Early and late morbidity and mortality and life expectancy following thoracoscopic talc insufflation for control of malignant pleural effusions: a review of 400 cases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malignant pleural effusion is a common sequelae in patients with certain malignancies. It represents a terminal condition with short median survival (in terms of months) and the goal is palliation. Aim of our study is to analyze morbidity, mortality and life expectancy following videothoracoscopic talc poudrage.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>From September 2004 to October 2009, 400 patients underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for malignant pleural effusion. The conditions of patients were assessed and graded before and after treatment concerning morbidity, mortality, success rate of pleurodesis and median survival.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median duration of follow up was 40 months (range 4-61 months). All patients demonstrated notable improvement in dyspnea. Intraoperative mortality was zero. The procedure was well tolerated and no significant adverse effects were observed. In hospital mortality was 2% and the pleurodesis success rate was 85%. A poor Karnofsky Performance Status and delay between diagnosis of pleural effusion and pleurodesis were statistically significant factors for in-hospital mortality. The best survival was seen in breast cancer, followed by ovarian cancer, lymphoma and pleural mesothelioma.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Video-assisted thoracoscopic talc poudrage is an effective and safe procedure that yields a high rate of successful pleurodesis and achieves long-term control with marked dyspnea decrease.</p

A tentative model for the explanation of Båth law using the order parameter of seismicity in natural time

Abstract Using the order parameter of seismicity defined in natural time, we suggest a simple model for the explanation of Båth law, according to which a mainshock differs in magnitude from its largest aftershock by approximately 1.2 regardless of the mainshock magnitude. In addition, the validity of Båth law is studied in the Global Centroid Moment Tensor catalogue by using two different aftershock definitions. It is found that the mean of this difference, when considering all the pairs mainshock-largest aftershock, does not markedly differ from 1.2 and the corresponding distributions do not depend on the mainshock’s magnitude threshold in a statistically significant manner. Finally, the analysis of the cumulative distribution functions provides evidence in favour of the proposed model

A density functional theory study of the C_iN and the C_iNO_i complexes in silicon

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from World Scientific Publishing via the DOI in this recordNitrogen (N) is an important impurity in silicon (Si), which associates with impurities as well as with other defects to form defect complexes. The knowledge of the properties and behavior of defect structures containing carbon (C), N and oxygen (O) is important for the Si-based electronic technology. Here, we employ density functional theory (DFT) calculations to investigate the association of nitrogen with carbon and oxygen defects to form the CiN and CiNOi defects. We provide evidence of the formation of these defects and additional details of their structure, their density of states (DOS) and Bader charges. Therefore, CiN and CiNOi defects are now well characterized

Seismic electric signals in seismic prone areas

International audienceThe Varotsos-Alexopoulos-Nomicos(VAN) method of short-term earthquake prediction wasintroduced in the 1980s. The VAN method enables estimationof the epicenter, magnitude and occurrence time of animpending earthquake by observing transient changes of theelectric field of the Earth termed seismic electric signals(SES). Here, we present a few examples of SES observed invarious earthquake prone areas worldwide