Intraperitoneal aerosolization of bupivacaine is a safe and effective method in controlling postoperative pain in laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a worldwide problem and has grown in severity in the last few decades making bariatric surgery and, in particular, laparoscopic banding and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass efficacious and cost-effective procedures. The laparoscopic approach has been shown to offer significant healthcare benefits, of particular interests are reports of decreased postoperative pain resulting in a shorter hospital stay and an earlier return to normal activity. However, many patients still experience significant pain, including shoulder tip pain, that require strong analgesia including opiates during their early recovery period. The aims of this study were to establish the safe use of the aerosolization technique in bariatric surgery and to investigate the possible benefits in reducing postoperative pain. METHODS: In this study, fifty patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric bypass were recruited and divided into two groups; control (n = 25) and therapeutic (n = 25). The control group received intraperitoneal aerosolization of 10 mL of 0.9% normal saline while the therapeutic group received 10 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine. All the patients had standard preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care. Pain scores were carried out by the nursing staff in recovery and 6 h, 12 h and 24 h postoperatively using a standard 0-10 pain scoring scale. In addition, opiate consumption via patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) was recorded. RESULTS: Aerosolized bupivacaine reduced postoperative pain in comparison to normal saline (p < 0.05). However, PCA usage showed no statistically significant change from the control group. CONCLUSION: The aims of this study were achieved and we were able to establish the safe use of the aerosolization technique in bariatric surgery and its benefits in reducing postoperative pain

Volatile abundances and oxygen isotopes in basaltic to dacitic lavas on mid-ocean ridges: The role of assimilation at spreading centers

Most geochemical variability in MOR basalts is consistent with low- to moderate-pressure fractional crystallization of various mantle-derived parental melts. However, our geochemical data from MOR high-silica glasses, including new volatile and oxygen isotope data, suggest that assimilation of altered crustal material plays a significant role in the petrogenesis of dacites and may be important in the formation of basaltic lavas at MOR in general. MOR high-silica andesites and dacites from diverse areas show remarkably similar major element trends, incompatible trace element enrichments, and isotopic signatures suggesting similar processes control their chemistry. In particular, very high Cl and elevated H2O concentrations and relatively light oxygen isotope ratios (~5.8‰ vs. expected values of ~6.8‰) in fresh dacite glasses can be explained by contamination of magmas from a component of ocean crust altered by hydrothermal fluids. Crystallization of silicate phases and Fe-oxides causes an increase in δ18O in residual magma, but assimilation of material initially altered at high temperatures results in lower δ18O values. The observed geochemical signatures can be explained by extreme fractional crystallization of a MOR basalt parent combined with partial melting and assimilation (AFC) of amphibole-bearing altered oceanic crust. The MOR dacitic lavas do not appear to be simply the extrusive equivalent of oceanic plagiogranites. The combination of partial melting and assimilation produces a distinct geochemical signature that includes higher incompatible trace element abundances and distinct trace element ratios relative to those observed in plagiogranites. © 2011 Elsevier B.V

HIV prevalence and undiagnosed infection among a community sample of gay and bisexual men in Scotland, 2005-2011: implications for HIV testing policy and prevention

&lt;b&gt;Objective&lt;/b&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; To examine HIV prevalence, HIV testing behaviour, undiagnosed infection and risk factors for HIV positivity among a community sample of gay men in Scotland.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Methods&lt;/b&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; Cross-sectional survey of gay and bisexual men attending commercial gay venues in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland with voluntary anonymous HIV testing of oral fluid samples in 2011. A response rate of 65.2% was achieved (1515 participants).&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Results&lt;/b&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; HIV prevalence (4.8%, 95% confidence interval, CI 3.8% to 6.2%) remained stable compared to previous survey years (2005 and 2008) and the proportion of undiagnosed infection among HIV-positive men (25.4%) remained similar to that recorded in 2008. Half of the participants who provided an oral fluid sample stated that they had had an HIV test in the previous 12 months; this proportion is significantly higher when compared to previous study years (50.7% versus 33.8% in 2005, p&#60;0.001). Older age (&#62;25 years) was associated with HIV positivity (1.8% in those &#60;25 versus 6.4% in older ages group) as was a sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis within the previous 12 months (adjusted odds ratio 2.13, 95% CI 1.09–4.14). There was no significant association between age and having an STI or age and any of the sexual behaviours recorded.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Conclusion&lt;/b&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; HIV transmission continues to occur among gay and bisexual men in Scotland. Despite evidence of recent testing within the previous six months, suggesting a willingness to test, the current opt-out policy may have reached its limit with regards to maximising HIV test uptake. Novel strategies are required to improve regular testing opportunities and more frequent testing as there are implications for the use of other biomedical HIV interventions.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt

Melt Inclusion Vapour Bubbles: The Hidden Reservoir for Major and Volatile Elements

Olivine-hosted melt inclusions (MIs) provide samples of magmatic liquids and their dissolved volatiles from deep within the plumbing system. Inevitable post-entrapment modifications can lead to significant compositional changes in the glass and/or any contained bubbles. Re-heating is a common technique to reverse MI crystallisation; however, its effect on volatile contents has been assumed to be minor. We test this assumption using crystallised and glassy basaltic MIs, combined with Raman spectroscopy and 3D imaging, to investigate the changes in fluid and solid phases in the bubbles before and after re-heating. Before re-heating, the bubble contains CO2&nbsp;gas and anhydrite (CaSO4) crystallites. The rapid diffusion of major and volatile elements from the melt during re-heating creates new phases within the bubble: SO2, gypsum, Fe-sulphides. Vapour bubbles hosted in naturally glassy MIs similarly contain a plethora of solid phases (carbonates, sulphates, and sulphides) that account for up to 84% of the total MI sulphur, 80% of CO2, and 14% of FeO. In both re-heated and naturally glassy MIs, bubbles sequester major and volatile elements that are components of the total magmatic budget and represent a “loss” from the glass. Analyses of the glass alone significantly underestimates the original magma composition and storage parameters

Urbanization and Green Spaces—A Study on Jnana Bharathi Campus, Bangalore University

Global warming is amongst the most alarming problems of the new era. Carbon emission is evidently the strongest fundamental factor for global warming. So increasing carbon emission is one of today’s major concerns, which is well addressed in the Kyoto Protocol. Trees are amongst the most significant elements of any landscape, because of both biomass and diversity, and their key role in ecosystem dynamics is well known. Trees absorb the atmospheric carbon dioxide and act as a carbon sink, since 50 % of biomass is carbon itself and the importance of carbon sequestration in forest areas is already accepted, and well documented. With this background, a carbon sequestration potential study was carried out in Jnana Bharathi campus, Bangalore University using the Quadrat method. The total geographical area is about 449.74 ha with a rich vegetation sector and the total amount of both above ground carbon (AGC) and below ground carbon (BGC) was estimated as an average of 54.8 t/ha. The total amount of carbon dioxide assimilated into the vegetation in terms of both above ground and below ground biomass was estimated as an average of 200.9 t/ha. Urbanization and habitat fragmentation seem to be increasing worldwide, substantiated by a case study in Bangalore City. The analysis revealed that increase in built-up area at the city level was by about 164.62 km2, while the vegetation and water bodies decreased by about 285.72 and 7.2 km2 respectively. However, Bangalore University, Jnana Bharathi campus attains a good vegetation cover and is seen as one of the ‘green lungs’ of Bangalore city

Economic geology: Volatile destruction

International audienceDirect evidence for the role of volatiles in magmatic ore formation has been elusive. Magma degassing at Merapi volcano in Indonesia is found to be directly linked to the selective leaching of metals from sulphide melts that ultimately form ore deposits

Intercomparison of the northern hemisphere winter mid-latitude atmospheric variability of the IPCC models

We compare, for the overlapping time frame 1962-2000, the estimate of the northern hemisphere (NH) mid-latitude winter atmospheric variability within the XX century simulations of 17 global climate models (GCMs) included in the IPCC-4AR with the NCEP and ECMWF reanalyses. We compute the Hayashi spectra of the 500hPa geopotential height fields and introduce an integral measure of the variability observed in the NH on different spectral sub-domains. Only two high-resolution GCMs have a good agreement with reanalyses. Large biases, in most cases larger than 20%, are found between the wave climatologies of most GCMs and the reanalyses, with a relative span of around 50%. The travelling baroclinic waves are usually overestimated, while the planetary waves are usually underestimated, in agreement with previous studies performed on global weather forecasting models. When comparing the results of various versions of similar GCMs, it is clear that in some cases the vertical resolution of the atmosphere and, somewhat unexpectedly, of the adopted ocean model seem to be critical in determining the agreement with the reanalyses. The GCMs ensemble is biased with respect to the reanalyses but is comparable to the best 5 GCMs. This study suggests serious caveats with respect to the ability of most of the presently available GCMs in representing the statistics of the global scale atmospheric dynamics of the present climate and, a fortiori, in the perspective of modelling climate change.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

The Calcitonin and Glucocorticoids Combination: Mechanistic Insights into Their Class-Effect Synergy in Experimental Arthritis

PMCID: PMC3564948This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited