[The omega connector--a module for jointed coupling of titanium total prostheses in the middle ear].

Background: Hearing improvement after reconstruction of a defect ossicular chain depends on material, design and - crucially - coupling of the prosthesis. Coupling a total ossicular replacement prosthesis to the stapes footplate can be problematic and lead to prosthesis instability. In order to solve this problem, the Omega Connector was developed, a module allowing the middle ear surgeon to couple a titanium total prosthesis to the stapes footplate in a flexible, angle-variable manner.

Towards quantification of butadiene content in styrene-butadiene block copolymers and their blends with general purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and the relation between mechanical properties and NMR relaxation times.

The properties of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) block copolymers do not only depend on the butadiene content and the degree of polymerisation but also on their chain architecture. In this contribution we present the results of a low-field time domain (TD) NMR study in which the transverse relaxation behaviour of different SBS block copolymers was analysed and correlated with findings from mechanical testing on pure and blended materials and transmission electron microscopy data which provide information on the microphase separation. The results indicate that while a straightforward determination of the butadiene content as in blended materials like ABS is not possible for these materials, the TD-NMR results correlate quite well with the mechanical performance of blends from SBS block copolymers with general purpose polystyrene (GPPS), i.

Precursor structures in the crystallization/ precipitation processes of CaCO3 and control of particle formation by polyelectrolytes.

The formation of CaCO3 is usually discussed within the classical picture of crystallization, i.e. assuming that the formation of CaCO3 crystals proceeds via nucleation and growth.

Quasi-compulsory treatment of drug dependent offenders: an international literature review.

This paper reports on a review of the literature on the quasi-compulsory treatment (QCT) of drug dependent offenders in five languages; English, German, French, Italian and Dutch. The findings of this review on previous reviews and on the availability, process, and outcomes of QCT are summarized. The review found that previous, anglophone reviews have tended to present positive outcomes from QCT, but that there are some problems with this research.

Supramolecular Structure of Precipitated Nanosize beta-Carotene Particles.

A combination of analytical methods and molecular modeling calculations has provided a detailed picture of the supramolecular and microscopic structure of precipitated lipophilic carotenoids. The nanoparticles have a core/shell structure (see schematic representation) in which the particle core (120 nm) consists of a variety of molecular aggregates of different sizes, and the shell (40 nm) consists of an adsorbed gelatin layer.