The pathogenesis of sickle vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in sickle cell disease (SCD) patients involves the accumulation of rigid sickle cells and the stimulation of an ongoing inflammatory response, as well as the stress of infections. The immune response, via cytokine imbalances and deregulated T-cell subsets, also has been proposed to contribute to the development of VOC. In this study, a pane...

BACKGROUND The pathophysiologic mechanisms classically involved in sickle-cell nephropathy include endothelial dysfunction and vascular occlusion. Arguments demonstrating that ischemia-reperfusion injury-related kidney damage might coincide with vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) are lacking. METHODS In this prospective study, we sought to determine whether tubular cells and glomerular permeability ...

Open-circuit voltage (VOC) in organic solar cells (OSCs) is currently still not well-understood. A generally acceptable view is that VOC is mainly determined by the energy level offset between donor and acceptor materials. Recently in ternary blend OSCs, VOC is found to be dependent on the blend composition. But contrary to expectation, this dependence is not a simple linear relationship, which...

We report the demonstration of CdTe/MgxCd1-xTe double heterostructures (DHs) with a carrier lifetime of 3.6 μs and an interface recommendation velocity of 1.2 cm/s, comparable to or even better than the best values reported for GaAs/Al0.5Ga0.5As (18 cm/s) and GaAs/Ga0.5In0.5P (1.5 cm/s) DHs. Combined with a p-contact layer (8 nm a-SiCy:H + 4 nm a-Si:H), devices consisting of MgxCd1-xTe/CdTe/Mg0...

This report presents an assessment of VOC emissions from fiberglass boat manufacturing. First, a description of the industry structure is presented. This includes estimates of the number of facilities, their size, and geographic distribution. The fiberglass boat manufacturing process is then described along with the sources and types of VOC emissions. Model plants representative of typical faci...

This study reports the results of the gas phase oxidation of alpha-cypermethrin, a common insecticide, elucidating the decomposition pathways and formation of toxic species such as polychlorinated dibenzo-pdioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) and their precursors. Conditions investigated are similar to those encountered in post combustion and cooling-down zones of forest, agricult...

With the growing concern regarding emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the relationship between the VOC emission rates and the associated public health risks has been rarely discussed. The objective of this study was to examine and compare the VOC emission rates and cancer and non-cancer risks by inhalation intake, using a municipal WWTP in Ch...

BACKGROUND The paper describes the origins of the Value of Children (VOC) approach to the cross-cultural research on fertility behavior around the Pacific Rim, and critically discusses its shortcomings at this stage. OBJECTIVE The paper then demonstrates how the approach derives its theoretical coherence from the theory of social production functions, making reference to empirical evidence. RES...

HCHO and CHOCHO are important trace gases in the atmosphere, serving as tracers of VOC oxidations. In the past decade, high concentrations of HCHO and CHOCHO have been observed for the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in southern China. In this study, we performed box model simulations of HCHO and CHOCHO at a semi-rural site in the PRD, focusing on understanding their sources and sinks and factor...