Total hip replacement in young adults with hip dysplasia: Age at diagnosis, previous treatment, quality of life, and validation of diagnoses reported to the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register between 1987 and 2007

Background and purpose: Dysplasia of the hip increases the risk of secondary degenerative change and subsequent total hip replacement. Here we report on age at diagnosis of dysplasia, previous treatment, and quality of life for patients born after 1967 and registered with a total hip replacement due to dysplasia in the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register. We also used the medical records to validate the diagnosis reported by the orthopedic surgeon to the register. Methods: Subjects born after January 1, 1967 and registered with a primary total hip replacement in the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register during the period 1987–2007 (n = 713) were included in the study. Data on hip symptoms and quality of life (EQ-5D) were collected through questionnaires. Elaborating information was retrieved from the medical records. Results: 540 of 713 patients (76%) (corresponding to 634 hips) returned the questionnaires and consented for additional information to be retrieved from their medical records. Hip dysplasia accounted for 163 of 634 hip replacements (26%), 134 of which were in females (82%). Median age at time of diagnosis was 7.8 (0–39) years: 4.4 years for females and 22 years for males. After reviewing accessible medical records, the diagnosis of hip dysplasia was confirmed in 132 of 150 hips (88%). Interpretation: One quarter of hip replacements performed in patients aged 40 or younger were due to an underlying hip dysplasia, which, in most cases, was diagnosed during late childhood. The dysplasia diagnosis reported to the register was correct for 88% of the hips

18-crown-6-sodium cholate complex: thermochemistry, structure and stability

18-crown-6, one of the most relevant crown ethers, and sodium cholate, steroidal surfactant classified as natural bile salt, are components of novel, synthesized coordination complex ; 18-crown-6-sodium cholate (18C6•NaCh). Like crown ethers, bile salts act as building blocks in supramolecular chemistry in order to design new functionalized materials with a desired structure and properties. In order to obtain thermal behavior of this 1:1 coordination complex, thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis were used, as well as microscopic observations and differential scanning calorimetry. Temperature dependent infrared spectroscopy (IR) gave a detailed view into phase transitions. The structures during thermal treatment were observed with powder X-ray diffraction, and molecular models of the phases are made. Hard, glassy, colorless compound 18C6•NaCh goes through crystalline – crystalline polymorphic phase transitions at higher temperatures. The room temperature phase is indexed to a triclinic lattice, while in the high temperature phases molecules take randomly one of the two different configurations in the unit cell, resulting in the 2-fold symmetry. The formation of cholesteric liquid crystalline phase occurs simultaneously with partial decomposition, followed by the isotropisation with simultaneous and complete decomposition at much higher temperature, as obtained by IR. The results provide valuable information about the relationship between molecular structure, thermal properties, and stability of the complex, indicating the importance of an appropriate choice of cation, amphiphilic, and crown ether unit in order to synthesize compounds with desired behavior

Transperitoneal vs retroperitoneal minimally invasive partial nephrectomy: comparison of perioperative outcomes and functional follow-up in a large multi-institutional cohort (The RECORD 2 Project)

Background Aim of this study was to evaluate and compare perioperative outcomes of transperitoneal (TP) and retroperitoneal (TR) approaches in a multi-institutional cohort of minimally invasive partial nephrectomy (MI-PN). Material and methods All consecutive patients undergone MI-PN for clinical T1 renal tumors at 26 Italian centers (RECORd2 project) between 01/2013 and 12/2016 were evaluated, collecting the pre-, intra-, and postoperative data. The patients were then stratified according to the surgical approach, TP or RP. A 1:1 propensity score (PS) matching was performed to obtain homogeneous cohorts, considering the age, gender, baseline eGFR, surgical indication, clinical diameter, and PADUA score. Results 1669 patients treated with MI-PN were included in the study, 1256 and 413 undergoing TP and RP, respectively. After 1:1 PS matching according to the surgical access, 413 patients were selected from TP group to be compared with the 413 RP patients. Concerning intraoperative variables, no differences were found between the two groups in terms of surgical approach (lap/robot), extirpative technique (enucleation vs standard PN), hilar clamping, and ischemia time. Conversely, the TP group recorded a shorter median operative time in comparison with the RP group (115 vs 150 min), with a higher occurrence of intraoperative overall, 21 (5.0%) vs 9 (2.1%);p = 0.03, and surgical complications, 18 (4.3%) vs 7 (1.7%);p = 0.04. Concerning postoperative variables, the two groups resulted comparable in terms of complications, positive surgical margins and renal function, even if the RP group recorded a shorter median drainage duration and hospital length of stay (3 vs 2 for both variables),p < 0.0001. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that both TP and RP are feasible approaches when performing MI-PN, irrespectively from tumor location or surgical complexity. Notwithstanding longer operative times, RP seems to have a slighter intraoperative complication rate with earlier postoperative recovery when compared with TP

Long-term and large-scale multispecies dataset tracking population changes of common European breeding birds

Around fifteen thousand fieldworkers annually count breeding birds using standardized protocols in 28 European countries. The observations are collected by using country-specific and standardized protocols, validated, summarized and finally used for the production of continent-wide annual and long-term indices of population size changes of 170 species. Here, we present the database and provide a detailed summary of the methodology used for fieldwork and calculation of the relative population size change estimates. We also provide a brief overview of how the data are used in research, conservation and policy. We believe this unique database, based on decades of bird monitoring alongside the comprehensive summary of its methodology, will facilitate and encourage further use of the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme results.publishedVersio

Radiated Fields in Rail Launchers Operation

In this paper electromagnetic fields radiated from a railgun operating system with a plasma armature are investigated. A small-bore railgun has been fabricated in our laboratory, a capacitor bank (0.12 F–160 V) has been used as energy supply and an experimental setup has been implemented. Experiments have been performed in a remotely operated shielded semi-anechoic chamber in conformity with current standards. The analysis has been conducted in the time domain, using suitable current probes and antennas and an oscilloscope with high bandwidth and high sampling rate. Results were reproducible and a comparison and discussion with previous work are reported

Characterisation of glue behaviour under thermal and mechanical stress conditions

New low-cost measuring devices require that the box housing and electronics have the cost aligned with the sensing system. Nowadays, metallic clips and/or glue are commonly used to fix the electronics to the box, thus providing the same motion of the structure to the sensing element. However, these systems may undergo daily or seasonal thermal cycles, and the combined effect of thermal and mechanical stress can determine significant uncertainties in the measurand evaluation. To study these effects, we prepared some parallel plates capacitors by using glue as a dielectric material. We used different types of fixing and sample assembly to separate the effects of glue softening on the capacitor active area and plates distance. Therefore, we assessed the sample modification by measuring the capacitance variation during controlled temperature cycles. We explored possible non-linear behaviour of the capacitance vs. temperature, and possible effects of thermal cycles on the glue geometry. Further work is still needed to properly assess the nature of this phenomenon and to study the effect of mechanical stress on the sample's capacitance