3,134 publications from this institution
Abstract This review comprises an up‐to‐date literature survey on the topic of food contact can coatings. Special consideration is given to the choice of can coating. To avoid reactions between the food and the metal of the can, the interior metal surface is treated with lacquers which act as a barrier. This ensures that the real flavor of the canned food is preserved without tainting. The type of coating chosen usually is dictated by several factors, including the product to be packaged, the type of construction of the container, how the container is to be filled, and how the canned product is subsequently processed.
It is commonly agreed that the crystalline structure of seeds dictates the crystallinity of final nanoparticles in a seeded-growth process. Although the formation of monocrystalline particles does require the use of single-crystal seeds, twin planes may stem from either single- or polycrystalline seeds. However, experimental control over twin-plane formation remains difficult to achieve synthetically. Here, we show that a careful interplay between kinetics and selective surface passivation offers a unique handle over the emergence of twin planes (in decahedra and triangles) during the growth over single-crystalline gold nanoparticles of quasi-spherical shape. Twinning can be suppressed under conditions of slow kinetics in the presence of silver ions, yielding single-crystalline particles with high-index facets.
Due to the exponential increase in energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, new sustainable energy sources have emerged, and hydrogen (H 2 ) is one of them. Despite all the advantages, H 2 has high flammability, so constant monitoring is essential. Two optical techniques were numerically studied and compared with the goal of H 2 sensing: surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) and Tamm plasmon polaritons (TPP). The H 2 -sensitive material used was palladium (Pd) in both techniques. The SPP structure was found to have more sensitivity to H 2 than TPP, 23 and 5nm/4vol% H 2 , respectively. However, the latter has lower FWHM, with the minimum of the band showing reflectivity near 0%. In addition, TPP also uses more costeffective materials and can be interrogated at normal incidence with depolarized light. The potential of using each of these optical techniques for H 2 sensing was demonstrated.
Multiple component rhythmometry, a method that fits a model consisting of several significant cosine functions, was used to describe the nonsinusoidal seasonal pattern in the incidence of some common enterobacteria. Awareness of this predictable patterns may be important in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of bacteriological infections.
The use of ambulatory lood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) has provided a method of BP assessment that compensates for some of the limitations of office values. The most common approach is still to rely for diagnosis on the daily mean of a 24-hour profile [O'Brien & Staessen. Blood Pressure 1995;4:266-282]. With the objective to assess the reproducibility of BP between 2 consecutive days of ABPM, we studied 310 mild-to-moderate hypertensive patients (125 men), 54.9±0.7 (X±SE) years of age, who underwent ABPM at 20-minute intervals during the day and at 30-minute intervals during the night for 48 consecutive hours with an ambulatory Spacelabs 90207 device. Daily, diurnal and nocturnal mean values computed for each patient according to individual resting hours determined by diary and wrist actigraphy were compared between consecutive days of ABPM by paired t-test. Results indicate a highly statistically significant (P<0.001) reduction during the second day of ABPM as compared to the first in the diurnal (during daily activity) mean of SBP and DBP (2.28 and 1.70 mmHg, respectively), but not for HR (P=0.697). The nocturnal means of BP were, however, similar between both days of sampling (differences of -0.59 and 0.06 mmHg for SBP and DBP; P>0 612). As a consequence of the decrease in the BP during activity but not during nocturnal resting hours, there is a 7% increase (from 49 to 56%) of non-dippers when this classification is obtained on the basis of data sampled during the second day of ABPM as compared to the first. ABPM during two consecutive days reveals statistically significant differences in diurnal but not nocturnal BP that could reflect a novelty effect in the use of the device. These results indicate that an unique 24-hour profile of ABPM may be insufficient for a proper diagnosis of hypertension, evaluation of treatment efficacy, and identification of dipping status in relation to target organ damage.
In this chapter, the authors address the main properties derived from the multifunctionality of the nanocomposites and presents potential applications in the fields of catalysis and sensing. They focuses on hybrid nanocomposites consisting of a single metal nanoparticle core and a thermoresponsive polymer shell. The authors restrict themselves to shells made of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAM), since this is the standard microgel model system and it has been used in most of the work related to this particular type of nanocomposites. They provide an overview of the different synthetic approaches, with an emphasis on the effect of the obtained structure on the main properties that are characteristic of these materials. The authors also address different applications, as well as future perspectives. An initial protocol was developed that involved the polymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene at the surface of the metal particles prior to introducing them in the pNIPAM polymerization medium.
The standard bivalve embryos-larval bioassay method has been modified for monitoring the water quality in an important mussel culture area, La Rochelle Bay. Fertilised eggs from naturally spawned Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels were incubated for 48 h at 18 ± 1 degree C, in different water samples (five replicates) from the bay and its surroundings. The mean percentages of abnormalities, with the 95 % confidence limit, of controls and different water samples were compared. The method was shown to allow the application of the the bioassay to fresh, brackish and marine waters. The assessment of the water quality of the different tributaries to the Bay and that of freshwaters from intensively cultivated marshes close to it, showed that it varied form toxic to lethal, according to Woelke's classification. In contrast, the seawater of the mussel culture area was unpolluted.
Administration of angiotensin receptor blockers at bedtime results in greater reduction of nighttime blood pressure than dosing upon awakening, independent of the terminal half-life of each individual medication. To obtain blood pressure (BP) target goals most patients require treatment with more than one hypertension medication. However, the potential differing effects on BP regulation of combination therapy depending on the time-of-day of administration have scarcely been investigated. Accordingly, the authors prospectively evaluated the administration-time-dependent BP-lowering efficacy of valsartan/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) combination therapy. The authors conducted a randomized, open-label, blinded-endpoint trial on 204 subjects with essential hypertension (95 men/109 women), 49.7 ± 11.1 (mean ± SD) yrs of age. The BP of participants in this trial was not properly controlled with respect to published ambulatory BP criteria after initially randomized to valsartan monotherapy (160 mg/day), whether routinely ingested upon awakening by one group or at bedtime by another group for 12 wks. Thus, HCTZ (12.5 mg/day) was added to valsartan as a single-pill formulation, maintaining the original treatment-time, i.e., upon awakening or at bedtime, of participants of the two groups, for another 12 wks. BP was measured by ambulatory monitoring for 48 h at inclusion and after each 12-wk span of therapy. Physical activity was simultaneously monitored every minute by wrist actigraphy to accurately define the beginning and end of daytime activity and nocturnal sleep so that the respective BP means for every participant at each evaluation could be precisely determined. Combination therapy resulted in a similar statistically significant reduction of the 48-h BP mean from baseline for both treatment-time groups (17.0/11.5 mm Hg in systolic/diastolic BP after combination therapy on awakening; 17.9/12.1 mm Hg reduction after combination treatment at bedtime; p > .542 between groups). The awake BP mean was reduced to a comparable extent in both treatment-time groups (p > .682). However, bedtime compared to morning dosing better reduced the asleep means of systolic BP (20.1 vs. 16.0 mm Hg; p = .015) and pulse pressure (6.5 vs. 4.0 mm Hg; p = .007 between groups). Accordingly, the proportion of subjects with a baseline non-dipper BP profile was significantly reduced from 59% to 23% only after bedtime combination treatment (p < .001). Moreover, the proportion of subjects with properly controlled ambulatory BP after combination therapy was significantly greater with bedtime than upon-awakening treatment (55 vs. 40%, p = .037). The improved efficacy in lowering the asleep BP mean, increased sleep-time relative BP decline, and greater proportion of controlled patients suggest that valsartan/HCTZ combination should be preferably administered at bedtime for treatment of subjects with essential hypertension requiring combination therapy to achieve proper BP control. (Author correspondence: rhermida@uvigo.es)
