1,964 research outputs found
Semi-free forearm flap for pharyngeal-esophageal reconstruction after radiation therapy
AbstractReconstruction of the pharynx and upper esophagus uses various procedures, including pedicled or free flap. Pharyngoplasty with free forearm flap provides excellent functional results. In radiation-related pharyngeal stenosis, recipient vascularization is often poor, especially in the venous system. The authors describe pharyngeal reconstruction with semi-free forearm flap, pedicled on the cephalic vein, to minimize the risk of venous thrombosis, which is the main factor of free forearm flap necrosis. Taking the case of a laryngectomy with complete pharyngeal stenosis after radiation therapy and iterative neck surgery, the technique of pharyngeal-esophageal reconstruction by semi-free forearm flap is described in a context of impaired vascularization
Sources of variation and genetic profile of spontaneous, out-of-season ovulatory activity in the Chios sheep
Organising the breeding plan of a seasonally breeding species, such as
sheep, presents a challenge to farmers and the industry as a whole,
since both economical and biological considerations need to be
carefully balanced. Understanding the breeding activity of individual
animals becomes a prerequisite for a successful breeding program. This
study set out to investigate the sources of variation and the genetic
profile of the spontaneous, out-of-season ovulatory activity of ewes
of the Chios dairy sheep breed in Greece. The definition of the trait
was based on blood progesterone levels, measured before exposing the
ewes to rams, which marks the onset of the usual breeding season. Data
were 707 records, taken over two consecutive years, of 435 ewes kept
at the Agricultural Research Station of Chalkidiki in northern
Greece. When all available pedigree was included, the total number of
animals involved was 1068. On average, 29% of all ewes exhibited
spontaneous, out-of-season ovulatory activity, with no substantial
variation between the years. Significant sources of systematic
variation were the ewe age and live weight, and the month of previous
lambing. Older, heavier ewes, that had lambed early the previous
autumn, exhibited more frequent activity. Heritability estimates were
0.216 () with a linear and 0.291 with a threshold
model. The latter better accounts for the categorical nature of the
trait. The linear model repeatability was 0.230 (). The
results obtained in this study support the notion that spontaneous
out-of-season ovulatory activity can be considered in the development
of a breeding plan for the Chios sheep breed
Low Frequency Tilt Seismology with a Precision Ground Rotation Sensor
We describe measurements of the rotational component of teleseismic surface
waves using an inertial high-precision ground-rotation-sensor installed at the
LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO). The sensor has a noise floor of 0.4 nrad at 50 mHz and a translational coupling of less than 1 rad/m
enabling translation-free measurement of small rotations. We present
observations of the rotational motion from Rayleigh waves of six teleseismic
events from varied locations and with magnitudes ranging from M6.7 to M7.9.
These events were used to estimate phase dispersion curves which shows
agreement with a similar analysis done with an array of three STS-2
seismometers also located at LHO
Embedded hardware for closing the gap between research and industry in the assistive powered wheelchair market
Literature is abound with smart wheelchair platforms of various developments, yet to date there has been little technology find its way to the market place. Many trials and much research has taken place over the last few decades however the end user has benefited precious little. There exists two fundamental difficulties when developing a smart powered wheelchair assistive system, the first is need for the system to be fully compatible with all of the manufacturers, and the second is to produce a technology and business model which is marketable and therefore desirable to the manufacturers. However this requires the researchers to have access to hardware which can be used to develop practical systems which integrate and communicate seamlessly with current manufacturer’s wheelchair systems. We present our powered wheelchair system which integrates with 95% of the powered wheelchair controller market; our system allows researchers to access the low level embedded system with more powerful computational devices running sophisticated software enabling rapid development of algorithms and techniques. When they have been evaluated they can be easily ported to the embedded processor for real-time evaluation and clinical trial
APEnet+: high bandwidth 3D torus direct network for petaflops scale commodity clusters
We describe herein the APElink+ board, a PCIe interconnect adapter featuring
the latest advances in wire speed and interface technology plus hardware
support for a RDMA programming model and experimental acceleration of GPU
networking; this design allows us to build a low latency, high bandwidth PC
cluster, the APEnet+ network, the new generation of our cost-effective,
tens-of-thousands-scalable cluster network architecture. Some test results and
characterization of data transmission of a complete testbench, based on a
commercial development card mounting an Altera FPGA, are provided.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, proceeding of CHEP 2010, Taiwan, October 18-2
Minimally invasive osteotomy for distal radius malunion: A preliminary series of 9 cases
AbstractThe rate of malunion after distal radius fractures is 25% after conservative treatment and 10% after surgery. Their main functional repercussion related to ulno-carpal conflict is loss of wrist motion. We report a retrospective clinical series of minimally invasive osteotomies. The series consisted of 9 cases of minimally invasive osteotomies with volar locking plate fixation. All osteotomies healed. The average pain was 5.3/10 preoperatively and 2.1/10 at last follow-up. The mean Quick DASH was 55.4/100 preoperatively and 24.24/100 at last follow-up. Compared to the opposite side, the average wrist flexion was 84.11%, the average wrist extension was 80.24%, the average pronation was 95.33% and the average supination was 93.9%. With similar results to those of the literature, our short series confirms the feasibility of minimally invasive osteotomy of the distal radius for extra-articular malunion.TypeCase-series.Level of evidenceIV
A study of subsonic transport aircraft configurations using hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4) as fuel
The acceptability of alternate fuels for future commercial transport aircraft are discussed. Using both liquid hydrogen and methane, several aircraft configurations are developed and energy consumption, aircraft weights, range and payload are determined and compared to a conventional Boeing 747-100 aircraft. The results show that liquid hydrogen can be used to reduce aircraft energy consumption and that methane offers no advantage over JP or hydrogen fuel
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