HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH NONFUNCTIONING PITUITARY ADENOMAS UNDERGOING POSTOPERATIVE RADIATION THERAPY: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY.

Objective: Nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) can be associated with significant morbidity including a compromised quality of life (QoL). Radiotherapy (RT) is listed as one of the contributing factors to QoL impairment in these patients, however the evidence supporting this association is scarce and conflicting. Here we evaluate health-related QoL (HRQoL) impairment in patients with NFPA and to what extent this is due to RT.

Gasohol quality control for real time applications by means of a multimode interference fiber sensor.

In this work we demonstrate efficient quality control of a variety of gasoline and ethanol (gasohol) blends using a multimode interference (MMI) fiber sensor. The operational principle relies on the fact that the addition of ethanol to the gasohol blend reduces the refractive index (RI) of the gasoline. Since MMI sensors are capable of detecting small RI changes, the ethanol content of the gasohol blend is easily determined by tracking the MMI peak wavelength response.

Just a flare---the Pandora's box approach.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibodies specific for highly conserved nuclear antigens, such as double-stranded DNA, histones and ribonuclear proteins. The course of the disease is unpredictable and nine times more common in females. Among the neurological manifestations of collagen vascular diseases is the most commonly recognized and better studied disease.

A fiber optic ammonia sensor using a universal pH indicator.

A universal pH indicator is used to fabricate a fiber optic ammonia sensor. The advantage of this pH indicator is that it exhibits sensitivity to ammonia over a broad wavelength range. This provides a differential response, with a valley around 500 nm and a peak around 650 nm, which allows us to perform ratiometric measurements.

Barium Templating Schiff-Base Lateral Macrobicycles.

Schiff-base lateral macrobicycles containing two different binding units, a rigid and unsaturated N(2)X set (X: N, O) and a flexible and cyclic N(2)O(n)() set, linked by two aromatic bridges, have been prepared by reaction of the appropriate bibracchial diamines N,N'-bis(aminobenzyl)-diaza-crown and diformyl precursors in the presence of Ba(II) as templating agent. The expected cryptands do not form in the absence of the cation; the presence of this metal ion is necessary to orient the diamine precursor in a syn conformation. Comparison of the X-ray crystal structures of the barium complex of the bibracchial diamine N,N'-bis(2-aminobenzyl)-1,10-diaza-15-crown-5 and the barium complex of the cryptand derived from it incorporating a pyridine unit indicates that the encapsulation of the metal ion is clearly more effective in the case of the cryptand.