The geometry of the double-pulsar system J0737-3039 from systematic intensity variations

The recent discovery of J0737-3039A & B-two pulsars in a highly relativistic orbit around one another - offers an unprecedented opportunity to study the elusive physics of pulsar radio emission. The system contains a rapidly rotating pulsar with a spin period of 22.7 ms and a slow companion with a spin period of 2.77 s, hereafter referred to as 'A' and 'B', respectively. A unique property of the system is that the pulsed radio flux from B increases systematically by almost two orders-of-magnitude during two short portions of each orbit. Here, we describe a geometrical model of the system that simultaneously explains the intensity variations of B and makes definitive and testable predictions for the future evolution of the emission properties of both stars. Our model assumes that B's pulsed radio flux increases when illuminated by emission from A. This model provides constraints on the spin axis orientation and emission geometry of A and predicts that its pulse profile will evolve considerably over the next several years due to geodetic precession until it disappears entirely in 15-20 years

Liver Transplantation for Alagille's Syndrome

Twenty-three children with Alagille's syndrome and end-stage liver disease underwent liver transplantation with cyclosporine and low-dose steroid immunosuppression. Two to 9 years (mean, 4.4 years) after surgery, 13 (57%) of the children were still alive, with normal liver function. Three of the fatalities were due to cardiovascular failure secondary to associated cardiopulmonary disease. Mortality was higher among patients who had more severe cardiac disease and patients who had previously undergone a Kasai procedure. Although it has a higher than average risk, liver transplantation can be efficacious in patients with Alagille's syndrome and end-stage liver disease. (Arch Surg. 1993;128:337-339). © 1993, American Medical Association. All rights reserved

CONSUMMATED REVIEW ON PROSTATITIS

Prostatitis is an inflammatory disease, when the prostate is vulnerable to infectious stimuli like urinary pathogens, are changes in the lifestyle leads to inflammation in the prostate gland. It is a pathological state where the swelling of prostate occur to most of the men and mainly elderly. Recently, prostatitis is a dangerous threat for men almost 50% total men population. The review comprises complete information regarding prostatitis and its related complications. The compilation of the data is about the disease from classification of prostatitis, causative agents, symptoms, treatment, mitigation, natural and alternative therapy to improve the quality of life. Awareness of this disease is not known to the majority of the population when it is left untreated identification and treatment at the right time help in increase in recovering from the pathological condition of the victim to overcome

A Diagnostic Dilemma: Metastatic Testicular Cancer and Systemic Sarcoidosis – A Review of the Literature

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease that most commonly involves the lungs and the lymph nodes, but with genitourinary tract involvement, can easily mimic testicular cancer with metastasis to the lungs. We describe the case of a 30-year-old African-American male who presented with complaints of a headache, skin lesions, and a scrotal mass. A computed tomography scan of the head showed lesions in the frontotemporal and pons region, causing obstructive hydrocephalus. An ultrasound of the scrotum showed an enlarged epididymis bilaterally as well as a solid hypoechoic ill-defined mass on the right side, separate from the intact testis. Given the high suspicion for testicular malignancy with brain metastasis, a right orchiectomy was completed. The pathology revealed non-caseating necrotizing granulomas that stained negative for tubercular and fungal organisms, which was consistent with sarcoidosis. Additionally, the patient's skin and central nervous system (CNS) lesions improved on steroids that had been started for cerebral edema. Given the predilection of testicular cancer for CNS metastasis, neurosarcoidosis can also be mistaken for testicular cancer metastasis to the CNS, as seen in our case. Differentiating testicular cancer from genitourinary sarcoidosis is difficult but can be clarified using a combination of clinical presentation, epidemiology, serum markers (ACE, AFP, B-HCG), biopsies from skin/lymph nodes, and sometimes imaging. It is critical to differentiate genitourinary sarcoidosis from malignancy, as a misdiagnosis can lead to unnecessary surgical interventions, which have important implications for future fertility. There can also be a coexistence of as well as an association between testicular cancer and sarcoidosis, which should be recognized by health care providers

Use of approximations of Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman inequality for solving periodic optimization problems

We show that necessary and sufficient conditions of optimality in periodic optimization problems can be stated in terms of a solution of the corresponding HJB inequality, the latter being equivalent to a max-min type variational problem considered on the space of continuously differentiable functions. We approximate the latter with a maximin problem on a finite dimensional subspace of the space of continuously differentiable functions and show that a solution of this problem (existing under natural controllability conditions) can be used for construction of near optimal controls. We illustrate the construction with a numerical example.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figure

Texturizzazione laser della lega di magnesio AZ31 per migliorare l’adesione nelle applicazioni biomedicali

"Laser surface texturing of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy to improve adhesion in biomedical application Cardiovascular stent have assumed a primary role to solve heart problems related to constraints that lead to the malfunctioning of a hollow organ. The research is shifting more and more towards the creations of less invasive stent having biocompatibility and biodegradability as primary requirements. Metal that best meets both these requirements and also the structural ones is Magnesium and its alloys. The greatest limit to the use of this material comes from its low corrosion resistance that it is manifested at the body pH. The idea at the basis of this work is to cover the Magnesium stent with a biodegradable polymer to increase its resistance to corrosion. The following paper focuses the study on the texturing surface treatments, achievable by a laser beam, in order to optimize the adhesion between the substrate and the polymer. The Magnesium alloy used is AZ31. Studies of surface modification through the mechanisms of the remelting and microdrilling by laser have been performed on the AZ31 surface. The characterization of the selected surfaces in terms of roughness variations, changes in wettability, oxides formation and geometry of the obtained structures, led to the identification of a limited number of conditions that will be further investigated.

Tube streaming: Modelling collaborative media streaming in urban railway networks

We propose a quality assessment framework for crowdsourced media streaming in urban railway networks. We assume that commuters either tune in to some TV/radio channel, or submit requests for content they desire to watch or listen to, which eventually forms a playlist of videos/podcasts/tunes. Given that connectivity is challenged by the movement of trains and the disconnection that this movement causes, users collabo-ratively download (through cellular and WiFi connections) and share content, in order to maintain undisrupted playback. We model collaborative media streaming for the case of the London Underground train network. The proposed quality assessment framework comprises a utility function which characterises the Quality of Experience (QoE) that users (subjectively) perceive and takes into account all the necessary parameters that affect smooth playback. The framework can be used to assess the media streaming quality in any railway network, after adjusting the related parameters. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify the perceptual quality of collaborative media streaming in (underground) railway networks from a modelling perspective, as opposed to a systems perspective. Based on real commuter traces from the London Underground network, we evaluate whether audio and video can be streamed to commuters with acceptable QoE. Our results show that even with very high-speed Internet connection, users still experience disruptions, but a carefully designed collaborative mechanism can result in high levels of perceived QoE even in such disruptive scenarios