There is a need to request cervical spine routine radiographs for patients with Down s syndrome before carrying out otorhinolaryngologic surgery?

INTRODUCTION: The Down's Syndrome (DS) is a genetic syndrome characterized by several changes and the Atlanto-axial Instability is critical for the otorhinolaryngologist. OBJECTIVE: Check the prevalence of atlanto-axial instability in patients with Down's Syndrome who undergo service follow-up in the Clinical Hospital of the UFPR [Federal University of Paraná] and review the need to carry out routine cervical radiography in the patients with prescription to otorhinolaryngologic surgery. METHOD: Prospective study of patients with the syndrome who undergo CH/UFPR's follow up, through questionnaire and cervical X-ray. RESULTS: No case of IAA was found in the population studied. Discussion: we consider there's a high frequency of AAI in patients with DS, and for all patients who will take part in sports activities that involve motion of the region, or who are submitted to surgeries, an investigation with clinical and radiological exam is recommended. However, as the incidence has many variable findings we question the real validity of this research for all patients, even the asymptomatic ones. CONCLUSION: In spite of a DS's peculiar change, there are no evidences of the need to research the AAI as a routine in asymptomatic patients and the symptomatology should guide the investigation. But more studies are required to evaluate the importance of the radiological exams in such cases.INTRODUÇÃO: A Síndrome de Down é uma síndrome genética caracterizada por varias alterações, sendo que a Instabilidade Atlanto-axial é de grande importância para o Otorrinolaringologista. OBJETIVO: Verificar a prevalência de instabilidade atlanto-axial em pacientes portadores de Síndrome de Down que fazem acompanhamento ambulatorial no Hospital de Clínicas da UFPR e analisar se há necessidade de se realizar de rotina radiografia cervical nos pacientes com indicação de realizar cirurgia otorrinolaringológica. MÉTODO: Estudo prospectivo com paciente portadores da síndrome que tem acompanhamento no HC/UFPR, através de questionário e raios-X cervical. RESULTADOS: Não foi encontrado nenhum caso de IAA na população estudada. DISCUSSÃO: Considera-se que há uma alta frequência de IAA em pacientes com Síndrome de Down, sendo recomendado para todos os pacientes que vão participar de atividades esportivas que envolvam movimentação da região ou que sejam submetidos a cirurgias uma investigação com exame clinico e radiológico. No entanto, devido à incidência ter achados muito variados questiona-se a real validade desta investigação para todos os pacientes, mesmo que assintomáticos. CONCLUSÃO: Apesar de ser uma alteração peculiar da Síndrome de Down, não ha evidencias da necessidade de investigar a IAA rotineiramente em pacientes assintomáticos, sendo que a sintomatologia deve guiar a investigação. Porém, mais estudos são necessários para avaliar a importância dos exames radiológicos nesses casos.UFPR HC Faculdade Evangelica do ParanáEscola Paulista de MedicinaUniversidade Federal do ParanáSBORLHospital Infantil Pequeno PríncipePontifícia Universidade Católica do ParanáUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Stapes surgery in residency - the ufpr clinical hospital experience

SummarySurgery of the stapedius remains the established treatment for otosclerosis. Recent publications have showed that success in surgeries done by residents have decreased and hearing results are worse than those obtained by experienced otologic surgeons. Aim: To evaluate the experience of the otorhinolaryngology unit, Parana University, relative to stapes surgery done in the residency training program. Material and method: A retrospective study of 114 stapes surgeries done in the past 9 years in 96 patients. Audiometric results were analysed according to the Commitee on Hearing and Equilibrium guidelines and the Amsterdam Hearing Evaluation Plots. The improvement of the airway postoperative gap and thresholds were taken into account. Results: 96 patients were included, most of them female adults (67.7%) and white (93.7%). Stapedectomy was done in 50.9% of cases, mostly under local anesthesia and sedation (96.5%), using mostly the Teflon prothesis (37.7%). The surgical success rate was 50.88%, there was an 11.4% complication rate. Conclusion: Postoperative hearing gains considered as surgical success were inferior to published results in the literature, done by experienced surgeons

Used frying oil biodiesel production: experimental factorial design and multivariate analysis

<div align="justify">Biodiesel é derivado de fontes renováveis ereduz significativamente as emissões atmosféricas. Pode serobtido de diversos processos, como a alcoolise. Nestetrabalho, o biodiesel foi produzido através da alcoolise doóleo de fritura usado de indústrias de alimentação. Umplanejamento experimental foi utilizado e os produtos dereação foram analisados por cromatografia gasosa (CG)espectroscopia na região do infravermelho com acessório dereflexão total atenuada horizontal (IV-HATR) e análiseexploratória por análise de componentes principais (PCA) eanálise hierárquica de grupos (HCA). De acordo com ascondições analisadas obteve-se alta conversão em ésteresmetílicos. Por IV-HATR, a conversão máxima foi observadaem condições experimentais de temperatura ( 50 e 60°C),concentração de catalisador (0,6 e 1,2%) e a 1:8 de relaçãomolar entre óleo e metanol. Também foi possíveldiscriminar por análise quimiométrica, 4 grupos noplanejamento experimental e determinar as melhorescondições para a produção de biodiesel de óleo de friturausado.<br><br>Abstract Biodiesel is derived from renewable sources and it significantly reduces atmospheric emissions. It can be obtained byseveral processes, such as alcoholysis. In this work, biodiesel was produced through alcoholysis of used frying oil from a cateringbusiness. An experimental factorial design was used and the reaction products were analyzed through gas chromatography (GC),horizontal attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (HATR/FT-IR) spectroscopy and exploratory analysis withprincipal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Under the conditions analyzed, a high degree ofconversion to methyl ester was found. As shown by HATR/FT-IR, the maximum conversion was obtained when the experimentalconditions had the temperature ( 50 e 60°C), largest catalyst concentration (0,6 e 1,2%) and a 1:8 molar proportion of oil tomethanol. It was possible to discriminate, through chemometrics analysis, four groups in the proposed experimental factorialdesign and determine the better condition for biodiesel production from used frying oil.</div

Combined fit to the spectrum and composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory including magnetic horizon effects

The measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory of the energy spectrum and mass composition of cosmic rays can be interpreted assuming the presence of two extragalactic source populations, one dominating the flux at energies above a few EeV and the other below. To fit the data ignoring magnetic field effects, the high-energy population needs to accelerate a mixture of nuclei with very hard spectra, at odds with the approximate E$^{-2}$ shape expected from diffusive shock acceleration. The presence of turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields in the region between the closest sources and the Earth can significantly modify the observed CR spectrum with respect to that emitted by the sources, reducing the flux of low-rigidity particles that reach the Earth. We here take into account this magnetic horizon effect in the combined fit of the spectrum and shower depth distributions, exploring the possibility that a spectrum for the high-energy population sources with a shape closer to E$^{-2}$ be able to explain the observations

Studies of the mass composition of cosmic rays and proton-proton interaction cross-sections at ultra-high energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory

In this work, we present an estimate of the cosmic-ray mass composition from the distributions of the depth of the shower maximum (Xmax) measured by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We discuss the sensitivity of the mass composition measurements to the uncertainties in the properties of the hadronic interactions, particularly in the predictions of the particle interaction cross-sections. For this purpose, we adjust the fractions of cosmic-ray mass groups to fit the data with Xmax distributions from air shower simulations. We modify the proton-proton cross-sections at ultra-high energies, and the corresponding air shower simulations with rescaled nucleus-air cross-sections are obtained via Glauber theory. We compare the energy-dependent composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays obtained for the different extrapolations of the proton-proton cross-sections from low-energy accelerator data

Study of downward Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The surface detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory, consisting of 1660 water-Cherenkov detectors (WCDs), covers 3000 km2 in the Argentinian pampa. Thanks to the high efficiency of WCDs in detecting gamma rays, it represents a unique instrument for studying downward Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) over a large area. Peculiar events, likely related to downward TGFs, were detected at the Auger Observatory. Their experimental signature and time evolution are very different from those of a shower produced by an ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray. They happen in coincidence with low thunderclouds and lightning, and their large deposited energy at the ground is compatible with that of a standard downward TGF with the source a few kilometers above the ground. A new trigger algorithm to increase the TGF-like event statistics was installed in the whole array. The study of the performance of the new trigger system during the lightning season is ongoing and will provide a handle to develop improved algorithms to implement in the Auger upgraded electronic boards. The available data sample, even if small, can give important clues about the TGF production models, in particular, the shape of WCD signals. Moreover, the SD allows us to observe more than one point in the TGF beam, providing information on the emission angle