Massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding from idiopathic ileocolonic varix: report of a case

Dis Colon Rectum. 2006 Apr;49(4):524-6. Massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding from idiopathic ileocolonic varix: report of a case. Lopes LM, Ramada JM, Certo MG, Pereira PR, Soares JM, Ribeiro M, Areias J, Pinho C. SourceGastroenterology Department, Hospital Geral Santo António, Porto, Portugal. [email protected] Abstract Idiopathic varices of the entire colon are very rare. We report on a 64-year-old patient with massive lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage from an extensive ileocolonic varix. Diagnosis was established by colonoscopy. The patient underwent an emergency ileocolectomy with satisfactory results. This rare case shows the importance of colonoscopy in the evaluation of patients with lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage and reminds us that sometimes the diagnosis is not what we expect. Recognition of this abnormality is important because varices may be the cause of massive lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage. PMID: 16395635 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Quinze anos de monitorização das comunidades biológicas do estuário do Tejo no âmbito da construção e funcionamento das ETARs do Portinho da Costa e da Mutela (Concelho de Almada): Experiência adquirida e ensinamentos para futuros casos semelhantes.

Desde 2001 que a Câmara Municipal de Almada tem vindo a promover, em colaboração com o MARE, a monitorização ambiental das regiões estuarinas sob influência das ETARs do Portinho da Costa e da Mutela, que vieram substituir efluentes não tratados emitidos sensivelmente nas mesmas regiões. O objetivo deste programa de monitorização consiste em avaliar as principais alterações ocorridas (na maioria dos casos positivas) nos ecossistemas estuarinos dos vários locais, após a entrada em funcionamento de ambas as infraestruturas. Estes 15 anos de estudos das comunidades bentónicas e de peixes locais têm permitido identificar variações nos padrões espácio-temporais destes compartimentos biológicos e identificar quais dessas evoluções podem ser presumivelmente relacionáveis com o funcionamento das infraestruturas e quais derivam provavelmente de flutuações naturais. Nesta comunicação são enunciados os pressupostos do estudo, descritos os delineamentos experimentais e metodologias de tratamento dos dados adotados, apresentados os principais resultados obtidos e discutidas as grandes dificuldades sentidas para cumprir os objetivos estabelecidos. Este conjunto de elementos será analisado numa perspetiva de como a experiência adquirida pode ser útil, no futuro, para casos semelhantes, sobretudo numa ótica da correta identificação dos verdadeiros efeitos infraestruturais e de despiste da influência de outros fatores concorrentes

Productive traits and nutritional value of Urochloa ruziziensis submitted to different planting densities and defoliation intensities

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the forage mass and accumulation and nutritional value of cultivars Kennedy and BRS Integra (Urochloa ruziziensis), subjected to two planting densities (15 and 30 plants/m2) and three stubble height (15, 30 and 40 cm). The experimental design was a randomized block, in a 2x2x3 factorial, with three replications. The experimental period comprised two agrostological years. Plants managed under lower stubble height (15cm), showed lower leaf:stem ratio and higher canopy heights at harvest, based on the light interception of 95%. The highest forage mass was observed to cultivar BRS Integra under lower planting density (15 plants/m2). The two cultivars showed high nutritive value, without influence of studied factors. In general, the cultivars were similar for most variables studied. Planting with 15 plants/m2 and moderate defoliation (30cm residue) resulted in higher forage accumulation, especially in the second year after planting. These targets are suggested for the management of U. ruziziensis cultivars

Automated final lesion segmentation in posterior circulation acute ischemic stroke using deep learning

Final lesion volume (FLV) is a surrogate outcome measure in anterior circulation stroke (ACS). In posterior circulation stroke (PCS), this relation is plausibly understudied due to a lack of methods that automatically quantify FLV. The applicability of deep learning approaches to PCS is limited due to its lower incidence compared to ACS. We evaluated strategies to develop a convolutional neural network (CNN) for PCS lesion segmentation by using image data from both ACS and PCS patients. We included follow-up non-contrast computed tomography scans of 1018 patients with ACS and 107 patients with PCS. To assess whether an ACS lesion segmentation generalizes to PCS, a CNN was trained on ACS data (ACS-CNN). Second, to evaluate the performance of only including PCS patients, a CNN was trained on PCS data. Third, to evaluate the performance when combining the datasets, a CNN was trained on both datasets. Finally, to evaluate the performance of transfer learning, the ACS-CNN was fine-tuned using PCS patients. The transfer learning strategy outperformed the other strategies in volume agreement with an intra-class correlation of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.83–0.92) vs. 0.55 to 0.83 and a lesion detection rate of 87% vs. 41–77 for the other strategies. Hence, transfer learning improved the FLV quantification and detection rate of PCS lesions compared to the other strategies

Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider

This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)