Complex Multimodality Central Airway Management of Aspergillus Pseudomembranous Tracheobronchitis

A 69-year-old woman developed central airway obstruction due to invasive Aspergillus infection resulting in pseudomembranous tracheobronchitis (PTB). Several challenges were encountered in the airway management of this patient including her having relatively smaller airways which were more prone to obstruction by pseudomembranes and made airway interventions difficult. The patient had clinical deterioration in spite of antifungal therapy and bronchoscopic debridement. The multimodality airway techniques included the use of smaller biliary balloons for dilatation, using a hybrid stent to slowly dilate and maintain patency of right main stem and finally the insertion of right secondary carina peripheral Y stent, which resulted in clinical improvement and allowed time for antifungal therapy to take effect. To the best of our knowledge, the use of a peripheral Y stent has never been described in the setting of PTB

Integrated RF MEMS/CMOS Devices

A maskless post-processing technique for CMOS chips is developed that enables the fabrication of RF MEMS parallel-plate capacitors with a high quality factor and a very compact size. Simulations and measured results are presented for several MEMS/CMOS capacitors. A 2-pole coupled line tunable bandpass filter with a center frequency of 9.5 GHz is designed, fabricated and tested. A tuning range of 17% is achieved using integrated variable MEMS/CMOS capacitors with a quality factor exceeding 20. The tunable filter occupies a chip area of 1.2 x 2.1 mm2.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

Immunohistochemical analysis of expression and allelotype of mismatch repair genes (hMLH1 and hMSH2) in bladder cancer

Mutation of human homologues of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes in tumours has been shown to be associated with the phenomenon of microsatellite instability (MSI). Several studies have reported the occurrence of MSI in bladder cancer, but evidence of involvement of MMR genes in the pathogenesis of this cancer is still unclear. We therefore utilized quantitative immunohistochemical (IHC) image analysis and PCR-based allelotype analysis to determine hMLH1 and hMSH2 genes alteration in a cohort of Egyptian bladder cancer samples. IHC analysis of 24 TCC and 12 SCC revealed marked- intra and intertumour heterogeneity in the levels of expression of the two MMR proteins. One TCC lost MLH1 expression and one lost MSH2, (1/24, 4%), and one SCC lost MSH2 (1/12, 8%). A large proportion of analysed tumours revealed a percentage positivity of less than 50% for MLH1 and MSH2 expression (44% and 69%, respectively). Complete loss of heterozygosity in three dinucleotide repeats lying within, or in close proximity to, hMLH1 and hMSH2 was rare (2/57, (4%) for MLH1; and 1/55, (2%) for MSH2), however allelic imbalance was detected in 11/57 (hMLH1) and 10/55 (hMSH2) at any of the informative microsatellite loci. These alterations in structure and expression of DNA MMR genes suggest their possible involvement in the tumorigenesis and/or progression of bladder cancer. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Some microbial treatments against the tomato leaf miner; Tuta absoluta (Merick) under natural field conditions

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Effect of Vermicompost Supplemented by Foliar Application of Silicate on Marjoram Plants Grown in Saline Soil

This study aimed to reduce the negative effects of soil salinity on marjoram plants by adding vermicompost to the saline soil complemented by foliar application of silicate (Si+2) to their leaves. To achieve this purpose in field, the experiment was arranged as a factorial experiment. (Two way) Based on randomized complete block design with four replications. The first factor was vermicompost which was added at four rates (0, 3, 4 and 5 ton fed-1). The second factor was silicon which was used at four rates (0, 2.5, 3.75 and 5 mM). Results revealed that the single application of either vermicompost or silicon reduced Na and proline concentration in plant shoot and enhanced plant growth, nutrient content, carbohydrate percentage and essential oil yield in plant shoots. This increase remained constant and not correlated with the rates of application. The combined application of vermicompost and foliar spraying of silicon resulted in noticeable increase in plant growth, nutrient content (N, P, K and Ca), carbohydrate percentage and essential oil yield in marjoram plants; the highest values of all parameters were recorded by using vermicompost at rate 3 or 4-ton fed-1 coupled with spraying 3.75 mM of silicon solution on plant leaves. These results proved that amendment of saline soil by adding vermicompost and spraying silicon solution on plant leaves directly is a good strategy for the reclamation of saline soil and mitigation of salt stress within plant tissues. 

Coronary artery disease associated with severe mitral and tricuspid valve regurgitation after left Pneumonectomy: report of a successful hybrid procedure

The literature concerning heart surgery after pneumonectomy is still poor. Moreover, there is still a lack of a standardized approach to such a patient in the decision-making process. Here, we report a case of a patient who had previously had left pneumonectomy for malignancy and who had coronary artery disease and mitral and tricuspid regurgitation treated with a hybrid procedure

Assessing the in vivo biocompatibility of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles

Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs) are high affinity synthetic receptors which show promise as imaging and therapeutic agents. Comprehensive analysis of the in vivo behaviour of nanoMIPs must be performed before they can be considered for clinical applications. This work reports the solid-phase synthesis of nanoMIPs and an investigation of their biodistribution, clearance and cytotoxicity in a rat model following both intravenous and oral administration. These nanoMIPs were found in each harvested tissue type, including brain tissue, implying their ability to cross the blood brain barrier. The nanoMIPs were cleared from the body via both faeces and urine. Furthermore, we describe an immunogenicity study in mice, demonstrating that nanoMIPs specific for a cell surface protein showed moderate adjuvant properties, whilst those imprinted for a scrambled peptide showed no such behaviour. Given their ability to access all tissue types and their relatively low cytotoxicity, these results pave the way for in vivo applications of nanoMIPs