Massive pericardial effusion caused by hypothyroidism.

Although mild pericardial effusion is a usual finding in patients with hypothyroidism, massive pericardial effusion or pericardial tamponade is rare and customarily related to severe hypothyroidism. The diagnosis of hypothyroidism should be considered in the differential of patients presenting with unexplained pericardial effusion, even when signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism are nonexistent.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mathematical models of bipolar disorder

We use limit cycle oscillators to model bipolar II disorder, which is characterized by alternating hypomanic and depressive episodes and afflicts about 1% of the United States adult population. We consider two non-linear oscillator models of a single bipolar patient. In both frameworks, we begin with an untreated individual and examine the mathematical effects and resulting biological consequences of treatment. We also briefly consider the dynamics of interacting bipolar II individuals using weakly-coupled, weakly-damped harmonic oscillators. We discuss how the proposed models can be used as a framework for refined models that incorporate additional biological data. We conclude with a discussion of possible generalizations of our work, as there are several biologically-motivated extensions that can be readily incorporated into the series of models presented here

Lumbar paraspinal intramuscular myxoma: A case report

Background: With an estimated incidence of about 1 case/million patients, paravertebral intramuscular myxomas represent a rare cause of lumbar pain. Rather, they typically occur in the heart and in bone tissues. Case description: A 64-year-old female presented with a protracted course of nocturnal lumbar pain that radiated to the anterior aspect of the right thigh accompanied by numbness. She reported a slow-growing right paramedian lumbar mass in the previous months. The magnetic resonance (MR) showed a right lumbar paravertebral intramuscular mass at the L3 level (i.e., 70 × 50 mm) that had well-defined margins, and markedly enhanced with gadolinium. Following gross total "en bloc" tumor resection, the patient fully recovered. Pathologically, the myofibroblastic lesion proved to be an intramuscular myxoma without malignant changes. Conclusion: A 64-year-old female presented with a slow-growing MR-documented right paramedian lumbar L3 mass responsible for proximal right-thigh numbness. Following "en bloc" gross total removal of the benign intramuscular myxoma, the patient was asymptomatic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ocean data manager: practical software for oceanographic sensors

Peer Reviewe

Proposta de um modelo de utilização sustentável do solo para a instalação de novas culturas na Beira Baixa, Portugal: o caso do pistácio (Pistacia vera L.)

É consensual que a escolha dos usos mais adequados às aptidões edafo-climáticas, complementada com critérios socioeconómicos, promove uma utilização sustentável dos espaços rurais. Existem diferentes metodologias que permitem determinar a aptidão do solo para usos agroflorestais ou para a manutenção de ecossistemas seminaturais, nomeadamente culturas agrícolas, povoamentos florestais, territórios agro-silvo-pastoris e áreas críticas em termos de riscos de erosão hídrica ou outro risco natural. Neste estudo pretendeu-se determinar os diferentes níveis de aptidão para o cultivo do Pistácio (Pistacia vera L.), no território da Beira Baixa, delimitando as áreas que apresentam aptidão com base na análise dos fatores limitantes, nomeadamente: tipo de solo, precipitação, geadas na primavera (temperaturas mínimas nos meses de março, abril e maio), horas de frio, humidade relativa nos meses de verão e horas de calor. Para o efeito procedeu-se à identificação dos parâmetros biofísicos determinantes para o cultivo de Pistácio, bem como das condicionantes recorrendo à integração de um conjunto de fatores com recurso a um Sistema de Informação Geográfica. A avaliação da aptidão foi efetuada com recurso ao método de análise multicritério Analytical Hierachy Process (AHP). A metodologia utilizada divide o problema em níveis hierárquicos de tomada de decisão. Após a hierarquização do problema, em cada nível, os critérios que condicionam a tomada de decisão são comparados dois a dois (pairwise comparation) numa matriz de decisão quadrada, baseada numa escala de importância de nove valores numéricos. Para esta análise foi utilizada a extensão AHP. O processo AHP é concluído pela determinação da importância relativa de cada critério/subcritério e pela validação da consistência destas operações. A AHP mostrou-se adequada na avaliação da aptidão da área de estudo, por permitir a integração dos vários critérios estudados, sendo uma ferramenta interativa muito útil na análise do território, que possibilita a tomada de decisão e a resolução de problemas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hematological and Morphological Analysis of the Erythropoietic Regenerative Response in Phenylhydrazine-induced Hemolytic Anemia in Mice

In this study we developed a mouse model of Phenylhydrazine (PHZ) -induced hemolytic anemia to study  erythropoietic regenerative response through clinical, pathological, and morphological studies. Hemolytic  anemia was induced in female mice (CF1) using PHZ at a wide range of doses (up to 100 mg/Kg) on days  0 and 2. Hemolytic anemia was observed at 60 mg/kg PHZ on day 4 and was evidenced by decreased HCT  (34.3±0.28%), reticulocytosis (51.6±2.10%), anisocytosis, poikilocytosis, leukocytosis, and increased  Heinz body count. A time-course and dose-dependence analysis of the regenerative response was performed.  HCT decreased on days 2 and 4 in a dose-dependent manner, returning to basal levels on day 8.  PHZ only induced reticulocytosis (day 4) at the highest doses tested (60-100 mg/kg). Heinz body formation  was dose-dependent. These changes were accompanied by splenomegaly and splenic erythroid hyperplasia.  Results revealed that the presence of erythroblastic islands was most clear in the spleen, followed by the  liver and kidney. SEM showed Heinz body-containing erythrocytes and spherocyte-like erythrocytes.  Anemia recovery results from coordinated action of extramedullary tissues depending on the time post  injection and the dose applied. In conclusion, this mouse model allowed us a better understanding of  murine erythropoietic regenerative response.

Eye drop Self-medication: Comparative Questionnaire-based study of two Latin American cities.

A broad spectrum of ocular symptoms are treated by self-medication with commercial eye-drops.  This behavior threatens individuals' visual health. In Latin America, evidence is poor. Objective:  To  detect,  characterize  and  compare  patterns  of  ophthalmic  self-medication  between  Córdoba (Argentina) and Barranquilla (Colombia).Design:  Analytic, cross-sectional and comparative population-based study. Setting: Two private tertiary care ophthalmology centers from Córdoba, Argentina, and Barranquilla, Colombia.Participants:  Patients 18 years of age or older who consulted for the first time in this two institutions duringAugust-November 2009, were included. A number of 570 patients were enrrolled.Methods:  Data collected through a semi-structured questionnaire. Main outcome measure: To determine thefrequency of self-medication with eyedrops on a specific population of two cities in Latin America.Results:  Comparable  rates  of  ocular  self-medication  were  found  (25.6%  and  25.7%  for  Cordoba  and Barranquilla, respectively). The percentage of men and women who self-medicated was not significantly different between both samples. The major source of eye drops recommendation in the Argentineans patients was the pharmacist (31%); while the social source was predominant in Colombian individuals (53%). In Cordoba, the most frequently used product was a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drop in combination with a vasoconstrictive agent (32%); while in Barranquilla, antibiotic eye drops were preferred (33%). Self-medication was higher between the ages of 31 and 50 years old in Argentinean citizens (28%) and between 18 to 31 years old in the Colombiancommunity (39%). This habit was found mostly in patients who completed university studies in Cordoba (33%); in Barranquilla, individuals with lower educational level practice more this behavior (36%).Conclusion:  In both populations, patients commonly treat ocular conditions by self-medicating. Currently, anincreasing number of eye drops are obtainable without prescription and a high percentage of self-medicated patients in both samples ignore the possible side effects of the used medication.Fil: Marquez, Gabriel. Fundación VER; ArgentinaFil: Hildegard Piñeros-Heilbron. Fundación Oftalmológica del Caribe; ColombiaFil: Sanchez, Victoria M.. Fundación VER; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Victor Eduardo Roque. Fundación VER; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad; ArgentinaFil: Gramajo, Ana L.. Fundación VER; ArgentinaFil: Juarez, Claudio P.. Fundación VER; Argentina. Fundación Oftalmológica del Caribe; ColombiaFil: Peña, Fernando. Fundación Oftalmológica del Caribe; ColombiaFil: Luna, José D.. Fundación VER; Argentin

Does d-cycloserine facilitate the effects of homework compliance on social anxiety symptom reduction?

BACKGROUND: Prior studies examining the effect of d-cycloserine (DCS) on homework compliance and outcome in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study was to investigate whether DCS facilitates the effects of homework compliance on symptom reduction in a large-scale study for social anxiety disorder (SAD). METHODS: 169 participants with generalized SAD received DCS or pill placebo during 12-session exposure-based group CBT. Improvements in social anxiety were assessed by independent raters at each session using the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS). RESULTS: Controlling for LSAS at the previous session, and irrespective of treatment condition, greater homework compliance in the week prior related to lower LSAS at the next session. However, DCS did not moderate the effect of homework compliance and LSAS, LSAS on homework compliance, or the overall augmenting effect of DCS on homework compliance. Furthermore, LSAS levels were not predictive of homework compliance in the following week. CONCLUSION: The findings support the general benefits of homework compliance on outcome, but not a DCS-augmenting effect. The comparably small number of DCS-enhanced sessions in this study could be one reason for the failure to find a facilitating effect of DCS

Non-rectangular perfect reconstruction pulse shaping based ICI reduction in CO-OFDM

In this paper, we propose to increase residual carrier frequency offset tolerance based on short perfect reconstruction pulse shaping for coherent optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. The proposed method suppresses the residual carrier frequency offset induced penalty at the receiver, without requiring any additional overhead and exhaustive signal processing. The Q-factor improvement contributed by the proposed method is 1.6 dB and 1.8 dB for time-frequency localization maximization and out-of-band energy minimization pulse shapes, respectively. Finally, the transmission span gain under the influence of residual carrier frequency offset is ̃62% with out-of-band energy minimization pulse shape

Physics of Psychophysics: Stevens and Weber-Fechner laws are transfer functions of excitable media

Sensory arrays made of coupled excitable elements can improve both their input sensitivity and dynamic range due to collective non-linear wave properties. This mechanism is studied in a neural network of electrically coupled (e.g. via gap junctions) elements subject to a Poisson signal process. The network response interpolates between a Weber-Fechner logarithmic law and a Stevens power law depending on the relative refractory period of the cell. Therefore, these non-linear transformations of the input level could be performed in the sensory periphery simply due to a basic property: the transfer function of excitable media.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure