Performance of Diversity System Output Signal in Mobile Cellular System in the Presence of alpha-mu all Short Term Fading and Gamma Long Term Fading

In this paper, wireless mobile communication system with macrodiversity reception is considered. Macrodiversity system is consisting of macrodiversity selection combining (SC) receiver and three microdiversity SC receivers. Propagation channel suffers alpha-mu short term fading and Gamma long term fading resulting in system performance degradation. Analytical closed form expression for average level crossing rate (LCR) of macrodiversity SC receiver output signal envelope is obtained Mathematical results are analyzed, presenting the influence of long term fading parameters and short term fading parameters on average level crossing rate. Obtained results can be used in the process of simulation and design of real-world environments mobile cellular telecommunication systems

INFLUENCE OF THE NUMBER OF PREVIOUS CAESAREAN SECTIONS ON LOWER UTERINE SEGMENT STATE

Determining the lower uterine segment (LUS) state before vaginal delivery and after Caesarean section, including pregnant women with more than one Caesarean section, may be an important step towards prevention from still high maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality that follow uterine rupture. In pregnant women with one or more previous Caesarean sections, ultrasonic measuring of thickness and estimating the LUS integrity can objectively show the state of uterine scars. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of several previous Caesarean sections on the LUS state in term pregnant women. The prospective study included 62 pregnant women with one or more previous Caesarean sections – the examined group, and 50 pregnant women without Caesarean section – the control group, that after the 37th week of pregnancy had undergone the transvaginal ultrasonic measuring of the thickness of the LUS muscular tissue. In 57 pregnant women from the examined group delivered with another Caesarean section, we estimated, intraoperatively, the LUS integrity in the scar area. On the same occasion, in the scar area, the presence of defect – partial or complete was detected. The research pointed out that the average LUS thickness in the examined group – 1.92±0.95mm was statistically significantly lower compared to the control group – 2.68±0.97mm (p<0.001). The average LUS thickness in 52 examined women with one Caesarean section was 1.92±0.97mm, and in 9 women with two Caesarean sections the average thickness was lower – 1.78±0.82mm, which does not represent a statistically significant difference (p=0.85). In one pregnant woman with three Caesarean sections, the LUS thickness was 3.30mm. We registered the total of 13 pregnant women with a defect in the Caesarean section scar area (12 partial and 1 complete defects), in 12 women after one Caesarean section and in 1 woman after two Caesarean sections. The research results show that women with previous Caesarean section have significantly thinner LUS, compared to the group of pregnant women without scars. With the increasing number of previous Caesarean sections, the LUS thickness decreases, but the difference is not statistically significant. Intraoperatively, the presence of certain LUS classes compared to the number of previous Caesarean sections is not significantly different. Furthermore, the increase in the number of Caesarean sections does not involve a statistically significant increase in the frequency of Caesarean section scar defects, which is in accordance with other authors’ results

Acute abdomen in a patient with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome

Background. Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a malformation of female genital tract (incidence 1 in 4000 female newborn children). It appears as a result of a disorder in the development of Millerian cannals. Etiology is unknown. Syndrome MRKH is the most frequent cause of primary amenorrhoea (90%). Patients with MRKH have a normal female phenotype, with normal pubic hairness and thelarche, and female karyotype (46XX) followed by primary amenorrhoea. Hormonal status corresponds to healthy women, where the appearance of ovarian tumors and tumors on rudiment parts of uterus is possible. Case report. We presented a case of acute abdomen in a patient with previously not diagnosed MRKH. The diagnosis was done during the operation. Small pelvis and an abdominal part were filled with torquated tumor lump, where ovaries, oviducts, uterus or something resembling rudiment of uterus were not recognized through careful examination. Furthemore, the patient had a short, dead-end vagina. Tumorectomy was done and hystopathological finding showed the presence of vascular leiomyoma. Conclusion. The diagnosis of complex syndromes, such as MRKH, can, despite modern diagnostics, be absent for non-medical and psycho-social reasons. We can expect ovarian and uterine pathology on hypoplastic structures in these patients, as well as in healthy women. Vascular leiomyoma in the patients with MRKH was not found in the available literature

High-density cervical ureaplasma urealyticum colonization in pregnant women

Background/aim: Ureaplasma urealyticum, a common commensal of the female lower genital tract, has been observed as an important opportunistic pathogen during pregnancy. The aims of this study were to determine the degree of cervical colonization with U. urealyticum in pregnant women with risk pregnancy and in pregnant women with normal term delivery and to evaluate the correlation between high-density cervical U. urealyticum colonization and premature rupture of membranes (PROM) as well. Methods. This research was conducted on the samples comprising 130 hospitalized pregnant women with threatening preterm delivery and premature rupture of membranes. The control group consisted of 39 pregnant women with term delivery without PROM. In addition to standard bacteriological examination and performing direct immunofluorescence test to detect Chlamydia trachomatis, cervical swabs were also examined for the presence of U. urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis by commercially available Mycofast Evolution 2 test (International Microbio, France). Results. The number of findings with isolated high-density U. urealyticum in the target group was 69 (53.08%), while in the control group was 14 (35.90%). Premature rupture of membranes (PROM) occurred in 43 (33.08%) examinees: 29 were pPROM, and 14 were PROM. The finding of U.urealyticum ≥104 was determined in 25 (58.14%) pregnant women with rupture, 17 were pPROM, and 8 were PROM. There was statistically significant difference in the finding of high-density U. urealyticum between the pregnant women with PROM and the control group (χ² = 4.06, p &lt; 0.05). U. urealyticum was predominant bacterial species found in 62.79% of isolates in the PROM cases, while in 32.56% it was isolated alone. Among the 49 pregnant women with preterm delivery, pPROM occurred in 29 (59.18%) examinees, and in 70.83% of pregnant women with findings of high-density U. urealyticum pPROM was observed. Conclusion. Cervical colonization with U. urealyticum ≥ 104 is more frequent in pregnant women with risk pregnancy than in pregnant women with normal term delivery. High-density cervical U. urealyticum colonization should be observed as a possible etiological factor for PROM

WEAR LOAD CAPACITY OF CROSSED HELICAL GEARS

The paper presents a wear load capacity of crossed helical gears (gear pair consists of a worm and a helical gear). Crossed helical gears are similar to worm gear pairs, and it is logical to extend the load capacity calculation approach of worm gears for the case of crossed helical gears. One of the disadvantages of crossed helical gear sets is very high running-in wear. The paper explains the transition between running-in and steady-state wear and proposes a joint wear calculation model. The paper outlines a proposal to extend the calculation method for wear load capacity from a worm gear pair to the case of crossed helical gears (a worm with a helical gear). This calculation method for determining the wear load capacity of crossed helical gears is verified for the cases when the wheel is of bronze CuSn12Ni2-C-GCB and sintered steel Fe1.5Cr0.2Mo

Transcatheter stenting of arterial duct in duct-dependent congenital heart disease

Introduction. Critical congenital heart diseases (CHD) are mostly duct-dependent and require stable systemic-pulmonary communication. In order to maintain patency of the ductus arteriosus (DA), the first line treatment is Prostaglandin E1 and the second step is the surgical creation of aortic-pulmonary shunt. To reduce surgical risk in neonates with the critical CHD, transcatheter stenting of DA can be performed in selected cases. Case Outline. A four-month old infant was diagnosed with the pulmonary artery atresia with ventricular septal defect (PAA/VSD). The left pulmonary artery was perfused from DA, and the right lung through three major aortopulmonary collaterals (MAPCAs). A coronary stent was placed in the long and critically stenotic DA, with final arterial duct diameter of 3.5 mm, and significantly increased blood supply to the left lung. After the procedure, the infant’s status was improved with regard to arterial oxygen saturation, feeding and weight gain. During the follow-up, one year later, aortography revealed in-stent stenosis. The left pulmonary artery, as well as the branches, was well-developed and the decision was made to proceed with further surgical correction. Conclusion. Stenting of DA can be an effective alternative to primary surgical correction in selected patients with duct-dependent CHD

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN A SPIRALLY COILED CORRUGATED TUBE WITH RADIANT HEATING

The Archimedean spiral coil made of a transversely corrugated tube was exposed to radiant heating in order to represent a heat absorber of the parabolic dish solar concentrator. The main advantage of the considered innovative design solution is a coupling effect of the two passive methods for heat transfer enhancement - coiling of the flow channel and changes in surface roughness. The curvature ratio of the spiral coil varies from 0.029 to 0.234, while water and a mixture of propylene glycol and water are used as heat transfer fluids. The unique focus of this study is on specific boundary conditions since the heat flux upon the tube external surfaces varies not only in the circumferential direction, but in the axial direction as well. Instrumentation of the laboratory model of the heat absorber mounted in the radiation field includes measurement of inlet fluid flow rate, pressure drop, inlet and outlet fluid temperature and 35 type K thermocouples welded to the coil surface. A thermal analysis of the experimentally obtained data implies taking into consideration the externally applied radiation field, convective and radiative heat losses, conduction through the tube wall and convection to the internal fluid. The experimental results have shown significant enhancement of the heat transfer rate compared to spirally coiled smooth tubes, up to 240% in the turbulent flow regime

Pathway analysis of CD8+ T cell transcriptome in glioblastoma patients reveales multiple sclerosis signaling pathway as the top rated upregulated disease pathway in tumor infiltrating cells

The significance of CD8+ T cell central nervous system migration and activation in the progression of glioblastoma is well documented. However, molecular signaling pathways regulation related to migration and activation in CD8+ cells in glioblastoma is scarce. Therefore we have analyzed the molecular pathway regulation in differentially expressed mRNAs of tumor infiltrating vs. peripheral blood CD8+ T cells from glioblastoma patients. Tumor-infiltrating vs. peripheral blood differentially expressed mRNAs were obtained by analyzing the FASTAQ files on the Galaxy platform using the LimmaVoom tool with filtering low count mRNAs (CPM > 2). We used publically avaliable FASTAQ files with CD8+ T cells mRNA sequencing data deposited at NCBI’s GEO database (accession number GSE171197). The differentially expressed mRNA were analyzed with Qiagen’s Ingenuity pathway analysis (p adj. cutoff 0.05). Protein-protein interaction network was constructed on the NetworkAnalyst platform using the IMeX database with minimal order parameters. The top rated disease canonical pathway was the multiple sclerosis (MS) signaling pathway, with 18 differentially expressed mRNA hits (out of possible 222), p adj. = 0.0009 and Z score = 2.828, implying significant upregulation of this pathway in tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. The MS signaling pathway describes the molecular cascade which leads to the autoimmune phenotype in lymphocytes, including activation and central nervous tissue infiltration. To further specify the aspects of the canonical MS signaling pathway which might influence tumor infiltrating phenotype we have constructed a minimal order protein-protein interaction network. Results showed a number of lymphocyte migration and activation KEGG terms within the network, such as: TNF signaling pathway (p adj. = 0.0000115), IL-17 signaling pathway (p adj. = 0.00000427), sphingolipid signaling pathway (p adj. = 0.00171), NF-kappa B signaling pathway (p adj. = 0.0000694) and TCR signaling pathway (p adj. = 0.0071). We conclude that MS signaling pathway is an viable model for further understanding of the transcriptional phenotype of glioblastoma infiltrating CD8+ T killer cells, illustrating that same migration and activation mechanisms which mediate brain autoimmunity are essential for brain antitumor adaptive immunity.Book of abstract: 4th Belgrade Bioinformatics Conference, June 19-23, 202

Značaj veličine vegetacionog prostora za zakorovljenost i prinos kukuruza

The arrangement pattern, i.e. shape and size of vegetative space available to growing plants influences crop-weed competitive interaction and weed abundance. Most researches show that growing row crops such as maize, soybean, sunflower etc., with narrow row space, has as a result lower weed infestation and better yield parameters. In this study the effects of the maize vegetative space, which are achieved with combination of different row spaces and spaces between plants in the row, on the weed distribution and fresh matter and some morphological and productive parameters of maize were investigated. The crop density was the same for all arrangement patterns and herbicide application was included with three levels: full and half of the recommended dose and control without herbicide application. In all three years of investigation, the weed fresh matter declined with decreasing row spaces and was, on average, the lowest for the narrower row space and herbicide application at recommended doses (38,6; 12,8 and 351,1 g m-2). In such arrangement pattern of maize plants, significant influence on the fresh matter of D. stramonium, S. nigrum and A. retroflexus, was achieved. Herbicide application at half of the recommended dose also significantly influenced level of weediness compared to untreated control. The size of maize vegetation space significantly influenced grain yield in 2005 and 2006, otherwise, the herbicide application had a significant influence on maize yield in all years. Grain yield did not differ significantly according to LSD-test between treatments with full and half rate of herbicides.Prostorni raspored odnosno oblik i veličina vegetacionog prostora kojim raspolažu gajene biljke značajno utiče na kompeticijske interakcije između useva i korova a time i na zastupljenost korova. Rezultati većine istraživanja su pokazali da gajenje širokoredih useva kao što su kukuruz, soja, suncokret i dr. sa smanjenim međurednim rastojanjem, utiče na smanjenje zakorovljenosti ali i na parametre rodnosti. U radu je ispitivan uticaj veličine vegetacionog prostora koji je ostvaren kombinovanjem međurednog razmaka i razmaka između biljaka u redu u okviru iste gustine, u uslovima primene herbicida u preporučenim i smanjenim količinama, na zastupljenost pojedinih vrsta korova i njihovu biomasu kao i na neke morfološke i produktivne osobine kukuruza. Najmanja ukupna sveža masa korova je u sve tri godine, utvrđena na varijanti sa najmanjim međurednim rastojanjem i primenjenom kombinacijom herbicida izoksaflutol+acetohlor u preporučenoj količini (38,6; 12,8 i 351,1 g m-2). U takvom obliku vegetacionog prostora, značajno je smanjenja sveža masa vrsta D. stramonium, S. nigrum i A. retroflexus. Primena herbicida u polovini preporučene količine takođe je značajno smanjila nivo zakorovljenosti u poređenju sa netretiranom kontrolom. Veličina vegetacionog prostora značajno je uticala na prinos zrna kukuruza u 2005. i 2006. godini, dok je količina primenjenih herbicida vrlo značajno uticala na visinu prinosa u svim godinama. Međusobna poređenja visine prinosa između varijanti sa primenom herbicida u preporučenoj i polovini preporučene količine, na osnovu LSD-testa, nisu pokazale značajne razlike