18,247 research outputs found
Cystic tumor of the pancreas
We describe a case of a 55-year-old female, with epigastric pain and vomiting for the last two months. Abdominal ultrasound and a CT showed the presence of a cystic mass in the pancreatic body and tail, without secondary lesions. After surgery, the pathologist stated that the lesion was a mucinous cystadenom
Pulmonary Alveolar Microlithiasis
Routine chest x-ray of an asymptomatic patient disclosed an interstitial bilateral micronodular pattern. HRCT showed a diffuse micronodular pattern, randomly distributed in the lung parenchyma, associated with thickening of the subpleural and mediastinal interlobular septa. Individual nodules had spontaneous high density. CT-guided lung biopsy was performed, pathologist disclosed intraalveolar microliths
Persistent Chaos in High Dimensions
An extensive statistical survey of universal approximators shows that as the
dimension of a typical dissipative dynamical system is increased, the number of
positive Lyapunov exponents increases monotonically and the number of parameter
windows with periodic behavior decreases. A subset of parameter space remains
in which topological change induced by small parameter variation is very
common. It turns out, however, that if the system's dimension is sufficiently
high, this inevitable, and expected, topological change is never catastrophic,
in the sense chaotic behavior is preserved. One concludes that deterministic
chaos is persistent in high dimensions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; Changes in response to referee comment
The role of bacteria in pine wilt disease: insights from microbiome analysis.
Pine Wilt Disease (PWD) has a significant impact on Eurasia pine forests. The microbiome of the nematode (the primary cause of the disease), its insect vector, and the host tree may be relevant for the disease mechanism. The aim of this study was to characterize these microbiomes, from three PWD-affected areas in Portugal, using Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis, 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, and a functional inference-based approach (PICRUSt). The bacterial community structure of the nematode was significantly different from the infected trees but closely related to the insect vector, supporting the hypothesis that the nematode microbiome might be in part inherited from the insect. Sampling location influenced mostly the tree microbiome (P < 0.05). Genes related both with plant growth promotion and phytopathogenicity were predicted for the tree microbiome. Xenobiotic degradation functions were predicted in the nematode and insect microbiomes. Phytotoxin biosynthesis was also predicted for the nematode microbiome, supporting the theory of a direct contribution of the microbiome to tree-wilting. This is the first study that simultaneously characterized the nematode, tree and insect-vector microbiomes from the same affected areas, and overall the results support the hypothesis that the PWD microbiome plays an important role in the disease's development
Not so disadvantaged: Portuguese migrants in Switzerland have a better access to healthcare and health status than Portuguese residents
Background: Most migrant studies have compared health characteristics between migrants and nationals of the host country. We aimed at comparing health characteristics of migrants with nationals from their home country.
Methods: Portuguese national health survey (2005-6; 30,173 participants aged 18-75 years) and four national health surveys conducted in Switzerland (2002, 2004, 2007 and 2011, totalling 1,170 Portuguese migrants of the same age range). Self-reported data on length of stay, cardiovascular risk factors, healthcare use and health status were collected.
Results: Resident Portuguese were significantly older and more educated than migrants. Resident Portuguese had a higher mean BMI and prevalence of obesity than migrants. Resident Portuguese also reported more frequently being hypertensive and having their blood pressure screened within the last year. On the contrary, migrant Portuguese were more frequently smokers, had a medical visit in the previous year more frequently and self-rated their health higher than resident Portuguese. After adjustment for age, gender, marital status and education, migrants had a higher likelihood smoking, of having a medical visit the previous year, and of self-rating their current health as good or very good than resident Portuguese. Compared to Portuguese residents, cholesterol screening in the previous year was more common only among migrants living in Switzerland for more than 17 years.
Conclusion: Portuguese migrants in Switzerland do not differ substantially from resident Portuguese regarding most cardiovascular risk factors. Migrants appear to benefit from higher healthcare accessibility and consider themselves healthier than Portuguese residents
Sigmoid colon perforation at CT colonography secondary to a possible obstructive mechanism: report of a case
We report a case of colonic perforation in CT colonography, which was observed in a sigmoid colon segment contained within an inguinal hernia. At surgery, apart from the perforation, a normal large-bowel wall was found. Although rare, perforation may occur in patients with normal bowel wall, possibly resulting from a mechanical strain caused by gaseous overdistention. Radiologists performing the procedure must be aware of this possibilit
The anisotropic XY model on the inhomogeneous periodic chain
The static and dynamic properties of the anisotropic XY-model on
the inhomogeneous periodic chain, composed of cells with different
exchange interactions and magnetic moments, in a transverse field are
determined exactly at arbitrary temperatures. The properties are obtained by
introducing the Jordan-Wigner fermionization and by reducing the problem to a
diagonalization of a finite matrix of order. The quantum transitions are
determined exactly by analyzing, as a function of the field, the induced
magnetization 1/n\sum_{m=1}^{n}\mu_{m}\left ( denotes
the cell, the site within the cell, the magnetic moment at site
within the cell) and the spontaneous magnetization which is obtained from the correlations for large spin separations. These results,
which are obtained for infinite chains, correspond to an extension of the ones
obtained by Tong and Zhong(\textit{Physica B} \textbf{304,}91 (2001)). The
dynamic correlations, , and the dynamic
susceptibility, are also obtained at arbitrary
temperatures. Explicit results are presented in the limit T=0, where the
critical behaviour occurs, for the static susceptibility as
a function of the transverse field , and for the frequency dependency of
dynamic susceptibility .Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, 01 table. Revised version (minor corrections)
accepted for publiction in Phys. Rev.
Estimation of molecular weight and polydispersity in conducting polymers using single-molecule force spectroscopy.
Entrada padronizada: HERRMANN JUNIOR, P. S. de P
Partition Function Zeros and Finite Size Scaling of Helix-Coil Transitions in a Polypeptide
We report on multicanonical simulations of the helix-coil transition of a
polypeptide. The nature of this transition was studied by calculating partition
function zeros and the finite-size scaling of various quantities. Estimates for
critical exponents are presented.Comment: RevTex, 4 eps-files; to appear in Phys. Rev. Le
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