Risk factors associated with poor clinical outcome in pyogenic spinal infections : 5-years’ intensive care experience

Introduction: Management of pyogenic spinal infections (PSI) after the development of neurological deficit has not been specifically addressed in the literature. We aimed to describe real-life clinical outcomes of PSI in patients admitted to an intensive care unit with neurological deficit and identify factors associated with good prognosis. Methodology: Consecutive patients admitted to ICU with a possible diagnosis of spinal infection over five years’ period were included. Descriptive statistics were performed to examine the demographics and clinical parameters. Results: The majority (71%) of patients were male. The mean age was 57.4 years (27-79), and 71% were > 50 years old. At least one underlying risk factor was identified in 68% of the patients; the most common comorbidity was diabetes mellitus (DM). All patients have presented with fever accompanied by a neurological deficit (86%) and back pain (79%). A complete recovery was achieved in 25% of patients. However, the majority of patients had adverse outcomes with 21.4% mortality, and 43% remaining neurological sequelae. Increased age with a cut-off of 65 years and pre-existing DM were identified as being associated with poor outcome. Conclusion: Mortality among patients admitted to ICU with PSI was significantly higher than reported in the literature. The residual neurological deficit was common, one-third of patients had remaining neurological sequelae, and only one-fourth had complete recovery. Increased age and background DM were the most important determinants of poor clinical outcome. The impact of DM appears to be much more important than currently recognised in this population.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The initial appraisal of buried DAS system in CO2CRC Otway Project: the comparison of buried standard fibre-optic and helically wound cables using 2D imaging

This study aims to assess the ability of shallow distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) to serve as a cost-effective seismic sensor array for permanent monitoring applications. To this end, as part of the CO2CRC seismic monitoring program, a fibre-optic DAS array was deployed alongside a permanently buried geophone array at the Otway Project site (Victoria, Australia). The DAS array consisted of a standard commercially available tactical fibre-optic cable, which was deployed in 0.8 m deep trenches. A custom-designed helically wound (HW) cable was also deployed in one of the DAS trenches for comparison of the cable designs. Simultaneous acquisition of the seismic data was carried out using ~ 3000 vibroseis source points and geophones, DAS standard and HW cables. For initial assessment of the seismic images acquired with DAS and to compare different cable designs, preliminary 2D seismic reflection processing is conducted on both DAS cables and geophone data along a single 2D line. The geophone data processing guided processing of the DAS data. Several shallow structures (100–450 ms) and some important reflectors at 450–600 ms are observed on the final DAS images. Comparison of the two different DAS cable types demonstrated that seismic imaging would benefit DAS technology. However, the benefit of utilising HW cable is modest compared with the standard cable. The workflows and results of this study pave the way for processing of the 3D seismic data set acquired with the DAS array, as well as further detailed analysis of the DAS cables and the system itself

tick borne encephalitis in serbia a case series

Introduction: In the Europe, the number of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) has been increased in the last decade, and the number of endemic areas has been also increased and is still growing. In the present case series, we present clinical and socio-epidemiological data of patients with TBE hospitalized in the period of TBE virus epidemic in Serbia. Methodology: A case series was conducted in Serbia in 2017. Patients with confirmed TBE were included in the study. Biochemical and serological analysis of blood and CSF, as well as radiological imaging (CT and MRI) were done. Results: In total, 10 patients with TBE were included in the study. M:F ratio was 1.5:1, while average age was 45.1 years. Half of the patients had severe clinical picture. Endocranial CT scan and MRI did not reveal any abnormality, except in the patient with the most severe CNS infection (meningoencephalomyelitis). Mean value of sedimentation and CRP was slightly elevated (29.6 mm/1hours and 20.1 mg/L, respectively) in 80% of the patients, although elevation was almost negligible. The average number of leucocytes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was 171×106/L, the mean value of the CSF protein was 1.1g/L. There were no fatal outcomes. Conclusion: Since other CNS infections have similar clinical picture and CSF finding as TBE, serological analysis for TBE should be included in routine diagnostic practice

A Method for Rapid Generation of Complex 3D Models for Numerical Simulations

A method for rapid generation of complex 3D geological models is presented. The method utilizes scaled physical models which are built out of simple materials that provide sufficient density contrast. The model is CAT scanned, assembled into 3D and elastic properties are assigned to each node. Subsequent post and pre-stack numerical simulations allows us then to investigate several issues of high importance to the application of seismic for mineral exploration. Those are: understanding better the response of complex, fractal geology; improve 3D acquisition design by data decimation and imaging analysis; evaluate the effectiveness of various processing algorithms and provide help during the interpretation of real field data. The method proposed will be used to build a catalog of seismic responses over world-known mine sites

Numerical Study of Convective Water Desorption from the Polystyrene Cation Resin CG-8

A mathematical model was developed to evaluate the influence of structural and operational factors on convective desorption processes (desorption of a liquid from capillary-porous material). The possibility to utilize this model for the case of water desorption from the polystyrene cation resin CG-8 is presented. The model accounts for unsteady one-dimensional simultaneous heat and mass transfer between the gas (humid air) and the solid phase (CG-8 resin). The identification of effective transport properties for the considered packed bed of material (CG-8 resin) is discussed. To this purpose, data from the literature are used

An unknown collection of lizards from Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a herpetologically understudied country with few published papers since the end of “Afghanistan’s Golden Age” from the 1930s to the 1970s. Although a detailed checklist of the herpetofauna of the country, based on exploration of herpetodiversity using biodiversity archives, has been published recently, there still exist additional historical data that have not been considered. This is the case for a so far unknown collection of lizards from Afghanistan deposited in the herpetological collection of the Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković at the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. The material comes from field research conducted in 1972 and contains 27 specimens in seven lizard genera representing four families (Agamidae, Gekkonidae, Lacertidae, Scincidae). This historical collection was examined and basic morphometric data, field data, and photographs are provided, comparing the distributional data with published datasets. Updated species distribution maps reveal new locality or province records and an important range extension for Eurylepis taeniolata Blyth, 1854 which represents the northernmost record for this species in Afghanistan. In addition, one further distribution record for the Bufotes viridis (Laurenti, 1768) complex from the same research trip is noted

Variation in skull size and shape of the Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis): allometric and non-allometric shape changes

We analysed patterns of skull size and shape variation among populations of the Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) in the Central Balkans, particularly the effecs of insularity and the presence of the ecologically similar lacertid lizard species P. melisellensis. Two components of shape variation were analysed size dependent (allometric) and size independent shape changes. The observed shape differentiation relating to insularity was greatly size-dependent and concordant to allometric shape changes which explained over 20\% of variation in the skull shape in the analysed sample. The explorative analysis of size-independent shape changes revealed that populations of P. muralis which share habitat with P. melisellensis diverge from populations which do not share habitat with potentially competing species. These changes related to the general shortening and widening of the skull and increase of the jaw adductor muscle chambers were more pronounced in males. We suppose that the observed pattern of shape changes is driven by competition among species (character displacement) and, possibly, is further modified by heterospecific aggression and trophic shift.Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development {[}173043

Fluctuating asymmetry and individual variation in the skull shape of the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis Laurenti, 1768) estimated by geometric morphometrics

We explored individual variation and asymmetry in the skull shape of the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis Laurenti, 1768) across four populations representing different habitats, by employing geometric morphometrics. We found directional and fluctuating asymmetry across the analysed populations, without differences in fluctuating asymmetry among populations. Patterns of individual variation and fluctuating asymmetry were highly correlated within and among populations. Asymmetric skull shape variation was similar in all populations, and was mostly related to the jaw adductor muscle chamber. Our results imply that the uniform pattern of skull fluctuating asymmetry results from a high level of canalisation. Directional asymmetry can be related to anatomical and behavioural lateralisation.Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development {[}173043

Variation in skull size and shape of the Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis): allometric and non-allometric shape changes

We analysed patterns of skull size and shape variation among populations of the Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) in the Central Balkans, particularly the effecs of insularity and the presence of the ecologically similar lacertid lizard species P. melisellensis. Two components of shape variation were analysed size dependent (allometric) and size independent shape changes. The observed shape differentiation relating to insularity was greatly size-dependent and concordant to allometric shape changes which explained over 20\% of variation in the skull shape in the analysed sample. The explorative analysis of size-independent shape changes revealed that populations of P. muralis which share habitat with P. melisellensis diverge from populations which do not share habitat with potentially competing species. These changes related to the general shortening and widening of the skull and increase of the jaw adductor muscle chambers were more pronounced in males. We suppose that the observed pattern of shape changes is driven by competition among species (character displacement) and, possibly, is further modified by heterospecific aggression and trophic shift.Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development {[}173043