Balloon dilatation in acute myocardial infarct in routine clinical practice: results of the register of the Working Society of Leading Cardiologic Hospital Physicians in 4,625 patients

Balloon angioplasty as the treatment of first choice in the setting of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is gaining widespread acceptance because of favourable results from specialised centres concerning high patency rates and low mortality. This study reports the results of angioplasty for AMI at large community hospitals during 1992-1995. 4625 procedures were performed at 68 centres of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leitender Kardiologischer Krankenhaus?rzte (ALKK). The age of the patients was 60.8 +/- 11.3 years, with 75.1% men. The infarct related artery was the left anterior descendent in 43%, the right coronary artery in 37%, the circumflex artery in 16%, a bypass graft in 2.3% and the left main stem in 1.4% of patients. The success rate (residual stenosis < 50%) of the intervention was 86%. There was a wide range of procedures per centre, with a median of 40 AMI angioplasties per year and centre. The amount of angioplasties for AMI in relation to all angioplasties performed during this period rose from 5.2% in 1992 to 5.9% in 1995 (p = 0.01). Local complications at the puncture site occurred in 3.2%, with the need for a surgical intervention in 1.1% of patients. In 273 (5.9%) of the patients a second angioplasty was performed during the hospital stay. Aortocoronary bypass surgery was performed in 3% of the patients. Hospital mortality was 9.5% (438/4625 patients). The mortality rate remained constant during the years investigated (1992: 10.6%; 1993: 8.6%; 1994: 9.7%; 1995: 9.8%; p = ns). Higher mortality was observed in older patients, patients with multiple vessel disease, the left anterior descending artery or a bypass graft as infarct related artery as well as in patients with failed reperfusion (residual stenoses > 50%). Hospitals with a case load of more than 40 angioplasties for AMI per year showed a lower mortality as compared to the others. In clinical practice at large community hospitals results of angioplasty for AMI concerning mortality, complications and technical success rate are comparable to those of highly specialised centres. The absolute numbers of angioplasties for AMI increased constantly over the years.     

Structural properties and electrical behaviour of thin silicon oxynitride layers

Thin SiO₂ and SiO_xN_y layers were grown on silicon using Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) in either O₂ or N₂O ambient. Subsequent annealing or nitridation was performed in order to improve the electrical stability. The composition of the films, in particular the incorporation of nitrogen and hydrogen, has been studied. We obtained the distribution of states at the Si/insulator interface through the evaluation of CV measurements and investigated the charge trapping in the layers analysing the voltage–time behaviour during Fowler–Nordheim constant current injection. Furthermore, assuming a trap assisted tunneling mechanism, the influence of near interface trap states on the current voltage characteristic was used to derive an effective insulator state distribution.     

Exciton-polariton transition induced by elastic exciton-exciton collisions in ultrahigh quality AIGaAs alloys

The stationary and time-resolved polariton radiation in ultrahigh quality AIGaAs layers have been studied. It has been found that elastic exciton-exciton collisions lead to the appearance of a low-energy line of polariton radiation. We show that the rate of exciton-to-polariton transitions caused by elastic exciton-exciton collisions is determined not only by the density of the excitonic gas, but also by its temperature; this is in accordance with existing theoretical predictions. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Numerical characterization and experimental verification of an in-plane MEMS-actuator with thin-film aluminum heater

In this paper, a novel concept of a thermo-mechanical MEMS actuator using aluminum thin-film heaters on a thermal oxide for electrical insulation is presented. The actuator is part of an universal tensile testing platform for thermo-mechanical material characterization of one dimensional materials on a micro- and nano-scopic scale under different environmental conditions, as varying temperatures, pressure, moisture or even vacuum and is realised in BDRIE technology. It is shown, that the actuator concept fulfills the requirements for the use in a tensile loading stage along with heterogeneously integrated nanofunctional elements, following a specimen centered approach in line with bottom-up self-assembly processes. Simulation and experiment agree very well in the thermal and mechanical domain and allow subsequent optimisation of the actuator performance.     

Dyeing Properties of a Polyamide–Epichlorohydrin Resin

The dyeing behaviour of cured films prepared from a polyamide–epichlorohydrin resin (Hercosett) was examined in orderto obtain a better understanding of the dyeing beha viour of Hercosett–treated wool. The polymer films swell by 500–1000%. The swelling decreases with increasing dye content in the polymer and with increasing temperature. The diffusion of acid dyes into the polymer is extremely fast (D =10^-7 cm²/s), and can be accelerated by the addition of salt. The sorption of the dye is described in terms of a Langmuir isotherm, indicating that an ion–exchange mechanism is operative. The concentration of cationic groups in the polymer is very high (2. 4mo//kg) and does not depend on the curing conditions. The addition of salt reduces the exhaustion of the dyebath. Reactive dyes were found to be bound covalently to the resin. During industrial resin treatment it has been shown that the molecular weight distribution of the Hercosett in the resin bath changes markedly, molecular weight increasing with running time and the spread of values being much narrower. This may explain the variation in the dyeing behaviour of wool fibres that have been treated at different times in the same resin bath.     

Nanostructured Silver Substrates With Stable and Universal SERS Properties: Application to Organic Molecules and Semiconductor Nanoparticles

Nanostructured silver films have been prepared by thermal deposition on silicon, and their properties as SERS substrates investigated. The optimal conditions of the post-growth annealing of the substrates were established. Atomic force microscopy study revealed that the silver films with relatively dense and homogeneous arrays of 60–80-nm high pyramidal nanoislands are the most efficient for SERS of both organic dye and inorganic nanoparticles analytes. The noticeable enhancement of the Raman signal from colloidal nanoparticles with the help of silver island films is reported for the first time.     

Raman scattering of InAs/AlAs quantum dot superlattices grown on (001) and (311)B GaAs surfaces

ABSTRACT: We present a comparative analysis of Raman scattering by acoustic and optical phonons in InAs/AlAs quantum dot superlattices grown on (001) and (311)B GaAs surfaces. Doublets of folded longitudinal acoustic phonons up to the fifth order were observed in the Raman spectra of (001)- and (311)B-oriented quantum dot superlattices measured in the polarized scattering geometries. The energy positions of the folded acoustic phonons are well described by the elastic continuum model. Besides the acoustic phonons, the spectra display features related to confined transverse and longitudinal optical as well as interface phonons in quantum dots and spacer layers. Their frequency positions are discussed in terms of phonon confinement, elastic stress, and atomic intermixing.     

Chloride and Indium‐Chloride‐Complex Inorganic Ligands for Efficient Stabilization of Nanocrystals in Solution and Doping of Nanocrystal Solids

Here, the surface functionalization of CdSe and CdSe/CdS core/shell nanocrystals (NCs) with compact chloride and indium‐chloride‐complex ligands is reported. The ligands provide not only short interparticle distances but additionally control doping and passivation of surface trap states, leading to enhanced electronic coupling in NC‐based arrays. The solids based on these NCs show an excellent electronic transport behavior after heat treatment at the relatively low temperature of 190 °C. Indeed, the indium‐chlorido‐capped 4.5 nm CdSe NC based thin‐film field‐effect transistor reaches a saturation mobility of μ = 4.1 cm² (V s)^?1 accompanied by a low hysteresis, while retaining the typical features of strongly quantum confined semiconductor NCs. The capping with chloride ions preserves the high photoluminescence quantum yield ( ≈ 66%) of CdSe/CdS core/shell NCs even when the CdS shell is relatively thin (six monolayers). The simplicity of the chemical incorporation of chlorine and indium species via solution ligand exchange, the efficient electronic passivation of the NC surface, as well as their high stability as dispersions make these materials especially attractive for wide‐area solution‐processable fabrication of NC‐based devices.