Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Chronic Calculus Cholecystitis

Introduction: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has clearly become the choice over open cholecystectomy in the treatment of hepatobiliary disease since its introduction by Mouret in 1987. This study evaluates a series of patients with chronic calculus cholecystitis who were treated with laparoscopic and open cholecystectomy and assesses the outcomes of both techniques. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of laparoscopic vs open cholecystectomy in chronic calculus cholecystitis and establish the out-comes of this treatment modality at Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis over a one-year period (January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012), per-formed by single surgeon at Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital located midwest of Nepal. 166 patients underwent surgical treatment for chronic calculus cholecystitis. Patients included were only chronic calculus cholecystitis proven histopathologocally and the rest were excluded. Data was collected which included patients demographics, medical history, presentation, complications, conversion rates from laparoscopic. cholecystectomy to open cholecystectomy, operative and postoperative time. Results: Patients treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy for chronic calculus cholecystitis had shorter operating times and length of stay compared to patients treated with open cholecystectomy for chronic calculus cholecystitis. Conversion rates were 3.54% in chronic calculus cholecystitis during the study period. Complications were also lower in patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy versus open cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis. Conclusions: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy appears to be a reliable, safe, and cost-effective treatment modality for chronic calculus cholecystitis

Robust hybridization gap in the Kondo insulator YbB12 probed by femtosecond optical spectroscopy

In heavy fermions the relaxation dynamics of photoexcited carriers has been found to be governed by the low energy indirect gap Eg resulting from hybridization between localized moments and conduction band electrons. Here, carrier relaxation dynamics in a prototype Kondo insulator YbB12 is studied over a large range of temperatures and over three orders of magnitude. We utilize the intrinsic nonlinearity of dynamics to quantitatively determine microscopic parameters, such as electron-hole recombination rate. The extracted value reveals that hybridization is accompanied by a strong charge transfer from localized 4 f levels. The results imply the presence of a hybridization gap up to temperatures of the order of Eg/kB ≈ 200 K, which is extremely robust against electronic excitation. Finally, below 20 K the data reveal changes in the low energy electronic structure, attributed to short-range antiferromagnetic correlations between the localized levels

Solar Technology and District Cooling System in a Hot Climate Regions: Optimal Configuration and Technology Selection

With the increasing need for cooling and the concerns for pollution due to fossil fuel-based energy use, renewable energy is considered an add-on to cooling technologies. The climatic condition in the Middle East, analyzed in this paper, provides the potential to integrate solar energy with the cooling system. Due to the availability of various solar energy and cooling technologies, multiple configurations of solar-cooling systems can be considered to satisfy the cooling demand. The research presented in this paper aims to assess and compare these configurations by considering the energy prices and the installation area. The proposed model is formulated in Mixed-Integer Linear Programming and optimizes the holistic system design and operation. The economic, renewable energy use, and environmental performances of the optimal solution for each configuration are analyzed and compared to the base grid-DCS configuration. Results show that the electricity tariff and the available installation area impact the economic competitiveness of the solar energy integration. When electricity tariff is subsided (low), the conventional grid-based DCS is the most competitive. The PV-DCS configuration is economically competitive among the solar assisted cooling systems, and it can contribute to reducing the environmental impact by 58.3%. The PVT-DCS configuration has the lowest operation cost and the highest environmental performance by decreasing the global warming potential by 89.5%. The T-DCS configuration becomes economically competitive only at high electricity tariffs. 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This publication was made possible by the [NPRP10-0129-170280] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library.Scopus2-s2.0-8512847810

Resource Planning for Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Programs: Feasibility Study of the Tool for Integrated Planning and Costing (TIPAC).

<p>Resource Planning for Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Programs: Feasibility Study of the Tool for Integrated Planning and Costing (TIPAC)</p

The cost of cooking a meal. The case of Nyeri County, Kenya

Energy for cooking is considered essential in achieving modern energy access. Despite this, almost three billion people worldwide still use solid fuels to meet their cooking needs. To better support practitioners and policy-makers, this paper presents a new model for comparing cooking solutions and its key output metric: the 'levelized cost of cooking a meal' (LCCM). The model is applied to compare several cooking solutions in the case study area of Nyeri County in Kenya. The cooking access targets are connected to the International Workshop Agreement and Global Tracking Framework's tiers of cooking energy access. Results show how an increased energy access with improved firewood and charcoal cookstoves could reduce both household's LCCMs and the total costs compared to traditional firewood cooking over the modelling period. On the other hand, switching to cleaner cooking solutions, such as LPG- and electricity, would result in higher costs for the end-user highlighting that this transition is not straightforward. The paper also contextualizes the results into the wider socio-economic context. It finds that a tradeoff is present between minimizing costs for households and meeting household priorities, thus maximizing the potential benefits of clean cooking without dismissing the use of biomass altogether

Possible Eliashberg-type superconductivity enhancement effects in a two-band superconductor MgB2 driven by narrow-band THz pulses

We study THz-driven condensate dynamics in epitaxial thin films of MgB$_{2}$, a prototype two-band superconductor (SC) with weak interband coupling. The temperature and excitation density dependent dynamics follow the behavior predicted by the phenomenological bottleneck model for the single-gap SC, implying adiabatic coupling between the two condensates on the ps timescale. The amplitude of the THz-driven suppression of condensate density reveals an unexpected decrease in pair-breaking efficiency with increasing temperature - unlike in the case of optical excitation. The reduced pair-breaking efficiency of narrow-band THz pulses, displaying minimum near $\approx0.7$ T$_{c}$, is attributed to THz-driven, long-lived, non-thermal quasiparticle distribution, resulting in Eliashberg-type enhancement of superconductivity, competing with pair-breaking

Critical values of facet joint angulation and tropism in the development of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis: an international, large-scale multicenter study by the AOSpine Asia Pacific Research Collaboration Consortium

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Is lumbar facet joint tropism developmental or secondary to degeneration? An international, large-scale multicenter study by the AOSpine Asia Pacific Research Collaboration Consortium

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