Second-order Direct Analysis of Steel Structures made of tapered members

[EN] Mild steel hot-rolled sections are commonly prismatic because of the rolling process with a furnace, but welded sections made from steel plates do not have such a constraint, especially when robotic welding machines are used. The weight saving could be very significant by, say, using wide flanged section at mid-span and a small flanged section at ends of a simply supported beam. However, design codes do not provide formulae for buckling check of tapered members. This paper proposes a code-free second-order direct analysis for stabilty design of steel frames made of tapered members. The design is further applied to a single layered mega space frame of 136m span. In the whole design process based on the concept of Second-order Direct Analysis, no uncertain effective length and independent member buckling checking are required.The authors are grateful to the financial supports by the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong SAR Government on the project “Second-Order Analysis of Shallow Dome Structures Made of Tapering Members (PolyU 152047/17E)” and Second-Order Analysis of Flexible Steel Cable Nets Supporting Debris (PolyU 152008/15E)” and support by Innovation and Technology Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government for the project “Development of an energy absorbing device for flexible rock-fall barriers (ITS/059/16FP)” and by the Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Steel Construction of The Innovation and Technology Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government for the project Advanced Numerical Analysis for Building Structures using High Performance Steel Materials".Chan, S.; Liu, S.; Liu, Y. (2018). Second-order Direct Analysis of Steel Structures made of tapered members. En Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Steel-Concrete Composite Structures. ASCCS 2018. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 75-82. https://doi.org/10.4995/ASCCS2018.2018.7221OCS758

Concomitant pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculous appendicitis in a recipient of a renal transplant: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Tuberculosis is still a serious infection among recipients of renal transplants. Although the ileocecal region is the most affected part in intestinal tuberculosis, acute tuberculous appendicitis is quite a rare entity. We report a case of concomitant pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculous appendicitis in a recipient of a renal transplant.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 27-year-old Iranian woman, who had been the recipient of a renal transplant five years earlier, presented with a two-week history of coughing, fever and weight loss. The cause of her end-stage renal disease was chronic pyelonephritis. There were fine crackles noted during a chest examination, and a plain chest radiography showed fine miliary nodules throughout her entire lung fields. Sputum and bronchial aspirate examination was positive for acid-fast bacilli, suggestive of <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>infection. A chest computed tomography scan revealed widespread miliary nodules, compatible with miliary tuberculosis. She developed severe abdominal pain and abdominal surgery disclosed a perforated appendicitis. Histopathological examination of the resected appendix revealed widespread caseating epithelioid granulomas, suggestive of tuberculosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our case report highlights a rare presentation of tuberculosis in a patient who has undergone renal transplant. Such unusual presentation of tuberculosis, particularly among patients receiving potent immunosuppressive protocols, should be considered by clinicians.</p

Hemobilia caused by a ruptured hepatic cyst: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Hemobilia is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. More than 50% of hemobilia cases are related to iatrogenic trauma from hepatobiliary procedures, and needle biopsy of the liver represents the most common cause. A minority of hemobilia cases are due to hepatobiliary disorders such as cholangitis, hepatobiliary cancers, choledocholithiasis, and vascular abnormalities in the liver. The classic presentation of hemobilia is the triad of right upper quadrant (biliary) pain, obstructive jaundice, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. We report a rare case of hemobilia caused by a spontaneous hepatic cyst rupture, where our patient presented without the classical symptoms, in the absence of therapeutic or pathological coagulopathy, and in the absence of spontaneous or iatrogenic trauma.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 91-year-old African-American woman was referred to our out-patient gastroenterology clinic for evaluation of mild epigastric pain and intermittent melena. An abdominal computed tomography scan was remarkable for multiple hepatic cysts. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed multiple blood clots at the ampulla of Vater. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed a single 18 mm-sized filling defect in the common hepatic duct wall at the junction of the right and left hepatic duct, adjacent to one of the hepatic cysts. The ruptured hepatic cyst communicated to the bile ducts and was the cause of hemobilia with an atypical clinical presentation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Hemobilia is an infrequent cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and rarely occurs due to hepatic cyst rupture. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the second case report in the literature that describes hemobilia due to hepatic cyst rupture. However, it is the first case in the literature of hemobilia due to hepatic cyst rupture in the absence of iatrogenic or spontaneous trauma, and in the absence of a spontaneous or pathological coagulopathy.</p

Association between asymptomatic hyperuricemia and new-onset chronic kidney disease in Japanese male workers: a long-term retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hyperuricemia is prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We explored the hypothesis that asymptmatic hyperuricemia may be associated with new-onset CKD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The participants were all male factory workers in Kanagawa, Japan (n = 1,285). All were over 40 years of age and had undergone annual health examinations from 1990 to 2007. Individuals with a history of gouty attacks were excluded from the study. A retrospective cohort study was conducted by following the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) for each participant over a maximum period of 18 years. The endpoint was new-onset CKD defined as eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m². The associations between new-onset CKD and the presence of hyperuricemia, low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean (± standard deviation) follow-up period was 95.2 (± 66.7) months, and new-onset CKD was observed in 100 participants (7.8%) during this follow-up. Cox proportional hazards model revealed that the hazard ratio of new-onset CKD due to hyperuricemia, low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension and obesity were 3.99 (95% confidence interval: 2.59-6.15), 1.69 (1.00-2.86), 2.00 (1.29-3.11) and 1.35 (0.87-2.10), respectively. Concerning hyperuricemia, low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension and obesity, the log-rank tests showed <it>P </it>values of < 0.01, 0.01, < 0.01 and < 0.01, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study suggest that asymptomatic hyperuricemia is a predictive factor for new-onset CKD for Japanese male workers.</p

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

State-of-the-art management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: current and future directions

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a distinct type of head and neck cancer. Approximately 70% of patients with newly diagnosed NPC present with locally advanced disease. Phase III clinical trials support the addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy for the initial treatment of these patients. Once metastatic disease develops, practices become varied. Further experience needs to be gained with both targeted therapies and immunotherapy to gauge whether they will improve treatment outcomes in NPC