Treatment of perinfarction recurrent ventricular fibrillation by percutaneous pharmacological block of left stellate ganglion

A patient suffering from an acute myocardial infarction presented on the seventh and eighth days of hospitalization recurrent episodes of ventricular fibrillation refractory to antiarrhythmic treatment. The life-threatening ventricular fibrillation was suppressed by percutaneous pharmacological block of the left stellate ganglion

Weekly Variations in the Workload of Turkish National Youth Wrestlers: A Season of Complete Preparation

The authors would like to thank the participants for the time they devoted to this study. Rui Silva: This study made part of one curricular unit of Master in Sports Training at Escola Superior de Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal.The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to describe the weekly acute workload (wAW), chronic workload (wCW), acute/chronic workload ratio (wACWR), training monotony (wTM), and strain (wTS) across the preparation season (PS), and (2) to analyze the variations of wAW, wCW, wACWR, wTM, and training strain (wTS) between periods of PS (early-, mid-, and end). Ten elite young wrestlers were monitored daily during the 32 weeks of the season. Internal loads were monitored using session rating of perceived exertion, and weekly workload measures of wACWR, wTM, and wTS were also calculated. Results revealed that the greatest differences were found between early- and mid-PS for wAW (p = 0.004, g = 0.34), wCW (p = 0.002, g = 0.90), wTM (p = 0.005, g = 0.39), and wTS (p = 0.009, g = -1.1), respectively. The wACWR showed significant differences between early- and end-PS (p <= 0.001, g = -0.30). We concluded that wAW, wCW, and wTM are slightly lower during the first weeks of the PS. The wTM remained relatively high during the entire season, while wAW and wCW remained balanced throughout the PS. The greatest workload changes seem to happen from the early to mid-PS season

Interoperability and FAIRness through a novel combination of Web technologies

Data in the life sciences are extremely diverse and are stored in a broad spectrum of repositories ranging from those designed for particular data types (such as KEGG for pathway data or UniProt for protein data) to those that are general-purpose (such as FigShare, Zenodo, Dataverse or EUDAT). These data have widely different levels of sensitivity and security considerations. For example, clinical observations about genetic mutations in patients are highly sensitive, while observations of species diversity are generally not. The lack of uniformity in data models from one repository to another, and in the richness and availability of metadata descriptions, makes integration and analysis of these data a manual, time-consuming task with no scalability. Here we explore a set of resource-oriented Web design patterns for data discovery, accessibility, transformation, and integration that can be implemented by any general- or special-purpose repository as a means to assist users in finding and reusing their data holdings. We show that by using off-the-shelf technologies, interoperability can be achieved atthe level of an individual spreadsheet cell. We note that the behaviours of this architecture compare favourably to the desiderata defined by the FAIR Data Principles, and can therefore represent an exemplar implementation of those principles. The proposed interoperability design patterns may be used to improve discovery and integration of both new and legacy data, maximizing the utility of all scholarly outputs

Multi-Functional Carbon Fibre Composites using Carbon Nanotubes as an Alternative to Polymer Sizing

Carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) were introduced to the aerospace, automobile and civil engineering industries for their high strength and low weight. A key feature of CFRP is the polymer sizing - a coating applied to the surface of the carbon fibres to assist handling, improve the interfacial adhesion between fibre and polymer matrix and allow this matrix to wet-out the carbon fibres. In this paper, we introduce an alternative material to the polymer sizing, namely carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the carbon fibres, which in addition imparts electrical and thermal functionality. High quality CNTs are grown at a high density as a result of a 35 nm aluminium interlayer which has previously been shown to minimise diffusion of the catalyst in the carbon fibre substrate. A CNT modified-CFRP show 300%, 450% and 230% improvements in the electrical conductivity on the ‘surface’, ‘through-thickness’ and ‘volume’ directions, respectively. Furthermore, through-thickness thermal conductivity calculations reveal a 107% increase. These improvements suggest the potential of a direct replacement for lightning strike solutions and to enhance the efficiency of current de-icing solutions employed in the aerospace industry

Early impact of abdominal compartment syndrome on liver, kidney and lung damage in a rodent model

Background: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) sometimes occurs in critically ill patients following damage control surgery. The purpose of the present study was to develop a model of ACS and to evaluate its pathologic impact on liver, kidney, and lung morphology. Methods: Twenty Wistar rats (mass 300\u2013350 g) were randomly divided into four groups: 1) intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH): a laparotomy was performed and the abdomen packed with cotton until an intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) of 15 mm Hg was reached; 2) hypovolemia (HYPO): blood was withdrawn until a mean arterial pressure ~60 mm Hg was reached; 3) IAH + HYPO (to resemble clinical ACS); and 4) sham surgery. After 3 hours of protective mechanical ventilation, the animals were euthanized and the liver, kidney and lungs removed to examine the degree of tissue damage. Results: IAH resulted in the following: oedema and neutrophil infiltration in the kidney; necrosis, congestion, and microsteatosis in the liver; and alveolar collapse, haemorrhage, interstitial oedema, and neutrophil infiltration in the lungs. Furthermore, IAH was associated with greater cell apoptosis in the kidney, liver and lungs compared to sham surgery. HYPO led to oedema and neutrophil infiltration in the kidney. The combination of IAH and HYPO resulted in all the aforementioned changes in lung, kidney and liver tissue, as well as exacerbation of the inflammatory process in the kidney and liver and kidney cell necrosis and apoptosis. Conclusions: Intra-abdominal hypertension by itself is associated with kidney, liver and lung damage; when combined with hypovolemia, it leads to further impairment and organ damage

Erectile dysfunction is frequent in systemic sclerosis and associated with severe disease: a study of the EULAR Scleroderma Trial and Research group

Introduction: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common in men with systemic sclerosis (SSc) but the demographics, risk factors and treatment coverage for ED are not well known. Method: This study was carried out prospectively in the multinational EULAR Scleroderma Trial and Research database by amending the electronic data-entry system with the International Index of Erectile Function-5 and items related to ED risk factors and treatment. Centres participating in this EULAR Scleroderma Trial and Research substudy were asked to recruit patients consecutively. Results: Of the 130 men studied, only 23 (17.7%) had a normal International Index of Erectile Function-5 score. Thirty-eight per cent of all participants had severe ED (International Index of Erectile Function-5 score ≤ 7). Men with ED were significantly older than subjects without ED (54.8 years vs. 43.3 years, P < 0.001) and more frequently had simultaneous non-SSc-related risk factors such as alcohol consumption. In 82% of SSc patients, the onset of ED was after the manifestation of the first non-Raynaud's symptom (median delay 4.1 years). ED was associated with severe cutaneous, muscular or renal involvement of SSc, elevated pulmonary pressures and restrictive lung disease. ED was treated in only 27.8% of men. The most common treatment was sildenafil, whose efficacy is not established in ED of SSc patients. Conclusions: Severe ED is a common and early problem in men with SSc. Physicians should address modifiable risk factors actively. More research into the pathophysiology, longitudinal development, treatment and psychosocial impact of ED is needed

Seasonality of soil water exchange in the soybean growing season in southern Brazil

The processes of water transfer in the soil-plant-atmosphere system are strongly affected by soil use and management. Differences in the dynamics of soil water transfer between no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) practices during a soybean (Glycine max) growing season in southern Brazil were assessed in this study. All the water balance components were analyzed during the soybean growing season (2009/2010). Rainfall, runoff, soil water storage and hydro-physical soil properties were analyzed under two tillage systems. The land-atmosphere water vapor exchanges, obtained from eddy covariance stations, were analyzed with regard to the soybean agroecosystem. Characterizations of soil water storage were also formulated in the 2006/2007 and 2008/2009 soybean growing seasons under the NT system. During the periods without rain, the soil water content under NT was greater than under CT. The soil superficial layer, more porous under NT, contributed to less runoff during rainy events. Moreover, under NT conditions the water supply was always high, between 0.2 - 0.5 m. The total evapotranspiration in the soybean agroecosystem growing season was 410.8 mm

The silicon multiplicity detector for the NA50 experiment at CERN

The design, operation and performance of the silicon strip Multiplicity Detector for the heavy-ion experiment NA50 at CERN are presented. The main features of the detector are high speed (50 MHz sampling frequency), high granularity (more than 13,000 strips), and good radiation resistance. The detector provided a measurement ofevent centrality in Pb–Pb collisions, as well as target identification and the measurement ofcharged particle pseudorapidity distributions as a function of centrality. r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 29.4

The silicon Multiplicity Detector for the NA50 experiment

Abstract The operation and performance of the silicon strip Multiplicity Detector in the heavy-ion experiment NA50 at CERN are presented together with a selection of physics results. The main features of the detector are high speed (50 MHz sampling frequency), high granularity (more than 13,000 strips), and good radiation resistance. The detector provided a measurement of event centrality in Pb–Pb collisions, as well as target identification and the measurement of charged particle pseudorapidity distributions as a function of centrality

Theory and Applications of Non-Relativistic and Relativistic Turbulent Reconnection

Realistic astrophysical environments are turbulent due to the extremely high Reynolds numbers. Therefore, the theories of reconnection intended for describing astrophysical reconnection should not ignore the effects of turbulence on magnetic reconnection. Turbulence is known to change the nature of many physical processes dramatically and in this review we claim that magnetic reconnection is not an exception. We stress that not only astrophysical turbulence is ubiquitous, but also magnetic reconnection itself induces turbulence. Thus turbulence must be accounted for in any realistic astrophysical reconnection setup. We argue that due to the similarities of MHD turbulence in relativistic and non-relativistic cases the theory of magnetic reconnection developed for the non-relativistic case can be extended to the relativistic case and we provide numerical simulations that support this conjecture. We also provide quantitative comparisons of the theoretical predictions and results of numerical experiments, including the situations when turbulent reconnection is self-driven, i.e. the turbulence in the system is generated by the reconnection process itself. We show how turbulent reconnection entails the violation of magnetic flux freezing, the conclusion that has really far reaching consequences for many realistically turbulent astrophysical environments. In addition, we consider observational testing of turbulent reconnection as well as numerous implications of the theory. The former includes the Sun and solar wind reconnection, while the latter include the process of reconnection diffusion induced by turbulent reconnection, the acceleration of energetic particles, bursts of turbulent reconnection related to black hole sources as well as gamma ray bursts. Finally, we explain why turbulent reconnection cannot be explained by turbulent resistivity or derived through the mean field approach.Comment: 66 pages, 24 figures, a chapter of the book "Magnetic Reconnection - Concepts and Applications", editors W. Gonzalez, E. N. Parke