Search

Your search keyword '"F. di Franco"' showing total 108 results
Start Over Author "F. di Franco"
108 results on '"F. di Franco"'

2. Influence of anodizing surface treatment on the aging behavior in salt-fog environment of aluminum alloy 5083 to fiber reinforced composites adhesive joints

Author

F. Di Franco, V. Fiore, R. Miranda, D. Badagliacco, M. Santamaria, A. Valenza, Di Franco F., Fiore V., Miranda R., Badagliacco D., Santamaria M., and Valenza A.

Subjects
basalt, Adhesive joint, Settore ING-IND/22 - Scienza E Tecnologia Dei Materiali, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, salt-fog aging, Mechanics of Materials, Materials Chemistry, double strap joint, Surfaces and Interfaces, General Chemistry, surface treatment, anodizing, Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Abstract

The present work aims to evaluate how an innovative and eco-friendly anodizing process with tartaric-sulfuric acid (TSA) bath and a pore widening in an aqueous solution of NaOH 0.1M can improve the durability in marine environment of co-cured adhesive joints between an aluminum alloy (AA 5083) and fiber (i.e., glass or basalt)-reinforced composite substrates. The aging was carried out by exposing samples to salt-fog spray conditions (5wt.% NaCl) for 30, 60 and 90days in a climate chamber, in accordance with ASTM B117. In order to get further insights on the aging behaviour of bonded joints, neat matrix was also exposed to the same environment for 60days. Quasi-static mechanical tests and morphological analysis through SEM microscope coupled with EDX analyser were carried out to deeper understand how the fracture surfaces change during aging and how this affected the mechanical performances of joints.

Published
2023

3. The Effect of Electronic Properties of Anodized and Hard Anodized Ti and Ti6Al4V on Their Reactivity in Simulated Body Fluid

Author

F. Di Franco, A. Zaffora, D. Pupillo, L. Iannucci, S. Grassini, M. Santamaria, Di Franco, F, Zaffora, A, Pupillo, D, Iannucci, L, Grassini, S, and Santamaria, M

Subjects
Aluminum alloy, Anodic oxidation, Porous layer, Glycerol phosphate, Anodizing, Flat-band potential, Barrier layer, Oxide surface layer, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Pentahydrate, Oxide surface layer, Electrochemical Measurments, Anodizing, Ternary alloy, N-type semiconductor, Porous oxide, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Vanadium alloys Anodic oxide, Simulated body fluids Electronic properties, Condensed Matter Physics, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Energy gap, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Electrochemical Measurments, Titanium dioxide, Titanium alloy, Body fluid, Substrate, Calcium acetate
Abstract

The electronic properties of barrier and porous layers on Ti and Ti6Al4V were studied. Barrier anodic oxides grown to 40 V on Ti and on Ti6Al4V are both n-type semiconductors with a band gap of 3.3 eV and 3.4 eV respectively, in agreement with the formation of amorphous TiO2. Anodizing to 200 V at 20 mA cm−2 in calcium acetate and β-glycerol phosphate disodium pentahydrate leads to the formation of Ca and P containing porous films with a photoelectrochemical behaviour dependent on the metallic substrate. A band gap of 3.2 eV and the flat band potential of −0.5 V vs Ag/AgCl were measured for the porous oxide on Ti, while optical transitions at 2.15 eV and a significantly more positive flat band potential were revealed for the porous oxide on the alloy. The different electronic properties were rationalized by taking into account the presence of localized states inside the gap, induced by incorporation of Al and V from the underlaying alloy during the hard anodizing process. These electronic properties are responsible of the reactivity of porous layer grown on Ti6Al4V alloy in simulated body fluid.

Published
2022

4. Imagerie des pathologies non traumatiques du cordon médullaire et des espaces périmédullaires

Author

Alexandre Bani-Sadr, A. Filip, Roxana Ameli, F. Di Franco, Y. Berthezene, and M. Hermier

Subjects
03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging
Abstract

Resume Introduction L’imagerie des pathologies non traumatiques de la moelle epiniere et des espaces perimedullaires est souvent consideree difficile car la gamme diagnostique est vaste et recouvre toutes les grandes categories de pathologies. Les manifestations cliniques ne sont pas specifiques et la biopsie rarement envisageable etant donnee un haut risque de morbidite. La connaissance de ces pathologies est donc cruciale pour tout radiologue. Donnees recentes L’objectif de cet article est de presenter une revue iconographique des pathologies spinales les plus frequentes, les plus graves ou d’aspect radiologique typique. Cette revue propose une approche radiologique systematique de ces pathologies en mettant l’accent sur leur topographie (intra-medullaire, extra-medullaire intra-durale et extra-durale), leur taille, leur forme et leur signal IRM. Elle insiste sur les pathologies intra-medullaires qui sont presentees selon leur categorie (inflammatoire, vasculaire, neoplasique, metabolique et degenerative) car celles-ci sont generalement moins bien connues. Conclusion Bien que le diagnostic des pathologies medullaires et perimedullaires puisse sembler difficile, une analyse radiologique systematique de la topographie, de la taille, de la forme et du signal de ces lesions peut orienter vers les principales hypotheses diagnostiques lorsque le diagnostic positif ne peut pas etre formellement pose.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

6. Appendicitis risk prediction models in children presenting with right iliac fossa pain (RIFT study): a prospective, multicentre validation study

Author

Dmitri Nepogodiev, Richard JW Wilkin, Catherine J Bradshaw, Clare Skerritt, Alasdair Ball, Waaka Moni-Nwinia, Ruth Blanco-Colino, Priyesh Chauhan, Thomas M Drake, Matteo Frasson, Oliver Gee, James C Glasbey, Jacob H Matthews, Gabriella L Morley, David N Naumann, Francesco Pata, Antonio S Soares, Aneel Bhangu, SH Abbas, AM Abdelgadir, A Abdelrahman, M Abdelrahman, A Abdelwahed, Y Abou El Ella, M Abulafi, A Acharya, ME Adam, RE Adams, SO Adegbola, A Adimonye, M Adnan, S Afshar, A Ahad, J Ahel, DP Ahern, A Ahmad Asmadi, B Ahmed, G Ahmed, OS Ahmed, S Ahmed, K Akbari, O Akinsola, W Al-Khyatt, B Al-Sarireh, M Al-Sheikh, M Alani, R Alexander, T Alhammali, M Ali, A Aljorfi, M Allen, J Allington, A Alshafei, R Amarasinghe, A Amayo, V Amin, Thuva Amuthalingam, L Anandan, O Anderson, SM Andreani, B Andrews, A Ang, B Aravind, JE Archer, MA Aremu, S Arunachalam, N Aruparayil, DL Ashmore, O Ashour, N Ashraf, N Assaf, H Avalapati, OO Awokoya, J Ayube-Brown, T Badenoch, R Bagga, A Baginski, S Bailey, STR Bailey, C Baird, B Baker, EJ Balai, A Balasubramaniam, SK Bandyopadhyay, A Banks, H Bansal, W Barnieh, A Barrie, CA Barter, J Bastianpillai, WD Beasley, CR Bell, J Bell, D Beral, BJM Berry, KE Bevan, V Bevan, Shiv Bhanderi, A Bhargava, D Bilku, A Birindelli, OD Blackford, JEM Blackwell, L Blake, Natalie S Blencowe, TD Boam, C Boereboom, M Bogdan, P Bohra, JC Bolger, W Bolton, S Bond, CM Borg, K Borghol, PR Boshier, N Bouhadiba, J Bowen, H Bowerman, CR Bowman, H Boyd-Carson, CJ Bradshaw, G Branagan, P Brennan, M Brett, HK Brewer, H Brewer, C Bronder, A Brown, AG Brown, CE Brown, M Brown, R Brown, S Buckley-Jones, A Budzanowski, W Bukhari, C Bull, JK Bullivant, KM Burns, D Burnside, A Busuttil, BE Byrne, CK Byrnes, M Caldwell, R Callan, FC Cameron, U Campbell, UM Campbell, W Campbell, CA Carden, CFW Carder, K Carney, H Cartwright, P Cay, A Chalk, B Chambers, A Champsi, D Chan, TCW Chan, SB Chandler, J Chapman, A Charalabopoulos, B Chasty, M Chatzikonstantinou, WL Cheah, CS Chean, S Cheng, SA Cheng, M Cheruvu, MY Chin, IA Chishti, S Choi, SM Chok, B Chong, JH Choong, M Chowdhary, F Chowdhury, CH Choy, L Christian, P Christopoulos, K Chui, M Cipparrone, GL Clark, SA Clarke, SJ Cleeve, KD Clement, B Clements, C Clements, JD Clements, JM Clements, JS Clements, JA Clements, R Clingan, L Cloney, ECS Clough, PO Coe, O Collier-Wakefield, DW Colliver, DA Colvin, TM Connelly, MJ Connor, V Cook, F Cooke, F Cooper, AE Cotton, DG Couch, L Cousins, D Coyle, W Creasy, RL Cresner, A Crone, K Cross, J Crozier, P Cunha, NJ Curtis, N D'Souza, H Dagash, S Dalmia, I Daniels, D Danquah-Boateng, FA Dar, K Dart, A Das, R Daureeawoo, S Davidson, JR Davidson, PL Davies, S Davis, V Daya Shetty, A De-Manzoni-Garberini, JA De-Marchi, EA Dean, S Dean, C Delimpalta, S Denley, G Dennison, AA Devine, S Dharamavaram, AA Dhari, F Di Franco, S Di Saverio, C Dobson, JA Docherty, C Doherty, G Donaldson, NO Donohoe, O Donohoe, E Douka, T Doulias, M Downey, C Doyle, N Drye, DT Du, JG Dudek, PG Dunning, ARS Dyal, NJ Eardley, L Earnshaw, S Easdon, SE Edwards, RJ Egan, S El-Masry, O El-Tayar, CR Elbourne, S Elgaddal, M Elseedawy, M Elshaer, OH Elsharnoby, WMA Elzeneini, KM Emslie, NFT Engall, B Ertansel, HD Esmail, C Ettles, J Evans, JD Evans, A Everden, M Fadel, SE Fahmy, CJ Fairfield, BF Fanibi, Valeria Farina, SM Farrell, EZ Farrow, JA Fasuyi, G Faulkner, D Fawkner-Corbett, F Fawzi, M Fehervari, N Ferguson, JG Finch, H Finlayson, T Flack, W Foers, NM Foley, K Ford, A Forgie, A Foster, JD Foster, AMW Fox, N Francis, D Franklin, H Froud, HL Fuller, E Gaines, J Galea, E Gammeri, J Garnham, J Garvin, Z Gates, R Gentry, I Ghaffari, S Ghatorae, AL Gidwani, TG Gilbert, TM Gilbert, S Gill, M Gillespie, J Gillick, A Giorga, K Gopalakrishnan, S Gopalswamy, S Gopinath, R Gormely, G Govind, C Grant, J Graveston, J Gray, RT Gray, D Griffith, JP Griffith, Ewen A Griffiths, SN Griffiths, EJ Griggs, S Grosvenor, T Grove, M Gulamhussein, J Guliani, A Gummaraju, S Gunning, SV Gurjar, S Guru-Naidu, S Gurung, H Habib, L Hackney, James B Haddow, S Hajibandeh, C Halkias, NJ Hall, RN Hamelmann, M Haneef, MS Haneef, Z Hanif, C Hanley, AJ Hann, T Hanna, E Hardy, A Harlinska, F Harper, RL Harries, A Harris, Grant Harris, MP Harris, R Hasan, A Hassane, JR Hatt, Z Haveliwala, W Hawkins, Z Hayat, C Hayes, KRM Hebbar, L Henderson, LT Henderson, PJJ Herrod, P Hever, LM Hickey, G Hicks, JM Hodgson, M Hoff, A Hollingsworth, A Hook, ST Hornby, E Horsfield, EE Howie, L Huang, NJ Hudson-Peacock, DL Hughes, KA Hureibi, A Hussain, N Hussain, SA Hussaini, A Hussein, B Hutchinson, YMS Ibrahim, S Ikram, T Ilozue, E Iosif, MR Iqbal, S Irukulla, R Irwin, N Islam, P Ivey, CR Jackson, A Jackson, SMH Jah, A Jain, S Jain, Sarus Jain, GM Jama, NB Jamieson, S Janardanan, B Jasinski, D Jenner, E Jerome, B Johnson, A Johnstone, S Jokhan, A Jones, CE Jones, CS Jones, E Jones, L Jones, U Kabir, S Kabwama, M Kamal, IW Kamande, V Kanakala, M Kannegieser-Bailey, S Kaptanis, MJ Karim, RS Karwal, G Kaur, R Keegan, A Kelay, ND Kennedy, DA Kent, A Khair, K Khan, S Khan, A Khasria, H Kho, J Kilkenny, R King, J Kinross, EN Kirkham, B Knight, R Kochupapy, C Koh, O Kouli, A Krishnamoorthy, S Krivan, K Kumar, S Kumar, VWS Kung, R Kuo, G Lafaurie, CW Lai, N Lal, S Lawday, S Layman, GR Layton, A Lazzaro, L Lecky-Thompson, KA Lee, KJ Lee, M Lee, SL Lee, PA Leighton, RP Leitch, HC Lennox-Warburton, EL Leung, CH Li, JM Lim, C Limb, G Ljungqvist, G Lloyd, S Lodhia, PC Logan, M Long, P Long, RH Long, A Longshaw, C Louw, JN Lund, C Ly, MJ Lynch Wong, JKY Ma, A Macdonald, EGE Macinnes, T Magro, R Mahapatra, B Mahendran, F Mahmood, A Mahmoud, D Mahon, D Mai, A Maina, CP Major, R Makhija, Y Malam, A Malik, K Malik, SN Malik, VM Manda, KM Manektella, C Mann, P Manoharan, R Manson, S Mansoor, MM Mansour, S Mansour, F Maqboul, D Maragouthakis, G Marangoni, S Mardhiah, H Maripi, P Marriott, L Marsh, G Marshall, A Martin, LM Martin, E Martinou, R Mashar, John Mason, M Masood, G Mathew, K Maude, E Mazumdar, A Mc-Dermott, D Mcarthur, RS Mccain, S McCain, C Mccann, P Mccaughey, SJ Mccluney, J Mccullough, D Mcdonnell, NA Mcdowall, JE McEntee, K McGlynn, D Mcgrath, O Mcgucken, S Mcilwaine, AC Mcilwrath, SC Mckay, MA McKelvie, M Mckenna, J Mckeon, KL Mckevitt, NC Mckinley, D McLaughlin, SV McMahon, D Mcmorran, L McNally, M Mcquaid, DM Mcwhirter, K Mealy, A Mears, D Menzies, H Merai, RJ Mersh, M Miguras, D Milgrom, K Miller, J Milward, S Mirza, AT Misky, D Mistry, MJ Mitchard, RM Mitru, IM Mohamed, Imran Mohamed, TM Mohamed, WO Mohamed, N Mohd, C Moore, J Moradzadeh, TEM Morrison, V Morrison-Jones, Dion G Morton, BS Mothe, Fh Motiwala, D Motter, NG Mowbray, Z Mughal, J Mulsow, N Mundkur, A Muntean, C Murphy, R Murphy, MP Murray, M Muzaffar, A Myatt, A Nadeem, D Nagarajan, S Nagendram, A Nair, MK Nair, MS Nair, KN Naismith, K Nambiar, GR Nana, Z Nash, P Nastro, S Nazarian, G Neagle, A Neale, PM Neary, RC Newton, M Ng, S Ng, O Niaz, S Nickson, D Nicol, E Nimako, MS Noor Mohamed, M Nyeko-Lacek, BR O'Connor, E O'Neill, N O'Neill, D O'Sullivan, J O'Brien, M Oakey, N Obeid, A Odeh, S Ogboru, C Ogbuokiri, B Okekunle, E Okorocha, O Olagbaiye, JB Olivier, R Ooi, P Orawiec, M Orizu, N Orme, R Ormiston, C Paget, A Pal, LK Palani-Velu, Y Pan, N Panda, V Pandey, R Pandya, D Pandya, KR Paramasevon, C Pardy, MJ Parkola, Sandro Pasquali, AS Patel, BY Patel, C Patel, H Patel, N Patel, RT Patel, S Patel, Y Patel, MM Patel, SD Patil, CJ Payne, RE Payne, JCH Pearce, L Pearce, A Pedder, CB Peirce, GB Peiris, A Peleki, Gianluca Pellino, V Pento, D Peprah, HS Perera, MI Perera, L Phelan, D Photiou, R Pierre, JP Pilkington, Thomas D Pinkney, B Pisavadia, A Poacher, M Podda, H Pollard, D Popova, M Poudevigne, A Prideaux, UP Pullabatla Venkata, A Quddus, S Quill, M Rabie, MR Rabie, RW Radwan, JF Rae, A Rahim, LS Rahmani, S Rajagopal, R Rajaram, N Rajaretnam, Y Rajjoub, H Rallage, S Ramcharan, S Ranathunga, M Rao, VSR Rao, A Raofi, M Rashid, A Rate, R Ravindran, M Raymond, SS Raza, A Reddy, EP Redman, AE Redmond, S Rekhraj, S Renshaw, D Rex, M Rezacova, S Rezvani, B Ribeiro, JE Rich, TD Richardson, S Rigby, B Rigney, S Rinkoff, HD Robb, C Robertson, D Robinson, A Robinson, V Rodger, R Rolph, S Roomi, NPG Roth, K Rothnie, C Roy, S Rupani, DG Rutherford, R Sacks, N Saghir, A Saha, SJ Sahay, K Sahnan, Y Salama, S Salim, M Samuel, S Sana, L Sandu, P Sarmah, J Sarveswaran, SMF Saunders, A Savill, F Savioli, JR Schuster Bruce, JF Sebastian, TC Seddon, N Seneviratne, M Seth, T Setshwaelo, E Sezen, P Sgardelis, A Sgrò, C Shah, J Shah, K Shah, SM Shah, Z Shakoor, MS Shalaby, V Shanmuganathan, K Shanmugarajah, A Sharma, P Sharma, OL Sharp, JA Shepherd, MA Sherif, S Shet, G Shingler, MH Shiwani, D Shreshta, T Sian, MN Siddiqui, ZA Siddiqui, KL Siggens, N Sihra, I Silva, A Simioni, LFC Simmonds, DJ Simpson, A Singh, S Singh, T Singhal, P Sivaloganathan, K Sloan, N Smallcombe, CJ Smart, Neil J Smart, R Smith, H Smoker, L Solinas, JEH Souter, EL Springate, GF Stephens, R Stevenson, DJ Stewart, I Stoica, E Strachan, BM Stubbs, W Stupalkowska, A Suliman, A Sultana, H Sunter, S Suriyakumar, NRA Symons, K Szentpali, A Szucs, V Tabain, LE Tague, K Tailor, CY Tan, S Tan, AM Tang, M Tarazi, YH Tay, S Tayeh, M Taylor, NS Taylor, D Taze, E Teasdale, N Thakral, B Thava, N Thavanesan, AJ Thaventhiran, K Theodoropoulou, AT Thomas, L Thomas, DB Thompson, R Thompson, SN Thoukididou, SG Tiboni, LA Tiedt, N Ting, BJ Tinsley, JM Tognarelli, J Torkington, A Torrance, DC Townsend, PJ Tozer, M Trail, F Trew, V Tudyka, L Tullie, A Turnbull, EJ Turner, CS Twum-Barima, Robert Tyler, S Vakis, A La Valle, GI Van Boxel, J Vance-Daniel, M Varcada, N Varma, EM Vaughan, VR Velchuru, R Velho, AK Venkatasubramaniam, ML Venn, V Vijay, Z Vinnicombe, P Vitish-Sharma, S Wagener, K Waite, KJ Walters, U Walters, BG Wardle, SD Wardle, J Warusavitarne, J Watfah, N Watson, J Wauchope, LW Weatherburn, CR Weegenaar, S Welsh, S Wheatstone, HE Whewell, P Whitehouse, E Whiteman, L Whittaker, K Wijesundera, D Wilkinson, GL Williams, M Williams, R Williams, S Williams, EJ Wilson, MSJ Wilson, DC Winter, G Winter, J Wolff, A Wong, CLL Wong, SY Wong, CS Wood, C Woodrow, A Woodward, B Woodward, E Wright, HL Wright, F Wu, S Yalamarthi, P Yang, E Yardimci, T Yasin, SK Yen, S Yoganathan, S Yoong, H Youssef, LPS Yow, A Zaborowski, AZ Zadi, ZA Zarka, MA Zarog, AY Zhang, Nepogodiev, D., Wilkin, R. J., Bradshaw, C. J., Skerritt, C., Ball, A., Moni-Nwinia, W., Blanco-Colino, R., Chauhan, P., Drake, T. M., Frasson, M., Gee, O., Glasbey, J. C., Matthews, J. H., Morley, G. L., Naumann, D. N., Pata, F., Soares, A. S., Bhangu, A., Abbas, S. H., Abdelgadir, A. M., Abdelrahman, A., Abdelrahman, M., Abdelwahed, A., Abou El Ella, Y., Abulafi, M., Acharya, A., Adam, M. E., Adams, R. E., Adegbola, S. O., Adimonye, A., Adnan, M., Afshar, S., Ahad, A., Ahel, J., Ahern, D. P., Ahmad Asmadi, A., Ahmed, B., Ahmed, G., Ahmed, O. S., Ahmed, S., Akbari, K., Akinsola, O., Al-Khyatt, W., Al-Sarireh, B., Al-Sheikh, M., Alani, M., Alexander, R., Alhammali, T., Ali, M., Aljorfi, A., Allen, M., Allington, J., Alshafei, A., Amarasinghe, R., Amayo, A., Amin, V., Amuthalingam, T., Anandan, L., Anderson, O., Andreani, S. M., Andrews, B., Ang, A., Aravind, B., Archer, J. E., Aremu, M. A., Arunachalam, S., Aruparayil, N., Ashmore, D. L., Ashour, O., Ashraf, N., Assaf, N., Avalapati, H., Awokoya, O. O., Ayube-Brown, J., Badenoch, T., Bagga, R., Baginski, A., Bailey, S., Bailey, S. T. R., Baird, C., Baker, B., Balai, E. J., Balasubramaniam, A., Bandyopadhyay, S. K., Banks, A., Bansal, H., Barnieh, W., Barrie, A., Barter, C. A., Bastianpillai, J., Beasley, W. D., Bell, C. R., Bell, J., Beral, D., Berry, B. J. M., Bevan, K. E., Bevan, V., Bhanderi, S., Bhargava, A., Bilku, D., Birindelli, A., Blackford, O. D., Blackwell, J. E. M., Blake, L., Blencowe, N. S., Boam, T. D., Boereboom, C., Bogdan, M., Bohra, P., Bolger, J. C., Bolton, W., Bond, S., Borg, C. M., Borghol, K., Boshier, P. R., Bouhadiba, N., Bowen, J., Bowerman, H., Bowman, C. R., Boyd-Carson, H., Branagan, G., Brennan, P., Brett, M., Brewer, H. K., Brewer, H., Bronder, C., Brown, A., Brown, A. G., Brown, C. E., Brown, M., Brown, R., Buckley-Jones, S., Budzanowski, A., Bukhari, W., Bull, C., Bullivant, J. K., Burns, K. M., Burnside, D., Busuttil, A., Byrne, B. E., Byrnes, C. K., Caldwell, M., Callan, R., Cameron, F. C., Campbell, U., Campbell, U. M., Campbell, W., Carden, C. A., Carder, C. F. W., Carney, K., Cartwright, H., Cay, P., Chalk, A., Chambers, B., Champsi, A., Chan, D., Chan, T. C. W., Chandler, S. B., Chapman, J., Charalabopoulos, A., Chasty, B., Chatzikonstantinou, M., Cheah, W. L., Chean, C. S., Cheng, S., Cheng, S. A., Cheruvu, M., Chin, M. Y., Chishti, I. A., Choi, S., Chok, S. M., Chong, B., Choong, J. H., Chowdhary, M., Chowdhury, F., Choy, C. H., Christian, L., Christopoulos, P., Chui, K., Cipparrone, M., Clark, G. L., Clarke, S. A., Cleeve, S. J., Clement, K. D., Clements, B., Clements, C., Clements, J. D., Clements, J. M., Clements, J. S., Clements, J. A., Clingan, R., Cloney, L., Clough, E. C. S., Coe, P. O., Collier-Wakefield, O., Colliver, D. W., Colvin, D. A., Connelly, T. M., Connor, M. J., Cook, V., Cooke, F., Cooper, F., Cotton, A. E., Couch, D. G., Cousins, L., Coyle, D., Creasy, W., Cresner, R. L., Crone, A., Cross, K., Crozier, J., Cunha, P., Curtis, N. J., D'Souza, N., Dagash, H., Dalmia, S., Daniels, I., Danquah-Boateng, D., Dar, F. A., Dart, K., Das, A., Daureeawoo, R., Davidson, S., Davidson, J. R., Davies, P. L., Davis, S., Daya Shetty, V., De-Manzoni-Garberini, A., De-Marchi, J. A., Dean, E. A., Dean, S., Delimpalta, C., Denley, S., Dennison, G., Devine, A. A., Dharamavaram, S., Dhari, A. A., Di Franco, F., Di Saverio, S., Dobson, C., Docherty, J. A., Doherty, C., Donaldson, G., Donohoe, N. O., Donohoe, O., Douka, E., Doulias, T., Downey, M., Doyle, C., Drye, N., Du, D. T., Dudek, J. G., Dunning, P. G., Dyal, A. R. S., Eardley, N. J., Earnshaw, L., Easdon, S., Edwards, S. E., Egan, R. J., El-Masry, S., El-Tayar, O., Elbourne, C. R., Elgaddal, S., Elseedawy, M., Elshaer, M., Elsharnoby, O. H., Elzeneini, W. M. A., Emslie, K. M., Engall, N. F. T., Ertansel, B., Esmail, H. D., Ettles, C., Evans, J., Evans, J. D., Everden, A., Fadel, M., Fahmy, S. E., Fairfield, C. J., Fanibi, B. F., Farina, V., Farrell, S. M., Farrow, E. Z., Fasuyi, J. A., Faulkner, G., Fawkner-Corbett, D., Fawzi, F., Fehervari, M., Ferguson, N., Finch, J. G., Finlayson, H., Flack, T., Foers, W., Foley, N. M., Ford, K., Forgie, A., Foster, A., Foster, J. D., Fox, A. M. W., Francis, N., Franklin, D., Froud, H., Fuller, H. L., Gaines, E., Galea, J., Gammeri, E., Garnham, J., Garvin, J., Gates, Z., Gentry, R., Ghaffari, I., Ghatorae, S., Gidwani, A. L., Gilbert, T. G., Gilbert, T. M., Gill, S., Gillespie, M., Gillick, J., Giorga, A., Gopalakrishnan, K., Gopalswamy, S., Gopinath, S., Gormely, R., Govind, G., Grant, C., Graveston, J., Gray, J., Gray, R. T., Griffith, D., Griffith, J. P., Griffiths, E. A., Griffiths, S. N., Griggs, E. J., Grosvenor, S., Grove, T., Gulamhussein, M., Guliani, J., Gummaraju, A., Gunning, S., Gurjar, S. V., Guru-Naidu, S., Gurung, S., Habib, H., Hackney, L., Haddow, J. B., Hajibandeh, S., Halkias, C., Hall, N. J., Hamelmann, R. N., Haneef, M., Haneef, M. S., Hanif, Z., Hanley, C., Hann, A. J., Hanna, T., Hardy, E., Harlinska, A., Harper, F., Harries, R. L., Harris, A., Harris, G., Harris, M. P., Hasan, R., Hassane, A., Hatt, J. R., Haveliwala, Z., Hawkins, W., Hayat, Z., Hayes, C., Hebbar, K. R. M., Henderson, L., Henderson, L. T., Herrod, P. J. J., Hever, P., Hickey, L. M., Hicks, G., Hodgson, J. M., Hoff, M., Hollingsworth, A., Hook, A., Hornby, S. T., Horsfield, E., Howie, E. E., Huang, L., Hudson-Peacock, N. J., Hughes, D. L., Hureibi, K. A., Hussain, A., Hussain, N., Hussaini, S. A., Hussein, A., Hutchinson, B., Ibrahim, Y. M. S., Ikram, S., Ilozue, T., Iosif, E., Iqbal, M. R., Irukulla, S., Irwin, R., Islam, N., Ivey, P., Jackson, C. R., Jackson, A., Jah, S. M. H., Jain, A., Jain, S., Jama, G. M., Jamieson, N. B., Janardanan, S., Jasinski, B., Jenner, D., Jerome, E., Johnson, B., Johnstone, A., Jokhan, S., Jones, A., Jones, C. E., Jones, C. S., Jones, E., Jones, L., Kabir, U., Kabwama, S., Kamal, M., Kamande, I. W., Kanakala, V., Kannegieser-Bailey, M., Kaptanis, S., Karim, M. J., Karwal, R. S., Kaur, G., Keegan, R., Kelay, A., Kennedy, N. D., Kent, D. A., Khair, A., Khan, K., Khan, S., Khasria, A., Kho, H., Kilkenny, J., King, R., Kinross, J., Kirkham, E. N., Knight, B., Kochupapy, R., Koh, C., Kouli, O., Krishnamoorthy, A., Krivan, S., Kumar, K., Kumar, S., Kung, V. W. S., Kuo, R., Lafaurie, G., Lai, C. W., Lal, N., Lawday, S., Layman, S., Layton, G. R., Lazzaro, A., Lecky-Thompson, L., Lee, K. A., Lee, K. J., Lee, M., Lee, S. L., Leighton, P. A., Leitch, R. P., Lennox-Warburton, H. C., Leung, E. L., Li, C. H., Lim, J. M., Limb, C., Ljungqvist, G., Lloyd, G., Lodhia, S., Logan, P. C., Long, M., Long, P., Long, R. H., Longshaw, A., Louw, C., Lund, J. N., Ly, C., Lynch Wong, M. J., Ma, J. K. Y., Macdonald, A., Macinnes, E. G. E., Magro, T., Mahapatra, R., Mahendran, B., Mahmood, F., Mahmoud, A., Mahon, D., Mai, D., Maina, A., Major, C. P., Makhija, R., Malam, Y., Malik, A., Malik, K., Malik, S. N., Manda, V. M., Manektella, K. M., Mann, C., Manoharan, P., Manson, R., Mansoor, S., Mansour, M. M., Mansour, S., Maqboul, F., Maragouthakis, D., Marangoni, G., Mardhiah, S., Maripi, H., Marriott, P., Marsh, L., Marshall, G., Martin, A., Martin, L. M., Martinou, E., Mashar, R., Mason, J., Masood, M., Mathew, G., Maude, K., Mazumdar, E., Mc-Dermott, A., Mcarthur, D., Mccain, R. S., Mccain, S., Mccann, C., Mccaughey, P., Mccluney, S. J., Mccullough, J., Mcdonnell, D., Mcdowall, N. A., Mcentee, J. E., Mcglynn, K., Mcgrath, D., Mcgucken, O., Mcilwaine, S., Mcilwrath, A. C., Mckay, S. C., Mckelvie, M. A., Mckenna, M., Mckeon, J., Mckevitt, K. L., Mckinley, N. C., Mclaughlin, D., Mcmahon, S. V., Mcmorran, D., Mcnally, L., Mcquaid, M., Mcwhirter, D. M., Mealy, K., Mears, A., Menzies, D., Merai, H., Mersh, R. J., Miguras, M., Milgrom, D., Miller, K., Milward, J., Mirza, S., Misky, A. T., Mistry, D., Mitchard, M. J., Mitru, R. M., Mohamed, I. M., Mohamed, I., Mohamed, T. M., Mohamed, W. O., Mohd, N., Moore, C., Moradzadeh, J., Morrison, T. E. M., Morrison-Jones, V., Morton, D. G., Mothe, B. S., Motiwala, F., Motter, D., Mowbray, N. G., Mughal, Z., Mulsow, J., Mundkur, N., Muntean, A., Murphy, C., Murphy, R., Murray, M. P., Muzaffar, M., Myatt, A., Nadeem, A., Nagarajan, D., Nagendram, S., Nair, A., Nair, M. K., Nair, M. S., Naismith, K. N., Nambiar, K., Nana, G. R., Nash, Z., Nastro, P., Nazarian, S., Neagle, G., Neale, A., Neary, P. M., Newton, R. C., Ng, M., Ng, S., Niaz, O., Nickson, S., Nicol, D., Nimako, E., Noor Mohamed, M. S., Nyeko-Lacek, M., O'Connor, B. R., O'Neill, E., O'Neill, N., O'Sullivan, D., O'Brien, J., Oakey, M., Obeid, N., Odeh, A., Ogboru, S., Ogbuokiri, C., Okekunle, B., Okorocha, E., Olagbaiye, O., Olivier, J. B., Ooi, R., Orawiec, P., Orizu, M., Orme, N., Ormiston, R., Paget, C., Pal, A., Palani-Velu, L. K., Pan, Y., Panda, N., Pandey, V., Pandya, R., Pandya, D., Paramasevon, K. R., Pardy, C., Parkola, M. J., Pasquali, S., Patel, A. S., Patel, B. Y., Patel, C., Patel, H., Patel, N., Patel, R. T., Patel, S., Patel, Y., Patel, M. M., Patil, S. D., Payne, C. J., Payne, R. E., Pearce, J. C. H., Pearce, L., Pedder, A., Peirce, C. B., Peiris, G. B., Peleki, A., Pellino, G., Pento, V., Peprah, D., Perera, H. S., Perera, M. I., Phelan, L., Photiou, D., Pierre, R., Pilkington, J. P., Pinkney, T. D., Pisavadia, B., Poacher, A., Podda, M., Pollard, H., Popova, D., Poudevigne, M., Prideaux, A., Pullabatla Venkata, U. P., Quddus, A., Quill, S., Rabie, M., Rabie, M. R., Radwan, R. W., Rae, J. F., Rahim, A., Rahmani, L. S., Rajagopal, S., Rajaram, R., Rajaretnam, N., Rajjoub, Y., Rallage, H., Ramcharan, S., Ranathunga, S., Rao, M., Rao, V. S. R., Raofi, A., Rashid, M., Rate, A., Ravindran, R., Raymond, M., Raza, S. S., Reddy, A., Redman, E. P., Redmond, A. E., Rekhraj, S., Renshaw, S., Rex, D., Rezacova, M., Rezvani, S., Ribeiro, B., Rich, J. E., Richardson, T. D., Rigby, S., Rigney, B., Rinkoff, S., Robb, H. D., Robertson, C., Robinson, D., Robinson, A., Rodger, V., Rolph, R., Roomi, S., Roth, N. P. G., Rothnie, K., Roy, C., Rupani, S., Rutherford, D. G., Sacks, R., Saghir, N., Saha, A., Sahay, S. J., Sahnan, K., Salama, Y., Salim, S., Samuel, M., Sana, S., Sandu, L., Sarmah, P., Sarveswaran, J., Saunders, S. M. F., Savill, A., Savioli, F., Schuster Bruce, J. R., Sebastian, J. F., Seddon, T. C., Seneviratne, N., Seth, M., Setshwaelo, T., Sezen, E., Sgardelis, P., Sgro, A., Shah, C., Shah, J., Shah, K., Shah, S. M., Shakoor, Z., Shalaby, M. S., Shanmuganathan, V., Shanmugarajah, K., Sharma, A., Sharma, P., Sharp, O. L., Shepherd, J. A., Sherif, M. A., Shet, S., Shingler, G., Shiwani, M. H., Shreshta, D., Sian, T., Siddiqui, M. N., Siddiqui, Z. A., Siggens, K. L., Sihra, N., Silva, I., Simioni, A., Simmonds, L. F. C., Simpson, D. J., Singh, A., Singh, S., Singhal, T., Sivaloganathan, P., Sloan, K., Smallcombe, N., Smart, C. J., Smart, N. J., Smith, R., Smoker, H., Solinas, L., Souter, J. E. H., Springate, E. L., Stephens, G. F., Stevenson, R., Stewart, D. J., Stoica, I., Strachan, E., Stubbs, B. M., Stupalkowska, W., Suliman, A., Sultana, A., Sunter, H., Suriyakumar, S., Symons, N. R. A., Szentpali, K., Szucs, A., Tabain, V., Tague, L. E., Tailor, K., Tan, C. Y., Tan, S., Tang, A. M., Tarazi, M., Tay, Y. H., Tayeh, S., Taylor, M., Taylor, N. S., Taze, D., Teasdale, E., Thakral, N., Thava, B., Thavanesan, N., Thaventhiran, A. J., Theodoropoulou, K., Thomas, A. T., Thomas, L., Thompson, D. B., Thompson, R., Thoukididou, S. N., Tiboni, S. G., Tiedt, L. A., Ting, N., Tinsley, B. J., Tognarelli, J. M., Torkington, J., Torrance, A., Townsend, D. C., Tozer, P. J., Trail, M., Trew, F., Tudyka, V., Tullie, L., Turnbull, A., Turner, E. J., Twum-Barima, C. S., Tyler, R., Vakis, S., Valle, A. L., Van Boxel, G. I., Vance-Daniel, J., Varcada, M., Varma, N., Vaughan, E. M., Velchuru, V. R., Velho, R., Venkatasubramaniam, A. K., Venn, M. L., Vijay, V., Vinnicombe, Z., Vitish-Sharma, P., Wagener, S., Waite, K., Walters, K. J., Walters, U., Wardle, B. G., Wardle, S. D., Warusavitarne, J., Watfah, J., Watson, N., Wauchope, J., Weatherburn, L. W., Weegenaar, C. R., Welsh, S., Wheatstone, S., Whewell, H. E., Whitehouse, P., Whiteman, E., Whittaker, L., Wijesundera, K., Wilkinson, D., Williams, G. L., Williams, M., Williams, R., Williams, S., Wilson, E. J., Wilson, M. S. J., Winter, D. C., Winter, G., Wolff, J., Wong, A., Wong, C. L. L., Wong, S. Y., Wood, C. S., Woodrow, C., Woodward, A., Woodward, B., Wright, E., Wright, H. L., Wu, F., Yalamarthi, S., Yang, P., Yardimci, E., Yasin, T., Yen, S. K., Yoganathan, S., Yoong, S., Youssef, H., Yow, L. P. S., Zaborowski, A., Zadi, A. Z., Zarka, Z. A., Zarog, M. A., and Zhang, A. Y.

Subjects
Male, Pediatrics, medicine.medical_specialty, Validation study, Adolescent, Ultrasound scan, Pain, Risk prediction models, Risk Assessment, Sensitivity and Specificity, Cohort Studies, Ilium, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Predictive Value of Tests, 030225 pediatrics, Developmental and Educational Psychology, medicine, Appendectomy, Humans, Prospective Studies, 030212 general & internal medicine, Surgical emergency, Child, Ultrasonography, business.industry, Area under the curve, Appendicitis, medicine.disease, United Kingdom, Child, Preschool, Acute Disease, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Female, Right iliac fossa pain, business, Ireland, Cohort study
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in children. Differentiation of acute appendicitis from conditions that do not require operative management can be challenging in children. This study aimed to identify the optimum risk prediction model to stratify acute appendicitis risk in children. METHODS: We did a rapid review to identify acute appendicitis risk prediction models. A prospective, multicentre cohort study was then done to evaluate performance of these models. Children (aged 5-15 years) presenting with acute right iliac fossa pain in the UK and Ireland were included. For each model, score cutoff thresholds were systematically varied to identify the best achievable specificity while maintaining a failure rate (ie, proportion of patients identified as low risk who had acute appendicitis) less than 5%. The normal appendicectomy rate was the proportion of resected appendixes found to be normal on histopathological examination. FINDINGS:15 risk prediction models were identified that could be assessed. The cohort study enrolled 1827 children from 139 centres, of whom 630 (34·5%) underwent appendicectomy. The normal appendicectomy rate was 15·9% (100 of 630 patients). The Shera score was the best performing model, with an area under the curve of 0·84 (95% CI 0·82-0·86). Applying score cutoffs of 3 points or lower for children aged 5-10 years and girls aged 11-15 years, and 2 points or lower for boys aged 11-15 years, the failure rate was 3·3% (95% CI 2·0-5·2; 18 of 539 patients), specificity was 44·3% (95% CI 41·4-47·2; 521 of 1176), and positive predictive value was 41·4% (38·5-44·4; 463 of 1118). Positive predictive value for the Shera score with a cutoff of 6 points or lower (72·6%, 67·4-77·4) was similar to that of ultrasound scan (75·0%, 65·3-83·1). INTERPRETATION: The Shera score has the potential to identify a large group of children at low risk of acute appendicitis who could be considered for early discharge. Risk scoring does not identify children who should proceed directly to surgery. Medium-risk and high-risk children should undergo routine preoperative ultrasound imaging by operators trained to assess for acute appendicitis, and MRI or low-dose CT if uncertainty remains. FUNDING: None.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

7. Band gap narrowing and dielectric constant enhancement of (NbxTa(1-x))2O5 by electrochemical nitrogen doping

Author

F. Di Franco, Andrea Zaffora, Monica Santamaria, Di Franco, F., Zaffora, A., and Santamaria, M.

Subjects
Photocurrent, Materials science, Differential capacitance, Band gap, General Chemical Engineering, Doping, Analytical chemistry, 02 engineering and technology, Dielectric, Photon energy, 010402 general chemistry, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Electrochemistry, 01 natural sciences, 0104 chemical sciences, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Sputtering, Chemical Engineering (all), 0210 nano-technology
Abstract

Anodic films were grown to 5 V and 50 V on Nb, Ta and Ta-Nb sputtering deposited alloys in 0.1 M ammonium biborate solutions in order to induce N incorporation. Their properties were compared to those of N free anodic films grown to the same formation voltages in 0.1 M NaOH. Photoelectrochemical measurements evidenced the presence of optical transitions at energy lower than the band gap of the oxides, attributed to localized states located close to the valence band mobility edge of the films, generated by N 2p orbitals, with consequent narrowing of the band gap. Since N incorporation occurs in the outer 70% of the anodic films, the dependence of the measured photocurrent as a function of photon energy was modelled considering a bi-layered film with an outer N doped layer and an inner N free layer. The mobility of the photogenerated carriers involving states due to N 2p orbitals is lower than the mobility of extended states due to O2−. Differential capacitance measurements allow to prove an enhancement of the dielectric constant of at least 20% due to the electrochemical N doping. For anodic films on Ta-66 at.%Nb a dielectric constant even higher (eox = 58.8) than that for pure Nb2O5 was measured.

Published
2018
Full Text
View/download PDF

8. BriXS, a new X-ray inverse Compton source for medical applications

Author

Luca Serafini, Giovanni Mettivier, Angelo Taibi, Edoardo Suerra, Alberto Bacci, Simone Cialdi, P. Cardarelli, Gianfranco Paternò, M. Rossetti Conti, Dario Giannotti, Antonio Sarno, Francesco Canella, A. Loria, R. Castriconi, Paolo Russo, A. Del Vecchio, Riccardo Calandrino, Vittoria Petrillo, F. di Franco, Mauro Gambaccini, Illya Drebot, Cardarelli, P., Bacci, A., Calandrino, R., Canella, F., Castriconi, R., Cialdi, S., Del Vecchio, A., di Franco, F., Drebot, I., Gambaccini, M., Giannotti, D., Loria, A., Mettivier, G., Paterno, G., Petrillo, V., Rossetti Conti, M., Russo, P., Sarno, A., Suerra, E., Taibi, A., and Serafini, L.

Subjects
Photon, Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Biophysics, General Physics and Astronomy, Inverse, Socio-culturale, Electrons, Electron, Photon energy, 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Optics, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Inverse Compton, Monochromatic X-ray, X-ray imaging, Physics, Photons, business.industry, Lasers, X-Rays, X-ray imaging, X-ray, Free-electron laser, General Medicine, Inverse Compton, Radiography, Transverse plane, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Monochromatic X-ray, business, Coherence (physics)
Abstract

MariX is a research infrastructure conceived for multi-disciplinary studies, based on a cutting-edge system of combined electron accelerators at the forefront of the world-wide scenario of X-ray sources. The generation of X-rays over a large photon energy range will be enabled by two unique X-ray sources: a Free Electron Laser and an inverse Compton source, called BriXS (Bright compact X-ray Source). The X-ray beam provided by BriXS is expected to have an average energy tunable in the range 20–180 keV and intensities between 1011 and 1013 photon/s within a relative bandwidth Δ E / E = 1 –10 % . These characteristics, together with a very small source size ( ~ 20 μ m) and a good transverse coherence, will enable a wide range of applications in the bio-medical field. An additional unique feature of BriXS will be the possibility to make a quick switch of the X-ray energy between two values for dual-energy and K-edge subtraction imaging. In this paper, the expected characteristics of BriXS will be presented, with a particular focus on the features of interest to its possible medical applications.

Published
2020

9. Advanced Monte Carlo application for in-silico clinical trials in x-ray breast imaging

Author

Gianfranco Paternò, Giovanni Mettivier, F. di Franco, M. E. Fantacci, Kristina Bliznakova, P. Cardarelli, Angelo Taibi, Antonio Sarno, A. H. Hernandez, John M. Boone, Raffaele M. Tucciariello, Paolo Russo, Van Ongeval, Chantal, Sarno, A., Mettivier, G., Di Franco, F., Paterno, G., Taibi, A., Cardarelli, P., Tucciariello, R. M., Fantacci, M. E., Bliznakova, K., Hernandez, A. H., Boone, J. M., and Russo, P.

Subjects
Virtual clinical trials, DBT, BCT, mammography, x-ray breast imaging, Monte Carlo, patient-like phantoms, medicine.medical_specialty, x-ray breast imaging, Digital mammography, medicine.diagnostic_test, Breast imaging, business.industry, In silico clinical trials, mammography, Patient-like phantom, Virtual clinical trial, Socio-culturale, DBT, Imaging phantom, BCT, Spectral imaging, Uncompressed video, Software, medicine, Mammography, Medical physics, Virtual clinical trials, business, Monte Carlo, patient-like phantoms
Abstract

In silico reproductions of clinical exams represent an alternative strategy in the research and development of medical devices, which permit to avoid issues and costs related to clinical trials on patient population. In this work, we present a platform for virtual clinical trials in 2D and 3D x-ray breast imaging. The platform, developed by the medical physics team at University of Naples, Italy, permits to simulate digital mammography (DM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and CT dedicated to the breast (BCT) examinations. It relies on Monte Carlo simulations based on Geant4 toolkit and adopts digital models of patients derived from high-resolution 3D clinical breast images acquired at UC Davis, USA. Uncompressed digital breast models for BCT exam simulations were produced by means of a tissue classification algorithm; the compressed digital breast models for simulating DM and DBT are derived by the uncompressed ones via a simulated tissue compression. For a selected exam, specifications and digital patient, the platform computes breast image projections and glandular dose maps within the organ. Energy integrating a well as photon counting and spectral imaging detection scheme have been simulated. The current version of the software uses the Geant4 standard physics list Option4 and simulates and tracks

Published
2020

10. Fabrication of Bismuth Absorber Arrays for NTD-Ge Hard X-ray Microcalorimeters

Author

F. Di Franco, Marco Barbera, Andrea Zaffora, A. Collura, P. Vassallo, U. Lo Cicero, Monica Santamaria, Luigi Botta, Daniele Gulli, Salvatore Varisco, S. Ferruggia Bonura, D. Spoto, Ferruggia Bonura, S., Gulli, D., Barbera, M., Collura, A., Spoto, D., Vassallo, P., Varisco, S., Santamaria, M., Di Franco, F., Zaffora, A., Botta, L., and Lo Cicero, U.

Subjects
Hard X-rays · Low-temperature detectors · NTD-Ge microcalorimeters ·Bismuth absorbers · Bismuth electroplating, Materials science, Fabrication, Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors, business.industry, Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Detector, X-ray, chemistry.chemical_element, Germanium, Plasma, Condensed Matter Physics, 01 natural sciences, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, 010305 fluids & plasmas, Bismuth, Settore FIS/05 - Astronomia E Astrofisica, chemistry, Hard X-rays, 0103 physical sciences, Optoelectronics, General Materials Science, Neutron, 010306 general physics, business
Abstract

The high-spectral-resolution detection of hard X-rays (E > 20 keV) is a challenging and nearly unexplored area in space astrophysics. Traditionally hard X-ray detectors present moderate spectral resolutions, although few tens of eV one could open new frontiers in the study of nuclear processes and high-temperature plasma dynamics in energetic processes. This can be achieved by using cryogenic microcalorimeters. Within a research activity aimed at developing arrays of neutron transmutation-doped germanium (NTD-Ge) microcalorimeters for the high-spectral-resolution detection (about 50 eV@60 keV) of hard X-rays (20 keV 60 μm) bismuth absorber arrays. The adopted technological process and the study of related process parameters are discussed; preliminary results on produced arrays are given.

Published
2020

11. Semiconducting properties of passive films and corrosion layers on weathering steel

Author

G. Tranchida, F. Di Franco, Bartolomeo Megna, Monica Santamaria, Tranchida G., Di Franco F., Megna B., and Santamaria M.

Subjects
Materials science, Band gap, General Chemical Engineering, Iron oxide, 02 engineering and technology, Weathering steel, engineering.material, Conductivity, 010402 general chemistry, 01 natural sciences, Corrosion, chemistry.chemical_compound, Electrochemistry, Polarization (electrochemistry), Band gap, Carbon steel, EIS, Mott–Schottky theory, Semiconductors, business.industry, Doping, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, 0104 chemical sciences, Semiconductor, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Settore ING-IND/22 - Scienza E Tecnologia Dei Materiali, chemistry, Chemical engineering, engineering, 0210 nano-technology, business
Abstract

Anodic films were grown on Weathering Steel by potentiostatic polarization in slightly alkaline solution. The photoelectrochemical results reveal that they are n-type iron oxide with Eg = 2.0 eV. Rust layer grown by atmospheric corrosion are n-type semiconductors with a band gap higher than that estimated for the anodic film attributed to the formation of γ-lepidocrocite. The electrochemical impedance spectra allow to evidence that rust layers have a higher conductivity with respect to anodic films due to the presence of highly doped iron oxide layers. The use of Mott-Schottky theory to model the dependence of oxide capacitance as function of potential is critically discussed.

Published
2020

12. Effect of NaClO disinfection/cleaning on passive films on AISI 316L

Author

F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, Sannakaisa Virtanen, G. Tranchida, Tranchida G., Di Franco F., Virtanen S., and Santamaria M.

Subjects
Materials science, Aqueous solution, EIS, Open-circuit voltage, 020209 energy, General Chemical Engineering, Solid-state, 02 engineering and technology, General Chemistry, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Corrosion, Stainless steel, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Chemical engineering, Polarization, 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Immersion (virtual reality), Passivity, XPS, General Materials Science, 0210 nano-technology, Transpassivity
Abstract

316 L stainless steel samples were passivated in NaClO containing solutions in order to simulate disinfection processes. Passive films were grown at the open circuit potential by immersion in NaClO aqueous solutions at different concentrations and temperature in order to understand how exposure to aggressive environments could affect subsequent corrosion resistance of SSs. In the attempt to study the passive film growth mechanism, in-situ Open Circuit Potential measurements were performed in the same growth solutions. Photoelectrochemical and impedance investigation of passive films was carried out in order to link their solid state properties with their corrosion behaviour.

Published
2020

13. GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations for virtual clinical trials in breast X-ray imaging: Proof of concept

Author

F. di Franco, John M. Boone, Paolo Russo, Antonio Sarno, Kristina Bliznakova, Andrew M. Hernandez, Giovanni Mettivier, di Franco, F., Sarno, A., Mettivier, G., Hernandez, A. M., Bliznakova, K., Boone, J. M., and Russo, P.

Subjects
Scanner, medicine.medical_specialty, Digital mammography, Computer science, Breast imaging, Monte Carlo method, Biophysics, General Physics and Astronomy, 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, medicine, Humans, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Medical physics, Breast, Projection (set theory), Clinical Trials as Topic, General Medicine, Virtual clinical trials, X-ray breast imaging, Monte Carlo, Patient-derived breast phantoms, Uncompressed video, Proof of concept, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Monte Carlo Method, Data compression, Mammography
Abstract

Virtual clinical trials (VCT) are in-silico reproductions of medical examinations, which adopt digital models of patients and simulated devices. They are intended to produce clinically equivalent outcome data avoiding long execution times, ethical issues related to radiation induced risks and huge costs related to real clinical trials with a patient population. In this work, we present a platform for VCT in 2D and 3D X-ray breast imaging. The VCT platform uses Monte Carlo simulations based on the Geant4 toolkit and patient breast models derived from a cohort of high resolution dedicated breast CT (BCT) volume data sets. Projection images of the breast and three-dimensional glandular dose maps are generated for a given breast model, by simulating both 2D full-field digital mammography (DM) and 3D BCT examinations. Uncompressed voxelized breast models were derived from segmented patient images. Compressed versions of the digital breast phantoms for DM were generated using a previously published digital compression algorithm. The Monte Carlo simulation framework has the capability of generating and tracking ~105 photons/s using a server equipped with 16-cores and 3.0 GHz clock speed. The VCT platform will provide a framework for scanner design optimization, comparison between different scanner designs and between different modalities or protocols on computational breast models, without the need for scanning actual patients as in conventional clinical trials.

Published
2019

14. Effects of anodizing surface treatment on the mechanical strength of aluminum alloy 5083 to fibre reinforced composites adhesive joints

Author

Monica Santamaria, Antonino Valenza, D. Badagliacco, F. Di Franco, Vincenzo Fiore, R. Miranda, Fiore V., Di Franco F., Miranda R., Santamaria M., Badagliacco D., and Valenza A.

Subjects
Materials science, Polymers and Plastics, General Chemical Engineering, Alloy, chemistry.chemical_element, 02 engineering and technology, engineering.material, Corrosion, Biomaterials, 03 medical and health sciences, chemistry.chemical_compound, 0302 clinical medicine, Aluminium, Ultimate tensile strength, Aluminium alloy, Composite material, Anodizing, technology, industry, and agriculture, 030206 dentistry, Epoxy, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Silane, Settore ING-IND/22 - Scienza E Tecnologia Dei Materiali, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, visual_art, Adhesive joint, Anodizing, Basalt, Corrosion resistance, Silane coupling agent, Surface treatment, visual_art.visual_art_medium, engineering, 0210 nano-technology
Abstract

In this study, the anodizing process based on the use of tartaric sulfuric acid solution (TSA) was carried out on metal substrate to evaluate for the first time its effect on the adhesion strength and corrosion resistance of aluminium alloy (i.e., AA5083) to fibre (i.e., basalt or glass) reinforced composite adhesive joints for nautical applications. Furthermore, some TSA anodized samples were soaked in a NaOH solution to investigate the influence of this post-immersion step on the joint performances. With the aim to improve the fibre-matrix adhesion in the composite substrate thus further increasing the overall mechanical response of the joint, glass and basalt fibres were treated with a silane coupling agent solution. The corrosion behaviour of the aluminium alloy was studied by electrochemical techniques. Samples morphology was analysed by scanning electron microscopy, while the interaction between aluminium alloy substrate and epoxy resin was studied through contact angle analysis and resin uptake tests. The effectiveness of the silane treatment was examined by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and quasi-static tensile tests carried out on dry glass and basalt fabrics. The mechanical response of the resulting joints was evaluated by means of quasi-static tensile tests in accordance to ASTM D3528 standard.

Published
2021
Full Text
View/download PDF

15. The Amorphous Semiconductor Schottky Barrier Approach to Study the Electronic Properties of Anodic Films on Ti

Author

F. P. La Mantia, S. Miraghaei, F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Quarto, Di Quarto, F., Di Franco, F., Miraghaei, S., Santamaria, M., and La Mantia, F.

Subjects
Materials Chemistry2506 Metals and Alloys, Amorphous semiconductors, Materials science, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, business.industry, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Material, Schottky barrier, Surfaces, Coatings and Film, 02 engineering and technology, 010402 general chemistry, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Condensed Matter Physics, Metal–semiconductor junction, 01 natural sciences, 0104 chemical sciences, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Anode, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Optoelectronics, 0210 nano-technology, business, Electronic properties
Abstract

A detailed study of the electronic properties of thin (>20 nm) anodic TiO2 potentiostatically grown on titanium in two different solutions is presented. The results show that the nature of the anodizing solution affects the electronic properties of the anodic film and, more specifically, the density of electronic states (DOS) distribution. Different DOS were derived from the experimental data analyzed according to the theory of amorphous semiconductor (a-SC) Schottky barrier. It is shown that the usual non-linear and frequency dependent Mott-Schottky plots are in agreement with expected theoretical behavior of a-SC Schottky barrier.

Published
2017
Full Text
View/download PDF

16. Corrosion resistance of passive films on different stainless steel grades in food and beverage industry

Author

G. Tranchida, F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, Santamaria M., Tranchida G., and Di Franco F.

Subjects
Materials science, Food industry, 020209 energy, General Chemical Engineering, Beverage industry, Fatty foods, 02 engineering and technology, Electrolyte, Stainless steel, Corrosion, 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Immersion (virtual reality), General Materials Science, Polarization (electrochemistry), Dissolution, EIS, Open-circuit voltage, digestive, oral, and skin physiology, fungi, Metallurgy, technology, industry, and agriculture, General Chemistry, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Polarization resistance, ICP-OES, Passivity, 0210 nano-technology
Abstract

Passive films were grown on 304 L, 316 L and Duplex stainless steels by immersion at open circuit potential in solutions mimicking food and beverage industry environments. In acidic food stainless steel surfaces are covered by Cr rich passive films, and generalized dissolution occurs on their surface with consequent ions release into the electrolyte. In fatty food the concentration of released ions is significantly lower since generalized corrosion does not occur, but the loss on MnS inclusions strongly reduces the polarization resistance in this environment especially for 304 L due to its higher localized corrosion susceptibility with respect to the other grades.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

17. Rotational radiotherapy of breast cancer with polyenergetic kilovoltage X-ray beams: An experimental and Monte Carlo phantom study

Author

Marica Masi, Paolo Russo, P. de Lucia, F. di Franco, Antonio Sarno, Giovanni Mettivier, F. Di Lillo, F. Buonanno, Buonanno, F., Sarno, Antonio, De Lucia, P. A., DI LILLO, Francesca, Masi, Marica, Di Franco, F., Mettivier, G., and Russo, Paolo

Subjects
Materials science, Rotation, medicine.medical_treatment, Monte Carlo method, Biophysics, General Physics and Astronomy, Breast Neoplasms, Imaging phantom, Collimated light, 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Breast cancer, medicine, Cylinder, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Irradiation, Radiometry, Computed tomography, Monte Carlo simulation, Radiotherapy, business.industry, Phantoms, Imaging, X-Rays, Radiotherapy Dosage, General Medicine, medicine.disease, Radiation therapy, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Rotational kilovoltage radiotherapy, Nuclear medicine, business, Monte Carlo Method
Abstract

Purpose We investigated the feasibility of kilovoltage rotational radiotherapy for breast cancer (kV-EBRT) via Monte Carlo simulations and measurements on phantoms. Methods We derived the dose distributions for X-ray beams at 150 kV, 300 kVp and 320 kV irradiating breast cylindrical phantoms of 14 cm diameter, mimicking the pendant breast. Simulations were based on the Geant4 toolkit. The point-like X-ray source was rotated either over a full circle or on a limited arc around the phantom. We studied the influence on the surface dose of the distance between the tumor lesion to the skin, of the irradiation protocol (full scan or partial scan) and of the X-ray tube current modulation. Results Rotational kV-EBRT permitted a periphery-to-center dose ratio from 13% to 9% in homogeneous breast phantoms. Dose distributions in phantoms with off-center simulated lesions, showed a skin-to-tumor dose ratio of 16% and 34% for lesions at 3.25 and 5.25 cm from cylinder axis, respectively. Simulation of the X-ray tube current modulation during the rotation, permits to reach a dose ratio of 20% for the lesion located at 5.25 cm from phantom axis. Conclusions We showed the possibility of using low-energy X-ray spectra for kV-EBRT with collimated beams, for obtaining a periphery-to-center dose ratio in the same order of conventional accelerator based megavoltage radiotherapy, when the irradiated area is localized in the center of the breast. For tumors localized near the breast border, we showed that the tube current modulation can be a good solution in order to reduce the skin-to-tumor dose ratio.

Published
2019

18. Role of Molybdenum on the Electronic Properties of Passive Films on Stainless Steels

Author

G. Tranchida, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Franco, Tranchida G., Di Franco F., and Santamaria M.

Subjects
Molybdenum, Materials science, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Metallurgy, chemistry.chemical_element, Stainless Steels, Condensed Matter Physics, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, Passive Film, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Electronic Propertie, Electronic properties
Abstract

Potentiostatic polarization of different stainless steel grades with a mirror surface finishing was performed in order to investigate the role of Mo on stainless steels corrosion behaviour. In the attempt to gain more insight into transpassive dissolution mechanism, passive films were grown in neutral aqueous solution (pH ∼ 7) at different polarizing potentials ranging from passive to transpassive conditions. According to the photoelectrochemical characterization, Cr dissolution occurs even at low polarizing potentials in the case of AISI 304L, while higher band gap values were obtained for passive films grown on austenitic 316L and duplex SSs. Capacitance measurements suggest that the flat band potential values estimated for passive films grown on austenitic 316L and duplex SS are more noble if compared to that of AISI 304L at all polarizing potentials. This is rationalized by considering that passive films on 316L and duplex are doped with Mo during film growth, changing their electronics properties (band gap and flat band potential) with a consequent shift to more positive value of the potential for chromate formation and dissolution.

Published
2020
Full Text
View/download PDF

19. Relation between improved corrosion performance and the TCP post-treatment applied on aluminium alloys

Author

P., Marcus, A., Romaine, A.-I., Stoica, F. Di, Franco, S., Zanna, A., Seyeux, B., Fori, Swiatowska, Jolanta, Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris (IRCP), Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris - Chimie ParisTech-PSL (ENSCP), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Ministère de la Culture (MC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), and Swiatowska, Jolanta

Subjects
[CHIM.INOR] Chemical Sciences/Inorganic chemistry, [CHIM.MATE] Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry, [CHIM] Chemical Sciences, [CHIM]Chemical Sciences, [CHIM.MATE]Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry, [CHIM.INOR]Chemical Sciences/Inorganic chemistry, ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS
Abstract

International audience

Published
2018

20. Electroplated bismuth absorbers for planar NTD-Ge sensor arrays applied to hard x-ray detection in astrophysics

Author

Monica Santamaria, Elena Puccio, Luigi Botta, Nicola Montinaro, Salvatore Varisco, Alfonso Collura, Andrea Zaffora, U. Lo Cicero, Daniele Gulli, S. Ferruggia Bonura, Marco Barbera, A. Maniscalco, F. Di Franco, D. Spoto, Luisa Sciortino, Michela Todaro, Ferruggia Bonura, Salvatore, Gulli, Daniele, Barbera, Marco, Collura, Alfonso, Sciortino, Luisa, Spoto, Domenico, Todaro, Michela, Puccio, Elena, Montinaro, Nicola, Varisco, Salvatore, Santamaria, Monica, Di Franco, Francesco, Maniscalco, A., Zaffora, Andrea, Botta, Luigi, and Lo Cicero, Ugo

Subjects
Materials science, Fabrication, electroplating, NTD-Ge, X-ray detector, chemistry.chemical_element, Germanium, Condensed Matter Physic, 01 natural sciences, thick film, 010305 fluids & plasmas, Bismuth, X-ray, Planar, Settore FIS/05 - Astronomia E Astrofisica, Microcalorimeter, 0103 physical sciences, bismuth, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 010306 general physics, Electroplating, business.industry, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Material, Doping, Detector, Computer Science Applications1707 Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Applied Mathematic, chemistry, Optoelectronics, business
Abstract

Single sensors or small arrays of manually assembled neutron transmutation doped germanium (NTD-Ge) based microcalorimeters have been widely used as high energy-resolution detectors from infrared to hard X-rays. Several planar technological processes were developed in the last years aimed at the fabrication of NTD-Ge arrays, specifically designed to produce soft X-ray detectors. One of these processes consists in the fabrication of the absorbers. In order to absorb efficiently hard X-ray photons, the absorber has to be properly designed and a suitable material has to be employed. Bismuth offers interesting properties in terms of absorbing capability, of low heat capacity (needed to obtain high energy resolution) and deposition technical feasibility, moreover, it has already been used as absorber for other types of microcalorimeters. Here we present the electroplating process we adopted to grow bismuth absorbers for fabricating planar microcalorimeter arrays for hard X-rays detection. The process was specifically tuned to grow uniform Bi films with thickness up to ~ 70 μm. This work is part of a feasibility study for a stratospheric balloon borne experiment that would observe hard X-rays (20-100 keV) from solar corona.

Published
2018

21. Anodization and anodic oxides

Author

Andrea Zaffora, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Franco, F. Di Quarto, Klaus Wandelt, Di Franco F., Zaffora A., Santamaria M., and Di Quarto F.

Subjects
Materials science, Nanotechnology, 02 engineering and technology, Dielectric, Anodizing, Electrochemistry, Corrosion, Al alloys, Microelectronics, Coatings, 0502 economics and business, Growth kinetics, Valve metals, 050207 economics, Thin film, Porosity, High-k materials, Electrolytic capacitor, Barrier-type oxides, 05 social sciences, Metallurgy, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Porous-type oxides, Anode, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Anodic oxides, Alumina membranes, Dielectrics, 0210 nano-technology, Aluminum
Abstract

Anodizing is a low-temperature, low-cost electrochemical process allowing for the growth, on the surface of valve metals and valve metal alloys, of anodic oxides of tunable composition and properties. This article is an overview on theoretical aspects concerning the general aspects of the kinetics of growth of barrier and porous anodic oxides and some of their present and possibly future technological applications of anodic oxides. The first part of the article is devoted to anodic oxide growth models, from Guntherschulze and Betz work (in 1934) to the more recent results on barrier and porous oxide films. The second part is focused on industrial processes to fabricate anodic oxides and their application in different technological fields, such as coatings for corrosion protection and as dielectrics for electrolytic capacitors or as gate oxides in thin film field effect transistors (MOS-FET).

Published
2018

22. Electronic properties and corrosion resistance of passive films on austenitic and duplex stainless steels

Author

F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Quarto, G. Tranchida, M. Clesi, Tranchida, G., Clesi, M., Di Franco, F., Di Quarto, F., and Santamaria, M.

Subjects
Chromium, Materials science, Passivation, Band gap, Austenitic stainless steel, 020209 energy, General Chemical Engineering, Photoelectrochemistry, Passive film, Corrosion resistance, chemistry.chemical_element, 02 engineering and technology, engineering.material, Corrosion, Mott-Schottky, 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Electrochemistry, Chemical Engineering (all), Dissolution, Austenite, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, Chemical engineering, engineering, Duplex stainless steel, 0210 nano-technology
Abstract

Passive films were grown at constant potential in acidic (pH∼2) and alkaline (pH∼13) solutions on chromium, AISI 304L, AISI 316L and Duplex stainless steels. Passive films on chromium grow following a high field mechanism considering the presence of dissolution phenomena. According to the photoelectrochemical characterization, passive films on Cr have a bandgap of 3.4 eV when formed in acidic solution, and of 2.4 eV when formed in alkaline solution due to the formation of Cr(OH)3. These films result to be poorly stable against anodic dissolution due to a very anodic flat band potential. Conversely, impedance and photoelectrochemical measurements proved that passive films on stainless steels are chromium rich oxide n-type semiconductors with a very high polarization resistance. Their band gap depends on the pH of the passivation solution and on the SS composition.

Published
2018

23. Resistive switching in microscale anodic titanium dioxide-based memristors

Author

F. Di Franco, Roberto Macaluso, Monica Santamaria, Giuseppe Lullo, Vincenzo Aglieri, U. Lo Cicero, Andrea Zaffora, Mauro Mosca, Aglieri, V., Zaffora, A., Lullo, G., Santamaria, M., Di Franco, F., Lo Cicero, U., Mosca, M., and Macaluso, R.

Subjects
Materials science, Oxide, Nanotechnology, 02 engineering and technology, Memristor, Condensed Matter Physic, Anodizing, 01 natural sciences, RRAM, Settore ING-INF/01 - Elettronica, law.invention, chemistry.chemical_compound, law, 0103 physical sciences, TiO2, General Materials Science, Resistive switching, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Microscale chemistry, Asymmetric hysteresi, 010302 applied physics, business.industry, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Condensed Matter Physics, Anode, Hysteresis, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, Titanium dioxide, Optoelectronics, Materials Science (all), 0210 nano-technology, business
Abstract

Licence CC BY-NC-ND The potentiality of anodic TiO2 as an oxide material for the realization of resistive switching memory cells has been explored in this paper. Cu/anodic-TiO2/Ti memristors of different sizes, ranging from 1 × 1 μm2 to 10 × 10 μm2 have been fabricated and characterized. The oxide films were grown by anodizing Ti films, using three different process conditions. Measured IV curves have shown similar asymmetric bipolar hysteresis behaviors in all the tested devices, with a gradual switching from the high resistance state to the low resistance state and vice versa, and a R_OFF/R_ON ratio of 80 for the thickest oxide film devices.

Published
2018

24. Elective 'True Day Case' Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernia Repair in a District General Hospital: Lessons Learned from 1000 Consecutive Cases

Author

Andriy Solodkyy, Szabolcs Gergely, Adrian Harris, A Fedotovs, F. Di Franco, and Michael Feretis

Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty, Multivariate analysis, Article Subject, business.industry, Patient demographics, General surgery, lcsh:Surgery, Mean age, lcsh:RD1-811, 030230 surgery, medicine.disease, 03 medical and health sciences, Inguinal hernia, 0302 clinical medicine, Patient age, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Clinical Study, medicine, Surgery, Day case surgery, General hospital, business
Abstract

Introduction. Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (LIHR) is ideal for day case surgery. It is recommended that at least 70% should be day cases as a measure of cost-effectiveness. The aims of this study were to (i) assess the rate of true day case (TDC) surgery and (ii) identify predictors associated with unexpected overnight stay (UOS). Methods. Data was collected prospectively on 1000 consecutive elective LIHR performed in a District General Hospital (DGH) over a 7-year period. Data was collected on baseline patient demographics, ASA grade, and intraoperative details. A multivariate analysis was performed in order to identify predictors of UOS. Results. 1000 patients (927 males) underwent elective LIHR. Mean age was 57.3±15.2 years. 915 patients were planned as day case procedures. 822/915 day cases (89.8%) were discharged on the same day and 93 (10.2%) stayed overnight unexpectedly. Patient age, duration of procedure, and patient slot in the operating list were found to be independent predictors (p Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that LIHR is a “true” day case procedure in a DGH. Although some factors associated with UOS cannot be altered, careful patient selection and operating list planning are of paramount importance in order to minimise the burden on healthcare resources.

Published
2018
Full Text
View/download PDF

25. ‘True Day Case’ Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in a High-Volume Specialist Unit and Review of Factors Contributing to Unexpected Overnight Stay

Author

F. Di Franco, Andriy Solodkyy, Szabolcs Gergely, Adrian Harris, N. Oswald, and A. R. Hakeem

Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty, Article Subject, business.industry, General surgery, Gold standard, lcsh:Surgery, Late recovery, Gallstones, lcsh:RD1-811, 030230 surgery, Operation scheduling, medicine.disease, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Medicine, Surgery, Drain insertion, Day case surgery, General hospital, business, Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Research Article
Abstract

Introduction. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the gold standard treatment for gallstones. British Association of Day Case Surgery recommends at least 60% of LCs be performed as day cases. The aim of this study was to assess our rate of true day case LCs and review factors preventing same-day discharge. Methods. We prospectively collected data of all elective LCs performed in a district general hospital over 32 months. Results. 500 patients underwent LC during this period; 438 (88.2%) patients were planned day cases and 59 patients (11.8%) planned overnight stays. Of the planned day cases, 75.8% (n=332) were discharged on the same day and 106 (24.2%) had unexpected overnight stay (UOS). Most patients with BMI >35 and ASA3 planned day case patients were successfully discharged. Drain insertion, longer operations, and late recovery departure were the main reasons for UOS. There were more complications in this group compared to day cases. Conclusions. This unit has a high ‘true day case’ rate of 75.8%. High BMI and ASA3 should not be absolute contraindications to day case surgery. The majority of unexpected overnight stays are unavoidable but may be reduced by patient selection, stringent preoperative assessment, operation scheduling, and reduction in unnecessary drain insertion.

Published
2018

26. Forming-Free and Self-Rectifying Resistive Switching Effect in Anodic Titanium Dioxide-Based Memristors

Author

Luca Razzari, Giuseppe Lullo, Roberto Macaluso, F. Di Franco, Andrea Zaffora, Mauro Mosca, Monica Santamaria, Vincenzo Aglieri, U. Lo Cicero, Aglieri, V., Lullo, G., Mosca, M., MacAluso, R., Zaffora, A., Di Franco, F., Santamaria, M., Lo Cicero, U., and Razzari, L.

Subjects
Titanium Dioxide, Materials science, business.industry, Anodizing, Memristor, RRAM, Settore ING-INF/01 - Elettronica, law.invention, Anode, chemistry.chemical_compound, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, law, Resistive switching, Titanium dioxide, Optoelectronics, Thin film, Photolithography, business, Crossbar array, Multistate resistance, Microscale chemistry
Abstract

The paper presents the resistive switching of electroforming-free Ti/anodic- TiO 2 /Cu memristors. Anodic TiO 2 thin films were prepared by anodizing Ti layers. Microscale devices were fabricated by direct laser-assisted photolithography. Experimental results showed a bipolar and self-rectifying behavior of the devices, which could be useful for crossbar array configurations. Moreover, a gradual resistive switching of the devices in both directions was observed, indicating the presence of multi-level resistance states.

Published
2018

27. Photoelectrochemical Evidence of Cu2O/TiO2 Nanotubes Hetero-Junctions formation and their Physicochemical Characterization

Author

G. Conigliaro, F. Di Quarto, F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, Santamaria, M, Conigliaro, G, Di Franco, F, and Di Quarto, F

Subjects
Photocurrent, Materials science, Aqueous solution, Cu2O/TiO2 nanotubes heterojunctions, electrochemical fabrication, XRD, Raman Spectroscopy, Photoelectrochemical measurements, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Anodizing, Scanning electron microscope, General Chemical Engineering, Analytical chemistry, Oxide, Heterojunction, Electrochemistry, chemistry.chemical_compound, symbols.namesake, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Chemical engineering, chemistry, symbols, Raman spectroscopy
Abstract

Cu2O/TiO2 nanotubes heterojunctions were fabricated by electrochemical deposition of cuprous oxide on TiO2 nanotubes arrays grown by anodizing. X-ray diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy analysis allows for identification of Cu2O, whose morphological features were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy as a function of the charge circulated during the electrodeposition step. Photoelectrochemical measurements in aqueous solutions evidenced a red shift of the light absorption threshold of TiO2 nanotubes due to the presence of cuprous oxide even for very low circulated charges, while electrochemical impedance measurements proved a significant reduction of the electrode impedance due the presence of Cu2O. Photoelectrochemical measurements in non aqueous solutions allow to reduce reverse bias across the junction and to measure stationary cathodic photocurrent, thus confirming the formation of p-type Cu2O inside the nanotubes.

Published
2014
Full Text
View/download PDF

28. Monte Carlo calculation of monoenergetic and polyenergetic DgN coefficients for mean glandular dose estimates in mammography using a homogeneous breast model

Author

F. di Franco, Raffaele M. Tucciariello, Paolo Russo, Antonio Sarno, Giovanni Mettivier, Sarno, Antonio, Tucciariello, Raffaele Maria, Mettivier, Giovanni, di Franco, Francesca, and Russo, Paolo

Subjects
mean glandular dose, Polynomial curves, Materials science, mammography, DgN, Monte Carlo method, Computed tomography, Radiation Dosage, 030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, Humans, Mammography, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Breast, Geant 4 simulation, Radiological and Ultrasound Technology, medicine.diagnostic_test, Radius, Computational physics, Homogeneous, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Curve fitting, Thick skin, Female, Tomography, X-Ray Computed, Monte Carlo Method, Algorithms
Abstract

We computed normalized glandular dose (DgN) coefficients for mean glandular dose estimates in contemporary 2D mammography units, taking into account a realistic homogeneous model for the breast. We developed a Monte Carlo code based on the simulation toolkit GEANT4 ver. 10.00. The breast was modelled as a cylinder with a semi-cylindrical section with a radius of 10 cm, enveloped in a 1.45-mm thick skin layer, as found out in recent reports from the University of California Davis team in the analysis of breast computed tomography clinical scans. The compressed breast thickness was between 3 cm and 8 cm. The DgN coefficients were calculated for monoenergetic X-ray beams between 4.25 keV and 49.25 keV and were fitted with polynomial curves. Polyenergetic DgN coefficients were then computed for spectra obtained for various anode/filter combinations as adopted in routine clinical practice: Mo/Mo 30 μm (2540 kV), Mo/Rh 25 μm (2540 kV), Rh/Rh 25 μm (2540 kV), W/Ag 50 μm (2634 kV), W/Al 500 μm (2638 kV), W/Al 700 μm (2840 kV) and W/Rh 50 μm (2435 kV). Monoenergetic DgN curve fit coefficients and polyenergetic DgNp coefficients were released for research and clinical work. Polyenergetic DgN coefficients were 6% higher than those provided in the reference literature, on average. The differences ranges between -18% and 30%; 50% of the computed coefficients differed by less than 10%. The dataset of DgN coefficients are provided as tables (49 pages) for varying glandular fraction by mass and compressed breast thickness. Moreover, a computer code has been developed for generating user specific coefficients DgNp for user defined X-ray spectra up to 49 kV, calculated by spectral weighting from the dataset of monoenergetic DgN coefficients.

Published
2019
Full Text
View/download PDF

29. Photoelectrochemical monitoring of rouging and de-rouging on AISI 316L

Author

Monica Santamaria, G. Massaro, F. Di Franco, F. Di Quarto, Di Franco, F., Santamaria, M., Massaro, G., and Di Quarto, F.

Subjects
Materials science, Band gap, 020209 energy, General Chemical Engineering, Iron oxide, Oxide, chemistry.chemical_element, 02 engineering and technology, B. EIS, Corrosion, B. Cyclic voltammetry, C. Passive film, chemistry.chemical_compound, Chromium, 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, General Materials Science, Chemical Engineering (all), Dissolution, Aqueous solution, Metallurgy, Chemistry (all), C. Photoelectrochemistry, General Chemistry, C. Anodic film, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, Rouging, A. Stainless steel, Materials Science (all), Nuclear chemistry
Abstract

Electrochemical conditions for inducing rouging on surface of AISI 316L in quasi neutral aqueous solution are studied. Potentiostatic polarization at 0.6V vs. SSC at pH∼7 allowed growth of colourless passive films with a band gap slightly lower than that estimated for the oxide grown on the SS surface by air exposure due to chromium dissolution. Under stronger anodic polarization (UE=1.5V vs. SSC) coloured passive films are formed, mainly constituted by iron oxide according to their band gap (Eg=2.0eV). Etching in citric acid at 60°C results to be effective in removing rouging.

Published
2017

30. Electronic Properties of Thermal Oxides on Ti and Their Influence on Impedance and Photoelectrochemical Behavior of TiO2 Nanotubes

Author

Bartolomeo Megna, F. Di Quarto, G. Conigliaro, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Franco, Santamaria, M, Conigliaro, G, Di Franco, F., Megna, B, and Di Quarto, F

Subjects
Materials science, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Annealing, anodizing, Impedance, photoelectrochemistry, Thermal oxidation, Ti, TiO2 Nanotubes, 020209 energy, Nanotechnology, 02 engineering and technology, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Condensed Matter Physics, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Thermal, 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, 0210 nano-technology, Electrical impedance, Electronic properties
Abstract

Thermal oxidation of titaniumwas carried out at 350◦C, 450◦C, and 550◦C for 2 h or 12 h.X-rayDiffraction and Raman Spectroscopy suggest that the thermal oxides are scarcely crystallinewhen the annealing temperature is low, while both anatase and rutile are present for high annealing temperature and time. Photoelectrochemical measurements allowed estimation of a bandgap decreasing from 3.35 eV to 3.15 eV with increasing annealing temperature. The impedance spectra confirmed the formation of n-type semiconductors, with an impedance strongly decreasing on going from a reverse bias toward a forward bias regime. TiO2 nanotubes grown by anodizing Ti in NH4F and water containing ethylene glycol solution were annealed at different temperature and for different times. X-ray Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy proved that rutile is present at the barrier layer beneath the tubular array, while the tubes are mainly constituted by anatase. The incident photon to current conversion efficiency increased by increasing the annealing temperature and time. The impedance spectra recorded under reverse bias regime for thermal planar oxides and for annealed TiO2 NTs are almost coincident, confirming that the predominant contribution arises from the barrier layer beneath the tubular array. Only under forward regime do the tube walls contribute to the measured impedance.

Published
2017

31. Tailoring of the Solid State Properties of Al–Nb Mixed Oxides: A Photoelectrochemical Study

Author

Monica Santamaria, F. Di Quarto, Peter Skeldon, F. Di Franco, and George Thompson

Subjects
Materials science, Anodizing, Band gap, Inorganic chemistry, Analytical chemistry, Conductivity, Edge (geometry), Semimetal, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Electronegativity, Metal, General Energy, Atomic orbital, visual_art, visual_art.visual_art_medium, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Abstract

Al–Nb containing mixed oxides were grown by anodizing sputter-deposited Al–Nb alloys of different compositions. A photoelectrochemical investigation was carried out in order to estimate the band gap, flat band potential, and conductivity type of these oxides as a function of their composition. The dependence of the band gap on the composition of mixed sp–d metal oxides has been rationalized by using a semiempirical correlation between the difference of electronegativity and band gap of oxides proposed in the literature some years ago and recently tested for regular d–d metal mixed oxides. The band gap increase observed as a function of Al content into the oxides seems mainly depending on the monotonic shift of the conduction band mobility edge, ECBM, derived from 5d orbitals of Nb5+ in the presence of an almost constant energy location of the valence band mobility edge, EVBM.

Published
2013
Full Text
View/download PDF

32. Randomized clinical trial of omega-3 fatty acid-supplemented enteral nutrition versus standard enteral nutrition in patients undergoing oesophagogastric cancer surgery

Author

Y. K. S. Viswanath, PA Davis, Chris J. Seal, Nick Hayes, S. R. Preston, Brian K. Shenton, John A. Kirby, J Sultan, F Di Franco, and S. M. Griffin

Subjects
Adult, Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Esophageal Neoplasms, T-Lymphocytes, medicine.medical_treatment, Preoperative care, Gastroenterology, Monocytes, law.invention, Enteral Nutrition, Postoperative Complications, Randomized controlled trial, Gastrectomy, Stomach Neoplasms, law, Fatty Acids, Omega-6, Internal medicine, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Preoperative Care, medicine, Humans, Prospective Studies, Prospective cohort study, Omega 3 fatty acid, Aged, Postoperative Care, Analysis of Variance, business.industry, Fatty Acids, HLA-DR Antigens, Perioperative, Middle Aged, Surgery, Esophagectomy, C-Reactive Protein, Randomized Clinical Trials, Parenteral nutrition, Dietary Supplements, Female, business
Abstract

Background Oesophagogastric cancer surgery is immunosuppressive. This may be modulated by omega-3 fatty acids (O-3FAs). The aim of this study was to assess the effect of perioperative O-3FAs on clinical outcome and immune function after oesophagogastric cancer surgery. Methods Patients undergoing subtotal oesophagectomy and total gastrectomy were recruited and allocated randomly to an O-3FA enteral immunoenhancing diet (IED) or standard enteral nutrition (SEN) for 7 days before and after surgery, or to postoperative supplementation alone (control group). Clinical outcome, fatty acid concentrations, and HLA-DR expression on monocytes and activated T lymphocytes were determined before and after operation. Results Of 221 patients recruited, 26 were excluded. Groups (IED, 66; SEN, 63; control, 66) were matched for age, malnutrition and co-morbidity. There were no differences in morbidity (P = 0·646), mortality (P = 1·000) or hospital stay (P = 0·701) between the groups. O-3FA concentrations were higher in the IED group after supplementation (P < 0·001). The ratio of omega-6 fatty acid to O-3FA was 1·9:1, 4·1:1 and 4·8:1 on the day before surgery in the IED, SEN and control groups (P < 0·001). There were no differences between the groups in HLA-DR expression in either monocytes (P = 0·538) or activated T lymphocytes (P = 0·204). Conclusion Despite a significant increase in plasma concentrations of O-3FA, immunonutrition with O-3FA did not affect overall HLA-DR expression on leucocytes or clinical outcome following oesophagogastric cancer surgery. Registration number: ISRCTN43730758 (http://www.controlled-trials.com).

Published
2012
Full Text
View/download PDF

33. The influence of nitrogen incorporation on the optical properties of anodic Ta2O5

Author

Hiroki Habazaki, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Franco, F. Di Quarto, Etsushi Tsuji, Di Franco, F, Santamaria, M, Di Quarto, F, Tsuji, E, and Habazaki, H

Subjects
Photocurrent, Aqueous solution, Materials science, Band gap, Anodizing, General Chemical Engineering, Inorganic chemistry, Analytical chemistry, chemistry.chemical_element, Nitrogen, Anode, Ion, Nitrogen Incorporation, Optical Properties, Anodic Ta2O5, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Electrochemistry
Abstract

Anodic oxides were grown on sputter-deposited Ta in different aqueous solutions. A photoelectrochemical investigation was performed in order to estimate the band gap of the films as a function of the anodizing bath composition and formation voltage, i.e. thickness. Photoelectrochemical results provided evidence of sub-band gap photocurrent for films formed in a bath containing ammonium ions at pH 9. Elemental depth profiles obtained by glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy revealed the presence of nitrogen species in the outer part of the anodic films, which is bonded to Ta according to XPS analysis. A mechanism of nitrogen incorporation is proposed in order to account for the pH dependence of film composition.

Published
2012
Full Text
View/download PDF

34. Light induced electropolymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) on niobium oxide

Author

Monica Santamaria, Patrizia Bocchetta, F. Di Franco, F. Di Quarto, Di Franco, F, Bocchetta, P, Santamaria, M, Di Quarto, F, Di Franco, F., Bocchetta, Patrizia, Santamaria, M., and Di Quarto, F.

Subjects
Conductive polymer, Photocurrent, Materials science, Band gap, General Chemical Engineering, Photoelectrochemistry, Inorganic chemistry, Oxide, photo-electropolymerization, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), niobium oxide, chemistry.chemical_compound, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, PEDOT:PSS, Chemical engineering, Band gap, Niobium oxide, PEDOT, Photoelectrochemistry, Electrochemistry, Niobium oxide, Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)
Abstract

The photoelectrochemical polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, was successfully realized on anodic film grown to 50 V on magnetron sputtered niobium. Photocurrent Spectroscopy was employed to study the optical properties of Nb/Nb 2 O 5 /PEDOT/electrolyte interface in a large range of potential, and to get an estimate of the band gap and flat band potential of both the oxide and the polymer. Scanning Electron Microscopy was used to study the morphology of PEDOT. Both the optical and morphological features of the photoelectrochemically grown polymer were compared with those showed by PEDOT electropolymerized on gold conducting substrate.

Published
2010
Full Text
View/download PDF

35. Performance and selectivity of floral attractant-baited traps targeted for cetoniin scarabs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Central and Southern Europe

Author

R. Tabilio, F. di Franco, J. Razov, I. Sredkov, József Vuts, Miklós Tóth, Teodora B. Toshova, B. Baric, and Mitko Subchev

Subjects
Scarabaeidae, Valgus hemipterus, biology, Potosia, Botany, Cetoniins, Mass trapping, Control strategies, Scarab pests, Monitoring, Cetonia, biology.organism_classification, Agronomy and Crop Science, Protaetia, Population density, Oxythyrea funesta, Tropinota squalida
Abstract

Trapping tests were performed concurrently in several countries of Central and Southern Europe throughout the spring and summer of 2008, to study the selectivity and performance of floral attractant-baited traps developed for catching Epicometis (Tropinota) hirta Poda (CA-baited traps), Cetonia a. aurata L./Potosia (Protaetia) cuprea Fabr. (ME-baited traps) or Oxythyrea funesta Poda (PH-baited traps) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae). Amongst the species caught, E. hirta showed strongest attraction to the CA-baited and ME-baited traps. O. funesta was mostly caught by PH-baited traps. In capturing C. a. aurata and P. cuprea, the ME-baited trap appeared to be the most efficient. At two sites in Italy, a related scarab, Tropinota squalida Scop. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae), was attracted in similar numbers to both CA-baited and ME-baited traps. For the scarab Valgus hemipterus L. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Valginae), ME-baited traps proved to be the most attractive. Of the scarabs coming to the CA-baited trap, E. hirta was the most abundant, except at the two Italian sites where large percentages were shown to be T. squalida. The most abundant species in the catch by the PH-baited trap was O. funesta, although at some sites, C. a. aurata and E. hirta were captured in sizeable numbers. ME-baited traps caught mostly C. a. aurata at sites with large C. a. aurata populations, whereas at sites with low populations, good numbers of E. hirta or T. squalida were caught.

Published
2010
Full Text
View/download PDF

36. Mortality of emergency abdominal surgery in high-, middle- and low-income countries

Author

J E, F Fitzgerald, Khatri, C, C Glasbey, J, Mohan, M, Lilford, R, M Harrison, E, Holmer, H, Hall, N, S-H, Kim, Negida, A, Jaffry, Z, J Chapman, S, Shu, S, Shiwani, H, Jeyakumar, J, Fermani, C, Balmaceda, R, M Marta Modolo, Macdermid, E, Gobin, N, Chenn, R, C Ou Yong, Edye, M, Jarmin, M, K D'amours, S, Iyer, D, Youssef, D, Phillips, N, Brown, J, George, R, Koh, C, Warren, O, Hanley, I, Dickfos, M, Nawara, C, Öfner, D, Primavesi, F, R Mitul, A, Mahmud, K, Hussain, M, Hakim, H, Kumar, T, Oosterkamp, A, A Assouto, P, Lawani, I, Y Imorou Souaibou, A Kyaw Tun, C Leung Chong, H Devadasar, G, M Rashid Minhas Qadir, K Phyo Aung, L Shi Yeo, D Palomino Castillo, V, M Moron Munhoz, Moreira, G, C Barros De Castro Segundo, L, S Anderson Khouri Ferreira, M Cassa Careta, S Binna Kim, A Venâncio De Sousa, A Daltri Lazzarini Cury, G Peixoto Soares Miguel, A Vega Carreiro De Freitas, B Pereira Silvestre, J Guasti Pinto Vianna, C Oliveira Felipe, L Alberto Valente Laufer, Altoe, F, L Ayres Da Silva, L Pimenta, M, T Fernandes Giuriato, P Alves Bezerra Morais, J Souza Luiz, Araujo, R, Menegussi, J, Leal, M, C Vinícius Barroso de Lima, L Sarmento Tatagiba, Leal, A, D Vinicius Dos Santos, G Pereira Fraga, R Lages Simoes, Stock, S, Nigo, S, Kabba, J, T Ebogo Ngwa, King, S, Zani, A, Azzie, G, Firdouse, M, Kushwaha, S, Agarwal, A, Bailey, K, Cameron, B, Livingston, M, Horobjowsky, A, L Deckelbaum, D, T Razek, B Marinkovic, Grasset, E, D'Aguzan, N, Jimenez, J, Macchiavello, R, Zhang, Z, Guo, W, J, Oh, Zheng, F, Montes, I, Sierra, S, Mendez, M, I Villegas, M, C Mendoza Arango, M, Mendoza, I, A Naranjo Aristizã Bal, F, A Montoya Botero, J, M Quintero Riaza, V, Restrepo, J, Morales, C, Cruz, H, Munera, A, Karlo, R, Domini, E, Mihanovic, J, Radic, M, Zamarin, K, Pezelj, N, Hache-Marliere, M, S Batista Lemaire, Rivas, R, Khyrallh, A, Hassan, A, Shimy, G, A Baky Fahmy, M, Nabawi, A, S Ali Muhammad Gohar, M, Elfil, M, Ghoneem, M, Asal, M, Abdelkader, M, Gomah, M, Rashwan, H, Karkeet, M, Gomaa, A, Hasan, A, Elgebaly, A, Azzam, O, Abdelfattah, A, Gouda, A, Elshafay, A, Gharib, A, Menshawy, A, Hanafy, M, Al-Mallah, A, Abdulgawad, M, Baheeg, M, Alhendy, M, A Fattah, I, Kenibar, A, Osman, O, Gemeah, M, Mohammed, A, Adel, A, Sayed, A, Abozaid, M, A Hafez El-Badri Kotb, A Ahmed Ata, A, Nasr, M, Alkammash, A, Saeed, M, N Abd El Hamid, M Attia, A, A Abd El Galeel, Elbanby, E, K Salah El-Dien, Hantour, U, Alahmady, O, Mansour, B, M Elkorashy, A, M Saeed Taha, E, T Lasheen, K, S Said Elkolaly, N Yosri Elsayed Abdel-Wahab, A Fathi Abozyed, M, M Saeed, A, G Samir El Sayed, H Youssif, J, S Magdy Ahmed, N Soubhy El-Shahat, A Hegazy Khedr, A Osama Elsebaaye, Elzayat, M, Abdelraheim, M, Elzayat, I, Warda, M, K Naser El Deen, A Essam Elnemr, Salah, O, Abbas, M, Rashad, M, Elzayyat, I, Hemeda, D, Tawfik, G, Salama, M, Khaled, H, Seisa, M, Elshaer, K, Hussein, A, Elkhadrawi, M, M Afifi, A, O Saadeldeen Ebrahim, M Metwally, M, Elmelegy, R, M Elbendary Elsawahly, D, Safa, H, Nofal, E, Elbermawy, M, M Abo Raya, A Abdelmotaleb Ghazy, Samih, H, Abdelgelil, A, Abdelghany, S, A El Kholy, Elkady, F, Salma, M, Samy, S, Fakher, R, Aboarab, A, Samir, A, Sakr, A, Haroun, A, A Abdel-Rahman Al-Aarag, Elkholy, A, Elshanwany, S, Ghanem, E, Tammam, A, M Hammad, A, Y El Shoura, G El Ashal, Khairy, H, Antar, S, Mehrez, S, Abdelshafy, M, M Gamal Mohamad Hamad, M Farid Hosh, Abdallah, E, Magdy, B, Alzayat, T, Gamaly, E, Elfeki, H, Abouzahra, A, Elsheikh, S, Elgendy, F, F Abd El-Salam, Seifelnasr, O, Ammar, M, Eysa, A, Sadek, A, A Gamal Toeema, Shady, K, Nasr, A, Abuseif, M, Zidan, H, S Abd Elmageed Barakat, Elsayed, N, Y Abd Elrasoul, Elkelany, A, M Sabry Ammar, Mustafa, M, Hegazy, Y, Etman, M, Saad, S, Alrahawy, M, Raslan, A, Morsi, M, Rslan, A, Sabry, A, Elwakil, H, Shaker, H, Abd-Elrasoul, Y, El-Kashef, H, Shaalan, M, Tarek, A, Elwan, A, A Ragab Nayel, Seif, M, Emadeldin, D, M Ali Ghonaim, Almallah, A, Fouad, A, E Adel Sayma, Elbatahgy, A, A Solaiman El-Ma'doul, Mosad, A, Tolba, H, A Amin Elsorogy, D, H Ali Mostafa, A Atef Omar, O Sherief Abd El Hameed, Lasheen, A, Y Abd El Salam, Morsi, A, Ismail, M, H Ahmed El-Badawy, Amer, M, A Sabry El-Hamouly, N Ahmed Attallah, Mosalum, O, Afandy, A, Mokhtar, A, Abouelnasr, A, Ayad, S, Shaker, R, Sakr, R, Amreia, M, Elsobky, S, A Abo El Magd, Marey, A, A Tarek Hafez, Zalabia, M, M Moamen Mohamed, Fadel, A, E Ali Ahmed, Ali, A, M Ghassan Alwafai, Dwydar, A, Kharsa, S, Mamdouh, E, El-Sheemy, H, Youssef, I, A Khairy Aly, Aldalaq, A, Alnawam, E, Alkhabbaz, D, Saad, M, Hussein, S, A Abo Elazayem, Ramadan, A, Elashmawy, M, Mousa, M, Nashaat, A, Ghanem, S, Oof, Z, Elwaey, A, Elkadsh, I, Darweesh, M, Mohameden, A, Hafez, M, Badr, A, Badwy, A, M Abd El Slam, Elazoul, M, Al-Nahrawi, S, Eldamaty, L, Nada, F, Ameen, M, Hagar, A, Elsehimy, M, Aboraya, M, Dawoud, H, S El Mesery, A El Gendy, Abdelkareem, A, A Safwan Marey, Allam, M, Shehata, S, Abozeid, K, Elshobary, M, Fahiem, A, Sarsik, S, Hashish, A, Zidan, M, Hashish, M, Sanad, A, Mesalam, M, Aql, S, A Osman Abdelaziz Elhendawy, Husseini, M, Kasem, E, Gheith, A, Elfouly, Y, A Ragab Soliman, Ibrahim, Y, Elfouly, N, Fawzy, A, Rashid, M, A Salah Elsherbiny, Sieda, B, Badwi, N, M Hassan Mohammed, M, Mohamed, O, M Abdulkhalek Habeeb, Worku, M, Starr, N, Desta, S, Wondimu, S, S Abebe, N, Thomas, E, A Asele, F, Dabessa, D, N Seyoum Abebe, B Zerihun, A, Mentula, P, Leppäniemi, A, Sallinen, V, Scalabre, A, Frade, F, Irtan, S, Graffeille, V, Gaignard, E, Alimi, Q, Graffieille, V, Abbo, O, Mouttalib, S, Bouali, O, Hervieux, E, Aigrain, Y, Botto, N, Faure, A, Fievet, L, Panait, N, Eyssartier, E, Schmitt, F, Podevin, G, Parent, V, Martin, A, P Arnaud, A, Muller, C, Bonnard, A, Peycelon, M, Abantanga, F, Boakye-Yiadom, K, Bukari, M, Owusu, F, Awuku-Asabre, J, Tabiri, S, D Bray, L, Lytras, D, Psarianos, K, Bamicha, A, Kefalidi, E, Gemenetzis, G, Dervenis, C, Gouvas, N, Agalianos, C, Kontos, M, Kouraklis, G, Karousos, D, Germanos, S, Marinos, C, Anthoulakis, C, Nikoloudis, N, S Mitroudis, N, Recinos, G, Estupinian, S, Forno, W, R Arévalo Azmitia, J, C Ramã Rez Cabrera, C, Guevara, R, Aguilera, M, Mendez, N, A Azmitia Mendizabal, C, Ramazzini, P, M Contreras Urquizu, Tale, F, Soley, R, Barrios, E, E Marroquín Rodríguez, D, I Pérez Velásquez, C, M Contreras Mérida, S, Regalado, F, Lopez, M, Siguantay, M, Y Lam, F, K J-Y Szeto, C C, L Szeto, S Li, W, K K, K Li, F Leung, M, Mak, T, S, Ng, S Prasad, S, Kirishnan, A, Gyanchandani, N, Bhat, S, Sreedharan, A, V Kinnera, S, S Kumar, B, Rangarajan, M, Reddy, Y, Venugopal, C, Kumar, S, Mittal, A, Nadkarni, S, N Lakshmi, H, Malik, P, Limaye, N, Pai, S, Jain, P, Khajanchi, M, Satoskar, S, Satoskar, R, Abid Bin Mahamood, P Refianti Sutanto, E, A Soeselo, D, Tedjaatmadja, C, N Rahmawati, F, Amandito, R, Mayasari, M, R K, M Jawad Al-Hasani, I Ibraheem Al-Hameedi, H, A Aziz Al-Azraqi, I, Sabeeh, L, Kamil, R, Shawki, M, M Mezeil Telfah, Rasendran, A, Sheehan, J, Kerley, R, Normile, C, W Gilbert, R, Song, J, Dablouk, M, Mauro, L, O Dablouk, M, Hanrahan, M, Kielty, P, Marks, E, Gosling, S, Mccarthy, M, Mirghani, D, S Altaf Naqvi, S Wong, C, Chung, S, D'Cruz, R, Cahill, R, G Gosling, S, Fahy, C, D Duarte Cadogan, Powell, A, Gilbert, R, Clifford, C, Driscoll, A, Stassen, P, Lee, C, Bowe, R, Hutch, W, Mohan, H, O'Neill, M, Mealy, K, Danelli, P, Bondurri, A, Maffioli, A, Pasini, M, Pata, G, Roncali, S, Silvani, P, Carlucci, M, Faccincani, R, Bonavina, L, Macchitella, Y, Ceriani, C, Tugnoli, G, S Di Saverio, Khattab, K, M Angel Paludi, Pata, D, L Maria Cloro, Allegri, A, Ansaloni, L, Coccolini, F, Veronese, E, Bortolasi, L, Hasheminia, A, Nastri, G, M Dal Canto, Cucumazzo, S, Pata, F, Benevento, A, Tessera, G, P Paolo Grandinetti, Maniscalco, A, G Luca Lamanna, Turati, L, Sgroi, G, Rausa, E, Villa, R, Monteleone, M, Merlini, D, Grassi, V, Cirocchi, R, Cacurri, A, Waleed, H, Diab, A, Elzowawi, F, Jokubauskas, M, Varkalys, K, Venskutonis, D, Pranevicius, R, Ambrozeviciute, V, Juciute, S, Skardžiukaitė, A, Bradulskis, S, Urbanavicius, L, Austraite, A, Riauka, R, Zilinskas, J, Dambrauskas, Z, Karumnas, P, Urniezius, Z, Zilinskiene, R, Rudzenskaite, A, Usaityte, A, Montrimaite, M, Kaselis, N, Strazdas, A, Jokubonis, K, Maceviciute, K, Laugzemys, E, Kolosov, A, Jotautas, V, Rakita, I, Mikalauskas, S, Kazanavicius, D, Rackauskas, R, Strupas, K, Poskus, T, Beisa, V, Rakauskas, R, Preckailaite, E, Coomber, R, Johnson, K, Nowers, J, Periasammy, D, Salleh, A, Das, A, R Goh Ern Tze, M Nirumal Kumar, A Nik Abdullah, N, R Kosai, N, Taher, M, Rajan, R, Y Chong, H, C Roslani, A, C Goh, C, Agius, M, Borg, E, Bezzina, M, Bugeja, R, Vella-Baldacchino, M, Spina, A, Psaila, J, Francois-Coridon, H, Tolg, C, J-F, Colombani, Diaz-Zorrilla, C, A Ramos-De La Medina, S Corro-Diaz Gonzalez, Jacobe, M, Mapasse, D, Snyder, E, Oumer, R, Osman, M, Mohammad, A, L-J, Anyanwu, Sheshe, A, Adesina, A, Faturoti, O, Taiwo, O, M Habib Ibrahim, A Nasir, A, S Itopa Suleiman, Adeniyi, A, Adesanya, O, Adebanjo, A, Osuoji, R, Atobatele, K, Ogunyemi, A, Wiliams, O, Oludara, M, Oshodi, O, Ademuyiwa, A, A Oluwagbemiga Lawal, Alakaloko, F, Elebute, O, Osinowo, A, Bode, C, Adesuyi, A, Tade, A, Adekoya, A, Nwokoro, C, O Ayandipo, O, T Akeem Lawal, E Ajao, A, S Sani Ali, Odeyemi, B, Olori, S, Popoola, A, Adeyeye, A, Adeniran, J, J Lossius, W, Havemann, I, Thorsen, K, K Narvestad, J, Søreide, K, B Wold, T, Nymo, L, Elsiddig, M, Dar, M, F Bhopal, K, Iftikhar, Z, M Furqan, M, Nighat, B, Jawaid, M, Khalique, A, Zil-E-Ali, A, Rashid, A, H Abbas Dharamshi, Naqvi, T, Faraz, A, W Anwar, A, T Muhammad Yaseen, S Shamsi, G, Yaseen, T, Anwer, W, H Paredes Decoud, Aguilera, O, I Zelada Alvarez, I, J Marcelo Delgado, M Machain Vega, G, A Segovia Lohse, H, L Messa Aguilar, W, A Cabala Chiong, J, C Manchego Bautista, A, Huaman, E, Zegarra, S, Camacho, R, M Vergara Celis, J, A Romani Pozo, D, Hamasaki, J, Temoche, E, Herrera-Matta, J, P García Torres, C, M Alvarez Barreda, L, R Barrionuevo Ojeda, Garaycochea, O, M Castro Mollo, M Linares Delgado, Fujii, F, A Durand, S, A Arroyo Basto, C, M Urbina Rojas, N, B Shu Yip, S, L Contreras Vergara, A, A Echevarria Rosas Moran, G Borda Luque, M Rodriguez Castro, R Alvarado Jaramillo, G Manrique Sila, E Lopez, C, M Zapata Ponze De Leon, Machaca, M, R Coasaca Huaraya, Arenas, A, López, C, C Milagros Herrera Puma, Pino, W, Hinojosa, C, Limache, S, G Manrrique Sila, L-A Mercado Rodriguez, Melo, R, Costa-Maia, J, Muralha, N, Sauvat, F, Dan, I, Hogea, M, Eduard, P, R-M, Bratu, Beuran, M, I-B, Diaconescu, B-V, Martian, F-M, Iordache, Vartic, M, C Vida, L, I Muntean, L, S Mironescu, A, V J, P Nsengimana, Niragire, A, J D L, C Allen Ingabire, Niyirera, E, Zanini, N, Jovine, E, Landolfo, G, N Alomar, I, A Alnuqaydan, S, M Altwigry, A, Othman, M, Osman, N, Alqahtani, E, Alzahrani, M, Alyami, R, Aljohani, E, Alhabli, I, Mikwar, Z, Almuallem, S, Nawawi, A, Bakhaidar, M, A Maghrabi, A, Alsaggaf, M, Aljiffry, M, Altaf, A, Khoja, A, Habeebullah, A, Akeel, N, Ghandora, N, Almoflihi, A, Huwait, A, Al-Shammari, A, Al-Mousa, M, Alghamdi, M, Adham, W, Albeladi, B, A Alfarsi, M, Mahdi, A, S Al Awwad, Altamimi, A, Nouh, T, Hassanain, M, Aldhafeeri, S, Sadig, N, Algohary, O, Aledrisy, M, Gudal, A, Alrifaie, A, Alrowais, M, Althwainy, A, Shabkah, A, Alamoudi, U, Alrajraji, M, Alghamdi, B, Aljohani, S, Daqeeq, A, J Al-Faifi, J, Jennings, V, Ngayu, N, Moore, R, Kong, V, Kretzmann, H, Connor, K, Nel, D, Sampson, C, Spence, R, Panieri, E, Rayne, S, Sishuba, N, Tun, M, M Mphatsoe, A, A Carreira, J, Teasdale, E, Wagener, M, Botes, S, D Du Plessis, Fernandez-Bueno, F, Aguilar-Jimenez, J, A Garcia-Marin, J, S García, L, J García Florez, L, R Darío Arias Pacheco, Pagnozzi, J, H Jara Quezada, J, L Rodicio, J, Minguez, G, Rodríguez-Uría, R, Ugalde, P, Lopez-Arevalo, C, Barneo, L, P Gonzales Stuva, J, Ortega-Vazquez, I, Rodriguez, L, Herrera, N, P Pitigala Arachchi, W S, M Kithsiri Janakantha Senanayake, L A, J Jayasooriya Arachchige, Sivaganesh, S, I Samaraweera, D, Thanusan, V, A E, K Musa, R M, H Balila, M A E, H Mohamed, Ali, H, H Zain Elabdin, Mahdi, S, Ahmed, H, S Abdoun Ishag Idris, Elsayed, M, Mahmoud, M, Boijsen, M, P-O, Lundgren, Gustafsson, U, Kiasat, A, Wogensen, F, Jurdell, E, Thorell, A, Thorarinsdottir, H, Utter, M, M Sundstrom, S, Wredberg, C, Kjellin, A, Nyberg, J, Frisk, B, Sund, M, Andersson, L, Gunnarsson, U, Cengiz, Y, Ahlqvist, S, Björklund, I, Royson, H, Weber, P, H-I, Pahlsson, Borin, E, Hjertberg, M, Schmid, R, Schivo, D, Despotidis, V, Breitenstein, S, F Staerkle, R, Schadde, E, Deichsel, F, Gerosa, A, Nocito, A, A Raptis, D, Mijuskovic, B, Zuber, M, Eisner, L, Kruspi, S, B Reinisch, K, Schoewe, C, Novak, A, F Palma, A, Teufelberger, G, Kimaro, M, King, R, A Zeynel, A Balkan, Gumar, M, M Ali Yavuz, Karabacak, U, Lap, G, B Ozkan, B, Karakahya, M, Adams, R, Morton, R, Henderson, L, Gratton, R, D Clement, K, K Yu-Ching Chang, Mcnish, D, Mcintosh, R, Milligan, W, Skelly, B, Anderson-Knight, H, Lawther, R, Onimowo, J, Shatkar, V, Tharmalingam, S, Woin, E, Fautz, T, Ziff, O, Dindyal, S, Talukder, S, Arman, S, Gadhvi, V, S Chew, L, Heath, J, Blencowe, N, Hallam, S, Gash, K, G Singh Mannu, D-C, Zachariades, C Snaith, A, S Hettiarachchi, T, Nesaratnam, A, Wheeler, J, Mccullagh, D, M Clements, J, Khan, A, Koumpa, F, Neophytou, C, Roth, J, C Soon, W, Deputy, M, Ahmed, A, Ashton, A, Vincent, J, Almy, J, Khan, T, J L, Y Allen, J Mcintyre, C, C Marshall, D, Sykes, M, Behar, N, Jordan, H, Rajjoub, Y, Sherman, T, White, T, Watts, A, Ardley, R, Arulampalam, T, Shah, A, Brown, D, Blower, E, Sutton, P, Gasteratos, K, Vimalachandran, D, Magee, C, Irwin, G, Mcguigan, A, Mcaleer, S, Morgan, C, Braungart, S, Lafferty, K, Labib, P, Tanase, A, Mangan, C, Reza, L, Woodward, H, Gouldthorpe, C, Turner, M, J R, L Wild, T A, M Malik, K Proctor, V, Hewage, K, Davies, J, Dubois, A, Sarwary, S, Zardab, A, Grant, A, Mcintyre, R, P Mogan, Y, W, Ho, F Hon Khi Chong, B, Tewari, S, Humm, G, Farinella, E, J Hall, N, J Wright, N, P Major, C, Xerri, T, P De Bono, Amin, J, Farhad, M, F Camilleri-Brennan, J, A G, N Robertson, Swann, J, Richards, J, Jabbar, A, Attard, M, Burns, H, Macdonald, E, Baldacchino, M, Skehan, J, Camilleri-Brennan, J, T Falconer Hall, Gimzewska, M, Mclachlan, G, Shah, J, Giles, J, Chiu, S, Weber, B, S Man Yeng Chiu, Highcock, S, Hassan, M, Beasley, W, Vlachogiorgos, A, Dias, S, Maharaj, G, Mcdonald, R, Macdonald, A, Witherspoon, P, Baird, A, Sarmah, P, Green, N, Youssef, H, Cross, K, M Rees, C, B Van Duren, Upchurch, E, Khan, K, Abudeeb, H, Hammad, A, Karandikar, S, Bowley, D, Karim, A, Chachulski, W, Richardson, L, Dawnay, G, Thompson, B, Mistry, A, Bhangu, A, Ghetia, M, Roy, S, Al-Obaedi, O, Das, K, Prabhudesai, A, M Cocker, D, J Tan, J, Tyler, R, F Di Franco, Ayyar, S, Vivekanantham, S, Gokani, S, Gillespie, M, Gudlaugsdottir, K, Pezas, T, Currow, C, M Young-Han Kim, Birring, A, Edwards, J, Das, S, Jha, M, Atkinson, K, Luck, J, Fozard, T, Puttick, M, Salama, Y, Shah, R, A Ibrahem, A, Ebdewi, H, Gravante, G, El-Rabaa, S, Nnajiuba, H, Allott, R, Bhargava, A, Chan, Z, Hassan, Z, Makinde, M, Hemingway, D, Dean, R, Boddy, A, Aber, A, Patel, V, Parakh, J, Parthiban, S, K Ubhi, H, S-P, Hosein, Ward, S, Malik, K, Jennings, L, Newton, T, Alkhouri, M, K Kang, M, Houlden, C, Barry, J, Raza, I, Farquharson, A, Bhattacharya, S, Chang, K, M S, J Wilson, N Neo, Y, Ibrahim, I, Chan, E, S Peck, F, J Lim, P, S North, A, Blundell, R, Williamson, A, Fouad, D, Minocha, A, Mccarthy, K, Court, E, Chambers, A, Yee, J, C Tham, J, Beaton, C, Walsh, U, Lockey, J, Bokhari, S, Howells, L, Griffiths, M, Yallop, L, Singh, S, Nasher, O, Jackson, P, M Shariffuddin, A, C Ho, W, Pabla, G, Ramzi, S, Zeidan, S, Doughty, J, Sinha, S, Davenport, R, Lewis, J, Duffy, L, Mcaleer, E, Williams, E, Som, R, Javed, O, Boal, M, Harrison, N, Tafazal, H, Brogden, T, Griffiths, E, D Obute, R, E Glover, T, J Clark, D, Boshnaq, M, Akhtar, M, Capleton, P, Doughan, S, Rabie, M, Mohamed, I, Samuel, D, Dickson, L, Kennedy, M, Dempster, E, Brown, E, Maple, N, Monaghan, E, Wolf, B, Garland, A, Mcphee, A, Anderson, D, Anderson, R, Hassan, S, Smith, D, Lund, J, Boereboom, C, Murphy, J, Tierney, G, Tou, S, F Zimmermann, E, J Smart, N, M Warwick, A, Stasinou, T, Daniels, I, Findlay-Cooper, K, Mitrasinovic, S, Ray, S, Varcada, M, R D, S Omara, Spurr, M, Parkinson, L, Hanks, A, J, Ma, Abington, E, Ramcharn, M, Williams, G, Winstanley, J, D Kennedy, E, E N, W Yeung, Fergusson, S, Jones, C, O'Neill, S, J Lim, S, Liew, I, Nair, H, Fairfield, C, Koh, S, Wilson, A, Anandkumar, D, Kirupagaran, A, F Jones, T, D Torrance, H, J Fowler, A, Chandrakumar, C, Patel, P, F Ashraf, S, M Lakhani, S, L Mclean, A, Basson, S, Batt, J, Bowman, C, Stoddart, M, Benons, N, Mason, C, Harrison, R, Quayle, J, Barker, T, Summerour, V, Harper, E, Smith, C, Hampton, M, K Pitt, S, E Ward, A, O'Connor, T, G Heywood, E, M Drake, T, Chowdhury, A, Hossaini, S, F Watson, N, Mckechnie, D, Farah, A, Chun, A, Koh, H, Lim, G, Sunderland, G, Gould, L, C Munipalle, P, Rooney, H, D R, L Browning, Pereira, B, Nemeth, K, Decker, E, Giuliani, S, Shalaby, A, Shaikh, S, Y Tan, C, E Y, A Palkhi, Kostov, E, Harbord, P, Barnacle, J, Szczap, A, Chidambaram, S, Y Chen, C, Kulasabanathan, K, Chhabra, S, M Palliyil, M, Zikry, M, Porter, J, Raslan, C, Hafiz, S, Soltani, N, Baillie, K, Marples, L, Macfarlane, A, Thurairaja, R, Singh, P, Sheth, S, Patel, K, Khalili, M, Choi, J, Benger, M, Boyce, T, Whewell, H, Jones, E, Th'Ng, F, Robertson, N, Mirza, A, Saeed, H, Galloway, S, Elena, G, Afzal, M, Zakir, M, Sodde, P, Hand, C, Sriram, A, Clark, T, Holton, P, Livesey, A, Sinha, Y, M Iqbal, F, S Bharj, I, Rotundo, A, Jenvey, C, Slade, R, Golding, D, Haines, S, A Ne'ma Abdullah, A, W Tilston, T, Loughran, D, Donoghue, D, Giacci, L, M Ashur Sherif, Harrison, P, Tang, A, Kotecha, D, Elshaer, M, Urbonas, T, Riaz, A, Chapman, A, Acharya, P, Shalhoub, J, Grossart, C, Mcmorran, D, Mlotshwa, M, Hawkins, W, Loizides, S, Krishna, K, Orchard, M, W Ho, C, Thomson, P, Khan, S, Taylor, F, Shukla, J, E Howie, E, Macdonald, L, Komolafe, O, Mcintyre, N, Cragg, J, Parker, J, Stewart, D, L, L, Tracy, J, Farooq, T, Molina, G, Kaafarani, H, Luque, L, Beyene, R, Sava, J, Scott, M, Swaroop, M, Kennedy, R, A Azodo, I, Heffernan, D, Chun, T, Stephen, A, Sion, M, S Weinstein, M, Punja, V, Bugaev, N, Goodstein, M, Razmdjou, S, Etchill, E, C Puyana, J, Kesinger, M, Napolitano, L, K, To, Hemmila, M, Todd, O, Jenner, E, Hoogakker, E, Roi, D, H Chieh Chen, J, Ismail, L, and G Escobar, E

Subjects
Adult, Male, Gastrointestinal Diseases, mortality, global surgery, abdominal, emergency, LMIC, surgery, Developed Countries, Checklist, Cohort Studies, Health Care, Abdomen, Humans, Female, Patient Safety, Emergencies, Quality Assurance, Developing Countries, Digestive System Surgical Procedures, Quality Assurance, Health Care
Published
2016

37. Improvement in the performance of low temperature H2-O2 fuel cell with chitosanephosphotungstic acid composite membranes

Author

F. Di Franco, A. Saccà, C.M. Pecoraro, F. Di Quarto, Monica Santamaria, I. Gatto, Santamaria, M., Pecoraro, C., Di Franco, F., Di Quarto, F., Gatto, I., and Saccà, A.

Subjects
Materials science, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, 02 engineering and technology, Condensed Matter Physic, 010402 general chemistry, 01 natural sciences, H2-O2 PEMFC, Chitosan, chemistry.chemical_compound, Phosphotungstic acid, Polarization (electrochemistry), Shrinkage, Proton conductor, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Heteropolyacid, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Condensed Matter Physics, Polyelectrolyte, Pt loading, 0104 chemical sciences, Composite membrane, Membrane, Fuel Technology, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, Chemical engineering, Electrode, 0210 nano-technology
Abstract

Free-standing chitosan/phosphotungstic acid polyelectrolyte membranes, prepared by ionotropic gelation on alumina porous supports, were employed as proton conductor in low temperature H 2 –O 2 fuel cell. A drying step on glass substrate was introduced in the fabrication procedure to reduce shrinkage and consequent corrugation. Membranes were tested with electrodes prepared according to different procedures and with two different Pt loadings, namely 0.5 and 1 mg cm −2 . Both the investigated kinds of electrodes allowed to get very promising power peaks of 550 mW cm −2 in spite of the different Pt content. The polarization curves and the electrochemical impedance spectra suggest that water management is crucial in determining the overall cell performance.

Published
2016
Full Text
View/download PDF

38. Photoelectrochemical evidence of nitrogen incorporation during anodizing sputtering--deposited Al-Ta alloys

Author

Monica Santamaria, Hiroki Habazaki, Andrea Zaffora, F. Di Quarto, F. Di Franco, Zaffora, A., Santamaria, M., DI FRANCO, F., Habazaki, H., and DI QUARTO, F.

Subjects
Anodizing, Chemistry, 020209 energy, Analytical chemistry, General Physics and Astronomy, chemistry.chemical_element, Nanotechnology, 02 engineering and technology, Electrolyte, Electron, Dielectric, 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology, Nitrogen, Anode, Physics and Astronomy (all), Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Sputtering, 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Density of states, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, 0210 nano-technology
Abstract

Anodic films were grown to 20 V on sputtering-deposited Al–Ta alloys in ammonium biborate and borate buffer solutions. According to glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy, anodizing in ammonium containing solution leads to the formation of N containing anodic layers. Impedance measurements did not evidence significant differences between the dielectric properties of the anodic films as a function of the anodizing electrolyte. Photoelectrochemical investigation allowed evidencing that N incorporation induces a red-shift in the light absorption threshold of the films due to the formation of allowed localized states inside their mobility gap. The estimated Fowler threshold for the internal photoemission processes of electrons resulted to be independent of the anodizing electrolyte confirming that N incorporation does not appreciably affect the density of states distribution close to the conduction band mobility edge. The transport of photogenerated carriers has been rationalized according to the Pai–Enck model of geminate recombination.

Published
2015

39. Photoelectrochemical and XPS characterisation of oxide layers on 316L stainless steel grown in high-temperature water

Author

F. Di Franco, Marcin Pisarek, Monica Santamaria, Philippe Marcus, F. Di Quarto, Sandrine Zanna, Santamaria, M., Di Franco, F., Di Quarto, F., Pisarek, M., Zanna, S., and Marcus, P.

Subjects
Materials science, Pressurised water reactor, Metallurgy, Oxide, Condensed Matter Physic, Condensed Matter Physics, Electrochemistry, Stainless steel, chemistry.chemical_compound, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, chemistry, Chemical engineering, Relative thickness, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Immersion (virtual reality), Photocurrent spectroscopy, XPS, General Materials Science, Materials Science (all), Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Abstract

Passive films on AISI 316L stainless steel were grown by exposure in high temperature (300 °C and 150 bar) water. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to study their composition as a function of immersion time. A photoelectrochemical investigation, supported by electrochemical and impedance measurements, allowed to get information on the solid-state properties of the investigated layers. The experimental results suggest the formation of a stratified layer with an outer iron-rich layer and an inner Cr-rich oxide layer, whose relative thickness and composition are dependent on the immersion time.

Published
2015

40. Iatrogenic perforation of localized oesophageal cancer

Author

S. M. Griffin, Peter J. Lamb, Dayalan Karat, F Di Franco, and Nick Hayes

Subjects
Adult, Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Esophageal Neoplasms, Perforation (oil well), Text mining, Humans, Medicine, Prospective Studies, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Esophageal Perforation, business.industry, Esophageal disease, Cancer, Middle Aged, Prognosis, medicine.disease, Dilatation, Survival Analysis, Surgery, Esophagectomy, Female, Esophagoscopy, Radiology, business
Abstract

A plea not to dilate

Published
2008
Full Text
View/download PDF

41. Systematic review and meta-analysis of single-incision versus conventional multiport appendicectomy

Author

F Di Franco, Sheraz R. Markar, Alan Karthikesalingam, and Adrian Harris

Subjects
Adult, Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Ileus, Adolescent, Operative Time, Cochrane Library, law.invention, Young Adult, Randomized controlled trial, law, medicine, Appendectomy, Humans, Surgical Wound Infection, Child, Aged, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, business.industry, Odds ratio, Length of Stay, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Appendicitis, Confidence interval, Surgery, Clinical trial, Treatment Outcome, Meta-analysis, Intraabdominal Infections, Female, Laparoscopy, business
Abstract

Background The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare clinical outcomes following single-incision laparoscopic appendicectomy (SILA) and conventional multiport laparoscopic appendicectomy (CLA) for the treatment of acute appendicitis. Methods An electronic search of MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases was performed. Publications were included if they were clinical trials randomizing patients with appendicitis to SILA or CLA. Outcome measures evaluated included operating time, length of hospital stay, total postoperative complications, and, specifically, wound infection, intra-abdominal collection and ileus. Weighted mean difference was calculated for the effect size of SILA on continuous variables, and pooled odds ratios were calculated for discrete variables. Results The literature search identified seven randomized clinical trials that met the inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. In total, 1108 appendicectomies were included, 555 SILA and 553 CLA procedures. There were no significant differences between the groups in the incidence of total postoperative complications, wound infection, intra-abdominal collection, ileus or length of hospital stay. However, SILA was associated with a significantly longer operating time compared with CLA (weighted mean difference 6·96 (95 per cent confidence interval 3·79 to 10·12) min; P < 0·001). Insertion of an additional port was required in 7·6 per cent of patients undergoing SILA. Conclusion SILA is a safe procedure for the treatment of acute appendicitis, with comparable clinical outcome to CLA when undertaken by experienced laparoscopic surgeons.

Published
2013

42. Photoelectrochemical characterization of amorphous anodic films on Ti-6at.%Si

Author

C. Monarca, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Franco, Hiroki Habazaki, F. Di Quarto, Di Quarto, F, Di Franco, F, Monarca, C, Santamaria, M, and Habazaki, H

Subjects
Photocurrent, Materials science, Differential capacitance, Band gap, General Chemical Engineering, Analytical chemistry, Insulator (electricity), Dielectric, Anode, Amorphous solid, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Electrochemistry, Photoelectrochemical characterization, amorphous anodic films, Ti-6at.%Si, Electrode potential
Abstract

The solid state properties of anodic films grown galvanostatically on sputtering-deposited Ti–6at.%Si alloys were studied as a function of the formation voltage (5–40 V). From the photocurrent spectra a band gap of ∼3.4 eV was estimated for all the investigated thicknesses, which is almost coincident with the value measured for amorphous TiO 2 . The photocharacteristics allowed to estimate the flat band potential of the films, which resulted to be more anodic for thicker layers and allowed to evidence a change from n-type semiconducting material to insulator by increasing the formation voltage. A dielectric constant of ∼31 was estimated by differential capacitance measurements. The dependence of photocurrent on electrode potential was studied in the frame of Onsager–Braun theory, which allows to evidence the influence of the initial recombination on the photocurrent yield for amorphous material.

Published
2013

43. Characterization of the Solid State Properties of Anodic Oxides on Magnetron Sputtered Ta, Nb and Ta-Nb Alloys

Author

F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, Giorgia Zampardi, F. Di Quarto, Hiroki Habazaki, Di Franco F, Zampardi G, Santamaria M, Di Quarto F, and Habazaki H

Subjects
Materials science, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Solid-state, Condensed Matter Physics, Solid State Properties, Anodic Oxides, Ta-Nb Alloys, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Characterization (materials science), Anode, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Chemical engineering, Cavity magnetron, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry
Abstract

Tantalum oxide, niobium oxide and Ta-Nb containing mixed oxides were grown by anodizing sputter-deposited Ta, Nb and Ta-Nb alloys of different compositions. A photoelectrochemical investigation was performed in order to estimate the band gap and the flat band potential of the oxides as a function of their composition. The band gap of the investigated Ta-Nb containing mixed oxides changed monotonically between those estimated for Ta2O5 (4.1 eV) and Nb2O5 (3.4 eV) and in agreement with a proposed correlation between the Band gap of an oxide and the difference of electronegativity of the oxide constituents. From the differential capacitance curves recorded in a wide range of electrode potential and for several frequencies of the alternative signal, the dielectric constant of the investigated oxides were estimated.

Published
2012

44. Hernias

Author

F. Di Franco, G. R. McLatchie, and David J. Leaper

Subjects
stomatognathic diseases, surgical procedures, operative, digestive system diseases
Abstract

Inguinal hernia 368Repair of femoral hernia 372Adult umbilical hernia (Mayo's ‘vest over pants’ repair) 374Epigastric hernia 376Incisional hernia 378• Elective: all symptomatic hernias need operation, particularly if indirect.• Emergency: irreducible or strangulated hernias.• Elective: can be performed as a day case in patients fulfilling the criteria. Antibiotic prophylaxis if planning to perform a mesh repair....

Published
2011
Full Text
View/download PDF

45. Anatomy for surgeons

Author

F. Di Franco and G. R. McLatchie

Abstract

The female breast 46The endocrine system 48The respiratory system 52The abdominal wall 58The digestive system 64The appendix 72The rectum 74The anal canal 76The liver 78The gall bladder and bile ducts 82The pancreas 84The genitourinary system ...

Published
2011
Full Text
View/download PDF

46. Electrochemical fabrication of metal/oxide/conducting polymer junction

Author

Claudio Cali, F. Di Quarto, Mauro Mosca, Patrizia Bocchetta, Monica Santamaria, F. Di Franco, Di Franco, F., Bocchetta, Patrizia, Calì, C., Mosca, M., Santamaria, M., Di Quarto, F., Di Franco, F, Bocchetta, P, Calì, C, Mosca, M, Santamaria, M, and Di Quarto, F

Subjects
Organic electronics, Conductive polymer, Materials science, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, business.industry, Anodizing, Nanotechnology, Transistor characteristics, Dielectric, Sputter deposition, Condensed Matter Physics, Settore ING-INF/01 - Elettronica, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Organic semiconductor, Settore ING-IND/23 - Chimica Fisica Applicata, Thin-film transistor, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Photocurrent spectroscopy, Optoelectronics, Field-effect transistor, metal/oxide/conducting polymer junction,PEDOT, Ti-Zr mixed oxide, business, Ethylenedioxythiophene
Abstract

After discovery of conducting polymers and the possibility to modify their electrical properties from insulating to metallic like behavior by doping and a careful choice of the processing conditions, a large amount of research effort has been devoted to the theoretical understanding of their solid state properties as well as to exploit the possible application of conducting polymers in many technological fields including large area organic electronics, polymer photovoltaic cell, and sensors. 1-4 Organic thin film transistors appear very promising devices for the development of low cost, flexible, and disposable plastic electronics. In order to reduce the operating voltage it has been suggested in the literature to use mixed inorganic–organic thin film transistors by assembling a structure formed by metal bottom contact/dielectric layer gate/organic semiconductor/top contact source/drain. According to this, a wet electrochemical route appears to be very promising in terms of cost, at least for the preparation of thin thickness 10 nm or thick thickness 10 nm oxide films by anodizing in aqueous electrolytes. Moreover, by taking into account the possibility to grow semiconducting polymers on wide bandgap dielectric oxide Ta2O5 by a photoelectrochemical route, which has been shown recently, 5,6 it seems very appealing to exploit an integral electrochemical route to fabricate advanced inorganic/organic hybrid structure which could be used as a building block for a field effect transistor FET junction. In this paper, we describe and discuss the electrochemical fabrication of a hybrid structure to be used in the production of an inorganic–organic field effect transistor IOFET using 3,4polyethylenedioxythiophene PEDOT as a semiconducting polymer and anodic films grown on the Ti-10 atom % Zr alloy as dielectrics. The choice of the oxide is based on its low dark current value and quite high photocurrent intensity, under monochromatic light, at not too high anodic potential and photon energy, 7 as well as on its high dielectric permittivity 45, according to Ref. 8. The metal/oxide/ polymer junctions are investigated by photocurrent spectroscopy PCS and scanning electron microscopy SEM. Finally, output transistor characteristics are recorded in order to test the performance of the junctions in the IOFET structure. Experimental Ti-10 atom % Zr alloys were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering. Targets consisted of 99.9% zirconium disk, of 100 mm diameter, with an appropriate number of 99.9% titanium disks, of 20 mm diameter, located symmetrically on the erosion region for the preparation of the alloys. Substrates used were glass plates. 8 The composition of the alloy was determined by Rutherford backscattering

Published
2011

47. Resistive switching behaviour in ZnO and VO 2 memristors grown by pulsed laser deposition

Author

Roberto Macaluso, F. Di Quarto, Giuseppe Lullo, Mauro Mosca, A. D'Angelo, Vincenzo Costanza, Fulvio Caruso, F. Di Franco, Monica Santamaria, Claudio Cali, Macaluso, R, Mosca, M, Costanza, V, D'Angelo, A, Lullo, G, Caruso, F, Calì, C, Di Franco, F, Santamaria, M, and Di Quarto, F

Subjects
Laser ablation, Materials science, business.industry, Wide-bandgap semiconductor, Memristor, Laser, Settore ING-INF/01 - Elettronica, Active devices, Pulsed laser deposition, law.invention, Memristors, Non volatile memory, ZnO, VO2, PLD, law, Resistive switching, Electronic engineering, Optoelectronics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, business, Microscale chemistry
Abstract

The resistive switching behaviour observed in microscale memristors based on laser ablated ZnO and VO 2 is reported. A comparison between the two materials is reported against an active device size. The results show that devices up to 300 × 300 μm 2 exhibit a memristive behaviour regardless of the device size, and 100 × 100 μm 2 ZnO-based memristors have the best resistance off/on ratio.

Published
2014
Full Text
View/download PDF

48. Postpneumonectomy esophageal fistula: a combined radiological-endoscopic technique

Author

DL Richardson, S. Robinson, F Di Franco, and S. M. Griffin

Subjects
Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Fistula, Radiography, medicine.medical_treatment, Radiology, Interventional, Catheterization, Pneumonectomy, Esophageal Fistula, Enteral Nutrition, Postoperative Complications, medicine, Aspergillosis, Humans, Esophagus, Aged, medicine.diagnostic_test, Lung Diseases, Fungal, business.industry, Gastroenterology, Interventional radiology, General Medicine, medicine.disease, Surgery, Catheter, medicine.anatomical_structure, Treatment Outcome, Barium, Esophagoscopy, business, Aspergilloma
Abstract

SUMMARY. We report a case of a 70-year-old man who presented with a long-standing esophagocutaneous fistula following a pneumonectomy for aspergilloma. Major surgical procedures, including a pectoralis major flap reconstruction, a pedicled omental transposition and a radial forearm flap transposition, failed to obliterate the fistula. Seven years after initial surgery the esophagocutaneous fistula was successfully treated by means of a minimally invasive joint endoscopic and radiological technique. A radiographic catheter was passed through the fistula. The catheter and the guide wire were manipulated into the esophageal defect and into the upper esophagus. Under endoscopic vision, the catheter was then advanced over the guide wire and out of the patient's mouth. A T-tube was sutured to the catheter outside the mouth, pulled down through the esophagus, and into the esophageal defect and out through the chest wall, leaving the T-part of the tube within the esophagus. The patient made a good recovery and was discharged 7 days later. He was able to resume oral intake 3 weeks after the procedure.

Published
2005

49. Esophageal achalasia. Personal experience with 76 patients

Author

R, Vecchio, F, Palazzo, F, Di Franco, M, Arcerito, A, Consoli, and S, Latteri

Subjects
Adult, Esophageal Achalasia, Male, Treatment Outcome, Adolescent, Humans, Endoscopy, Female, Esophagoscopy, Middle Aged, Dilatation, Aged, Follow-Up Studies
Abstract

The Authors report their experience on 76 patients managed for oesophageal achalasia from 1973-1997. 65 patients have been surgically treated with Heller miotomy (19 cases) or miotomy with antireflux procedures (46 cases); 11 patients underwent an endoscopic pneumatic dilation. 54 patients, 43 surgically and 11 endoscopically treated, have been followed for a mean length of time of 6 years and 6 months. Complete cure or significant improvement of symptoms have been noted in 86% and 72.7% of patients treated respectively with surgery or pneumatic dilatation. The results have been evaluated according to the recent data from the literature and diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of primitive achalasia are discussed.

Published
1999

50. [Hartmann's procedure in colorectal tumors. Evolutions of the indications in a series of 46 patients]

Author

R, Vecchio, F, Di Franco, F, Palazo, F, Mosca, A, Stracqualursi, and F, Latteri

Subjects
Aged, 80 and over, Male, Rectal Neoplasms, Colonic Neoplasms, Humans, Female, Neoplasm Invasiveness, Middle Aged, Digestive System Surgical Procedures, Aged, Retrospective Studies
Abstract

The Authors report a retrospective study of 46 cases of Hartmann's operation in order to analyze the changing indications to this procedure in the management of colo-rectal cancer. The Hartmann's is operation has been performed in 46 out of 723 patients (6.4%) with colorectal cancer treated surgically from 1973 to 1997. Data concerning the indications have been analyzed in two consecutive periods, from 1973 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1997, respectively. In the first period, the procedure has been performed in patients with neoplastic perforation (40% of Hartmann's cases), and in an elective basis in patients with locally invasive tumor or intra-abdominal metastasis (20%). Indications for the procedure in the period 1986-1997 have been locally invasive tumor and/or distant metastasis (52.8% of Hartmann's procedures), neoplastic perforation (22.2%), high surgical anaesthesiologic risk (22.2%) or intestinal obstruction (2.8%). In the second period it has been noted a decrease of the number of patients that underwent Hartmann's procedure for bowel obstruction, and an increase in the number of cases in which the operation was performed for neoplastic perforation, for local and/or distant diffusion, or for high surgical risk.

Published
1998

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results