Interesting case of regional left ventricular hypertrophy.

This is an account of an interesting case with an unusual cardiac presentation. He is a man in his 60s who presented with chest tightness to the accident and emergency unit. The initial thoughts were of acute coronary syndrome or acute aortic syndrome.

The Diagnostic and Prognostic Utility of Contemporary Cardiac Magnetic Resonance in Suspected Acute Myocarditis.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is used to investigate suspected acute myocarditis, however most supporting data is retrospective and few studies have included parametric mapping. We aimed to investigate the utility of contemporary multiparametric CMR in a large prospective cohort of patients with suspected acute myocarditis, the impact of real-world variations in practice, the relationship between clinical characteristics and CMR findings and factors predicting outcome. 540 consecutive patients we recruited.

Mechanisms Underlying the Association of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease With Heart Failure.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to determine why chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with heart failure (HF). Specific objectives included whether COPD is associated with myocardial fibrosis, whether myocardial fibrosis is associated with hospitalization for HF and death in COPD, and whether COPD and smoking are associated with myocardial inflammation.

Background: COPD is associated with HF independent of shared risk factors.

Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Electronic Structures of Lanthanide Indium Perovskites LnInO.

Ternary lanthanide indium oxides LnInO (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm) were synthesized by high-temperature solid-state reaction and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction. Rietveld refinement of the powder patterns showed the LnInO materials to be orthorhombic perovskites belonging to the space group , based on almost-regular InO octahedra and highly distorted LnO polyhedra. Experimental structural data were compared with results from density functional theory (DFT) calculations employing a hybrid Hamiltonian.

Angle, Spin, and Depth Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy on Quantum Materials.

The role of X-ray based electron spectroscopies in determining chemical, electronic, and magnetic properties of solids has been well-known for several decades. A powerful approach is angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, whereby the kinetic energy and angle of photoelectrons emitted from a sample surface are measured. This provides a direct measurement of the electronic band structure of crystalline solids.

Henry Moseley, X-ray spectroscopy and the periodic table.

Just over 100 years ago, Henry Moseley carried out a systematic series of experiments which showed that the frequencies of the X-rays emitted from an elemental target under bombardment by cathode rays were characteristic of that element and could be used to identify the charge on its atomic nucleus. This led to a reorganization of the periodic table, with chemical elements now arranged on the basis of atomic number Z rather than atomic weight A, as had been the case in previous tables, including those developed by Mendeleev. Moseley also showed that there were four 'missing elements' before gold.

The periodic law of the chemical elements: '' [1].

The historical roots, the discovery and the modern relevance of Dmitri Mendeleev's remarkable advance have been the subject of numerous scholarly works. Here, with a brief overview, we hope to provide a link into the contents of this special issue honouring the great scientist. Mendeleev's advance, announced in March 1869, as he put it in 1889, to the '…', first set out the very basis of the periodic law of the chemical elements, the natural relation between the properties of the elements and their atomic weights.

Sb-Doped Titanium Oxide: A Rationale for Its Photocatalytic Activity for Environmental Remediation.

The problem of water purification is one of the most urgent issues in developing countries, where large infrastructures and energy resources are limited. Among the possibilities for a cheap route to clean water, photocatalytic materials in the form of coatings or nanostructures are among the most promising. The most widely studied photocatalytic material is titanium dioxide (TiO).

An in situ FTIR spectroscopic and thermogravimetric analysis study of the dehydration and dihydroxylation of SnO2: the contribution of the (100), (110) and (111) facets.

Nanoparticulate SnO2 produced by a hydrothermal method was characterised by BET, XRD, TGA-MS and in situ variable temperature diffuse reflectance infra red spectroscopy (DRIFTS) to determine the surface behaviour of water. For the (100) facets, hydrogen bonding does not occur, and water adsorption is less strong than for the (111) and (110) facets where hydrogen bonding does occur. Reversible uptake of oxygen was observed.

P-type transparent conducting oxides.

Transparent conducting oxides constitute a unique class of materials combining properties of electrical conductivity and optical transparency in a single material. They are needed for a wide range of applications including solar cells, flat panel displays, touch screens, light emitting diodes and transparent electronics. Most of the commercially available TCOs are n-type, such as Sn doped In2O3, Al doped ZnO, and F doped SnO2.

Understanding the electronic structure of IrO2 using hard-X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density-functional theory.

The electronic structure of IrO2 has been investigated using hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density-functional theory. Excellent agreement is observed between theory and experiment. We show that the electronic structure of IrO2 involves crystal field splitting of the iridium 5d orbitals in a distorted octahedral field.

Voxel-wise quantification of myocardial blood flow with cardiovascular magnetic resonance: effect of variations in methodology and validation with positron emission tomography.

Background: Quantitative assessment of myocardial blood flow (MBF) from cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion images appears to offer advantages over qualitative assessment. Currently however, clinical translation is lacking, at least in part due to considerable disparity in quantification methodology. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of common methodological differences in CMR voxel-wise measurement of MBF, using position emission tomography (PET) as external validation.

Strain and tilt during epitaxial growth of highly ordered In2O3 nanorods.

Precise control over the morphology of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures is an essential step in the effort to develop nano-devices with exotic properties. Here we demonstrate the formation of highly aligned In2O3 nanorod arrays on Y-stabilised ZrO2(110) grown by oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The evolution of morphologies, strain and tilt in the In2O3 nanorods are studied by atomic force microscopy and high resolution synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction.

The band structure of WO3 and non-rigid-band behaviour in Na0.67WO3 derived from soft x-ray spectroscopy and density functional theory.

The electronic structure of single-crystal WO3 and Na0.67WO3 (a sodium-tungsten bronze) has been measured using soft x-ray absorption and resonant soft x-ray emission oxygen K-edge spectroscopies. The spectral features show clear differences in energy and intensity between WO3 and Na0.

Microscopic origin of electron accumulation in In2O3.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas at the surface of In(2)O(3)(111). Quantized subband states arise within a confining potential well associated with surface electron accumulation. Coupled Poisson-Schrödinger calculations suggest that downward band bending for the conduction band must be much bigger than band bending in the valence band.

Size-dependent shape and tilt transitions in In2O3 nanoislands grown on cubic Y-stabilized ZrO2(001) by molecular beam epitaxy.

The growth of In(2)O(3) on cubic Y-stabilized ZrO(2)(001) by molecular beam epitaxy leads to formation of nanoscale islands which may tilt relative to the substrate in order to help accommodate the 1.7% tensile mismatch between the epilayer and the substrate. High-resolution synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction has been used in combination with atomic force microscopy to probe the evolution in island morphology, orientation, and tilt with island size.

Thickness dependence of the strain, band gap and transport properties of epitaxial In2O3 thin films grown on Y-stabilised ZrO2(111).

Epitaxial films of In(2)O(3) have been grown on Y-stabilised ZrO(2)(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy over a range of thicknesses between 35 and 420 nm. The thinnest films are strained, but display a 'cross-hatch' morphology associated with a network of misfit dislocations which allow partial accommodation of the lattice mismatch. With increasing thickness a 'dewetting' process occurs and the films break up into micron sized mesas, which coalesce into continuous films at the highest coverages.

Stereochemistry of post-transition metal oxides: revision of the classical lone pair model.

The chemistry of post transition metals is dominated by the group oxidation state N and a lower N-2 oxidation state, which is associated with occupation of a metal s(2) lone pair, as found in compounds of Tl(I), Pb(II) and Bi(III). The preference of these cations for non-centrosymmetric coordination environments has previously been rationalised in terms of direct hybridisation of metal s and p valence orbitals, thus lowering the internal electronic energy of the N-2 ion. This explanation in terms of an on-site second-order Jahn-Teller effect remains the contemporary textbook explanation.

Electronic basis of visible region activity in high area Sn-doped rutile TiO2 photocatalysts.

The influence of Sn doping on the anatase-to-rutile phase transition has been investigated in high area powders prepared by a sol-gel route involving alkoxide precursors. Sn doping facilitates conversion of anatase to rutile at lower temperatures than observed for undoped material. At the same time Sn-doping inhibits sintering as gauged by line widths in X-ray diffraction and gas-adsorption surface area measurements.

Surface energies control the self-organization of oriented In2O3 nanostructures on cubic zirconia.

Highly aligned one-dimensional (1D) nanorods of the transparent conducting oxide In(2)O(3) have been grown on (110)-oriented Y-stabilized ZrO(2) substrates, whereas growth on (100) and (111) substrates leads respectively to blocklike 3D islands and continuous films. It is shown that the striking influence of substrate orientation on the growth morphology is controlled by differences in energies between the low index surfaces of In(2)O(3) and that spontaneous self-organization is driven by minimization of surface energies.

A critical evaluation of the mode of incorporation of nitrogen in doped anatase photocatalysts.

A range of sol-gel synthesis conditions were used to prepare high surface area N-doped TiO(2) in the anatase phase. The N dopant was derived either from NH(3) in solution or from NH(3) gas bubbled through solution. Bulk N doping levels were determined by an inert gas fusion method and were compared with surface N doping levels determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Surface electron accumulation and the charge neutrality level in In2O3.

High-resolution x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, infrared reflectivity and Hall effect measurements, combined with surface space-charge calculations, are used to show that electron accumulation occurs at the surface of undoped single-crystalline In2O3. From a combination of measurements performed on undoped and heavily Sn-doped samples, the charge neutrality level is shown to lie approximately 0.4 eV above the conduction band minimum in In2O3, explaining the electron accumulation at the surface of undoped material, the propensity for n-type conductivity, and the ease of n-type doping in In2O3, and hence its use as a transparent conducting oxide material.

Nature of the band gap of In2O3 revealed by first-principles calculations and x-ray spectroscopy.

Bulk and surface sensitive x-ray spectroscopic techniques are applied in tandem to show that the valence band edge for In2O3 is found significantly closer to the bottom of the conduction band than expected on the basis of the widely quoted bulk band gap of 3.75 eV. First-principles theory shows that the upper valence bands of In2O3 exhibit a small dispersion and the conduction band minimum is positioned at Gamma.