Computer-assisted placement technique in hip resurfacing arthroplasty: improvement in accuracy?

Freehand positioning of the femoral drill guide is difficult during hip resurfacing and the surgeon is often unsure of the implant position achieved peroperatively. The purpose of this study was to find out whether, by using a navigation system, acetabular and femoral component positioning could be made easier and more precise. Eighteen patients operated on by the same surgeon were matched by sex, age, BMI, diagnosis and ASA score (nine patients with computer assistance, nine with the regular ancillary). Pre-operative planning was done on standard AP and axial radiographs with CT scan views for the computer-assisted operations. The final position of implants was evaluated by the same radiographs for all patients. The follow-up was at least 1year. No difference between both groups in terms of femoral component position was observed (p > 0.05). There was also no difference in femoral notching. A trend for a better cup position was observed for the navigated hips, especially for cup anteversion. There was no additional operating time for the navigated hips. Hip navigation for resurfacing surgery may allow improved visualisation and hip implant positioning, but its advantage probably will be more obvious with mini-incisions than with regular incision surger

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BIOCATALYTIC PROCESSES FOR FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDES (FOS) PREPARATION

This PhD research project was aimed at the development of new biocatalytic processes to produce natural sugars by selection and characterisation of new enzymes able to produce fructooligosaccharides. Biochemical studies were performed to obtain information on the mechanism of action and understand the structural elements that define the activity. After the development of the biotransformation conditions, a continuous production of FOS was studied and a cheap separation method of the transformation products was also assessed, in order to obtain FOS in purified form. Mass spectrometry studies were performed on the purified enzymes after purification from wild-type strains. After a screening for FOS production from sucrose two microorganisms were chosen for their activity up to 30 % (w/w) conversion and differences in FOS mixture production: CF215 = Cladosporium cladosporioides CK1 = Penicilium sizovae CF215 produce a mixture similar to the commercial product Actilight\uae, while CK1 produce for almost kestose (GF3). Under the optimised biotransformation conditions the maximum accumulation of FOS was 56 % (w/w) and 31 % (w/w) for CF215 and CK1 respectively. We were able to isolate and characterise seven different carbohydrates such as 1-kestose, 1-nystose, 1-fructofuranosylnystose, 6-kestose, neo-kestose and neo-nystose for CF215 while CK1 produce only 1-kestose, 1-nystose, 1-fructofuranosylnystose and 6-kestose. Another oligosaccharides was isolated and fully characterised from CF215 mixture, named blastose (Fru-\u3b2(2\uf0e06)-Glc). An immobilization study was carried using the DALGEEs (Dried Alginate Entrapped Enzymes) method on the mycelium of CF215 strain. The maximum accumulation of FOS using DALGEEs mycelium was 51 % (w/w), reached in common buffer and seawater. With this cheap technique we develop a continuous FOS production using the facilities of Flow chemistry. The reactor, filled with DALGEEs and celite, was stable for months and the maximum accumulation of FOS was 52% (w/w). At this flow stream of FOS mixture we added a batch step to purify the FOS from glucose that represent the 26 % (w/w) of entire mixture. Glucose Oxidase from Novozymes\uae named Glyzyme\uae MONO 10.000 BG was employed and the result was the reduction of glucose from 26 % (w/w) to 3% (w/w). This purification step was added for two reasons: to obtain a cheap and fast method for FOS purification from glucose and to simplify the blastose HPLC purification. 56 mg of purified blastose were obtained and utilised to perform a pioneer study of blastose prebiotic action. The growth of 5 different lactobacillus strains (Lactobacillus paracasei DG, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus paracasei SHIROTA, Lactobacillus johnsonii LC1 and Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC55730) were followed with the addiction of different carbohydrates as only carbon source (glucose, Actilight\uae, inulin, blastose). The best results were reached with Lactobacillus johnsonii LC1 where the Vmax using 0.5 % (w/v) of blastose was higher than glucose 0.5 % (w/v) (1.125 \ub1 0.023 1/h and 0.521 \ub1 0.054 1/h respectively). In the second part of this PhD project the purification of the enzymes involved in FOS formation was achieved after several chromatographic steps. The molecular weight (MW) of the two proteins was 4850 kDA for the enzyme from Cladosporium cladosporioides (monomeric) and 4875 kDa for the one from Penicilium sizovae (monomeric). The enzyme from C. cladosporioides was biochemically characterised and shown a Km of 129 \ub1 6 mM, Vmax of 2.83 \ub1 0.04 U/mL, Kcat of 2.88 \ub1 0.04 1/s and a Kcat/Km of 22.3 \ub1 1.4 1/M*s with sucrose and a Km of 268 \ub1 6 mM, Vmax of 0.0328 \ub1 0.003 U/mL, Kcat of 0.0334 \ub1 0,003 1/s and Kcat/Km of 0.124 \ub1 0.014 1/M*s with 1-kestose. A mass spectrometry MALDI-TOF analysis study was performed on the protein, showing a MW of 61178 Da. A trypsin digestion was performed and the fragments analysed but we didn\u2019t found match in databases. The molecular study of the protein was stopped until protein sequence elucidation

Ethylene-propene copolymerization. Monomer reactivity and reaction mechanism

The relative reactivity of ethylene and propene in the first insertion steps of Ziegler-Natta copolymerization has been evaluated by analyzing via 13CNMR the %enriched end groups of copolymer fractionsofdifferentstereoregularity. Somepossibleinferencesconcerningreactionmechanismarereported

The potential of simulating energy systems: The multi energy systems simulator model

Energy system modelling is an essential practice to assist a set of heterogeneous stakeholders in the process of defining an effective and efficient energy transition. From the analysis of a set of open-source energy system models, it emerged that most models employ an approach directed at finding the optimal solution for a given set of constraints. On the contrary, a simulation model is a representation of a system used to reproduce and understand its behaviour under given conditions without seeking an optimal solution. In this paper, a new open-source energy system model is presented. Multi Energy Systems Simulator (MESS) is a modular, multi-energy carrier, multi-node model that allows the investigation of non optimal solutions by simulating an energy system. The model was built for urban level analyses. However, each node can represent larger regions allowing wider spatial scales to be represented as well. In this work, the tool’s features are presented through a comparison between MESS and Calliope, a state of the art optimization model, to analyse and highlight the differences between the two approaches, the potentialities of a simulation tool and possible areas for further development. The two models produced coherent results, showing differences that were tracked down to the different approaches. Based on the comparison conducted, general conclusions were drawn on the potential of simulating energy systems in terms of a more realistic description of smaller energy systems, lower computational times and increased opportunity for participatory processes in planning urban energy systems

Meanfield treatment of Bragg scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate

A unified semiclassical treatment of Bragg scattering from Bose-Einstein condensates is presented. The formalism is based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation driven by classical light fields far detuned from atomic resonance. An approximate analytic solution is obtained and provides quantitative understanding of the atomic momentum state oscillations, as well as a simple expression for the momentum linewidth of the scattering process. The validity regime of the analytic solution is derived, and tested by three dimensional cylindrically symmetric numerical simulations.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Minor changes made to documen

Corrigendum: Investigating the Effect of Selected Non-Saccharomyces Species on Wine Ecosystem Function and Major Volatiles [Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol., 6, (2018) (169)] DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2018.00169

In the original article, there was a mistake in Figure 2 as published. The order of the graphs (A-H) is incorrect and does not match the caption nor the in-text citation. The corrected Figure 2 appears below. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated

rCASC implementation in Laniakea: porting containerization-based-reproducibility to a cloud Galaxy on-demand platform

Integrating rCASC in Laniakea: rCASC, Cluster Analysis of Single Cells [Alessandri et al. BioRxiv], is part of the reproducible-bioinformatics.org project and provides single cell analysis functionalities within the reproducible rules described by Sandve et al. [PLoS Comp Biol. 2013]. Laniakea [Tangaro et al. BioRxiv Bioinformatics] provides the possibility to automate the creation of Galaxy-based virtualized environments through an easy setup procedure, providing an on-demand workspace ready to be used by life scientists and bioinformaticians. The final goal is to offer rCASC as a Galaxy flavor in the Laniakea Galaxy on-demand environment