Efficacy and pharmacokinetics of gallopamil in patients with coronary artery disease

We prospectively studied 10 patients with stable exertional ischaemia, selected from a larger group of patients referred for suspected coronary artery disease or to detect residual ischaemia after myocardial infarction, to evaluate pharmacokinetic changes during chronic treatment with gallopamil and its correlation with clinical efficacy in patients with coronary artery disease. Our study consisted of a 1-week run-in single-blind placebo treatment and a 4-week single-blind gallopamil treatment. At the end of the run-in period patients underwent two different exercise tests, the first 2 hours and the second 7 hours after placebo administration. During active treatment all patients underwent two different exercise tests, the first 2 hours and the second 7 hours after gallopamil (50 mg) administration on the 1st and 28th days of gallopamil therapy. On the same days in eight of the patients we evaluated gallopamil pharmacokinetic changes. Our data revealed a rapid increase of unchanged gallopamil and its metabolite (norgallopamil) in the plasma, and a peak concentration of these substances about 2 hour after oral administration on both the 1st and 28th day of observation. Moreover, our results demonstrated an increase between the first and 28th day of treatment in peak concentration of unchanged gallopamil in the plasma, and of AUC 0-infinity and AUC o-c values during chronic treatment with gallopamil. Our clinical data showed an improvement in exercise results during gallopamil therapy related to increased concentration of the drug.     

YAG thermal barrier coatings deposited by suspension and solution precursor thermal spray

Yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) is a promising topcoat material for thermal barrier coatings due to its high temperature stability and better CMAS (calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate) resistance. YAG topcoats were deposited by suspension and solution precursor high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray. The relationships between processing, microstructure and final properties were studied through a range of characterization techniques and thermal cycling tests. The microstructure of the as-sprayed YAG topcoat from stoichiometric solution precursor (SP-YAG) had distributed pores and inter-splat boundaries, while the as-sprayed topcoat produced from suspension (S-YAG) had vertical and branched micro cracks, pores, and inter-splat boundaries. Both as-sprayed coatings were composed of amorphous phase, hexagonal yttrium aluminium perovskite (YAP) and cubic YAG. In thermal cycling tests, 20% of SP-YAG failure was reached after the 10th cycle; whereas, S-YAG reached the failure criteria between the 60th and 70th cycle. The failure of both the SP-YAG and the S-YAG topcoats occurred due to thermal stresses during the thermal cycling.     

Merging Results for Distributed Content Based Image Retrieval

Searching information through the Internet often requires users to separately contact several digital libraries, use each library interface to author the query, analyze retrieval results and merge them with results returned by other libraries. Such a solution could be simplified by using a centralized server that acts as a gateway between the user and several distributed repositories: The centralized server receives the user query, forwards the user query to federated repositories—possibly translating the query in the specific format required by each repository—and fuses retrieved documents for presentation to the user. To accomplish these tasks efficiently, the centralized server should perform some major operations such as: resource selection, query transformation and data fusion. In this paper we report on some aspects of MIND, a system for managing distributed, heterogeneous multimedia libraries (MIND, 2001, http://www.mind-project.org). In particular, this paper focusses on the issue of fusing results returned by different image repositories. The proposed approach is based on normalization of matching scores assigned to retrieved images by individual libraries. Experimental results on a prototype system show the potential of the proposed approach with respect to traditional solutions.     

Risk factors associated with lameness and hoof lesions in pasture-based dairy cattle systems in southeast Brazil

Cattle lameness is an important welfare concern that also has an economic impact on the dairy industry. It can be a significant problem among pasture-based herds. Our objectives were to identify cow- and herd-level factors related to lameness and hoof lesions in dairy cows grazing year-round in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We performed a cross-sectional study in 48 pasture-based dairy herds, visiting each farm in a single visit. We evaluated 2,262 cows for mobility score (0–3) and 392 cows for hoof lesions. We used a questionnaire and checklist to capture herd management data. All information obtained was used to build multivariable models. The factors associated with lameness were low body condition score, longer time spent in the corral, being kept in paddocks during the drought period, and poor hygiene. For hoof lesions, track features were the most significant factor in determining the likelihood of heel horn erosion, white line fissure, and sole hemorrhage—by more than 3 times. Different factors related to unhygienic conditions such as leg cleanliness, frequency of cleaning, and longer time spent in the corral were associated with infectious hoof lesions. Poor human–animal relationship was related to sole hemorrhage, but patient handling of cows on the track was a protective factor against interdigital hyperplasia. The results of this study suggest that improving hygiene conditions, track features, and cow handling can improve dairy cattle mobility scores in pasture-based farms under tropical conditions. These findings also represent a first step toward planning actions aimed at decreasing lameness and hoof lesions in the studied region.     

Full quantum treatment of surface roughness effects in Silicon nanowire and double gate FETs

We review recent results on the effect of surface roughness on the transport properties of ultra-short devices like Silicon nanowire and double-gate FETs. We use a full quantum treatment within the non equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) formalism which allows us to take into account quantum confinement, quantum phase interference, out-of-equilibrium, and quasi-ballistic transport and focus on transfer characteristics and low-field mobility.     

Phase stabilization in plasma sprayed BaTiO3

This paper presents a comparison of properties of BaTiO₃ ceramics prepared by two different production methods: gas-stabilized plasma spraying (GSP) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Samples of both materials were evaluated by various techniques, the goal being to detect the Curie temperature of the ferroelectric transformation between the tetragonal and the cubic phase. All tests, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, dielectric measurements, differential scanning calorimetry and temperature-resolved X-ray diffraction (XRD), used in combination, proved the absence of this transformation in the case of GSP coating up to 500 °C. Similarly, the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition temperature is shifted downwards, this transition probably taking place in a small fraction of the volume of coating. The SPS samples exhibit several anomalies, such as a strong anisotropy of relative permittivity, but their phase transformations were detected in the usual temperature ranges.     

Emissivity errors in the vegetation cover method caused by the lack of atmospheric correction

The influence of the lack of atmospheric correction of the optical images used to calculate land surface emissivity (LSE) was assessed. When thermal emissivity is determined by the vegetation cover method (VCM), information from the solar spectrum is required to calculate the vegetation cover fraction. The atmospheric correction was obtained in this study by using a combination of the dark dense vegetation (DDV) method and the Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) code. The methodology was applied to a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image of Tomelloso, Spain. We determined that the emissivity between 10 and 12 µm only increases by 0.4% (which represents a systematic error of approximately +0.2 K) when atmospherically corrected reflectances are used in relation to non‐corrected Tomelloso scenes. Nevertheless, other test areas could yield larger differences.