Shear wave elastography and Doppler ultrasound in kidney transplant recipients.

Objective: To evaluate the association between shear wave elastography parameters and arterial resistance in kidney transplant recipients.

Materials And Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study involving consecutive adult kidney transplant recipients. All patients underwent color Doppler to evaluate the resistive index (RI) and ultrasound shear wave elastography for the quantification of renal allograft stiffness.

In vivo brain iron concentration in healthy individuals at 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging: a prospective cross-sectional study.

Objective: To quantify iron deposits in the basal ganglia and to evaluate its relation to age, sex, body mass index and brain laterality.

Methods: Prospective observational study. Data were collected from the patients' electronic medical records.

Toroidal multilayer mirrors for laboratory soft X-ray grazing emission X-ray fluorescence.

Efficient soft X-ray spectroscopy in the laboratory is still a challenging task. Here, we report on new toroidal multilayer optics designed and applied with the laser-produced plasma (LPP) source of the Berlin Laboratory for innovative X-ray technologies. The optics are described and characterized, and the application of the updated source to scanning-free grazing emission X-ray fluorescence is demonstrated on thermoelectric gold-doped copper oxide nanofilms.

Laboratory Setup for Scanning-Free Grazing Emission X-ray Fluorescence.

Grazing incidence and grazing emission X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (GI/GE-XRF) are techniques that enable nondestructive, quantitative analysis of elemental depth profiles with a resolution in the nanometer regime. A laboratory setup for soft X-ray GEXRF measurements is presented. Reasonable measurement times could be achieved by combining a highly brilliant laser produced plasma (LPP) source with a scanning-free GEXRF setup, providing a large solid angle of detection.

Diamond-Graphite Nanoplatelet Surfaces as Conductive Substrates for the Electrical Stimulation of Cell Functions.

The nanocarbon allotropes constitute valid alternatives when designing control and actuation devices for electrically assisted tissue regeneration purposes, gathering among them important characteristics such as chemical inertness, biocompatibility, extreme mechanical properties, and, importantly, low and tailorable electrical resistivity. In this work, coatings of thin (100 nm) vertically aligned nanoplatelets composed of diamond (5 nm) and graphite were produced via a microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) technique and used as substrates for electrical stimulation of MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts. Increasing the amount of N up to 14.

A mixture toxicity approach to predict the toxicity of Ag decorated ZnO nanomaterials.

Nanotechnology is a rising field and nanomaterials can now be found in a vast variety of products with different chemical compositions, sizes and shapes. New nanostructures combining different nanomaterials are being developed due to their enhancing characteristics when compared to nanomaterials alone. In the present study, the toxicity of a nanostructure composed by a ZnO nanomaterial with Ag nanomaterials on its surface (designated as ZnO/Ag nanostructure) was assessed using the model-organism Daphnia magna and its toxicity predicted based on the toxicity of the single components (Zn and Ag).

Heat Dissipation Interfaces Based on Vertically Aligned Diamond/Graphite Nanoplatelets.

Crystalline carbon-based materials are intrinsically chemically inert and good heat conductors, allowing their applications in a great variety of devices. A technological step forward in heat dissipators production can be given by tailoring the carbon phase microstructure, tuning the CVD synthesis conditions. In this work, a rapid bottom-up synthesis of vertically aligned hybrid material comprising diamond thin platelets covered by a crystalline graphite layer was developed.

Effect of N2 and H2 plasma treatments on band edge emission of ZnO microrods.

ZnO microrods were grown by laser assisted flow deposition technique in order to study their luminescence behaviour in the near band edge spectral region. Transmission electron microscopy analysis put in evidence the high crystallinity degree and microrod's compositional homogeneity. Photoluminescence revealed a dominant 3.

Luminescence studies on SnO2 and SnO2:Eu nanocrystals grown by laser assisted flow deposition.

Transparent conductive tin oxide materials have been a research topic extensively studied in recent years due to the great interest for many applications. However, in most of them, the pure form is rarely used, being usually modified by the incorporation of dopants. Selecting the most appropriate technique to develop nanocrystals of doped tin oxide and understanding the influence of dopant on the optical properties are the challenges that need to be addressed when envisaging devices.

Stiff diamond/buckypaper carbon hybrids.

Given the specific properties of each carbon allotrope such as high electrical/thermal conductivity of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and extreme hardness and high inertness of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD), the integration of both carbon phases is highly desirable. Therefore, in the present work, buckypapers were produced from MWCNT suspensions and were used as free-standing substrates to be coated with NCD by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). The integration of both allotropes was successfully achieved, the CNTs being preserved after diamond growth as confirmed by μ-Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Wetting of biopolymer coatings: contact angle kinetics and image analysis investigation.

The surface wetting of five biopolymers, used as coating materials for a plastic film, was monitored over a span of 8 min by means of the optical contact angle technique. Because most of the total variation was observed to occur during the first 60 s, we decided to focus on this curtailed temporal window. Initial contact angle values (θ(0)) ranged from ∼91° for chitosan to ∼30° for pullulan.

Comparative study of multilayers used in monochromators for synchrotron-based coherent hard X-ray imaging.

A systematic study is presented in which multilayers of different composition (W/Si, Mo/Si, Pd/B(4)C), periodicity (from 2.5 to 5.5 nm) and number of layers have been characterized.

Markers of inflammation and weight change in middle-aged adults: results from the prospective MONICA/KORA S3/F3 study.

We investigated associations of markers of inflammation such as albumin, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cell count (WBCC) with future weight gain and weight loss in middle-aged adults in order to further elucidate the relationship between subclinical inflammation and weight change. Data were derived from the third population-based MONICA (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases) Augsburg survey (S3) conducted as part of the multinational World Health Organization MONICA project in 1994-1995 and a follow-up examination, to which all eligible subjects from S3 were invited in 2004-2005 (F3). In total, 2,792 persons (1,391 men, 1,401 women) aged 25-74 years at baseline were analyzed.

Developing guidelines for an interdisciplinary practice approach: administration of oral medications in a community mental health setting.

Mental health reform, health services restructuring and changes in mental health legislation have resulted in a shift from hospital-based to community-based treatment for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. A system-wide response to this trend has been the implementation of interdisciplinary Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in the province of Ontario. The need for efficient, cLient-centred versus discipline-centred community care has prompted ACT teams to challenge traditional scopes of practice.

Identification of the receptor-binding regions of pb5 proteins of bacteriophages T5 and BF23.

The receptor-binding protein pb5(T5) of bacteriophage T5, when expressed from the oad gene cloned in pVK88 under the control of the phage T7 promoter/polymerase system, has been shown to bind to its FhuA receptor on the surface of E. coli, where it blocks FhuA for subsequent adsorption of T5 (Mondigler et al., FEMS Microbiol.

Characterization of ultra smooth interfaces in Mo/Si-multilayers.

The interface structure of Mo/Si-multilayers prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) on Si substrates at room temperature has been investigated. Already the in-situ ellipsometer data acquired during film growth indicate a particular behaviour of this material system that is caused by reaction/diffusion processes of the condensing atoms. MoSi(x) interlayers are formed both at the Mo on Si- and at the Si on Mo-interfaces.