Low dose combined spinal and epidural anaesthesia in a parturient with severe mitral stenosis and severe pulmonary arterial hypertension for Caesarean section

We describe the anaesthetic management for an elective Caesarean section, of a parturient with severe mitral stenosis and severe pulmonary hypertension, using low dose of hyperbaric bupivacaine and for spinal block, supplemented with epidural lignocaine to achieve an adequate level. This patient was vulnerable to develop complications such as hypotension and tachycardia, should conventional regional anaesthesia be employed. This case reports highlights the haemodynamic stability using carefully titrated combined spinal-epidural anaesthesia in a patient with severe mitral stenosis

Mode Confinement in Photonic Quasi-Crystal Point-Defect Cavities for Particle Accelerators

In this Letter, we present a study of the confinement properties of point-defect resonators in finite-size photonic-bandgap structures composed of aperiodic arrangements of dielectric rods, with special emphasis on their use for the design of cavities for particle accelerators. Specifically, for representative geometries, we study the properties of the fundamental mode (as a function of the filling fraction, structure size, and losses) via 2-D and 3-D full-wave numerical simulations, as well as microwave measurements at room temperature. Results indicate that, for reduced-size structures, aperiodic geometries exhibit superior confinement properties by comparison with periodic ones.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letter

CLIMATOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE WIND IN PIEDMONT

The object of the following study is to individualize the common anemological features in the Piemonte region. The executed analysis avails itself of a multiannual sample of wind data (from 1990 to 2000) collected by 59 ARPA-Piemonte monitoring network. The wind statistical analyses have followed different phases: - analyses of wind frequency and wind directions and spotting of the anemological basins; - annual and monthly average of wind directions; - annual monthly and hourly average of the wind force with spotting of breezes; - analyses of daily and hourly wind calm; - analyses of the strongest windblasts with records of critical cases; - analyses of the number of days of föhn and types of weather (Borghi-Giuliacci method)

CLIMATOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE WIND IN PIEDMONT

The object of the following study is to individualize the common anemological features in the Piemonte region. The executed analysis avails itself of a multiannual sample of wind data (from 1990 to 2000) collected by 59 ARPA-Piemonte monitoring network. The wind statistical analyses have followed different phases: - analyses of wind frequency and wind directions and spotting of the anemological basins; - annual and monthly average of wind directions; - annual monthly and hourly average of the wind force with spotting of breezes; - analyses of daily and hourly wind calm; - analyses of the strongest windblasts with records of critical cases; - analyses of the number of days of föhn and types of weather (Borghi-Giuliacci method)

Relationship auditing of the FMA ontology

The Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) ontology is a domain reference ontology based on a disciplined modeling approach. Due to its large size, semantic complexity and manual data entry process, errors and inconsistencies are unavoidable and might remain within the FMA structure without detection. In this paper, we present computable methods to highlight candidate concepts for various relation- ship assignment errors. The process starts with locating structures formed by transitive structural relationships (part_of, tributary_of, branch_of) and examine their assignments in the context of the IS-A hierarchy. The algorithms were designed to detect five major categories of possible incorrect relationship assignments: circular, mutually exclusive, redundant, inconsistent, and missed entries. A domain expert reviewed samples of these presumptive errors to confirm the findings. Seven thousand and fifty-two presumptive errors were detected, the largest proportion related to part_of relationship assignments. The results highlight the fact that errors are unavoidable in complex ontologies and that well designed algorithms can help domain experts to focus on concepts with high likelihood of errors and maximize their effort to ensure consistency and reliability. In the future similar methods might be integrated with data entry processes to offer real-time error detection

Replacement of Maize/Soybean Meal Concentrate by High Moisture Maize Grain Plus Wholeseed Soybean Silage for Cattle

Ensiling high moisture maize grain with wholeseed soybean can increase quality of silage, mainly in relation to protein and energy (Jobim et al., 2002) working as concentrate. This fact contributes to reduced use of concentrate and costs for milk and beef production, and costs related to grain storage on the farms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritive value of high moisture maize grain plus wholeseed soybean silage through partial and total digestibility in cattle

Extraction efficiency of drifting electrons in a two-phase xenon time projection chamber

We present a measurement of the extraction efficiency of quasi-free electrons from the liquid into the gas phase in a two-phase xenon time-projection chamber. The measurements span a range of electric fields from 2.4 to 7.1 kV/cm in the liquid xenon, corresponding to 4.5 to 13.1 kV/cm in the gaseous xenon. Extraction efficiency continues to increase at the highest extraction fields, implying that additional charge signal may be attained in two-phase xenon detectors through careful high-voltage engineering of the gate-anode region