Cryostripping – 10 years of experience in chronic venous disease treatment

Scopul lucrării. Prezentarea avantajelor cryostripping-ului în tratamentul bolii venoase cronice (BVC). Materiale și metode. Studiul a inclus 1327 pacienți dispensarizați în Compartimentul de Flebologie din cadrul Clinicii I Chirurgie SCJUT, în perioada septembrie 2013 – aprilie 2023, l-a care s-a practicat cura BVC prin cryostripping. Am analizat avantajele tehnice, durata și costurile intervenției, perioada de spitalizare, rezultatele postoperatorii, fezabilitatea metodei. Datele obținute au fost comparate cu cele rezultate în urma safenectomiei clasice. Rezultate. Avantajele tehnice ale metodei constau într-o incizie proximală mai mică, comparativ cu operația clasică, și lipsa necesității contrainciziei distale. Durata medie a intervenției a fost 41 ± 12.8 minute, iar costurile consumabilelor de 52 ± 10 €/intervenție. Perioada medie de spitalizare a fost 1.05±0.41 zile. Rezultatele postoperatorii au fost favorabile, rata complicațiilor precoce fiind redusă (echimoze Ø < 2cm - 33,23%; hematom - 2,11%; tromboză venoasă profundă - 0,15%; parestezii tranzitorii 3.01%). Comparativ cu safenectomia clasică, costurile consumabilelor/intervenție sunt similare, iar durata intervenției, perioada de spitalizare și rata complicațiilor sunt statistic semnificativ mai reduse. Un avantaj al metodei este faptul că cryosondele se pot steriliza, fiind reutilizabile, din punct de vedere economic, tehnica pretându-se atât în spitalele de stat, cât și în clinicile private. Concluzii. Cryostripping-ul este o procedură chirurgicală radicală, fiind o modalitate eficientă pentru tratamentul BVC și aducând un număr mare de avantaje comparativ cu safenectomia clasică.Aim of study. Presenting cryostripping advantages in chronic venous disease (CVD) treatment. Materials and methods. The study included 1327 patients diagnosed with CVD admitted in the Phlebology Department, 1st Surgical Department, Emergency County Hospital Timișoara, between September 2013 and April 2023, which were operated using cryostripping as surgical procedure. The technical advantages of the procedure, the duration and costs of the intervention, the hospitalization period, the post-operative results, and the feasibility of the method were analyzed. The obtained data were compared with those resulting from patients operated by classic saphenectomy. Results. The technical advantages of the method consist in a smaller proximal incision, compared to the classic operation. Distal counterincision is not necessary, either. The average duration of the intervention was 41 ± 12.8 minutes, and the costs of consumables were about 52 ± 10 €/intervention. The average hospitalization period was 1.05±0.41 days. The post-operative results were favourable, early complications rate being reduced (ecchymoses Ø < 2cm - 33.23%; hematoma - 2.11%; deep vein thrombosis - 0.15%; transient paresthesias 3.01%). Compared to classic saphenectomy, the costs of consumables/intervention are similar, intervention time, hospitalization period and complication rate being statistically significantly lower. An advantage of the method is the fact that the cryo-probes can be sterilized, being reusable; from the economic point of view, the technique perfectly fits in both state hospitals and private clinics. Conclusions. Cryostripping is a radical surgical procedure which brings a significant number of advantages compared to the classic saphenectomy, being an effective alternative in CVD treatment

Venous leg ulcer – prevalence, clinical and economic considerations, treatment

Scopul lucrării. Evaluarea prevalenței ulcerului venos activ la pacienții din Compartimentul de Flebologie (CF), precum și a implicațiilor clinice, terapeutice și economice asociat tratamentului acestei afecțiuni. Materiale și metode. Studiul a urmărit retrospectiv toți pacienții internați în CF, Clinica I Chirurgicală SCUJT cu diagnosticul de insuficiență venoasă cronică în perioada ianuarie 2017 - decembrie 2022. Am analizat procentul pacienților aflați în stadiul clinic C6 al bolii, măsurile terapeutice, perioada de spitalizare. Rezultate. Din cele 618 internări realizate pentru diagnosticul menționat, 67 de pacienți (10.84%) prezentau ulcer venos activ. Conform antibiogramei, cele mai multe suprainfecții ale leziunilor au fost prin colonizare cu Pseudomonas spp.. Unele leziuni au fost deosebit de grave, fiind extinse circumferențial. Referitor la treatment, în 20 de cazuri s-a practicat debridarea leziunii, întreruperea refluxului venos fiind realizată în timpul doi; în 15 cazuri s-a realizat întreruperea refluxului venos per primam, ulcerația vindecându-se ulterior sub tratament conservator; în 27 cazuri s-a practicat grefarea leziunii prin plastie cu piele liberă despicată, cu întreruperea refluxului venos; în 5 cazuri s-a aplicat doar tratamentul conservator cu bandaj elasto-compresiv, ablația refluxului venos practicându-se ulterior, după închiderea ulcerației. Perioada medie de spitalizare a fost 21.3 zile (cu un maxim de 89 zile), fiind de aproximativ cinci ori mai mare comparativ cu cea a cazurilor aflate în stadiile C2-C4 (4.38 zile), implicit costurile tratamentului per pacient fiind semnificativ mai mari. Concluzii. Insuficiența venoasă cronică neglijată este încă frecvent întâlnită. Tratamentul în stadiile incipiente ale bolii este de preferat, prevenindu-se astfel complicațiile și scăzând considerabil costurile de spitalizare.Aim of study. Evaluation of the prevalence of active venous leg ulcers in patients admitted in the Phlebology Department (PD), as well as the clinical, therapeutic and economic implications associated in its treatment. Materials and methods. This retrospective study analyzed all the patients diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency which were admitted in the PD of the 1st Surgical Clinic, Emergency County Hospital Timișoara, between January 2017 and December 2022. The percentage of patients which presented active venous leg ulcers, the therapeutic measures and the hospitalization period were analyzed. Results. From the total number of admissions (618 cases) made in the established time period, 67 patients (10.84%) presented active venous ulcers. According to the antibiogram, Pseudomonas spp. was the most frequent germ involved in lesions infection. Some lesions were particularly serious, being circumferentially extended. Regarding treatment, in 20 cases debridement of the lesion was performed, venous reflux ablation being subsequently carried out; in 15 cases, venous reflux ablation was performed as first intention, the ulceration being subsequently healed under conservative treatment; in 27 cases, skin grafts were applied, with venous reflux ablation; in 5 cases, conservative treatment with elasto-compressive bandages was applied,venous reflux ablation being performed after ulceration closure. The average hospitalization period was 21.3 days (with a maximum of 89 days), being approximately five times longer compared to that of cases in C2-C4 stages (4.38 days), implicitly treatment costs per patient being significantly higher. Conclusions. Neglected chronic venous insufficiency is still common. Treatment in the early stages of the disease is preferable, thus preventing complications and considerably reducing hospitalization costs

Raphtory: The temporal graph engine for Rust and Python

Raphtory is a platform for building and analysing temporal networks. The library includes methods for creating networks from a variety of data sources; algorithms to explore their structure and evolution; and an extensible GraphQL server for deployment of applications built on top. Raphtory’s core engine is built in Rust, for efficiency, with Python interfaces, for ease of use. Raphtory is developed by network scientists, with a background in Physics, Applied Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science, for use across academia and industry

Effect of mineral-enriched diet and medicinal herbs on Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu uptake in chicken

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The goal of our study was to evaluate the effects of different medicinal herbs rich in polyphenol (Lemon balm, Sage, St. John's wort and Small-flowered Willowherb) used as dietary supplements on bioaccumulation of some essential metals (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu) in different chicken meats (liver, legs and breast).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In different type of chicken meats (liver, legs and breast) from chickens fed with diets enriched in minerals and medicinal herbs, beneficial metals (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu) were analysed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Fe is the predominant metal in liver and Zn is the predominant metal in legs and breast chicken meats. The addition of metal salts in the feed influences the accumulations of all metals in the liver, legs and breast chicken meat with specific difference to the type of metal and meat. The greatest influences were observed in legs meat for Fe and Mn. Under the influence of polyphenol-rich medicinal herbs, accumulation of metals in the liver, legs and breast chicken meat presents specific differences for each medicinal herb, to the control group that received a diet supplemented with metal salts only. Great influence on all metal accumulation factors was observed in diet enriched with sage, which had significantly positive effect for all type of chicken meats.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Under the influence of medicinal herbs rich in different type of polyphenol, accumulation of metals in the liver, legs and breast chicken meat presents significant differences from the group that received a diet supplemented only with metal salts. Each medicinal herb from diet had a specific influence on the accumulation of metals and generally moderate or poor correlations were observed between total phenols and accumulation of metals. This may be due to antagonism between metal ions and presence of other chelating agents (amino acids and protein) from feeding diets which can act as competitor for complexation of metals and influence accumulation of metals in chicken meat.</p> <p><b>Graphical abstract</b></p

Dynamical Boson Stars

The idea of stable, localized bundles of energy has strong appeal as a model for particles. In the 1950s John Wheeler envisioned such bundles as smooth configurations of electromagnetic energy that he called {\em geons}, but none were found. Instead, particle-like solutions were found in the late 1960s with the addition of a scalar field, and these were given the name {\em boson stars}. Since then, boson stars find use in a wide variety of models as sources of dark matter, as black hole mimickers, in simple models of binary systems, and as a tool in finding black holes in higher dimensions with only a single killing vector. We discuss important varieties of boson stars, their dynamic properties, and some of their uses, concentrating on recent efforts.Comment: 79 pages, 25 figures, invited review for Living Reviews in Relativity; major revision in 201

Multi-response analysis in the material characterisation of electrospun poly (lactic acid)/halloysite nanotube composite fibres based on Taguchi design of experiments: fibre diameter, non-intercalation and nucleation effects

Poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/halloysite nanotube (HNT) composite fibres were prepared by using a simple and versatile electrospinning technique. The systematic approach via Taguchi design of experiments (DoE) was implemented to investigate factorial effects of applied voltage, feed rate of solution, collector distance and HNT concentration on the fibre diameter, HNT non-intercalation and nucleation effects. The HNT intercalation level, composite fibre morphology, their associated fibre diameter and thermal properties were evaluated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), imaging analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. HNT non-intercalation phenomenon appears to be manifested as reflected by the minimal shift of XRD peaks for all electrospun PLA/HNT composite fibres. The smaller-fibre-diameter characteristic was found to be sequentially associated with the feed rate of solution, collector distance and applied voltage. The glass transition temperature (T g) and melting temperature (T m) are not highly affected by varying the material and electrospinning parameters. However, as the indicator of the nucleation effect, the crystallisation temperature (T c) of PLA/HNT composite fibres is predominantly impacted by HNT concentration and applied voltage. It is evident that HNT’s nucleating agent role is confirmed when embedded with HNTs to accelerate the cold crystallisation of composite fibres. Taguchi DoE method has been found to be an effective approach to statistically optimise critical parameters used in electrospinning in order to effectively tailor the resulting physical features and thermal properties of PLA/HNT composite fibres