[doi: 10.1063/1.3331988]“
“Purpose: click here The objective of this study was to develop

an oral assessment tool for evaluating the appetite of patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiotherapy, who had dysgeusia, xerostomia, and oral mucositis, as well as to verify its validity and reliability.

Methods and sample: A draft oral assessment tool, which included a 5-point scale and 19 items, was prepared based on an interview survey of 30 patients. The resultant questionnaire survey was provided to 209 subjects.

Results: On the basis of factor analysis of construct validity, 3 factors (dysgeusia and loss of favors), (salivation abnormality and loss of moisture in the oral cavity), and (pain in the oral cavity and lack of motivation) comprising 14 items were adopted for the final survey. Lonafarnib in vivo During a review of criteria validity, a correlation was found between the scores of the three factors and overall oral assessment tool, and the

scores of taste sensitivity, xerostomia, oral mucositis, and appetite with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.41-0.89 (p < 0.01). With regard to reliability, stability was determined as 0.87 (p < 0.01) according to test retest study results. Internal consistency was confirmed by a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.83 (p < 0.01) and an interclass correlation coefficient of 0.80 (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: On the basis of the validity and reliability of the oral assessment tool developed, it has been found to be practical for use in the assessment of appetite of patients with head and neck cancer. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“The friction coefficient of the sulphur-prevulcanized natural rubber (SPNR) film could be effectively reduced by deposition of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) check details particles. The nanoscale surface roughness of rubber, determined by atomic force microscope, was directly proportional to the particle size of PMMA particle

at 12% surface coverage (Cs). The %Cs and surface roughness of the modified SPNR increased, while the friction coefficient decreased, with increasing PMMA latex concentration and immersion time. By using a mixture of latexes having both large and small sizes, the increase in the amount of small particles resulted in the better distribution of large particles deposited on the rubber surface. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 115:3680-3686, 2010″
“The formation of the nanocrystalline rocksalt ZnO (rs-ZnO) has been in situ studied by x-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation at high pressure and high temperature. A number of rs-ZnO/MgO nanocomposites with preset grain size were synthesized at 7 GPa and 800 K starting from wurtzite ZnO nanoparticles or nanorods. The use of MgO matrix allowed us to recover metastable rs-ZnO in the nanocrystalline form at ambient pressure.