The effects of these processes on hardness, specific gravity, crosslink, tensile strength, elongation, and dynamic mechanical properties were

studied. Also, the morphology and the chain structure changing of waste rubber powder were studied by SEM and XPS, respectively. The ozone/ultrasonic treatment was found to be the most effective treatment to improve the mechanical properties of waste rubber powder revulcanizate. The effect of mechanism may be due to the sulfur crosslinkage network changed to a cyclic form. (c) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 112: 3048-3056, 2009″
“Background: Guidelines LBH589 recommend hospice care as a treatment option for end-stage heart failure (HF) patients. Little is known regarding utilization of hospice care in a contemporary cohort of patients hospitalized with HF and how this may vary by estimated mortality risk.

Methods: We analyzed HF patients >= 65 years (n = 58,330) from

214 hospitals participating in the Get With the Guidelines-HF program. Univariate analysis comparing patients discharged to hospice versus other patients was performed. Hospice utilization was evaluated for deciles of estimated 90-day AS1842856 mortality risk using a. validated model. Multivariate analysis using admission patient and hospital characteristics was also performed to determine factors associated with hospice discharge.

Results: There were 1,442 patients discharged to hospice, and rates of referral varied widely by hospital (interquartile range 0-3.7%) as shown in the univariate analysis. Patients discharged to hospice were significantly older and more often white, had lower left ventricular ejection fraction, higher B-type natriuretic peptide, and lower systolic blood pressure on admission. Utilization rates for each decile of 90-day estimated mortality risk ranged from 0.3% to 8.6%. Multivariable analysis found that factors associated with :hospice utilization included HDAC inhibitor increased age, low systolic blood pressure on admission, and increased blood urea nitrogen.

Conclusions: Hospice utilization remains low among HF patients, even

those with the highest predicted risk of death. (J Cardiac Fail 2012:18:471-477)”
“The controlled addition of La to Hf(x)Si(1-x)O(2)/SiO(2)/Si dielectric stacks has been shown to enable the engineering of the work function to appropriate levels when TaN or TiN is employed as the capping metal gate. Work function tuning has been suggested to be controlled by La diffusion into the Hf-based dielectric as a result of further thermal treatments. In this paper, we performed high resolution angle resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) studies to investigate the chemical depth profile distribution of TaN/La(2)O(3)/HfO(2)/SiO(2)/Si dielectric stacks exposed to a nitridation treatment by NH(3) at 700 degrees C.