Etching behavior of CdTe in aqueous H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript>-HI-C<Subscript>6</Subscript>H<Subscript>8</Subscript>O<Subscript>7</Subscript> solutions

This paper examines the dissolution behavior of the (111)A, (111)B, (110), and (100) surfaces of CdTe single crystals in aqueous H₂O₂-HI-C₆H₈O₇ (citric acid) solutions. We have determined the dissolution rate of the crystals as a function of temperature and solution concentration, located the composition regions of polishing and selective etchants, and studied the microstructure and roughness of surfaces polished with optimized etchants. The etching behavior of CdTe is shown to depend on its crystallographic orientation.     

Outcome among patients with acute renal failure needing continuous renal replacement therapy: A single center study

Outcome of acute renal failure (ARF) and use of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) have shown a consistently high mortality. (1) Evaluate the short-term patient survival. (2) Evaluate dialysis-free survival. (3) Evaluate risk factors associated with overall survival and the continued need for intermittent dialysis. We identified adults (≥18 years) needing CRRT, treated in the critical care units of Froedtert Medical and Lutheran Hospital from January 1, 2003 till December 31, 2005. Patients were divided into two major groups needing CRRT, end stage renal disease (ESRD) (chronic dialysis) and non-ESRD with ARF. Continuous renal replacement therapy was performed with an average of 2 L replacement fluid exchanges/h. Sigma stat software was used for analysis. Comparison was done for noncontinuous variables by chi-square and t test for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. A total of 110 (ESRD 24/non-ESRD 86) patients received CRRT during study period. Over all in-hospital mortality among non-ESRD patients was 63% vs. 46% for ESRD. Among non-ESRD patients who survived, 47% needed intermittent hemodialysis on intensive care unit discharge and 28% continued to need hemodialysis at last follow-up. Among non-ESRD patients alive at discharge, those who were dialysis dependent on last follow-up were older (64.5) than those who did not require dialysis on last follow-up (58.4) P=0.347. Non-ESRD patients who died were in the hospital for an average of 17.5 days compared with 29 days for those who were discharged from the hospital. Patients with ARF needing CRRT have high in-hospital mortality. A significant percentage of patients remained dialysis dependant on last follow-up.     

A straightforward design technique for narrowband multi‐stage low‐noise amplifiers with I/O conjugate match

Low‐noise amplifier (LNA) designers often struggle to simultaneously satisfy gain, noise, stability, and I/O matching requirements. In this article, a novel design technique, tailored for two‐stage low‐noise amplifiers, is presented. The proposed design method is completely deterministic and exploits inductive source degeneration to obtain a two‐stage LNA featuring perfect input and output match together with low noise figure (NF) and a pre‐determined gain, including stability analysis. A novel flowchart is provided together with the corresponding design chart that contains gain, matching, and stability information, therefore addressing all key figures‐of‐merit of a linear amplifier. The design chart is easily implementable in commercial Electronic Design Automation software, to aid designers in the difficult task of selecting the appropriate source degeneration inductor value. The noise performance, on the other hand, is the best possible since the matching networks are designed to provide the input of the two Field Effect Transistors with the optimum termination for noise. The design method is validated with two separate test vehicles operating respectively at Ka‐band (26.5‐31.5 GHz) and K‐band (20.0‐24.0 GHz). The realized Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits exhibit 18 dB gain for both versions, NF of 1.5 and 1.2 dB, respectively for the Ka‐band and K‐band version. Input and output matching are typically better than 12 and 15 dB.     

JavAdaptor—Flexible runtime updates of Java applications

Software is changed frequently during its life cycle. New requirements come, and bugs must be fixed. To update an application, it usually must be stopped, patched, and restarted. This causes time periods of unavailability, which is always a problem for highly available applications. Even for the development of complex applications, restarts to test new program parts can be time consuming and annoying. Thus, we aim at dynamic software updates to update programs at runtime. There is a large body of research on dynamic software updates, but so far, existing approaches have shortcomings either in terms of flexibility or performance. In addition, some of them depend on specific runtime environments and dictate the program's architecture. We present JavAdaptor , the first runtime update approach based on Java that (a) offers flexible dynamic software updates, (b) is platform independent, (c) introduces only minimal performance overhead, and (d) does not dictate the program architecture. JavAdaptor combines schema changing class replacements by class renaming and caller updates with Java HotSwap using containers and proxies. It runs on top of all major standard Java virtual machines. We evaluate our approach's applicability and performance in non‐trivial case studies and compare it with existing dynamic software update approaches. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase and Diabetes Complications

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can result in microvascular complications such as neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy, and cerebral small vessel disease, and contribute to macrovascular complications, such as heart failure, peripheral arterial disease, and large vessel stroke. T2DM also increases the risks of depression and dementia for reasons that remain largely unclear. Perturbations in the cytochrome P450-soluble epoxide hydrolase (CYP-sEH) pathway have been implicated in each of these diabetes complications. Here we review evidence from the clinical and animal literature suggesting the involvement of the CYP-sEH pathway in T2DM complications across organ systems, and highlight possible mechanisms (e.g., inflammation, fibrosis, mitochondrial function, endoplasmic reticulum stress, the unfolded protein response and autophagy) that may be relevant to the therapeutic potential of the pathway. These mechanisms may be broadly relevant to understanding, preventing and treating microvascular complications affecting the brain and other organ systems in T2DM.     

Structural Analysis of Mitochondrial Dynamics—From Cardiomyocytes to Osteoblasts: A Critical Review

Mitochondria play a crucial role in cell physiology and pathophysiology. In this context, mitochondrial dynamics and, subsequently, mitochondrial ultrastructure have increasingly become hot topics in modern research, with a focus on mitochondrial fission and fusion. Thus, the dynamics of mitochondria in several diseases have been intensively investigated, especially with a view to developing new promising treatment options. However, the majority of recent studies are performed in highly energy-dependent tissues, such as cardiac, hepatic, and neuronal tissues. In contrast, publications on mitochondrial dynamics from the orthopedic or trauma fields are quite rare, even if there are common cellular mechanisms in cardiovascular and bone tissue, especially regarding bone infection. The present report summarizes the spectrum of mitochondrial alterations in the cardiovascular system and compares it to the state of knowledge in the musculoskeletal system. The present paper summarizes recent knowledge regarding mitochondrial dynamics and gives a short, but not exhaustive, overview of its regulation via fission and fusion. Furthermore, the article highlights hypoxia and its accompanying increased mitochondrial fission as a possible link between cardiac ischemia and inflammatory diseases of the bone, such as osteomyelitis. This opens new innovative perspectives not only for the understanding of cellular pathomechanisms in osteomyelitis but also for potential new treatment options.     

Effect of moisture on salmonella spp. heat resistance in cocoa and hazelnut shells

The heat resistance of food-poisoning outbreak and non-outbreak associated strains of Salmonella (S. Enteritidis, S. Montevideo, S. Napoli, S. Oranienburg, S. Poona, S. Senftenberg and S. Typhimurium) was established in confectionery-related materials such as crushed cocoa bean and hazelnut shells at low moisture contents (≤ 4% w/w). The two most heat resistant strains in cocoa and hazelnut shells at ca. 4% w/w moisture were S. Oranienburg and S. Enteritidis PT30. Both strains were associated with outbreaks from dried materials. Their D_100°C values were ca. 2.5 min in crushed cocoa bean shells and 7–11 min in crushed hazelnut shells. Addition of moisture to ca. 7% w/w markedly reduced D-values (D_80°C of 2–4.5 min) for both strains in the two matrices.