A double shunt technique for the prevention of ischaemia of a congenital, solitary, pelvic kidney during abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Congenital solitary pelvic kidney is a rare condition, and its association with an abdominal aortic aneurysm is even more unusual. To the best of our knowledge, only two such cases have been reported in the literature to date.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 59-year-old Caucasian man with a congenital solitary pelvic kidney, who was found to have an abdominal aortic aneurysm 83 mm in diameter. Abdominal computed tomography angiography clearly identified two renal arteries, one originating from the aortic bifurcation. and the other from the proximal portion of the right common iliac artery. At surgery, renal ischaemia was prevented by introduction of an axillofemoral shunt (consisting of two femoral cannulas and a vent tube of extracorporeal circulation) from the right axillary to the right femoral artery, and a second Argyle shunt from the right common iliac artery to the origin of the left renal artery. A 20 mm Dacron tube graft was then implanted. Our patient's postoperative renal function was normal.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The renal preservation double shunt technique used in this case seems to be effective during abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.</p

Bilateral giant femoropopliteal artery aneurysms: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Popliteal artery aneurysms are the most common peripheral arterial aneurysms, and are frequently bilateral. Acute limb ischemia, rupture and compression phenomena can complicate these aneurysms when the diameter exceeds 2 cm.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We report an 82-year-old male patient with two giant femoropopliteal aneurysms, 10.5 and 8.5 cm diameters, managed in our institution. Both aneurysms were resected and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) femoropopliteal interposition graft was placed successfully. Management and literature review are discussed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We believe this is the first report in the medical literature of bilateral giant femoropopliteal aneurysms.</p

Development of Advanced Traffic Flow Models and Implementation in Parallel Processing: Final Report

Advanced traffic management and control schemes require that traffic simulation models be adequately accurate and computationally efficient in describing traffic flow dynamics. It is proved by practice that the continuum models are more suitable for such purposes. The KRONOS model, developed at the University of Minnesota for traffic flow simulations, is based on a simple continuum formulation implemented by a finite difference method. The results show that the program can be used for transportation planning, design, maintenance operations and freeway management. The main purpose of this project, funded by the Center for Transportation Studies of the University of Minnesota, is to reduce the above flaws by developing advanced traffic flow models. Moreover, various numerical methods are investigated in this project.Center for Transportation StudiesLyrintzis, Anastasios; Michalopoulos, Panos; Chronopoulos, Anthony. (1992). Development of Advanced Traffic Flow Models and Implementation in Parallel Processing: Final Report. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/156891

All-Carbon Nanosized Hybrid Materials: Fluorescent Carbon Dots Conjugated to Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by following a hydrothermal route in which butane-1,4-diamine and maleic acid were employed in a Teflon autoclave reactor. The structure and morphology of the so-formed spherically shaped CDs were confirmed by a combination of spectroscopic and imaging techniques, such as NMR, ATR-IR, DLS, XRD, and HR-TEM. Additionally, it was found that raw CDs possess numerous −NH₂ functionalities located in their external periphery, responsible for their enhanced aqueous solubility as well as the excellent dissolution CDs showed in polar protic solvents. Moreover, these −NH₂ units were utilized for covalently associating CDs with oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) yielding robust CDs–MWCNTs hybrids. Based on photoluminescence spectroscopy, electronic communications between the individual components of CDs–MWCNTs were evidenced by the quantitative quenching of the emission of CDs in the presence of MWCNTs as well as the shortening of the photoluminescence lifetime of CDs from 7.3 ns for raw CDs to 300 ps for CDs–MWCNTs. Finally, the redox properties of CDs–MWCNTs were evaluated by electrochemistry measurements, allowing to determine the electrochemical band gap of the hybrid material to be 1.2 eV

"Effective Capacity of Fluctuating Two-Ray Channels with Arbitrary Fading Parameters", In 2018 IEEE 19th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), June 25-28, 2018, Kalamata, Greece.

- Real-time emerging applications are largely delay-sensitive <br>- In this context, Shannon's ergodic capacity cannot account for the transmission delay of the system. <br>- The effective capacity (EC) is an alternative metric that quantifies the system performance under QoS limitation. <br>- EC can be interpreted as the maximum constant arrival rate that a wireless channel can support while a given QoS requirement is guaranteed

Earth-to-Earth Microwave Rain Attenuation Measurements: A Survey On the Recent Literature

Many works have been conducted relevant to rainfall measurements, while the first relevant ones were based on the power loss estimation function from wireless links located back to the early 1940s. It is notable, though, that this innovative idea conduced to many theoretical models correlating the signal attenuation to the rainfall intensity. This type of parameter strongly contributes to the mechanism of frequency attenuation above 10 GHz. Consequently, in the last twenty years, there has been a significant boost to this research topic. Researchers all around the world have worked thoroughly on the issue of estimating rain with the use of earth-to-earth microwave signal attenuation. Nevertheless, the issue remains intriguing and challenging. This paper presents a literature survey, of the last decade, on this challenging issue focusing on measurements from backhaul cellular microwave links and experimental setups. Research challenges and future trends are also presented

Mechanisms of Atrial Fibrillation: How Our Knowledge Affects Clinical Practice

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common arrhythmia that mainly affects older individuals. The mechanism of atrial fibrillation is complex and is related to the pathogenesis of trigger activation and the perpetuation of arrhythmia. The pulmonary veins in the left atrium arei confirm that onfirm the most common triggers due to their distinct anatomical and electrophysiological properties. As a result, their electrical isolation by ablation is the cornerstone of invasive AF treatment. Multiple factors and comorbidities affect the atrial tissue and lead to myocardial stretch. Several neurohormonal and structural changes occur, leading to inflammation and oxidative stress and, consequently, a fibrotic substrate created by myofibroblasts, which encourages AF perpetuation. Several mechanisms are implemented into daily clinical practice in both interventions in and the medical treatment of atrial fibrillation