DISTRIBUTION OF 5-AMINOLEVULINIC ACID-INDUCED PORPHYRINS IN NODULOULCERATIVE BASAL CELL CARCINOMA

Abstract— Microscopic fluorescence photometry incorporating a light-sensitive thermo-electrically cooled charge-coupled device (CCD) camera was employed to investigate the fluorescence distribution of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-induced porphyrins in 22 patients with a total number of 52 noduloul-cerative basal cell carcinomas (BCC) after topical ALA application with or without dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)/ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or after intravenous administration of ALA. Both localization patterns and amounts of ALA-induced porphyrins in the BCC were studied. The ALA-induced porphyrins were localized only in the superficial layers of the noduloulcerative BCC lesions after topical application of 20% ALA alone for 3 h. However, both the penetration of ALA into deep lesions and the production of the ALA-induced porphyrin fluorescence were increased after topical administration of 20% ALA and 20% DMSO/4% EDTA for 3 h. Prior treatment with 99% DMSO for 15 min further enhanced the ALA penetration into the BCC lesions after topical application of the ALA/DMSO/EDTA mixture and produced more ALA-induced porphyrins by a factor of about three compared with those treated with ALA alone. The penetration of ALA into the deep BCC lesions could also be increased by prolonging the time of topical application of 20% ALA/4% EDTA to 29–48 h (without DMSO). Intravenous injection of ALA led to a more homogeneous distribution of the ALA-derived porphyrins in the whole noduloulcerative BCC lesions.     

Quality issue in the design and use of resources by mathematics teachers

The profusion of resources, mostly on the Internet, makes the issue of their quality more and more pressing. Teachers often find themselves unable to choose from among them those that would be the most relevant to their educational goal and to the context of their classes. In our previous work, we claimed that acquiring resource analysis skills is one of the keys to the teachers’ professional development supporting the integration of dynamic geometry systems. Based on this assumption, we have designed a quality questionnaire for the i2geo repository aiming at framing the analysis of available resources by the platform users. The research reported in this paper, which is a continuation of this work, explores the way the quality criteria are taken into account in the design and use of resources by members of the community that has emerged around the repository and sheds light on possible evolutions of teachers’ and teacher educators’ professional practices due to their involvement in the resource quality evaluation.     

Über die Dampfdichte des Brom

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

3D Printed Terahertz Focusing Grating Couplers

We have designed, constructed and characterized a grating that focuses electromagnetic radiation at specific frequencies out of a dielectric waveguide. A simple theoretical model predicts the focusing behaviour of these chirped gratings, along with numerical results that support our assumptions and improved the grating geometry. The leaky waveguide was 3D printed and characterized at 120 GHz demonstrating its potential for manipulating terahertz waves.     

Condensed phase ionic polarizabilities from plane wave density functional theory calculations

A method is presented to allow the calculation of the dipole polarizabilities of ions and molecules in a condensed-phase coordination environment. These values will be useful for understanding the optical properties of materials and for developing simulation potentials which incorporate polarization effects. The reported values are derived from plane wave density functional theory calculations, though the method itself will apply to first-principles calculations on periodic systems more generally. After reporting results of test calculations on atoms to validate the procedure, values for the polarizabilities of the oxide ion and various cations in a range of materials are reported and compared with experimental information as well as previous theoretical results.     

Electromigration in electroplated Cu(Ag) alloy thin films investigated by means of single damascene Blech structures

Electromigration failure of copper interconnects in microelectronics evokes a need for materials with improved resistance against electromigration effects. Copper–silver alloy thin films are a promising material for the next generation of interconnects and were investigated with respect to their electromigration resistance. The investigations were done by atom drift experiments by means of Blech structures fabricated in single damascene technology with two different Ta-based liner systems. Electromigration induced atom drift could be demonstrated. The resistance against electromigration of Cu(Ag) films appears to be slightly higher than for pure Cu films. However, significant experimental errors are still present. Additionally, de-alloying effects were observed.     

ZnO-coated glass fibers for the analysis of trihalomethanes by headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography

Li₂O-ZrO₂-BaO-SiO₂ glass fibers were produced and their surfaces were coated with zinc oxide. The fibers’ surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy and the zinc oxide layer was characterized by mapping the K_α and L_α lines of zinc by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results indicated that a homogeneous and porous layer of ZnO was formed on the fibers’ surface. This layer was subjected to a simultaneous determination of trihalomethanes using headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography. The study was conducted after evaluating the ideal time of incubation (15 min), extraction (15 min) and desorption (10 min), as well as the effect of the addition of salt (15%, m/v) on the analytical response. A good linear dynamic range was observed individually for trihalomethanes aqueous solutions containing 20 μg L⁻¹ and 500 μg L⁻¹ of trichloromethane, 15 μg L⁻¹ and 250 μg L⁻¹ of dichlorobromomethane and dibromochloromethane and 10 μg L⁻¹ and 100 μg L⁻¹ of tribromomethane, with all the compounds showing correlation coefficients higher than 0.9900.