Impact of severity of coronary artery stenosis and the collateral circulation on the functional outcome of dyssynergic myocardium after revascularization in patients with healed myocardial infarction and chronic left ventricular dysfunction

The inferoposterior region of the triangle of Koch is hypothesized to be the location of the atrial insertion of the slow atrioventricular (AV) nodal pathway. However, the actual site of conduction slowing in the slow AV nodal pathway is unknown. Entrainment mapping during AV nodal reentry can localize the reentrant pathway as follows: the AH interval measured from the mapping catheter = A'H (where A' is the exit site of the reentrant circuit) minus A'A (the conduction time from A' to the site of mapping); the SH interval during entrainment = SA' (the conduction time from stimulus into the reentry circuit) plus A'H. Thus, in all cases, the SH interval should be greater than or equal to the AH interval, and the deltaAH-SH should increase as distance and conduction time (SA' and A'A) from the reentry circuit increases. Fourteen patients with typical AV nodal reentry (cycle length 346 +/- 62 ms) and 1 with fast-slow (cycle length 430 ms) underwent activation and entrainment mapping from 8 to 12 sites in the triangle of Koch and coronary sinus. Pacing was performed at 2 to 3 mA above threshold, at a cycle length 10 ms shorter than tachycardia. A mapping site was defined as being in close proximity to the circuit if the deltaAH-SH was within 120% of the shortest 20th percentile deltaAH-SH value from all measured sites. In the 14 typical cases, 45 of 83 sites (54%) in the anatomic slow pathway region fulfilled criteria for close proximity to the reentry circuit compared with 13 of 50 sites (26%) outside of this region (p = 0.005). For these patients, the shortest SH interval measured from any entrainment site was 294 +/- 58 ms (89 +/- 10% of tachycardia cycle length, range 70% to 119%), indicating that the site of slow conduction in the slow pathway during AV nodal reentrant tachycardia was distal to all mapped sites. Thus, during typical AV nodal reentry, the "slow" pathway does not conduct slowly, and its insertion is located at or within the inferoposterior or midseptal regions in most cases.     

Computation and analysis of the workspace of a reconfigurable parallel robotic system

A reconfigurable robotic system permits multiple configurations having different characteristics, using mostly modularized building blocks. The goal of this paper is to investigate how the shape, dimensions and the distribution of singularities in the workspace for different configurations, with different degrees of freedom, of a reconfigurable robotic system, are changed. The computation of the workspace is based on the modularity property of the system. The presented results are also experimentally validated.     

Polyamine Functionalized Magnetite Nanoparticles as Novel Adsorbents for Cu(II) Removal from Aqueous Solutions

Three novel magnetic adsorbents were synthesized through the immobilization of di-, tri-, and tetraamine onto the surface of silica coated magnetite nanoparticles. The adsorbents were characterized by XRD patterns, FTIR spectroscopy, elemental and thermogravimetric analysis, magnetic measurements, SEM/TEM, EDX spectroscopy, and N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherms. Their capacity to remove copper ions from aqueous solutions was investigated and discussed comparatively. The equilibrium data were analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The kinetics was evaluated using the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion models. The best interpretation for the equilibrium data was given by the Langmuir isotherm for the tri- and tetraamine functionalized adsorbents, while for the diamine functionalized adsorbent the Freundlich model seemed to be better. The kinetic data were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order model. The overall rate of adsorption was significantly influenced by external mass transfer and intraparticle diffusion. It was observed that the adsorption capacity at room temperature decreased as the length of polyamine chain immobilized on the adsorbent surface increased, the maximum adsorption capacities being 52.3 mg g^?1 for 1,3-diaminopropan functionalized adsorbent, 44.2 mg g^?1 for diethylenetriamine functionalized adsorbent, and 39.2 mg g^?1 for triethylenetetramine functionalized adsorbent. The sorption process proved to be highly dependent of pH. The results of the present work recommend these materials as potential candidates for copper removal from aqueous solutions.     

Thermal Behavior of Mechanically Alloyed Powders Used for Producing an Fe-Mn-Si-Cr-Ni Shape Memory Alloy

In order to produce shape memory rings for constrained-recovery pipe couplings, from Fe-14 Mn-6 Si-9 Cr-5 Ni (mass%) powders, the main technological steps were (i) mechanical alloying, (ii) sintering, (iii) hot rolling, (iv) hot-shape setting, and (v) thermomechanical training. The article generally describes, within its experimental-procedure section, the last four technological steps of this process the primary purpose of which has been to accurately control both chemical composition and the grain size of shape memory rings. Details of the results obtained in the first technological step, on raw powders employed both in an initial commercial state and in a mixture state of commercial and mechanically alloyed (MA) powders, which were subjected to several heating-cooling cycles have been reported and discussed. By means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), the thermal behaviors of the two sample powders have been analyzed. The effects of the heating-cooling cycles, on raw commercial powders and on 50% MA powders, respectively, were argued from the point of view of specific temperatures and heat variations, of elemental diffusion after thermal cycling and of crystallographic parameters, determined by DSC, SEM, and XRD, respectively.     

Electrochemical monitoring of the fluorescence emission of tetrazine and bodipy dyes using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy coupled to electrochemistry

A very sensitive technique where an electrochemical cell is coupled to a total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy setup is described and applied for the first time to the electrochemical monitoring of the fluorescence of organic dyes in solution. It is shown that this setup basically allows both spatial and time resolution for the recorded fluorescence signal as a function of the electrode potential: indeed the variations of the emission intensity are recorded within the diffusion layer for a classical cyclic voltammetry or chronoamperometry experiment inducing the redox conversion of an emissive form into a non emissive one (and conversely). Simultaneously, the variations of the emissive state lifetime are measured to discriminate between a mechanism involving only the conversion into a non emissive form from one involving a quenching between the emitter and the electrogenerated species. The results concerning the investigation of the electrochemical monitoring of the fluorescence properties for two types of original dyes are presented, demonstrating the possibility to switch on and off the emission in a fully reversible way and to investigate in depth the mechanisms associated to this switch.     

Glow discharge techniques in the chemical analysis of photovoltaic materials

The presented study gives an integrated overview on the prospects of glow discharge (GD) methods in the chemical analysis of photovoltaic materials. With a focus on recent research and important photovoltaic (PV) materials, the GD coupled analytical methods, high resolution mass spectrometry (MS), time‐of‐flight‐mass spectrometry (TOF‐MS) and optical emission spectrometry (OES) are discussed. Each exemplary study carried out will point out the most suitable GD technique for the problem at hand, at the same time showing ways to increase analytical accuracy and to overcome typical instrumental restrictions. Challenging GD‐MS analyses of thin and ultra thin films (down to 20 nm) as well as GD‐MS and GD‐OES studies of ready‐to‐use modules were carried out, showing the reader the application potential of GD methods in a PV development or production process. For the first time, novel cell concepts based on crystalline silicon on glass and silicon nanowires are analyzed by GD‐OES, revealing precise chemical information on the devices. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interaction of silicon-based quantum dots with gibel carp liver: oxidative and structural modifications

Quantum dots (QDs) interaction with living organisms is of central interest due to their various biological and medical applications. One of the most important mechanisms proposed for various silicon nanoparticle-mediated toxicity is oxidative stress. We investigated the basic processes of cellular damage by oxidative stress and tissue injury following QD accumulation in the gibel carp liver after intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of 2 mg/kg body weight Si/SiO₂ QDs after 1, 3, and 7 days from their administration.QDs gradual accumulation was highlighted by fluorescence microscopy, and subsequent histological changes in the hepatic tissue were noted. After 1 and 3 days, QD-treated fish showed an increased number of macrophage clusters and fibrosis, while hepatocyte basophilia and isolated hepatolytic microlesions were observed only after substantial QDs accumulation in the liver parenchyma, at 7 days after IP injection.Induction of oxidative stress in fish liver was revealed by the formation of malondialdehyde and advanced oxidation protein products, as well as a decrease in protein thiol groups and reduced glutathione levels. The liver enzymatic antioxidant defense was modulated to maintain the redox status in response to the changes initiated by Si/SiO₂ QDs. So, catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities were upregulated starting from the first day after injection, while the activity of superoxide dismutase increased only after 7 days. The oxidative damage that still occurred may impair the activity of more sensitive enzymes. A significant inhibition in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glutathione-S-transferase activity was noted, while glutathione reductase remained unaltered.Taking into account that the reduced glutathione level had a deep decline and the level of lipid peroxidation products remained highly increased in the time interval we studied, it appears that the liver antioxidant defense of Carassius gibelio does not counteract the oxidative stress induced 7 days after silicon-based QDs exposure in an efficient manner.     

Erweiterung des Stadions Innsbruck “Tivoli Neu” für die Fußballeuropameisterschaft 2008

Stadium Innsbruck “Tivoli Neu” extended for the European Football Championship 2008. Austria and Switzerland are the hosts of the European Football Championship EURO 2008. Each of both countries needs four stadiums with at least 30000 spectator seats. Innsbruck had a facility with a capacity of nearly 15000 seats. This existing stadium “Tivoli Neu” has therefore to be extended. The community of Innsbruck requests, that after the Championship the stadium has to be reconstructed into the original state.