1976 Water Quality Hillsborough County, Florida

The Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Ac t charges the Environmental Prote ction Commission with the function of establishing, operating and maintaining a continuous program for monitoring water pollution. A county-wide water quality surveillance network has been designed to provide accurate data and information as t o whether the requirements of the Act are being complied with and whether the level of water pollution is increasing or decreasing throughout the county. This broad base of water data obtained during 1972-1976 provides useful background data for eventual development, revision and enforcement of regulations, standard effluent limitation plans, or programs established under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972

Tongue Reconstruction with Buccinator Myomucosal Island Flaps: Technical Considerations, Oncologic Safety, Functional Outcomes and QoL Assessment—A Retrospective Observational Study

The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of buccinator myomucosal island flaps for tongue reconstruction following malignant tumor resections. A retrospective study was performed on 52 patients who underwent tongue reconstructions with buccinator myomucosal island flaps between 2012 and 2020. We reviewed the flap type and size, harvesting time, recipient- and donor-site complications, postoperative oncologic outcomes, functional recovery and QoL assessment. All of the flaps were transposed successfully without any total flap loss. Neither in the primary site nor in the neck were cancer relapses observed. An evaluation of the sensitivity revealed that 96.1% of patients experienced a recovery of touch, two-point and pain sensations. There were significant differences between the flap and the native mucosa in terms of the tactile (p < 0.001), pain (p < 0.001) and two-point (p < 0.001) thresholds. The average swallowing score recorded was 6.1 out of 7, with only minor complaints. The quality of life assessments demonstrated high scores across physical (24.5 out of 28), social (25.8 out of 28), emotional (20.3 out of 24) and functional (25 out of 28) aspects. The present study showed how buccinator myomucosal island flaps represent an effective and functional tongue reconstructive option, requiring a short operative time with a low rate of donor site morbidity, and with evidence of long-term oncologic safety and high quality of life

Obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome: Relationship with obesity and management in obese patients

SUMMARY Obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) is a disease characterised by upper airway obstruction during sleep, quite frequent in the general population, even if underestimated. Snoring, sleep apnoea and diurnal hypersomnia are common in these patients. Central obesity plays a key role: it reduces the size and changes the conformation of the upper airways, besides preventing lung expansion, with consequent reduction of lung volumes. Furthermore, obese people are also resistant to leptin, which physiologically stimulates ventilation; as a result, this causes scarce awakening during apnoea. OSAHS diagnosis is based on the combination of clinical parameters, such as apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI), medical history, physical examination and Mallampati score. The first objective reference method to identify OSAHS is polysomnography followed by sleep endoscopy. Therapy provides in the first instance reduction of body weight, followed by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which still remains the treatment of choice in most patients, mandibular advancement devices (MAD) and finally otolaryngology or maxillofacial surgery. Among surgical techniques, central is barbed reposition pharyngoplasty (BRP), used in the field of multilevel surgery

Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) and HIPEC for Advanced Ovarian Cancer with Peritoneal Metastases: Italian PSM Oncoteam Evidence and Study Purposes

Ovarian cancer is the eighth most common neoplasm in women with a high mortality rate mainly due to a marked propensity for peritoneal spread directly at diagnosis, as well as tumor recurrence after radical surgical treatment. Treatments for peritoneal metastases have to be designed from a patient’s perspective and focus on meaningful measures of benefit. Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), a strategy combining maximal cytoreductive surgery with regional chemotherapy, has been proposed to treat advanced ovarian cancer. Preliminary results to date have shown promising results, with improved survival outcomes and tumor regression. As knowledge about the disease process increases, practice guidelines will continue to evolve. In this review, we have reported a broad overview of advanced ovarian cancer management, and an update of the current evidence. The future perspectives of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology (SICO) are discussed conclusively

Bronchoalveolar Lavage-microRNAs Are Potential Novel Biomarkers of Outcome after Lung Transplantation

Background. Primary graft dysfunction, infections, and acute rejection (AR) worsen lung transplantation (LTx) outcome and patient survival. Despite significant efforts, reliable biomarkers of acute lung allograft dysfunction are lacking. To address this issue, we profiled the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) miRNome in LTx patients. Methods. BAL-microRNAs (miRNAs) from 16 patients were collected 7 days (T0), 15 days (T1), and 3 months (T2) after bilateral LTx and profiled on low-density array. Unsupervised and supervised analyses were used to identify miRNAs associated with clinical features, pneumonia, or AR. Prognostic markers were identified using the Cox model. Targeted signaling pathways were predicted in silico. A second series of 11 patients were used to validate AR-associated miRNAs. Results. Variation in BAL-miRNAs was associated with acute lung allograft dysfunction. Increased levels of miR-23b-3p at T2 were detected in patients with pneumonia, whereas let-7f-5p, miR-146b-3p, miR-22-5p, miR-29c-5p, miR-362-5p, and miR-452-5p were upregulated at T2 in patients with AR. miR-148b-5p and miR-744-3p distinguished LTx patients with AR in both cohorts. Low miR-148b-5p and high miR-744-3p expression levels were significantly associated with a shorter time to AR either within the first year after LTx or during follow-up. Combination of the 2 miRNAs identified LTx patients with higher AR risk independently of clinical variables. Conclusions. Our data provide new insights into the roles of BAL-miRNAs in regulating the pulmonary environment after transplantation and suggest that these miRNAs could serve as biomarkers of early- or mid-stage events. If validated, these findings could pave the way to a personalized clinical approach in LTx patients

On the stability of standing waves of Klein-Gordon equations in a semiclassical regime

We investigate the orbital stability and instability of standing waves for two classes of Klein-Gordon equations in the semi-classical regime.Comment: 9 page