Seasonal and inter-annual temperature variability in the bottom waters over the western Black Sea shelf

Long-term changes in the state of the Bottom Shelf Water (BSW) on the Western shelf of the Black Sea are assessed using analysis of intra-seasonal and inter-annual temperature variations. For the purpose of this study the BSW is defined as such shelf water mass between the seabed and the upper mixed layer (bounded by the σθ = 14.2 isopycnal) which has limited ability to mix vertically with oxygen-rich surface waters during the warm season due to formation of a seasonal pycnocline. A long-term time series of temperature anomalies in the BSW is constructed from in-situ observations taken over the 2nd half of the 20th century. The BSW is shown to occupy nearly half of the shelf area during the summer stratification period (May–November).The results reveal a warm phase in the 1960s/70s, followed by a cold phase between 1985 and 1995 and a further warming after 1995. The transition between the warm and cold periods coincides with a regime shift in the Black Sea ecosystem. While it was confirmed that the memory of winter convection is well preserved over the following months in the deep sea, the signal of winter cooling in the BSW significantly reduces during the warm season. The potential of the BSW to ventilate horizontally during the warm season with the deep-sea waters is assessed using isopycnic analysis of temperature variations. It is shown that temperature in the BSW is stronger correlated with the temperature of Cold Intermediate Waters (CIW) in the deep sea than with the severity of the previous winters, thus indicating that the isopycnal exchanges with the deep sea are more important for inter-annual/inter-decadal variability of the BSW on the western Black Sea shelf than effects of winter convection on the shelf itself

Stimulation of microglial metabotropic glutamate receptor mGlu2 triggers tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced neurotoxicity in concert with microglial-derived fas ligand

Activated microglia may be detrimental to neuronal survival in a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, strategies that reduce microglial neurotoxicity may have therapeutic benefit. Stimulation of group II metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors on rat primary microglia with the specific group II agonist 2S, 2 ' R, 3 ' R- 2-(2 ', 3 '-dicarboxy-cyclopropyl) glycine for 24 h induced microglial activation and resulted in a neurotoxic microglial phenotype. These effects were attributable to preferential mGlu2 stimulation, because N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate, a specific mGlu3 agonist, did not induce microglial activation or neurotoxicity. Stimulation of microglial mGlu2 but not mGlu3 induced caspase-3 activation in cerebellar granule neurons in culture, using microglial-conditioned media as well as cocultures. Stimulation of microglial mGlu2 induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF alpha) release, which contributed to microglial neurotoxicity mediated via neuronal TNF receptor 1 and caspase-3 activation. Stimulation of microglial group I or III mGlu receptors did not induce TNF alpha release. TNF alpha was only neurotoxic in the presence of microglia or microglial-conditioned medium. The toxicity of TNF alpha could be prevented by coexposure of neurons to conditioned medium from microglia stimulated by the specific group III agonist L-2-amino-4-phosphono-butyric acid. The neurotoxicity of TNF alpha derived from mGlu2-stimulated microglia was potentiated by microglial-derived Fas ligand (FasL), the death receptor ligand. FasL was constitutively expressed in microglia and shed after mGlu2 stimulation. Our data suggest that selective and inverse modulation of microglial mGlu2 and mGlu3 may prove a therapeutic target in neuroinflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis

Total ruptures of the extensor apparatus of the knee

This was a retrospective case-control study on total ruptures of the extensor apparatus of the knee, aimed to compare patella fractures with tendinous ruptures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cúpulas Acetabulares De Dupla Mobilidade Em Artroplastias Primária E De Revisão Da Anca

As resseções peri-acetabulares e reconstrução subsequente estão entre os procedimentos mais desafiantes na Ortopedia Oncológica. Os autores apresentam 2 casos em que foram aplicadas endopróteses modulares tripolares de reconstrução peri-acetabular com pedestal do ilíaco e os seus resultados clínico-funcionais. Apresenta-se uma mulher de 70 anos com metastização óssea única ao nível do acetábulo esquerdo, com origem primária num tumor papilar do urotélio vesical de alto grau. Entretanto sofreu queda da própria altura, da qual resultou fratura-luxação central patológica da anca esquerda, com lesão lítica acetabular na zona de carga. Foi então submetida a cirurgia de resseção tumoral, com resseção total da zona II (peri-acetábulo) e resseção parcial da zona III (púbis) de Enneking. Aplicou-se uma prótese LUMiC® com pedestal no ilíaco, componente acetabular com rebordo anti-luxante e cúpula de dupla mobilidade. A nível femoral, foi aplicada uma haste de Wagner, com utilização de manga de Trevira para reinserções musculares. Apresenta-se uma jovem do sexo feminino de 26 anos referenciada ao nosso centro por cordoma coccígeo recidivado, com envolvimento de várias estruturas, entre as quais pilar posterior do acetábulo, vértebras sagradas, músculos pélvicos incluindo os glúteos e parede retal. Através de abordagem multi-disciplinar foi submetida a resseção tumoral, com necessidade de osteotomia superior a nível da 2ª vértebra sagrada e de resseção do canal anal e ânus, com realização da respetiva colostomia. Depois da remoção tumoral, foi realizada osteotomia da zona II do acetábulo e reconstrução com prótese de pedestal no ilíaco com componente acetabular com rebordo anti-luxante e cúpula de dupla mobilidade, com haste cimentada a nível femoral. Para encerramento posterior, foi realizada passagem transabdominal de retalho músculo-cutâneo do reto anterior do abdómen. O pós-operatório imediato de ambas as pacientes consistiu inicialmente em repouso no leito em decúbito dorsal, com almofada entre as pernas e tornozelos imobilizados, sendo apenas permitidas semi-lateralizações. Após 4 semanas, a primeira paciente iniciou levante com ortótese anti-abdutora da anca e às 16 semanas fazia marcha autónoma com apoio de canadianas. Na segunda paciente foi constatada uma dismetria de 3,5cm, pelo que foi necessária osteotomia femoral homolateral de encurtamento para correção. Teve episódios de deiscências de suturas e ao fim de 8 semanas foi realizada a osteotomia. Às 10 semanas iniciou levante e deambulação com andarilho/canadianas, sem queixas dolorosas relevantes. A resseção e reconstrução acetabular são das cirurgias mais desafiantes a nível da Ortopedia Oncológica. A anatomia complexa, dimensão tumoral e proximidade a estruturas neuro-vascular major leva a que muitas vezes seja difícil de conseguir margens de resseção adequadas. Em segundo lugar, a reconstrução de um membro funcional e indolor é cirurgicamente exigente devido à extensão da resseção e à biomecânica complexa a restaurar. Por outro lado, as reconstruções deste calibre estão associadas a risco elevado de infeção, chegando a 40% em alguns relatos. Os autores apresentam 2 casos clínicos em que a reconstrução peri-acetabular com recurso a endoprótese com pedestal no ilíaco permitiu excelentes resultados clínico-funcionais, apesar de extensa resseção (zonas II e III). Como complicações apenas se verificou dismetria acentuada do membro. Esta complicação foi verificada intra-operatoriamente, no entanto, preferiu-se garantir estabilidade da prótese a nível do ilíaco e posteriormente corrigir a dismetria. As reconstruções acetabulares são cirurgias complexas de elevado risco. O aparecimento de próteses de reconstrução acetabular para grandes defeitos ósseos pós-resseções tumorais, tais como as próteses modulares tripolares com pedestal no ilíaco, e a sua correta aplicação e indicação, permitem obter resultados promissores no tratamento e recuperação funcional capaz destes pacientes

Sports activity and hip, knee, shoulder and intervertebral disc arthroplasties

The success of joint replacement surgery has been responsible for raising patients' expectations regarding the procedure. Many of these procedures are currently designed not only to relive the pain caused by arthrosis, but also to enable patients to achieve functional recovery and to engage in some degree of physical activity and sports. However, as physical exercise causes an increase in forces exercised through the articular prosthesis, it can be an important risk factor for its early failure. Scientific literature on sports after arthroplasty is limited to small-scale retrospective studies with short-term follow-up, which are mostly insufficient to evaluate articular prosthesis durability. This article presents a review of the literature on sports in the context of hip, knee, shoulder and intervertebral disc arthroplasty, and puts forward general recommendations based on the current scientific evidence. Systematic Review, Level of Evidence III.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dust penetrated morphology in the high redshift Universe

Images from the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) North and South show a large percentage of dusty, high redshift galaxies whose appearance falls outside traditional classification systems. The nature of these objects is not yet fully understood. Since the HDF preferentially samples restframe UV light, HDF morphologies are not dust or `mask' penetrated. The appearance of high redshift galaxies at near-infrared restframes remains a challenge for the New Millennium. The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) could routinely provide us with such images. In this contribution, we quantitatively determine the dust-penetrated structures of high redshift galaxies such as NGC 922 in their near-infrared restframes. We show that such optically peculiar objects may readily be classified using the dust penetrated z ~ 0 templates of Block and Puerari (1999) and Buta and Block (2001).Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Presented at the conference "The Link between Stars and Cosmology", 26-30 March, 2001, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. To be published by Kluwer, eds. M. Chavez, A. Bressan, A. Buzzoni, and D. Mayya. High-resolution version of Figure 2 can be found at http://www.inaoep.mx/~puerari/conf_puertovallart

Ultra-high material-quality silicon pillars on glass

We investigated a unique crystalline silicon structure-silicon pillars-formed by melt crystallization using millisecond-long single-pulse pulses of 110-GHz radiation of amorphous Si thin films deposited on glass by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. With many microscopy techniques, we found that these pillars usually contain 1-4 randomly oriented grains with growth direction and grain boundaries perpendicular to the substrate surface. The grains in the Si pillars have ultra-high crystalline quality with grain sizes up to 20 m. We attribute the formation mechanism of the Si pillars to the extremely high heating/cooling rates of Si on a glass substrate using millimeter-wave radiation and the important roles played by wetting and capping layers during the annealing process. Such understandings may enable us to prepare ultra-high-quality, large-grained poly-Si on inexpensive foreign substrates at large scale and low cost. © 2010 IEEE.published_or_final_versionThe 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 2010), Honolulu, HI., 20-25 June 2010. In Proceedings of 35th PVSC, 2010, p. 002176-00217

Next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs boson production in association with a photon via weak-boson fusion at the LHC

Higgs boson production in association with a hard central photon and two forward tagging jets is expected to provide valuable information on Higgs boson couplings in a range where it is difficult to disentangle weak-boson fusion processes from large QCD backgrounds. We present next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs production in association with a photon via weak-boson fusion at a hadron collider in the form of a flexible parton-level Monte Carlo program. The QCD corrections to integrated cross sections are found to be small for experimentally relevant selection cuts, while the shape of kinematic distributions can be distorted by up to 20% in some regions of phase space. Residual scale uncertainties at next-to-leading order are at the few-percent level.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Roll-out of Medical Male circumcision (MMC) for HIV prevention in non-circumcising communities of Northern Uganda

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that circumcision reduces HIV/AIDS infection rates by 60% among heterosexual African men. Public health officials are arguing that circumcision of men should be a key weapon in the fight of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Experts estimate that more than 3 million lives could be saved in sub-Saharan Africa alone if the procedure becomes widely used. Some communities in Uganda have misconceptions to MMC and resist the practice. Methods: To roll out MMC to a non-circumcising population of Northern Uganda from June 2011 as a strategy to increase access and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Results: Circumcision in a non-circumcising communities of Lango and Acholi sub-regions with a population of about 0.5 million mature males 15-49 years. Enrolment was voluntary, clinical officers, nurses carried out MMC after training in the surgical procedure. Mass sensitization and mobilization was conducted through radios, community leaderships and spouses. Cervical cancer screening was incorporated at circumcision sites and used as incentive for the women. Circumcisions were conducted at static sites, camps and outreach services where VCT and adverse events (AEs) were recorded and managed. All clients assented/or consented. Conclusion: A total of 26, 150 males were circumcised in eight months. The AEs rate was 1.2 % and was mild. 2,650 women were screened for cervical cancer and positive test rate was 1.7%. Mobilization and sensitization were by radios and spouses' involvement in cervical cancer screening exercise.Key words: Medical Male circumcision, Northern Uganda, scale-up of services, non-circumcising communitie