Optimal Teicoplanin Trough Concentration With Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Teicoplanin is used to treat serious Gram-positive bacterial infections. However, the optimal trough concentrations for pediatric patients remain unclear owing to the lack of monitoring guidelines. This study aimed to determine the optimal teicoplanin trough concentration for treating Gram-positive bacterial infections in children.

Evaluation of risk factors for uric acid elevation in COVID-19 patients treated with favipiravir.

The objective of this retrospective study was to identify the clinical risk factor associated with uric acid elevation in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients treated with favipiravir. Uric acid elevation was defined as an unexplained increase of ≥1.5 times in the patient's uric acid level from baseline.

Intense water-window soft x-ray emission by spectral control using dual laser pulses.

We demonstrate intense emission in the water-window soft x-ray spectral region by controlling the spectral behavior through changing the balance between emissivity and self-absorption in an expanding plasma. The number of photons obtained from a dual laser irradiated target with a 150-ps pre-pulse was maximized at 3.8 × 10 photons/sr in λ = 2.

Rapid, simple, and clinically applicable high-performance liquid chromatography method for clinical determination of plasma colistin concentrations.

Background: Since both the antibacterial effects and common adverse effects of colistin are concentration-dependent, determination of the most appropriate dosage regimen and administration method for colistin therapy is essential to ensure its efficacy and safety. We aimed to establish a rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based system for the clinical determination of colistin serum concentrations.

Methods: Extraction using a solid-phase C18 cartridge, derivatisation with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate, and elution with a short reversed-phase Cl8 column effectively separated colistin from an internal standard.

Emission of water-window soft x-rays under optically thin conditions using low-density foam targets.

The effect of optical thickness in a bismuth water-window soft x-ray source is considered by comparing the emission from laser-produced plasmas of a 7.5% atomic density foam target and a solid-density target. The number of photons recorded in the 4 nm region was comparable for both targets at a plasma-initiating laser pulse duration of 6 ns.

Note: development of a volume-limited dot target for a high brightness extreme ultraviolet microplasma source.

We report on production of volume-limited dot targets based on electron beam lithographic and sputtering technologies for use in efficient high brightness extreme ultraviolet microplasma sources. We successfully produced cylindrical tin (Sn) targets with diameters of 10, 15, and 20 μm and a height of 150 nm. The calculated spectrum around 13.

Note: Enhancement of the extreme ultraviolet emission from a potassium plasma by dual laser irradiation.

Emission spectra from multiply charged potassium ions ranging from K(3+) to K(5+) have been obtained in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral region. A strong emission feature peaking around 38 nm, corresponding to a photon energy of 32.6 eV, is the dominant spectral feature at time-averaged electron temperatures in the range of 8-12 eV.

Characteristics of extreme ultraviolet emission from mid-infrared laser-produced rare-earth Gd plasmas.

We characterize extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission from mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser-produced plasmas (LPPs) of the rare-earth element Gd. The energy conversion efficiency (CE) and the spectral purity in the mid-IR LPPs at λL = 10.6 μm were higher than for solid-state LPPs at λL = 1.

Determination of l-tryptophan and l-kynurenine in Human Serum by using LC-MS after Derivatization with (R)-DBD-PyNCS.

Concentrations of l-tryptophan (l-Trp) and its metabolite, l-kynurenine (l-KYN), in sera of 19 normal subjects (age: 23.6 ± 3.5 y, male: 8, female: 11) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass-spectrometric detection, following their derivatization with (R)-(-)-4-(N, N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)-7-(3-isothiocyanatopyrrolidin-1-yl)-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (DBD-PyNCS).

Optimum arousal level preservation system using biosignals.

The purpose of this study is to develop a driver's optimum arousal level preservation system while driving. The important point of developing this system is how we keep a driver's adequate conditions on driving. Most of the systems, which have been already put to practical use, are using audible sound or warning messages on a display to urge driver to take a rest.

High resolution extreme ultraviolet spectrometer for an electron beam ion trap.

An extreme ultraviolet spectrometer has been developed for spectroscopic studies of highly charged ions with an electron beam ion trap. It has a slit-less configuration with a spherical varied-line-spacing grating that provides a flat focal plane for grazing incidence light. Alternative use of two different gratings enables us to cover the wavelength range 1-25 nm.