First-principles study of ternary fcc solution phases from special quasirandom structures

In the present work, ternary Special Quasirandom Structures (SQSs) for a fcc solid solution phase are generated at different compositions, $x_A=x_B=x_C=\tfrac{1}{3}$ and $x_A=\tfrac{1}{2}$, $x_B=x_C=\tfrac{1}{4}$, whose correlation functions are satisfactorily close to those of a random fcc solution. The generated SQSs are used to calculate the mixing enthalpy of the fcc phase in the Ca-Sr-Yb system. It is observed that first-principles calculations of all the binary and ternary SQSs in the Ca-Sr-Yb system exhibit very small local relaxation. It is concluded that the fcc ternary SQSs can provide valuable information about the mixing behavior of the fcc ternary solid solution phase. The SQSs presented in this work can be widely used to study the behavior of ternary fcc solid solutions.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Agenesis of the gallbladder

Agenesis of the gallbladder is a rare anomaly that is usually asymptomatic, but sometimes the patients may have symptoms compatible with a biliary disorder like cholelithiasis. Its preoperative diagnosis is often difficult, especially if dysplastic cyst is associated and simulates the gallbladder. When the diagnosis is doubtful its confirmation and treatment of dysplastic cyst require open surgery, careful dissection of the common bile duct to avoid biliary lesions and intraoperative ultrasonography or cholangiography to be performed to exclude other associated anomalies. The Authors describe the case of agenesis of gallbladder and dysplastic cyst associated and comment on its clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects

Tumoral calcinosis: a case report.

Tumoral calcinosis is a rare tumour-like mass characterized by soft tissue calcification of obscure aetiology. A case of tumoral calcinosis is presented here, and its clinical, radiological and pathological features are described. The differential diagnosis versus hydatid cyst is discussed. Diagnosis is possible with imaging techniques but histopathological study is essential to establish it with certainty. Complete surgical excision appears to be the only effective treatme

Biliary complications of laparoscopic cholecystectomy: our experience compared with laparotomic cholecystectomy

[]. . Jun-Jul;(): Authors: Abstract Major bile ducts injuries during cholecystectomy were one of the most common complications, but they were becoming rare. With the introduction and the fast diffusion of laparoscopy their incidence has increased. For this reason we have reviewed our experience about open and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We report 18 patients, 8 male and 10 female with age ranged from 27 to 73 years, with common bile duct injuries. Only three patients (20%) underwent surgery in our Department of Surgery of the University of Cagliari. Of these patients, two were operated on open and one laparoscopic cholecystectomy. They represent 0.08% and 0.36% of the respective groups. The most common cause of this complication is peritonitis (94.5%), followed by bleeding and congenital anomalies of the biliary tree, that were present in 5.5% respectively. The conversion to laparotomy was necessary in 3.9% of our patients, while residual choledocholithiasis in one patient was treated by laparotomic reexploration because of the unsuccessful ERCP. In summary in our opinion the prevention of this complication depends on appropriate indication and choice of the patients, as well as an adequate training. The ERCP, if indicated, must be done before laparoscopic cholecystectomy. PMID: [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

[Bacterial control in the operating room].

Thirty-nine patients with liver tumours have been submitted to regional arterial chemotherapy by means of either totally implantable Infusaid-400 pumps (22 c.) or implantable ports (17 c.). The latter were subsequently perfused with external pumps. There was one single major operative complication and no operative deaths. Most patients underwent continuous Fudr infusion. Access related complications occurred in both groups. Treatment was stopped for access related complications in 18.4% and 29.4% of cases out of the pump and port groups respectively. In most of those cases, however, several cycles of chemotherapy had already been performed. The Infusaid-400 pumps showed a 12-month functional duration of 57% with a 13-month median, the 10-month duration of ports being 67%. The difference was not significant. The new implantable systems give better results in comparison with traditional regional access methods, the functional performances of the port systems appearing very similar to the totally implantable pumps, with an obvious advantage for the pumps as far as quality of life is concerned

[Current status of the classification and clinical staging of primary and secondary tumors of the liver].

Over the past few decades there has been outstanding expansion in the surgical exeresis of primary and metastatic liver tumours and particularly hepatic metastases of colorectal carcinomas. With the advance in surgical technique it becomes increasingly necessary to codify the system for the classification and clinical staging of these conditions for the purposes of correct programming of treatment and assessment of the clinical results obtained. The most commonly used systems of classification and clinical staging are analysed, in particular the classifications proposed by the American Joint Committee on Cancer and D. Manfredi for primary liver tumours and those proposed by Gennari et al and Sugerbaker et al for hepatic metastases of colorectal carcinomas. The selection criteria adopted in each system are analysed as the basis for a more thorough discussion of the problem that is felt to be fundamental for the standardisation of classification and clinical staging systems in the future. Such standardisation is essential for the assessment of the value and limitations of liver surgery in cancer

[Dysplastic cysts of the liver: our experience].

AIM: Systematic surveys with advanced non-invasive imaging techniques have revealed that hepatic cysts are quite common in the general population. Therefore, we retrospectively examined our case series and compared it with the literature. METHODS: Between January 1990 and December 2000, 228 patients with non-parasitic liver cysts were referred to the outpatients section of the Department of Surgery of the University of Cagliari and 23 were submitted to treatment: 14 patients (60.8%) for solitary cyst and 9 (39.2%) for multiple simple cysts of the liver. One patient (4.5%) had right upper quadrant pain. Eleven (47.8%) patients were asymptomatic: 7 (63.7%) required treatment for other pathologies, 3 (27.3%) for a progressive enlargement of the cyst and 1 (9%) for a suspected hydatid disease. Mean diameter of the treated cysts measured by preoperative CT or US was 8.8 cm (range 7-14). Percutaneous aspiration-injection reaspiration (PAIR) was performed in 5 patients (21.7%), US-guided in 2 cases (40%) and CT-guided in 3 (60%). Twenty patients (86.9%) underwent cysts unroofing, 18 (78.2%) with open surgical fenestration and the latest 2 cases with a laparoscopic approach. Two patients had PAIR as second treatment for recurrence: CT-guided in one and US-guided in the other case. RESULTS: Four (25%) out of 16 patients treated exclusively for cystic liver disease, had fever in 3 cases and nausea and vomiting in 1 case; 8 patients (50%) had an intraperitoneal drainage for a mean of 6-7 days (range 4-11) and of 116 cc of serum-hematic liquid. CONCLUSIONS: In our opinion the choice of an adequate treatment must be based on an accurate evaluation of the clinical aspects of the patients and on the characteristics of cystic lesions such as number, size and location. These data let us to choose a surgical treatment rather than a strict US follow-up and to get the best outcome in terms of absence of recurrence, and less biological and economic costs

Effects of scene contents on change detection in children

Children are better able to detect changes in photographs than in line drawings (Shore et al, 2006), but the reasons for this advantage are unclear. One explanation is that the photographs were more interesting. If so, children could detect better changes to interesting images than boring ones. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated the semantic content of pictures in a flicker change detection task. Our results contradicted this prediction: marginal changes to images containing more interesting subject matter were detected more slowly than changes to boring content. Interesting content made it harder for children to find the changes