Endometriosis: An Unusual Cause of Bilateral Pneumothoraces

A 27-year-old female presented to the emergency department with sudden onset shortness of breath. A diagnosis of bilateral catamenial pneumothoraces was made following chest radiograph. Catamenial pneumothorax is a recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax that occurs in 90% of affected women 24-48 hours after the onset of their menstruation; 30-50% of cases have associated pelvic endometriosis. Symptoms can be as simple as chest pain or as severe as the presentation of this patient who was initially found to be in significant respiratory distress

Novel, Inexpensive Portable Respiratory Protection Unit (PRPU) for Healthcare Workers

Introduction: Given concern for increased aerosolization during intubation of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, we sought to create a portable, inexpensive, and easily constructed device to help protect healthcare workers.Methods: A respiratory protection unit can be constructed in approximately 30 minutes and for less than 50 United States dollars in materials, using polyvinylchloride pipe and automobile collision wrap.Conclusion: This device provides possible increased protection during video laryngoscopy and can easily be replicated

A Full Uterus: Hematometra from Cervical Scarring

A 29-year-old female presented with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. She reported no menstrual period for one year. She did report monthly episodes of severe cramping. A loop electrosurgical excision procedure was performed approximately 10 months prior. On pelvic exam, a smooth cervix with scarring over the os was visualized with no evidence of cervical opening. A pelvic ultrasound showed an enlarged uterus with contents within the endometrial cavity likely representing hemorrhage of different ages and ongoing bleeding. Gynecology was consulted and performed an incisional opening of the cervix. The patient was diagnosed with hematometra from scarred cervical os

The Hudson River Valley Greenway and Beyond: How a Word Can Change the Way We Think About Our Land

“Most American places do not feel haunted…they do not play upon the imagination in such a way as to produce near tangible impressions of ages and people long gone. The Hudson River Valley is a great exception to this American rule. The windows on all its eras are nearly always open, so that despite whatever modern progress its communities may make, it is never difficult for a visitor to conjure the faces and voices of the Valley’s past. This is the river of Franklin Roosevelt, of Frederic Church and Benedict Arnold and ‘Gentleman Johnny’ Burgoyne. Washington Irving owns it still, and Hendrick Hudson forever sails upstream toward its hidden heart.”(Scheller, 1988) When I was in my early twenties, I found myself at the site of the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt. There, following a camel ride into the desert, I sat at an outdoor bar with friends sipping a beer, watching the sun go down and the sky turn dark. When the night had come, spotlights came on and a deep voice, in English, began telling the history of the pyramids. This Son et Lumpier production was my first awareness that landscapes are not simply views and vistas;, our perceptions of them are shaped by history, and that if there is no context for a landscape, the viewer cannot fully understand what he/she is looking at. Why is this important? Because, as the National Park Service likes to say, people will not try to protect resources that they do not know are there. Today we call these landscapes “Cultural Landscapes”, and it is under their umbrella that we have greenways, greenline parks, and living landscapes, among others. There are probably as many definitions of cultural landscapes as there are landscapes. Here are some: -- “Landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from the strata of memory as from layers of rock.” (Schama,, 1995) -- A landscape shaped through human intervention. New York State Department of Transportation: --“A way of seeing landscapes that emphasizes the interaction between human beings and nature over time; also–Any landscape people have created, modified or protected–from historic gardens and urban parks to conservation reserves, from neighborhood streetscapes to working farms and forests.” The Institute for Landscape Studies, Harvard University My favorite, however, is not a definition at all but a description from the American Battlefield Protection Program that tells the meaning perfectly: “Battlefields are historic landscapes. Across farmers’ fields armies clashed and moved on, leaving only blackened earth, hasty burials, scattered bullets and shell fragments, the litter of combat. Residents returning to the site picked up pieces of their lives, rebuilt their burned-out homes and planted the fields anew. Hastily buried bodies were unearthed and interred in local and national cemeteries. Relics were discarded. Life went on. “Yet the passing event fundamentally altered the relationship of the community to the land. Once obscure places became associated forever with the momentous events of America’s wars. So long as the memory is nourished, people will point and say that is where the battle happened.”(Lowe, 2000

S.J. Sampson - Holmes Funeral Directors, December 20, 1925

Correspondence: Handwritten note from S.J. Sampson, St. Petersburg, Florida, requesting payment from Holmes Funeral Directors, Jacksonville, Florida, on balance due of $17.68

Development of High Efficiency (14%) Solar Cell Array Module

High efficiency solar cells required for the low cost modules was developed. The production tooling for the manufacture of the cells and modules was designed. The tooling consisted of: (1) back contact soldering machine; (2) vacuum pickup; (3) antireflective coating tooling; and (4) test fixture

Development of high efficiency (14 percent) solar cell array module

Most effort was concentrated on development of procedures to provide large area (3 in. diameter) high efficiency (16.5 percent AM1, 28 C) P+NN+ solar cells. Intensive tests with 3 in. slices gave consistently lower efficiency (13.5 percent). The problems were identified as incomplete formation of and optimum back surface field (BSF), and interaction of the BSF process and the shallow P+ junction. The problem was shown not to be caused by reduced quality of silicon near the edges of the larger slices

Three computer codes to read, plot and tabulate operational test-site recorded solar data

Computer programs used to process data that will be used in the evaluation of collector efficiency and solar system performance are described. The program, TAPFIL, reads data from an IBM 360 tape containing information (insolation, flowrates, temperatures, etc.) from 48 operational solar heating and cooling test sites. Two other programs, CHPLOT and WRTCNL, plot and tabulate the data from the direct access, unformatted TAPFIL file. The methodology of the programs, their inputs, and their outputs are described

Private Sector Involvement in Urban Solid Waste Collection. Performance, capacity and regulations in five cities in Ghana

This thesis focuses on the private sector involvement in solid waste collection, and the influence of private sector capacity and local governments‘ regulations on private sector performance. Private sector involvement in public service pro-vision evolved to deal with market and government failures (van Dijk, 2008b). The public sector is playing a leading role of purchaser (buyer) on behalf of citi-zens through subsidies and/or user charges, whiles the private sector is taking on an increasing role as provider (seller) of public services, and being regulated by the public sector to correct market failures associated with ‗public good‘ nature of solid waste service. It is believed that private sector involvement is a way to maintain market discipline and to bring private sector management and technical expertise and private finance into public service to achieve cost efficiency and better service provision (improve service quality) (Cointreau, 1994; Bartone, 2001; van Dijk, 2008b). Even though private sector involvement (PSI) provides opportunities for improved efficiency and service quality, the few s