Toward Chalcogenide Platform Infrared Sensor Dedicated to the In Situ Detection of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Natural Waters via an Attenuated Total Reflection Spectroscopy Study.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the successful functionalization of the surface of a chalcogenide infrared waveguide with the ultimate goal of developing an infrared micro-sensor device. First, a polyisobutylene coating was selected by testing its physico-chemical compatibility with a Ge-Sb-Se selenide surface. To simulate the chalcogenide platform infrared sensor, the detection of benzene, toluene, and ortho-, meta- and para-xylenes was efficaciously performed using a polyisobutylene layer spin-coated on 1 and 2.

Comparative study of Er-doped Ga-Ge-Sb-S thin films fabricated by sputtering and pulsed laser deposition.

Despite the renewed interest in rare earth-doped chalcogenide glasses lying mainly in mid-infrared applications, a few comprehensive studies so far have presented the photoluminescence of amorphous chalcogenide films from visible to mid-infrared. This work reports the fabrication of luminescent quaternary sulfide thin films using radio-frequency sputtering and pulsed laser deposition, and the characterization of their chemical composition, morphology, structure, refractive index and Er photoluminescence. The study of ErI level lifetimes enables developing suitable deposition parameters; the dependency of composition, structural and spectroscopic properties on deposition parameters provides a way to tailor the RE-doped thin film properties.

Laser Desorption Ionization of AsCh (Ch = S, Se, and Te) Chalcogenides Using Quadrupole Ion Trap Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: A Comparative Study.

Laser desorption ionization using time-of-flight mass spectrometer afforded with quadrupole ion trap was used to study AsCh (Ch = S, Se, and Te) bulk chalcogenide materials. The main goal of the study is the identification of species present in the plasma originating from the interaction of laser pulses with solid state material. The generated clusters in both positive and negative ion mode are identified as 10 unary (S and As ) and 34 binary (As S ) species for AsS glass, 2 unary (Se ) and 26 binary (As Se ) species for AsSe glass, 7 unary (Te ) and 23 binary (As Te ) species for AsTe material.

Experimental design approach for deposition optimization of RF sputtered chalcogenide thin films devoted to environmental optical sensors.

The development of the optical bio-chemical sensing technology is an extremely important scientific and technological issue for diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, control of industrial processes, environmental detection of air and water pollutants. Owing to their distinctive features, chalcogenide amorphous thin films represent a keystone in the manufacture of middle infrared integrated optical devices for a sensitive detection of biological or environmental variations. Since the chalcogenide thin films characteristics, i.

Photostability of pulsed-laser-deposited AsTe (x=40, 50, 60) amorphous thin films.

AsTe amorphous thin films were fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition technique with the aim of finding photostable layers in as-deposited but preferably in relaxed (annealed) state. Photostability was studied in terms of the films' stability of refractive index and bandgap under near-bandgap light irradiation. AsTe and AsTe layers were found to be photostable in both as-deposited as well as relaxed states.

Design of praseodymium-doped chalcogenide micro-disk emitting at 4.7 µm.

A compact amplifier based on chalcogenide Pr-doped micro-disk coupled to two ridge waveguides is designed and refined by means of a home-made computer code. The gain G ≈ 7.9 dB is simulated for a Pr concentration of 10 000 ppm, input signal power of -30 dBm at the wavelength 4.

Optical characterization at 7.7 µm of an integrated platform based on chalcogenide waveguides for sensing applications in the mid-infrared.

A selenide integrated platform working in the mid-infrared was designed, fabricated and optically characterized at 7.7 µm. Ge-Sb-Se multilayered structures were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering.

Pulsed laser deposited GeTe-rich GeTe-Sb2Te3 thin films.

Pulsed laser deposition technique was used for the fabrication of Ge-Te rich GeTe-Sb2Te3 (Ge6Sb2Te9, Ge8Sb2Te11, Ge10Sb2Te13, and Ge12Sb2Te15) amorphous thin films. To evaluate the influence of GeTe content in the deposited films on physico-chemical properties of the GST materials, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction and reflectometry, atomic force microscopy, Raman scattering spectroscopy, optical reflectivity, and sheet resistance temperature dependences as well as variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were used to characterize as-deposited (amorphous) and annealed (crystalline) layers. Upon crystallization, optical functions and electrical resistance of the films change drastically, leading to large optical and electrical contrast between amorphous and crystalline phases.

Late outcome of 132 Senning procedures after 20 years of follow-up.

Background: Risk factors and rates of reoperation, arrhythmias, systemic right ventricular dysfunction (RVD), and late death after a Senning procedure were investigated.

Methods: One-hundred thirty-two patients underwent a Senning operation between 1977 and 2004 (105 simple and 27 complex transpositions of the great arteries). Mean follow-up time was 19.

Extracorporeal circulation as an additional method for cerebral protection in simultaneous carotid endarterectomy and coronary artery surgical revascularization.

Surgical management of patients with concomitant carotid and coronary artery stenosis remains controversial. Our policy was always to perform at the same time carotid endarterectomy (CE) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), but it was also considered that extracorporeal circulation (ECC), because of full heparinization, hemodilution, pulsatile flow, and hypothermia could provide better cerebral protection during CE. Retrospective data of 124 patients undergoing simultaneous CE and CABGs between January 1994 and December 2001 were reviewed.

Clinical significance of early thrombosis after prosthetic mitral valve replacement: a postoperative monocentric study of 680 patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of early thrombosis, its prognostic significance, and the therapeutic implications.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is the method of choice for detecting symptomless early postoperative thrombosis of prosthetic valves. However, the clinical significance is not yet known.

Surgery for prosthetic valve obstruction. A single center study of 136 patients.

Objectives: Prosthetic heart valve obstruction (PHVO) is a potentially fatal complication of heart valve replacement with mechanical substitute mainly due to thrombosis. The purpose of this report is to present a single-center experience of 136 consecutive patients operated on between 1978 and 2001.

Methods: The diagnosis of PHVO was mainly assessed by fluoroscopy and/or echocardiography.

Surgery of chronic traumatic aneurysm of the aortic isthmus: benefit of direct suture.

Objective: Retrospective evaluation of long term results after direct suture repair of chronic traumatic aneurysm of the aortic isthmus.

Methods: From March 1979 to June 1998, a total of 19 patients with chronic traumatic aneurysm of the aortic isthmus were operated on, among whom 12 (63%) underwent direct suture. These 12 patients (age ranging from 19 to 68 years; mean 34.

Surgical repair of an aneurysm of the innominate artery with fistulization into the trachea.

This report describes a 43-year-old patient presenting with an aneurysm located at the junction between the innominate artery and aorta, with spontaneous fistulization into the trachea. Emergency treatment of this unusually located lesion was undertaken to prevent intratracheal rupture. After ligation of the innominate artery, right common carotid artery, and right subclavian artery due to the risk of infection, the tracheal fistula was treated by direct closure and exclusion using an autologous pericardial flap.

Management of Nonobstructive Thrombosis of Prosthetic Mitral Valve in Asymptomatic Patients in the Early Postoperative Period: A Study in 20 Patients.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the optimal management of nonobstructive thrombi in the early postoperative period after mitral valve replacement.Twenty cases of early thrombi were revealed by systematic transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) performed 9 days after surgical implantation of 229 St. Jude prostheses.

The short- and mid-term results of bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt with additional source of pulmonary blood flow as definitive palliation for the functional single ventricular heart.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the early and late outcomes of bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt (BCPS) as a definitive procedure for the functional single ventricular heart.

Method: From September 1991 to December 1997, 34 patients underwent a BCPS procedure without a routine conversion to Fontan circulation. The additional source of pulmonary blood flow was left in all patients.

Does EuroSCORE work in individual European countries?

Objective: Because of national epidemiological differences in adult heart surgery in Europe, the effectiveness and desirability of a pan-European score for the assessment of quality of surgical care remains controversial. We assessed the predictive value of EuroSCORE in national subsets of the EuroSCORE database.

Methods: The EuroSCORE development data set was divided into national subsets of which those with 500 or more patients were selected for analysis.

Early and long-term (one-year) effects of the association of aspirin and oral anticoagulant on thrombi and morbidity after replacement of the mitral valve with the St. Jude medical prosthesis: a clinical and transesophageal echocardiographic study.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to test the value of low dose aspirin associated with standard oral anticoagulants (OAC) after mechanical mitral valve replacement (MMRV) to reduce strands, thrombi and thromboembolic events.

Background: Strands and thrombi are thought to increase the risk of embolic events after MMVR, particularly in the immediate postoperative period.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-nine patients were prospectively recruited: 109 patients (group A+) were randomly assigned to aspirin (200 mg per day) with OAC and 120 patients (group A-) to OAC alone (international normalized ratio 2.

Risk factors and outcome in European cardiac surgery: analysis of the EuroSCORE multinational database of 19030 patients.

Objective: To assess risk factors for mortality in cardiac surgical adult patients as part of a study to develop a European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE).

Methods: From September to November 1995, information on risk factors and mortality was collected for 19030 consecutive adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass in 128 surgical centres in eight European states. Data were collected for 68 preoperative and 29 operative risk factors proven or believed to influence hospital mortality.

Early and long term results of coronary artery bypass grafts in patients with dialysis dependent renal failure.

Objective: Coronary artery disease is the main cause of mortality and morbidity in patients on renal therapy replacement. The aim of this study was to define peri-operative risk and long term results of coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) in dialysis patients.

Methods: this retrospective study included 82 patients in chronic dialysis who underwent CABG between 1978 and 1997.

Moderately hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass and selective cerebral perfusion in ascending aorta and aortic arch surgery. Preliminary experience in twenty-two patients.

Deep hypothermic cardiocirculatory arrest is the commonest method of brain protection during transverse aortic arch surgery. Its principle drawbacks consist in the limited safe ischemic period and in the coagulative, renal and pulmonary complications related to low body temperatures and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time. Different selective cerebral perfusion techniques have recently raised the interest of some surgical teams in an effort to obviate these problems.

Predictive factors of maximal aerobic capacity after cardiac transplantation.

Exercise capacity in cardiac transplanted patients has been reported to remain decreased in some studies; however, functional results after transplantation may vary, ranging from modest to spectacular improvement. The aim of the study was to quantify exercise capacity in a large series of transplanted patients and to search for factor predictive of a good functional result. Eighty-five patients (mean 52.

[Alteration of myocardial viability and systemic ventricular dysfunction after Senning procedure].

After a Senning procedure for transposition of the great arteries (TGA), systolic dysfunction of the right ventricle (RV) is common. Pre and peroperative chronicale hypoxia may be the cause of this ventricular myocardial alteration. In order to detect abnormalities of myocardial viability and to study their relationship to RV function, the authors studied 41 patients (pts), 11.