BACKGROUND Retention of airway secretions is a common and serious problem in ventilated patients. Treating or avoiding secretion retention with mucus thinning, patient-positioning, airway suctioning, or chest or airway vibration or percussion may provide short-term benefit. METHODS In a series of laboratory experiments with a test-lung system we examined the role of ventilator settings and lu...

Highly textured undoped (pure) and Al doped ZnO nanocrystalline thin films prepared by ultrasonic atomization and pyrolysis method are reported in this paper. ZnCl2 water solution was converted into fine mist by ultrasonic atomizer (Gapusol 9001 RBI Meylan, France). The mist was pyrolyzed on the glass substrates in horizontal quartz reactor placed in furnace. The Structural and microstructural ...

Sulfonated polyelectrolyte membranes (PEMs), such as Nafion and styrene-olefin block copolymers, are explored as permselective membranes for fuel cells as well as suitable barrier materials against chemical agents. The permselective properties of PEM are determined by their microphase segregation into hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains. We performed classical molecular dynamics simulations of ...

We developed a chemiresistive sensor based on doped and functionalized semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) networks for ultrasensitive and rapid detection of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) (simulant of nerve agent sarin) vapor. The semiconducting SWNT network was deposited between interdigitated electrodes and modified by solid organic acid tetrafluorohydroquinone (TFQ). The ...

A bio-enabled, environmentally-friendly, and maximally mild layer-by-layer approach has been developed to surface modify inherently hydrophobic Kapton HN substrates to allow for great printability of both water- and organic solvent-based inks thus facilitating the full-inkjet-printing of flexible electronic devices. Different from the traditional Kapton surface modification approaches which are...

The photooxidation of a mustard-gas simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES), is studied using a porphyrin-based metal-organic framework (MOF) catalyst. At room temperature and neutral pH value, singlet oxygen is generated by PCN-222/MOF-545 using an inexpensive and commercially available light-emitting diode. The singlet oxygen produced by PCN-222/MOF-545 selectively oxidizes CEES to the c...

Chemiresistor-based vapour sensors made from network films of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) bundles on flexible plastic substrates (polyethylene terephthalate, PET) can be used to detect chemical warfare agent simulants for the nerve agents Sarin (diisopropyl methylphosphonate, DIMP) and Soman (dimethyl methylphosphonate, DMMP). Large, reproducible resistance changes (75-150%), are obser...

The role of repetitive simulated coughing on the clearance of gel mucus simulant was investigated in vitro, by using a simulated cough machine. The repetition of cough induced a significant increase (p less than 0.01) in mucus simulant clearance (139.3 +/- 78.7 mm) in comparison to a single cough (24.9 +/- 27.5 mm). Moreover, the increase in frequency of the repetitive coughing induced a marked...