MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF 2-D STEADY SEEPAGE FLOW AND THE BEHAVIOR OF CONTAMINATES TRANSPORTATION THROUGH HOMOGENEOUS EARTH DAM USING COMSOL SOFTWARE

Seepage is a flow that happens through / under hydraulic structures or through the porous media such as in the case of earth dams from upstream to downstream due to difference in the hydraulic head. Study of seepage flow is important for hydraulic engineering. Before the structures being built, the behaviors of the seepage flows must be predicted because the seepage flow causes harmful to hydraulic structures. In this paper, a homogenous earth dam with sand material is proposed and constructed with horizontal bed filter at the Toe of the dam is taken as a case study. Through this Comsol is used to interpret the seepage of flow and contaminants transportation through the dam. The general objective of this paper is thus to present a prediction model aimed at quantifying a selected concentration of contaminants in the reservoir, and then predicted in the body of the dam, and at the exit from the dam. Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Module (Comsol version 4.2) with its sub-programs named (Free and Porous Media Flow and Species Transport through Porous Media) was used in the analysis and study the seepage flow and of the contaminants transportation. This software is based on the finite element techniques that were used for solving the governing equations of flow and transportation of contaminant through porous media. Also, it was used to determine the phreatic line, amount of seepage within the dam, the pressure head, the total head, and the amount of contaminates transported through the dam body. From the comsol software, it is deduced that when the water level is at the maximum height (20m), it needs 12 days and (18) hr, at normal height (15m) it needs 29 days, while at a minimum height (8 m) it needs 81 days to reach the drain zone

Efficacy and Safety of an Injectable Combination Hormonal Contraceptive for Men

CONTEXT: The development of a safe and effective reversible method of male contraception is still an unmet need. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of suppression of spermatogenesis and contraceptive protection by coadministered im injections of progestogen and testosterone. DESIGN: Prospective multicentre study. SETTING: Ten study centers. PARTICIPANTS: Healthy men, aged 18-45 years, and their 18- to 38-year-old female partners, both without known fertility problems. INTERVENTION: Intramuscular injections of 200-mg norethisterone enanthate combined with 1000-mg testosterone undecanoate, administered every 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Suppression of spermatogenesis by ejaculate analysis, contraceptive protection by pregnancy rate. RESULTS: Of the 320 participants, 95.9 of 100 continuing users (95% confidence interval [CI], 92.8-97.9) suppressed to a sperm concentration less than or equal to 1 million/mL within 24 weeks (Kaplan-Meier method). During the efficacy phase of up to 56 weeks, 4 pregnancies occurred among the partners of the 266 male participants, with the rate of 1.57 per 100 continuing users (95% CI, 0.59-4.14). The cumulative reversibility of suppression of spermatogenesis after 52 weeks of recovery was 94.8 per 100 continuing users (95% CI, 91.5-97.1). The most common adverse events were acne, injection site pain, increased libido, and mood disorders. Following the recommendation of an external safety review committee the recruitment and hormone injections were terminated early. CONCLUSIONS: The study regimen led to near-complete and reversible suppression of spermatogenesis. The contraceptive efficacy was relatively good compared with other reversible methods available for men. The frequencies of mild to moderate mood disorders were relatively high

A methodology to estimate the potential to move inpatient to one day surgery

BACKGROUND: The proportion of surgery performed as a day case varies greatly between countries. Low rates suggest a large growth potential in many countries. Measuring the potential development of one day surgery should be grounded on a comprehensive list of eligible procedures, based on a priori criteria, independent of local practices. We propose an algorithmic method, using only routinely available hospital data to identify surgical hospitalizations that could have been performed as one day treatment. METHODS: Moving inpatient surgery to one day surgery was considered feasible if at least one surgical intervention was eligible for one day surgery and if none of the following criteria were present: intervention or affection requiring an inpatient stay, patient transferred or died, and length of stay greater than four days. The eligibility of a procedure to be treated as a day case was mainly established on three a priori criteria: surgical access (endoscopic or not), the invasiveness of the procedure and the size of the operated organ. Few overrides of these criteria occurred when procedures were associated with risk of immediate complications, slow physiological recovery or pain treatment requiring hospital infrastructure. The algorithm was applied to a random sample of one million inpatient US stays and more than 600 thousand Swiss inpatient stays, in the year 2002. RESULTS: The validity of our method was demonstrated by the few discrepancies between the a priori criteria based list of eligible procedures, and a state list used for reimbursement purposes, the low proportion of hospitalizations eligible for one day care found in the US sample (4.9 versus 19.4% in the Swiss sample), and the distribution of the elective procedures found eligible in Swiss hospitals, well supported by the literature. There were large variations of the proportion of candidates for one day surgery among elective surgical hospitalizations between Swiss hospitals (3 to 45.3%). CONCLUSION: The proposed approach allows the monitoring of the proportion of inpatient stay candidates for one day surgery. It could be used for infrastructure planning, resources negotiation and the surveillance of appropriate resource utilization

Evaluation of 15 Functional Candidate Genes for Association with Chronic Otitis Media with Effusion and/or Recurrent Otitis Media (COME/ROM)

DNA sequence variants in genes involved in the innate immune response and secondary response to infection may confer susceptibility to chronic otitis media with effusion and/or recurrent otitis media (COME/ROM). We evaluated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 15 functional candidate genes. A total of 99 SNPs were successfully genotyped on the Sequenom platform in 142 families (618 subjects) from the Minnesota COME/ROM Family Study. Data were analyzed for association with COME/ROM using the Generalized Disequilibrium Test (GDT). Sex and age at exam were adjusted as covariates, relatedness was accounted for, and genotype differences from all phenotypically discordant relative pairs were utilized to measure the evidence of association between COME/ROM and each SNP. SNP rs2735733 in the region of the mucin 5, subtypes A/C gene (MUC5AC) exhibited nominal evidence for association with COME/ROM (P = 0.002). Two additional SNPs from this region had P values<0.05. Other variants exhibiting associations with COME/ROM at P<0.05 included the SCN1B SNP rs8100085 (P = 0.013), SFTPD SNP rs1051246 (P = 0.039) and TLR4 SNP rs2770146 (P = 0.038). However, none of these associations replicated in an independent sample of COME/ROM families. The candidate gene variants examined do not appear to make a major contribution to COME/ROM susceptibility, despite a priori evidence from functional or animal model studies for a role in COME/ROM pathology

Topical use of MMC in the upper aerodigestive tract: a review on the side effects

Not much is known about the side effects of mitomycin C (MMC), an anti-fibrogenetic agent, in the upper aerodigestive tract. However, its use in ophthalmology is widely known and without quantitatively important side effects. A literature review was performed for side effects of MMC in the upper aerodigestive tract. Forty-six articles, describing the use of MMC to prevent scarring, were retracted from PubMed. Thirty-two are human studies. MMC is used in different concentrations (0.1–10 mg/ml) with different application times (2–5 min) and frequencies (up to 4 times). Five hundred and thirty-eight patients were included in those publications, of whom 19 developed side effects (3.53%). No side effects developed in studies, where post-application irrigation with saline was reported. The longest mean follow-up period is 75.5 months. Direct relations between the reported side effects and MMC seem absent in most studies. Serious complications seem to occur when MMC is used in high concentrations. Unfortunately, sometimes crucial information is lacking. One patient was described who supposedly developed laryngeal carcinoma after repeated treatment of hyperkeratosis and anterior commissure webbing. Animal studies show that excessive fibrin production can lead to acute airway obstruction. In conclusion, topical application of MMC on a wound with consecutive irrigation with saline can be performed safely to prevent scar formation in circular structures of the upper aerodigestive tract. Long-term yearly control of the application site seems advisable

The Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory: A new instrument for assessing health-related benefit after an intervention

Most health-related quality-of-life measures make an assessment at a single point in time. Comparing results before and after an intervention is often difficult, because the difference measured is usually small compared with the variation between individuals. A retrospectively applied measure specifically worded to assess benefit would be very useful for clinical research. Such a measure exists for adults. We aimed to develop a similar measure for children. We chose potential items after reviewing existing health-related quality-of-life measures, published literature, and parental interviews. A draft questionnaire was given to a group of parents and modified. The resulting Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory (GCBI) comprised 24 questions on the consequences of a specified intervention on various aspects of the child's day-to-day life, without reference to any specific symptoms, and was worded to apply to children of any age. The questionnaire was mailed to the parents of all 1,777 children who had undergone tonsillectomy or ventilation tube insertion at one hospital during the period January 1998 to December 2001. There were 670 questionnaires returned. The GCBI scores correlated well with parental satisfaction with surgery and with estimates of technical success (residual sore throats, reported hearing impairment, ear infections). The questionnaire had high internal consistency. Factor analysis showed 4 dimensions in the pattern of responses relating to emotion, physical health, learning, and vitality. The GCBI is a means to retrospectively assess benefit after an intervention in children, and we have shown initial evidence of reliability and validity. Although not restricted to any branch of pediatric medicine, it is eminently suitable for use in pediatric otolaryngology. </jats:p