Desire for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide in palliative cancer care.

Objective: To investigate the attitudes of terminally ill individuals toward the legalization of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and to identify those who would personally desire such a death. Design: In the Canadian National Palliative Care Survey, semistructured interviews were administered to 379 patients who were receiving palliative care for cancer. Patients who expressed a desire for physician-hastened death were followed prospectively. Main Outcome Measures: Attitudes toward the legalization of euthanasia or PAS were determined, as was the personal interest in receiving a hastened death. Demographic and clinical characteristics were also recorded, including a 22-item structured interview of symptoms and concerns. Results: There were 238 participants (62.8%) who believed that euthanasia and/or PAS should be legalized, and 151 (39.8%) who would consider making a future request for a physician-hastened death. However, only 22 (5.8%) reported that, if legally permissible, they would initiate such a request right away, in their current situations. This desire for hastened death was associated with lower religiosity (p = .010), reduced functional status (p = .024), a diagnosis of major depression (p     

Operational Analysis of a Quantum Dot Optically Gated Field-Effect Transistor as a Single-Photon Detector

We report on the operation of a novel single-photon detector, where a layer of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) is used as an optically addressable floating gate in a GaAs/Al_0.2Ga_0.8As delta-doped field-effect transistor. Photogenerated holes charge the QDs, and subsequently, change the amount of current flowing through the channel by screening the internal gate field. The photoconductive gain associated with this process makes the structure extremely sensitive to light of the appropriate wavelength. We investigate the charge storage and resulting persistent photoconductivity by performing time-resolved measurements of the channel current and of the photoluminescence emitted from the QDs under laser illumination. In addition, we characterize the response of the detector, and investigate sources of photogenerated signals by using the Poisson statistics of laser light. The device exhibits time-gated, single-shot, single-photon sensitivity at a temperature of 4 K. It also exhibits a linear response, and detects photons absorbed in its dedicated absorption layer with an internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of up to (68 plusmn18)%. Given the noise of the detection system, the device is shown to operate with an IQE of (53 plusmn 11)% and dark counts of 0.003 counts per shot for a particular discriminator level.     

Controlled Nucleation of GaN Nanowires Grown with Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The location of GaN nanowires is controlled with essentially perfect selectivity using patterned SiN_x prior to molecular beam epitaxy growth. Nanowire growth is uniform within mask openings and absent on the mask surface for over 95% of the usable area of a 76 mm diameter substrate. The diameters of the resulting nanowires are controlled by the size of the mask openings. Openings of approximately 500 nm or less produce single nanowires with symmetrically faceted tips.     

Contributions of neuroimaging to neuropsychological research on closed head injury.

Reviews the contributions of neuroimaging to research on neuropsychological outcome of closed head injury. Studies quantifying cerebral atrophy and investigations of focal brain lesions are discussed. Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to characterize the location, size, and depth of focal brain lesions is reviewed. The disparities between the findings of computerized tomography (CT) and MRI are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

PML absorbing boundary conditions for the characterization of openmicrowave circuit components using multiresolution time-domaintechniques (MRTD)

The multiresolution time domain technique (MRTD) is applied to the modeling of open microwave circuit problems. Open boundaries are simulated by the use of a novel formulation of the perfect matching layer (PML) absorber. The PML is modeled both in split and nonsplit forms and can be brought right on the surface of the planar components. The applicability of the MRTD technique to complex geometries with high efficiency and accuracy in computing the fields at discontinuities is demonstrated through extensive comparisons to conventional finite difference time domain (FDTD). In addition, the numerical reflectivity of the PML absorber is investigated for a variety of cell sizes, some of which are very close to the Nyquist limit (λ/2)     

FACTORS AFFECTING THE RESISTANCE OF SILICA REFRACTORIES TO ABRASION1

The resistance to abrasion is tested by grinding a groove in the surface of the refractory by means of a carborundum wheel with suitable mounting. Other methods used in the tests are discussed. Factors affecting resistance of silica brick to abrasion are porosity and degree of burn. Porosity is affected by grind, quality of ganister, per cent lime and workmanship. Data are given showing a rough relation between length of groove, porosity and burn.     

Effect of prepartum selenium treatment on uterine involution in the dairy cow

Selenium injections and oral vitamin E supplementation prepartum were related to: postpartum uterine involution (decrease in uterine size per unit time) and days to minimum uterine size in a 2 X 2 factorial design. Complete data were analyzed from 64 cows. Groups were selenium plus vitamin E, vitamin E, selenium, and control. Factors significantly affecting uterine size between 14 and 50 d postpartum were cow weight, days postpartum-linear, days postpartum-quadratic, day X metritis, and day X metritis X selenium treatment. Days to minimum uterine size were significantly less in cows with metritis and selenium treated when compared with cows with metritis and not selenium treated (32.9 vs. 35.8).