Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum

Authors describe a case of Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum diagnosed by MR. A mass in right atrium with 18cm2 was detected by echocardiography, and later MR showed a homogeneous mass, with high intensity in T1 images and a decrease of signal with fat-suppression

Hepcidin-dependent regulation of erythropoiesis during anemia in a teleost fish, dicentrarchus labrax

Anemia is a common disorder, characterized by abnormally low levels of red blood cells or hemoglobin. The mechanisms of anemia development and response have been thoroughly studied in mammals, but little is known in other vertebrates, particularly teleost fish. In this study, different degrees of anemia were induced in healthy European sea bass specimens (Dicentrarchus labrax) and at pre-determined time points hematological parameters, liver iron content and the expression of genes involved in iron homeostasis and hematopoiesis, with particular attention on hepcidins, were evaluated. The experimental anemia prompted a decrease in hamp1 expression in all tested organs, in accordance to an increased need for iron absorption and mobilization, with slight increases in hamp2 in the kidney and intestine. The liver was clearly the major organ involved in iron homeostasis, decreasing its iron content and showing a gene expression profile consistent with an increased iron release and mobilization. Although both the spleen and head kidney are involved in erythropoiesis, the spleen was found to assume a more preponderant role in the recovery of erythrocyte levels. The intestine was also involved in the response to anemia, through the increase of iron transporting genes. Administration of Hamp1 or Hamp2 mature peptides showed that only Hamp1 affects hematological parameters and liver iron content. In conclusion, the molecular mechanisms of response to anemia present in sea bass are similar to the ones described for mammals, with these results indicating that the two hepcidin types from teleosts assume different roles during anemia

Modal analysis of a composite sandwich panel used in the structure of an hybrid bus

The rear module of an hybrid bus was redesigned in a joint effort by Volvo andIDMEC in the framework of the european project HCV Hybrid Commercial Vehicle (GrantAgreement No 234019), replacing most of the metallic frame and other components with compositesandwich panels. The redesigned bus overall weight was reduced by approximately900kg. This paper presents the numerical and experimental modal analysis of a sandwichpanel that was produced using the same materials and production process used to produce themain prototype rear component

G-Jsim: A GUI tool for wireless sensor networks simulation under J-Sim

“Copyright © [2008] IEEE. Reprinted from 12th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Consumer Electronics (ISCE 2008). ISBN:978-1-4244-2422-1. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”A Wireless Sensor Network is composed of up to thousands of smart sensing nodes with processing unit and memory, sensing unit and wireless communication capabilities. Wireless Sensor Networks application spans from the military applications into almost every field we can think of. Several simulation tools are readily available, among them the J-Sim, a java-based simulator with growing interest by research and network developers alike. We propose to enhance J-Sim functionality with a Guided User Interface for Wireless Sensor Networks that dramatically increases the user-friendliness of the simulator. Also, we provide a free download web page for everyone to benefit

Thermal restraint and fire resistance of columns

A proposal is made, based on the results of a series of tests and calculations, with the aim of being used as a simple method to correct the value of the critical temperature of steel columns free to elongate, in order to take into account the restraint effect of the structure to which they belong in a practical situation. To better illustrate the possible types of behaviour of heated steel columns with elastic restraint to the thermal elongation, and the reasons why the critical temperature of axially loaded slender steel columns with thermal restraint can sometimes be lower than the critical temperature of the same columns free to elongate, a simple model is presented and used in a qualitative analysis.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V37-46WW50B-1/1/139a30367738460772843d1279c4c32

Hamiltonian symplectic embedding of the massive noncommutative U(1) Theory

We show that the massive noncommutative U(1) theory is embedded in a gauge theory using an alternative systematic way, which is based on the symplectic framework. The embedded Hamiltonian density is obtained after a finite number of steps in the iterative symplectic process, oppositely to the result proposed using the BFFT formalism. This alternative formalism of embedding shows how to get a set of dynamically equivalent embedded Hamiltonian densities.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, revtex4, corrected version, references additione

Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in the Vaccination Era

Introdução: A incidência da doença pneumocóccica invasiva(DPI) em Portugal em 2006 foi estimada em 30,9:100.000 em crianças com menos de 24 meses. Uma vacina conjugada heptavalente contra o Streptococcus pneumoniae (PCV7) está disponível desde Fevereiro de 2001 incluindo cerca de 61% dos serotipos responsáveis pela DPI em Portugal. Objectivos: Avaliar o impacto da DPI na população infantil da área de influência dum hospital geral de nível II da área de Lisboa e vale do Tejo. Material e Métodos: Análise retrospectiva dos processos das crianças com DPI que recorreram ao serviço de urgência do HRS de 1 de Janeiro de 2001 a 30 de Junho de 2007. Foram estudadas características socio-demográficas, epidemiológicas, clínicas e microbiológicas. Resultados: Analisámos 18 casos de DPI. Menos de metade dos episódios ocorreram em crianças com idade inferior a dois anos. Apenas 33,3% das crianças pertenciam a um grupo de risco e 22% estavam vacinadas com PCV7. Registaram-se seis casos de meningite, cinco de pneumonia com bacteriémia, um de pneumonia e empiema, três de sépsis, dois de bacteriémia oculta e um de artrite séptica. Ocorreram complicações em 44% dos doentes. Uma criança ficou com sequelas. Não se verificaram óbitos. Os serotipos não vacinais predominaram (19A, 1 e 3) e 33% das estirpes isoladas eram resistentes à penicilina. Conclusões: A taxa de incidência anual de DPI na área do HRS foi estimada em 11,8:100.000 crianças, com predomínio de serotipos não vacinais, podendo reflectir a eficácia da actual vacina, mas alertando para a necessidade de uma vacina mais alargada, adequada à realidade nacional

Mobile solution for three-tier biofeedback data acquisition and processing

“Copyright © [2008] IEEE. Reprinted from Global Telecommunications Conference. (GLOBECOM 2008).IEEE ISBN:978-1-4244-2324-8. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”Wireless sensor networks span from military applications into everyday life. Body sensor networks greatly benefit from wireless sensor networks to answer the biofeedback challenges in healthcare applications. In such applications, data is of fundamental importance, it must be reliable and within easy reach. However, most solutions rely on a personal computer to process and display sensor data. In this paper we propose a mobile solution that draws on three-tier body sensor networks to dramatically improve data accessibility, through the use of a Java and Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. The mobile tool features data monitoring and presentation. This approach allows data visualization by the patient or medical staff without a portable computer or specific monitoring hardware. We hope to contribute to the adoption of biofeedback for early detection of health abnormalities and lower the budget that governments spend each year in healthcare