Highly Sensitive Capacitive MEMS for Photoacoustic Gas Trace Detection.

An enhanced MEMS capacitive sensor is developed for photoacoustic gas detection. This work attempts to address the lack of the literature regarding integrated and compact silicon-based photoacoustic gas sensors. The proposed mechanical resonator combines the advantages of silicon technology used in MEMS microphones and the high-quality factor, characteristic of quartz tuning fork (QTF).

Commercial and Custom Quartz Tuning Forks for Quartz Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy: Stability under Humidity Variation.

This work investigates the behavior of commercial and custom Quartz tuning forkss (QTF) under humidity variations. The QTFs were placed inside a humidity chamber and the parameters were studied with a setup to record the resonance frequency and quality factor by resonance tracking. The variations of these parameters that led to a 1% theoretical error on the Quartz Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS) signal were defined.

Quantum dots to probe temperature and pressure in highly confined liquids.

A new technique for temperature and pressure measurement within dynamic thin-film flows of liquids is presented. The technique is based on the fluorescence emission sensitivity of CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots to temperature and pressure variations. In this respect, the quantum dots were dispersed in squalane, and their emission energy dependence on temperature and pressure was calibrated under static conditions.

Neonatal suppurative parotitis over the last 4 decades: report of three new cases and review.

Background: Neonatal suppurative parotitis is a rare disease. Only 32 cases were reported in the English-language literature between 1970 and 2004.

Methods: We searched Medline for acute, neonatal, bacterial, suppurative, parotitis, facial, preauricular swelling starting from 1970, limiting our search to the English-language literature.

Appropriateness of pediatric hospitalization in a general hospital in Kuwait.

Objectives: To determine the rate of inappropriate pediatric admissions using the Pediatric Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (PAEP) and to examine variables associated with inappropriateness of admissions.

Subjects And Methods: A prospective study was conducted in the Department of Pediatrics, Farwania General Hospital, Kuwait, to examine successive admissions for appropriateness of admission as well as several sociodemographic characteristics over a 5-month period (August 2010 to December 2010). A total of 1,022 admissions were included.

Ethylmalonic encephalopathy. Another patient from Kuwait.

We report a Kuwaiti girl with ethylmalonic encephalopathy. She presented at the age of 4 months with chronic mucoid diarrhea and delayed psychomotor development, and at 6 months she developed myoclonic epilepsy. She was found to have central hypotonia with pyramidal tract signs, acrocyanosis, and petechiae.