One-year economic evaluation of intensive vs conventional patient education and supervision for self-management of new asthmatic patients

The purpose was to compare the short-term cost-effectiveness of intensive vs conventional education and supervision for the self-management of mild asthmatic patients. Consecutive newly diagnosed asthmatic patients (n = 162) were randomized into an intervention group (IG) and a control group (CG) with 1 yr of treatment and follow-up. Intensive education was given to 77 patients at visits every third month in the outpatient clinic. Eighty CG patients received conventional education and advice at the baseline visit only. All patients received similar inhaled anti-inflammatory treatment. At baseline and at 12 months standard clinical lung functions and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) were measured, the latter by the disease-specific St George's Respiratory Questionnaire and the generic 15D. Furthermore, the use of extra health care services, medication and sickness days were recorded. The IG experienced a significant improvement in all clinical and HRQOL outcome variables. The same applied to the CG except spirometric values. The groups differed significantly only in terms of FEV1 (P < 0.05) in favour of the IG. There was a significant difference between the groups in extra costs. The mean cost was FIM 2351 per patient (294 Pounds sterling) in the CG and FIM 2757 per patient (345 Pounds) in the IG, of which the intervention cost was FIM 1978 per patient (247 Pounds). In 1 yr follow-up the intensive education programme did not prove to be cost effective but was dominated by the conventional one regardless of what effectiveness measure was used. Also, a purely monetary cost-benefit calculation showed that the intervention resulted in a negative net benefit (loss) of FIM 406 per patient (51 Pounds). A longer follow-up may be needed before definitive conclusions about the cost-effectiveness of this kind of intervention can be drawn.     

Modulation depth of Michelson interferometer with Gaussian beam

Mirror misalignment or the tilt angle of the Michelson interferometer can be estimated from the modulation depth measured with collimated monochromatic light. The intensity of the light beam is usually assumed to be uniform, but, for example, with gas lasers it generally has a Gaussian distribution, which makes the modulation depth less sensitive to the tilt angle. With this assumption, the tilt angle may be underestimated by about 50%. We have derived a mathematical model for modulation depth with a circular aperture and Gaussian beam. The model reduces the error of the tilt angle estimate to below 1%. The results of the model have been verified experimentally.     

Flexible high-performance carbon nanotube integrated circuits

Carbon nanotube thin-film transistors are expected to enable the fabrication of high-performance, flexible and transparent devices using relatively simple techniques. However, as-grown nanotube networks usually contain both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes, which leads to a trade-off between charge-carrier mobility (which increases with greater metallic tube content) and on/off ratio (which decreases). Many approaches to separating metallic nanotubes from semiconducting nanotubes have been investigated, but most lead to contamination and shortening of the nanotubes, thus reducing performance. Here, we report the fabrication of high-performance thin-film transistors and integrated circuits on flexible and transparent substrates using floating-catalyst chemical vapour deposition followed by a simple gas-phase filtration and transfer process. The resulting nanotube network has a well-controlled density and a unique morphology, consisting of long (~10 μm) nanotubes connected by low-resistance Y-shaped junctions. The transistors simultaneously demonstrate a mobility of 35 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and an on/off ratio of 6 × 10(6). We also demonstrate flexible integrated circuits, including a 21-stage ring oscillator and master-slave delay flip-flops that are capable of sequential logic. Our fabrication procedure should prove to be scalable, for example, by using high-throughput printing techniques.     

Low temperature growth of SWNTs on a nickel catalyst by thermal chemical vapor deposition

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been grown on a silica-supported monometallic nickel (Ni) catalyst at temperatures ranging from as low as 450 °C to 800 °C. Different spectroscopic techniques, such as Raman, photoluminescence emission (PLE), and ultra violet-visible-near infrared (UV-vis-NIR) absorption spectroscopy were used to evaluate the diameter and quality of the SWNTs grown over the Ni catalyst at different temperatures. The analysis revealed that high quality SWNTs with a very narrow diameter distribution were obtained at a growth temperature of 500 °C. In the PLE and absorption spectra, differences were observed between the SWNTs grown on Ni and those grown on cobalt (Co). This result expands the potential of growing a specific (n, m) tube species with relatively high abundance by tuning the catalyst composition. Furthermore, the prerequisites for the low temperature growth of SWNTs over a monometallic transition metal catalyst have been elucidated.      

Differential Expression of Inflammasome-Related Genes in Induced Pluripotent Stem-Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells with or without History of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Inflammation is a key underlying factor of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and inflammasome activation has been linked to disease development. Induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells (iPSC-RPE) are an attractive novel model system that can help to further elucidate disease pathways of this complex disease. Here, we analyzed the effect of dysfunctional protein clearance on inflammation and inflammasome activation in iPSC-RPE cells generated from a patient suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and an age-matched control. We primed iPSC-RPE cells with IL-1α and then inhibited both proteasomal degradation and autophagic clearance using MG-132 and bafilomycin A1, respectively, causing inflammasome activation. Subsequently, we determined cell viability, analyzed the expression levels of inflammasome-related genes using a PCR array, and measured the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1 secreted into the medium. Cell treatments modified the expression of 48 inflammasome-related genes and increased the secretion of mature IL-1β, while reducing the levels of IL-6 and MCP-1. Interestingly, iPSC-RPE from an AMD donor secreted more IL-1β and expressed more Hsp90 prior to the inhibition of protein clearance, while MCP-1 and IL-6 were reduced at both protein and mRNA levels. Overall, our results suggest that cellular clearance mechanisms might already be dysfunctional, and the inflammasome activated, in cells with a disease origin.     

ELECTROSPRAYING OF FERRITIN SOLUTIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MONODISPERSE IRON OXIDE NANOPARTICLES

Iron oxide nanoparticles with uniform size and narrow size distribution were synthesized by electrospraying of ferritin and subsequent heat treatment at 800°, 850°, and 900°C. Solutions of ferritin in both water and water/iso-propanol mixture (50:50) were electrosprayed in diverse gaseous environments. Narrow mobility size distributions with a mean mobility diameter of 4.5 nm and a geometric standard deviation < 1.2 were obtained at 800°C. The process of aerosol formation involved the thermal oxidation of the ferritin organic shell. The utilization of a water/iso-propanol (50:50) ferritin solution led to the establishment of a more stable electrospray, and, consequently, an increase in the total particle concentration was observed. Furthermore, carbon-coated magnetite (Fe ₃ O ₄) particles were generated when CO was used as carrier gas.     

Electrical Agglomeration of Aerosol Particles in an Alternating Electric Field

A laboratory scale test system has been designed and constructed to study the electrical agglomeration of charged aerosol particles as a method to increase the fine particle collection efficiency of electrostatic precipitators. The system consists of test aerosol generator, aerosol charger, agglomerator chambers, and aerosol measurement equipment. Air atomizing nozzles and the TSI six-jet atomizer have been used as the test particle generators. The test particles have been charged by a corona discharge. Two types of agglomerator chambers have been investigated. In one agglomerator the gas flows between two parallel plates, across which the alternating high voltage is applied. The other agglomerator is a quadrupole structure with cylindrical electrodes positioned between the grounded plates. Particle concentration and size distribution measurements have been carried out downstream of the agglomerator with agglomerator voltage on and off. Particle concentrations and size distributions have been measured with differential mobility analyzer (DMA) and a Berner low pressure impactor. These measurements show that agglomeration causes about a 4%-8% decrease in the fine particle concentration when the total mass concentration is between 1 and 2 g/m³. There was no difference between the results measured with the parallel plate and the quadrupole agglomerator.     

Electric-field-induced phase-change behavior in (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3–BaTiO3–(K0.5Na0.5)NbO3: A combinatorial investigation

The electric-field-induced strain behavior in (1 ? x ? y)(Bi_0.5Na_0.5)TiO₃–xBaTiO₃–y(K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃ electroceramics has been studied using a combinatorial technique. A stoichiometrically graded sample was produced to contain compositions across the ternary phase diagram between the two end-member components of 0.93(Bi_0.5Na_0.5)TiO₃–0.07BaTiO₃ and 0.86(Bi_0.5Na_0.5)TiO₃–0.14(K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃. Both composition and structural information were measured simultaneously during the application of electric fields using secondary X-ray fluorescence and high-energy X-ray microdiffraction, respectively. An initial electric-field-induced distortion from the pseudo-cubic structure is seen across all compositions, while those with a greater concentration of BaTiO₃ also undergo an electric-field-induced phase transformation. The microstructural contribution to the macroscopic strain within the 0.93(Bi_0.5Na_0.5)TiO₃–0.07BaTiO₃ end member is quantified at a field strength of 5.5 kV mm^?1; 0.08% and 0.11% of the measured macroscopic strain of 0.4% is contributed by the induced ferroelastic domain texture and the volumetric strain associated with the electric-field-induced phase transformation, respectively.