Publications by authors named "M J M Merkx"

Continuous monitoring of acute inflammation can become a very important next step for guiding therapeutic interventions in severely ill patients. This Perspective discusses the current medical need for patients with acute inflammatory diseases and the potential of continuous biosensing technologies. First, we discuss biomarkers that could help to monitor the state of a patient with acute systemic inflammation based on theoretical studies and empirical data.

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Article Synopsis
  • Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) is crucial for creating complex 3D structures in integrated circuits, and new processes need to be explored to adapt ALE for various materials.
  • A novel isotropic plasma ALE process using hexafluoroacetylacetone (Hhfac) combined with H plasma has been developed, achieving precise control of AlO film thickness with a stable etch rate of 0.16 nm per cycle and a high ALE synergy of 98%.
  • Advanced techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and density functional theory (DFT) simulations reveal that the ALE mechanism involves a balance between etching and surface inhibition reactions, allowing effective thickness control on a nanometer scale with minimal contamination.
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Background: As the survival proportions for rare cancers are on average worse than for common cancers, assessing the expected remaining life years in good health becomes highly relevant. This study aimed to estimate the healthy life expectancy (HLE) of a subset of rare and common cancer survivors, and to assess the determinants of poor perceived health in rare cancer survivors.

Methods: To calculate HLE, survival data from the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry of survivors of a rare cancer (i.

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Respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) represent pressing health risks. Rapid diagnostic tests for these viruses detect single antigens or nucleic acids, which do not necessarily correlate with the amount of the intact virus. Instead, specific detection of intact respiratory virus particles may be more effective at assessing the contagiousness of a patient.

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