High origin of left testicular artery associated with accessory renal artery and renal cyst; a cadaveric observation

The variation in origin of the testicular artery is not uncommon, few reports about a high origin from the abdominal aorta exist in the literature. The renal artery is known to exhibit variations in its number and position. The knowledge of this variation will help the radiologists and surgeons in avoiding clinical complication during interventions. During routine dissection teaching to first year MBBS students at Sapthagiri Medical College, Bangalore we found variation in vascular pattern of testicular and renal artery associated with renal cyst. Photographs of the variations were taken. There was high origin of left testicular artery and accessory left renal artery associated with bilateral simple renal cyst in adult Male cadaver aged around 60years.There was also prehilar division of right renal artery associated with renal cyst. Anomalies in the origin, course and number of testicular artery were observed in 4.7 percent of cases. Additional renal vessels are known as the accessory renal artery and their incidence varies between 9-76%. In the present case there was high origin of left testicular artery associated with accessory renal artery and renal cyst. This anatomical knowledge of the presence of accessory renal artery and high origin of testicular artery in this case is important for radiologists, surgeons and urologist in their clinical practice

Subtropical Mode Water in the 137°E Section

Rotational effects on turbulence structure and mixing are investigated using a second-moment closure model. Both explicit and implicit Coriolis terms are considered. A general criterion for rotational effects to be small is established in terms of local turbulent Rossby numbers. Characteristic length scales are determined for rotational effects and Monin–Obukhov type similarity theory is developed for rotating stratified flows. A one-dimensional version of the closure model is then applied to simulate oceanic mixed layer evolution. It is shown that the effects of rotation on mixed layer depth tend to be small because of the influence of stable stratification. These findings contradict a hypothesis of Garwood et al. that rotational effects on turbulence are responsible for the disparity in the mixed-layer depths between the eastern and western regions of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The model is also applied to neutrally stratified flows to demonstrate that rotation can either stabilize or destabilize the flow

Death of three Loop Current rings

The life cycle of large anticyclonic rings in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is widely described by pinch off from the Loop Current, migration across the Gulf and eventual spin down along the western slope. Extensive observational and modeling efforts provide a relatively consistent picture of rings pinching off from the Loop Current and of complex interaction between anticyclones and cyclones driven by bathymetry along the western and northwestern shelf. The observational record for Loop Current rings (LCRs) during the intermediate period of westward translation is less clear. A number of studies recognize distinct anomalies in LCR characteristics in deep water as the rings enter the western Gulf near 92-94W. These include abrupt changes in the geometry of observed drifter trajectories and derived eddy parameter fits as well as changes in both ring translation speeds and the estimated rate of ring decay. Such observations are consistent with intense interaction and mass exchange between the rings and other coherent mesoscale features known to be present in the western Gulf. We test the hypothesis that interactions with the ambient mesoscale field can lead to rapid loss of coherence of some LCRs well before they reach the \u27eddy graveyard\u27 in the western Gulf. We use the data-assimilating, eddy-resolving numerical GOM model described by Kantha et al. (2005) to assess the fates of readily identified LCRs Fourchon, Juggernaut, and Millenium during the period July 1998 to August 2001. Lagrangian metrics, including relative dispersion of small drifter clusters seeded in the ring cores, analysis of evolving blobs seeded in the ring cores, and finite-scale Lyapunov exponents, are used to track model ring evolution. These metrics clearly show that interactions with existing mesoscale cyclones and anticyclones caused Fourchon and Juggernaut to break up near 92W on advective time scales. In addition, Millenium also experienced an intense deformation, stirring, and mixing episode near 92W. Blob studies showed that the core fluid of Millenium was ultimately dispersed over much of the western basin. Our results show that some LCRs may break up through interactions with existing western Gulf cyclones and anticyclones prior to reaching the western slope

Unusual Cause of Heart Failure in a Patient with Marfan Syndrome: A Late Complication of Bioprosthetic Valved Graft Replacement

A high-velocity gradient across the left ventricular outflow tract is most often caused by aortic valve stenosis. We describe the unusual case of a high-velocity gradient caused by a kinked ascending aortic graft in a 69-year-old man who had Marfan syndrome. The patient had a history of ascending aortic aneurysm and had previously undergone replacement of the aortic root and ascending aorta with use of a bioprosthetic valved graft. The kinking was caused by dilation of the native aortic arch. The patient underwent successful hemi-arch replacement and repair of the kinked graft. Late complications and reoperation after proximal aortic surgery in patients with Marfan syndrome are rare, and a high-velocity left ventricular outflow tract gradient caused by the kinking of the aorta is unusual

Measurements of momentum and heat transfer across the air–sea interface

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1054–1072, doi:10.1175/2007JPO3739.1.This study makes direct measurements of turbulent fluxes in the mixed layer in order to close heat and momentum budgets across the air–sea interface and to assess the ability of rigid-boundary turbulence models to predict mean vertical gradients beneath the ocean’s wavy surface. Observations were made at 20 Hz at nominal depths of 2.2 and 1.7 m in 16 m of water. A new method is developed to estimate the fluxes and the length scales of dominant flux-carrying eddies from cospectra at frequencies below the wave band. The results are compared to independent estimates of those quantities, with good agreement between the two sets of estimates. The observed temperature gradients were smaller than predicted by standard rigid-boundary closure models, consistent with the suggestion that wave breaking and Langmuir circulation increase turbulent diffusivity in the upper ocean. Similarly, the Monin–Obukhov stability function ϕh was smaller in the authors’ measurements than the stability functions used in rigid-boundary applications of the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory. The dominant horizontal length scales of flux-carrying turbulent eddies were found to be consistent with observations in the bottom boundary layer of the atmosphere and from laboratory experiments in three ways: 1) in statically unstable conditions, the eddy sizes scaled linearly with distance to the boundary; 2) in statically stable conditions, length scales decreased with increasing downward buoyancy flux; and 3) downwind length scales were larger than crosswind length scales.We are grateful to the Office of Naval Research for funding this work as a part of CBLAST-Low

Air-sea CO2 exchange in the equatorial Pacific

GasEx-2001, a 15-day air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange study conducted in the equatorial Pacific, used a combination of ships, buoys, and drifters equipped with ocean and atmospheric sensors to assess variability and surface mechanisms controlling air-sea CO2 fluxes. Direct covariance and profile method air-sea CO2 fluxes were measured together with the surface ocean and marine boundary layer processes. The study took place in February 2001 near 125°W, 3°S in a region of high CO2. The diurnal variation in the air-sea CO2 difference was 2.5%, driven predominantly by temperature effects on surface solubility. The wind speed was 6.0 ± 1.3 m s−1, and the atmospheric boundary layer was unstable with conditions over the range −1 < z/L < 0. Diurnal heat fluxes generated daytime surface ocean stratification and subsequent large nighttime buoyancy fluxes. The average CO2 flux from the ocean to the atmosphere was determined to be 3.9 mol m−2 yr−1, with nighttime CO2 fluxes increasing by 40% over daytime values because of a strong nighttime increase in (vertical) convective velocities. The 15 days of air-sea flux measurements taken during GasEx-2001 demonstrate some of the systematic environmental trends of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. The fact that other physical processes, in addition to wind, were observed to control the rate of CO2 transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere indicates that these processes need to be taken into account in local and global biogeochemical models. These local processes can vary on regional and global scales. The GasEx-2001 results show a weak wind dependence but a strong variability in processes governed by the diurnal heating cycle. This implies that any changes in the incident radiation, including atmospheric cloud dynamics, phytoplankton biomass, and surface ocean stratification may have significant feedbacks on the amount and variability of air-sea gas exchange. This is in sharp contrast with previous field studies of air-sea gas exchange, which showed that wind was the dominating forcing function. The results suggest that gas transfer parameterizations that rely solely on wind will be insufficient for regions with low to intermediate winds and strong insolation

Purple non‐sulphur bacteria and plant production: benefits for fertilization, stress resistance and the environment

Purple non-sulphur bacteria (PNSB) are phototrophic microorganisms, which increasingly gain attention in plant production due to their ability to produce and accumulate high-value compounds that are benefi- cial for plant growth. Remarkable features of PNSB include the accumulation of polyphosphate, the pro- duction of pigments and vitamins and the production of plant growth-promoting substances (PGPSs). Scattered case studies on the application of PNSB for plant cultivation have been reported for decades, yet a comprehensive overview is lacking. This review highlights the potential of using PNSB in plant pro- duction, with emphasis on three key performanceindicators (KPIs): fertilization, resistance to stress (biotic and abiotic) and environmental benefits. PNSB have the potential to enhance plant growth performance, increase the yield and quality of edible plant biomass, boost the resistance to environmental stresses, bioremediate heavy metals and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Here, the mechanisms responsible for these attributes are discussed. A dis- tinction is made between the use of living and dead PNSB cells, where critical interpretation of existing literature revealed the better performance of living cells. Finally, this review presents research gaps that remain yet to be elucidated and proposes a roadmap for future research and implementation paving the way for a more sustainable crop production

The Politics of Institutional Reform and Post-Conflict Violence in Nepal

How does the reform of state institutions shape prospects for peace after war? Existing research on the institutional causes of peace focuses on how institutional designs, as the outcomes of reform processes, reduce post-conflict violence and promote peace. The literature does not, however, adequately address how the politics that characterise reform processes affect the legitimacy of institutions and whether or not violent protest against these institutions ultimately takes place. This focus risks omitting key explanations of how institutional reforms contribute to peace and the mechanisms by which this occurs. By examining the case of Nepal, where clashes between protesters and security forces killed almost 60 people between August 2015 and January 2016, this study shows that emotional rhetoric, elite control of decision-making, backtracking on previous commitments, the acceleration of reform processes, and the embedding of single reforms in a 'concert' of reforms that, as a whole, sparks fears of discrimination are all factors that can lead to post-conflict violence