Aim: One third of Australian children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes present with life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at diagnosis. Screening for early-stage, presymptomatic type 1 diabetes, with ongoing follow-up, can substantially reduce this risk (<5% risk). Several screening models are being trialled internationally, without consensus on the optimal approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInteractions between plasmons and exciton nanoemitters in plexcitonic systems lead to fast and intense luminescence, desirable in optoelectonic devices, ultrafast optical switches and quantum information science. While luminescence enhancement through exciton-plasmon coupling has thus far been mostly demonstrated in micro- and nanoscale structures, analogous demonstrations in bulk materials have been largely neglected. Here we present a bulk nanocomposite glass doped with cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) and silver nanoparticles, nAg, which act as exciton and plasmon sources, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActive whispering gallery mode resonators made as spherical microspheres doped with quantum dots or rare earth ions achieve high quality factors and are excellent candidates for biosensors capable of detecting biomolecules at low concentrations. However, to produce quantum dot-doped microspheres, new low melting temperature glasses are sought, which require surface functionalization and antibody immobilization for biosensor development. Here, we demonstrate the successful functionalization of three low melting point glasses and microspheres made of them.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing first-principles calculations and LaTe as an example of an n-type gapped metal, we demonstrate that gapped metals can develop spontaneous defect formation resulting in off-stoichiometric compounds. Importantly, these compounds have different free carrier concentrations and can be realized by optimizing the synthesis conditions. The ability to tune the free carrier concentration allows the tailoring of the intraband and interband transitions, thus controlling the optoelectronic properties of materials in general.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present research reports on in-water, site-specific photodeposition of glyphosate (GLP)-containing polyacrylamide (PAA-GLP) nanometer-thick films (nanofilms) on an inner surface of fused silica (fused quartz) microcapillaries presilanized with trimethoxy(octen-7-yl)silane (TMOS). TMOS was chosen because of the vinyl group presence in its structure, enabling its participation in the (UV light)-activated free-radical polymerization (UV-FRP) after its immobilization on a fused silica surface. The photodeposition was conducted in an aqueous (HO/ACN; 3:1, /) solution, using UV-FRP (λ = 365 nm) of the acrylamide (AA) functional monomer, the ,'-methylenebis(acrylamide) (BAA) cross-linking monomer, GLP, and the azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) UV-FRP initiator.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZinc oxide-zinc tungstate (ZnO-ZnWO ) is a self-organized eutectic composite consisting of parallel ZnO thin layers (lamellae) embedded in a dielectric ZnWO matrix. The electromagnetic behavior of composite materials is affected not only by the properties of single constituent materials but also by their reciprocal geometrical micro-/nano-structurization, as in the case of ZnO-ZnWO . The light interacting with microscopic structural features in the composite material provides new optical properties, which overcome the possibilities offered by the constituent materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is increasingly used in type 1 diabetes management; however, funding models vary. This study determined the uptake rate and glycemic outcomes following a change in national health policy to introduce universal subsidized CGM funding for people with type 1 diabetes aged <21 years.
Research Design And Methods: Longitudinal data from 12 months before the subsidy until 24 months after were analyzed.
Evidence is accumulating that cardiac apoptosis occurs and contributes to myocyte cell death during myocardial ischemia. Cardioplegia, defined as the temporary cessation of cardiac activity during cardiac surgery, is a clinically controlled condition with myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. Our goal was to determine whether the apoptotic biomarker caspase-3 p17 is elevated in the coronary sinus (CS) during cardioplegia and if any elevations were reflected in the peripheral venous (PV) blood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastable defects in semiconductor materials have been well known for decades, but have only recently started to attract attention for their potential applications in information technology. Here, we describe active and passive nanoplasmonic materials with optically active metastable defects that can be switched on or off by cooling with or without laser illumination, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of metastable defects in either passive or active nanoplasmonic materials, and, more generally, in non-semiconducting materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSecond-order nonlinear optical materials are used to generate new frequencies by exploiting second-harmonic generation (SHG), a phenomenon where a nonlinear material generates light at double the optical frequency of the input beam. Maximum SHG is achieved when the pump and the generated waves are in phase, for example through birefringence in uniaxial crystals. However, applying these materials usually requires a complicated cutting procedure to yield a crystal with a particular orientation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA short series of novel ester derivatives of N(3)-4-metoxyfumaroyl-(S)-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid (FMDP) containing amide or keto functions have been designed and synthesized. Their antifungal activity and inhibitory properties toward fungal glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase has also been evaluated. The obtained compounds 11-13 and 15-17 demonstrated good antifungal activity against Candida albicans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArtificially structured hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) - uniaxial materials with opposite signs of permittivity for ordinary and extraordinary waves - are one of the most attractive classes of metamaterials. Their existing in nature counterpart natural (homogeneous) hyperbolic materials (NHMs) has several advantages but has not yet been analyzed extensively. Here, based on literature-available data on permittivity as a function of wavelength, we review materials with naturally occurring anisotropy of permittivity in specific wavelength ranges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanoplasmonic materials are intensively studied due to the advantages they bring in various applied fields such as photonics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics and medicine. However, their large-scale fabrication and tunability are still a challenge. One of the promising ways of combining these two is to use the self-organization mechanism and after-growth engineering as annealing for tuning the properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNovel FMDP amides 4-6 have been synthesized and tested against Candida strains. The anticandidal activity has been confined only to Candida albicans. Anticandidal activity of the tested amides has correlated with their inhibitory activity of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase in cell free extract from C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe availability of macroscopic, nearly periodic structures known as eutectics opens a new path for controlling light at wavelength scales determined by the geometrical parameters of these materials and the intrinsic properties of their component phases. Here, we analyze the optical waveguiding properties of eutectic mixtures of alkali halides, formed by close-packed arrangements of aligned cylindrical inclusions. The wavelengths of phonon polaritons in these constituents are conveniently situated in the infrared and are slightly larger than the diameter and separation of the inclusions, typically consisting on single-crystal wires down to submicrometer diameter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpidemiologic studies indicate that the risks for major age-related debilities including coronary heart disease, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are diminished in people who consume lower glycemic index (GI) diets, but lack of a unifying physiobiochemical mechanism that explains the salutary effect is a barrier to implementing dietary practices that capture the benefits of consuming lower GI diets. We established a simple murine model of age-related retinal lesions that precede AMD (hereafter called AMD-like lesions). We found that consuming a higher GI diet promotes these AMD-like lesions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The optimal diet for pregnancy that is complicated by excessive weight is unknown.
Objective: We aimed to examine the effects of a low-glycemic load (low-GL) diet in overweight and obese pregnant women.
Design: We randomly assigned 46 overweight or obese pregnant women to receive a low-GL or a low-fat diet.
The evolution of the crystal structure of rhombohedral PrAlO(3) perovskite with pressure has been investigated by single-crystal x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering experiments. The structural evolution as indicated by lattice strains, octahedral tilts, and the distortions of the octahedral AlO(6) and polyhedral PrO(12) groups with increasing pressure, is controlled by the relative compressibilities of the AlO(6) octahedra and the PrO(12) site. Because the AlO(6) octahedra are more compressible than the PrO(12) sites, up to 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Endocrinol Metab
November 2008
A high-glycemic index (GI) diet has been shown to increase adiposity in rodents; however, the long-term metabolic effects of a low- and high-GI diet have not been examined. In this study, a total of 48 male 129SvPas mice were fed diets high in either rapidly absorbed carbohydrate (RAC; high GI) or slowly absorbed carbohydrate (SAC; low GI) for up to 40 wk. Diets were controlled for macronutrient and micronutrient content, differing only in starch type.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity (Silver Spring)
September 2007
Objective: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is fast becoming a major public health concern, coincident with the increasing prevalence of obesity. Although lifestyle greatly influences development of NAFLD, the specific dietary causes remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a diet high in rapidly absorbed carbohydrate (RAC) vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo series of yttrium aluminum garnets doped with erbium and ytterbium ions have been studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The single crystals were obtained by the Czochralski method. The concentration of doping ions was established by the plasma emission spectroscopy method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Clinical studies suggest a role for dietary glycaemic index (GI) in bodyweight regulation and diabetes risk. However, partly because manipulation of GI can produce changes in potentially confounding dietary factors such as fibre content, palatability, and energy density, its relevance to human health remains controversial. This study examined the independent effects of GI in animals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeptin, a circulating hormone produced by adipose tissue, is believed to act on the hypothalamus to increase sympathetic vasomotor activity, in addition to its well-known effects on appetite and energy expenditure. In this study, we determined the cardiovascular effects of direct application of leptin to specific cell groups within the hypothalamus that are known to be activated by circulating leptin. In rats anesthetized with urethane, microinjections of leptin (16 ng in 20 nL solution) were made into the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, and paraventricular nucleus.
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