Elective appendicovesicostomy in association with monfort abdominoplasty in the treatment of prune belly syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of elective appendicovesicostomy in association with Monfort abdominoplasty to avoid urinary tract infection (UTI) and renal damage in the post-operative follow-up of patients with prune belly syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We followed 4 patients operated in our institution (UNIFESP) (Monfort, orchidopexy and Mitrofanoff) and compared them to 2 patients treated similarly, but without an appendicovesicostomy, in a second institution (UFBA). We evaluated postoperative clinical complications, UTI and preservation of renal parenchyma. Patients were followed as outpatients with urinalysis, ultrasonography (US) and occasionally with renal scintigraphy. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 23.5 months. Immediate post-operative course was uneventful. We observed that only one patient with the Mitrofanoff channel persisted with UTI, while the 2 patients used as controls persisted with recurrent pyelonephritis (> 2 UTI year). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that no morbidity was added by the appendicovesicostomy to immediate postoperative surgical recovery and that this procedure may have a beneficial effect in reducing postoperative UTI events and their consequences by reducing the postvoid residuals in the early abdominoplasty follow-up. However, we recognize that the series is small and only a longer follow-up with a larger number of patients will allow us to confirm our suppositions. We could not make any statistically significant assumptions regarding differences in renal preservation due to the same limitations.Federal University of São Paulo Division of UrologyFederal University of Bahia Division of UrologyUNIFESP, Division of UrologySciEL

Alignment of the ALICE Inner Tracking System with cosmic-ray tracks

37 pages, 15 figures, revised version, accepted by JINSTALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiment devoted to investigating the strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. The ALICE ITS, Inner Tracking System, consists of six cylindrical layers of silicon detectors with three different technologies; in the outward direction: two layers of pixel detectors, two layers each of drift, and strip detectors. The number of parameters to be determined in the spatial alignment of the 2198 sensor modules of the ITS is about 13,000. The target alignment precision is well below 10 micron in some cases (pixels). The sources of alignment information include survey measurements, and the reconstructed tracks from cosmic rays and from proton-proton collisions. The main track-based alignment method uses the Millepede global approach. An iterative local method was developed and used as well. We present the results obtained for the ITS alignment using about 10^5 charged tracks from cosmic rays that have been collected during summer 2008, with the ALICE solenoidal magnet switched off.Peer reviewe

Sensibilidade a carrapaticidas em populações de Rhipicephalusmicroplus da região sudeste do país.

Rhipicephalus microplus é considerado um grande entrave para a pecuária leiteira e de corte no mundo, uma vez que seu controle através do uso de carrapaticida tem se tornado uma difícil tarefa devido à seleção de populações resistentes

Detecção de polissacarídeos neutros em cutícula de fêmeas ingurgitadas de Amblyomma sculptum sensíveis à deltametrina e ao amitraz.

O conhecimento acerca dos mecanismos de resposta de Amblyomma sculptum à exposição a acaricidas utilizados no seu controle, como a deltametrina e o amitraz, é escasso

Análise de componentes principais para avaliação de resultados analíticos da fertilidade de solos do Amapá.

Estudar os solos do Estado do Amapá é uma necessidade urgente dada a redução de produção observada naquele estado devido, principalmente, ao êxodo rural. Este trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de agrupar os solos dos municípios do Estado do Amapá, utilizando-se resultados analíticos de amostras coletadas no período de 1993 a 2003. As análises de componentes principais e a classificação hierárquica possibilitaram o agrupamento dos municípios do estado em quatro grupos diferentes, considerando a similaridade entre as propriedades químicas do solo. A baixa disponibilidade de fósforo, acidez elevada, altos teores de alumínio trocável, baixa soma de bases e baixos valores para a saturação por bases, foram as principais restrições encontradas para o aproveitamento agrícola dos solos do Estado do Amapá. Nos municípios de Cutias e Mazagão (grupo ) a fertilidade do solo foi considerada mais desfavorável ao aproveitamento agrícola, enquanto que nos municípios de Laranjal do Jarí, Macapá, Pedra Branca, Santana e Serra do Navio (grupo ) e Amapá, Ferreira Gomes, Oiapoque e Vitória do Jarí (grupo ) a fertilidade do solo foi considerada favorável em relação aos outros grupos

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular testing in Asia: the IAEA INCAPS-COVID study

BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly affected management of cardiovascular disease around the world. The effect of the pandemic on volume of cardiovascular diagnostic procedures is not known. OBJECTIVES This study sought to evaluate the effects of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular diagnostic procedures and safety practices in Asia. METHODS The International Atomic Energy Agency conducted a worldwide survey to assess changes in cardiovascular procedure volume and safety practices caused by COVID-19. Testing volumes were reported for March 2020 and April 2020 and were compared to those from March 2019. Data from 180 centers across 33 Asian countries were grouped into 4 subregions for comparison. RESULTS Procedure volumes decreased by 47% from March 2019 to March 2020, showing recovery from March 2020 to April 2020 in Eastern Asia, particularly in China. The majority of centers cancelled outpatient activities and increased time per study. Practice changes included implementing physical distancing and restricting visitors. Although COVID testing was not commonly performed, it was conducted in one-third of facilities in Eastern Asia. The most severe reductions in procedure volumes were observed in lower-income countries, where volumes decreased 81% from March 2019 to April 2020. CONCLUSIONS The COVID-19 pandemic in Asia caused significant reductions in cardiovascular diagnostic procedures, particularly in low-income countries. Further studies on effects of COVID-19 on cardiovascular outcomes and changes in care delivery are warranted