Penbactam for Helicobacter pylori eradication: A randomised comparison of quadruple and triple treatment schedules in an Iranian population

Background & study aims: Selection of the best drug regimens for eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection especially in patients at risk of peptic ulcer relapses and the development of complications is challenging. This study assessed and compared the efficacy of the two common PPI based triple therapies to a quadruple therapy including PPI, metronidazole, amoxicillin and a bismuth compound in Iranian population. Patients & Methods: Three hundred and thirty patients with peptic ulcer and H. pylori infection were included in the study. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment protocols all given twice daily: (a) A 14-day quadruple therapy (OMAB group) comprising omeprazole 20. mg, metronicazole 500. mg, amoxicillin 1. g, and bismuth subcitrate 240. mg; (b) A 14-day triple regimen (OCP group) comprising omeprazole 20. mg plus clarithromycine 500. mg and penbactam 750. mg and (c) A 14-day triple regimen (OCA group) comprising omeprazole 20. mg plus clarithromycine 500. mg and amoxicillin 1. g. Cure was defined as a negative urea breath test at least six weeks after treatment. Results: The per-protocol eradication rates achieved with both OCP regimen (87.0%) and OCA treatment (90.8%) were significantly higher than the OMAB treatment protocol (56.0%); however, no significant difference emerged in eradication rates between the two triple treatment schedules. No significant differences between the groups were found in most side-effects. Conclusion: Two-week quadruple therapy showed a lower eradication rate compared to common triple treatment schedules when used as first-line eradication treatment for H. pylori infection in Iranian population. © 2012 Arab Journal of Gastroenterology

Techno-economic assessment of CO2 quality effect on its storage and transport: CO2QUEST: An overview of aims, objectives and main findings

This paper provides an overview of the aims, objectives and the main findings of the CO2QUEST FP7 collaborative project, funded by the European Commission and designed to address the fundamentally important and urgent issues regarding the impact of the typical impurities in CO2 streams captured from fossil fuel power plants and other CO2 intensive industries on their safe and economic pipeline transportation and storage. The main features and results recorded from some of the unique test facilities constructed as part of the project are presented. These include an extensively instrumented realistic-scale test pipeline for conducting pipeline rupture and dispersion tests in China, an injection test facility in France to study the mobility of trace metallic elements contained in a CO2 stream following injection near a shallow-water qualifier and fluid/rock interactions and well integrity experiments conducted using a fully instrumented deep-well CO2/impurities injection test facility in Israel. The above, along with the various unique mathematical models developed, provide the fundamentally important tools needed to define impurity tolerance levels, mixing protocols and control measures for pipeline networks and storage infrastructure, thus contributing to the development of relevant standards for the safe design and economic operation of CCS

The Contour Method.

This report introduces a novel approach, called the Contour Method, to the kinematic analysis of six-degree-of-freedom serial manipulators. The inverse kinematics problem, i.e., the problem of computing all possible postures of a manipulator corresponding to a given pose---position and orientation---of the end-effector, has been approached by reducing the underlying kinematic relations either to a 16th-degree univariate polynomial equation or to a system of lower-degree, multivariate polynomial equations. These approaches yield all real and complex solutions of the problem at hand; however, it turns out that the univariate polynomial approach is prone to ill-conditioning because of (a) the introduction of a mapping of the (bounded) sine and cosine functions of one of the joint angles into the (unbounded) tangent of one half of the same angle, and (b) the high degree of the polynomial thus resulting. The second approach, based on continuation methods, is not transparent to the user, who..

Gastric Kaposi sarcoma presenting as an upper gastrointestinal bleeding in a non-AIDS patient

Background: Majority of the patients affected by Kaposi sarcoma (KS) have human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) lessened the incidence of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)- related KS. Cutaneous signs are the most common, but involving the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is very important and dangerous because of serious complications including perforation and bleeding. Case Presentation: This report is a rare case of gastric-KS presenting as melena in a non-AIDS 67-year-old woman. We describe the diagnosis and management of this rare complication. Conclusion: GI-KS is often asymptomatic with different endoscopic appearances, and maybe present without cutaneous lesions. Thus, a high diagnostic suspicion is needed and we should attend these GI complications. © The Author(s

Triple-Bands Ka-Band Frequency Selective Surface Filter with Different Polarized Transmitting Performance in Each Band

A triple-bands frequency selective surface (FSS) filter composed of combined enhanced Jerusalem and Gangbuster unit cells over square substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavities is presented. The enhanced Jerusalem cells produce two pass-bands with rotated polarization outputs while the enhanced Gangbuster one produces one pass-band with same polarized outputs in comparison with the input wave polarization. The pass-bands of the proposed FSS are at 33.5 GHz, 35.1GHz and 36.8 GHz. The simulation results verify the proposed idea ability and capability.Peer reviewe