Recent Innovations & Daily Problems. A new prosthesis in inguinal hernia repair:preliminary results of a pilot study.

Introduction: Elective surgery for inguinal hernia is affected by very low mortality « 1 per 10000 operation); in contrast, when surgery is carried out for complicated inguinal hernia, risks of postoperative complication are higher. TAPP is a world-wide accepted surgical practice in the treatment of elective bilateral or recurrent inguinal hernia, above all in young patients. Few exploratory studies were published on laparoscopic approach in the treatment of urgent complicated inguinal hernia. Aim of this study was to analyze feasibility (operative time, conversion rate), safety (postoperative morbidity, length of hospital stay) and quality of life (acute and chronic pain, return to work) of trans-abdominal pre-peritoneal laparoscopic hernia repair in acute incarcerated inguinal hernia. Rationale of laparoscopic trans-abdominal approach is the easier hernia reduction under vision and a better exploration of the abdominal cavity. Methods: from September 2012 to September 2013, 15 consecutive patients admitted in emergency at the Division of General Surgery of University "Sapienza", Polo Pontino, for acute incarcerated inguinal hernia were submitted to TAPP using 3 trocars (1 of 10 mm and 2 of 5mm) and polyester prosthesis fixed by fibrin glue. Exclusion criteria for laparoscopic approach were age III, previous abdominal surgery, signs of strangulated hernia. All of them were evaluated for operative time, conversion rate, postoperative morbidity, organ resection or other surgery required. All patients were scored for pain by Visual Analogic Scale (VAS) during postoperative in hospital stay at 7 days, 1,6 and 12 months after surgery. Results: median follow-up was 16 months and 12 as minimum. In all cases reduction of hernia was always possible and none conversion to open surgery was recorded, median operative time was 89 minutes (55-137 as range), omental resection was carried out in one patient (6,6%), no other organ resections needed, whereas contralateral hernia was diagnosed and repaired at the same time in 4 patients (26,6%). No major complications were observed, median blood loss was 100 ml, minor morbidity was contained to 18% represented by fever and wound infection of surgical umbilical scar. Median in hospital stay was 1,5 days with 1-5 days as range. Postoperative median acute pain, measured by visual analogic scale (VAS), was 2 (range:0-4), none patient referred any pain during follow-up. Median time of return to work was 6,5 days, ranged between 3 to 15 days. Patients' compliance to treatment and to follow-up was complete as well their satisfaction. Conclusions: In centres skilled for laparoscopy in emergency, TAPP could be considered a feasible and safe technique. In well-selected patients (especially if emolled in controlled clinical trial) TAPP could represent an alternative surgical approach for complicated incarcerated inguinal hernia to conventional open surgery even in urgency. The main advantages of laparoscopic approach are the ability to perform surgical hernia reduction under vision, a better exploration and evaluation of abdominal cavity and diagnosis and treatment of eventual contralateral defect of wall, otherwise often missed. Finally, the good control of acute and chronic pain, faster return to normal activity and work, better aesthetic results contributed to total satisfaction and compliance of the patients

Observation of Top Quark Production in Proton-Nucleus Collisions

Peer reviewe

Building the capacity of West African countries in Aedes surveillance: inaugural meeting of the West African Aedes Surveillance Network (WAASuN)

Arboviral diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes have been reported in 34 African countries. Available data indicate that in recent years there have been dengue and chikungunya outbreaks in the West Africa subregion, in countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Senegal, and Benin. These viral diseases are causing an increased public health burden, which impedes poverty reduction and sustainable development. Aedes surveillance and control capacity, which are key to reducing the prevalence of arboviral infections, need to be strengthened in West Africa, to provide information essential for the formulation of effective vector control strategies and the prediction of arboviral disease outbreaks. In line with these objectives, the West African Aedes Surveillance Network (WAASuN) was created in 2017 at a meeting held in Sierra Leone comprising African scientists working on Aedes mosquitoes. This manuscript describes the proceedings and discusses key highlights of the meeting

Search for gamma (1S,2S) -> Z(c)(+)Z(c)((')-) and e(+)e(-) -> Z(c)(+)Z(c)((')-) at root s=10.52, 10.58, and 10.867 Gev

The first search for double charged charmoniumlike state production in gamma (IS) and gamma (2S) decays and in e(+) e(-) annihilation at root s = 10.52, 10.58, and 10.867 GcV is conducted using data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy electron-positron collider. No significant signals are observed in any of the studied modes, and the 90% credibility level upper limits on their product branching fractions in gamma(1S) and gamma(2S) decays [B(gamma(1S, 2S) -> Z(c)(+)Z(c)((')-)) x B(Z(c)(+) -> pi(+) + c (c) over bar ) (c (c) over bar = J / psi, chi(c1) (1P), psi(2S))] and the product of Born cross section and branching fraction for e(+)e(-) -> Z(c)(+)Z(c)((')-)) (sigma(e(+)e(-) -> Z(c)(+)Z(c)((')-)) x B(Z(c)(+) -> pi(+) + c (c) over bar )) at root s = 10.52, 10.58, and 10.867 GeV are determined. Here, Z(c) refers to the Z(c) (3900) and Z(c) (4200) observed in the pi J/psi final state, the Z(c1)(4050) and Z(c2)(4250) in the pi chi(c1)(1P) final state, and the Z(c)(4050) and Z(c)(4430) in the pi psi(2S) final state

Property characterization of CVD nickel

grantor: University of TorontoPure Nickel can be deposited from a Carbonyl vapour gas, by using a Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) technique, to form a 25 mm thick bulk solid. The CVD nickel can then be stripped from its substrate to produce a nickel shell. With this technique, nickel deposits with excellent dimensional and surface texture reproduction of the substrate can be obtained. This makes CVD nickel shells ideal for use in manufacturing injection molds and other polymer processing molds. Until now, the properties of CVD Nickel have not been accurately characterized. Use of mechanical testing, in combination with in-situ optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and thermal analysis, have been used for the first time to examine the bulk properties of a thick CVD deposit, which can be used structurally in the absence of its substrate. Optical and SEM Micrographs indicate a bi-modal grain size distribution. Large grains have a high aspect ratio, with their longitudinal direction in the growth direction, and are highly oriented. Uniaxial tensile and compressive testing has confirmed anisotropic mechanical behaviour of the material. The elastic response of CVD Nickel is not linear, and the values are significantly lower than Nickel 200. Furthermore, a marked increase in slope and linearity is observed upon secondary load application below the previously applied maximum stress level. CVD Nickel shell material has significantly higher strength than commercially pure cast Nickel 200. These unexpected phenomena are explained in terms of lattice strain, twinning, texture, and mechanical interaction within the unique CVD Nickel crystal structure.M.A.Sc

Not Available

Not AvailableSusceptibility to root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) is one of the major factors limiting mungbean production in South and South-east Asia. Host-pest-environment interaction in mungbean and rootknot nematode (M. incognita) was investigated in multi-location feld evaluation using 38 promising mungbean genotypes extracted from initial evaluation of 250 genotypes under sick plots considering second stage freshly hatched juvenile as inoculants. the extent of environmental and genotypeby-environment interactions (GGe) was assessed to comprehend the dynamism of resistance and identifcation of durable resistant mungbean genotypes. Among environmental factors, nematode activity was highly infuenced by rainfall and minimum temperature. The GGE biplot and multiple comparison tests detected a higher proportion of genotype × environment (Ge) interaction followed by genotype and environment on number of nematode galls, gall index and reproduction factor. The frst two principal components (PCs) explained 64.33% and 66.99% of the total variation of the environment-centered gall scoring and reproduction factor data, respectively. the high Ge variation indicated the presence of non-cross over interactions which justify the necessities of multi-location testing. Detection of non-redundant testing locations would expedite optimum resource utilization in future. The GGE biplot analysis identifed genotypes such as PM-10-12, IPM-410-3 and NVL-641 as the outperforming and desirable genotypes with durable resistance against M. incognita which can be exploited in mungbean breeding programmes globally. on the contrary, the highest gall scoring and reproduction factor were recorded in genotype IPM-9901-8. Computation of confidence interval (CI) at 95% level through bootstrapping increased precision of GGE biplot towards genotype recommendation. furthermore, total phenol content, ascorbic acid, phenlylalanine ammonia lyase (pAL) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities were also higher in identified resistant genotypes and this information would be useful for devising mungbean breeding strategies in future for resistance against root-knot nematodes.Not Availabl