Traumatic diaphragmatic hernias: retrospective analysis

AIMS: This study classifies cases of traumatic diaphragmatic hernias (TDH) in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Coimbra University Hospitals (HUC) from 1990 to 2004. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 34 cases of TDH, studying anatomical location, place and time of diagnosis, complementary tests aiding diagnosis, herniated organs, associated traumatism, morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Twenty-eight male and six female patients with an average age of 40.5 years +/- 20.5, average SAPS score 38.8. Average length of stay was 19.1 +/- 13.6 days, all suffered from closed traumatism and were put on artificial ventilation. The left-side diaphragm was more frequently affected (94.1%) then the right. Diagnosis in 19 cases was made up in the first six hours following the diagnosis of traumatism, in four cases within 12 hours and in the remaining cases between 48 hours and 16 years after traumatism. In 13 patients the diagnosis was established intra-operatively. The stomach was typically one of the herniated organs. The most frequently associated lesions at the thoracic level were pulmonary contusion, haemothorax and pneumothorax, and at the abdominal level, haemoperitoneum and splenic lesion. The rates for complications and mortality were 55.8% and 11.7% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: TDH mainly occurs on the left side through closed thoraco-abdominal trauma following road traffic accidents. This group of patients, on average younger than others admitted to ICU, presents a longer average hospitalisation period, but has lower rates of mortality and lower SAPS severity scores. The most commonly herniated organ was the stomach and the most frequently encountered lesions were cranial-encephalic, splenic and pleural traumatisms. Pre-operative diagnosis of diaphragmatic injuries is difficult and a high index of clinical suspicion is needed after thoraco-abdominal trauma. This diagnosis should always be considered a possibility in cases of closed thoraco-abdominal traumas

Ultrasound-guided aspiration of cystic ovarian lesions

Introduction and Objective: In the last two decades the increased accuracy of ultrasonography has allowed simple ovarian cysts to be reliably identified. As clinical data suggest that simple cystic lesions rarely become malignant, surgical treatment of these cysts may therefore represent overtreatment. Our study aimed to evaluate the results of ultrasound (US) guided aspiration of cystic ovarian lesions performed in our institution in the last ten years

Transvaginal ultrasonography and hysteroscopy in postmenopausal bleeding: a prospective study

OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic value of transvaginal ultrasonography and hysteroscopy in patients with postmenopausal bleeding. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between January 1, 1998 and June 30, 1999, 88 outpatient women with postmenopausal bleeding were enrolled in a prospective study. They underwent transvaginal ultrasonography and hysteroscopy, and were submitted to directed biopsy during hysteroscopy. Findings were classified as normal endometrium, suggestive of atrophy, focal abnormality (benign or suspicious), and diffuse thickness (benign or suspicious). Data was compared with the final diagnosis, established by histological examination, as atrophy, benign pathology, atypical hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma. RESULTS: Among 88 women enrolled, 15 were excluded because hysteroscopy was impossible, and four had abandoned the study. The histological findings were scanty material in 12 (17.4%), atrophy in 24 (34.8%), cystic atrophy in one (1.4%), normal endometrium in five (7.2%), tuberculous endometritis in one (1.4%), polyps in 12 (17.4%), leiomyoma in one (1.4%), non-atypical hyperplasia in three (4.3%), atypical hyperplasia in one (1.4%) and endometrial carcinoma in nine cases (13.0%). For the assessment of endometrial carcinoma, ultrasonography revealed sensitivity 77.8%, specificity 93.3%, positive predictive value 63.6%, negative predictive value 96.6%; and hysteroscopy revealed sensitivity of 88.9%, specificity 98.3%, positive predictive value 88.9%, negative predictive value 98.3%. The combined use of both methods revealed sensitivity 100%, specificity 91.7%, positive predictive value 64.3%, negative predictive value 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Both imagiological methods were found to be useful screening tests for endometrial carcinoma. Hysteroscopy was a superior diagnostic procedure

Platelet-rich blood derivatives for tendon regeneration

Tendon injuries constitute a significant healthcare problem with variable clinical outcomes. The complex interplay of tissue homeostasis, degeneration, repair, and regeneration makes the development of successful delivery therapeutic strategies challenging. Platelet-rich hemoderivatives, a source of supra-physiologic concentrations of human therapeutic factors, are a promising application to treat tendon injuries from the perspective of tendon tissue engineering, although the outcomes remain controversial.The authors acknowledge the finan-cial support from the ERC GrantCoG MagTendon nr 772817, theProject NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000021, the Project FOOD4CELLS(Pedro Babo post-doc grant)(PTDC/CTM-BIO/4706/2014-POCI-01-0145-FEDER 016716), andHORIZON 2020 under the TEAM-ING Grant agreement no 739572—The Discoveries CTR

Melon prdutivity under different soil coverings and irrigation system in Petrolina - PE

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of irrigation system and soil cover on yield of yellow melon in Petrolina / PE. The experiment was carried out in the period from April 09, 2016 to June 8, 2016 and was conducted at the Petrolina campus in the IF Sertão - PE rural area, with a randomized complete block design, 2 x 2 x 3 plot scheme, (One and two lines of drippers per row of plants), and the subsubparcels, three soil cover (black mulching cover), two plots of hybrids (Gladial and 10/00), subplots, two irrigation systems, Cover with mulching grey and without soil cover) and six replicates. Mulching efficiency (MPP) was studied in the soil cover and irrigation system located with drippers for the production of yellow hybrid melon 10/00 and Gladial under field conditions. It was verified the statistical influence of the soil cover on melon productivity

Structural analysis of Ti1−xSixNy nanocomposite films prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering

Nanocomposite thin films consisting of both nanosized solid solutions or nanosized polycrystalline materials embedded in various amorphous matrix materials thus provide a grate potential for future mechanical devices. In this paper we report on the preparation of films resulting from additions of Si to TiN matrix by r.f. reactive magnetron sputtering. Structural properties such as growing characteristics (type of matrix, texture and grain size) will be analysed in some detail. Conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), together with both symmetric and asymmetric mode X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments were used for this characterisation. The atomic composition of the samples was obtained by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). The analysis will be carried out as a function of the Si content in the Ti1-xSixNy matrix and several relations will be made regarding important parameters such as texture evolution, grain sizes, but most specially by the type of matrix developed. Regarding the results, all samples develop a double fcc phase with lattice parameters of 4.30 Å and 4.17 Å, corresponding to cubic TiN and most likely to a cubic lattice of SiNx, respectively. Although no significant changes in texture were observed till Si compositions up to 10.6 at. %, the arrangement in atoms planes seem to vary. Results show that an asymmetric arrangement is developed in samples of small Si additions. This arrangement becomes more isotropic with the increase of Si contents, which we attribute to the increase in the SiNx content. In fact this increase leads also to the development of a small amorphous tissue of Si3N4 for large Si additions.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the ‘Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia’ (FCT) during the course of this research under project n PBICT/P/CTM/1962/95 and also the French CNRS Institution and the Portugese ICCTI Institution through CNRS/ICCTI Programs (N: 5522-1998 and 7087-1999)

Desempenho reprodutivo de bovinos na sub-região dos Paiaguas do Pantanal Mato-Grossense. II. Efeito da suplementação mineral sobre índices reprodutivos de novilhas.

Foi estudado o efeito da suplementação mineral sobre o desempenho reprodutivo de novilhas neloradas em pastagem nativa, no Pantanal Mato-Grossense