Assessment of economic factors affecting the satellite power system. Volume 2: The systems implications of rectenna siting issues

The feasibility was evaluated of finding potential sites for Solar Power Satellite (SPS) receiving antennas (rectennas) in the continental United States, in sufficient numbers to permit the SPS to make a major contribution to U.S. generating facilities, and to give statistical validity to an assessment of the characteristics of such sites and their implications for the design of the SPS system. It is found that the cost-optimum power output of the SPS does not depend on the particular value assigned to the cost per unit area of a rectenna and its site, as long as it is independent of rectenna area. Many characteristics of the sites chosen affect the optimum design of the rectenna itself

Chronic Chagas disease: from basics to laboratory medicine

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection, is ranked as the most serious parasitic disease in Latin America and has huge potential to become a worldwide problem, due to increasing migration, and international tourism, as well as infectant transfer by blood contact and transfusion, intrauterine transfer, and organ transplantation. Nearly 30% of chronically-infected patients become symptomatic, often with a latency of 10-30 years, developing life-threatening complications. Of those, nearly 90% develop Chagas heart disease, while the others manifest gastrointestinal disease and neuronal disorders. Besides interrupting the infection cycle and chemotherapeutic infectant elimination, starting therapy early in symptomatic patients is important for counteracting the disease. This would be essentially supported by optimized patient management, involving risk assessment, early diagnosis and monitoring of the disease and its treatment. From economic and logistic viewpoints, the tools of laboratory medicine should be especially able to guarantee this. After summarizing the basics of chronic Chagas disease, such as the epidemiological data, the pathogenetic mechanisms thought to drive symptomatic Chagas disease and also treatment options, we present tools of laboratory medicine that address patient diagnosis, risk assessment for becoming symptomatic and guidance, focusing on autoantibody estimation for risk assessment and heart marker measurement for patient guidance. In addition, increases in levels of inflammation and oxidative stress markers in chronic Chagas disease are discussed

Rodenticide residues in non-target small mammal species and their occurrence in owl pellets

OBJECTIVES: Distinguishing the patterns of autoantibodies (AAB) against G-protein-coupled receptors in Chagas' cardiomyopathy and megacolon and the discovery of such a pattern in patients who are as yet asymptomatic could help to identify patients at high risk of developing the life-threatening complications of Chagas' disease. BACKGROUND: Such AAB against receptors as beta 1 (beta1-AAB), beta 2 (beta2-AAB), and muscarinergic 2 (M2-AAB) are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of Chagas' cardiomyopathy and megacolon, the predominant manifestations of Chagas' disease, which is the most serious parasitic disease in Latin America. METHODS: Beta1-AAB, beta2-AAB, and M2-AAB were measured in the serum of asymptomatic Chagas' patients and in those with cardiomyopathy and/or megacolon. RESULTS: Nearly all Chagas' patients with cardiomyopathy and/or megacolon had AAB. Predominance of beta1-AAB combined with M2-AAB in Chagas' cardiomyopathy and beta2-AAB with M2-AAB in megacolon was found. Such patterns were also found in 34% of the asymptomatic patients, of whom 85% possessed a beta1-AAB level typical for Chagas' cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of asymptomatic Chagas' patients who had a specific AAB pattern and had a beta1-AAB level above a defined cutoff point mirrors very well the epidemiological situation, which showed that clinical manifestations develop in nearly 30% of Chagas' patients and cardiomyopathy in nearly 90% of them. We hypothesize that beta1-, beta2-, and M2-AAB measurement might be a useful tool for risk assessment in the indeterminate state of Chagas' disease to select patients for earlier involvement in care programs. However, prospective studies are needed to further evaluate this hypothesis

The duplication of the rectum: presentation and therapy

Aim: to delineate the symptomatic features and to emphasize the necessity of early diagnosis and complete surgical excision of rectal duplications. Method. We undertook a retrospective and contemporary review of all patients. Clinical recordings, preoperative evaluations, intraoperative and histological findings, and current patients’ condition were studied. Results. Age of the six patients ranged from new-born to 13 years. There was a broad spectrum of clinical presentation: two children were seen after previous therapy elsewhere with a mistaken diagnosis of perianal fistula, respectively undefined abdominal pain; two presented with exstrophic duplication of the rectum; one neonate was seen with an anal cleft and one infant with rectal bleeding and retrorectal palpable tumour. Paraclinical investigations established preoperative diagnosis in one patient, aided it in two others, and detected associated anomalies in two further patients. All duplications were “in toto“ removed using laparotomy (n = 1), transanal (n = 1), or perineal sagittal approach(n = 4). All duplications had contact with the rectum. Smooth muscle coat and intestinal epithelial layer were histological demonstrated in each case. Conclusions. Rectal duplications are rare anomalies. Clinical manifestations may include abdominal pain, obstipation, rectal bleeding, urinary or bowel obstruction, rectal polyp, perianal fistula, perineal abscess, and pelvic, abdominal, retroperitoneal or perineal mass. Early diagnosis avoids prolonged symptomatic treatment and unnecessary operative procedures. Complete excision is curative

Does contrast echocardiography induce increases in markers of myocardial necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress suggesting myocardial injury?

BACKGROUND: Contrast echocardiography is a precise tool for the non-invasive assessment of myocardial function and perfusion. Side effects of contrast echocardiography resulting from contrast-agent induced myocardial micro-lesions have been found in animals. The goal of this study is to measure markers of myocardial necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress in humans to evaluate potential side-effects of contrast echocardiography. METHODS: 20 patients who underwent contrast echocardiography with Optison as the contrast medium were investigated. To evaluate myocardial micro-necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-6, -8 and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were measured at baseline and at 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours after contrast echocardiography. RESULTS: At baseline, 50% of the patients had cTnI and TBARS values outside the reference range. TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8 levels were within the reference range. Patients with cTnI above the RR clustered to significantly higher levels of TNF-α and IL-6. After contrast echocardiography, no statistically significant increase of cTnI, cytokines and TBARS was found. However, for nearly 50% of the patients, the intra-individual cTnI kinetics crossed the critical difference (threefold of methodical variation) which indicates a marker increase. This was neither predicted by the baseline levels of the cytokines nor the markers of oxidative stress. CONCLUSION: There are no clinically relevant increases in serum markers for micro-necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress in humans after contrast echocardiography. Future studies have to address whether cTnI increase in some patients represent a subset with increased risk for side effects after contrast echocardiography

Early neuromodulation prevents the development of brain and behavioral abnormalities in a rodent model of schizophrenia

The notion that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which neuropathologies evolve gradually over the developmental course indicates a potential therapeutic window during which pathophysiological processes may be modified to halt disease progression or reduce its severity. Here we used a neurodevelopmental maternal immune stimulation (MIS) rat model of schizophrenia to test whether early targeted modulatory intervention would affect schizophrenia’s neurodevelopmental course. We applied deep brain stimulation (DBS) or sham stimulation to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of adolescent MIS rats and respective controls, and investigated its behavioral, biochemical, brain-structural and -metabolic effects in adulthood. We found that mPFC-DBS successfully prevented the emergence of deficits in sensorimotor gating, attentional selectivity and executive function in adulthood, as well as the enlargement of lateral ventricle volumes and mal-development of dopaminergic and serotonergic transmission. These data suggest that the mPFC may be a valuable target for effective preventive treatments. This may have significant translational value, suggesting that targeting the mPFC before the onset of psychosis via less invasive neuromodulation approaches may be a viable preventive strategy.We thank Renate Winter, Doris Zschaber and Roselies Pickert for excellent technical assistance. This research was conducted under the EraNet Neuron framework (DBS_F20rat) and supported by the BMBF, Germany (B01EW1103, 01EE1403A), Fundación Mapfre, Comunidad de Madrid and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness ISCIII-FIS grants (PI14/00860, CPII/00005) co-financed by ERDF (FEDER) Funds from the European Commission, ‘A way of making Europe’, Spain (PI14/00860, CPII/00005, MV1500002), the CSO-MOH, Israel (3-8580) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada (CIHR, 110068), and co-financed by the DFG, Germany (WI 2140/1-1/2; WI 2140/2-1).Publicad