[en] Myocardial scintigraphy was applied in the evaluation of the effectivity of systemic or intracoronary thrombolytic therapy. Scintigraphy was carried out on the second or third day of the thrombolytic therapy. 500 MBq sup(99m)Tc-pyrophosphate was administered iv. and 90-120 minutes later images were taken from three directions. The results of the scintigraphy were compared to those of ECG and enzyme analysis. Assessed on the basis of the three diagnostic methods, intracoronary thrombolysis proved to be successful in 3 out of 10 cases, systemic thrombolysis in 10 out of 28 cases. Myocardial scintigraphy gave 4 false negative results but no false positive result was obtained, thus the sensitity of the diagnostic procedure was 84%, and the specificity 100%. (L.E.)

[en] Plasma treatments can be utilized to upgrade the value and utility of fibrous materials for a variety of applications. In this work, the authors have utilized inductively coupled cold plasmas for modification of both lignocellulosic and synthetic materials. ESR was used to monitor the effect of the plasma parameters on the production of free radicals in the substrate and ESCA, wetting techniques, FTIR and wet chemical approaches were used to evaluate changes in the chemical composition of the surfaces. Argon and oxygen plasmas were used for both direct surface modification of the substrates as well as for plasma induced polymerization with conventional vinyl monomers. The plasma modified substrates exhibit improved compatibility, bonding and adhesion as measured by pull-out and T-peel tests. Hydrophobic surfaces were also created at the surfaces of cellulosics with carbon tetrafluoride plasmas. Attempts were made to correlate the plasma reaction parameters with the characteristics of the modified substrates

[en] Titanium dioxide is well known for its photocatalytic activity, but it works effectively only in the ultraviolet (UV) range. Given the relatively low flux of solar UV that reaches earth, the potential of exploring its photocatalytic capacity for environmental protection applications is very limited. In this study, rutile, the least photocatalytic of the three existing titanium dioxide crystalline forms, was suspended in water or acetonitrile and treated with oxygen or argon plasmas, using a novel dense-medium plasma technology (submerged arc discharge). As a result of the plasma treatment, rutile particles were doped with various trace elements that originated in electrodes made of different metals. Subsequent analyses show that the photocatalytic capacity of plasma-modified rutile is comparable to or even better than that of unmodified anatase, the most photocatalytic form of titanium dioxides. The color change of TiO₂ samples after plasma treatment indicates that the modified rutile absorbs visible light and may therefore work as a photocatalyst in the visible range. Given the fact that rutile can be produced in large quantity more easily and cheaply than can anatase, these results are very encouraging and open up possibilities in using rutile for photocatalytic applications in the visible range.

[en] A novel dense-medium plasma technology (submerged arc discharge) was used to synthesize carbon/iron-based magnetic nanoparticles (CMNP) from benzene or acetonitrile at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Scanning electron microscopy shows that the nanoparticles are spherical and 40–50 nm in diameter. Results from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and other analytical techniques demonstrated that the CMNP consist of iron/iron oxide clusters that are evenly dispersed in a carbon-based host-structure. After synthesis, CMNP samples were activated in three steps: argon plasma treatment, in-situ reactions with ethylene diamine, and substrate activation by glutaric dialdehyde. Free doxorubicin (DOX) molecules were then immobilized onto the activated CMNP surfaces to form CMNP-DOX conjugates. The loading efficiency of doxorubicin was determined. In vitro anti-proliferative activity of CMNP-DOX conjugates was confirmed in tumor-cell cytotoxicity assays. It is therefore suggested that CMNP may be used as a magnetic carrier for targeted drug-delivery applications.