Interpretation time of serial chest CT examinations with stacked-metaphor workstation versus film alternator

PURPOSE: Interpretation time of serial staging chest CT cases, which each contained current and previous examinations, with a simple prototype workstation called filmstack was experimentally compared with interpretation time with a film alternator. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The filmstack displayed a "stack" of sections for each examination; user controls allowed rapid selection of preset attenuation windows and both synchronized and unsynchronized scrolling. Eight radiologists were timed as they used the filmstack and the film alternator to interpret four ergonomically complex serial CT cases. RESULTS: All reports dictated on the basis of findings with filmstack and film were of acceptable clinical accuracy. The time to examine a case with filmstack was significantly faster than the time with film, including the time to load and unload the alternator (99% confidence [P = .01]). There was no statistically significant difference in interpretation time between filmstack and prehung film. CONCLUSION: Use of a low-cost stacked CT workstation with a single 1,024 x 1,024 monitor is an effective means of interpreting cases that require comparison of multiple CT examinations.     

Thermal conductivity of lead in the range −180 to 500°C

The thermal conductivity of lead (99.99%) has been measured in the range –180 to 500°C using four measuring devices (steady-state method). The thermal conductivity of both solid and liquid lead can be represented as a linear function of the temperature. The uncertainty of the measured values is estimated at 2.5% (solid) and 3% (liquid). Between the melting point and 500°C, the thermal conductivity increases by 14%. The ratio of the thermal conductivity of solid to liquid lead at the melting point corresponds to the ratio of the electric conductivities. The Lorenz function for liquid lead is approximately 1% above the ideal value at the melting point and some 3% lower than the ideal value at 500°C.     

The thermal conductivity of gases: Incorrect results due to desorbed air

Air desorbed from the measuring instrument can falsify the thermal conductivity of a gas measured by steady-state methods. For a guarded hot-plate apparatus the contamination effect was determined to depend on both the residence time in the system and the temperature. The investigation covered the gases H₂, He, Ne, CH₄, N₂, air, Ar, and Kr. For gases whose conductivity is better than that of air (H₂, He) the measured values are too small, and for gases of poorer conductivity they are too high. Corrections for the effect of impurity have been applied to the measurements presented. These impurity corrections are considerably larger than the precision of the measurements, but they are of the order of the estimated overall uncertainty of the measurements. The departures between the corrected thermal conductivities reported here and values taken from the correlations in the literature run up to 5 % at the highest temperatures.     

Im Körper gebrochene Knochenplatten — Schadenanalyse und Biomechanik

Osteotomy Plates which Failed in Vino — Failure Examination and Biomechanics. Two fractured bone plates, which were used in a subtrochanteric osteotomy, have been examinated. The fatigue failure and additional fracture-characteristics are easily to understand in regarding the stresses, acting in the plates. An evaluation shows, that such a plate should never bear any part of the body weight but should be used only for fracture-fixation.     

Shape- and size-selective electrochemical synthesis of dispersed silver(I) oxide colloids

Silver(I) oxide (Ag2O) micro- and nanoparticles were electrochemically synthesized by anodizing a sacrificial silver wire in a basic aqueous sulfate solution. Ag2O particles were released from the silver electrode surface during synthesis producing a visible sol "stream". The composition of these particles was established using selected area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The shape of Ag2O crystallites could be adjusted using the potential of the silver wire generator electrode. The generation of a dispersed Ag2O sol and the observed shape selectivity are both explained by a two-step mechanism involving the anodic dissolution of silver metal, Ag0 --> Ag+(aq) + 1e-, followed by the precipitation of Ag2O particles, 2Ag+ + 2OH- --> Ag2O(s) + H2O. Within 100 mV of the voltage threshold for particle growth, cubic particles with a depression in each face ("hopper crystals") were produced. The application of more positive voltages resulted in the generation of 8-fold symmetric "flower"-shaped particles formed as a consequence of fast growth in the <111> crystallographic direction. The diameter of flower particles was adjustable from 250 nm to 1.8 microm using the growth duration at constant potential.     

Nanochannel electroporation delivers precise amounts of biomolecules into living cells

Many transfection techniques can deliver biomolecules into cells, but the dose cannot be controlled precisely. Delivering well-defined amounts of materials into cells is important for various biological studies and therapeutic applications. Here, we show that nanochannel electroporation can deliver precise amounts of a variety of transfection agents into living cells. The device consists of two microchannels connected by a nanochannel. The cell to be transfected is positioned in one microchannel using optical tweezers, and the transfection agent is located in the second microchannel. Delivering a voltage pulse between the microchannels produces an intense electric field over a very small area on the cell membrane, allowing a precise amount of transfection agent to be electrophoretically driven through the nanochannel, the cell membrane and into the cell cytoplasm, without affecting cell viability. Dose control is achieved by adjusting the duration and number of pulses. The nanochannel electroporation device is expected to have high-throughput delivery applications.     

Synthesis of PbTe nanowire arrays using lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition

We describe the preparation by electrodeposition of arrays of lead telluride (PbTe) nanowires using the lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition (LPNE) method. PbTe nanowires had a rectangular cross-section with adjustable width and height ranging between 60-400 nm (w) and 20-100 nm (h). The characterization of these nanowire arrays using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is reported. PbTe nanowires were electrodeposited using a cyclic electrodeposition-stripping technique that produced polycrystalline, stoichiometric, face-centered cubic PbTe with a mean grain diameter of 10-20 nm. These nanowires were more than 1 mm in length and two additional processing steps permitted their suspension across 25 microm air gaps microfabricated on these surfaces. The LPNE synthesis of lithographically patterned PbTe nanowires was carried out in unfiltered laboratory air. Nanowires with lengths of 70-100 microm showed an electrical resistivity comparable to bulk PbTe. XPS reveals that exposure of PbTe nanowires to air causes the formation on the nanowire surface of approximately one monolayer of a mixed lead oxide and tellurium oxide within a few minutes.     

A guarded hot-plate apparatus for thermal conductivity measurements over the temperature range −75 to 200‡C

A guarded hot-plate apparatus for small circular samples has been developed for the temperature range from –75 to 200C. To avoid edge losses, the apparatus is immersed in a liquid whose temperature is a few degrees lower than the mean temperature of the samples. A detailed evaluation procedure with several correction calculations leads to a remaining uncertainty of measurement of 0.5% for measurements on glass samples. This has been confirmed by experiment. Measurements on glass and on insulation material showed that the developed apparatus and the evaluation procedure applied can be used in a relatively wide range of thermal conductivity values (factor 50).