Comparison of diatoms, exfoliated graphite, single-wall nanotubes, multiwall nanotubes, and silica for the synthesis of the nanomagnet Mn12.

We have completed a preliminary series of experiments that compare the silicate shells of the marine organism diatoms to Single-Wall NanoTubes (SWNT), Multi-Wall NanoTubes (MWNT), Exfoliated Graphite (EG), and silica as templates for producing nanostructures of the manganese acetate cluster Mn12 (Mn12[CH3(COO)16(H2O)4O12].(2)CH3COOH.4H2O).

Clinical process improvement: reduction of pneumothorax and mortality in high-risk preterm infants.

Objective: To develop multidisciplinary clinical process improvement methods using evidence-based medicine to decrease the incidence of pneumothorax in a NICU.

Study Design: All inborn infants <28 weeks' gestation (n=79) served as the historical baseline group. A prospective protocol, using evidence-based medicine and a rapid-cycle, multidisciplinary clinical process improvement method, was designed to measure changes in the incidence of pneumothorax in subsequent infants of similar gestational ages.