A Comparison Between AMS 700 and Coloplast Titan: A Systematic Literature Review

There are only two three-piece inflatable penile prostheses (IPP) available to patients in the American market: the AMS (American Medical Systems) 700 series (Boston Scientific, Massachusetts) and the Coloplast Titan® series (Coloplast, Minnesota), and data comparing the two are scant. The aim of our study was to summarize the current scientific evidence comparing the two. A systematic literature review was conducted on PubMed. A 10-year filter was placed to include only studies published after Coloplast launched the Titan Touch® release pump. Eligibility criteria included articles discussing specifically the AMS 700 and Coloplast Titan® models. Further searches for studies on patient/partner satisfaction were conducted. Abstracts were reviewed to include studies focusing specifically on the models we are studying and studies on patient satisfaction using the Erectile Dysfunction Inventory of Treatment Satisfaction (EDITS) questionnaire. The Coloplast device demonstrated slightly greater resistance to the stimulated forces of penetration and gravity. Coloplast implants coated with vancomycin/gentamicin had the highest infection rate followed by the AMS penile prosthesis and the rifampin/gentamicin coating had the lowest infection rate. Prosthesis durability and survival were similar between both brands. Overall satisfaction was high but comparisons are inconsistent. The literature is inconclusive about which device is superior. We suggest randomized, multicenter, prospective studies to help further elucidate the highlights of each product

The effects of thermal-spatial behaviours of land covers on urban heat islands in semi-arid climates

In recent decades, unsustainable urban development stemming from uncontrolled changes in land cover and the accumulation of population and activities have given rise to adverse environmental consequences, such as the formation of urban heat islands (UHIs) and changes in urban microclimates. The formation and intensity of UHIs can be influenced not only by the type of land cover, but also by other factors, such as the spatial patterns of thermal clusters (e.g., dimensions, contiguity, and integration). By emphasising the differences between semi-arid and cold-and-humid climates in terms of the thermal−spatial behaviours of various types of land cover in these climates, this paper aims to assess the behavioural patterns of thermal clusters in Tehran, Iran. To this end, the relationship between the land surface temperature (LST) and the types of land cover is first demonstrated using combined multispectral satellite images taken by Operational Land Imager (OLI), Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) of the Landsat8 and MODIS, and Sentinel satellites to determine LST and land cover. The effects of different behavioural patterns of thermal clusters on the formation of daytime urban heat islands are then analysed through spatial cross-correlation analysis. Lastly, the thermal behaviours of each cluster are separately examined to reveal how their spatial patterns, such as contiguity, affect the intensity and formation of UHI, with the assumption that each point in a contiguous surface may exhibit different thermal behaviours, depending on its distance from the edge or centre. The results of this study show that the daytime UHIs do not occur in the central parts of Tehran, and instead they are created in the surrounding layer, which mostly consists of barren cover. This finding contrasts with previous research conducted regarding cities located in cold-and-humid climates. Our research also finds that the more compact the hot and cool clusters are, the more contiguous they become, which leads to an increase in UHIs. The results suggest that for every 100 pix/km2 increase, the cluster temperature increases by approximately 0.7−1 °C. Additionally, placing cool clusters near or in combination with hot clusters interrupts the effect of the hot clusters, leading to a significant temperature reduction. The paper concludes with recommendations for potential sustainable and context-based solutions to UHI problems in semi-arid climates that relate to the determination of the optimal contiguity distance and land use integration patterns for thermal clusters

Universal Scaling of Wave Propagation Failure in Arrays of Coupled Nonlinear Cells

We study the onset of the propagation failure of wave fronts in systems of coupled cells. We introduce a new method to analyze the scaling of the critical external field at which fronts cease to propagate, as a function of intercellular coupling. We find the universal scaling of the field throughout the range of couplings, and show that the field becomes exponentially small for large couplings. Our method is generic and applicable to a wide class of cellular dynamics in chemical, biological, and engineering systems. We confirm our results by direct numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Inflation with improved D3-brane potential and the fine tunings associated with the model

We investigate brane-antibrane inflation in a warped deformed conifold background that includes contributions to the potential arising from imaginary anti-self-dual (IASD) fluxes including the term with irrational scaling dimension discovered recently. We find that the model can give rise to required number of e-foldings; observational constraint on COBE normalization is easily satisfied and low value of the tensor to scalar ratio of perturbations is achieved. We observe that these corrections to the effective potential help in relaxing the severe fine tunings associated with the earlier analysis.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; typos corrected, minor clarifications and new refs added, to appear in epj

The long outburst of the black hole transient GRS 1716-249 observed in the X-ray and radio band

We present the spectral and timing analysis of X-ray observations performed on the Galactic black hole transient GRS 1716-249 during the 2016-2017 outburst. The source was almost continuously observed with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from 2016 December until 2017 October. The X-ray hardness ratio and timing evolution indicate that the source approached the soft state three times during the outburst, even though it never reached the canonical soft spectral state. Thus, GRS 1716-249 increases the number of black hole transients showing outbursts with 'failed' state transition. During the softening events, XRT and BAT broad-band spectral modelling, performed with thermal Comptonization plus a multicolour disc black-body, showed a photon index (G < 2) and an inner disc temperature (kTin = 0.2- 0.5 keV) characteristic of the hard intermediate state. This is in agreement with the root mean square amplitude of the flux variability (rms > 10 per cent). We find that, coherently with a scenario in which the disc moves closer to the compact object, the accretion disc inner radius decreases with the increase of the inner disc temperature, until a certain point when the temperature starts to increase at constant radius. This, in addition with the spectral analysis results, suggests that either the accretion disc reached the innermost stable circular orbit during the hard intermediate state or the hot accretion flow might recondensate in an inner mini-disc.We report on the radio observations performed during the outburst finding that GRS 1716-249 is located on the radio-quiet 'outlier' branch of the radio/X-ray luminosity plane

Non-minimally Coupled Tachyonic Inflation in Warped String Background

We show that the non-minimal coupling of tachyon field to the scalar curvature, as proposed by Piao et al, with the chosen coupling parameter does not produce the effective potential where the tachyon field can roll down from T=0 to large $T$ along the slope of the potential. We find a correct choice of the parameters which ensures this requirement and support slow-roll inflation. However, we find that the cosmological parameter found from the analysis of the theory are not in the range obtained from observations. We then invoke warped compactification and varying dilaton field over the compact manifold, as proposed by Raeymaekers, to show that in such a setup the observed parameter space can be ensured.Comment: minor typos corrected and references adde

Pattern and Outcome of Chest Injuries at Bugando Medical Centre in Northwestern Tanzania.

Chest injuries constitute a continuing challenge to the trauma or general surgeon practicing in developing countries. This study was conducted to outline the etiological spectrum, injury patterns and short term outcome of these injuries in our setting. This was a prospective study involving chest injury patients admitted to Bugando Medical Centre over a six-month period from November 2009 to April 2010 inclusive. A total of 150 chest injury patients were studied. Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 3.8:1. Their ages ranged from 1 to 80 years (mean = 32.17 years). The majority of patients (72.7%) sustained blunt injuries. Road traffic crush was the most common cause of injuries affecting 50.7% of patients. Chest wall wounds, hemothorax and rib fractures were the most common type of injuries accounting for 30.0%, 21.3% and 20.7% respectively. Associated injuries were noted in 56.0% of patients and head/neck (33.3%) and musculoskeletal regions (26.7%) were commonly affected. The majority of patients (55.3%) were treated successfully with non-operative approach. Underwater seal drainage was performed in 39 patients (19.3%). One patient (0.7%) underwent thoracotomy due to hemopericardium. Thirty nine patients (26.0%) had complications of which wound sepsis (14.7%) and complications of long bone fractures (12.0%) were the most common complications. The mean LOS was 13.17 days and mortality rate was 3.3%. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, associated injuries, the type of injury, trauma scores (ISS, RTS and PTS) were found to be significant predictors of the LOS (P < 0.001), whereas mortality was significantly associated with pre-morbid illness, associated injuries, trauma scores (ISS, RTS and PTS), the need for ICU admission and the presence of complications (P < 0.001). Chest injuries resulting from RTCs remain a major public health problem in this part of Tanzania. Urgent preventive measures targeting at reducing the occurrence of RTCs is necessary to reduce the incidence of chest injuries in this region

Prompt atmospheric neutrino fluxes: perturbative QCD models and nuclear effects

We evaluate the prompt atmospheric neutrino flux at high energies using three different frameworks for calculating the heavy quark production cross section in QCD: NLO perturbative QCD, $k_T$ factorization including low-$x$ resummation, and the dipole model including parton saturation. We use QCD parameters, the value for the charm quark mass and the range for the factorization and renormalization scales that provide the best description of the total charm cross section measured at fixed target experiments, at RHIC and at LHC. Using these parameters we calculate differential cross sections for charm and bottom production and compare with the latest data on forward charm meson production from LHCb at $7$ TeV and at $13$ TeV, finding good agreement with the data. In addition, we investigate the role of nuclear shadowing by including nuclear parton distribution functions (PDF) for the target air nucleus using two different nuclear PDF schemes. Depending on the scheme used, we find the reduction of the flux due to nuclear effects varies from $10\%$ to $50 \%$ at the highest energies. Finally, we compare our results with the IceCube limit on the prompt neutrino flux, which is already providing valuable information about some of the QCD models.Comment: 61 pages, 25 figures, 11 table