Effect of biochars pyrolyzed in N2 and CO2, and feedstock on microbial community in metal(loid)s contaminated soils

Little is known about the effects of applying amendments on soil for immobilizing metal(loid)s on the soil microbial community. Alterations in the microbial community were examined after incubation of treated contaminated soils. One soil was contaminated with Pb and As, a second soil with Cd and Zn. Red pepper stalk (RPS) and biochars produced from RPS in either N2 atmosphere (RPSN) or CO2 atmosphere (RPSC) were applied at a rate of 2.5% to the two soils and incubated for 30 days. Bacterial communities of control and treated soils were characterized by sequencing 16S rRNA genes using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing. In both soils, bacterial richness increased in the amended soils, though somewhat differently between the treatments. Evenness values decreased significantly, and the final overall diversities were reduced. The neutralization of pH, reduced available concentrations of Pb or Cd, and supplementation of available carbon and surface area could be possible factors affecting the community changes. Biochar amendments caused the soil bacterial communities to become more similar than those in the not amended soils. The bacterial community structures at the phylum and genus levels showed that amendment addition might restore the normal bacterial community of soils, and cause soil bacterial communities in contaminated soils to normalize and stabilize

Post-radiation Piriformis Syndrome in a Cervical Cancer Patient -A Case Report-

The piriformis syndrome is a condition allegedly attributable to compression of the sciatic nerve by the piriformis muscle. Recently, magnetic resonance neurography and electrophysiologic study have helped to diagnose piriformis syndrome. High dose radiotherapy could induce acute and delayed muscle damage. We had experienced piriformis syndrome with fatty atrophy of piriformis muscle after radiotherapy for recurrent cervical cancer

An Arrhythmia Classification-Guided Segmentation Model for Electrocardiogram Delineation

Accurate delineation of key waveforms in an ECG is a critical initial step in extracting relevant features to support the diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions. Although deep learning based methods using a segmentation model to locate P, QRS and T waves have shown promising results, their ability to handle signals exhibiting arrhythmia remains unclear. In this study, we propose a novel approach that leverages a deep learning model to accurately delineate signals with a wide range of arrhythmia. Our approach involves training a segmentation model using a hybrid loss function that combines segmentation with the task of arrhythmia classification. In addition, we use a diverse training set containing various arrhythmia types, enabling our model to handle a wide range of challenging cases. Experimental results show that our model accurately delineates signals with a broad range of abnormal rhythm types, and the combined training with classification guidance can effectively reduce false positive P wave predictions, particularly during atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter. Furthermore, our proposed method shows competitive performance with previous delineation algorithms on the Lobachevsky University Database (LUDB)

Engineering PSU\u27s Future: An Interview with Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi

PSU’s ninth president, Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi (pronounced Shoe-re-she) is an experienced administrator and innovative academic who considers his work with students his greatest accomplishment. Shoureshi is a mechanical engineer who earned a master’s degree and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shoureshi says PSU’s commitment to diversity, civic engagement and innovation persuaded him to join the university

Factors Affecting Willingness to Undergo Carpal Tunnel Release

Background: Factors regarding patient willingness to undergo or avoid joint replacement have been studied; however, these factors have not been studied in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. To further understand the aspects that are important for a patient with carpal tunnel syndrome in deciding whether to have surgery, we identified factors that affect this decision in women and that are not related to Workers` Compensation status. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 282 female patients with electrophysiologically confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome without a known cause who were recommended for carpal tunnel release by a single hand surgeon in a tertiary medical setting. Of those, thirty-six female patients who were not entitled to Workers` Compensation canceled the operation during the waiting period, which averaged four weeks. Thirty-three of them were surveyed with a questionnaire sent by mail, and eighteen completed surveys were reviewed at a mean follow-up of thirty-two months. Furthermore, seventy female patients who underwent carpal tunnel release were randomly sampled, and thirty-eight patients completed the survey. The operation and cancellation groups were compared with regard to the reasons for choosing or canceling surgery. Results: The groups were similar with regard to age, sociodemographic variables, follow-up length, initial electro-physiological findings, and functional status. The highest-ranked reason for choosing surgery was symptom severity rather than fear of progression or a positive electrodiagnostic result. Those who canceled the operation rated symptom improvement during the waiting period as the leading reason for doing so, but they were also concerned about transient weakness, the financial burden, and a scar or pillar pain. Disease persistence or recurrence was the issue of most concern in both groups. At the time of the final review, the functional status was significantly improved in both groups and no significant difference between the groups was detected. Conclusions: Women with carpal tunnel syndrome report that subjective symptom severity is the most important reason for undergoing surgery. Understanding this and other patient concerns may help physicians during patient-oriented consultation and decision-making. In particular, recommendations for carpal tunnel release on the basis of symptoms are reasonable from the perspective of the patient who has carpal tunnel syndrome without a known cause.Lee JY, 2008, J SHOULDER ELB SURG, V17, P570, DOI 10.1016/j.jse.2007.12.005Hudak PL, 2008, J BONE JOINT SURG AM, V90A, P1427, DOI 10.2106/JBJS.G.01077Park KK, 2007, CLIN ORTHOP RELAT R, P143, DOI 10.1097/BLO.0b013e31804ea0bcTaylor-Gjevre RM, 2007, CAN FAM PHYSICIAN, V53, P1186Rigler I, 2007, EUR J NEUROL, V14, P783, DOI 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2007.01855.xBallantyne PJ, 2007, ARTHRIT RHEUM-ARTHR, V57, P27, DOI 10.1002/art.22472*AAOS CARP TUNN SY, 2007, AM AC ORTH SURG GUIDSCHOLTEN RJ, 2007, COCHRANE DB SYST REV, V17, P3905Hawker GA, 2006, CURR OPIN RHEUMATOL, V18, P526Mazur DJ, 2005, HEALTH EXPECT, V8, P97FIGARO MK, 2005, J AMBUL CARE MANAGE, V28, P41Hawker GA, 2004, ARTHRIT RHEUM-ARTHR, V51, P635, DOI 10.1002/art.20524Figaro MK, 2004, HEALTH PSYCHOL, V23, P324, DOI 10.1037/0278-6133.23.3.324Chang HJ, 2004, ARTHRIT RHEUM-ARTHR, V51, P117, DOI 10.1002/art.20073AKELMAN E, 2004, HAND SURG, P867Moran M, 2003, J ARTHROPLASTY, V18, P442, DOI 10.1016/S0883-5403(03)00061-5RESENDE LA, 2003, ELECTROMYOGR CLIN NE, V43, P301Ang DC, 2002, MED CARE, V40, P471Hawker GA, 2001, MED CARE, V39, P206Bland JDP, 2000, MUSCLE NERVE, V23, P1280Trousdale RT, 1999, MAYO CLIN PROC, V74, P978Atroshi I, 1999, JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC, V282, P153Homan MM, 1999, SCAND J WORK ENV HEA, V25, P115Padua L, 1998, ITAL J NEUROL SCI, V19, P357Aulisa L, 1998, J HAND SURG-AM, V23A, P687Nathan PA, 1998, MUSCLE NERVE, V21, P711Concannon MJ, 1997, PLAST RECONSTR SURG, V100, P1452Asch DA, 1997, J CLIN EPIDEMIOL, V50, P1129Hudak PL, 1996, AM J IND MED, V30, P372Deber RB, 1996, ARCH INTERN MED, V156, P1414Hudak PL, 1996, AM J IND MED, V29, P602WRIGHT JG, 1994, J BONE JOINT SURG BR, V76B, P229LEVINE DW, 1993, J BONE JOINT SURG AM, V75A, P1585SIMINOFF LA, 1991, SOC SCI MED, V32, P813GRUNDBERG AB, 1983, J HAND SURG-AM, V8, P348

Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Surgeries: A Single-Center Experience of 171 Consecutive Cases

PURPOSE: We report our experience to date with 171 patients who underwent laparoendoscopic single-site surgery for diverse urologic diseases in a single institution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between December 2008 and August 2010, we performed 171 consecutive laparoendoscopic single-site surgeries. These included simple nephrectomy (n=18; robotic surgeries, n=1), radical nephrectomy (n=26; robotic surgeries, n=2), partial nephrectomy (n=59; robotic surgeries, n=56), nephroureterectomy (n=20; robotic surgeries, n=12), pyeloplasty (n=4), renal cyst decortications (n=22), adrenalectomy (n=4; robotic surgeries, n=2), ureterolithotomy (n=10), partial cystectomy (n=3), ureterectomy (n=1), urachal mass excision (n=1), orchiectomy (n=1), seminal vesiculectomy (n=1), and retroperitoneal mass excision (n=1). All procedures were performed by use of a homemade single-port device with a wound retractor and surgical gloves. A prospective study was performed to evaluate outcomes in 171 cases. RESULTS: Of the 171 patients, 98 underwent conventional laparoendoscopic single-site surgery and 73 underwent robotic laparoendoscopic single-site surgery. Mean patient age was 53 years, mean operative time was 190.8 minutes, and mean estimated blood loss was 204 ml. Intraoperative complications occurred in seven cases (4.1%), and postoperative complications in nine cases (5.3%). There were no complications classified as Grade IIIb or higher (Clavien-Dindo classification for surgical complications). Conversion to mini-incision open surgery occurred in seven (4.1%) cases. Regarding oncologic outcomes, no cancer-related events occurred during follow-up other than one aggressive progression of Ewing sarcoma. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery is technically feasible and safe for various urologic diseases; however, surgical experience and long-term follow-up are needed to test the superiority of laparoendoscopic single-site surgeryope

Transparent Fingerprint Sensor System for Large Flat Panel Display

In this paper, we introduce a transparent fingerprint sensing system using a thin film transistor (TFT) sensor panel, based on a self-capacitive sensing scheme. An armorphousindium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFT sensor array and associated custom Read-Out IC (ROIC) are implemented for the system. The sensor panel has a 200 ?? 200 pixel array and each pixel size is as small as 50 ??m ?? 50 ??m. The ROIC uses only eight analog front-end (AFE) amplifier stages along with a successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC). To get the fingerprint image data from the sensor array, the ROIC senses a capacitance, which is formed by a cover glass material between a human finger and an electrode of each pixel of the sensor array. Three methods are reviewed for estimating the self-capacitance. The measurement result demonstrates that the transparent fingerprint sensor system has an ability to differentiate a human finger???s ridges and valleys through the fingerprint sensor array