Poland's syndrome and recurrent pneumothorax: is there a connection?

Aim. To investigate the possible connection of Poland's syndrome with the presence of lung bullae and, thus, with an increased risk for recurrent pneumothorax. Patients-methods. Two male patients, aged 19 and 21 years respectively were submitted to our department after their second incident of pneumothorax. Both had Poland's syndrome (unilaterally hypoplastic chest wall with pectoralis major muscle atrophy) and both had multiple bullae to the ipsilateral lung based on CT findings. The patients were treated operatively (bullectomy, lung apicectomy, partial parietal pleurectomy and chemical pleurodesis) due to the recurrent state of their pneumothorax. Results. The patients had good results with total expansion of the affected lung. Conclusions. Poland's syndrome can be combined with ipsilateral presence of lung bullae, a common cause of pneumothorax. Whether this finding is part or a variation of the syndrome needs to be confirmed by a larger number of similar cases

Decision Agriculture

In this chapter, the latest developments in the field of decision agriculture are discussed. The practice of management zones in digital agriculture is described for efficient and smart faming. Accordingly, the methodology for delineating management zones is presented. Modeling of decision support systems is explained along with discussion of the issues and challenges in this area. Moreover, the precision agriculture technology is also considered. Moreover, the chapter surveys the state of the decision agriculture technologies in the countries such as Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Sweden. Finally, different field factors such as GPS accuracy and crop growth are also analyzed

Tissue Ischemia During Aortic Repair: The Point of View of the Perfusionist

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Quantitative proteomics of delirium cerebrospinal fluid

Delirium is a common cause and complication of hospitalization in older people, being associated with higher risk of future dementia and progression of existing dementia. However relatively little data are available on which biochemical pathways are dysregulated in the brain during delirium episodes, whether there are protein expression changes common among delirium subjects and whether there are any changes which correlate with the severity of delirium. We now present the first proteomic analysis of delirium cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and one of few studies exploring protein expression changes in delirium. More than 270 proteins were identified in two delirium cohorts, 16 of which were dysregulated in at least 8 of 17 delirium subjects compared with a mild Alzheimer's disease neurological control group, and 31 proteins were significantly correlated with cognitive scores (mini-mental state exam and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation III). Bioinformatics analyses revealed expression changes in several protein family groups, including apolipoproteins, secretogranins/chromogranins, clotting/fibrinolysis factors, serine protease inhibitors and acute-phase response elements. These data not only provide confirmatory evidence that the inflammatory response is a component of delirium, but also reveal dysregulation of protein expression in a number of novel and unexpected clusters of proteins, in particular the granins. Another surprising outcome of this work is the level of similarity of CSF protein profiles in delirium patients, given the diversity of causes of this syndrome. These data provide additional elements for consideration in the pathophysiology of delirium as well as potential biomarker candidates for delirium diagnosis

Investigation of Spatial Variability of Air Temperature, Humidity and Velocity in Cold Stores by Using Management Zone Analysis

The main objective of this research was to determine spatial variability of ambient temperature, relative humidity and air velocity in a cold storage using management zone analysis methods. Ambient temperature, relative humidity and air velocity of an experimental cold store were measured using 36 temperature-relative humidity sensors and air velocity measurement probe. Sensor installation was performed on grid scale at three levels (base, middle and top) such as to monitor the storage conditions in the cold store. The measured data were analysed by MZA software which performed fuzzy clustering to delineate the full cold storage, half full cold storage and empty cold storage. In addition, Surfer mapping software was utilized to create the maps of the measured parameters. The results indicated that there is significant spatial variation of the basic storage parameters such as ambient temperature, relative humidity and air velocity in the cold storage, which denotes the significance of management zones delineation in these facilities so as to maximize the storage

Wireless sensor network for precision agriculture

Sensors are very useful in agriculture. Irregular or insufficient rainfall can be a serious limitation to the final yield, causing low yields and even crop failure. Moreover the total amount of water cannot be assessed during the growing stages of the plants. It is possible, however, to find out how much soil moisture is present. This can help farmers in decision making about the suitable amount of irrigation water in each growing season. Furthermore the combination of soil moisture sensors with management zones may lead to increase of the final yield. The aim of this research was to calibrate and install the WATERMARK sensors in a commercial vineyard according to the Precision Agriculture practices. The results of the research proved that the WATERMARK sensors can assess the soil moisture with high accuracy (R2 = 0.85). © 2011 IEEE