A digital video system for observing and recording occultations

Stellar occultations by asteroids and outer solar system bodies can offer ground based observers with modest telescopes and camera equipment the opportunity to probe the shape, size, atmosphere and attendant moons or rings of these distant objects. The essential requirements of the camera and recording equipment are: good quantum efficiency and low noise, minimal dead time between images, good horological faithfulness of the image time stamps, robustness of the recording to unexpected failure, and low cost. We describe the Astronomical Digital Video occultation observing and recording System (ADVS) which attempts to fulfil these requirements and compare the system with other reported camera and recorder systems. Five systems have been built, deployed and tested over the past three years, and we report on three representative occultation observations: one being a 9 +/-1.5 second occultation of the trans-Neptunian object 28978 Ixion (mv=15.2) at 3 seconds per frame, one being a 1.51 +/-0.017 second occultation of Deimos, the 12~km diameter satellite of Mars, at 30 frames per second, and one being a 11.04 +/-0.4 second occultation, recorded at 7.5 frames per second, of the main belt asteroid, 361 Havnia, representing a low magnitude drop (Dmv = 0.4) occultation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA

Epidemiology of maxillofacial trauma in the elderly: a European multicenter study

ABSTRACT Introduction: The progressive aging of European population seems to determine a change in the epidemiology, incidence and etiology of maxillofacial fractures with an increase in the frequency of old patients sustaining craniofacial trauma. The objective of the present study was to assess the demographic variables, causes, and patterns of facial fractures in elderly population (with 70 years or more). Materials and Methods: The data from all geriatric patients (70 years or more) with facial fractures between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2017, were collected. The following data were recorded for each patient: gender, age, voluptuary habits, comorbidities, etiology, site of facial fractures, synchronous body injuries, Facial Injury Severity Score (FISS). Results: A total of 1334 patients (599 male and 735 female patients) were included in the study. Mean age was 79.3 years, and 66% of patients reported one or more comorbidities. The most frequent cause of injury was fall and zygomatic fractures were the most frequently observed injuries. Falls were associated with a low FISS value (p<.005). Concomitant injuries were observed in 27.3% of patients. Falls were associated with the absence of concomitant injuries. The ninth decade (p <.05) and a high FISS score (p <.005) were associated with concomitant body injuries too. Conclusions: This study confirms the role of falls in the epidemiology of facial trauma in the elderly, but also highlights the frequency of involvement of females, and the high frequency of zygomatic fractures.Peer reviewe

Valorization of rapeseed meal: Influence of ethanol antinutrients removal on protein extractability, amino acid composition and fractional profile

The production of rapeseed oil leads to generation of large quantities of rapeseed meal as a by-product. To increase the applicability of the rapeseed meal in feed and food industries, the content of antinutrient compounds is often reduced by treatment with ethanol. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of ethanol pre-treatment of the rapeseed meal on protein extractability, amino acid composition and fractional profile. The ethanol treatment of the rapeseed meal significantly increased the protein content from 37.4 to 42.3% and reduced the lipid concentration from 1.9 to 1.1%. Approximately 4- and 14-fold reductions of the phenols and glucosinolate contents were achieved respectively. Protein yield, however, was diminished from 26.4 to 23.6%. A stronger decrease of the protein yield, from 47.8 to 26.4%, was caused by processing of the rape seeds to rapeseed meal. The process resulted in the reduction of lysine content, while further ethanol treatment of the rapeseed meal affected more amino acids, both essential (threonine, phenylalanine) and non-essential (alanine, tyrosine, arginine, histidine). Comparative fractional protein profiles of rape seeds, rapeseed meal and ethanol treated rapeseed meal exhibited differences in both composition of the fractions and the relative quantity of the proteins. Data suggested that the treatment of the rapeseed meal with ethanol impacted protein solubility, amino acid composition and protein fractional profile. This knowledge is valuable when ethanol treated rapeseed meal is used either as a protein feed additive or as a source for generation of protein-rich ingredients with specific nutritive value and functionality