House Dust Mite Related Allergic Rhinitis and REM Sleep Disturbances.

Purpose: Sleep disturbances are common in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). Perennial allergens like house dust mites (HDM) are difficult to avoid and have nocturnal impacts on the respiratory system and Quality of Life (QOL). The Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep stage is associated with memory, cognition, dreams, and overall restfulness, which can be impaired in AR patients with Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) even when normal all-night apnea-hypopnea (AHI) or respiratory disturbance (RDI) indices are noted on polysomnography (PSG).

Mechanical Reliability of Flexible Encapsulated Organic Solar Cells: Characterization and Improvement.

The encapsulation of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices can help mitigate the degradation induced by environmental factors like water and oxygen and thus potential to increase OPV lifetime. Because flexibility is an important parameter for targeted OPV applications, this paper proposes a fundamental study on the impact of the roll-to-roll flexible encapsulation process. Both performance and mechanical reliability of encapsulated devices have been scouted.

Clinical associations between allergies and rapid eye movement sleep disturbances.

Background: Allergic rhinitis, an immunoglobulin E inflammatory condition including nasal congestion, obstruction, sneezing, pruritus, and fatigue symptoms, has significant impact on quality of life and impairs sleep. Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) patients often have normal all-night apnea-hypopnea (AHI) or respiratory-disturbance (RDI) indices on polysomnography (PSG). We hypothesized that the rapid eye motion-respiratory disturbance index (REM-RDI) may be a novel predictor of allergic status.

TiO Anatase Solutions for Electron Transporting Layers in Organic Photovoltaic Cells.

Reflux of a solution of [Ti O (H O) ]Cl ⋅HCl⋅7 H O as titanium precursor at 120 °C for 24 h leads to a transparent colloidal solution of nanosized crystallized anatase TiO . The adjustment of the particle size and composition of the dispersant is monitored through the initial water content while controlling the conversion of propylene carbonate into propylene glycol during reflux. The solutions were processed as thin films to produce electron transporting layers in hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells, by using a blend of P3HT:PCBM polymers as absorbers, in inverted architectures.

Inverted polymer solar cells with Nafion® as the hole extraction layer: efficiency and lifetime studies.

The use of Nafion(®) as the hole extraction layer in polymer solar cells is demonstrated in this work. Inverted devices were built on plastic foil with the following architecture: PET/ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/Nafion(®)/Ag. The Nafion(®) was processed from a surfactant-free solution in alcoholic solvents on top of the active layer.