20 research outputs found
Patterns of language and auditory dysfunction in 6-year-old children with epilepsy
In a previous study we reported difficulty with expressive language and visuoperceptual ability in preschool children with epilepsy and otherwise normal development. The present study analysed speech and language dysfunction for each individual in relation to epilepsy variables, ear preference, and intelligence in these children and described their auditory function. Twenty 6-year-old children with epilepsy (14 females, 6 males; mean age 6:5 y, range 6 y–6 y 11 mo) and 30 reference children without epilepsy (18 females, 12 males; mean age 6:5 y, range 6 y–6 y 11 mo) were assessed for language and auditory ability. Low scores for the children with epilepsy were analysed with respect to speech-language domains, type of epilepsy, site of epileptiform activity, intelligence, and language laterality. Auditory attention, perception, discrimination, and ear preference were measured with a dichotic listening test, and group comparisons were performed. Children with left-sided partial epilepsy had extensive language dysfunction. Most children with partial epilepsy had phonological dysfunction. Language dysfunction was also found in children with generalized and unclassified epilepsies. The children with epilepsy performed significantly worse than the reference children in auditory attention, perception of vowels and discrimination of consonants for the right ear and had more left ear advantage for vowels, indicating undeveloped language laterality
PORTAL: Pilot study on the safety and tolerance of preoperative melatonin application in patients undergoing major liver resection: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Major surgical procedures facilitate systemic endotoxinemia and formation of free radicals with subsequent inflammatory changes that can influence the postoperative course. Experimental data suggest that preoperative supraphysiological doses of melatonin, a potent immuno-modulator and antioxidant, would decrease postoperative infectious and non-infectious complications induced by major abdominal surgery.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A randomized controlled double blind single center clinical trial with two study arms comprising a total of 40 patients has been designed to assess the effects of a single preoperative dose of melatonin before major liver resection. Primary endpoints include the determination of safety and tolerance of the regimen as well as clinical parameters reflecting pathophysiological functions of the liver. Furthermore, data on clinical outcome (infectious and non-infectious complications) will be collected as secondary endpoints to allow a power calculation for a randomized clinical trial aiming at clinical efficacy.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Based on experimental data, this ongoing clinical trial represents an advanced element of the research chain from bench to bedside in order to reach the highest level of evidence-based clinical facts to determine if melatonin can improve the general outcome after liver resection.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>EudraCT200600530815</p
Large-scale unit commitment under uncertainty: an updated literature survey
The Unit Commitment problem in energy management aims at finding the optimal production schedule of a set of generation units, while meeting various system-wide constraints. It has always been a large-scale, non-convex, difficult problem, especially in view of the fact that, due to operational requirements, it has to be solved in an unreasonably small time for its size. Recently, growing renewable energy shares have strongly increased the level of uncertainty in the system, making the (ideal) Unit Commitment model a large-scale, non-convex and uncertain (stochastic, robust, chance-constrained) program. We provide a survey of the literature on methods for the Uncertain Unit Commitment problem, in all its variants. We start with a review of the main contributions on solution methods for the deterministic versions of the problem, focussing on those based on mathematical programming techniques that are more relevant for the uncertain versions of the problem. We then present and categorize the approaches to the latter, while providing entry points to the relevant literature on optimization under uncertainty. This is an updated version of the paper "Large-scale Unit Commitment under uncertainty: a literature survey" that appeared in 4OR 13(2), 115--171 (2015); this version has over 170 more citations, most of which appeared in the last three years, proving how fast the literature on uncertain Unit Commitment evolves, and therefore the interest in this subject
Operative treatment of displaced medial epicondyle fractures in children and adolescents
Preparation of CuO/SBA-15 catalyst by the modified ammonia driven deposition precipitation method with a high thermal stability and an efficient automotive CO and hydrocarbons conversion
tCopper oxide (CuO) loaded heterogeneous catalysts are a potential candidate to replace the critical pre-cious metals Pt and Pd for the automotive oxidation reaction. However, a good CuO dispersion on thesupports is necessary to compensate for its low intrinsic activity. Moreover, regarding the high operat-ing temperature within the vehicle, a strong metal-support interaction is also required for providing ahigh thermal resistance to the catalyst. In this work, a series of CuO loaded SBA-15 catalysts has beenprepared according to a modified ammonia driven deposition precipitation method (ADP). Herein, theCu/NH3ratio of the synthesis has been varied with the aim to assess its influence on the CuO particlesdispersion and CuO-support interaction. The morphology and porosity of the catalysts, the copper oxidedispersion and the chemical state of CuO were characterized and compared by a combination of tech-niques. In addition to this, the catalysts\u2019 thermal stability and their performance towards the automotiveemission control have also been addressed. Results demonstrated that the ADP method is an efficient andscalable approach to fabricate a copper oxide based catalyst with a distinct automotive oxidation activ-ity. Furthermore, it has been shown that, when a higher Cu/NH3ratio has been applied, a higher copperoxide dispersion degree can be achieved which has a strong metal-support interaction. The latter featureleads to its excellent thermal stability up to 700\u25e6C, accompanied with a prolonged catalytic life-span incomparison with the conventional wet impregnation approac