Colon Cancer Perforation Presenting as a Strangulating Ventral Hernia

Colorectal cancer remains the second leading cause of death from malignant disease. Despite improvements in the treatment modalities offered to patients, more than half of the operated patients die from the disease. The most common presenting symptoms of colonic carcinoma are changes in bowel habits, bleeding, abdominal pain, abdominal mass, stools mixed with mucus or not, weight loss, anorexia, and other characteristics related to metastasis. Here, the case of a 74-year-old female patient with colon cancer perforation presenting as a strangulating ventral hernia and a mini-review of the current literature are presented

Small-bowel necrosis complicating a cytomegalovirus-induced superior mesenteric vein thrombosis in an immunocompetent patient: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Superior mesenteric venous thrombosis as a result of acute cytomegalovirus infection is rare, with only a few cases reported in the literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of a 40-year-old Caucasian man who was admitted to our hospital with a 5-day history of fever. His serological test and pp65 antigen detection of cytomegalovirus were positive, suggesting acute infection. On the sixth day after his admission, the patient complained of acute, progressive abdominal pain. Abdominal computed tomography revealed acute superior mesenteric venous thrombosis. An emergency laparotomy showed diffuse edema and ischemic lesions of the small bowel and its associated mesentery with a 50-cm-long segmental infarction of the proximal jejunum. An extensive enterectomy of about 100 cm of jejunum that included the necrotic segment was performed, followed by an end-to-end anastomosis. Anti-coagulation therapy was administered pre-operatively in the form of small-fractionated heparin and continued postoperatively. The patient had an uneventful recovery and was discharged on the 11th postoperative day.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Acute cytomegalovirus infection can contribute to the occurrence of mesenteric venous thrombosis in immunocompetent patients. It is important for physicians and internists to be aware of the possible thrombotic complications of cytomegalovirus infection. A high level of clinical suspicion is essential to successfully treat a potentially lethal condition such as superior mesenteric venous thrombosis.</p

Διαφορές στη φρασεολογία της τζαζ κιθάρας ως αποτέλεσμα της χρήσης πεταλιών εφέ

Η τζαζ είναι μια μουσική που έχει κυρίαρχο χαρακτηριστικό της, τον αυτοσχεδιασμό. Ακόμη και σήμερα υπάρχουν πολλοί μουσικοί ανά τον κόσμο που ασχολούνται με τα διάφορα είδη της και στην πορεία του χρόνου έχει εξελιχθεί και προσαρμοστεί στις διάφορες εποχές. Ως φυσική συνέχεια λοιπόν, η τεχνολογία συνδέθηκε με διάφορα σύγχρονα είδη της τζαζ. Tα εφέ, όπως και διάφορες άλλες τεχνολογίες επεξεργασίας του ήχου, έγιναν αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι τους. Η εργασία αυτή έχει ως στόχο να ανακαλύψει τη σύνδεση του αυτοσχεδιασμού στη τζαζ μουσική με τη χρήση των εφέ, και πιο συγκεκριμένα, το εφέ του overdrive. Μέσα από την χαρτογράφηση και την ανάλυση συγκεκριμένων σόλο, προσπαθούμε να δούμε πως επηρεάζεται η δημιουργία ενός σόλο όταν αλλάζει ο ήχος με τον οποίο αυτοσχεδιάζει ο μουσικός. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, παρατηρούμε πώς αλλάζει το μέγεθος των μουσικών φράσεων, η συχνότητα της χρήσης των bent και ποιες είναι οι διαφορές στην τονική έκταση των σόλο, μετά την ενεργοποίηση του εφέ του overdrive. Στόχος της εργασίας είναι να μπορεί κάποιος να κατανοήσει τη χρήση των εφέ στη τζαζ μουσική, να αντλήσει υλικό προς μελέτη και φρασεολογία που θα ανταποκρίνεται στον ήχο τον οποίο θα επιλέξει να παίζει.The main characteristic of jazz music is improvisation. As musical form, jazz with a long history, has continued to transform itself over the years, so that becoming a multicultural kind of music combining diverse cultural and geographic characteristics. Therefore, it was more than expected technology as an achievement of contemporary civilization to start influencing modern jazz music shaping a different sound and style overtime. Effects and sound processing technology is an important example through which technology shaped the jazz music changing the way that is performed, composed and eventually heard and transmitted. The main aim of this thesis is to describe in detail how effects were gradually integrated in improvisation of Jazz by focusing especially on overdrive effect. By focusing on Jazz musicians that represent this modern stream a number of solos was selected and analyzed in order to understand how building a solo might be affected when the sound that the musician improvise on, changes. More specifically we observed through a large number of examples, how the length of the phrases changes, how often bent technique is used and which are the differences in tonic range that are caused when overdrive effect is applied. This thesis is an attempt to understand how diverse effects are integrated in jazz music, to describe the connection between phrasing and the corresponding sound that is used, but also to collect important knowledge us educational material for those who seek to evolve their improvisation technique

Implementation of classical and novel methodologies to control verticillium wilt of olive

Verticillium wilt is the most serious disease affecting olive in Mediterranean countries and California. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate methods to control the disease as well as to investigate the possible mechanisms of resistance of olive cultivars against against Verticillium dahliae. This research was focused on four basic directions: a) evaluation of resistance of potentially olive rootstocks against V. dahliae, b) resistance evaluation and differentiation of three famous Greek olive cultivars (cvs Amfissis, Kalamon, Koroneiki) against the defoliating and non defoliating V. dahliae pathotypes, c) biological control of Verticillium wilt of olive using the antagonistic agent Paenibacillus alvei K-165, d) investigation of the involvement of antifungul compounds in defence responses of olive cultivars to V. dahliae. Results suggest that two out of three rootstocks are resistant but not immune while the D. V. dahlia pathotype may be not a real threat for two important Greek olive cultivars. The strain K-165 was successfully controlled Verticillium wilt of olive in field experiment whereas changes of phenolic compounds in olive tissues as result of defence responses of the two cultivars. In vitro study revealed that verbascoside restricted the density of fungal growth of V. dahliae.Η βερτισιλλίωση αποτελεί τη σημαντικότερη ασθένεια της ελιάς στις χώρες της Μεσογείου και στην Καλιφόρνια. Στόχος της παρούσας εργασίας ήταν η αξιολόγηση μεθόδων οι οποίες συμβάλουν στην αντιμετώπιση της ασθένειας στην ελιά, καθώς και η διερεύνηση πιθανών μηχανισμών ανεκτικότητας. Η ερευνητική μελέτη βασίστηκε σε τέσσερις βασικές κατευθύνσεις: α) αξιολόγηση υποκειμένων ελιάς ως προς την αντοχή τους στο μύκητα Verticillium dahliae β) αξιολόγηση της ανθεκτικότητας και συγκριτική διαφοροποίηση τριών σημαντικών ποικιλιών ελιάς (Αμφίσσης, Καλαμών, Κορωνέικη) στην αποφυλλωτική και μη αποφυλλωτική φυλή του παθογόνου, γ) αξιολόγηση της ικανότητας του βακτηρίου Paenibacillus alvei Κ-165 να προστατεύει την ελιά από την ασθένεια και δ) διερεύνηση των πιθανών μηχανισμών ανθεκτικότητας ποικιλιών ελιάς στη βερτισιλλίωση. Από τα αποτελέσματα προέκυψε ότι υπάρχουν υποκείμενα με υψηλά επίπεδα ανεκτικότητας στην ασθένεια, ενώ η αποφυλλωτική φυλή πιθανόν να μην αποτελεί απειλή για δύο σημαντικές Ελληνικές ποικιλίες της χώρας μας. Ενθαρρυντικά φαίνεται να είναι τα αποτελέσματα για την αντιμετώπιση της βερτισιλλίωσης της ελιάς με το στέλεχος K-165, ενώ πέρα των μεταβολών των φαινολικών ενώσεων στους ιστούς της ελιάς, σημαντικό ρόλο στην εκδήλωση του φαινομένου της ανεκτικότητας φαίνεται να διαδραματίζει η ένωση verbascoside

The NADPH Oxidase A of Verticillium dahliae Is Essential for Pathogenicity, Normal Development, and Stress Tolerance, and It Interacts with Yap1 to Regulate Redox Homeostasis

Maintenance of redox homeostasis is vital for aerobic organisms and particularly relevant to plant pathogens. A balance is required between their endogenous ROS production, which is important for their development and pathogenicity, and host-derived oxidative stress. Endogenous ROS in fungi are generated by membrane-bound NADPH oxidase (NOX) complexes and the mitochondrial respiratory chain, while transcription factor Yap1 is a major regulator of the antioxidant response. Here, we investigated the roles of NoxA and Yap1 in fundamental biological processes of the important plant pathogen Verticillium dahliae. Deletion of noxA impaired growth and morphogenesis, compromised formation of hyphopodia, diminished penetration ability and pathogenicity, increased sensitivity against antifungal agents, and dysregulated expression of antioxidant genes. On the other hand, deletion of yap1 resulted in defects in conidial and microsclerotia formation, increased sensitivity against oxidative stress, and down-regulated antioxidant genes. Localized accumulation of ROS was observed before conidial fusion and during the heterokaryon incompatibility reaction upon nonself fusion. The frequency of inviable fusions was not affected by the deletion of Yap1. Analysis of a double knockout mutant revealed an epistatic relationship between noxA and yap1. Our results collectively reveal instrumental roles of NoxA and ROS homeostasis in the biology of V. dahliae