Non-invasive antidromic neurostimulation:A simple effective method for improving bladder storage

Patients with intractably diminished bladder storage function are encountered frequently by neurourologists, occasionally requiring reconstructive surgery for appropriate resolution. Although sacral neuromodulation is a recognized effective therapeutic modality, present techniques are technically demanding, invasive, and expensive. This study investigated the effect of non-invasive third sacral nerve (S3) stimulation on bladder activity during filling cystometry. One hundred forty-six patients underwent standard urodynamic filling cystometry that was then immediately repeated. Patients in the study group (n = 74) received antidromic transcutaneous sacral neurostimulation during the second fill and the control group (n = 72) underwent a second fill without neurostimulation. A statistically significant increase in bladder storage capacity without a corresponding rise in detrusor pressure was observed in the neurostimulated patients. This improvement in functional capacity is an encouraging finding that further supports the use of this non-invasive treatment modality in clinical practice. Neurourol. Urodynam. 20:73-84. 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Building pH Sensors into Paper-based Small-molecular Logic Sys-tems for Very Simple Detection of Edges of Objects

Genetically-engineered bacteria and reactive DNA networks detect edges of objects, as done in our retinas and as also found within computer vision. We now demonstrate that simple molecular logic systems (a combination of a pH sensor, a photo acid generator and a pH buffer spread on paper) without any organization can achieve this relatively complex computational goal with good-fidelity. This causes a jump in the complexity achievable by molecular logic-based computation and extends its applicability. The molecular species involved in light dose-driven 'off-on-off' fluorescence is diverted in the ‘on’ state by proton diffusion from irradiated to unirradiated regions where it escapes a strong quencher, thus visualizing the edge of a mask.

Simple preparation of positively charged silver nanoparticles for detection of anions by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Modification of citrate and hydroxylamine reduced Ag colloids with thiocholine bromide, a thiol functionalized quaternary ammonium salt, creates particles where the zeta potential is switched from the normal values of ca. -50 mV to ca. + 50 mV. These colloids are stable but can be aggregated with metal salts in much the same way as the parent colloids. They are excellent SERS substrates for detection of anionic targets since their positive zeta potentials promote adsorption of negatively charged ions. This is important because the vast majority of published SERS studies involve cationic or neutral targets. Moreover, the fact that the modifier is a quaternary ammonium ion means that the negative surface charge is maintained even at alkaline pH. The modified colloids can be used to detect compounds which cannot be detected using conventional negatively-charged citrate or hydroxylamine reduced metal nanoparticles, for example the detection limit was 5.0 x 10(-5) M for perchlorate and

Assessment of the Activity of Photocatalytic Paint Using a Simple Smart Ink Designed for High Activity Surfaces

The use of an acid violet 7 (AV7) smart ink to assess the activity of photocatalytic paint is demonstrated. A linear correlation is established between the change in oxidized dye concentration, as measured by diffuse reflectance, and the change in the green component of the RGB color values, obtained using a portable hand-held scanner, suggesting that such tests can be monitored easily using an inexpensive piece of hand-held office equipment, as opposed to an expensive lab-based instrument, such as a diffuse reflectance UV/vis spectrophotometer. The bleaching of the AV7 follows first order kinetics, at a rate that is linearly dependent upon the UVA irradiance (0.30–3.26 mW cm–2). A comparison of relative rate of bleaching of the AV7 ink with the relative rate of removal of NOx, as determined using the ISO test (ISO 22197-1:2007), established a linear relationship between the two sets of results and the relevance of this correlation is discussed briefly.

Rapid, simple method for determining the porosity of mesoporous TiO2 films using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM)

Two different mesoporous films of TiO2 were coated onto a QCM disc and fired at 450o C for 30 min. The first film was derived from a sol-gel paste that was popular in the early days of dye-sensitised solar cell, i.e. dssc, research, a TiO2(sg) film. The other was a commercial colloidal paste used to make examples of the current dssc cell; a TiO2(ds) film. A QCM was used to determine the mass of the TiO2 film deposited on each disc and the increase in the mass of the film when immersed in water/glycerol solutions with wt% values spanning the range 0-70%. The results of this work reveal that with both TiO2 mesoporous films the solution fills the film's pores and acts as a rigid mass, thereby allowing the porosity of each film to be calculated as: 59.1% and 71.6% for the TiO2(sg) and TiO2(ds) films, respectively. These results, coupled with surface area data, allowed the pore radii of the two films to be calculated as: 9.6 and 17.8 nm, respectively. This method is then simplified further, to just a few frequency measurements in water and only air to reveal the same porosity values. The value of the latter ‘one point’ method for making porosity measurements is discussed briefly.

A Simple Model to Quantify Radiolytic Production following Electron Emission from Heavy-Atom Nanoparticles Irradiated in Liquid Suspensions

We present a simple model for a component of the radiolytic production of any chemical species due to electron emission from irradiated nanoparticles (NPs) in a liquid environment, provided the expression for the G value for product formation is known and is reasonably well characterized by a linear dependence on beam energy. This model takes nanoparticle size, composition, density and a number of other readily available parameters (such as X-ray and electron attenuation data) as inputs and therefore allows for the ready determination of this contribution. Several approximations are used, thus this model provides an upper limit to the yield of chemical species due to electron emission, rather than a distinct value, and this upper limit is compared with experimental results. After the general model is developed we provide details of its application to the generation of HO(•) through irradiation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), a potentially important process in nanoparticle-based enhancement of radiotherapy. This model has been constructed with the intention of making it accessible to other researchers who wish to estimate chemical yields through this process, and is shown to be applicable to NPs of single elements and mixtures. The model can be applied without the need to develop additional skills (such as using a Monte Carlo toolkit), providing a fast and straightforward method of estimating chemical yields. A simple framework for determining the HO(•) yield for different NP sizes at constant NP concentration and initial photon energy is also presented.

A proposed simple method for measurement in the anterior chamber angle: biometric gonioscopy

OBJECTIVE:

To design a system of gonioscopy that will allow greater interobserver reliability and more clearly defined screening cutoffs for angle closure than current systems while being simple to teach and technologically appropriate for use in rural Asia, where the prevalence of angle-closure glaucoma is highest.

DESIGN:

Clinic-based validation and interobserver reliability trial.

PARTICIPANTS:

Study 1: 21 patients 18 years of age and older recruited from a university-based specialty glaucoma clinic; study 2: 32 patients 18 years of age and older recruited from the same clinic.

INTERVENTION:

In study 1, all participants underwent conventional gonioscopy by an experienced observer (GLS) using the Spaeth system and in the same eye also underwent Scheimpflug photography, ultrasonographic measurement of anterior chamber depth and axial length, automatic refraction, and biometric gonioscopy with measurement of the distance from iris insertion to Schwalbe's line using a reticule based in the slit-lamp ocular. In study 2, all participants underwent both conventional gonioscopy and biometric gonioscopy by an experienced gonioscopist (NGC) and a medical student with no previous training in gonioscopy (JK).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Study 1: The association between biometric gonioscopy and conventional gonioscopy, Scheimpflug photography, and other factors known to correlate with the configuration of the angle. Study 2: Interobserver agreement using biometric gonioscopy compared to that obtained with conventional gonioscopy.

RESULTS:

In study 1, there was an independent, monotonic, statistically significant relationship between biometric gonioscopy and both Spaeth angle (P = 0.001, t test) and Spaeth insertion (P = 0.008, t test) grades. Biometric gonioscopy correctly identified six of six patients with occludable angles according to Spaeth criteria. Biometric gonioscopic grade was also significantly associated with the anterior chamber angle as measured by Scheimpflug photography (P = 0.005, t test). In study 2, the intraclass correlation coefficient between graders for biometric gonioscopy (0.97) was higher than for Spaeth angle grade (0.72) or Spaeth insertion grade (0.84).

CONCLUSION:

Biometric gonioscopy correlates well with other measures of the anterior chamber angle, shows a higher degree of interobserver reliability than conventional gonioscopy, and can readily be learned by an inexperienced observer.