1,763 research outputs found
Recurrent gastric lactobezoar in an infant
Lactobezoars are a type of bezoar composed of undigested milk and mucus. The aetiology is likely multifactorial, being classically described in association with pre-term, low-birth weight infants fed with hyperconcentrated formula. The authors present a case of lactobezoar recurrence in a pre-term infant with oesophageal atresia. To our knowledge, this is the first report of recurrence of lactobezoar.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Bronchogenic cyst excision using a robotic laparoscopic transdiaphragmatic approach
AbstractWe describe one case of a bronchopulmonary foregut malformations (BPFM) excision using robotic technology in a pediatric patient. Traditionally, surgical resection is performed using a thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracic surgery. A 12-year-old girl with a previous medical history of cough was diagnosed with a left cystic paracardiac mass. Her operation employed a transdiaphragmatic approach to remove the mass. The postoperative course was uneventful, and she was discharged after four days. The subsequent pathology concluded that the mass was a bronchogenic cyst. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of transdiaphragmatic laparoscopic approach and first use of robotics-platform for BPFM excision by children. We elected to use this type of procedure to decrease the postoperative morbidity associated with the thoracic approach. The robotic technology permitted surgical resection with a similar efficiency as standard thoracic or laparoscopic procedures. We hypothesized that this technology would simplify some of the technical points, decreasing any postoperative complications
Instability of insular tree communities in an Amazonian mega-dam is driven by impaired recruitment and altered species composition
Mega-dams create highly fragmented archipelagos, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in remnant forest isolates. This study assessed the long-term impact of dam-induced fragmentation on insular tropical tree communities, with the aim of generating robust recommendations to mitigate some of the detrimental biodiversity impacts associated with future dam development. We inventoried adult and sapling trees across 89 permanent plots, located on 36 islands and in three mainland continuous forest sites in the Balbina Dam, Brazilian Amazon. We examined differences in recruitment, structure, and composition of sapling and adult tree communities, in relation to plot-, patch- and landscape-scale attributes including area, isolation, and fire severity. Islands harboured significantly lower sapling (mean ± 95% CI 48.6 ± 3.8) and adult (5 ± 0.2) tree densities per 0.01 ha, than nearby mainland continuous forest (saplings, 65.7 ± 7.5; adults, 5.6 ± 0.3). Insular sapling and adult tree communities were more dissimilar than in mainland sites, and species compositions showed a directional shift away from mainland forests, induced by fire severity, island area, and isolation. Insular sapling recruitment declined with increasing fire severity; tree communities with higher community-weighted mean wood density showed the greatest recruitment declines. Our results suggest that insular tree communities are unstable, with rare species becoming extinction-prone due to reduced tree recruitment and density on islands, potentially leading to future losses in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across Balbina's >3,500 reservoir islands. Policy implications. In Balbina, fire and reduced habitat area and connectivity were drivers of tree community decay after only 28 years of insularization, despite strict protection provided by the ~940,000 ha Uatumã Biological Reserve. Given that many dams are planned for lowland, moderately undulating Amazonia, we recommend that dam development strategy explicitly considers (a) dam location, aiming to minimize creation of small (<10 ha) and isolated islands, (b) maintaining reservoir water levels during droughts to reduce fire risk, and (c) including aggregate island area in environmental impact and offset calculations. Ideally, we recommend that alternatives to hydropower be sought in lowland tropical regions, due to the far-reaching biodiversity losses and ecosystem disruption caused by river impoundment
Cyclohexanedione as the negative electrode reaction for organic redox flow batteries
The electrochemical reduction and oxidation of cyclohexanedione is evaluated for the first time as the negative electrode reaction in an organic redox flow battery. Electrochemical characterization indicates that the redox reaction of cyclohexanedione is a proton-coupled electron transfer process with quasi-reversible behavior in acidic media (pH 2 M) and exhibit reduction process with up to 4 electrons transferred
Study of non-equilibrium effects and thermal properties of heavy ion collisions using a covariant approach
Non-equilibrium effects are studied using a full Lorentz-invariant formalism.
Our analysis shows that in reactions considered here, no global or local
equilibrium is reached. The heavier masses are found to be equilibrated more
than the lighter systems. The local temperature is extracted using hot Thomas
Fermi formalism generalized for the case of two interpenetrating pieces of
nuclear matter. The temperature is found to vary linearly with bombarding
energy and impact parameter whereas it is nearly independent of the mass of the
colliding nuclei. This indicates that the study of temperature with medium size
nuclei is also reliable. The maximum temperatures obtained in our approach are
in a nice agreement with earlier calculations of other approaches. A simple
parametrization of maximal temperature as a function of the bombarding energy
is also given.Comment: LaTex-file, 17 pages, 8 figures (available upon request), Journal of
Physics G20 (1994) 181
Equation of state of resonance-rich matter in the central cell in heavy-ion collisions at =200 AGeV
The equilibration of hot and dense nuclear matter produced in the central
cell of central Au+Au collisions at RHIC ( AGeV) energies is
studied within a microscopic transport model. The pressure in the cell becomes
isotropic at fm/ after beginning of the collision. Within the
next 15 fm/ the expansion of matter in the cell proceeds almost
isentropically with the entropy per baryon ratio , and the
equation of state in the plane has a very simple form,
. Comparison with the statistical model of an ideal hadron gas
indicates that the time fm/c may be too short to reach the fully
equilibrated state. Particularly, the creation of long-lived resonance-rich
matter in the cell decelerates the relaxation to chemical equilibrium. This
resonance-abundant state can be detected experimentally after the thermal
freeze-out of particles.Comment: LATEX, 21 pages incl. 7 figure
Evaluation of bone marrow and blood cultures for the recovery of mycobacteria in the diagnosis of disseminated mycobacterial infections
AbstractThis study evaluated the validity of bone marrow (BM) and blood specimens for the diagnosis of disseminated mycobacterial infections (DMIs). From 1990 to February 1997, all specimens were processed with the lysis-centrifugation procedure; thereafter (until December 2001), they were processed with the BACTEC Myco/F Lytic system. Twenty-three paired BM-blood specimens with mycobacteria in at least one specimen were studied from 23 patients. The strains isolated were 14 Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and nine M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Blood specimens had a statistically significant greater sensitivity for the isolation of MAC than BM (100% vs. 57.1%, respectively), whereas sensitivity for the isolation of MTBC was equal for the two specimen types (66.7%). Although not statistically significant, the times required to detect mycobacteria from blood specimens were lower than those from BM in the MycoF/Lytic system. Overall, blood cultures represented a more sensitive and less invasive alternative to BM cultures for the diagnosis of disseminated mycobacteriosis caused by MAC, especially when the MycoF/Lytic system was used, but provided no advantage for the diagnosis of DMI caused by MTBC
The "O3E" program: raising awareness on natural hazards
Earthquakes may be traumatic events and as many other environmental emergencies, like storm or
floods, may cause more damages than expected when who experiences the phenomena does not
know how to behave in the fall.
Provided that it is always not feasible to rely on prediction when dealing with earthquakes or extreme
meteorological events, preparedness proves to be an efficient (and certainly the most recommendable
and cheap) way to face emergencies. Education and training are thus two ingredients to help citizens
to perceive the scientific information formerly confined in the laboratories, in particular in the domain of
the environmental risk.
The âO3Eâ innovative program (European Observatory for Education and Environment) is established
after 10 years (1997-2007) of regional and national original programs (âSismos of the Schoolsâ), and
from Italian and Swiss experiences concerning environment tools for education. The project, that is a
cooperation between France, Italy and Switzerland, is born to promote a responsible behaviour of
citizens in front of the evolution of a society where scientific information is promptly available. ARGAL
(Agency for Geological Risk in the Latin Arc) operates the administrative and technical coordination.
The objective of this program is to create a school network in the Alpine and Mediterranean areas
equipped with environmental sensors of an educational vocation. The data on the movement of the
ground (seismometers), the temperatures and precipitations (weather stations), the flows of rivers
(hydrogeology) recorded in the schools and processed by the students are collected on dedicated
servers and then made available through internet to the entire educational community.
This network âO3Eâ, once installed, is the starting point of activities. Indeed, various general objectives are pursued:
- To promote the applied sciences and new technologies.
- To put in network the actors of Education and formation.
- To develop the sense of the autonomy and the responsibility in the young people.
- To reinforce and develop relationships with regional partners of the educational and university fields.
- To support a rational awakening for the prevention of the natural risks that can make the difference
during the event in terms of safety.
With these premises, the âO3Eâ experience sets up a permanent educational network of citizens in the
Alpine and Mediterranean areas, building an exchange of knowledge on natural risks prevention.PublishedAix en Provence5.9. Formazione e informazioneope
Switching from natalizumab to fingolimod: an observational study
Background â Multiple sclerosis patients who discontinue using
natalizumab are at risk of a rebound in disease activity. However, the
optimal alternative therapy is not currently known. Aims of the
study â We report on clinical and MRI data and patient safety in a
group of relapsingâremitting multiple sclerosis patients who tested
seropositive for the JC virus and who have switched from
natalizumab to fingolimod because of concerns regarding PML risks.
Methods â The test for JC virus antibodies was performed in 18
relapsingâremitting multiple sclerosis patients who were being treated
with natalizumab for more than 1 year. Eight seropositive patients
switched to fingolimod while the seronegative patients continued with
natalizumab. Results â After switching to fingolimod, five of eight
patients (63%) experienced clinical relapses, and MRI activity was
detected in six of eight patients (75%). Neither clinical relapses nor
MRI activity was observed in the patients who continued with
natalizumab. No serious adverse effects were detected. Conclusions â
Natalizumab is an effective treatment for relapsingâremitting multiple
sclerosis, but its discontinuation continues to be a complex problem.
All of the therapies tried thus far, including fingolimod, have been
unable to control the reactivation of the disease. Further studies
addressing alternative therapies after natalizumab discontinuation are
necessary
Governance lessons from the Atlantic Forest to the conservation of the Amazon.
Brazilian forests critical are for climate, water, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. The Atlantic Forest and the Amazon are among the most important tropical forests of the world but have different conservation status. The first is below its minimum threshold for biodiversity conservation while the Amazon is approaching its dieback threshold. Aiming to examine policy lessons from the Atlantic Forest which could be applied to the conservation of the Amazon, we first analysed the forest cover of basins of the Amazon compared to the reality of the Atlantic Forest. We found that regions of the Amazon already have forest cover similar to the Atlantic Forest and that 34% of them are below the dieback threshold. We propose policy lessons to avoid that the Amazon follow the same route of the Atlantic Forest and concluded that they need to be implemented urgently in a precautionary approach
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