246 research outputs found

    Thoracopagus Conjoined Twins: A Case Report

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    Objective. Conjoined twin is a rarely seen congenital anomaly together with severe mortality and morbidity. The more common types of conjoined twins include the thoracopagus type, where the fusion is anterior, at the chest, and involves the heart. We are reporting one case of conjoined thoracopagus twins diagnosed by ultrasonography at 11 weeks. Case Report. In a multigravid pregnant woman who has been admitted to our clinic with a diagnosis of conjoined twins, thoracopagus, by ultrasonography at an 11-week gestation, termination of the pregnancy was performed. Conclusion. Making an early diagnosis with ultrasonographic examination gives the parents a chance to elect pregnancy termination

    Características productivas y de gestión de fincas lecheras en Boyacá

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    Objetivo. Caracterizar las fincas productoras de leche y las prácticas administrativas, técnicas y de manejo en Boyacá. Materiales y métodos. Estudio epidemiológico descriptivo, a través de encuestas y registros rutinarios de la finca. Las variables se agruparon en categorías ambientales, de infraestructura, producción y administrativas. Se utilizaron el χ2 de Pearson y ANOVA para diferencia entre medias. Resultados. La temperatura ambiental promedio fue de 13.5 (± 2.18) ºC, la altura promedio de 2.630 (± 205,5) m.s.n.m, precipitación promedio anual de 49.81 (± 5,35)mm; la extensión de las fincas osciló entre 9 y 89 ha, con una media de 43.35 ha, la asistencia técnica se tuvo en el 95% de las fincas, un 75% en salud animal y un 25% en reproducción animal. La producción promedio de leche fue de 16.5 litros/vaca/día, la administración de las fincas es realizada principalmente por mayordomos. El 90% de los propietarios tienen estudios universitarios relacionados con actividades diferentes al sector agropecuario. Conclusiones. Las fincas son pequeñas comparadas con otras regiones lecheras nacionales y mundiales, la media de producción láctea es mayor que en otras regiones, hay baja gestión administrativa y se considera actividad anexa a los ingresos de los propietarios. Se hace necesario implementar estrategias de capacitación o cursos de manejo, prevención y control de enfermedades a mayordomos y operarios, cursos de gestión de empresas agropecuarias para mejorar sus renglones productivos

    Biomedical Efficacy of Garlic-Extract-Loaded Core-Sheath Plasters for Natural Antimicrobial Wound Care

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    This work explores the application of Allium sativum (Garlic) extract, in the creation of novel polymeric core-sheath fibers for wound therapy applications. The core-sheath pressurized gyration (CS PG) technology is utilized to mass-produce fibers with a polycaprolactone (PCL) core and a polyethylene oxide (PEO) sheath, loaded with garlic extract. The produced fibers maintain structural integrity, long-term stability and provide a cell-friendly surface with rapid antibacterial activity. The physical properties, morphology, therapeutic delivery, cytotoxicity, thermal and chemical stability of PCL, PEO, PEO/Garlic, Core-Sheath (CS) PEO/PCL and PEO/Garlic/PCL fibers are analyzed. Findings show that the addition of garlic extract greatly increases the fibers’ thermal durability, while decreasing their diameter, thus improving cell adhesion and proliferation. In-vitro release tests reveal a rapid release of garlic extract, which has significant antibacterial action against both Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria species. Cell viability experiments validate the fiber samples' biocompatibility and nontoxicity, making them appropriate for integrative medicine applications. These core-sheath structures emphasize the potential of combining natural therapeutic agents with advanced material technologies to develop cost-effective, sustainable and highly effective wound dressings, offering a promising solution to the growing concerns associated with conventional synthetic antibacterial agents

    Quantifying the Energetics and Length Scales of Carbon Segregation to Fe Symmetric Tilt Grain Boundaries Using Atomistic Simulations

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    Segregation of impurities to grain boundaries plays an important role in both the stability and macroscopic behavior of polycrystalline materials. The research objective in this work is to better characterize the energetics and length scales involved with the process of solute and impurity segregation to grain boundaries. Molecular dynamics simulations are used to calculate the segregation energies for carbon within multiple grain boundary sites over a database of 125 symmetric tilt grain boundaries in Fe. The simulation results show that the majority of atomic sites near the grain boundary have segregation energies lower than in the bulk. Moreover, depending on the boundary, the segregation energies approach the bulk value approximately 5-12 \AA\ away from the center of the grain boundary, providing an energetic length scale for carbon segregation. A subsequent data reduction and statistical representation of this dataset provides critical information such as about the mean segregation energy and the associated energy distributions for carbon atoms as a function of distance from the grain boundary, which quantitatively informs higher scale models with energetics and length scales necessary for capturing the segregation behavior of impurities in Fe. The significance of this research is the development of a methodology capable of ascertaining segregation energies over a wide range of grain boundary character (typical of that observed in polycrystalline materials), which herein has been applied to carbon segregation in a specific class of grain boundaries in iron

    Antifungal screening and in silico mechanistic studies of an in-house azole library

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    Systemic Candida infections pose a serious public health problem with high morbidity and mortality. C. albicans is the major pathogen identified in candidiasis, however non-albicans Candida spp. with antifungal resistance are now more prevalent. Azoles are first-choice antifungal drugs for candidiasis, however they are ineffective for certain infections caused by the resistant strains. Azoles block ergosterol synthesis by inhibiting fungal CYP51, which leads to disruption of fungal membrane permeability. In this study, we screened for antifungal activity of an in-house azole library of 65 compounds to identify hit matter followed by a molecular modelling study for their CYP51 inhibition mechanism. Antifungal susceptibility tests against standard Candida spp. including C. albicans revealed derivatives 12 and 13 as highly active. Furthermore, they showed potent antibiofilm activity as well as neglectable cytotoxicity in a mouse fibroblast assay. According to molecular docking studies 12 and 13 have the necessary binding characteristics for effective inhibition of CYP51. Finally, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the C. albicans CYP51 (CACYP51) homology model's catalytic site complexed with 13 was stable demonstrating excellent binding. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

    Ab-initio study of several static and dynamic properties of liquid palladium and platinum

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    We report a study on several static and dynamic properties of liquid Pd and Pt metals at thermodynamic conditions near their respective triple points. The calculations have been carried out by an ab initio molecular dynamics simulation technique. Results are reported for several static structural magnitudes which are compared with the available X-ray diffraction. As for the dynamic properties, results have been obtained for both single and collective dynamical magnitudes as well as for some transport coeffcients which are compared with the corresponding experimental data

    Robust production of purified H-2 in a stable, self-regulating, and continuously operating solar fuel generator

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    The development of practical solar-driven electrochemical fuel generators requires the integration of light absorbing and electrochemical components into an architecture that must also provide easy separation of the product fuels. Unfortunately, many of these components are not stable under the extreme pH conditions necessary to facilitate ionic transport between redox reaction sites. By using a controlled recirculating stream across reaction sites, this work demonstrates a stable, self-regulating and continuous purified solar-hydrogen generation from near neutral pH electrolytes that yield continuous nearly pure H-2 streams with solar-fuel efficiencies above 6.2%

    Time Dependent Surface Corrosion Analysis and Modelling of Automotive Steel Under a Simplistic Model of Variations in Environmental Parameters

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    This research presents time-dependent corrosion analysis of automotive steel utilised in a large military vehicle in real operating environment, followed by simulated environmental tests and simplistic surface corrosion modelling. Time-dependent surface corrosion accumulated on this specific component was observed to be approximately 250 µm thick, with the identification of surface contaminants such as chlorine and sulphur. Simulated environmental tests considering temperature and relative humidity variations were performed to evaluate quantitative corrosion damage to the structure of the vehicle. The relationship of various temperatures and relative humidity with respect to time, within the context of corrosion initiation and propagation, has been presented. A mathematical model to incorporate corrosion accumulation on the surfaces derived from the simulated environmental tests is presented

    A questão ambiental na origem do problema agrário brasileiro e o caso da região Sul.

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    A especificidade do processo de apropriação privada de terras públicas no Brasil, após 1850, é o ponto de origem dos problemas ambientais atuais no espaço rural, isso porque foi desse período em diante que a ausência de limites ambientais se tornou a regra principal da aliança entre a concentração fundiária e o progresso técnico aplicado à agricultura, comprometendo dramaticamente outras formas de acesso, bem como o uso produtivo ou não produtivo das terras e seus recursos naturais. O estudo de caso realizado na região sudoeste do Paraná, no Sul do Brasil, no entanto, demonstra que, apesar de uma estrutura agrária mais democrática, a regra de ausência de limites ambientais também é reiterada. Naquela região, o impulso básico à degradação ambiental deve-se ao fato de as estratégias de reprodução da agricultura familiar estarem estreitamente associadas aos imperativos do mercado exportador de grãos
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