Progressive improvement of impaired visual acuity during the first year after transsphenoidal surgery for non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma

Improvement of visual field defects continues even years after the initial surgical treatment. Because this process of continuing improvement has not been documented for visual acuity, we audited our data to explore the pattern of recovery of visual acuity until 1 year after transsphenoidal surgery for non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma. Retrospective follow-up study. Forty-three patients (mean age 56 +/- 14 years), treated by transsphenoidal surgery for non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma, were included in this analysis. Visual acuity improved significantly within 3 months after transsphenoidal surgery. The mean visual acuity increased from 0.65 +/- 0.37 to 0.75 +/- 0.36 (P <0.01) (right eye), and from 0.60 +/- 0.32 to 0.82 +/- 0.30 (P <0.01) (left eye). Visual acuity was improved 1 year after transsphenoidal surgery compared to the 3 months postoperative values. The mean visual acuity increased from 0.75 +/- 0.36 to 0.82 +/- 0.34 (P <0.05) (right eye), and from 0.82 +/- 0.30 to 0.88 +/- 0.27 (P <0.05) (left eye). Visual acuity improves progressively after surgical treatment for non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas, at least within the first year after transsphenoidal surger

Patents and Industrialisation. An Historical Overview of the British Case, 1624-1907

A Report to the Strategic Advisory Board on Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP), U

Searching for European registered designs

Registered design databases Design registration statistics European Internet design databases Locarno classification Design image availability Official design gazettes

Free patent databases on the Internet: a critical view

Free patent databases on the Internet are useful, particularly as they allow users in numerous locations to quickly access information. This advantage of ease of access is however a disadvantage if the novice user does not realise that expert advice is needed at the site itself, and ideally from staff at patent libraries, so that a good search can be constructed and so that the results can be properly interpreted. Other problems include the potential disappearance of such databases, or charging for them; problems in adequate access, particularly when the latest software is used; poorly designed search masks in many sites; poor or non-existent help; and the inability to browse data. Suggestions to improve the situation include ensuring that compatible products on CD-ROM or DVD co-exist; much better help keys; hypertext links to classifications and to patent libraries; and easy scanning through drawings.

Decision Support Tool for Maritime Decarbonisation

With the current focus on climate change, the shipping industry is forced to decarbonise its fleet. The need for decarbonisation is not only fuelled by the aspirations of the sector but also by laws and regulations from countries and organisations. As these laws are gradually tightening and there is not one clear technical or operational solution, there is a need for a strategy to combine multiple operational and technical solutions. These solutions, as well as other aspects, are associated with risks and uncertainties, such as fuel prices, technical aspects and cost. To help the decision makers in this field, this research aims to present a method that can be used as the basis for a decision making tool. The method will mainly focus on finding the lowest total cost per tonne mile but will also consider other aspects that are found to be necessary, such as safety and technological readiness. The difficulty in the decision is the number of factors that could influence the decarbonisation of the vessel and how these aspects influence each other. The addition of CRSs (Carbon Reduction Systems) will affect the operation profile of the vessel and, with that, the fuel use of the vessel. With fuel being one of the main expenses of ships, fuel use will affect the total cost of the vessel. The method will combine several different analyses to consider all aspects and risks. The strategy will be created by adding CRSs every time the vessel does not comply with the regulations anymore, affecting the vessel's operational profile and fuel use. The cost of fuel use, and other OPEX, will be evaluated with an NPC (Net Present Cost) analysis to compare costs in time. These costs will then be entered into an MCA (Multi Criteria Analysis) and combined with the other criteria, such as safety and technological readiness level, leading to a strategy selection. To increase the method's robustness, the whole set of calculations will also be subjected to a Monte Carlo simulation to mitigate the risks that concern future inputs. The method was translated into a model where a case study was carried out to validate the method and to find some early insights. From this came the result that the method creates valid answers and that there is one method that is the most cost-effective manner to comply with the regulations. This is plainly sailing slower; it has almost no expense and significantly reduces the cost of shipping.Marine Technology | Maritime Operations and Managemen

The British library's INTEL in-house database

An in-house database of journal articles on intellectual property was created by the British Library to assist with their work. The article describes the contents, indexing and searching of the database and how it is used.