Foreign body ingestion mimicking irritable bowel syndrome: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Foreign body ingestion is associated with a variety of symptoms and complications, often mimicking various diseases. This case report describes an unusual presentation following foreign body ingestion.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 56-year-old Greek Caucasian woman presented to a primary care setting, in rural Crete, Greece, with complaints of abdominal pain, cramping and bloating, for the last four months. Alternating constipation and diarrhea was reported. The patient had unknowingly ingested a foreign body that resulted in an irritable bowel syndrome-like presentation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This case report emphasizes the need for a high index of suspicion from physicians for a wide differential in their approach to abdominal complaints, as well as the importance of an individualized approach to patients in the setting of clinical medicine.</p

Entrepreneurial-intention constraint model: A comparative analysis among post-graduate management students in India, Singapore and Malaysia

YesAlthough literature on entrepreneurship has increasingly focused on intention-based models, not much emphasis has been laid on understanding the combined effect of contextual and situational factors along with support of university environment on the formation of entrepreneurial intention among students. In an effort to make up for this shortfall, by taking Theory of Planned Behavior as basic framework, the present study seeks to understand the influence of three of the most important factors, viz. (a) endogenous barriers, (b) exogenous environment, and (c) university environment and support on the entrepreneurial intention among management students. The study sample consisted of 1,097 students, wherein 526 students were from India, 252 from Singapore, and 319 were from Malaysia. The results indicates that along with positive attitude and perceived behavioral control that directly influences entrepreneurial intention, university environment and support and exogenous environment also have an indirect but significant impact on shaping of entrepreneurial intention among students. With this, it was found that exogenous environment was found to have a negative relationship with both attitude towards behavior and perceived behavioral control for all three countries.The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 2 Jun 2018

The European Hematology Association Roadmap for European Hematology Research: a consensus document

The European Hematology Association (EHA) Roadmap for European Hematology Research highlights major achievements in diagnosis and treatment of blood disorders and identifies the greatest unmet clinical and scientific needs in those areas to enable better funded, more focused European hematology research. Initiated by the EHA, around 300 experts contributed to the consensus document, which will help European policy makers, research funders, research organizations, researchers, and patient groups make better informed decisions on hematology research. It also aims to raise public awareness of the burden of blood disorders on European society, which purely in economic terms is estimated at €23 billion per year, a level of cost that is not matched in current European hematology research funding. In recent decades, hematology research has improved our fundamental understanding of the biology of blood disorders, and has improved diagnostics and treatments, sometimes in revolutionary ways. This progress highlights the potential of focused basic research programs such as this EHA Roadmap. The EHA Roadmap identifies nine ‘sections’ in hematology: normal hematopoiesis, malignant lymphoid and myeloid diseases, anemias and related diseases, platelet disorders, blood coagulation and hemostatic disorders, transfusion medicine, infections in hematology, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These sections span 60 smaller groups of diseases or disorders. The EHA Roadmap identifies priorities and needs across the field of hematology, including those to develop targeted therapies based on genomic profiling and chemical biology, to eradicate minimal residual malignant disease, and to develop cellular immunotherapies, combination treatments, gene therapies, hematopoietic stem cell treatments, and treatments that are better tolerated by elderly patients

Sex- and age-related differences in the management and outcomes of chronic heart failure: an analysis of patients from the ESC HFA EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry

Aims: This study aimed to assess age- and sex-related differences in management and 1-year risk for all-cause mortality and hospitalization in chronic heart failure (HF) patients. Methods and results: Of 16 354 patients included in the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry, 9428 chronic HF patients were analysed [median age: 66 years; 28.5% women; mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 37%]. Rates of use of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) were high (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists: 85.7%, 88.7% and 58.8%, respectively). Crude GDMT utilization rates were lower in women than in men (all differences: P\ua0 64 0.001), and GDMT use became lower with ageing in both sexes, at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT prescription; however, age >75 years was a significant predictor of GDMT underutilization. Rates of all-cause mortality were lower in women than in men (7.1% vs. 8.7%; P\ua0=\ua00.015), as were rates of all-cause hospitalization (21.9% vs. 27.3%; P\ua075 years. Conclusions: There was a decline in GDMT use with advanced age in both sexes. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT or adverse outcomes. However, age >75 years independently predicted lower GDMT use and higher all-cause mortality in patients with LVEF 6445%

A conceptual framework for studying a technology transfer from academia to new firms

No abstract

Solid state synthesis of nano-boehmite-derived CuAlO2 powder and processing of the ceramics

The delafossite CuAlO2 powder was prepared from the nano-boehmite AlOO center dot xH(2)O and Cu2O by the solid state synthesis at 1100 degrees C in argon. The inherently slow solid state reaction was accelerated by introducing rod-like boehmite nano-particles which fully covered the 1 mu m sized Cu2O particles in the reactant mixture, and decomposition of the nano-boehmite upon calcination. In contrast, the reaction between the Cu2O and Al2O3, introduced as a reference, resulted in mixed phases under the same experimental conditions. Sintering of the nano-boehmite derived CuAlO2 powder compact at 1100 degrees C for 2 h in air resulted in the delafossite ceramic with 86% of theoretical density, without any impurities detectable by X-ray diffraction analysis. The analysis of the microstructure by scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the bulk of the sintered sample was delafossite phase with uniformly distributed porosity, with only traces of Cu-rich impurities at the surface

Solid state synthesis of nano-boehmite-derived CuAlO2 powder and processing of the ceramics

The delafossite CuAlO2 powder was prepared from the nano-boehmite AlOO center dot xH(2)O and Cu2O by the solid state synthesis at 1100 degrees C in argon. The inherently slow solid state reaction was accelerated by introducing rod-like boehmite nano-particles which fully covered the 1 mu m sized Cu2O particles in the reactant mixture, and decomposition of the nano-boehmite upon calcination. In contrast, the reaction between the Cu2O and Al2O3, introduced as a reference, resulted in mixed phases under the same experimental conditions. Sintering of the nano-boehmite derived CuAlO2 powder compact at 1100 degrees C for 2 h in air resulted in the delafossite ceramic with 86% of theoretical density, without any impurities detectable by X-ray diffraction analysis. The analysis of the microstructure by scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the bulk of the sintered sample was delafossite phase with uniformly distributed porosity, with only traces of Cu-rich impurities at the surface

Grain Size and Porosity Dependence of Titanium Dioxide Nano-Paste on Sintering Temperature for Gas Sensing Application

If the material is being sintered, grain size of its particles will depend on the sintering temperature, time of the sintering and the pressure applied on the material while sintering. It is well known that on the lower sintering temperatures grain size of the nano material is relatively small and thus the active area is large. Due to the low sintering temperature, high material porosity is expected as well. With a decrease of grain size, gas sensitive materials have larger selectivity, higher sensitivity, sensor response increases steeply and they are more immune to poisoning. The core of the investigation is to observe the influence of sintering temperature on grain size of the TiO2 nano-paste and to determine its reflection on the material porosity. For the realization of gas sensors using Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (LTCC) or High Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (HTCC) technology, specimens have to be sintered at relatively high temperatures. For the first interaction, custom-designed TiO2 nano-paste has been deposited on a sintered alumina (Al2O3) substrates using screen printing. Specimens have been sintered at peak temperatures in a range of 800 degrees C - 1500 degrees C for 30 minutes and afterwards they have been characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy EDS