Vasospasm in traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in young individuals. Management of TBI is complex and aims to prevent secondary injury and optimise conditions for neurological recovery. Vasospasm is a possible complication of TBI, and its significance is unknown.

Significant increased bacterial contamination with endoscope overnight and weekend storage times.

Background And Aim: Forced-air drying (FAD) cabinets are recommended for storage of reprocessed endoscopes, but financial constraints prevent their universal application. The study aimed to determine bacterial contamination in flexible gastroscopes (FG) channels after storage, in a cabinet with filtered air and UV lights, but without FAD.

Methods: Eight FG in clinical use in an endoscopy service of a large Brazilian hospital were sampled: immediately "Time zero" (N = 50), 12 h "Time 1" (N = 25), and 60 h "Time 2" (N = 25) after reprocessing.

Electrorheological and dielectric behavior of new ionic liquid/silica systems.

New phosphonium-based ionic liquids, denoted, 11-carboxyundecyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (IL1) and octadecyltriphenylphosphonium iodide (IL2), were employed on the sol-gel synthesis to prepare new silica-based matrices. The fastest gelation during the sol-gel process was observed in hydrolysis/condensation of tetraethoxysilane in the presence of IL1. The confinement of ionic liquids (especially IL1) inside the silica networks was suggested by thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Characterization of nanostructured epoxy networks modified with isocyanate-terminated liquid polybutadiene.

Polybutadiene-block-epoxy prepolymer (DGEBA-b-PBNCO) copolymers with multi-branched topological structure were prepared by reacting isocyanate-multifunctionalized liquid polybutadiene (PBNCO) with DGEBA prepolymer and used to develop nanostructured rubber-modified epoxy thermosets cured with triethylene-tetramine (TETA) as the aliphatic amine. The nanoscopic structure was obtained with the addition of as high as 20 phr of rubber component and successfully demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The glass transition temperature of the rubber-modified epoxy networks was slightly higher than the neat epoxy system.