Water-to-water heat pump test facility

Heat Recovery Systems and CHP92133-14

Comparison of beta-ray and gamma-ray transmission methods for measurement of frost density distribution

Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science45567-576ETFS

Unresectable Desmoid Tumours Causing Obstructive Uropathy in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

Desmoid tumour-related ureteral obstruction in familial adenomatous polyposis presents difficult management problems. Its role in altering prognosis for the worse in young patients has been neglected. Two patients are reported and 14 cases in the literature reviewed. Both our patients developed intra-abdominal desmoid tumours following proctocolectomies with pouch reconstruction (performed 0.7 and 2.5 years earlier). Despite therapy with sulindac and tamoxifen, both suffered progressive ureteral obstruction that required initial percutaneous drainage. Ureteral stenting was effective and safe in both patients (10 and 18 months' follow-up, respectively), but the long-term outcome awaits assessment. The optimal regimen of adjuvant medical therapy is uncertain. Successful renal autotransplantation and combination chemotherapy have been tried after failure of conventional therapy

Charting the next century of insulin replacement with cell and gene therapies.

The discovery of insulin a century ago changed the lives of millions of individuals suffering from diabetes, paving the way for long-term survival. While the availability of recombinant insulin for hormone replacement therapy has served extremely well to help control blood glucose in diabetes, there remains significant room for further improvements for an ultimate “cure” for diabetes patients. In this review, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin and consolidate the key milestones and advances in the development of recombinant human insulin. We then summarize recent and current technological developments in terms of insulin gene- and cell-replacement therapies that are promising in greater therapeutic potential. We envision that the next era of insulin replacement therapies will effectively treat diabetes and serve our patients even better for the next century to come

A LDMOS technology compatible with CMOS, BJT, and passive components for integrated RF power amplifiers

This paper describes a bulk silicon LDMOS technology, which is compatible with CMOS, lateral BJT, and passive components, for the implementation of RF integrated power amplifiers (IPAs) used in wireless communication applications. This technology allows complete integration of the low cost and low power front-end circuits with the baseband circuits for single chip wireless communication systems. The LDMOS transistor (0.35μm channel length, 3.85μm drift length, 3GHz fr and 20V breakdown voltage), lateral BJT, and highQ-factor (up to 7 at 1.8GHz) on-chip inductor are designed and fabricated to show the feasibility of the IPA implementation. Detailed experimental characterizations of the various devices are presented

Early Experience with Robot-assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy

We assessed the feasibility of a robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (rLRP) programme through a review of our early experience. Patients and Methods: Seventeen patients underwent rLRP between 1 February 2003 and 31 December 2003 at Singapore General Hospital. All patients had histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma on prostate biopsy and a negative bone scan. The Da Vinci robot was employed. The Montsouris technique was used for our first eight patients, and the Vattikuti Institute Prostatectomy technique was used for all subsequent patients. We studied perioperative parameters and early surgical outcome prospectively. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 63.9 ± 5.6 years. The median Gleason sum was 6 (range, 5–9), and mean pretreatment prostate-specific antigen level was 10.5 ± 5.4 ng/mL. The mean set-up time was 34 ± 18 minutes, and mean dissection time was 247 ± 43 minutes. Perioperative blood loss averaged 494 ± 330 mL, and three patients required blood transfusion. Normal diet was resumed after 1.7 ± 0.6 days. The mean duration of bladder catheterization was 9.8 ± 6.1 days, and mean hospital stay was 2.7 ± 1.3 days. There was no perioperative mortality or major complications, and no conversion to open radical prostatectomy. From Case 9 onwards, there was significant reduction in operating time (284 vs 215 minutes), blood loss (650 vs 400 mL) and hospital stay (3.8 vs 1.8 days). Conclusions: rLRP is feasible in a practice with a low volume of radical prostatectomies. Significant improvement in perioperative parameters occurs after the first eight cases. This technique confers the benefits of enhanced precision and dexterity for complex laparoscopic work in the pelvic cavity

Renal Cell Carcinoma of 4 cm or Less: An Appraisal of Its Clinical Presentation and Contemporary Surgical Management

Greater availability and utilization of modern radiological imaging modalities have resulted in an increase in the incidental discovery of renal cell carcinoma. Such tumours tend to be smaller than their symptomatic counterparts and may potentially be adequately treated using nephron-sparing surgery. Methods: A retrospective review of all patients who were diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma of 4 cm or less between January 1990 and December 2001 was conducted to review clinical presentation, surgical management and survival. Results: The cohort comprised 102 patients who underwent surgery, of 402 patients diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma over the study period. Sixty-eight patients (67%) had tumours detected incidentally. Thirty patients (29%) were managed with partial nephrectomy and 72 (71%) with radical nephrectomy. The median tumour size was 3.0 cm (range, 1.5-4.0 cm). Overall, median follow-up was 60 months (range, 1-148 months). Overall 5-year survival for patients who underwent partial nephrectomy and radical nephrectomy was 96.6% and 85.8%, respectively. Cancer-specific 5-year survival was 100%. Conclusion: A significant proportion of patients had incidental diagnosis of small renal cell carcinoma. Local control may be achieved with either radical or partial nephrectomy, with excellent survival expected

Urine sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 levels are elevated in lupus nephritis

10.1111/j.1756-185X.2012.01720.xInternational Journal of Rheumatic Diseases15113-1