Contrast Medium Volume Optimization in Abdominal CT on Basis of Lean Body Weight

This is the final version of the article. Available from Scientific and Academic Publishing via the link in this record.Computed tomography (CT) in abdominal imaging has undergone great advances in recent years. The administration of iodinated contrast media (CM) has evolved along with the evolution of the CT equipment. The most common method for calculation of the CM volume in abdominal CT is based on total body weight (TBW), but in this way some patients get a lower dose and some other patients get a higher dose that the optimal dose they need. In the literature there are many formulas to calculate the CM volume to be administered in abdominal CT, but practice shows that the variability of enhancement is wide. The main objective of this study is to verify that the volume of intravenous CM in abdominal CT calculated on basis of lean body weight (LBW) allows good liver enhancement with small amplitude of variation around the mean, that is, with less variability in enhancement than CM volume calculated on basis of TBW. In conclusion the calculation of the volume of CM on basis of LBW translates into a low variability of liver enhancement–25.50 HU. In our results 96.05% of sample belongs to a good hepatic enhancement. If we stratify sample by groups of BMI, we also verify no significative differences between slims and fat patients when analysed mean hepatic enhancement

Enzymatic production of fructose fatty acid ester using lipases from C. antarctica and porcine pancreatic

The aim of this work was to produce fructose fatty acid ester by enzymatic esterification of a fatty acid (oleic acid or linoleic acid) with fructose, using lipases (CALB) from Candida antarctica type B and porcine pancreas. The esterification reaction was conducted at 150 rpm and 40 °C during 72 hours. Equimolar (0.5 mmol) amounts of fructose and fatty acid were mixed with 0.6 ml of ethanol and sodium sulfate anhydrous (0.1 g) was added for the adsorption of the water generated during the reaction. In all experiments, 22.5 mg of lipase were used. A control experiment was performed using the same conditions except for the addition of lipase. Samples were analyzed by thin layer chromatography (TLC), using silica gel plates. The plates were placed in an iodine chamber to develop fatty acid and sugar ester spots. According to the literature an Rf of 0.5 is expected for the fructose fatty acid ester using chloroform/ hexane (1:1, v/ v) as eluting solvent. Four different reaction schemes were studied in this work namely, sample 1 (oleic acid, fructose, C. antarctica lipase, sodium sulfate and ethanol), sample 2 (oleic acid, fructose, porcine pancreatic lipase, sodium sulfate and ethanol), sample 3 (linoleic acid, fructose, C. antarctica lipase, sodium sulfate and ethanol) and sample 4 (linoleic acid, fructose, porcine pancreatic lipase, sodium sulfate and ethanol). From the TLC assays, the formation of fructose ester was observed for samples 1, 2 and 3. Additionally, the yield of esterification was determined by calculating the amount of residual fatty acid in the reaction mixture, which was determined using a volumetric method, as described elsewhere. Esterification yields of 74.3, 41.4, 63.5 and 11.2 % (v/ v) were determined for samples 1 to 4, respectively. Therefore, it was possible to conclude that the lipase obtained from C. antarctica had a better performance than the one obtained from porcine pancreas. Furthermore, the reaction schemes that used oleic acid conducted to higher yields of fructose ester production. These results point out that the enzymatic production of fructose esters is worthwhile and suggest the need for further research

Incidence and Health Related Quality of Life of Opioid-Induced Constipation in Chronic Noncancer Pain Patients: A Prospective Multicentre Cohort Study

High rates of opioid use for chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) have been reported worldwide, despite its association with adverse events, inappropriate use, and limited analgesic effect. Opioid-induced constipation (OIC) is the most prevalent and disabling adverse effect associated with opioid therapy. Our aim was to assess the incidence, health related quality of life (HRQOL), and disability in OIC patients.This work was supported by intramural funds from the Chair on Pain Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, and by projects “Porto Neurosciences and Neurologic Disease Research Initiative at i3S” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000008) and “NanoSTIMA” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000016), which are financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Coupling and induced depinning of magnetic domain walls in adjacent spin valve nanotracks

The magnetostatic interaction between magnetic domain walls (DWs) in adjacent nanotracks has been shown to produce strong inter-DW coupling and mutual pinning. In this paper, we have used electrical measurements of adjacent spin-valve nanotracks to follow the positions of interacting DWs. We show that the magnetostatic interaction between DWs causes not only mutual pinning, as observed till now, but that a travelling DW can also induce the depinning of DWs in near-by tracks. These effects may have great implications for some proposed high density magnetic devices (e.g. racetrack memory, DW logic circuits, or DW-based MRAM).Comment: The following article has been accepted by the Journal of Applied Physic

Determinação da relação solo planta em pomar de citros com diferentes combinações copa/porta-enxerto.

A importância socioeconômica da citricultura no Nordeste brasileiro é incontestável. No entanto, problemas como a distribuição irregular de chuva na região onde se localizam os pomares - concentrada em seis a oito meses do ano - interferem de forma direta no crescimento e desenvolvimento das plantas. Em função disso, a busca de genótipos tolerantes a deficiência hídrica é crucial para a permanência da citricultura nesse território

Near-field interaction between domain walls in adjacent Permalloy nanowires

The magnetostatic interaction between two oppositely charged transverse domain walls (DWs)in adjacent Permalloy nanowires is experimentally demonstrated. The dependence of the pinning strength on wire separation is investigated for distances between 13 and 125 nm, and depinning fields up to 93 Oe are measured. The results can be described fully by considering the interaction between the full complex distribution of magnetic charge within rigid, isolated DWs. This suggests the DW internal structure is not appreciably disturbed by the pinning potential, and that they remain rigid although the pinning strength is significant. This work demonstrates the possibility of non-contact DW trapping without DW perturbation and full continuous flexibility of the pinning potential type and strength. The consequence of the interaction on DW based data storage schemes is evaluated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 page supplimentary material (supporting.ps