FUSED PELVIC KIDNEY DRAINED BY A SINGLE URETER

A case of fused pelvic (discoid) kidney drained by a superiorly inserted single ureter is presented. This is the twentieth case of fused pelvic kidney, and the fifth case in which drainage was carried out by a single ureter, to be reported in the English literature. The diagnosis and treatment of this condition is discussed and the relevant literature is reviewed

Bilateral sudden hearing loss due to leptomeningeal carcinomatosis

Human SP–D is a member of the collectins family and was initially identified in the lung due to its role in surfactant–mediated innate immunity. Its deficiency can cause serious diseases, such as RDS and asthma. Nowadays, commercial surfactants are administered during the treatment of pulmonary diseases, but these products do not contain hSP–D because this hydrophilic protein is lost during the extraction of surfactant from animal lungs. Heterologous expression platforms such as mammalian cells and bacteria are used for the production of hSP–D, but the yields are low and the cost of production is high when using mammalian cells, and bacteria lack the ability to carry out post-translational modifications. Plants offer an alternative system for the production of recombinant proteins, allowing large-scale production and a high safety profile because they do not support the growth of human pathogens. Recombinant proteins may accumulate to higher levels when secreted or directed to intracellular compartments, thus affecting post-translational modifications and yields. The work described in this thesis focused on the production, purification and characterization of three rhSP–D variants (full–size hSP–D, hNCRD, and an hNCRD–DsRed fusion protein) in tobacco plants. The rhSP–D variants were expressed in the apoplast and cytosol to find the best conditions for their production as functional proteins. The apoplast was better than the cytosol in terms of rhSP–D yields (30–180 mg/kg FLW) and transgenic tobacco plants expressing the apoplast-targeted proteins showed promise as a sustainable production platform offering higher yields of the rhSP–D variants (60–80 mg/kg FLW) compared to mammalian cells (~2–5 mg/l) and bacteria (~40 mg/l). However, purification of the untagged and His6-tagged rhSP–D variants following transient expression revealed challenges involving strong binding of the rhSP–D variants to the chromatography resin, which inhibited elution, and the presence of plant-derived contaminants, which caused column fouling and interefered with binding, together resulting in relatively low yields after purification: ~24 mg/l for untagged full-size hSP–D, ~15 mg/l for untagged hNCRD, ~16 mg/l for full-size hSP–D with an N-terminal His6 tag, ~27 mg/l for hNCRD with an N-terminal His6 tag, ~2 mg/l for full-size hSP–D with a C-terminal His6 tag and ~10 mg/l for hNCRD with a C terminal His6 tag. Competitive ELISA confirmed the lectin-binding activity of the untagged and N-terminal His6-tagged full-size hSP–D and hNCRD variants with the same saccharide preferences as the native hSP–D (N-acetylmannosamine followed by maltose, glucose and galactose). The rhSP–D variants with C-terminal His6 tags failed to bind mannan-coated plates in the competitive ELISA experiments, suggesting the C-terminal tag blocked the CRD and prevented ligand binding.Although only partially-purified rhSP–D variants were obtained, the bacterial agglutination assay demonstrated the capacity of the untagged full-size hSP–D and the hNCRD–DsRed fusion protein to bind bacterial LPS and induce agglutination. Nevertheless, the absorbance values of these two rhSP–D variants were ~2–fold lower than the full-size hSP–D control from a murine myeloma cell line, and their activity was complete lost after two months in storage at three different temperatures. Further studies are therefore required to develop an efficient and economical large-scale purification method that can achieve the efficient recovery of pure plant-derived rhSP–D and maintain the biological activity of the protein

The 23 October 2011 M(w)7.0 Van (Eastern Turkey) Earthquake: Interpretations of Recorded Strong Ground Motions and Post-Earthquake Conditions of Nearby Structures

A major thrust-fault earthquake of M-w = 7.0 occurred on 23 October 2011 at 10:41:21 UTC in the eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, severely affecting the nearby towns of Van and Ercis. In this study, a few strong-motion records from the epicentral area are analyzed in order to investigate the characteristics of the ground motions. Also reported are the post-earthquake field observations for various types of structures, such as buildings, bridges, historical structures, tunnels, and dams within the vicinity of the fault plane. The spatial distribution of damage indicates a noticeable hanging-wall effect. The special-type structures are observed to experience far less damage, as opposed to the building structures in the region pointing to the need for strict compliance to seismic building code and the corresponding construction requirements

Mobile Manipulation in Domestic Environments Using A Low Degree of Freedom Manipulator

We present a mobile manipulation system used by the Georgia Tech team in the RoboCup@Home 2010 competition. An overview of the system is provided, including the approach taken for manipulation, SLAM, object detection, object recognition, and system integration. We focus on our manipulation strategy, which utilizes a low-degree of freedom manipulator and makes use of the robot’s differential drive as part of the manipulation strategy. Empirical results demonstrating our platform’s ability to detect and grasp a variety of tabletop objects are presented

Left atrial appendage occlusion techniques for open heart surgery and for minimally invasive thoracotomy

ISSN:2304-1021ISSN:2225-319