OBJECTIVE Investigation of the reliability of the qualitative and semiquantitative scoring of nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) assessment between two raters in a systemic sclerosis (SSc) cohort. METHODS Two raters from different centres blindly assessed the NVC images of 71 consecutive patients with SSc qualitatively as belonging to the scleroderma spectrum (SDS) category ('early', 'active'...

The self-aggregation behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNIPAM-b-PVCL) during the thermal-induced phase transition in water was explored by a combination of calorimetric, turbidity, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and FTIR measurements. Only one transition can be observed via all detecting methods, revealing the cooperative aggregation of the two distinct tempera...

Wildland fire management strategies often have long-term economic and ecological impacts, as evidenced by the increase in fire danger resulting from the total suppression policy of the last several decades. In the long run, the choice of an optimal wildland fire management strategy depends upon the cumulative effects of fire management factors as well as the interaction between them. A theoreti...

IMPORTANCE Clinical management of nasal airway obstruction (NAO) in patients with and without nasal allergic symptoms and nasal valve collapse (NVC). OBJECTIVE To examine the impact that autologous alar batten grafts have on patients with NAO owing to NVC and their affect on nasal steroid use and allergic symptoms. DESIGN A prospective study. SETTING Indiana University Medical Center, Ind...

Recent studies have paid particular attention to polymer-nanoparticle composite materials considering they a number of interesting properties, which include optical, thermal, electrical, and others (Reyna-Gonzalez et al., 2009; Yakuphanoglu 2010). In this study, free radical polymerization process was used create copolymer N-vinylcarbazole (NVC) benzyl methacrylate (BZMA) at 25–75 mol% each. Th...