40% respectively. For patients alive at 5 years, the chance of surviving to 10 years was 84%, but lymphoma remained the leading cause of death in the 5‐ to 10‐year period (67%). The favourable survival seen in patients achieving durable initial disease control emphasizes the unmet need for optimal front‐line therapeutic approaches in PTCLs.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were grown at 70 °C by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition using H
2
O and O
2
plasmas. Plasma oxidants were used in order to improve the ZnO crystallinity and ...optoelectronic properties, avoiding high-temperature synthesis. The deposition parameters were optimized to achieve saturation in each reaction step. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals high purity of the obtained ZnO films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements indicate that the grown layers are polycrystalline and that the H
2
O plasma synthesis leads to better crystallinity than the O
2
plasma as inferred from the intensity of the (100) and (002) peaks. The films are with high optical transmission, ~90%, as inferred from UV–visible (UV–Vis) transmittance measurements, and optical band gaps of 3.22 and 3.23 eV for H
2
O and O
2
plasma, respectively. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicates that the films are smooth, with an average roughness of ~ 0.22 nm. The growth rate was found to be in the range of 1.2–1.4 Å/cycle. The XPS, XRD, UV–Vis, and AFM results prove the possibility to obtain high-quality ZnO films by O
2
and H
2
O plasma processes at 70 °C with chemical, structural, and optical properties promising for flexible electronics. ZnO films were successfully deposited on polyethylene terephthalate substrates using the optimal conditions for H
2
O plasma process. No damage of the film surface or substrate was observed.
The magnitude of the carbon sink in second-growth forests is expected to vary with successional biomass dynamics resulting from tree growth, recruitment, and mortality, and with the effects of ...climate on these dynamics. We compare aboveground biomass dynamics of dry and wet Neotropical forests, based on monitoring data gathered over 3–16 years in forests covering the first 25 years of succession. We estimated standing biomass, annual biomass change, and contributions of tree growth, recruitment, and mortality. We also evaluated tree species’ contributions to biomass dynamics. Absolute rates of biomass change were lower in dry forests, 2.3 and 1.9 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, after 5–15 and 15–25 years after abandonment, respectively, than in wet forests, with 4.7 and 6.1 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, in the same age classes. Biomass change was largely driven by tree growth, accounting for at least 48% of biomass change across forest types and age classes. Mortality also contributed strongly to biomass change in wet forests of 5–15 years, whereas its contribution became important later in succession in dry forests. Biomass dynamics tended to be dominated by fewer species in early-successional dry than wet forests, but dominance was strong in both forest types. Overall, our results indicate that biomass dynamics during succession are faster in Neotropical wet than dry forests, with high tree mortality earlier in succession in the wet forests. Long-term monitoring of second-growth tropical forest plots is crucial for improving estimates of annual biomass change, and for enhancing understanding of the underlying mechanisms and demographic drivers.
The goal of this study is to investigate the tribological and morphological changes obtained by addition of boron carbide (B4C) micro and nanoparticles into Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene ...(UHMWPE/B4C). In this work, UHMWPE was reinforced with B4C micro, nano (powder) and nanoparticles prepared using pulsed laser irradiation in liquid by solvent mixing (SM). Subsequently, the mixtures were compression molded at 180 °C and 15 MPa for 15 min, then cooled for 5 min at different concentrations (0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 wt%) to evaluate the thermal, mechanical, and tribological behavior of these composites. Studies on changes in the structural and morphological characteristics of the composite samples were carried out by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The microhardness and scratch hardness of the composites were measured using a diamond indenter revealing nanoparticles outperformed micro-particles in both properties. In addition, the tribological behavior of the hot-pressed composite structures was analyzed via a scratch test machine using a normal load of 10 N and a ball-on-disk tribometer with a normal load of 30 N. As a result, the wear resistance of the composite revealed significant improvement up to a certain amount of particles. The coefficient of friction was also reduced. Worn surface analyses were done on the composite using the confocal and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), indicating various wear mechanisms such as delamination, micro-cutting, micro-plowing, and groove-formation. The composites showed low wear rates and were correlated with scratch hardness.
•UHMWPE reinforced with B4C micro, nano (powder), and nanoparticles prepared using PLAL increases the Vickers hardness and scratch hardness.•The samples reinforced nano-irradiated particles of B4C at lower concentrations (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) showed a reduced wear rate.•Irradiated nanoparticles of B4C in the polymer matrix showed a reduction in the friction coefficient compared to pure UHMWPE and microcomposites.
Acute respiratory failure (ARF) has become one of the most prevalent serious pathologies encountered in the emergency medical service (EMS). In hospital settings, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) ...therapy prevents complications from more aggressive treatments for that condition. However, the scarce evidence on the benefits of NIV in prehospital EMS (i.e., during transport to the hospital) is inconclusive.
To determine whether the administration of NIV during prehospital EMS in cases of ARF reduces in-hospital mortality compared with starting NIV on arrival to in-patient EMS.
This is a multicentre, observational, prospective cohort study. We recruited a total of 317 patients from the Madrid region (Spain) who were prescribed NIV for their ARF using a nonprobabilistic consecutive sampling method. Analyses of the main outcome (in-hospital mortality) and secondary outcomes (length of hospital stay, readmissions, percentage of intensive care unit admissions, and cost-effectiveness) will include descriptive analyses of patients’ characteristics, as well as bivariate and multivariate analyses and cost-effectiveness analysis.
This study will provide data on NIV management in prehospital and in-patient EMS in patients with ARF. Results will contribute to the existing evidence on the benefits of NIV in the context of prehospital EMS while underlining the importance of a standardized formal training for physicians and nurses working in prehospital and in-patient EMSs.
The VentilaMadrid study will provide valuable data on the clinical factors of patients receiving NIV in prehospital EMS. Further, were our hypothesis to be confirmed, our results would strongly suggest that the administration of NIV in prehospital EMS by medical and nursing profesionals formally trained in the technique reduces mortality and improves prognoses.
Accurate measurement of bone position in vivo during dynamic activities has the potential to improve our identification and understanding of injury mechanisms and enhance our ability to design ...protective equipment and/or devices for rehabilitation and human augmentation. Existing technologies such as skin-mounted reflective markers and fluoroscopy are limited either in accuracy or portability. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a proof of concept for an ultrasound (US) sensor array to measure bone positions around a human joint in vivo. A single off-the-shelf US sensor was tested for repeatability and accuracy in measuring soft tissue depth between the skin surface and embedded bone with (a) a gelatinous analog for human tissue, and (b) a porcine leg specimen. In measuring the hydrogel analog the sensor was able to measure depth with a repeatability of 0.25 mm. In measuring the porcine leg specimen, measurement accuracy was compared to a Qualisys optical motion capture system with accuracy on the order of 0.5 mm, and the US measurement uncertainty was found to be 1.1 mm. An additional set of tests on a similar system performed on a human participant performing elbow flexion/extension confirms that the method is usable for evaluating both the bone position and the muscle volume during movement analysis measurements. This study demonstrates that low cost off-the-shelf US sensors have acceptable quality to measure bone positions accurately in vivo.
Metal-on-metal (MOM) hip joint bearings have demonstrated low wear rates. However, wear of MOM joints is a concern due to the toxicity and biological reaction of wear debris and dissolution by ...metallic corrosion. There is, therefore, considerable interest in further reducing the wear of MOM bearings for hip prostheses. The aim of the present study was to investigate the wear properties of surface engineered CoCr cast metal-on-metal hip prostheses. For this purpose, a nano-layer coating system (TiN/CrN)×25≈1µm was prepared by physical vapor deposition (PVD) for the femoral heads. On the other hand, the acetabular cups were treated by PVD obtaining a coating of CrN≈4µm. The femoral heads were tested against the acetabular cups using a three-axial multi-station hip joint simulator. During the wear tests three directions of motion were applied with the following amplitudes: flexion–extension (FE) ±23°, abduction–adduction (AA) ±23° and internal–external rotation (IER) ±8°. All components were undertaken at 1.2Hz under a single axis loading pattern with a maximum load peak of 2kN and bovine calf serum solution as lubricant. Surface damage analysis performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS) showed the wear mechanisms involved during wear tests. Mild adhesion and delamination between the multilayers of contact sections of the surface were evidenced. However, at 2 million cycles, the metal matrix was not worn resulting in a significant improvement of the wear resistance.
•Cast Co–Cr and Co–Cr+B total MOM hip prostheses were surface engineered.•TiN/CrN multi-nano-layers superlattice coating were tested using a hip simulator.•The wear of uncoated hip bearings was influenced by boron content.•Superlattice increased the wear resistance acting as a crack propagation barrier.•Cohesive and adhesive failures were found in the superlattice after wear tests.
In this commentary we critically discuss the suitability of payments for ecosystem services and the most important challenges they face. While such instruments can play a role in improving ...environmental governance, we argue that over‐reliance on payments as win‐win solutions might lead to ineffective outcomes, similar to earlier experience with integrated conservation and development projects. Our objective is to raise awareness, particularly among policy makers and practitioners, about the limitations of such instruments and to encourage a dialogue about the policy contexts in which they might be appropriate.
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