Difficulties in establishing a timely diagnosis of pulmonary artery sarcoma misdiagnosed as chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary disease: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Pulmonary artery sarcomas are rare neoplasms that are often confused with chronic thrombo-embolic disease, as both can have similar clinical and imaging presentation.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>In this report, we present a case of a 50-year-old man initially diagnosed with chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary disease, but who was later found to have pulmonary artery sarcoma with poor survival prognosis. We review the clinical and imaging characteristics of the two diseases and discuss the difficulties in establishing a timely diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Similar clinical features and imaging presentation of pulmonary artery sarcoma and chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary disease make definitive diagnosis difficult. This case report also illustrates and emphasizes that in any case with no predisposition factors for embolism, no evidence of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary emboli, and inadequate relief of symptoms with anticoagulation, an alternative diagnosis of pulmonary artery sarcoma should be considered. If pulmonary artery sarcoma is diagnosed late in the course of the disease, there is usually a poor survival outcome.</p

Dental care during the Covid-19 pandemic – To treat or not to treat?

The recent spread of COVID-19 presents a huge public health concern. Clinical presentations of COVID-19 range from asymptomatic cases to severe pneumonia that can lead to death. Drastic measures were necessary to prevent the disease from spreading and protect the most vulnerable groups in the general population. The rapid reorganization of the healthcare system and great efforts made by medical staff were needed to admit to hospitals and then treat a progressively growing number of patients. The predominant route of virus transmission is through direct contact with an infected individual or respiratory droplets, therefore, all dental procedures with aerosol-formation pose an extremely high risk for the spread of infection. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the current epidemiological situation, routes of transmission, and specific recommendations for dental practices including patient screening and triage, infection control, and treatment protocols. In this situation, it is essential that all dental healthcare workers make wise clinical decisions and educate themselves and their patients on how to prevent the spread of infection

Stark broadening and hfs of Mn II

International audienceLarge differences between previous calculations of the Mn II spectral line Stark widths [Popovic, L.C., Dimitrijevic, M.S., 1997a. A&AS 128, 203; Popovic, L.C., Dimitrijevic, M.S., 1997b. SAJ 156, 173] and a recent experiment by [Djenize, S., Bukvic, S., Sreckovic, A., Nikolic, Z., 2006. NewA 11, 256] are considered. In order to do so, new semiclassical perturbation calculations of the Stark broadening parameters of three spectral lines within Mn II 3d 54s a 7S-3d 54p z 7P o and three within Mn II 3d 54s a 5S-3d 54p z 5P o multiplets, are performed. The influence of hfs on the Stark broadening parameters determination as a possible reason of disagreement is also discussed, on the example of Mn II 260.6455 nm and 259.4497 nm lines. Namely, measured and calculated values taking into account the hfs effect are compared. We found that this effect cannot explain the large discrepancy between experiment and theory. Other possible reasons for disagreement like the configuration interaction are discussed as well. The new semiclassical perturbation calculations, more sophisticated than previous ones, performed by using the modified semiempirical theory, are in better agreement with experiment, but a large difference up to a factor 2.39 for the width, still exist

Serbian Virtual Observatory and Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC)

International audienceIn this lecture we review recent developments in Serbian Virtual Observatory (SerVO) as well as its relation with the European FP7 project: Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center - VAMDC. Main components of SerVO are going to be the archive of photographic plates, database of Stark broadening parameters and stellar evolution database. Photographic plates were obtained at Belgrade Observatory from 1936 to 1996. Data for Stark broadening were obtained using semiclassical perturbation and modified semiempirical theories mainly in collaboration with Paris Observatory, and we are organizing them now in the STARK-B database, which will enter also in VAMDC, and will have a mirror site in SerVO. Serbian Virtual Observatory will contain as well a mirror of Darthmouth Stellar evolution database with improvements and VO compatible outputs

Climate of the Carpathian Region in the period 1961–2010: climatologies and trends of 10 variables

The Carpathians are the largest mountain range in Europe and they represent a geographic barrier between Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. In order to investigate the climate of the area, the CARPATCLIM project members compiled the Climate Atlas of the Carpathian Region, which consists of high-resolution daily grids (0.1˚ x 0.1˚) of sixteen meteorological variables and many derived indicators related to 1961-2010. We computed the gridded climatologies for 1961-2010 for eight variables (air pressure, cloudiness, precipitation, relative humidity, minimum and maximum temperature, sunshine duration, and wind speed) and we discuss their spatial patterns. For each variable, we calculated the gridded linear trends related to 1961-2010 both on annual and seasonal basis. In general, temperature was found to increase in every season in 1986-2010, confirming the trends occurring in Europe in the last decades. On the other way, wind speed decreased in every season. Cloudiness and relative humidity decreased in spring, summer, and winter, and increased in autumn, whilst sunshine duration, as expected, behaved in the opposite way. Precipitation slightly increased and air pressure showed no significant trend, except of a few grid points. Then, we dealt with the correlation between the variables: excluding the high elevation points, the most correlated are sunshine duration and temperature. In particular, positive and negative sunshine duration anomalies are found to be respectively correlated with positive and negative temperature anomalies during the global dimming (60’s and 70’s) and brightening (90’s and 2000’s) periods.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Sea Level Variability and Change

Land surface albedo represents the fraction of solar radiation scattered backward by land surfaces. In the presence of vegetation, surface albedo results from complex nonlinear radiation transfer processes determining the amount of radiation that is scattered by the vegetation and its background, transmitted through the vegetation layer, or absorbed by the vegetation layer and its background. Anomalies in mid- and high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere result mainly from interannual variations in snow cover extent and duration in winter and spring. The large negative anomalies over the United States reflect the lack of snowfall and snowpack over the Rockies, the Midwest, and much of the eastern half of the country.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

State of the Climate in 2012

For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall