Three Level Thoracolumbar Spondylectomy for Recurrent Giant Cell Tumour of the Spine: A Case Report

Giant cell tumour (GCT) is a benign tumour but can be locally aggressive and with the potential to metastasise especially to the lungs. Successful treatments have been reported for long bone lesions; however, optimal surgical and medical treatment for spinal and sacral lesions are not well established. In treating spinal GCTs, the aim is to achieve complete tumour excision, restore spinal stability and decompress the neural tissues. The ideal surgical procedure is an en bloc spondylectomy or vertebrectomy, where all tumour cells are removed as recurrence is closely related to the extent of initial surgical excision. However, such a surgery has a high complication rate, such as dura tear and massive blood loss. We report a patient with a missed pathological fracture of T12 treated initially with a posterior subtraction osteotomy, who had recurrence three years after the index surgery and subsequently underwent a three level vertebrectomy and posterior spinal fusion

Safety behavior and incident experience of worker in gas stations of Suratthani Province, Thailand

Transportation development in Thailand has grown at a rapid pace. LPG is a relatively popular automotive fuel in Thailand. The public have more interest in accident, prevention and reduce incidents in the workplace. Therefore, the aims of this research is to study safety behaviors, incident experience (IE) and investigate the safety behavior among worker who have never had incident experience (IE1) and worker who have had incident experiences (IE2) in gas stations. There were 76 respondents. We carried out an exploratory and descriptive study with respondents 19 LPG stations in Suratthani province, Thailand. The majority of workers have had incident experience in LPG stations. The biggest characteristic of these incidents were in process of filling LPG from the disperser to the customer’s car. There were leakage from the customer’s car and leakage from the equipment in the LPG station. The majority of consequences were the release of gas and collisions resulting in minor, major injury and other results. Besides that, the overall safety behavior of workers was very good. There were some behaviors where the level was moderate and poor. The results showed overall that (IE2) workers had better safety behavior than (IE1) workers. Hence, the companies have to maintain or promote good behaviors. Companies need to provide proper safety training, continually monitor and check to ensure good standards are maintained

Ethnic Differences in Survival after Breast Cancer in South East Asia

Background: The burden of breast cancer in Asia is escalating. We evaluated the impact of ethnicity on survival after breast cancer in the multi-ethnic region of South East Asia. Methodology/Principal Findings Using the Singapore-Malaysia hospital-based breast cancer registry, we analyzed the association between ethnicity and mortality following breast cancer in 5,264 patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2007 (Chinese: 71.6%, Malay: 18.4%, Indian: 10.0%). We compared survival rates between ethnic groups and calculated adjusted hazard ratios (HR) to estimate the independent effect of ethnicity on survival. Malays (n = 968) presented at a significantly younger age, with larger tumors, and at later stages than the Chinese and Indians. Malays were also more likely to have axillary lymph node metastasis at similar tumor sizes and to have hormone receptor negative and poorly differentiated tumors. Five year overall survival was highest in the Chinese women (75.8%; 95%CI: 74.4%–77.3%) followed by Indians (68.0%; 95%CI: 63.8%–72.2%), and Malays (58.5%; 95%CI: 55.2%–61.7%). Compared to the Chinese, Malay ethnicity was associated with significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR: 1.34; 95%CI: 1.19–1.51), independent of age, stage, tumor characteristics and treatment. Indian ethnicity was not significantly associated with risk of mortality after breast cancer compared to the Chinese (HR: 1.14; 95%CI: 0.98–1.34). Conclusion: In South East Asia, Malay ethnicity is independently associated with poorer survival after breast cancer. Research into underlying reasons, potentially including variations in tumor biology, psychosocial factors, treatment responsiveness and lifestyle after diagnosis, is warranted

The performance of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) on stability of Aerobic granular sludge (AGS)

Various article which indicating the Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) instability, particularly in prolonged phase operating duration become a significant obstacle to its implementation. Generally, prolonged the operation period will lost its stability that can degrade performance effectiveness. As AGS stabilization in hydrodynamic shear force and resisting mass transfer resistance within the reactor generally defined or evaluated by microbial community, bioactivity, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) structure and granular aspect. The aim of this research in order to illustrate the EPS formation on AGS which is preserved at 4°C in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by sewage for eight months. The effective of granulation method and redevelopment of AGS stability by particular pressure produced with several hydrodynamic shear force and mass transfer resistance which controlled by low organic loading rate (OLR) between 0.26 and 0.81 kg CODs/m³ d with 1.33 cm/s of superficial air velocity (SAV). The confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) were implemented to notice the evolution in composition of EPS that revealed the intermolecular interaction helped the aerobic granule stability as seed to achieved the performance of EPS on stability of AGS

Effects of annealing temperature on the phase formation, optical, photoluminescence and magnetic properties of sol-gel YFeO3 films

YFeO3 (YFO) thin films were deposited onto quartz substrates via sol-gel spin-coating technique and annealed at different temperature ranged between 650 and 900 °C. The impact of annealing temperature on the phase formation, microstructural, optical, photoluminescence (PL) and magnetic properties of the films were systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed an amorphous structure in film annealed at 650 °C and formation of hexagonal-YFO (h-YFO) phase in films annealed at 750–800 °C. The films annealed at 850–900 °C exhibited an orthorhombic-YFO (o-YFO) structure. Atomic force microscopy images of h-YFO films showed homogeneous surface with uniform particles size and shape. The particle size increased and had irregular shape in o-YFO films. The average particle size was 44 and 117 nm, while the root square roughness was 1.38 and 2.55 nm for h- and o-YFO films annealed at 750 and 850 °C, respectively. The optical band gap (Eg) was 2.53 and 2.86 eV for h- and o-YFO films annealed at 750 and 850 °C, respectively. The PL spectra of h-YFO films were red-shifted compared with that of o-YFO films. The PL emission related to near band edge was observed at 459.0 and 441.9 nm for h- and o-YFO films annealed at 750 and 850 °C, respectively. The magnetization was enhanced with the increasing of annealing temperature and has the value of 4.8 and 12.5 emu/cm3 at 5000 Oe for h- and o-YFO films annealed at 750 and 850 °C, respectively

Microstructural and physical properties of samarium orthoferrite thin films by the sol-gel method

Samarium orthoferrite, SmFeO3 (SFO), is a multifunctional material with promised applications. In this paper, SFO thin films were prepared by sol–gel method onto a quartz substrate at different annealing temperatures (T = 700, 750, 800 and 850 °C) and onto LaNiO3 (LNO) buffered quartz substrate using T = 800 °C. The phase formation, microstructure, electronic, optical, magnetic and ferroelectric properties of the films were investigated and compared. Minimal annealing temperature (T) from thermogravimetric analysis was about 720 °C. From X-ray diffraction analysis, film T = 700 °C showed mixed phases of SFO and a trace amount of Sm2O3 while single phase of SFO was observed for films T = 750 – 850 °C. The lattice parameter c and microstrain reduced for films T = 700 – 800 °C and then increased for film T = 850 °C. From Atomic force microscopy analysis, the porosity, root mean square roughness and particle size of the films increased with the rise of T. All films exhibited high optical transmittance (∼79 – 95 %) in 800 – 550 nm wavelength range and showed two main optical absorptions peaks at about 285 and 385 nm. At lower energy transition, the band gap (Eg) reduced from ∼ 2.79 to 2.72 eV for films T = 700 – 800 °C and then increased to ∼ 2.79 eV for film T = 850 °C. The film’s magnetisation (Ms) tended to increase with T increment. The SFO/LNO film showed higher Ms and Eg than film T = 800 °C