Voice characteristics, effects of voice therapy, and long-term follow-up of contact granuloma patients

This study evaluates the laryngoscopic findings and voice characteristics of male contact granuloma patients before and after voice therapy and at a follow-up about 9 years later. Pre- and posttherapy recordings as well as follow-up recordings were made for 19 granuloma patients. Pretherapy revealed the most salient perceptual voice characteristics were low pitch, monotony, and a high degree of vocal fry and hyperfunction. Interjudge reliability for these traits was high. Immediately following therapy the healed patients (n = 10) had a decrease in hyperfunction, vocal fry, and monotony, while the unhealed patients (n = 9) had an increase in hyperfunction and vocal fry decreased only marginally. Monotony decreased significantly in this group. As regards the acoustic analyses, no significant differences were found in mean fundamental frequency (F₀) or perturbation. At the follow-up assessment 4 patients had granuloma while 15 had normal laryngeal status. Perceptually their voice characteristics resembled those pretherapy independently of the laryngeal findings. The results suggest that reduced hyperfunction and decreased vocal fry may create better circumstances for the healing process at the posterior glottis.     

Surface characteristics and wetting properties of sol–gel coated base paper

Two hybrid coatings synthesized by using alkoxysilanes as precursors in a sol–gel process, differing from each other in terms of the organic components in alkoxysilanes, have been developed to improve the water repellent properties of base paper. The sol–gel‐coated base paper samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and contact angle measurements. The sol–gel coatings were found to clearly change the surface properties of base paper. Thin coating layers were formed on base paper surfaces. The topographical data indicated the formation of discontinuous thin films; the time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses confirmed that the coatings were covering the fibres but only partially covered the fibre–fibre intersections. Water and the subsequent heat treatment used as a reference treatment reduced the surface roughness and porosity and slightly changed the surface chemistry of the base paper. The wettability and absorptivity of base paper was clearly reduced by the applied coatings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimization of N‐methyl‐N‐[tert‐butyldimethylsilyl]trifluoroacetamide as a derivatization agent for determining isotopic enrichment of glycerol in very‐low density lipoproteins

Stable isotope kinetic studies play an important role in the study of very‐low density lipoprotein (VLDL) metabolism, including basic and clinical research. Today, [1,1,2,3,3‐²H₅]glycerol is the most cost‐effective alternative to measure glycerol and triglyceride kinetics. Recycling of glycerol from glycolysis and gluconeogenesis may lead to incompletely labelled tracer molecules. Many existing methods for the measurement of glycerol isotopic enrichment involve the production of glycerol derivatives that result in fragmentation of the glycerol molecule after ionization. It would be favourable to measure the intact tracer molecule since incompletely labelled tracer molecules may be measured as fully labelled. The number of methods available to measure the intact tracer in biological samples is limited. The aim of this project was to develop a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for glycerol enrichment that measures the intact glycerol backbone and is suitable for electron ionization (EI), which is widely available. A previously published method for N‐methyl‐N‐[tert‐butyldimethylsilyl]trifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA) derivatization was significantly improved; we produced a stable derivative and increased recovery 27‐fold in standards. We used the optimized MTBSTFA method in VLDL‐triglyceride and found that further modification was required to take matrix effects into account. We now have a robust method to measure glycerol isotopic enrichment by GC/EI‐MS that can be used to rule out the known problem of tracer recycling in studies of VLDL kinetics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vacancy assisted diffusion on single-atom surface alloys

Bimetallic surfaces can exhibit an improved catalytic activity through tailoring the concentration and/or the arrangement of the two metallic components. However, in order to be catalytically active, the active bimetallic surface structure has to be stable under operating conditions. Typically, structural changes in metals occur via vacancy diffusion. Based on the first-principles determination of formation energies and diffusion barriers we have performed kinetic Monte-Carlo (kMC) simulations to analyse the (meta-)stability of PtRu/Ru(0001), AgPd/Pd(111), PtAu/Au(111) and InCu/Cu(100) surface alloys. In a first step, here we consider single-atom alloys together with one vacancy per simulation cell. We will present results of the time evolution of these structures and analyse them in terms of the interaction between the constituents of the bimetallic surface.     

Quantitative liver iron measurement by magnetic resonance imaging: in vitro and in vivo assessment of the liver to muscle signal intensity and the R2* methods

Purpose

To evaluate the liver-to-muscle signal intensity and R2* methods to gain a transferable, clinical application for liver iron measurement.

Materials and Methods

Sixteen liver phantoms and 33 human subjects were examined using three 1.5-T MRI scanners from two different vendors. Phantom-to-muscle and liver-to-muscle signal intensity ratios were analyzed to determine MRI estimated phantom and hepatic iron concentration (M-PIC and M-HIC, respectively). R2* was calculated for the phantoms and the liver of human subjects. Seven patients' biochemical hepatic iron concentration was obtained.

Results

M-PIC and R2* results of three scanners correlated linearly to phantom iron concentrations (r=0.984 to 0.989 and r=0.972 to 0.981, respectively), and no significant difference between the scanners was found (P=.482 and P=.846, respectively) in vitro. The patients' R2* correlated linearly to M-HIC of the standard scanner (r=0.981). M-HIC values did not differ from those obtained from the biopsy specimens (P=.230). The difference in M-HIC was significant, but the difference in R2* was not significant between the scanners (P<.0001 and P=.505, respectively) in vivo.

Conclusion

Both methods, M-HIC and R2*, are reliable iron concentration indicators with linear dependence on iron concentration in vivo and in vitro. The R2* method was found to be comparable among different scanners. Transferability testing is needed for the use of the methods at various scanners.     

Application of an amperometric sensor to in-line monitoring of pulp bleaching with chlorine dioxide

Chlorine dioxide is replacing chlorine as the active compound in pulp bleaching in order to reduce the amount of chlorine used in the process and hence also in the waste waters. In bleaching with chlorine dioxide part of the effective bleaching chemical is usually chlorite. The electrochemistry of chlorine dioxide and chlorite at solid electrodes was studied by cyclic voltammetry at different pH values. The observed voltammograms indicated that reduction of chlorine dioxide gives chlorite and oxidation of chlorite gives chlorine dioxide. Both voltammograms were well developed, indicating a reversible process. Both platinum and glassy carbon were used as the working electrode. The dependence of the limiting current of chlorine dioxide and chlorite on pH was studied at both electrodes. The method was tested in the chlorine dioxide bleaching stage D1 in a typical bleaching process. A good correlation was found between the concentrations of chlorine dioxide and chlorite measured by the in-line amperometric method and a standard titrimetric method.     

Eco-efficiency and eco-productivity change over time in a multisectoral economic system

We measure eco-efficiency of an economy by means of an augmented Leontief input–output model extended by constraints for primary inputs. Using a multi-objective optimisation model the eco-efficiency frontier of the economy is generated. The results of these multi-objective optimisation problems define eco-efficient virtual decision making units (DMUs). The eco-efficiency is obtained as a solution of a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with virtual DMUs defining the potential and a DMU describing the actual performance of the economy. This procedure is then extended to an intertemporal approach in the spirit of the Luenberger productivity indicator. This indicator permits decomposing eco-productivity change into eco-efficiency change and eco-technical change. The indicator is then further decompounded in a way that enables us to examine the contributions of individual production factors, undesirable as well as desirable outputs to eco-productivity change over time. For illustration purposes the proposed model is applied to investigate eco-productivity growth of the Austrian economy.     

Decomposing technical inefficiency using the principle of least action

In for-profit organizations, profit efficiency decomposition is considered important since estimates on profit drivers are of practical use to managers in their decision making. Profit efficiency is traditionally due to two sources – technical efficiency and allocative efficiency. The contribution of this paper is a novel decomposition of technical efficiency that could be more practical to use if the firm under evaluation really wants to achieve technical efficiency as soon as possible. For this purpose, we show how a new version of the Measure of Inefficiency Proportions (MIP), which seeks the minimization of the total technical effort by the assessed firm, is a lower bound of the value of technical inefficiency associated with the directional distance function. The targets provided by the new MIP could be beneficial for firms since it specifies how firms may become technically efficient simply by decreasing one input or increasing one output, suggesting that each firm should focus its effort on a specific dimension (input or output). This approach is operationalized in a data envelopment analysis framework and applied to a dataset of airlines.     

New Heterodonor Phosphine Ligands

Abstract

In our studies we have synthesized three novel mixed ortho- and pura substituted phenyl phosphines: pSoOOP, pOoSSP and pSoSSP and a new phosphine containing pyridyl units: pS2Py. Also pOoOOP and pO2Py, which have been previously mentioned in patent literature[1,2] were prepared.     

How realistically does outdoor UV-B supplementation with lamps reflect ozone depletion: an assessment of enhancement errors

Limitations in the realism of currently available lamps mean that enhancement errors in outdoor experiments simulating UV-B radiation effects of stratospheric ozone depletion can be large. Here, we assess the magnitude of such errors at two Finnish locations, during May and June, under three cloud conditions. First we simulated solar radiation spectra for normal, compared with 10% and 20% ozone depletion, and convoluted the daily integrated solar spectra with eight biological spectral weighting functions (BSWFs) of relevance to effects of UV on plants. We also convoluted a measured spectrum from cellulose-acetate filtered UV-B lamps with the same eight BSWFs. From these intermediate results we calculated the enhancement errors. Differences between locations and months were small, cloudiness had only a minor effect. This assessment was based on the assumption that no extra enhancement compensating for shading of UV radiation by lamp frames is performed. Under this assumption errors between spectra are due to differences in the UV-B effectiveness rather than differences in the UV-A effectiveness. Hence, conclusions about plant growth from past UV-supplementation experiments should be valid. However, interpretation of the response of individual physiological processes is less secure, so results from some field experiments with lamps might need reassessment.