Transport characteristics of multi-terminal pristine and defective phosphorene systems.

Atomic vacancies and nanopores act as local scattering centers and modify the transport properties of charge carriers in phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs). We investigate the influence of such atomic defects on the electronic transport of multi-terminal PNR. We use the non-equilibrium Green's function approach within the tight-binding framework to calculate the transmission coefficient and the conductance. Terminals induce band mixing resulting in oscillations in the conductance. In the presence of atomic vacancies and nanopores the conductance between non-axial terminals exhibit constructive scattering, which is in contrast to mono-axial two-terminal systems where the conductance exhibits destructive scattering. This can be understood from the spatial local density of states of the transport modes in the system. Our results provide fundamental insights into the electronic transport in PNR-based multi-terminal systems and into the ability of atomic defects and nanopores through tuning the transport properties.

Analysis of troponin I levels after spontaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator shocks.

INTRODUCTION: Serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a sensitive and specific marker for myocardial injury. Myocardial ischemia and/or injury can be a trigger for ventricular arrhythmias. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency and significance of elevated serum cTnI levels after spontaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shocks. METHODS AND RESULTS: Serial cTnI measurements and ECGs were performed in 35 patients with transvenous ICDs who were admitted after spontaneous ICD shocks. Elevated cTnI levels were found in 18 patients (51%). Acute coronary syndrome was diagnosed in 5 (22%) of 23 patients with known coronary artery disease. After excluding the patients with acute coronary syndrome, elevated cTnI levels were present in 13 (43%) of 30 patients: 18% of patients with < or =3 shocks and 58% of patients with >3 shocks. Patients with elevated cTnI levels received a higher number of shocks (16+/-18 vs 5+/-7; P < 0.05) and had higher total delivered energies (475+/-538 J vs 128+/-184 J; P < 0.05) compared with patients with normal cTnI. Patients with acute coronary syndrome had higher peak cTnI levels (18+/-16 ng/mL) compared with patients with elevated cTnI without acute coronary syndrome (3.8+/-4.3 ng/mL; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Serum cTnI rises occur in the majority of patients after multiple (>3) spontaneous ICD discharges but are due to acute coronary syndrome only 14% of the time (22% of the time in patients with known coronary artery disease).