Essential fatty acids and their long-chain polyunsaturated metabolites in maternal and cord plasma triglycerides during late gestation

The fatty acid composition of plasma lipids was determined in 41 pairs of mothers and their term infants at time of birth (38-42 postmenstrual weeks) by high-resolution capillary gas-liquid chromatography, Linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids were found at smaller concentrations in cord than in maternal triglycerides, in contrast to strikingly higher proportions of their long-chain polyunsaturated metabolites (IC-PUFA), which indicates a preferential maternofetal transport for certain physiologically important LC-PUFA. While no significant gestational age-dependent changes occurred in maternal plasma triglycerides, the values for most of the fetal long-chain n-3 metabolites increased with the duration of gestation, possibly reflecting an increased transplacental fatty acid passage during late pregnancy or a maturation of desaturation in the fetal liver, Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Differences of cardiac output measurements by open-circuit acetylene uptake in pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: a cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As differences in gas exchange between pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) have been demonstrated, we asked if cardiac output measurements determined by acetylene (C₂H₂) uptake significantly differed in these diseases when compared to the thermodilution technique.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>Single-breath open-circuit C₂H₂uptake, thermodilution, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing were performed in 72 PAH and 32 CTEPH patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In PAH patients the results for cardiac output obtained by the two methods showed an acceptable agreement with a mean difference of -0.16 L/min (95% CI -2.64 to 2.32 L/min). In contrast, the agreement was poorer in the CTEPH group with the difference being -0.56 L/min (95% CI -4.96 to 3.84 L/min). Functional dead space ventilation (44.5 ± 1.6 vs. 32.2 ± 1.4%, p < 0.001) and the mean arterial to end-tidal CO₂gradient (9.9 ± 0.8 vs. 4.1 ± 0.5 mmHg, p < 0.001) were significantly elevated among CTEPH patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Cardiac output evaluation by the C₂H₂technique should be interpreted with caution in CTEPH, as ventilation to perfusion mismatching might be more relevant than in PAH.</p

Проект установки получения синтез-газа

ВКР 91 страницу, 6 рисунков, 40 таблиц, 24 литературных источника. Ключевые слова: синтез-газ, конверсия, применение синтез-газа, сырье, природный газ, технологическая схема, производство, метан, метанол. Объект разработки: производство синтез-газа методом паровой каталитической конверсии природного газа. Цель работы: изучение всех физико - химических свойств процесса и их влияния на протекание реакции, а также конструирование основного аппарата установки получения синтез - газа. В результате исследования выполнен расчет материального и теплового балансов, также конструктивный и механический расчеты, на основании которых был выполнен чертеж основного аппарата. ВКР выполнена на кафедре ТОВПМ ст. группы 2Д2А Якимовой В.А., под руководством к.х.н. Мананковой А.А.The final qualifying work contains 91 page, 6 figures, 40 tables and 24 literature sources. Content words are conversion, synthesis gas. The object of the development is the production of synthesis gas by catalytic steam reforming of natural gas. The mission is the study of physical - chemical properties of the process and their influence on the reaction, as well as the construction of the main unit installation producing synthesis - gas. The study was carried out payment of material and heat balances, the constructive and mechanical calculations, drawing on the basis of which the main unit was made. The final qualifying work carried out at the Department of TOVPM student group 2D2A Vera Yakimova, under the leadership of Candidate of Chemical Sciences Ann Manankova

Distinguishing between pre- and post-treatment in the speech of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes lung inflammation and airflow blockage leading to a variety of respiratory symptoms; it is also a leading cause of death and affects millions of individuals around the world. Patients often require treatment and hospitalisation, while no cure is currently available. As COPD predominantly affects the respiratory system, speech and non-linguistic vocalisations present a major avenue for measuring the effect of treatment. In this work, we present results on a new COPD dataset of 20 patients, showing that, by employing personalisation through speaker-level feature normalisation, we can distinguish between pre- and post-treatment speech with an unweighted average recall (UAR) of up to 82\,\% in (nested) leave-one-speaker-out cross-validation. We further identify the most important features and link them to pathological voice properties, thus enabling an auditory interpretation of treatment effects. Monitoring tools based on such approaches may help objectivise the clinical status of COPD patients and facilitate personalised treatment plans.Comment: Accepted in INTERSPEECH 202

Successful long-term treatment of persistent pulmonary air leak in pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia by unidirectional endobronchial valves

Spontaneous pneumothorax is a rare complication of pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. We report a patient with pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia and therapy-refractory, right-sided pneumothorax due to persistent air leak (PAL) despite prolonged chest tube placement and multiple pleurodesis attempts. Due to the patient's morbidity, we evaluated if the PAL can be sealed by unidirectional endobronchial valves (EBVs). After occlusion of the right upper lobe by a balloon catheter, the air leak flow-rate decreased from 800 ml/min to 250 ml/min. Zephyr EBVs (ZEBVs) were placed in the segmental right upper lobe bronchi and subsequently, a complete resolution of the pneumothorax was noted. During 30 months of follow-up, neither recurrence of pneumothorax nor any adverse events of EBV treatment were noted. We conclude that ZEBV placement might be an effective and well-tolerated treatment option for PAL secondary to pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia with promising long-term results

Health literacy in patients with pulmonary embolism: development and validation of the HeLP (Health Literacy in Pulmonary Embolism)-Questionnaire

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common cardiovascular disease and health literacy is necessary to deal with its consequences after the acute event. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a new questionnaire to measure PE-specific health literacy. Methods: A mixed-methods design with qualitative and quantitative elements was used in the development process. A literature review about health literacy concepts and instruments and interviews with patients with PE and clinicians were conducted. Quantitative analyses included factor analyses, item response theory with a graded partial credit model, and reliability analyses in different test and validation samples. Furthermore, convergent and known-groups validity and responsiveness were assessed. Results: The qualitative results supported a concept of PE-related health literacy with four main topics: dealing with PE-related health information, disease management, health-related selfcare, and social support. An initial item pool of 91 items was developed. Further interviews and an online survey with patients with PE (n = 1,013) were used to reduce the number of items and to confirm structural validity. Confirmatory factor analyses in the final evaluation study with patients with PE (n = 238) indicated a good model fit of the four-factor structure. The Health Literacy in Pulmonary Embolism (HeLP)-Questionnaire showed good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.82 to 0.90). All four subscales were responsive toward receiving a brochure with PE-related health information. Conclusion: The newly developed German HeLP Questionnaire comprises 23 items in four domains and showed good psychometric properties. Further evaluation of the questionnaire in different samples of patients with PE is needed

Lung perfusion assessed by SPECT/CT after a minimum of three months anticoagulation therapy in patients with SARS-CoV-2-associated acute pulmonary embolism: a retrospective observational study

Background Anticoagulant treatment is recommended for at least three months after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-related acute pulmonary embolism (PE), but the persistent pulmonary clot burden after that time is unknown. Methods Lung perfusion was assessed by ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) SPECT/CT in 20 consecutive patients with SARS-CoV-2-associated acute PE after a minimum of three months anticoagulation therapy in a retrospective observational study. Results Remaining perfusion defects after a median treatment period of six months were observed in only two patients. All patients (13 men, seven women, mean age 55.6 ± 14.5 years) were on non-vitamin K direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). No recurrent venous thromboembolism or anticoagulant-related bleeding complications were observed. Among patients with partial clinical recovery, high-risk PE and persistent pulmonary infiltrates were significantly more frequent (p < 0.001, respectively). Interpretation Temporary DOAC treatment seems to be safe and efficacious for resolving pulmonary clot burden in SARS-CoV-2-associated acute PE. Partial clinical recovery is more likely caused by prolonged SARS-CoV-2-related parenchymal lung damage rather than by persistent pulmonary perfusion defects

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal