Small mode volume plasmonic film-coupled nanostar resonators.

Confining and controlling light in extreme subwavelength scales are tantalizing tasks. In this work, we report a study of individual plasmonic film-coupled nanostar resonators where polarized plasmonic optical modes are trapped in ultrasmall volumes. Individual gold nanostars, separated from a flat gold film by a thin dielectric spacer layer, exhibit a strong light confinement between the sub-10 nm volume of the nanostar's tips and the film.

Low-fat diet: effect on anthropometrics, blood pressure, glucose, and insulin in older women.

Objective: The Women's Health Trial: Feasibility Study in Minority Populations (WHT: FSMP) documented that a low-fat diet was associated with a reduced fat intake in older women of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of the low-fat diet on anthropometric and biochemical variables.

Design: Randomized clinical trial in 2,208 postmenopausal women, 50 to 79 years of age.

Research staff turnover and participant adherence in the Women's Health Initiative.

Maintaining participant adherence is a prerequisite for successful completion of randomized controlled trials requiring long-term follow-up. While patient characteristics influencing adherence are well studied, the influence of contact with clinical staff on this process has received almost no attention. To address this issue the authors evaluated the association of turnover in key clinical research staff with measures of participant adherence to protocol requirements at 40 clinical centers participating in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a large multicenter study.