Megacolon imitating emphysema in the course of diaphragmatic hernia

61-year old man with fever, diarrhoea, weight loss has been admitted to the hospital. Nine years earlier an air bubble in the lower part of the left lung was recognised during the chest x-ray, four years later diagnostic studies have shown a megacolon situated in the chest that significantly pressed on the flesh of the left lung and shifted the mediastinum to the right side. At that time the patient did not agree for an operation treatment. He decided for surgery in May 2002. During the operation the presence of an enormous large intestine of the megacolon type has been determined which could be found there due to diaphragm loss. The megacolon and spleen were surgically removed and the injured diaphragm was sutured. After 2 years a clinical and functional examinations of the respiratory system were performed. There was an improvement of the exercise capacity, recession of restriction in functional examinations and an increase in body mass

Retrieval and interpretation of textual geolocalized information based on semantic geolocalized relations

This paper describes a method for geolocalized information retrieval from natural language text and its interpretation by assigning it geographic coordinates. Proof-of-concept implementation is discussed, along with a geolocalized dictionary stored in a PostGIS/PostgreSQL spatial relational database. The discussed research focuses on the strongly inflectional Polish language; hence, additional complexity had to be taken into account. The presented method has been evaluated with the use of diverse metrics

Retrieval and interpretation of textual geolocalized information based on semantic geolocalized relations

This paper describes a method for geolocalized information retrieval from natural language text and its interpretation by assigning it geographic coordinates. Proof-of-concept implementation is discussed, along with a geolocalized dictionary stored in a PostGIS/PostgreSQL spatial relational database. The discussed research focuses on the strongly inflectional Polish language; hence, additional complexity had to be taken into account. The presented method has been evaluated with the use of diverse metrics

Assessment of leaf damage in oak stands in the flood-affected Wolow Forest Division

This study examines the effect of flood on oak stands in the Wołów Forest Division by assessing the loss of leaf area due to insect feeding as determined in laboratory analyses of samples collected from standing trees. We compared stands, in which water stagnated for at least one month and stands with no water stagnation. It was found that the mean damage to the carbon assimilating organs of stands with stagnating water was lowered by approximately 6% compared to stands that were not affected by flood. Thus, no definite effect of flood contributing to losses of carbon assimilating organs in oak trees could be shown

Spatial and temporal dynamics in eddy covariance observations of methane fluxes at a tundra site in northeastern Siberia

In the past two decades, the eddy covariance technique has been used for an increasing number of methane flux studies at an ecosystem scale. Previously, most of these studies used a closed path setup with a tunable diode laser spectrometer (TDL). Although this method worked well, the TDL has to be calibrated regularly and cooled with liquid nitrogen or a cryogenic system, which limits its use in remote areas. Recently, a new closed path technique has been introduced that uses off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy that does not require regular calibration or liquid nitrogen to operate and can thus be applied in remote areas. In the summer of 2008 and 2009, this eddy covariance technique was used to study methane fluxes from a tundra site in northeastern Siberia. The measured emissions showed to be very dependent on the fetch area, due to a large contrast in dry and wet vegetation in between wind directions. Furthermore, the observed short- and long-term variation of methane fluxes could be readily explained with a nonlinear model that used relationships with atmospheric stability, soil temperature, and water level. This model was subsequently extended to fieldwork periods preceding the eddy covariance setup and applied to evaluate a spatially integrated flux. The model result showed that average fluxes were 56.5, 48.7, and 30.4 nmol CH4 m&8722;2 s&8722;1 for the summers of 2007 to 2009. While previous models of the same type were only applicable to daily averages, the method described can be used on a much higher temporal resolution, making it suitable for gap filling. Furthermore, by partitioning the measured fluxes along wind direction, this model can also be used in areas with nonuniform terrain but nonetheless provide spatially integrated fluxes