A HARD AND VARIABLE X-RAY EMISSION FROM THE MASSIVE EMISSION-LINE STAR HD 157832

We report the discovery with XMM-Newton of a hard-thermal (T similar to 130 MK) and variable X-ray emission from the Be star HD 157832, a new member of the puzzling class of gamma-Cas-like Be/X-ray systems. Recent optical spectroscopy reveals the presence of a large/dense circumstellar disk seen at intermediate/high inclination. With a B1.5V spectral type, HD 157832 is the coolest gamma-Cas analog known. In addition, its non-detection in the ROSAT all-sky survey shows that its average soft X-ray luminosity varied by a factor larger than similar to 3 over a time interval of 14 yr. These two remarkable features, ""low"" effective temperature, and likely high X-ray variability turn HD 157832 into a promising object for understanding the origin of the unusually high-temperature X-ray emission in these systems.

Coastal photograph: Aber Wrac'h, Pays du Léon, Bretagne

Aber Wrac’h, Pays du Léon, Bretagne. Aber Wrac’h, Bretagne, France, on 10 March 2004 at 13:30 (low tide) looking North (downstream) towards the Aber mouth and open sea between Lannilis and Plougerneau, Pays des Abers, Pays du Le´on. The word "Aber" is Britton (Breton) for a "fjord"-like estuary. Located on the Channel, the region "Pays des Abers" includes several deep incisions in the coastlines. The best known ‘‘Abers’’ are the Aber Wrac’h and Aber Benoit in the Pays du Léon, Finistere Nord.

EULAR/PRINTO/PRES criteria for Henoch-Schonlein purpura, childhood polyarteritis nodosa, childhood Wegener granulomatosis and childhood Takayasu arteritis: Ankara 2008. Part II: Final classification criteria

Objectives To validate the previously proposed classification criteria for Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP), childhood polyarteritis nodosa (c-PAN), c-Wegener granulomatosis (c-WG) and c-Takayasu arteritis (c-TA). Methods Step 1: retrospective/prospective webdata collection for children with HSP, c-PAN, c-WG and c-TA with age at diagnosis <= 18 years. Step 2: blinded classification by consensus panel of a representative sample of 280 cases. Step 3: statistical (sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve and.-agreement) and nominal group technique consensus evaluations. Results 827 patients with HSP, 150 with c-PAN, 60 with c-WG, 87 with c-TA and 52 with c-other were compared with each other. A patient was classified as HSP in the presence of purpura or petechiae (mandatory) with lower limb predominance plus one of four criteria: (1) abdominal pain; (2) histopathology (IgA); (3) arthritis or arthralgia; (4) renal involvement. Classification of c-PAN required a systemic inflammatory disease with evidence of necrotising vasculitis OR angiographic abnormalities of medium-/small-sized arteries (mandatory criterion) plus one of five criteria: (1) skin involvement; (2) myalgia/muscle tenderness; (3) hypertension; (4) peripheral neuropathy; (5) renal involvement. Classification of c-WG required three of six criteria: (1) histopathological evidence of granulomatous inflammation; (2) upper airway involvement; (3) laryngo-tracheo-bronchial involvement; (4) pulmonary involvement (x-ray/CT); (5) antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody positivity; (6) renal involvement. Classification of c-TA required typical angiographic abnormalities of the aorta or its main branches and pulmonary arteries (mandatory criterion) plus one of five criteria: (1) pulse deficit or claudication; (2) blood pressure discrepancy in any limb; (3) bruits; (4) hypertension; (5) elevated acute phase reactant. Conclusion European League Against Rheumatism/Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation/Paediatric Rheumatology European Society propose validated classification criteria for HSP, c-PAN, c-WG and c-TA with high sensitivity/specificity.

EVALUATION OF ONYX HD-500 EMBOLIC SYSTEM IN THE TREATMENT OF 84 WIDE-NECK INTRACRANIAL ANEURYSMS

OBJECTIVE: We report our results using Onyx HD-500 (Micro Therapeutics, Inc., Irvine, CA) in the endovascular treatment of wide-neck intracranial aneurysms, which have a high rate of incomplete occlusion and recanalization with platinum coils. METHODS: Sixty-nine patients with 84 aneurysms were treated. Most of the aneurysms were located in the anterior circulation (80 of 84 aneurysms), were unruptured (74 of 84 aneurysms), and were incidental. Ten presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 15 were symptomatic. All aneurysms had wide necks (neck >4 mm and/or dome-to-neck ratio <1.5). Fifty aneurysms were small (<12 mm), 30 were large (12 to <25 mm) and 4 were giant. Angiographic follow-up was available for 65 of the 84 aneurysms at 6 months, for 31 of the 84 aneurysms at 18 months, and for 5 of the 84 aneurysms at 36 months. RESULTS: Complete aneurysm occlusion was seen in 65.5% of aneurysms on immediate control, in 84.6% at 6 months, and in 90.3% at 18 months. The rates of complete occlusion were 74%, 95.1%, and 95.2% for small aneurysms and 53.3%, 70%, and 80% for large aneurysms at the same follow-up periods. Progression from incomplete to complete occlusion was seen in 68.2% of all aneurysms, with a higher percentage in small aneurysms (90.9%). Aneurysm recanalization was observed in 3 patients (4.6%), with retreatment in 2 patients (3.3%). Procedural mortality was 2.9%. Overall morbidity was 7.2%. CONCLUSION: Onyx embolization of intracranial wide-neck aneurysms is safe and effective. Morbidity and mortality rates are similar to those of other current endovascular techniques. Larger samples and longer follow-up periods are necessary.

Formas Imagiológicas Atípicas de “PRES” em Idade Pediátrica – Envolvimento Bulbo-Medular e Múltiplas Hemorragias – Nada Posterior e Pouco Reversível!

Introdução: Osíndrome de encefalopatia posterior reversível, ou PRES, é uma entidade clinico-radiológica associada a uma grande variedade de contextos clínicos, nomeadamente em idade pediátrica, com padrões imagiológicos mais típicos com envolvimento dos lobos parietais e occipitais mas também com outras formas imagiológicas, mais ou menos frequentes dependendo dos locais envolvidos (frontais e temporais, tronco cerebral, ganglios da base, cerebelo...). Objectivos: Apresentar formas de PRES em idade pediátrica com características imagiológicas infrequentes. Casos Clínicos: Apresentam-se os casos em duas jovens de sexo feminino, ambas com HTA grave e insuficiência renal, que se apresentaram com cefaleias intensas e uma delas com crises convulsivas, alteração do estado consciência e hemiparésia esquerda. Num dos casos a RM demonstrou um envolvimento extenso da medula e bulbo, apenas com uma pequena lesão parietal direita, com total reversão destas alterações em estudos de controle. No outro caso, a TC e a RM evidenciaram inúmeras lesões de edema com envolvimento multifocal de todos os lobos cerebrais e com múltiplas áreas hemorrágicas igualmente dispersas, desde micro-hemorragias a um hematoma mais volumoso, tendo-se constatado nos estudos de controle uma regressão parcial destas alterações. Conclusão: Apesar do envolvimento mais típico das regiões parietais e occipitais no PRES por lesões de edema vasogénico, padrões atípicos e infrequentes estão documentados e devem ser reconhecidos, incluindo-se nestes padrões o envolvimento predominantemente medular e a presença de múltiplas hemorragias.

Going beyond duopoly: Connectivity breakdowns under receiving party pays

We show that the prediction of strategic connectivity breakdowns under a receiving-party-pays system and discrimination between on and off-net prices does not hold up once more than two mobile networks are considered. Indeed, if there are at least three competing networks and enough utility is obtained from receiving calls, only equilibria with finite call prices and receiving prices exist. Private negotiations over access charges then achieve the efficient outcome. Bill & keep (zero access charges) and free outgoing and incoming calls are efficient if and only marginal costs of calls are zero.

Corruption: Who pays for the bill?

This paper intends to study who pays for corruption in Brazil from 2005 to 2011. Politicians may decide to charge the spillovers of corruption at a municipal level through taxes or to charge it to the entire country through voluntary transfers. The used measure of corruption is based on audit reports conducted on randomly selected municipalities from 2005 to 2011.In order to address this question an IV strategy was computed using as instrument for the number of observed cases of corruption the dummy variable of being audited or not. We evaluated the impact of corruption on taxes and on voluntary transfers and concluded that with an increase in the number of observed cases of corruption the first decreases and the latest registers an increase. Therefore, considering all Brazilian municipalities, mayors prefer to spread the bill all over the country than charging it locally.

Influence of the elevation of the left ventricular diastolic pressure on the values of the first temporal derivative of the ventricular pressure (dP/dt)

PURPOSE: To assess the effects of the elevation of the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) on the value of the 1st temporal derivative of the ventricular pressure (dP/dt). METHODS: Nineteen anesthetized dogs were studied. The dogs were mechanically ventilated and underwent thoracotomy with parasympathetic nervous system block. The LVEDP was controlled with the use of a perfusion circuit connected to the left atrium and adjusted to the height of a reservoir. The elevation of the LVEDP was achieved by a sudden increase in the height of a reservoir filled with blood. Continuous recordings of the electrocardiogram, the aortic and ventricular pressures and the dP/dt were performed. RESULTS: Elevation of the LVEDP did not result in any variation of the heart rate (167±16.0bpm, before the procedure; 167±15.5bpm, after the procedure). All the other variables assessed, including systolic blood pressure (128±18.3mmHg and 150±21.5mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (98±16.9mmHg and 115±19.8mmHg), LVEDP (5.5±2.49 and 9.3±3.60mmHg), and dP/dt (4,855 ± 1,082 mmHg/s and 5,149±1,242mmHg/s) showed significant increases following the expansion of the ventricular cavity. Although the elevation of the dP/dt was statistically significant, 6 dogs curiously showed a decrease in the values of dP/dt. CONCLUSION: Sudden elevation of the LVEDP resulted in increased values of dP/dt; however, in some dogs, this response was not uniform.

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Oiseaux No.1

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Rongeurs et Pachydermes

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Carnassiers No.1 & 2

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Coleopteres No.2

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Quadrumanes

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Pachydermes, Ruminants, Édentés, Cétacés, Marsupiaux et Monotrèmes

Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle; ou, traité complet de cette science d'après les travaux des naturalistes les plus éminents de tous les pays et de toutes les époques: Buffon, Daubenton, Lacépède, G. Cuvier, F. Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, De Jussieu, Brongniart, etc.

Oiseaux No.3