A huge traumatic pulmonary pseudocyst

AbstractTraumatic pulmonary pseudocyst (TPP) is a rare complication following blunt trauma. We report a 26-year-old male patient who presented to the emergency room with internal bleeding and shock. Huge TPP (14 cm in diameter) was seen on whole-body computed tomography scan and complicated with bronchial bleeding. He deteriorated to respiratory failure soon after arriving at the emergency room. TPPs imply high-energy impact on the chest region and frequently complicated with pulmonary contusions, hemo- and pneumo-thorax, multiple rib fractures, flail chest, and concurrent with abdominal injuries. Emergency physicians should be aware of such rare entity and manage correctly

A Four-Stage Data Augmentation Approach to ResNet-Conformer Based Acoustic Modeling for Sound Event Localization and Detection

In this paper, we propose a novel four-stage data augmentation approach to ResNet-Conformer based acoustic modeling for sound event localization and detection (SELD). First, we explore two spatial augmentation techniques, namely audio channel swapping (ACS) and multi-channel simulation (MCS), to deal with data sparsity in SELD. ACS and MDS focus on augmenting the limited training data with expanding direction of arrival (DOA) representations such that the acoustic models trained with the augmented data are robust to localization variations of acoustic sources. Next, time-domain mixing (TDM) and time-frequency masking (TFM) are also investigated to deal with overlapping sound events and data diversity. Finally, ACS, MCS, TDM and TFM are combined in a step-by-step manner to form an effective four-stage data augmentation scheme. Tested on the Detection and Classification of Acoustic Scenes and Events (DCASE) 2020 data sets, our proposed augmentation approach greatly improves the system performance, ranking our submitted system in the first place in the SELD task of DCASE 2020 Challenge. Furthermore, we employ a ResNet-Conformer architecture to model both global and local context dependencies of an audio sequence to yield further gains over those architectures used in the DCASE 2020 SELD evaluations.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Discriminating Glucose Tolerance Status by Regions of Interest of Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry: Clinical Implications of Body Fat Distribution

WSTĘP. Zbadanie, czy ocena rozmieszczenia tkanki tłuszczowej w organizmie metodą absorpcjometrii promieniowania rentgenowskiego o podwójnej energii (DEXA, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) może być pomocny w ocenie stanu tolerancji glukozy. MATERIAŁ I METODY. U 1015 badanych mieszkańców Chin (559 mężczyzn i 456 kobiet) zastosowano doustny test obciążenia glukozą (75,0 g). Na podstawie jego wyników wyodrębniono osoby o prawidłowej (NGT, normal glucose tolerance) i upośledzonej (IGT, impaired glucose tolerance) tolerancji glukozy oraz osoby, u których rozpoznano cukrzycę (DM, diabetes mellitus). Mierzono wysokość ciśnienia tętniczego i oceniano profil lipidowy. Na podstawie stosunku obwodu talii do bioder (WHR, waist-to-hip ratio) i wyników DEXA oceniano rozmieszczenie tkanki tłuszczowej u osób w poszczególnych grupach. WYNIKI. Rozmieszczenie tkanki tłuszczowej, wyrażone poprzez WHR oraz wskaźnik centralizacji, wykazało znamienną częściową korelację ze stężeniem hemoglobiny glikowanej, wysokością ciśnienia tętniczego i profilem lipidowym u wszystkich badanych. Po skorygowaniu wyników wobec wieku i wskaźnika masy ciała (BMI, body mass index), stwierdzono znamienne różnice częstości wszystkich sercowo-naczyniowych czynników ryzyka w poszczególnych grupach, z wyjątkiem stężenia cholesterolu całkowitego. W grupie DM odnotowano znamiennie wyż-sze wartości WHR i wskaźnika centralizacji przy niższej procentowo zawartości tkanki tłuszczowej w udach. Ponadto, pacjentów z grupy IGT charakteryzował wyższy wskaźnik centralizacji niż osoby z grupy NGT. Nie stwierdzono jednakże znamiennych różnic masy tkanek beztłuszczowych w porównywanych grupach. Po dokonaniu wieloczynnikowej analizy logistycznej regresji wskaźnik centralizacji pozostał istotnym czynnikiem umożliwiającym ocenę tolerancji glukozy, niezależnie od procentowej zawartości tkanki tłuszczowej w organizmie. WNIOSKI. Otyłość centralna wykazuje znamienną korelację z sercowo-naczyniowymi czynnikami ryzyka w grupach osób o różnej tolerancji glukozy. Indeks centralizacji, oceniany metodą DEXA, wydaje się lepszym wskaźnikiem upośledzenia tolerancji glukozy niż WHR, otyłość brzuszna czy uogólniona otyłość (wyrażone odpowiednio jako odsetek zawartości tłuszczu całkowitego lub BMI) w dużej grupie badanych Chińczyków.OBJECTIVE. To determine whether measuring body fat distribution by dual-energy X-ray a bsor ptio metry (DEXA) can be used to discriminate glucose tolerance status. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS. Using a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, a total of 1,015 Chinese subjects (559 men and 456 women) were categorized as having normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or diabetes. Blood pre ssure and lipid profiles of these subjects were measured. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and DEXA were used to evaluate the varying patterns of body fat distribution among the gro ups. RESULTS. Body fat distribution, as reflected by WHR and the centrality index, showed significant partial correlation coefficients with glycosylated hemoglobin, blood pressure, and lipid profiles in all subjects. After adjusting for age and BMI, there were significant differences among the three glycemic groups for all the cardiovascular risk factors except for total cholesterol level. The diabetic group had a significantly higher WHR and centrality index, but lower femoral fat percentage than the NGT and IGT groups. The diabetic group also showed higher abdominal fat percentage than the NGT group. More over, the IGT group had a higher centrality index than the NGT group. However, no significant differences were found in the percentage of lean tissue mass among the three groups. Using multiple stepwise logistic regression models, the centrality index remained a significant factor for discriminating different glucose tolerance status independent of the percentage total body fat. CONCLUSIONS. Central obesity has shown significant correlation with cardio vascular risk factors among the three different glycemic groups. Centrality index measured by DEXA appears to be the better predictor of glucose intolerance, compared with WHR, abdominal fat, and general obesity (reflected by percentage total body fat or BMI) in a large cohort of the Chinese population

Thermal-assisted Anisotropy and Thermal-driven Instability in the Superfluidity state of Two-Species Polar Fermi Gas

We study the superfluid state of two-species heteronuclear Fermi gases with isotropic contact and anisotropic long-range dipolar interactions. By explicitly taking account of Fock exchange contribution, we derive self-consistent equations describing the pairing states in the system. Exploiting the symmetry of the system, we developed an efficient way of solving the self-consistent equations by exploiting the symmetries. We find that the temperature tends to increase the anisotropy of the pairing state, which is rather counterintuitive. We study the anisotropic properties of the system by examining the angular dependence of the number density distribution, the excitation spectrum and the pair correlation function. The competing effects of the contact interaction and the dipolar interaction upon the anisotropy are revealed. We derive and compute the superfluid mass density $\rho_{ij}$ for the system. Astonishingly, we find that $\rho_{zz}$ becomes negative above some certain temperature $T^*$($T<T_c$), signaling some instability of the system. This suggests that the elusive FFLO state may be observed in experiments, due to an anisotropic state with a spontaneously generated superflow.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Tetrodotoxin and paralytic shellfish poisons in gastropod species from Vietnam analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

AbstractAmong marine toxins, tetrodotoxin (TTX) and paralytic shellfish poisons (PSPs) are known as notorious neurotoxins that induce serious food poisoning incidents in the Southeast Asia region. The aim of this study was to investigate whether TTX and PSP toxins are important issues of seafood safety. Paralytic toxicity was observed in mice exposed to 34 specimens from five species of gastropods using a PSP bioassay. Five species of gastropods, Natica vitellus, Natica tumidus, Oliva hirasei, Oliva lignaria, and Oliva annulata, were collected from the coastal seawaters in Nha Trang City, Vietnam, between August 2007 and October 2007. The average lethal potency of gastropod specimens was 90 ± 40 (mean ± standard deviation) mouse units (MU) for N. vitellus, 64 ± 19 MU for N. tumidus, 42 ± 28 MU for O. hirasei, 51 ± 17 MU for O. lignaria, and 39 ± 18 MU for O. annulata. All toxic extracts from the sample species were clarified using a C18 Sep-Pak solid-phase extraction column and a microcentrifuge filter prior to analysis. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection indicated that the toxins of the olive shell (O. hirasei, O. lignaria, and O. annulata) were mainly composed of saxitoxin (STX) (73–82%), gonyautoxin (GTX) 2, 3 (12–22%), and minor levels of TTX (5–6%). The toxins of N. vitellus and N. tumidus were mainly composed of STX (76–81%) and GTX 1, 4 (19–24%). Furthermore, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis was used to verify the identity of the PSPs and TTX. Our evidence shows that these gastropods have novel toxin profiles

Interlayer pair tunneling and gap anisotropy in YBa2_2Cu3_3O7−δ_{7-\delta}

Recent ARPES measurement observed a large $ab$-axis gap anisotropy, $\Delta(0,\pi)/\Delta(\pi,0)=1.5$, in clean YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$. This indicates that some sub-dominant component may exist in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave dominant gap. We propose that the interlayer pairing tunneling contribution can be determined through the investigation of the order parameter anisotropy. Their potentially observable features in transport and spin dynamics are also studied.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Assessment of latent tuberculosis infection in psychiatric inpatients: A survey after tuberculosis outbreaks

AbstractBackground/PurposeTo investigate risk factors of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among inpatients of chronic psychiatric wards with tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks.MethodsIn April 2013, inpatients of four all-male wards with TB outbreaks were tested for LTBI using the QuantiFERON-TB Gold in Tube (QFT) method. Based on this investigation, a retrospective study was conducted to assess risk factors for LTBI. Inpatients exposed to cluster-A or cluster-B TB cases were defined as contacts of cluster-A or cluster-B, and others, as nonclustered contacts.ResultsAmong 355 inpatients with TB exposure, 134 (38%) were QFT-positive for LTBI. Univariate analysis showed that significant predictors for QFT-positivity were age, case-days of exposure to all TB cases (TB-all) and to sputum smear positive cases, number of source cases with cough, and exposure to cluster-A TB cases. Independent risk factors for LTBI were higher age [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.03, 95% confidence intervals (CI: 1.01–1.05)], TB-all exposure case-days ≥ 200 [adjusted OR 2.04 (1.06–3.92)] and exposure to cluster-A TB cases [adjusted OR 2.82 (1.30–6.12)] after adjustment for the sputum smear positivity, and cough variables of the source cases. The contacts of cluster-A had a greater risk of LTBI than did those of cluster-B, especially in the younger population (≤50 years) after adjustment [adjusted OR 2.64 (1.03–6.76)].ConclusionAfter TB outbreaks, more than one third of inpatients were QFT-positive for LTBI. Our findings suggest that, beside the infectiousness of source cases, intensity of exposure, and age of contacts, exposure to TB cases in potential genotyping clusters may be predictive for LTBI in this male psychiatric population