Electrochromic devices (ECDs) are emerging as novel technology for various applications ranging from commercialized smart window glasses, goggles, and autodimming rear view mirrors to uncommon yet ...more sophisticated applications such as infrared camouflage in military and thermal control in space satellites. The development of low-power, lightweight, inexpensive, and flexible devices is the need of the hour. In this respect, utilizing PEDOT:PSS as transparent conducting electrode (TCE) to replace indium tin oxide (ITO) and metal based TCEs for ECDs is a promising solution for the aforementioned requirements. In this work we have demonstrated the performance of PEDOT:PSS films coated on flexible substrates, treated with PTSA-DMSO, as TCEs for ECD applications and their comparison with that of ITO based ECDs. The PEDOT:PSS based flexible TCEs used in this study have conductivity of 1400–1500 S·cm–1 and figure of merit (FoM) of 70–77. The process of increasing the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS films also led to the broadening of the conducting potential window (CPW), which is important for electrochemical applications of PEDOT:PSS when used as a stand-alone electrode. More than achieving a comparable electrochromic contrast, switching time, and coloration efficiency with respect to the ITO based ECDs, PEDOT:PSS devices also had the added advantage of good mechanical flexibility. These devices demonstrated superior stability during electrochemical cycling and multiple mechanical bending tests, making them an inexpensive alternative to the costly ITO based ECD technology.
Patient satisfaction is an important element of high-quality health care. Virtual reality has been studied for its sedative and analgesic effects, as it immerses the patient into an artificial ...interactive environment. Deriving from this concept, we hypothesized that an immersive experience that engulfs the senses with noninteractive visual and auditory stimuli would have a positive effect on satisfaction and anxiety in patients undergoing spinal anesthesia.
We enrolled and randomized 90 patients undergoing spinal anesthesia for arthroscopic knee surgery into an immersive experience arm and an intravenous midazolam sedation arm. The immersive experience was provided through a mobile phone-based head-mounted display showing binocular monoscopic video and noise-canceling headphones playing audio. The primary outcome measure was postoperative satisfaction, measured using a visual analog scale and compared using the Mann-Whitney U test; secondary outcomes included anxiety score (measured using the 6-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), hemodynamic stability, and additional sedative requirement.
The visual analog scale satisfaction score with immersive experience was significantly higher than with midazolam (median interquartile range {IQR} of 93 82-98 and 80 73-93, respectively, P = .004), with Hodges-Lehmann median difference estimate of 7 (95% confidence interval, 3-14). The change in anxiety scores from the preoperative to postoperative period between the groups was not significantly different (P = .08), with a Hodges-Lehmann median difference estimate of 3.3 (95% confidence interval, 0-6.7). All patients were hemodynamically stable, were without significant adverse events, and did not require additional sedatives.
We have found that an immersive experience is an effective and acceptable intraoperative alternative to pharmacological sedation in patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery under spinal anesthesia, with higher satisfaction levels and no detected difference in preoperative to postoperative anxiolytic effect.
Hollow bimetallic nanostructures have recently emerged as attractive plasmonic materials due to the ease of optical tunability by changing their size/composition. Currently available methods, in ...addition to being tedious and time-consuming, result in polydispersed nanostructures, particularly due to polydispersed templates. In this study, optically tunable hollow gold nanostructures (HGNS) were synthesized by galvanic replacement reaction between silver nanospheres (AgNS) templates and gold salt. Monodispersed AgNS were created using a gold seed-mediated heteroepitaxial growth. Since it is easier to ensure monodispersed gold nanosphere seeds, the resulting AgNS showed a tight control on size. Hollow gold nanostructures 43-70 nm in size with extinction maxima ranging between 450-590 nm were produced by varying the gold to silver molar ratio. The nanostructures were observed to be monodispersed and uniform (SD less than or equal to 11%) in all the batches. Furthermore, the synthesized HGNS were immobilized on dendrimer-functionalized U-shaped fiber-optic probes to develop a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) based sensor. Refractive index sensitivity of the HGNS based sensors was found to be 1.5-fold higher than solid gold nanosphere (GNS)-based fiber-optic sensors. These HGNS-based fiber-optic probes were subsequently used to develop an immunosensor with improved sensitivity by using human immunoglobulin-G (HIgG) as receptor molecules and goat-anti-HIgG as a target analyte.
Anaesthesia in the cardiac catheterization laboratory Hulme, Anders P.K.; Tharion, Joseph G.; Cordery, Roger A.
Anaesthesia and intensive care medicine,
March 2024, 2024-03-00, Letnik:
25, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Anaesthetists play a key role in the management of patients in the cardiac catheterization laboratory (cath lab), both for elective and emergency procedures. Safe and effective provision of ...anaesthesia relies on a thorough appreciation of the setup of the cath lab and an understanding of the ever-increasing range of procedures carried out in the angiography suite. This article provides an overview of general considerations for working in this challenging environment within the hospital, as well as outlining key cardiology subspecialties and their requisites for the anaesthetist: electrophysiology, structural, interventional, devices and mechanical circulatory support.
In this paper, we report a novel, eco-friendly method for the preparation of gold nanoshells (GNS) with unprecedented colloidal stability. Gold shell layers were grown on silica nanospheres by ...utilizing glucose. Nanoshell morphology was optimized by varying the molar ratio of glucose to gold, and was characterized using UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The colloidal stability of the prepared nanoshells was compared to those made using formaldehyde reductant, using sequential extinction intensity measurements and electron microscopy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to elucidate their surface chemistry. Uniformity and homogeneity in the shells was achieved at a molar ratio of 2, followed by shell thinning at higher glucose concentrations. These colloids exhibited remarkable stability, compared to those prepared with the commonly reported protocol, where formaldehyde is employed as the reducing agent. The key role played by glucose in imparting high stability, in conjunction with its reducing properties is demonstrated. Furthermore, the sensing potential of these nanoshells was demonstrated using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in the near-infrared region on an optical fiber platform. The present approach offers an eco-friendly route for the production of nanoshells with high stability, augmenting their use for sensing and in vivoapplications, where highly stable and unaggregated nanoshells are preferred. By eliminating the routinely used noxious formaldehyde, this method presents itself as a safe, scalable and direct route for the synthesis of glucose capped nanoshells, which are much sought after for therapeutic applications.
Miniature lenses can transform commercial imaging systems, e.g., smartphones and webcams, into powerful, low-cost, handheld microscopes. To date, the reproducible fabrication of polymer lenses is ...still a challenge as they require controlled dispensing of viscous liquid. This paper reports a reproducible lens fabrication technique using liquid mold with programmable curvature and off-the-shelf materials. The lens curvature is controlled during fabrication by tuning the curvature of an interface of two immiscible liquids polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and glycerol. The curvature control is implemented using a visual feedback system, which includes a software-based guiding system to produce lenses of desired curvature. The technique allows PDMS lens fabrication of a wide range of sizes and focal lengths, within 20 min. The fabrication of two lens diameters: 1 and 5 mm with focal lengths ranging between 1.2 and 11 mm are demonstrated. The lens surface and bulk quality check performed using X-ray microtomography and atomic force microscopy reveal that the lenses are suitable for optical imaging. Furthermore, a smartphone microscope with ∼1.4-μm resolution is developed using a self-assembly of a single high power fabricated lens and microaperture. The lenses have various potential applications, e.g., optofluidics, diagnostics, forensics, and surveillance.
We report a rapid and facile method to synthesize highly monodispersed silver nanoparticles (AgNP) by heteroepitaxial growth method using gold seed particles (size ~2 nm). Silver was deposited on ...gold seed particles by Tollen’s reaction. The presence of seed particles provided good control on the morphology and size distribution of AgNP, achieving the standard deviation in size ≤11 %. The real-time kinetics of AgNP formation revealed that the presence of gold seed particles increased the reaction rate by 7-fold compared to seedless approach. The size and extinction maxima of AgNP were tunable by varying the gold seed particles to silver molar ratio. This new heteroepitaxial growth method of AgNP synthesis is simple, fast (completing the reaction within 3 min), and eco-friendly to yield monodispersed nanoparticles. Further, these AgNP were used to develop efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for sensing applications which showed good repeatability and significantly improved enhancement factors in the near-infrared (NIR) region.
Hollow bimetallic nanostructures have recently emerged as attractive plasmonic materials due to the ease of optical tunability by changing their size/composition. Currently available methods, in ...addition to being tedious and time-consuming, result in polydispersed nanostructures, particularly due to polydispersed templates. In this study, optically tunable hollow gold nanostructures (HGNS) were synthesized by galvanic replacement reaction between silver nanospheres (AgNS) templates and gold salt. Monodispersed AgNS were created using a gold seed-mediated heteroepitaxial growth. Since it is easier to ensure monodispersed gold nanosphere seeds, the resulting AgNS showed a tight control on size. Hollow gold nanostructures 43-70 nm in size with extinction maxima ranging between 450-590 nm were produced by varying the gold to silver molar ratio. The nanostructures were observed to be monodispersed and uniform (SD ≤ 11%) in all the batches. Furthermore, the synthesized HGNS were immobilized on dendrimer-functionalized U-shaped fiber-optic probes to develop a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) based sensor. Refractive index sensitivity of the HGNS based sensors was found to be 1.5-fold higher than solid gold nanosphere (GNS)-based fiber-optic sensors. These HGNS-based fiber-optic probes were subsequently used to develop an immunosensor with improved sensitivity by using human immunoglobulin-G (HIgG) as receptor molecules and goat-anti-HIgG as a target analyte.
Hollow bimetallic nanostructures have recently emerged as attractive plasmonic materials due to the ease of optical tunability by changing their size/composition.
We have demonstrated a fast, sensitive fluorescent tapered tip optical fiber (TTOF) sensor to detect copper (Cu (II)) ions. The principle of detection is based on fluorescent quenching of fluorescein ...isothiocynate (FITC) doped fluorescent silica nanoparticles (FSi) by Cu(II) ions. TTOF was functionalized with FITC doped fluorescent silica nanoparticles (FSi), as transduction element. Amine functionalized FSi nanoparticles are immobilized on aminosilanised tapered tip using glutaraldehyde treatment. Cu (II) ions which form chelation with amines quench the fluorescence (FL) of the FSi nanoparticles. Detection capacity down to 0.25 μM for copper ions has been achieved in this configuration.
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