Hospital costs for unplanned re-admissions within 30 days of hospitalisations with heart failure, Australia, 2013-2017: a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: To assess the direct hospital costs for unplanned re-admissions within 30 days of hospitalisations with heart failure in Australia; to estimate the proportion of these costs attributable to potentially preventable re-admissions.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study; analysis of linked admitted patient data collections data.

Setting, Participants: People admitted to hospital (all public and most private hospitals in Australia) with primary diagnoses of heart failure, 1 January 2013 - 31 December 2017, who were discharged alive and re-admitted to hospital at least once (any cause) within 30 days of discharge.

The utility of delta troponin in diagnosing significant coronary artery disease in patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation.

Background: Troponin I (cTnI) elevation is common in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) but does not reliably indicate underlying coronary ischemia. We investigated whether dynamic changes in cTnI value (delta troponin) are useful in revealing significant coronary artery disease (sCAD) in patients presenting with symptomatic AF.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study analyzing serial cTnI values in 231 patients presenting with symptomatic AF who had an objective assessment for underlying CAD within 6 months of the index admission.

Laser-assisted hydrothermal growth of size-controlled ZnO nanorods for sensing applications.

Pulsed laser irradiation is used to seed the low-temperature hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanorods. UV laser irradiation produces ZnO nanoparticles in solution that act as nucleation seeds for the subsequent hydrothermal growth of the nanorods. By systematically varying the seed density and/or the concentration of the reactants, the diameter of the nanorods can be controlled over a wide range with a narrow size distribution.

The dominant role of adsorbed fluid layers on the polar surfaces of ZnO in ambient atmospheric conditions.

Polar ZnO surfaces with O- and Zn-termination were studied with atomic and lateral force microscopy and force curves. Adsorbed fluid layers on both surfaces are found to dominate their adhesion properties in air. The hydrophilic O-surface has a substantially thicker adsorbed layer and larger residual particle densities.