The laurel-leaf points of the Volgu cache found in eastern France rank among the most remarkable examples of skilled craftsmanship known from the Solutrean period of the Upper Palaeolithic. In addition to pressure flaking, heat treatment may have helped in the making of the points, as both have been previously described in association with Solutrean assemblages. This study presents the results of an infrared spectroscopic analysis of seven artefacts from the Volgu cache conducted to test this assumption. The findings show that heat treatment was not universally applied to this particular tool type, meaning that we must rethink the reasons why such a technique was used.

Arterial thrombosis in neonates and children is a rare event and is often associated with external risk factors such as asphyxia or sepsis. We report our experiences with two neonates with spontaneous aortic arch thrombosis mimicking aortic coarctation. Despite single case reports until now, no data exist for the underlying thrombophilic risk factors and prognosis of this rare event. Both patients were carriers of a heterozygous factor V Leiden mutation, which has been reported once before as a risk factor for aortic arch thrombosis. One of our patients was operated upon successfully and is alive. The second patient suffered a large infarction of the right medial cerebral artery and had a thrombotic occlusion of the inferior caval vein. The patient obtained palliative care and died at the age of 6 days. In the literature, we identified 19 patients with neonatal aortic arch thrombosis. Of the 19 patients, 11 (58%) died. Including the two reported patients, the mortality rate of patients with multiple thromboses was 80% (8/10) compared with 18% (2/11) for patients with isolated aortic arch thrombosis; this difference reached statistical significance (p = 0.009). The analysis of thrombophilic disorders revealed that factor V Leiden mutation and protein C deficiency seem to be the most common risk factors for aortic arch thrombosis. Conclusion: Neonatal aortic arch thrombosis is a very rare but life-threatening event, with a high rate of mortality, especially if additional thrombotic complications are present. Factor V Leiden mutation seems to be one important risk factor in the pathogenesis of this fatal disease.

(Bi,Sb)2Te3 + 4 mol%PbTe was quenched in water and on a rotating copper wheel (melt spinning). It was found that PbTe was immiscible in (Bi,Sb)2Te3 when the material is quenched in water and that the thermoelectric figure of merit increases by annealing. Natural nanostructures (nns) were found in melt-spun (Bi,Sb)2Te3, whereas they were hard to detect in (Bi,Sb)2Te3 alloyed with PbTe. There is a correlation between the orientation of the strain field and the nns. Within the grains of melt-spun (Bi,Sb)2Te3 alloyed with PbTe, the chemical composition was homogeneous. An enrichment of Pb was found at the grain boundaries. Quenched (Bi,Sb)2Te3 alloyed with 0.3 wt%PbTe have been spark plasma sintered (SPS). After optimization, the Seebeck coefficients of the melt-spun SPS (MS-SPS) materials were larger than for materials quenched in water and sintered (QW-SPS) materials. In addition, the mobility increases with the carrier concentration in MS-SPS materials, whereas it decreases in QW-SPS materials.

Standard method for the determination of the activity of milk coagulants is the rotating bottle method, where clotting time is defined as the time when visually observable flocculation starts. Aim of this study was to verify whether it is possible to determine milk clotting time by rotational viscometry. Using three different coagulants and reconstituted milk of different pH and temperature, flocculation time and viscosity in steady shear was determined, and milk gelation was monitored by small amplitude oscillating shear rheometry. The results show that, independent of pH and temperature, milk clotting time is related to an apparent viscosity of 7·24±0·45 mPa.s, indicating that rotational viscometry can be used for the screening of flocculation time with an accuracy of approximately 6%.

The World Medical Association's (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki is one of the most important and influential international research ethics documents. Launched in 1964, when ethical guidance for research was scarce, the Declaration comprised eleven basic principles and provisions on clinical research. The document has since evolved to a complex set of principles, norms, and directions for action of varying degrees of specificity, ranging from specific rules to broad aspirational statements. It has been revised six times in an effort to maintain its influence. While all revisions were the result of vigorous debate, the 2000 revision and two subsequent notes of clarification spurred particular controversy surrounding the use of placebo in clinical research and the standard of care and post-trial obligations in research in developing countries. Several institutions opted to cite earlier versions of the Declaration, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently removed all reference to the Declaration in its approval requirements for drugs and biological products that are studied outside the United States.

The melt spinning technique (MST) combined with post annealing processes is evaluated for the development of thermoelectric nanocomposites. The evaluated ones are based on two components almost immiscible in solid state but with crystallographic correlation. One is taken from the V-VI-components system and the other one from the IV-VI-components system. This concept was applied to p-(Bi0,2Sb0,8)2Te3 and to p-[(Bi0,2Sb0,8)2Te3]1-xPbTex composites. MST samples of all types were characterised for some structural and thermoelectric properties. All V-VI materials are clearly textured after MST and show no deterioration concerning the thermoelectric properties even after subsequent annealing processes. Structural analysis of p-[(Bi0,2Sb0,8)2Te3]1-xPbTex composites gave significant hints for oriented precipitates of a IV-VI-rich phase incorporated into the V-VI-rich matrix. The thermoelectric figure of merit of the evaluated composites could be enhanced by suitable annealing procedures of both the quenched bulk materials and the melt spin material.

Once annealed, high-k metal oxides such as HfO2 and Al2O3 can be extremely difficult to etch by wet chemical methods. Here we describe how ion bombardment at relatively low energy (a few hundred eV) can be used to make exposed regions of annealed HfO2 films etchable in aqueous HF-based solutions. HfO2 layers, 2–5 nm in thickness, were deposited by atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALCVD) on Si substrates, annealed at 700 °C, and subjected to selected-area ion bombardment supplied by an oxygen plasma in a reactive ion etching tool. Etch times (as indicated by time to “dewet“) were examined as a function of HfO2 thickness, the power and time of oxygen plasma treatments, post-oxygen-plasma anneals, and wet etch chemistry. Strategies for etching thicker films and additional data provided by electrochemical open circuit potential (OCP) measurements will also be discussed.

Nitric oxide (NO) acts as a neuronal messenger which activates soluble guanylyl cyclase (SGC) in neighboring cells and produces a wide range of physiological effects in the central nervous system (CNS). Using immunocytochemical and histochemical stains, we have characterized the NO/SGC system in the rabbit retina and to a lesser extent, in monkey retina. Based on staining patterns observed with an antibody to nitric oxide synthase (NOS) type I and a histochemical marker for NADPH diaphorase, a metabolic intermediate required for NOS activity, three major classes of neurons appear to generate NO in the rabbit retina. These include two subclasses of sparsely distributed wide field amacrine cells, rod and cone photoreceptors, and a subpopulation of ganglion cells. Equivalent cell populations were labled in monkey retina. An antibody to SGC (tested only in rabbit retina), labeled large arrays of cone photoreceptors in the outer nuclear layer, both amacrine and bipolar cells in the inner nuclear layer (INL), as well as populations of neurons in the ganglion cell layer. These data suggest that the ability to generate NO is restricted to relatively few neurons in the inner retina and to photoreceptor cells in the outer retina; while presumptive target cells, containing pools of SGC, are widespread and form contiguous fields across the inner and outer nuclear layers (ONL) as well as the ganglion cell layer.

A 4-year-old boy broke through the ice of a frozen lake and drowned. The boy was extricated from the icy water by a rescue helicopter that was dispatched shortly after the incident. Although the boy was severely hypothermic, no cardiac response could be induced with field resuscitation measures, including intubation, ventilation, suction, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

On admission, the primary findings included fixed, nonreacting pupils and asystole. The first core temperature measured was 19.8° C (67.6° F). During active, external warming, the first ventricular beats were observed 20 minutes after admission, and changed 10 minutes later to a sinus rhythm. Continuous monitoring included repeated arterial blood gas and electrolyte tests; prophylaxis for cerebral edema was performed with hyperventilation and administration of sodium Brevimytal and dexamethasone. Seventy minutes after admission, hemodynamics stabilized and the boy was transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), where active external warming was continued to raise the core temperature at a rate of 1° C/hour.

Adult respiratory distress syndrome developed, and the boy had to be ventilated in the PICU for 10 days. He was discharged home after another two weeks. He recovered fully. The rapid heat loss with the induction of severe hypothermia (<20° C; 68° F) was the main reason for survival in this rare event of a patient with cardiac arrest lasting 88 minutes after accidental hypotherma.