We noticed that Figures 1 and 2 of the original publication showed data of preliminary measurements that are not quite consistent with the text and figure captions.We regret this mistake and provide here the correct figures.

Inelastic x-ray scattering spectra excited at the 1s(-1)π* resonance of gas phase O2 have been recorded with an overall energy resolution that allows for well-resolved vibrational progressions. The nuclear wave packet dynamics in the intermediate state is reflected in vibrational excitations of the electronic ground state, and by fine-tuning the excitation energy the dissociation dynamics in the predissociative B'(3)Πg final state is controlled.

No abstract

SummaryTitanium has superior osteointegrating properties compared to other biomaterials. The mechanism for this is unknown. During the initial phase of bone implantation the biomaterial comes into direct contact with whole blood. In this study we use a newly developed in vitro chamber model to compare different commonly used biomaterials in contact with whole blood. These materials were selected with respect to their different osteointegrating properties in order to correlate these properties with the response to whole blood. In the presence of 3 IU/ml of heparin only titanium induced macroscopic clotting. This was reflected by the generation of thrombin-antithrombin which was much increased in blood in contact with titanium compared with steel and PVC. The coagulation activation caused by titanium was triggered by the intrinsic pathway because the generation of FXIIa-AT/C1 esterase inhibitor paralleled that of thrombin-antithrombin, and both thrombinantithrombin complex and FXIIa-AT/C1 esterase inhibitor generation were abrogated by corn trypsin inhibitor, which is a specific inhibitor of FXIIa. The binding of platelets was increased on the titanium surface compared to the other biomaterial surfaces and the state of platelet activation was much more pronounced as reflected by the levels of β-thromboglobulin and PDGF. This study indicates that titanium is unsuitable as a biomaterial in devices which are in direct contact with blood for a prolonged period. Furthermore, PDGF and other α-granule proteins e.g. TGF-β, are known to be potent promotors of osteogenesis which suggests that the pronounced thrombogenic properties of titanium might contribute to the good osteointegrating properties.

In this study, we investigated the frictional behavior of both hydrogenated and hydrogen-free diamondlike carbon (DLC) films in high vacuum (10 -6 Pa) at room temperature. Water was also introduced into the vacuum chamber to elucidate its effects on DLC film tribology. The hydrogen-free DLC (also referred to as tetrahedral amorphous carbon, or ta-C) was produced by an arc-PVD process, and the highly hydrogenated DLC was produced by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition.Tribological measurements of these films were made with a pin-on-disc machine with coated steel balls and coated steel discs in matched pairs under a 1 N load. The ball/disk pairs were rotated at sliding speeds in the range of 0.025-0.075 m/s. In vacuum, the steady-state friction coefficient of ta-C was of the order of 0.6 and the wear was severe, whereas for the highly hydrogenated film, friction was below 0.01, and in an optical microscope no wear could be detected. Adding water vapor to the sliding ta-C system in a vacuum chamber caused friction to decrease monotonically from 0.6 to ≈0.05. In contrast, adding water vapor to the sliding DLC system caused the friction to increase linearly with pressure from 0.01 to 0.07. The results illustrate the importance of taking into account environmental conditions, especially the presence of water, when DLC films are being considered for a given application.