Acute complications of Crohn's disease: Entero-MDCT versus entero-MRI [B-598]

Purpose: To compare entero-MDCT with entero-MRI performed for suspicion of acute exacerbation of known Crohn's disease. Methods and Materials: Fifty-seven patients (mean age 33.5) with histologically proven Crohn's disease were prospectively included. They presented with clinical symptoms suggesting acute exacerbation to the emergency department. After oral administration of 1-2 l of 5% methylcellulosis (+syrup), entero-MDCT and entero- MRI were performed on each patient (mean delay 1 day). Three experienced radiologists blindly and independently evaluated each examination for technical quality, eight pathological CT features (bowel wall thickening, pathological wall enhancement, stenosis, lymphadenopathy, mesenteric haziness, intraperitoneal fluid, abscess, fistula) and final main diagnosis. Interobserver agreement kappa was calculated. Sensitivity and specificity resulted from comparison with the reference standard, consisting of operation (n= 30) and long-time follow-up in case of conservative treatment (n=27). Results: Entero-MDCT demonstrated considerably less artefacts than entero-MRI (p 0.0001). In 9 entero-MDCT/-MRI, no activity of Crohn's disease was seen, whereas in 48 entero-MDCT/-MRI active disease could be demonstrated, such as intraperitoneal abscesses (n=11), fistulas (n=13), stenoses (n=23), acute (n=15) or chronic (n=23) inflammation. Interobserver agreement of the three readers was not significantly different between entero-MDCT and -MRI, neither was sensitivity (range 60-89%) and specificity (range 75-100%) for each of the eight pathological features or for the main diagnosis. Conclusion: Entero-MRI is statistically of similar diagnostic value as entero-MDCT for acute complications of Crohn's disease. Therefore, entero-IRM, devoid of harmful irradiation, should become the preferred imaging modality, since we deal with young patients, very likely exposed to frequent imaging controls in the future.

Metabolic compartmentalization in the human cortex and hippocampus: evidence for a cell- and region-specific localization of lactate dehydrogenase 5 and pyruvate dehydrogenase.

BACKGROUND: For a long time now, glucose has been thought to be the main, if not the sole substrate for brain energy metabolism. Recent data nevertheless suggest that other molecules, such as monocarboxylates (lactate and pyruvate mainly) could be suitable substrates. Although monocarboxylates poorly cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), such substrates could replace glucose if produced locally.The two key enzymatiques systems required for the production of these monocarboxylates are lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; EC1.1.1.27) that catalyses the interconversion of lactate and pyruvate and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex that irreversibly funnels pyruvate towards the mitochondrial TCA and oxydative phosphorylation. RESULTS: In this article, we show, with monoclonal antibodies applied to post-mortem human brain tissues, that the typically glycolytic isoenzyme of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH-5; also called LDHA or LDHM) is selectively present in astrocytes, and not in neurons, whereas pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) is mainly detected in neurons and barely in astrocytes. At the regional level, the distribution of the LDH-5 immunoreactive astrocytes is laminar and corresponds to regions of maximal 2-deoxyglucose uptake in the occipital cortex and hippocampus. In hippocampus, we observed that the distribution of the oxidative enzyme PDH was enriched in the neurons of the stratum pyramidale and stratum granulosum of CA1 through CA4, whereas the glycolytic enzyme LDH-5 was enriched in astrocytes of the stratum moleculare, the alveus and the white matter, revealing not only cellular, but also regional, selective distributions. The fact that LDH-5 immunoreactivity was high in astrocytes and occurred in regions where the highest uptake of 2-deoxyglucose was observed suggests that glucose uptake followed by lactate production may principally occur in these regions. CONCLUSION: These observations reveal a metabolic segregation, not only at the cellular but also at the regional level, that support the notion of metabolic compartmentalization between astrocytes and neurons, whereby lactate produced by astrocytes could be oxidized by neurons.

Ilha de santiago (Cabo Verde) - Notas Florísticas e Fitogeográficas

Dez taya (Achyranthes aspera var.pubescens, Andropogon/astigiatus, Anthephora cristata, Cenchrus bgorus, Chamaecrista mimosoides, Commelina d~@sa subsp. d$iia, Forsskaolea viridis, Tephrosia linearis, Tolpis/arinulosa e Stylosanthes humilis) sãom encionadopse lap rimeirav ez paraS antiagoE. stacitacáo constitui também,p ara4 deles,a suap rimeirar eferencia para o arquipélagod e CaboV erde. A ~orrkcia de espéciese ndémicasc,u ja presentan estai lha não era verificada desdeh á longa data, é ylientada. Pelo valor dasc omunidadevse getaisq uen eleso correm, sãor eferidosa lgunslo caisp articti+nente importantes.

Value and prices in Russian economic thought (1890-1920)

The subject "Value and prices in Russian economic thought (1890--1920)" should evoke several names and debates in the reader's mind. For a long time, Western scholars have been aware that the Russian economists Tugan-Baranovsky and Bortkiewicz were active participants to the Marxian transformation problem, that the mathematical models of Dmitriev prefigured forthcoming neoricardian based models, and that many Russian economists were either supporting the Marxian labour theory of value or being revisionists. Moreover, these ideas were preparing the ground for Soviet planning. Russian scholars additionally knew that this period was the time of introduction of marginalism in Russia, and that, during this period, economists were active in thinking the relation of ethics with economic theory. All these issues are well covered in the existing literature. But there is a big gap that this dissertation intends to fill. The existing literature handles these pieces separately, although they are part of a single, more general, history. All these issues (the labour theory of value, marginalism, the Marxian transformation problem, planning, ethics, mathematical economics) were part of what this dissertation calls here "The Russian synthesis". The Russian synthesis (in the singular) designates here all the attempts at synthesis between classical political economy and marginalism, between labour theory of value and marginal utility, and between value and prices that occurred in Russian economic thought between 1890 and 1920, and that embraces the whole set of issues evoked above. This dissertation has the ambition of being the first comprehensive history of that Russian synthesis. In this, this contribution is unique. It has always surprised the author of the present dissertation that such a book has not yet been written. Several good reasons, both in terms of scarce availability of sources and of ideological restrictions, may accounted for a reasonable delay of several decades. But it is now urgent to remedy the situation before the protagonists of the Russian synthesis are definitely classified under the wrong labels in the pantheon of economic thought. To accomplish this task, it has seldom be sufficient to gather together the various existing studies on aspects of this story. It as been necessary to return to the primary sources in the Russian language. The most important part of the primary literature has never been translated, and in the last years only some of them have been republished in Russian. Therefore, most translations from the Russian have been made by the author of the present dissertation. The secondary literature has been surveyed in the languages that are familiar (Russian, English and French) or almost familiar (German) to the present author, and which are hopefully the most pertinent to the present investigation. Besides, and in order to increase the acquaintance with the text, which was the objective of all this, some archival sources were used. The analysis consists of careful chronological studies of the authors' writings and their evolution in their historical and intellectual context. As a consequence, the dissertation brings new authors to the foreground - Shaposhnikov and Yurovsky - who were traditionally confined to the substitutes' bench, because they only superficially touched the domains quoted above. In the Russian synthesis however, they played an important part of the story. As a side effect, some authors that used to play in the foreground - Dmitriev and Bortkiewicz - are relegated to the background, but are not forgotten. Besides, the dissertation refreshes the views on authors already known, such as Ziber and, especially, Tugan-Baranovsky. The ultimate objective of this dissertation is to change the opinion that one could have on "value and prices in Russian economic thought", by setting the Russian synthesis at the centre of the debates.

Off-resonance angiography: a new method to depict vessels--phantom and rabbit studies.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of inversion recovery with on-resonant water suppression (IRON) in combination with injection of the long-circulating monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticle (MION)-47 for contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography. MATERIALS AND METhods: Experiments were approved by the institutional animal care committee. Eleven rabbits were imaged at baseline before injection of a contrast agent and then serially 5-30 minutes, 2 hours, 1 day, and 3 days after a single intravenous bolus injection of 80 micromol of MION-47 per kilogram of body weight (n = 6) or 250 micromol/kg MION-47 (n = 5). Conventional T1-weighted MR angiography and IRON MR angiography were performed on a clinical 3.0-T imager. Signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios were measured in the aorta of rabbits in vivo. Venous blood was obtained from the rabbits before and after MION-47 injection for use in phantom studies. RESULTS: In vitro blood that contained MION-47 appeared signal attenuated on T1-weighted angiograms, while characteristic signal-enhanced dipolar fields were observed on IRON angiograms. In vivo, the vessel lumen was signal attenuated on T1-weighted MR angiograms after MION-47 injection, while IRON supported high intravascular contrast by simultaneously providing positive signal within the vessels and suppressing background tissue (mean contrast-to-noise ratio, 61.9 +/- 12.4 [standard deviation] after injection vs 1.1 +/- 0.4 at baseline, P < .001). Contrast-to-noise ratio was higher on IRON MR angiograms than on conventional T1-weighted MR angiograms (9.0 +/- 2.5, P < .001 vs IRON MR angiography) and persisted up to 24 hours after MION-47 injection (76.2 +/- 15.9, P < .001 vs baseline). CONCLUSION: IRON MR angiography in conjunction with superparamagnetic nanoparticle administration provides high intravascular contrast over a long time and without the need for image subtraction.

O Erro, uma Análise Necessária: sua Implicação no Ensino da Língua Portuguesa em Cabo Verde

O trabalho de investigação que ora se apresenta entronca nas preocupações do dia a dia enquanto profissional e dirigente da educação que tem experimentado e acompanhado de perto a prática pedagógica e docente. Por esses imperativos, senti-me na obrigação de procurar uma resposta, refletir sobre as dificuldades do ensino da língua portuguesa e perceber melhor esses obstáculos, nomeadamente o erro linguístico nas práticas letivas, as causas subjacentes e, eventualmente, a quota-parte de responsabilidades dos outros intervenientes no processo, nomeadamente, dos professores de língua portuguesa e do próprio sistema. Nesta sequência, o presente estudo aborda o erro como conceito, marcado pela polissemia da sua definição, abordado pelas múltiplas metodologias de ensino, mas também como elemento central no ensino e aprendizagem de uma língua segunda, no ensino básico, em contextos de coabitação de línguas muito próximas como o português e a língua cabo-verdiana; pretendemos também elencar os procedimentos e atitudes dos atores no processo, bem como os meios didático-pedagógicos essenciais com vista a sua deteção, análise e tratamento do mesmo. A aprendizagem de uma língua segunda como o português, num contexto como o de Cabo Verde, constitui uma tarefa complexa e por vezes demorada, que não pode ser resumida a atos corriqueiros e previsíveis de sala de aula, ignorando as necessidades, disposições e interesses dos aprendentes que são colocados perante uma encruzilhada, o de aprender uma língua que não é sua, mas que não pode recusar. A aparente aproximação entre as duas línguas constitui um obstáculo acrescido, por propiciar a interferência, principal causa do erro, apesar do avanço verificado no desenvolvimento de metodologias e materiais de apoio que auxiliam e tornam mais eficiente o processo de aquisição de uma língua segunda. Para operacionalização do assunto foi elaborado um estudo com recurso à análise de erros, em quarenta e um (41) textos produzidos por alunos do 6.º ano de escolaridade de cinco escolas do ensino básico do Tarrafal, Cabo Verde, com o intuito de recolher informações, analisá-las e, após uma reflexão sobre os resultados, concluir sobre as suas implicações no ensino aprendizagem da língua portuguesa.

Current concepts in the pathogenesis of urea cycle disorders.

The common feature of urea cycle diseases (UCD) is a defect in ammonium elimination in liver, leading to hyperammonemia. This excess of circulating ammonium eventually reaches the central nervous system, where the main toxic effects of ammonium occur. These are reversible or irreversible, depending on the age of onset as well as the duration and the level of ammonium exposure. The brain is much more susceptible to the deleterious effects of ammonium during development than in adulthood, and surviving UCD patients may develop cortical and basal ganglia hypodensities, cortical atrophy, white matter atrophy or hypomyelination and ventricular dilatation. While for a long time, the mechanisms leading to these irreversible effects of ammonium exposure on the brain remained poorly understood, these last few years have brought new data showing in particular that ammonium exposure alters several amino acid pathways and neurotransmitter systems, cerebral energy, nitric oxide synthesis, axonal and dendritic growth, signal transduction pathways, as well as K(+) and water channels. All these effects of ammonium on CNS may eventually lead to energy deficit, oxidative stress and cell death. Recent work also proposed neuroprotective strategies, such as the use of NMDA receptor antagonists, nitric oxide inhibitors, creatine and acetyl-l-carnitine, to counteract the toxic effects of ammonium. Better understanding the pathophysiology of ammonium toxicity to the brain under UCD will allow the development of new strategies for neuroprotection.

A festschrift for Roland L. Weinsier: nutrition scientist, educator, and clinician.

Roland L. Weinsier, M.D., Dr.P.H., devoted himself to the fields of nutrition and obesity for more than 35 years. He contributed outstanding work related to the treatment of obesity through dietary and lifestyle change; metabolic/energetic influences on obesity, weight loss, and weight regain; body composition changes accompanying weight loss and regain; the health benefits and risks of weight loss; nutrition education for physicians; and nutrition support of sick patients. He served on the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) National Task Force on Prevention and Treatment of Obesity, as Chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Department of Nutrition Sciences, and as Founder and Director of its NIDDK-funded Clinical Nutrition Research Center. He was a long-time and active member of NAASO, serving in the roles of Councilor, Publications Committee Chair, Continuing Medical Education Course Director, Public Relations Committee Chair, and Membership Committee Co-Chair, to name just a few. He was well respected as a staunch defender of NAASO's scientific integrity in these roles. Sadly, Roland Weinsier died on November 27, 2002. He will be missed and remembered by many as a revered and beloved teacher, mentor, healer, and scholar.

Cavernomas and brain cysts as treatment-related sequelae in survivors of pediatric brain tumors

Cavernomas after radiotherapy, developing in irradiated children treated for malignant brain tumors, are capillary malformations that are frquently asymptomatic and benign in their evolution. However, in some children this can lead to haemorrhage, which can cause symptoms and need a surgical intervention. Although there is increasing evidence of cavernoma as a possible long term sequelae after radiotherapy, there is still information needed concerning very long follow-up. Different groups studied this problem focusing on incidence and the lag time radiotherapy and the appearance of cavernomas. Results showed that the period can last a long time and the cumulative incidence increases over the years, but the numbers vary between the different publications. More recently researchers tried to compare several predictive factors with the incidence of cavernomas, such as age at radiotherapy, gender, kind of cancer and chemotherapy. No relation has been recorded except a growing incidence when the radiotherapy was started before the age of ten. Reason of the study : The observations reported until now comprised a very heterogenous cohort of patients. No study has ever been made with patients affected only by malignant brain tumors which are typical in a children. As for the studied predictive factors, no publication described the technical aspect of radiotherapy. Objectives: To study a population of pediatric patients children with only malignant brain tumors in order tp calculate the incidence of cavernomas after radiotherapy and their evolution over a longer period compared to so far published researches. To analyse known predictive factors such as age of children at the moment of the radiotherapy, gender, and kind of cancer. To study extensively the role technical aspects of radiotherapy in the occurrence of cavernomas. Methodology: Retrospective study of a group of 62 children irradiated at the CHUV (Lausanne, Switzerland) between 1975 and 2010 due to the following malignant brain cancers: medulloblastoma, ependymoma, PNET. The images of IRM post radiotherapy will be analysed by a neuroradiologist and a radiotherapist will interpret the radiotherapy data. Expected results: We expect to find relations between the incidence of cavernomas post radiotherapy and the predictive factors including different techniques of radiotherapy and consequently to define the best long-term follow up of the children at risk.

Automatització d'un procés de fabricació de peces plàstiques

RESUM L'automatització s'utilitza des de fa molts anys, tot i que va començar a agafar la definició que coneixem actualment al voltant dels anys seixanta i setanta, moment en què es comencen a comercialitzar els primers PLC. A partir d'aquí, el seu creixement ha estat exponencial. En aquest sentit, la tecnologia ha anat avançant i ha augmentat els components que la forma, per això a hores d'ara encara no sabem fins on podrà arribar i què aconseguirà. Per a la indústria tot això ha significat l'automatització de processos que fins ara utilitzaven molt mà d'obra, reduint-la dràsticament. Una de les indústries que més s'ha beneficiat de tots aquests avenços ha estat la de l'automoció, concretament les seves grans línies de producció, automatitzades a uns nivells que fins fa poc temps eren impensables. Aquest projecte forma part d'aquesta indústria, no directament per a la construcció de l'automòbil, sinó indirectament, ja que l'empresa per a la qual s'ha fet l'automatització fabrica peces plàstiques per a automòbils. Concretament, unes peces amb uns injerts metàl•lics conductors que es munten a tots els vehicles i s'utilitzen per accionar els neteja vidres dels cotxes. Aquest fet implica que la fabricació i el disseny de la peça sigui curosament vigilat i controlat per al client final, amb uns controls de qualitat extremadament exigents. El funcionament del procés de fabricació es fa a partir d'unes peces de plàstic produïdes per una injectora que es fan passar per unes estacions automatitzades, cada una de les quals fa una acció concreta per aconseguir el muntatge final.

Disseny i implementació d'una web administrable pel sector del caravàning

Vivim en una era digital on cada vegada més les persones estem connectades a la xarxa, ja sigui a través del mòbil, ordinadors o altres dispositius. Actualment internet és un gran aparador i des de fa temps, les empreses han vist en aquest una manera de treure’n profit. És per això, junt amb el seu baix cost, que fa que qualsevol empresa disposi del seu propi espai a la xarxa. D’aquestes idees sorgeix el projecte de fer la web per AutoSuministres Motor. La principal funció de la web es donar-se a conèixer i ensenyar els seus productes, que en aquest cas, són autocaravanes i caravanes. Tot i així, la pàgina web contindrà un espai de reportatges on l’usuari podrà conèixer més a fons un model concret d’autocaravana o caravana i on també podrà demanar més informació mitjançant un formulari de contacte. Per tant, la pàgina web serà totalment administrable perquè els comercials puguin introduir els vehicles corresponents i l’usuari final pugui consultarlos correctament d’una manera fàcil i senzilla. Per tal de dur a terme aquesta web s’ha tingut en compte utilitzar eines de programació de distribució lliure com és el llenguatge PHP, la base de dades MySQL i jQuery.

Deficit, human capital and economic growth dynamics

Long-run economic growth arouses a great interest since it can shed light on the income-path of an economy and try to explain the large differences in income we observe across countries and over time. The neoclassical model has been followed by several endogenous growth models which, contrarily to the former, seem to predict that economies with similar preferences and technological level, do not necessarily tend to converge to similar per capita income levels. This paper attempts to show a possible mechanismthrough which macroeconomic disequilibria and inefficiencies, represented by budget deficits, may hinder human capital accumulation and therefore economic growth. Using a mixed education system, deficit is characterized as a bug agent which may end up sharply reducing the resources devoted to education and training. The paper goes a step further from the literature on deficit by introducing a rich dynamic analysis of the effects of a deficit reduction on different economic aspects.Following a simple growth model and allowing for slight changes in the law of human capital accumulation, we reach a point where deficit might sharply reduce human capital accumulation. On the other hand, a deficit reduction carried on for a long time, taking that reduction as a more efficient management of the economy, may prove useful in inducing endogenous growth. Empirical evidence for a sample of countries seems to support the theoretical assumptions in the model: (1) evidence on an inverse relationship betweendeficit and human capital accumulation, (2) presence of a strongly negative associationbetween the quantity of deficit in the economy and the rate of growth. They may prove a certain role for budget deficit in economic growth

Deficit, human capital and economic growth dynamics

Long-run economic growth arouses a great interest since it can shed light on the income-path of an economy and try to explain the large differences in income we observe across countries and over time. The neoclassical model has been followed by several endogenous growth models which, contrarily to the former, seem to predict that economies with similar preferences and technological level, do not necessarily tend to converge to similar per capita income levels. This paper attempts to show a possible mechanismthrough which macroeconomic disequilibria and inefficiencies, represented by budget deficits, may hinder human capital accumulation and therefore economic growth. Using a mixed education system, deficit is characterized as a bug agent which may end up sharply reducing the resources devoted to education and training. The paper goes a step further from the literature on deficit by introducing a rich dynamic analysis of the effects of a deficit reduction on different economic aspects.Following a simple growth model and allowing for slight changes in the law of human capital accumulation, we reach a point where deficit might sharply reduce human capital accumulation. On the other hand, a deficit reduction carried on for a long time, taking that reduction as a more efficient management of the economy, may prove useful in inducing endogenous growth. Empirical evidence for a sample of countries seems to support the theoretical assumptions in the model: (1) evidence on an inverse relationship betweendeficit and human capital accumulation, (2) presence of a strongly negative associationbetween the quantity of deficit in the economy and the rate of growth. They may prove a certain role for budget deficit in economic growth

Modeling changes in organic carbon stocks for distinct soils in southeastern brazil after four eucalyptus rotations using the century model

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays an important role in carbon (C) cycle and soil quality. Considering the complexity of factors that control SOM cycling and the long time it usually takes to observe changes in SOM stocks, modeling constitutes a very important tool to understand SOM cycling in forest soils. The following hypotheses were tested: (i) soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks would be higher after several rotations of eucalyptus than in low-productivity pastures; (ii) SOC values simulated by the Century model would describe the data better than the mean of observations. So, the aims of the current study were: (i) to evaluate the SOM dynamics using the Century model to simulate the changes of C stocks for two eucalyptus chronosequences in the Rio Doce Valley, Minas Gerais State, Brazil; and (ii) to compare the C stocks simulated by Century with the C stocks measured in soils of different Orders and regions of the Rio Doce Valley growing eucalyptus. In Belo Oriente (BO), short-rotation eucalyptus plantations had been cultivated for 4.0; 13.0, 22.0, 32.0 and 34.0 years, at a lower elevation and in a warmer climate, while in Virginópolis (VG), these time periods were 8.0, 19.0 and 33.0 years, at a higher elevation and in a milder climate. Soil samples were collected from the 0-20 cm layer to estimate C stocks. Results indicate that the C stocks simulated by the Century model decreased after 37 years of poorly managed pastures in areas previously covered by native forest in the regions of BO and VG. The substitution of poorly managed pastures by eucalyptus in the early 1970´s led to an average increase of C of 0.28 and 0.42 t ha-1 year-1 in BO and VG, respectively. The measured C stocks under eucalyptus in distinct soil Orders and independent regions with variable edapho-climate conditions were not far from the values estimated by the Century model (root mean square error - RMSE = 20.9; model efficiency - EF = 0.29) despite the opposite result obtained with the statistical procedure to test the identity of analytical methods. Only for lower soil C stocks, the model over-estimated the C stock in the 0-20 cm layer. Thus, the Century model is highly promising to detect changes in C stocks in distinct soil orders under eucalyptus, as well as to indicate the impact of harvest residue management on SOM in future rotations.

Dynamics of the two-dimensional gonihedric spin model

In this paper, we study dynamical aspects of the two-dimensional (2D) gonihedric spin model using both numerical and analytical methods. This spin model has vanishing microscopic surface tension and it actually describes an ensemble of loops living on a 2D surface. The self-avoidance of loops is parametrized by a parameter ¿. The ¿=0 model can be mapped to one of the six-vertex models discussed by Baxter, and it does not have critical behavior. We have found that allowing for ¿¿0 does not lead to critical behavior either. Finite-size effects are rather severe, and in order to understand these effects, a finite-volume calculation for non-self-avoiding loops is presented. This model, like his 3D counterpart, exhibits very slow dynamics, but a careful analysis of dynamical observables reveals nonglassy evolution (unlike its 3D counterpart). We find, also in this ¿=0 case, the law that governs the long-time, low-temperature evolution of the system, through a dual description in terms of defects. A power, rather than logarithmic, law for the approach to equilibrium has been found.