Silane Deposition via Gas-Phase Evaporation and High-Resolution Surface Characterization of the Ultrathin Siloxane Coatings.

Siloxane coatings for surfaces are essential in many scientific and industrial applications. We describe a straightforward gas-phase evaporation technique in inert atmosphere and introduce a practical and reliable silanization protocol adaptable to different silane types. The primary aim of depositing ultrathin siloxane films on surfaces is to enable a reproducible and homogenous surface functionalization without agglomeration effects during the layer formation. To realize high-quality and large-area coatings, it is fundamental to understand the reaction conditions of the silanes, the process of the siloxane layer formation, and the possible influence of the substrate morphology. We used three typical silane types to exemplify the potential and versatility of our process: aminopropyltriethoxysilane, glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, and 1 H,1 H,2 H,2 H-perfluorooctyl-trichlorosilane. The ultrathin siloxane layers, which are generally difficult to characterize, were precisely investigated with high-resolution surface-characterization methods to verify our concept in terms of reproducibility and coating quality. Our results show that this gas-phase evaporation protocol is easily adaptable to all three, widely used silane types also enabling a large-area upscale.

Reduced graphene oxide biosensor platform for the detection of NT-proBNP biomarker in its clinical range.

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) thin films can be exploited as highly sensitive transducer layers and integrated in interdigital micro-electrode systems for biosensing processes. The distinctive bipolar characterisitics of rGO thin films can be modulated by a very low external electric field due to the electrostatic charges of biomolecules. These charges lead to a fast response in the readout signals of rGO based ion sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs). The characterisitc changes of rGO ISFETs enable a fast, accurate and reproducible detection of biomolecules. The biosensing mechanism offers a fast and label-free approach for analyte detection in contrast to the classical ELISA method. In this contribution, we introduce a reproducible fabrication process of rGO based field-effect transistors on wafer level. The sensors are functionalized as biosensors to measure N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in human serum within its clinical range. Our optimized rGO sensor shows very promising electrical properties and can be considered as a proof of concept study for the detection of various analytes. The easy and cost-effective fabrication as well as the versatile usability make this new technological platform an auspicious tool for different sensing applications in future.

The effects of crew resource management on teamwork and safety climate at Veterans Health Administration facilities.

Communication failure is a significant source of adverse events in health care and a leading root cause of sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission. The Veterans Health Administration National Center for Patient Safety established Clinical Team Training (CTT) as a comprehensive program to enhance patient safety and to improve communication and teamwork among health care professionals. CTT is based on techniques used in aviation's Crew Resource Management (CRM) training. The aviation industry has reached a significant safety record in large part related to the culture change generated by CRM and sustained by its recurrent implementation. This article focuses on the improvement of communication, teamwork, and patient safety by utilizing a standardized, CRM-based, interprofessional, immersive training in diverse clinical areas. The Teamwork and Safety Climate Questionnaire was used to evaluate safety climate before and after CTT. The scores for all of the 27 questions on the questionnaire showed an increase from baseline to 12 months, and 11 of those increases were statistically significant. A recurrent training is recommended to maintain the positive outcomes. CTT enhances patient safety and reduces risk of patient harm by improving teamwork and facilitating clear, concise, specific and timely communication among health care professionals.