A case of bilateral self-induced keratoconus in a patient with tourette syndrome associated with compulsive eye rubbing: case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tourette syndrome is a neurologic disorder that is characterized by repetitive muscle contractions that produce stereotyped movements or sounds. Approximately 50% of individuals with TS also exhibit obsessive-compulsive behaviors including eye rubbing. We report a case of bilateral self-induced keratoconus in a patient with TS, associated with compulsive eye rubbing.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 35-year-old man was first seen in our clinic as an outpatient due to rapid deterioration of vision in his right eye associated with pain and tearing, over a period of one month. Slit lamp biomicroscopy of the right eye showed a central stromal scar due to corneal hydrops. Clinical examination and corneal topography of the left eye were normal. Six months later the patient developed corneal hydrops of his left eye. During the following examinations his vision continued to deteriorate in both eyes, while a central stromal scar was forming in his left cornea. Four years after the initial examination the patient's visual acuity was no light perception in the right eye and counting fingers at 33 cm in the left eye. His right eye was phthisic.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our patient developed a rapidly progressing bilateral corneal ectasia and phthisis of his right eye during a time period of 4 years. This unusual pattern suggests that the patient's compulsive behavior compromised both of his corneas and led to bilateral keratoconus.</p

Mediastinitis complicating a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: a case report

BACKGROUND: Since its introduction in the early 1980s, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy has become the most popular method for performing a gastrostomy for long-term enteral feeding. It has been associated, however, with a lot of minor and major complications. CASE PRESENTATION: A case of mediastinitis with concominant sepsis caused by a masked esophageal perforation after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in a multi-traumatized, brain-injured patient is presented. Ten – fourteen days after the procedure, the patient became febrile and gradually septic with tenderness of the sternum and upper abdomen. Computerized tomography of the thorax revealed mediastinitis. An urgent left thoracotomy and laparotomy were performed for drainage of the mediastinum, removal of the gastrostomy and insertion of a jejunostomy tube. The patient improved soon after the surgery. He was successfully weaned off the ventilator and was discharged from the Intensive Care Unit. CONCLUSION: Perforating mediastinitis is a rare but potentially lethal complication of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. When diagnosed and properly treated it may have a favourable outcome

Wholesale level demand for fish grades in Greece

Differential inverse systems are used in this paper to investigate the structure of wholesale level demand for fish grades in Greece. Model selection tests suggest that the inverse CBS performs better that the competing differential systems. Homo-theticity and separability tests indicate that the underlying distance function is homothetically separable in the medium- and the low-value species. The own-quantity flexibilties suggest that the response of prices to own-quantity changes are inelastic while the cross-quantity flexibilities indicate that the substitution possibilities among fish grades are rather limited.

Determination of benzothiazole in grapes and wines

Benzothiazole was measured in grapes from Muscat Lefko vines from the Isle of Samos and in Muscat d'Alexandrie vines from the Isle of Lemnos. Differences were noted in regard to altitude, soil composition and exposure, and in the corresponding wines. This compound was also determined in grapes of ten other white grapevines cultivated in Greece, and in their corresponding wines. The results show the presence of benzothiazole in all of the grapes examined, and that it might have been formed during the maturation of the grape. The levels of benzothiazole varied from 0.8 to 6.1 mug/l; this was always below the threshold of perception

Volatile compounds in grapes and wines from two Muscat varieties cultivated in Greek islands

The concentrations of free and glycosidically linked monoterpenes and volatile alcohols in grapes and wines from the cultivars Muscat lefko and Muscat of Alexandria, cultivated in the islands of Samos and Lemnos respectively, were determined. The relationship between free and linked monoterpenes in grapes and wines as well as the relationship between grapes and wines in their monoterpene content was investigated, showing some differences between the two cultivars and the different vineyards. It is also demonstrated that skin-contact for 8h at a temperature up to 15 °C, resulted in marked increases in the concentrations of free and linked monoterpenes in wines from both Muscat cultivars

Towards a Benchmark for ETL Workflows

Extraction–Transform–Load (ETL) processes comprise complex data workflows, which are responsible for the maintenance of a Data Warehouse. Their practical importance is denoted by the fact that a plethora of ETL tools currently constitutes a multi-million dollars market. However, each one of them follows a different design and modeling technique and internal language. So far, the research community has not agreed upon the basic characteristics of ETL tools. Hence, there is a necessity for a unified way to assess ETL workflows. In this paper, we investigate the main characteristics and peculiarities of ETL processes and we propose a principled organization of test suites for the problem of experimenting with ETL scenarios. 1