Apneic Oxygenation in Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Tumours in an Experimental Porcine Model

Objectives: Respiratory movements may complicate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as biopsies and stereotactic irradiation therapy in lung cancer patients. An attempt to avoid respiratory movements, up to 30 minutes, long enough for procedures was performed in an animal study.Methods: Ten anaesthetized minipigs ~30 kg were intubated in the trachea and small NiTi-stents were placed in various parts of the lungs. Using a muscle relaxing drug, the pigs were deprived of the ability to breathe for 30 minutes, a longer time than normally used for positioning and irradiation or for biopsies. No attempt to hyperventilate the animals was made prior to the apneic period. After a lung recruitment manoeuvre, a constant oxygen pressure of 20 cm water was applied to the airways. Using X-ray fluoroscopy, the position of the stents and thereby the movements of the lung, were monitored. Arterial gas analyses were performed every 5 minutes during the apneic period.Results: All animals survived 30 minutes of apneic oxygenation. The median arterial oxygen partial pressure actually rose from 11.8 to 54.3 kPa and there were no changes in oxygen saturation. The median arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure rose from 6.9 to 18.7 kPa and the median pH fell from 7.41 to 7.04 during 30 minutes of apneic oxygenation. Our setup, or our strategy of anaesthesia, did not immobilise the internal parts of the lungs satisfactorily, and must be improved before it can be used in a clinical situation. Conclusion: Physiologically, it is possible to stop respiration using apneic oxygenation for periods long enough to perform biopsies or stereotactic radiation therapy

Metatranscriptomic Sequencing of Winter and Spring Planktonic Communities from Lake Erie, a Laurentian Great Lake

Previous reports suggest planktonic and under-ice winter microbial communities in Lake Erie are dominated by diatoms. Here, we report the assembled metatranscriptomes of 79 Lake Erie surface water microbial communities spanning both the winter (28 samples) and spring (51 samples) months over spatial, temporal, and climatic gradients in 2019 through 2020

Umwelt-Survey - 1990/92. Bd. 7 Quecksilber-Zusammenhanganalyse

A representative sample of adults (aged 25 to 69) as well as a sample of children (aged 6 to 14) from the general population were studied with respect to mercury levels in their blood and urine. The present report sets out the results of multivariate analyses used to find the main factors (predictors) influencing mercury levels in the blood and urine (criteria) and to quantify their impact. The regression models for mercury levels in urine were nearly the same for subjects from West- and East Germany, which allowed a joint regression model to be formed from the German population. With lower levels of creatinine lower levels of mercury in the urine occur. The number of teeth with amalgam fillings is a significant predictor for adults also the age of the most recent amalgam filling. Mercury levels in urine decrease with increasing age. body mass index, education and gender make up further significant predictors in the case of adults. Mercury levels in the urine of children from East Germany and urban residential areas are higher. No satisfactory model was obtained from the regression analyses for mercury levels in blood. for adults from West and East Germany as well as for children from West Germany, frequency of fish consumption is a significant predictor. Other specific predictors comprise the community size category and family income in the case of adults from West Germany, outdoor physical activity, gender and type of housing in the case of children from West Germany, and the presence of individually operated heating units in the case of children from East Germany. (orig.)Es wurde eine repraesentative Stichprobe von Erwachsenen (25 bis 69 Jahre) sowie eine Stichprobe von Kindern (6 bis 14 Jahre) hinsichtlich ihrer Quecksilbergehalte im Blut und im Urin untersucht. Es werden die Ergebnisse multivariater Zusammenhangsanalysen dargestellt, mit denen die massgeblichen Praediktoren fuer die Quecksilbergehalte in Blut und Urin in ihrer Bedeutung erfasst und in ihrer Wirkung quantifiziert werden. Die Regressionsmodelle fuer die Probanden aus den alten und den neuen Laendern sind annaehernd gleich, so dass ein gemeinsames Regressionsmodell fuer den Quecksilbergehalt im Urin der deutschen Bevoelkerung gebildet werden konnte. Je geringer der Creatiningehalt im Urin ist, desto geringer ist auch der Quecksilbergehalt im Urin. Die Anzahl der Zaehne mit Amalgamfuellungen ist ein starker Praediktor, bei Erwachsenen zusaetzlich das Alter der letzten Amalgamfuellung. Mit zunehmendem Lebensalter liegt ein geringerer Quecksilbergehalt im Urin vor. Der Body Mass Index, der Schulabschluss und das Geschlecht sind weitere Praediktoren. Bei den Kindern treten in den neuen Bundeslaendern und in staedtischen Wohngebieten hoehere Quecksilbergehalte im Urin auf. Die Regressionsanalysen fuer den Quecksilbergehalt im Blut fuehrten zu keinem befriedigenden Modell. Die Haeufigkeit des Fischverzehrs ist bei den Erwachsenen der alten und der neuen Laender sowie bei den Kindern der alten Laender ein bedeutsamer Praediktor. Weitere spezifische Praediktoren sind Gemeindegroessenklasse und Haushaltseinkommen bei Erwachsenen der alten Laender, koerperliche Anstrengung im Freien, Geschlecht und Bebauungsart bei Kindern aus den alten Laendern sowie das Vorhandensein einzeln zu bedienender Oefen bei Kindern aus den neuen Laendern. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RO 2237(1996,7) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

No-reference image and video quality assessment: a classification and review of recent approaches

The field of perceptual quality assessment has gone through a wide range of developments and it is still growing. In particular, the area of no-reference (NR) image and video quality assessment has progressed rapidly during the last decade. In this article, we present a classification and review of latest published research work in the area of NR image and video quality assessment. The NR methods of visual quality assessment considered for review are structured into categories and subcategories based on the types of methodologies used for the underlying processing employed for quality estimation. Overall, the classification has been done into three categories, namely, pixel-based methods, bitstream-based methods, and hybrid methods of the aforementioned two categories. We believe that the review presented in this article will be helpful for practitioners as well as for researchers to keep abreast of the recent developments in the area of NR image and video quality assessment. This article can be used for various purposes such as gaining a structured overview of the field and to carry out performance comparisons for the state-of-the-art methods