A dilute nematic gel produced by intramicellar segregation of two polyoxyethylene alkyl ether carboxylic acids.

Motivation: Surfactants like CECHCOOH have such bulky headgroups that they cannot show the common sphere-to-cylinder transition, while surfactants like CECHCOOH are mimicking lipids and form only bilayers. Mixing these two types of surfactants allows one to investigate the competition between intramicellar segregation leading to disc-like bicelles and the temperature dependent curvature constraints imposed by the mismatch between heads and tails.

Experiments: We establish phase diagrams as a function of temperature, surfactant mole ratio, and active matter content.

SAGES perspective: professional medical associations, commercial interests, and conflicts of interest.

Background: Professional medical associations (PMAs) have an essential role in advancing medical care and health. PMAs promote skills training, clinical standards, and other important educational activities. Most often, PMAs are not-for-profit entities that rely upon funding from industry to help cover the costs of these valuable activities.

The effect of ethanol on fibrillar hydrogels formed by glycyrrhizic acid monoammonium salt.

Motivation: The monoammonium salt of glycyrrhizic acid (AGA) is known to form fibrillar hydrogels and few studies regarding self-assembly of AGA have been published. Yet, the understanding of the fibrillar microstructures and the gelation remains vague. Thus, we attempt to achieve a deeper understanding of the microstructures and the gelation process of binary solutions of AGA in water.

Concordance of financial disclosures among faculty at the 2018-2020 SAGES annual meetings.

Background: Financial relationships with industry may bias educational content delivered by physicians. SAGES strives to mitigate potential bias, relying on physician self-reporting. Retrospective review of relationships is possible using the Open Payments Database (OPD), a public record of industry-reported payments to US physicians.

A SAGES technology and value assessment and pediatric committee evaluation of mini-laparoscopic instrumentation.

Background: The TAVAC and Pediatric Committees of SAGES evaluated the current use of mini-laparoscopic instrumentation to better understand the role this category of devices plays in the delivery of minimally invasive surgery today.

Methods: The role of mini-laparoscopic instrumentation, defined as minimally invasive instruments of between 1 and 4 mm in diameter, was assessed by an exhaustive review of the peer reviewed literature on the subject between 1990 and 2021. The instruments, their use, and their perceived value were tabulated and described.

Cloud point, auto-coacervation, and nematic ordering of micelles formed by ethylene oxide containing carboxylate surfactants.

Hypothesis: In a recent paper, we determined the phase behavior of an aqueous solution of octyl ether octaethylene oxide carboxylic acid ([H][C8E8c], Akypo™ LF2) and with partial replacement of H by Na and Ca. It was found that even the neat surfactants are liquid at room temperature and that they form only direct micelles for any aqueous content and over large temperature ranges. The aim of the present work was to find an explanation for the clouding in these systems as well as for the coacervation observed at very low surfactant content.

Odor and Constituent Odorants of HDPE-Lignin Blends of Different Lignin Origin.

The still-rising global demand for plastics warrants the substitution of non-renewable mineral oil-based resources with natural products as a decisive step towards sustainability. Lignin is one of the most abundant natural polymers and represents an ideal but hitherto highly underutilized raw material to replace petroleum-based resources. In particular, the use of lignin composites, especially polyolefin-lignin blends, is currently on the rise.

Ionic Liquids Based on the Concept of Melting Point Lowering Due to Ethoxylation.

Most of the commonly used Ionic Liquids (ILs) contain bulky organic cations with suitable anions. With our COMPLET (Concept of Melting Point Lowering due to Ethoxylation), we follow a different approach. We use simple, low-toxic, cheap, and commercially available anions of the type C(EO)CHCOO to liquefy presumably any simple metal ion, independently of its charge.

Phase diagrams and microstructures of aqueous short alkyl chain polyethylene glycol ether carboxylate and carboxylic acid triblock surfactant solutions.

Hypothesis: The surfactant CEOCHCOOH (Akypo LF2) and its salts have a small hydrophobic and a significantly longer hydrophilic part. As a consequence, there must be a significant steric constraint, once these surfactant molecules form micelles. In addition, the partially charged headgroups should bring some additional fine-tuning via electrostatic interactions to this "essentially non-ionic" surfactant.

Correlations between odour activity and the structural modifications of acrylates.

Acrylates (acrylic esters) are versatile monomers that are widely used in polymer formulations because of their highly reactive α,β-unsaturated carboxyl structure. Commonly used acrylates such as butyl acrylate are known to emit a strong unpleasant odour, and the monomers are therefore potential off-odorants in acrylic polymers. However, up to now, the odour properties of structurally related acrylic esters have not been characterised in detail.

Identification and quantification of glue-like off-odors in elastic therapeutic tapes.

Elastic therapeutic tapes are an important tool in the field of physical therapy and medicine. These tapes contain types of adhesive. However, sensory evaluations revealed the release of pronounced and irritating odors of the tapes.

Resolving the chemical structures of off-odorants and potentially harmful substances in toys-example of children's swords.

Most children's toys on the market are primarily made out of plastic and other complex composite materials. Consumer complaints about offensive odors or irritating effects associated with toy products have increased in recent years. One example is the strongly perceivable negative odor reported for a particular series of toy swords.

Inverted bulk-heterojunction solar cell with cross-linked hole-blocking layer.

We have developed a hole-blocking layer for bulk-heterojunction solar cells based on cross-linked polyethylenimine (PEI). We tested five different ether-based cross-linkers and found that all of them give comparable solar cell efficiencies. The initial idea that a cross-linked layer is more solvent resistant compared to a pristine PEI layer could not be confirmed.

Incisionless revision of post-Roux-en-Y bypass stomal and pouch dilation: multicenter registry results.

Background: Surgical revision for weight regain after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) has been tempered by the high complication rates associated with standard approaches. Endoluminal revision of stoma and pouch dilation should intuitively confer a better risk profile. However, questions of clinical safety, durability, and weight loss need to be answered.

Video: natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES): creation of a gastric valve for safe and effective transgastric surgery in humans.

Introduction: NOTES has become a clinical reality. There remain, however, many challenges that need to be addressed in order to refine the technique. One of the most feared potential complications of transgastric surgery is a leak from the port of entry into the peritoneum.

Development and validation of a new generation of flexible endoscope for NOTES.

Background: The concept of intraperitoneal flexible endoscopy has created much interest and investigation. Both gastroenterologists with a surgical leaning and surgeons with advanced endoscopy interests are researching the feasibility of this new approach. Current flexible scopes and instruments are extremely limited for use in natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES).

The trade-off between flexibility and maneuverability: task performance with articulating laparoscopic instruments.

Background: Laparoscopic instruments are rigid and thus cannot provide the degrees of freedom (DOF) needed by a surgeon in certain situations. A new generation of laparoscopic instruments with the ability to articulate their end effectors is available. Although these instruments offer the flexibility needed to perform complex tasks in a constricted surgical site, their control may be hampered by their increased complexity.

Transanal endoscopic microsurgical platform for natural orifice surgery.

Background: The excitement surrounding natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) remains tempered by concerns over safe access and closure of transvisceral enterotomies. Research in NOTES has commonly been described as using an oral transgastric access point. Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) is a minimally invasive technique for a full-thickness resection of rectal tumors and with suture closure of the resultant defect with highly specialized instruments.

Multimedia article. Prone thoracoscopic thoracic duct ligation for postsurgical chylothorax.

Background: Chylothorax after complex abdominal and thoracic procedures remains a challenging complication with a mortality rate reaching 50% if untreated. Iatrogenic trauma accounts for almost 20% of all chyle leaks, and esophagectomy is the most common iatrogenic cause. Consequences of ongoing chyle leak include dehydration, malnutrition, and immunocompromise.

Building an efficient surgical team using a bench model simulation: construct validity of the Legacy Inanimate System for Endoscopic Team Training (LISETT).

Background: Complex laparoscopic tasks require collaboration of surgeons as a surgical team. Conventionally, surgical teams are formed shortly before the start of the surgery, and team skills are built during the surgery. There is a need to establish a training simulation to improve surgical team skills without jeopardizing the safety of surgery.

Feasibility of radical sigmoid colectomy performed as natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) using transanal endoscopic microsurgery.

Background: Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), a recent development in the field of minimally invasive surgery, may offer advantages over open and laparoscopic surgery. Most investigations to date have focused on small end-organ resections, and none have described en bloc regional lymphadenectomy. This study aimed to describe a method of anal transcolonic sigmoid colon resection.

Dose, timing and frequency of subconjunctival 5-fluorouracil injections after glaucoma filtering surgery.

Background: Although adjunctive postoperative 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) injections are known to improve the success rate of glaucoma surgery, it is still unknown what dose, timing and frequency of application will give the best results with respect to the inhibition of postoperative scarring and intraocular pressure regulation. We therefore designed the following retrospective investigation.

Methods: We studied 172 eyes from 172 patients who had undergone trabeculectomy with adjuvant 5-FU-therapy.