Temperature and salinity variability in the Greek Seas based on POSEIDON stations time series: preliminary results

Temperature and salinity time series provided by three POSEIDON monitoring stations (buoys) are examined in order to study the seasonal and interannual variability of the water mass characteristics. The sites at Athos (North Aegean Sea), E1M3A (Central Cretan Sea) and Pylos (Eastern Ionian Sea) were chosen, as these buoys provide measurements at various depths, while they represent 3 major basins respectively. The study of the T and S characteristics reveals important seasonal changes and highlights the particular characteristics of each basin. Dense water production in the Northern Aegean is found to be hindered by the presence of the surface Black Sea Water (BSW) mass. On the other hand, the intermediate water mass in the Cretan Sea is shown to be ventilated during the winter season. A significant temperature and salinity increase has been monitored over both the Central Cretan and Eastern Ionian Seas starting from the middle of 2008 and 2009 respectively. This could possibly be attributed to changes in the intermediate water masses of the Eastern Mediterranean, without ruling out the possibility of water mass exchanges between the two basins

Early pyloric stenosis: a case control study

Pyloric stenosis (PS) is rare in the first 2 weeks of life, often leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment. We conducted a case control study to delineate the characteristics of patients with early PS (EPS). In addition, we tested the hypothesis that patients with EPS present with a smaller pylorus than older patients. A database of all patients presenting with PS to a children’s hospital over a 5-year period (2002–2006) was obtained. Each patient admitted during the first 2 weeks of life (subject) was matched to a patient admitted after 4 weeks of age (control), with the same gender, electrolyte status, and treating surgeon. A single pediatric radiologist, blinded to patient age, reviewed all available ultrasounds retrospectively. Demographic, clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and outcome data were compared. During the study period, 278 pyloromyotomies were performed for PS. Sixteen patients (5.8%) presented with EPS between 2 and 14 days of life. EPS patients had a higher prevalence of positive family history (31 vs. 0%, P = 0.043), and breast milk feeding (75 vs. 31%, P = 0.045). Sonographic measurements showed a pylorus that was of significantly less length (17.1 ± 0.6 vs. 20.5 ± 0.9 mm, P = 0.006) and muscle thickness (3.5 ± 0.2 vs. 4.9 ± 0.2 mm, P < 0.001) in patients with EPS. Hospital stay was significantly longer for EPS patients (4.3 ± 0.9 vs. 2.0 ± 0.1 days, P = 0.19) Babies presenting with EPS are more likely to be breast fed and to have a positive family history. EPS is associated with a longer hospital stay. Use of sonographic diagnostic measurements specific to this age group may prevent delays in diagnosis and treatment, and improve outcomes

Infantile Perianal Pyramidal Protrusion: A Report of 8 New Cases and a Review of the Literature

Infantile perianal pyramidal protrusion (IPPP) is characterized by a protrusion located most often anterior to the anus. Three types of IPPPs are recognized: (a) constitutional, (b) acquired (mainly due to constipation), and (c) IPPPs due to lichen sclerosus et atrophicus. The aim of this study was to make a brief review on IPPPs from articles retrieved from PubMed, and to present our experience in this field. We conclude that awareness of pediatric surgeons and pediatricians of the condition is essential for the correct diagnosis of IPPP, and could help to avoid erroneous investigation of other lesions in this area

A regression analysis of the carbon footprint of megacities

Urbanization and climate change are two major issues that humanity faces in the 21st century. Megacities are large urban agglomerations with more than 10 million inhabitants that emerged in the 20th century. The world’s top 100 economies include many North and South Amer-ican megacities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires; European cities such as London and Paris; and Asian cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Beijing and Mumbai. This paper addresses a dearth of megacity energy metabolism models in the literature. Cross-sectional data for 36 global megacities were collected from many literature and Internet sources. Variables included megacity name, country and region; population; area; population den-sity; (per capita) GDP; income inequality measures; (per capita) energy consumption; household electricity prices; (per capita) carbon and ecological footprint; degree days; average urban heat island intensity; and temperature and precipitation. A descriptive comparison of the characteristics of megacities was followed by ordinary least squares with heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors that were used to estimate four alternative multiple regression models. The per-capita carbon footprint of megacities was positively associated with the megacity GDP per capita, and the megacity ecological footprint; and negatively associated with country income inequality, a low-income country dummy, the country household electricity price, and the megacity annual precipitation. Tar-geted policies are needed, but more policy autonomy should be left to megacities. Collecting longi-tudinal data for megacities is very challenging but should be a next step to overcome misspecifica-tion and bias issues that plague cross-sectional approaches. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Comparison of erythropoietin and sildenafil protective role against ischemia/reperfusion injury of the testis in adult rats

Purpose: Tissue damage in testicular torsion/detorsion is caused not only by the ischemia, but also by the ischemia/reperfusion injury after detorsion. Erythropoietin and sildenafil are considered to protect against ischemia/reperfusion injury. Here, we studied and compared their actions in testicular torsion/detorsion in adult rats. Methods: Twenty-two adult male Wistar Albino rats were divided into four groups. Rats in group A (n = 5) were sham operated. Rats in group B (n = 5), group C (n = 6) and group D (n = 6) underwent torsion of the right testis and detorsion after 90 min. No pharmaceutical intervention was performed in group B. Erythropoietin (1,000 IU/kg) and sildenafil (0.7 mg/kg) were injected intraperitoneally in groups C and D, respectively, after 60 min of torsion. All animals were killed 24 h after detorsion, and their right testis was extracted, placed into 10 % formalin solution and sent for histopathological examination. The histological changes in the testes were scored according to the four-point grading system proposed by Cosentino et al. Results: All rats in group A had normal testicular architecture (grade 1). The untreated group B had a mean grade of 3.81 (range 3.65-4). The treated groups C (mean grade 3.24; range 3.05-3.45) and D (2.69, range 2.4-2.9) presented statistically significant better results (lower grades) compared with the untreated group B. Group D had significantly better results (lower grades) than group C. Conclusions: The intraperitoneal injection of erythropoietin and sildenafil protects against ischemia/reperfusion injury after testicular torsion and detorsion. Sildenafil may have a stronger action than erythropoietin at the doses used in this study. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht