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To test whether remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) as adjuvant to standard of care (SOC) would prevent progression towards heart failure (HF) after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Single-centre parallel 1:1 randomized trial (computerized block-randomization, concealed allocation) to assess superiority of RIC (3 cycles of intermittent 5 min lower limb ischaemia) over SOC in consecutive STEMI patients (NCT02313961, clinical trials.gov). From 258 patients randomized to RIC or SOC, 9 and 4% were excluded because of unconfirmed diagnosis and previously unrecognized exclusion criteria, respectively. Combined primary outcome of cardiac mortality and hospitalization for HF was reduced in RIC compared with SOC (n = 231 and 217, respectively; HR = 0.35, 95% CI 0.15-0.78) as well as each outcome in isolation. No difference was found in serum troponin I levels between groups. Median and maximum follow-up time were 2.1 and 3.7 years, respectively. In-hospital HF (RR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.47-0.98), need for diuretics (RR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.48-0.97) and inotropes and/or intra-aortic balloon pump (RR = 0.17, 95% CI 0.04-0.76) were decreased in RIC. On planned 12 months follow-up echocardiography (n = 193 and 173 in RIC and SOC, respectively) ejection fraction (EF) recovery was enhanced in patients presenting with impaired left ventricular (LV) function (10% absolute difference in median EF compared with SOC; P < 0.001). In addition to previously reported improved myocardial salvage index and reduced infarct size RIC was shown beneficial in a combined hard clinical endpoint of cardiac mortality and hospitalization for HF. Improved EF recovery was also documented in patients with impaired LV function.

This manuscript describes harmonic generation in semiconductor superlattices, starting from a nonequilibrium Green's functions input to relaxation rate-type analytical approximations for the Boltzmann equation in which imperfections in the structure lead to asymmetric current flow and scattering processes under forward and reverse bias. The resulting current-voltage curves and the predicted consequences on harmonic generation, notably the development of even harmonics, are in good agreement with experiments. Significant output for frequencies close to 1 THz (7th harmonic) at room temperature, after excitation by a 141-GHz input signal, demonstrate the potential of superlattice devices for gigahertz to terahertz applications.

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This paper presents a predictive Keldysh nonequilibrium many body Green's functions theory for quantum transport including high order electron-electron, electron-phonon, electron-impurity, and interface roughness scattering processes. Our approach is fully frequency and momentum dependent including nondiagonal dephasing terms in both frequency and k-space. A detailed balance between coherent and scattering processes leads to local current conservation even if a small number of states is considered. Good agreement with experiments is obtained for a terahertz quantum cascade laser. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3272675

A many-body theory based on nonequilibrium Green functions, in which transport and optics are treated on a microscopic quantum mechanical basis, is used to compute gain and absorption in the optical and THz regimes in quantum cascade laser structures. The relative importance of Coulomb interactions for different intersubband transitions depends strongly on the spatial overlap of the wavefunctions and the specific nonequilibrium populations within the subbands. The magnitude of the Coulomb effects can be controlled by changing the operation bias.

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