Treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis by dilation.

Treatment options for eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) include drugs, diets and esophageal dilation. Esophageal dilation can be performed using either through-the-scope balloons or wire-guided bougies. Dilation can lead to long-lasting symptom improvement in EoE patients presenting with esophageal strictures. Esophageal strictures are most often diagnosed when the 8- to 9-mm outer diameter adult gastroscope cannot be passed any further or only against resistance. A defined esophageal diameter to be targeted by dilation is missing, but the majority of patients have considerable symptomatic improvement when a diameter of 16-18 mm has been reached. A high complication rate, especially regarding esophageal perforations, has been reported in small case series until 2006. Several large series were published in 2007 and later that demonstrated that the complication risk (especially esophageal perforation) was much lower than what was reported in earlier series. The procedure can therefore be regarded as safe when some simple precautions are followed. It is noteworthy that esophageal dilation does not influence the underlying eosinophil-predominant inflammation. Patients should be informed before the procedure that postprocedural retrosternal pain may occur for some days, but that it usually responds well to over-the-counter analgesics such as paracetamol. Dilation-related superficial lacerations of the mucosa should not be regarded and reported as complications, but instead represent a desired effect of the therapy. Patient tolerance and acceptance for esophageal dilation have been reported to be good.

Effects of expanding on the nutritive value of wheat bran in pig diets

Selostus: Ekspanderkäsittelyn vaikutus vehnänleseen rehuarvoon lihasian ruokinnassa

A simple method for the simulation of multiple elastic scattering of electrons

A screened Rutherford cross section is modified by means of a correction factor to obtain the proper transport cross section computed by partial¿wave analysis. The correction factor is tabulated for electron energies in the range 0¿100 keV and for elements in the range from Z=4 to 82. The modified screened Rutherford cross section is shown to be useful as an approximation for the simulation of plural and multiple scattering. Its performance and limitations are exemplified for electrons scattered in Al and Au.

Simple method for the simulation of multiple elastic scattering of electrons

A screened Rutherford cross section is modified by means of a correction factor to obtain the proper transport cross section computed by partial¿wave analysis. The correction factor is tabulated for electron energies in the range 0¿100 keV and for elements in the range from Z=4 to 82. The modified screened Rutherford cross section is shown to be useful as an approximation for the simulation of plural and multiple scattering. Its performance and limitations are exemplified for electrons scattered in Al and Au.

Lysine supplementation of barley wet distillers' solids diets for growing-finishing pigs

Selostus: Rankkivalkuaisdieetin lysiinitäydennyksen vaikutus sikojen tuotantotuloksiin

Feeding whole grain with pelleted diets to growing broiler chickens

Selostus: Kokojyväviljan syöttäminen broilereille rakeisen rehun seassa

A new and simple variable-angle accessory for infrared specular reflectance

A simple, low-cost accessory (patent pending) with only two flat mirrors and a new variable-angle mechanism has been developed for infrared specular reflectance measurements. The system allows the angles of incidence to be varied continuously from 15° (near normal incidence) to 85° (near grazing angle) without losing the alignment of the accessory. The reflectivity of boron nitride thin films deposited on metallic substrates has been measured at different angles of incidence to demonstrate the utility of this accessory.

Ruling out coronary artery disease in primary care: development and validation of a simple prediction rule.

BACKGROUND: Chest pain can be caused by various conditions, with life-threatening cardiac disease being of greatest concern. Prediction scores to rule out coronary artery disease have been developed for use in emergency settings. We developed and validated a simple prediction rule for use in primary care. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional diagnostic study in 74 primary care practices in Germany. Primary care physicians recruited all consecutive patients who presented with chest pain (n = 1249) and recorded symptoms and findings for each patient (derivation cohort). An independent expert panel reviewed follow-up data obtained at six weeks and six months on symptoms, investigations, hospital admissions and medications to determine the presence or absence of coronary artery disease. Adjusted odds ratios of relevant variables were used to develop a prediction rule. We calculated measures of diagnostic accuracy for different cut-off values for the prediction scores using data derived from another prospective primary care study (validation cohort). RESULTS: The prediction rule contained five determinants (age/sex, known vascular disease, patient assumes pain is of cardiac origin, pain is worse during exercise, and pain is not reproducible by palpation), with the score ranging from 0 to 5 points. The area under the curve (receiver operating characteristic curve) was 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.83-0.91) for the derivation cohort and 0.90 (95% CI 0.87-0.93) for the validation cohort. The best overall discrimination was with a cut-off value of 3 (positive result 3-5 points; negative result <or= 2 points), which had a sensitivity of 87.1% (95% CI 79.9%-94.2%) and a specificity of 80.8% (77.6%-83.9%). INTERPRETATION: The prediction rule for coronary artery disease in primary care proved to be robust in the validation cohort. It can help to rule out coronary artery disease in patients presenting with chest pain in primary care.

Collective dynamic properties in simple crystals: Influence of the structural disorder

Collective dynamic properties in Lennard-Jones crystals are investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. The study is focused on properties such as the dynamic structure factors, the longitudinal and transverse currents and the density of states. The influence on these properties of the structural disorder is analyzed by comparing the results for one-component crystals with those for liquids and supercooled liquids at analogous conditions. The effects of species-disorder on the collective properties of binary crystals are also discussed.

The Kuramoto model: A simple paradigm for synchronization phenomena

Synchronization phenomena in large populations of interacting elements are the subject of intense research efforts in physical, biological, chemical, and social systems. A successful approach to the problem of synchronization consists of modeling each member of the population as a phase oscillator. In this review, synchronization is analyzed in one of the most representative models of coupled phase oscillators, the Kuramoto model. A rigorous mathematical treatment, specific numerical methods, and many variations and extensions of the original model that have appeared in the last few years are presented. Relevant applications of the model in different contexts are also included.

Simple model for nonexponential relaxation in complex fluids

The nonexponential relaxation occurring in complex dynamics manifested in a wide variety of systems is analyzed through a simple model of diffusion in phase space. It is found that the inability of the system to find its equilibrium state in any time scale becomes apparent in an effective temperature field, which leads to a hierarchy of relaxation times responsible for the slow relaxation phenomena.