Phospha-cyanines in Their Ideal Polymethine State: Synthesis and Structure-Property Relationships.

We report the synthesis and full characterization of a family of phosphorus-containing polymethine cyanines (phospha-cyanines). The compounds are easily prepared in two steps, starting from readily available phosphanes. The impact of the P-substituents and the counterions on the structural and optical properties is investigated through a joint experimental/theoretical approach.

Surface-Mediated Charge Transfer of Photogenerated Carriers in Diamond.

Solvated electrons are highly reductive chemical species whose chemical properties remain largely unknown. Diamond materials are proposed as a promising emitter of solvated electrons and visible light excitation would enable solar-driven CO or N reductions reactions in aqueous medium. But sub-bandgap excitation remains challenging.

Nanointerfaces: Concepts and Strategies for Optical and X-ray Spectroscopic Characterization.

Interfaces at the nanoscale, also called nanointerfaces, play a fundamental role in physics and chemistry. Probing the chemical and electronic environment at nanointerfaces is essential in order to elucidate chemical processes relevant for applications in a variety of fields. Many spectroscopic techniques have been applied for this purpose, although some approaches are more appropriate than others depending on the type of the nanointerface and the physical properties of the different phases.

Prospective evaluation of an artificial intelligence-enabled algorithm for automated diabetic retinopathy screening of 30 000 patients.

Background/aims: Human grading of digital images from diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening programmes represents a significant challenge, due to the increasing prevalence of diabetes. We evaluate the performance of an automated artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to triage retinal images from the English Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) into test-positive/technical failure versus test-negative, using human grading following a standard national protocol as the reference standard.

Methods: Retinal images from 30 405 consecutive screening episodes from three English DESPs were manually graded following a standard national protocol and by an automated process with machine learning enabled software, EyeArt v2.

Microcanonical Nucleation Theory for Anisotropic Materials Validated on Alumina Clusters.

Nucleation kinetics in gas phase remains an open issue with no general model. The derivation of the reaction constants assuming a canonical ensemble fails to describe anisotropic materials such as oxides. We have developed a general and versatile model using activated complex kinetics with a microcanonical approach.

Doping nanoparticles using pulsed laser ablation in a liquid containing the doping agent.

While doping of semiconductors or oxides is crucial for numerous technological applications, its control remains difficult especially when the material is reduced down to the nanometric scale. In this paper, we show that pulsed laser ablation of an undoped solid target in an aqueous solution containing activator ions offers a new way to synthesise doped-nanoparticles. The doping efficiency is evaluated for laser ablation of an undoped GdO target in aqueous solutions of EuCl with molar concentration from 10 mol L to 10 mol L.

Manual vs. automated implantation of seeds in prostate brachytherapy: Oncologic results from a single-center study.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to study survival and tolerance of prostate cancer patients treated with I permanent interstitial brachytherapy by automated vs. manual implantation of seeds.

Methods And Materials: Between 2002 and 2010, 349 selected patients were treated with I brachytherapy by the same team: from 2002 to April 2005, 65 patients with linked seeds and then 284 patients treated using Nucletron First System automated implantation.

Is UV-Induced Electron-Driven Proton Transfer Active in a Chemically Modified A·T DNA Base Pair?

Transient electronic and vibrational absorption spectroscopies have been used to investigate whether UV-induced electron-driven proton transfer (EDPT) mechanisms are active in a chemically modified adenine-thymine (A·T) DNA base pair. To enhance the fraction of biologically relevant Watson-Crick (WC) hydrogen-bonding motifs and eliminate undesired Hoogsteen structures, a chemically modified derivative of A was synthesized, 8-(tert-butyl)-9-ethyladenine (8tBA). Equimolar solutions of 8tBA and silyl-protected T nucleosides in chloroform yield a mixture of WC pairs, reverse WC pairs, and residual monomers.

System-level and patient-level explanations for non-attendance at diabetic retinopathy screening in Sutton and Merton (London, UK): a qualitative analysis of a service evaluation.

Objectives: Non-attendance at diabetic retinopathy screening has financial implications for screening programmes and potential clinical costs to patients. We sought to identify explanations for why patients had never attended a screening appointment (never attendance) in one programme.

Design: Qualitative analysis of a service evaluation.

Real-time continuous glucose monitoring reduces the duration of hypoglycemia episodes: a randomized trial in very low birth weight neonates.

Objectives: Hypoglycemia is frequent in very low birth weight (VLBW) neonates and compromises their neurological outcome. The aim of this study was to compare real-time continuous glucose monitoring system (RT-CGMS) to standard methods by intermittent capillary blood glucose testing in detecting and managing hypoglycemia.

Study Design: Forty-eight VLBW neonates were enrolled in this prospective study.

Pulsed-dose-rate brachytherapy for uterine cervix carcinoma: 10 years of experience with 226 patients at a single institution.

Purpose: To analyze the long-term results of pulsed-dose-rate (PDR) brachytherapy (BT) in cervical carcinoma patients treated at a single institution.

Methods And Materials: All patients with histopathologically proven Stages IB-IVA cervical carcinoma, treated at our institution with PDR intracavitary BT between April 1996 and November 2007, were included in this retrospective analysis. All patients underwent primary pelvic radiotherapy (45 Gy) with concomitant chemotherapy from 1999 and PDR intracavitary BT (16 Gy to the clinical target volume), followed by hysterectomy in 124 patients.

Non-attendance at diabetic eye screening and risk of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy: a population-based cohort study.

Aims/hypothesis: This study evaluated whether repeated non-attendance for diabetic eye screening is associated with the risk of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR).

Methods: This was a cohort study of 6,556 residents with diabetes who were invited for screening between 2008 and 2011 in a population-based eye screening programme in inner London and who attended for their first-ever screen in 2008. The proportion of participants with STDR was evaluated in relation to the number of years in which screening was missed.

Changes in detection of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes in the first 4 years of a population-based diabetic eye screening program: retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Annual diabetic eye screening has been implemented in England since 2008. This study aimed to estimate changes in the detection of retinopathy in the first 4 years of the program.

Research Design And Methods: Participants included 32,340 patients with type 2 diabetes resident in three London boroughs with one or more screening records between 2008 and 2011.

Respiratory outcome in children with scimitar syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate respiratory morbidities and lung function tests in the cohort of patients with scimitar syndrome evaluated at our center since 1976.

Study Design: Eighty-one children were investigated. Twenty-six patients died, all with the infantile form.

[Fetal toxicity of angiotensin-II receptor antagonists].

We report a case of a newborn with an oligohydramnios, acute renal failure and ossification abnormalities. The role of maternal treatment of essential hypertension by angiotensin-II receptor antagonists is discussed in regard to the literature and pathophysiological data.

[Early management of infants born to mothers with meconium-stained amniotic fluid: a survey in French delivery rooms].

Unlabelled: The meconium aspiration syndrome is the first cause of respiratory distress in full term newborns. At birth, management includes systematical oropharyngeal suctioning, before and after shoulders delivery, followed by tracheal suction. During last 10 years, many trials were published which discuss again the value of this strategy.

[The French preliminary experience of the use of a seed-projector for exclusive iodine 125 prostate brachytherapy: feasibility and acute toxicity].

Purpose: To analyse a new technique for prostate brachytherapy with permanent Iodine implants characterized by the use of a seed projector after a 3D dosimetric peroperative treatment planning (FIRST technique).

Patients And Method: 395 patients have been treated in France with this technique in six radiotherapy centres between November 2002 and December 2005 for a localized prostate cancer.

Results: Thirteen patients (3.

[Radiosurgery of single brain metastasis without combined total cerebral irradiation. Results of a consecutive series of 12 cases].

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of radiosurgery without whole brain irradiation for a solitary brain metastasis.

Patients And Methods: Between December 1994 and November 1996, 12 patients were treated for a single brain metastasis by radiosurgery alone. Median age was 53, and 10 patients had a Karnofsky performance status above 70.

Magnetic resonance imaging in the treatment planning of radiation therapy in carcinoma of the cervix treated with the four-field pelvic technique.

Purpose: To evaluate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the planning of radiation therapy for patients with carcinoma of the cervix treated with a four-field technique.

Methods And Materials: Between May 1994 and February 1995, 18 patients with carcinoma of the cervix were entered in the study (1 T1 N-; 2 T2a N-; 1 T2b NO; 10 T2b N-; 2 T2b N+; 2 T3b N+). Node status was assessed by a laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy.

Evaluation of whole abdominal irradiation in ovarian carcinoma with a four orthogonal fields technique.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the toxicity and the results of abdominopelvic irradiation with a four orthogonal field's technique in patients with ovarian carcinoma.

Methods And Materials: Between May 1981 and December 1990, 167 patients with ovarian carcinoma have been treated with whole abdominal irradiation: 62 patients with no or minimal residual disease < 2 cm after initial surgery (group 1) and 105 patients with no residual disease or macroscopic residual disease < 2 cm assessed by second-look surgery after incomplete debulking surgery and cisplatin-based polychemotherapy (group 2). Irradiation was performed by a four orthogonal field's technique.

[Abdominopelvic radiation therapy in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma. Study of a continuous series of 167 patients].

From May 1981 through December 1990, 167 patients with ovarian carcinoma were treated with whole abdominal irradiation. All patients of the first group (n = 62) presented with no or minimal (< 2 cm) residual disease at the time of irradiation. They received whole abdominal irradiation after initial surgery.

[Radiotherapy and cerebral stereotaxis. Examples of dosimetry with 3D reconstruction].

External stereotactic radiotherapy allows to irradiate a small and carefully delimited intracranial volume according to the spatial definition of the target. To determine the distribution of the dose in the volume irradiated, we developed a dosimetric programme adapted to our particular treatment conditions (arc therapy in the frontal and oblique planes converging onto the centre of the target volume with circular beams 8 to 20 mm in diameter using 18 MV X photons). The principle of the programme is a 3D reconstruction based on ten transverse CT slices.