The Tilburg double blind randomised controlled trial comparing inguinal hernia repair according to Lichtenstein and the transinguinal preperitoneal technique

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anterior open treatment of the inguinal hernia with a tension free mesh has reduced the incidence of recurrence and direct postoperative pain. The Lichtenstein procedure rules nowadays as reference technique for hernia treatment. Not recurrences but chronic pain is the main postoperative complication in inguinal hernia repair after Lichtenstein's technique. Preliminary experiences with a soft mesh placed in the preperitoneal space showed good results and less chronic pain.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The TULIP is a double-blind randomised controlled trial in which 300 patients will be randomly allocated to anterior inguinal hernia repair according to Lichtenstein or the transinguinal preperitoneal technique with soft mesh. All unilateral primary inguinal hernia patients eligible for operation who meet inclusion criteria will be invited to participate in this trial. The primary endpoint will be direct postoperative- and chronic pain. Secondary endpoints are operation time, postoperative complications, hospital stay, costs, return to daily activities (e.g. work) and recurrence. Both groups will be evaluated.</p> <p>Success rate of hernia repair and complications will be measured as safeguard for quality.</p> <p>To demonstrate that inguinal hernia repair according to the transinguinal preperitoneal (TIPP) technique reduces postoperative pain to <10%, with α = 0,05 and power 80%, a total sample size of 300 patients was calculated.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The TULIP trial is aimed to show a reduction in postoperative chronic pain after anterior hernia repair according to the transinguinal preperitoneal (TIPP) technique, compared to Lichtenstein.</p> <p>In our hypothesis the TIPP technique reduces chronic pain compared to Lichtenstein.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN 93798494</p

Commissioning of the LHCb Silicon Tracker using data from the LHC injection tests

LHCb is a single-arm forward spectrometer dedicated to the study of the CP-violation and rare decays in the b-quark sector. An efficient and high precision tracking system is a key requirement of the experiment. The LHCb Silicon Tracker Project consists of two sub-detectors that make use of silicon micro-strip technology: the Tracker Turicensis located upstream of the spectrometer magnet and the Inner Tracker which covers the innermost part of the tracking stations after the magnet. In total an area of 12 m^2 is covered by silicon. In September 2008 and June 2009, injection tests from the SPS to the LHC were performed. Bunches of order 5x10^9 protons were dumped onto a beam stopper (TED) located upstream of LHCb. This produced a spray of ~10 GeV muons in the LHCb detector. Though the occupancy in this environment is relatively large, these TED runs have allowed a first space and time alignment of the tracking system. Results of these studies together and the overall detector performance obtained in the TED running will be discussed

Development of Gene Expression Markers of Acute Heat-Light Stress in Reef-Building Corals of the Genus Porites

Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to increased incidence of climate-induced coral bleaching, which will have widespread biodiversity and economic impacts. A simple method to measure the sub-bleaching level of heat-light stress experienced by corals would greatly inform reef management practices by making it possible to assess the distribution of bleaching risks among individual reef sites. Gene expression analysis based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine coral condition in situ. We evaluated the expression of 13 candidate genes during heat-light stress in a common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides, and observed strong and consistent changes in gene expression in two independent experiments. Furthermore, we found that the apparent return to baseline expression levels during a recovery phase was rapid, despite visible signs of colony bleaching. We show that the response to acute heat-light stress in P. astreoides can be monitored by measuring the difference in expression of only two genes: Hsp16 and actin. We demonstrate that this assay discriminates between corals sampled from two field sites experiencing different temperatures. We also show that the assay is applicable to an Indo-Pacific congener, P. lobata, and therefore could potentially be used to diagnose acute heat-light stress on coral reefs worldwide

Sustainability in manufacturing processes: practices performed in metal forming, casting, heat treatment, welding and electrostatic painting

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This article aims to list the main sustainable practices developed in the processes of metal forming, casting, heat treatment, welding and electrostatic painting. When analysed the literature about sustainable manufacturing, a predominance of studies about machining is observed and the processes mentioned are few explored in academic studies. The research strategy used to reach the objective was systematic literature review, conducted for each process cited. Many sustainable practices were identified with prominence of better materials use and energy efficiency. The authors of this article believe that the information presented here can be useful for researches in their future studies and for industry professionals interested in improving manufacturing processes

A facility to Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) at the CERN SPS

A new general purpose fixed target facility is proposed at the CERN SPS accelerator which is aimed at exploring the domain of hidden particles and make measurements with tau neutrinos. Hidden particles are predicted by a large number of models beyond the Standard Model. The high intensity of the SPS 400~GeV beam allows probing a wide variety of models containing light long-lived exotic particles with masses below ${\cal O}$(10)~GeV/c$^2$, including very weakly interacting low-energy SUSY states. The experimental programme of the proposed facility is capable of being extended in the future, e.g. to include direct searches for Dark Matter and Lepton Flavour Violation

Measurement of the mass difference and relative production rate of the Ωb− and Ξb− baryons

The mass difference between the Ω − b and Ξ − b baryons is measured using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9     fb − 1 , and is found to be m ( Ω − b ) − m ( Ξ − b ) = 248.54 ± 0.51 ( stat ) ± 0.38 ( syst )     MeV / c 2 . The mass of the Ω − b baryon is measured to be m ( Ω − b ) = 6045.9 ± 0.5 ( stat ) ± 0.6 ( syst )     MeV / c 2 . This is the most precise determination of the Ω − b mass to date. In addition, the production rate of Ω − b baryons relative to that of Ξ − b baryons is measured for the first time in p p collisions, using an LHCb dataset collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6     fb − 1 . Reconstructing beauty baryons in the kinematic region 2 &lt; η &lt; 6 and p T &lt; 20     GeV / c with their decays to a J / ψ meson and a hyperon, the ratio f Ω − b f Ξ − b × B ( Ω − b → J / ψ Ω − ) B ( Ξ − b → J / ψ Ξ − ) = 0.120 ± 0.008 ( stat ) ± 0.008 ( syst ) , is obtained, where f Ω − b and f Ξ − b are the fragmentation fractions of b quarks into Ω − b and Ξ − b baryons, respectively, and B represents the branching fractions of their respective decays

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A. Algaecide and aquatic herbicides are used to treat (check all that apply): 1. Canals, ditches, or other constructed conveyance facilities owned and controlled by Discharger. Name of the conveyance system: ________________________________________________ 2. Canals, ditches, or other constructed conveyance facilities owned and controlled by an entity other than the Discharger. Owner’s name:________________________________________________________________ Name of the conveyance system: ________________________________________________