Ultrasound Picture of the Case of Liver Echinococcosis

Hydatidous echinococcosis belongs to a group of severe parasitic diseases, which remains a serious medical problem on a global scale due to the existence of a huge number of endemic foci and a steady increase in the number of patients. Echinococcosis is a zoonotic disease caused by infection with the tapeworm Echinococcus. [1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 7, 14] Humans are random intermediate dead-end hosts, infected by ingesting parasite eggs in contaminated food or by direct contact with animal hosts. Getting into the duodenal mucosa, the larvae of the parasite reach the bloodstream and then enter the liver (75%), lungs (15%) or other areas (heart, central nervous system, kidneys (extremely rare: 1-5%), bones, eyes, etc.), where they continue their development.[ 5, 7, 18

Lightweight hexagonal boron nitride foam for CO2 absorption

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPWeak van der Waals forces between inert hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets make it easy for them to slide over each other, resulting in an unstable structure in macroscopic dimensions. Creating interconnections between these inert nanosheets can remarkably enhance their mechanical properties. However, controlled design of such interconnections remains a fundamental problem for many applications of h-BN foams. In this work, a scalable in situ freeze-drying synthesis of low-density, lightweight 3D macroscopic structures made of h-BN nanosheets chemically connected by poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) molecules via chemical cross-link is demonstrated. Unlike pristine h-BN foam which disintegrates upon handling after freeze-drying, h-BN/PVA foams exhibit stable mechanical integrity in addition to high porosity and large surface area. Fully atomistic simulations are used to understand the interactions between h-BN nanosheets and PVA molecules. In addition, the h-BN/PVA foam is investigated as a possible CO, absorption and as laser irradiation protection material.11989448952FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP2013/08293-72016/12340-9The authors thank the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-13-1-0084) for funding this research, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research MURI Grant FA9550-12-1-0035 financial support of this research. C.F.W. thanks Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grant No. 2016/12340-9 for financial support. C.F.W. and D.S.G. acknowledge the Center for Computational Engineering and Sciences at State University of Campinas (FAPESP/CEPID Grant No. 2013/08293-7). S.O. acknowledges financial support from a LANL Director's Postdoctoral Fellowship

Economic costs of reduced irrigation water availability in Uzbekistan (Central Asia)

Reduced river runoff and expected upstream infrastructural developments are both potential threats to irrigation water availability for the downstream countries in Central Asia. Although it has been recurrently mentioned that a reduction in water supply will hamper irrigation in the downstream countries, the magnitude of associated economic losses, economy-wide repercussions on employment rates, and degradation of irrigated lands has not been quantified as yet. A computable general equilibrium model is used to assess the economy-wide consequences of a reduced water supply in Uzbekistan—a country that encompasses more than half of the entire irrigated croplands in Central Asia. Modeling findings showed that a 10–20 % reduction in water supply, as expected in the near future, may reduce the areas to be irrigated by 241,000–374,000 hectares and may cause unemployment to a population of 712–868,000, resulting in a loss for the national income of 3.6–4.3 %. A series of technical, financial, and institutional measures, implementable at all levels starting from the farm to the basin scale, are discussed for reducing the expected water risks. The prospects of improving the basin-wide water management governance, increasing water and energy use efficiency, and establishing the necessary legal and institutional frameworks for enhancing the introduction of needed technological and socioeconomic change are argued as options for gaining more regional water security and equity