Evaluation of prognostic factors of decompressive craniectomy in the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury

OBJECTIVE: to determine predictive factors for prognosis of decompressive craniectomy in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), describing epidemiological findings and the major complications of this procedure.METHODS: we conducted a retrospective study based on analysis of clinical and neurological outcome, using the extended Glasgow outcome in 56 consecutive patients diagnosed with severe TBI scale treated in the emergency department from February 2004 to July 2012. The variables assessed were age, mechanism of injury, presence of pupillary changes, Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score on admission, CT scan findings (volume, type and association of intracranial lesions, deviation from the midline structures and classification in the scale of Marshall and Rotterdam).RESULTS: we observed that 96.4% of patients underwent unilateral decompressive craniectomy (DC) with expansion duraplasty, and the remainder to bilateral DC, 53.6% of cases being on the right 42.9% on the left, and 3.6% bilaterally, with predominance of the fourth decade of life and males (83.9%). Complications were described as transcalvarial herniation (17.9%), increased volume of brain contusions (16.1%) higroma (16.1%), hydrocephalus (10.7%), swelling of the contralateral lesions (5.3%) and CSF leak (3.6%).CONCLUSION: among the factors studied, only the presence of mydriasis with absence of pupillary reflex, scoring 4 and 5 in the Glasgow Coma Scale, association of intracranial lesions and diversion of midline structures (DML) exceeding 15mm correlated statistically as predictors of poor prognosis.

Oil Transportation in the Gulf of Finland in 2020 and 2030

This study is part of the Minimizing risks of maritime oil transport by holistic safety strategies (MIMIC) project. The purpose of this study is to provide a current state analysis of oil transportation volumes in the Baltic Sea and to create scenarios for oil transportation in the Gulf of Finland for the years 2020 and 2030. Future scenarios and information about oil transportation will be utilized in the modelling of oil transportation risks, which will be carried out as part of the MIMIC project. Approximately 290 million tons of oil and oil products were transported in the Baltic Sea in 2009, of which 55% (160 million tons) via the Gulf of Finland. Oil transportation volumes in the Gulf of Finland have increased from 40 million to almost 160 million tonnes over the last ten years. In Russia and Estonia, oil transportation mainly consists of export transports of the Russian oil industry. In Finnish ports in the Gulf of Finland, the majority of oil traffic is concentrated to the port of Sköldvik, while the remainder mainly consists of different oil products for domestic use. Transit transports to/from Russia make up small volumes of oil transportation. The largest oil ports in the Gulf of Finland are Primorsk, Tallinn, St. Petersburg and Sköldvik. The basis for the scenarios for the years 2020 and 2030 is formed by national energy strategies, the EU`s climate and energy strategies as well other energy and transportation forecasts for the years 2020 and 2030. Three alternative scenarios were produced for both 2020 and 2030. The oil volumes are based on the expert estimates of nine specialists. The specialists gave three volumes for each scenario: the expected oil transport volumes, and the minimum and maximum volumes. Variations in the volumes between the scenarios are not large, but each scenario tends to have rather a large difference between the figures for minimum and maximum volumes. This variation between the minimum and maximum volumes ranges around 30 to 40 million tonnes depending on the scenario. On the basis of this study, no a dramatic increase in oil transportation volumes in the Gulf of Finland is to be expected. Most of the scenarios only forecasted a moderate growth in maritime oil transportation compared to the current levels. The effects of the European energy policy favouring renewable energy sources can be seen in the 2030 scenarios, in which the transported oil volumes are smaller than in the 2020 scenarios. In the Slow development 2020 scenario, oil transport volumes for 2020 are expected to be 170.6 Mt (million tonnes), in the Average development 2020 187.1 Mt and in the Strong development 2020 201.5 Mt. The corresponding oil volumes for the 2030 scenarios were 165 Mt for the Stagnating development 2030 scenario, 177.5 Mt for the Towards a greener society 2030 scenario and 169.5 Mt in the Decarbonising society 2030 scenario.

Natural abundance of 13C in tropical grasses from the INPA, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, herbarium

The stable carbon isotopic composition of 165 grass species was determined with the objective of verifying their photosynthetic pathway (C3 and C4). The samples, taken from the INPA herbarium, were mainly collected in the North of Brazil. Approximately 60% of the species proved to be of the C4 type, with d 13C values ranging from -13.6 to -9.5‰, while the remainder 40% belonged to the C3 type, with values ranging from -34.7 to -23.4‰. This relatively high proportion of C3 species is probably due to the high relative humidity of the sites where the species were collected.

The coastal restinga vegetation of Pará, Brazilian Amazon: a synthesis

The present article reviews studies (some unpublished) of the vegetation of coastal sandy soils (restinga) along the coast of Pará State, northern Brazil. A total of 411 higher plant species are reported; Fabaceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae and Myrtaceae are the most species-rich families. Nearly half of the restinga species (48%) are terrestrial herbs; palms, trees and shrubs account for 39% of the species, the remainder being lianas and epiphytes. Species are frequently wide-spread and occur in coastal areas of Southeastern Brazil as well as at inland sites in the Amazon region. Only two species appear to be exclusively coastal; whereas other species appear to exhibit a preference for sandy soils. Plant assemblages are commonly classified by means of "formations" associated with certain habitats but current data do not allow the description of well-defined plant associations. The species composition at different sites along the Pará coast does not show any clear regional grouping pattern. Seasonal changes in the composition of restinga vegetation are most probably linked to variation in ground water level. Restinga forest is mostly low and open; among the dominant tree species are Humiria balsamifera Aubl., Pouteria ramiflora (Mart.) Radlk., Anacardium occidentale L., Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) Kunth, and Tapirira guianensis Aubl.

Chromosome number and secondary constriction variation in 51 accessions of a citrus germplasm bank

The mitotic chromosomes of 51 citrus accessions from the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Mandioca e Fruticultura Tropical, Cruz das Almas, BA, Brazil, were analyzed. The sample included representatives of 20 Citrus species, one of Poncirus and seven hybrids. All accessions showed 2n = 18 without any evidence of numerical variation. The most clearly variable karyotype feature was the number and position of secondary constrictions (SECs). In 19 accessions the SECs were not identified, mainly due to the degree of chromatin condensation. In the remainder they varied in number from one to three per karyotype. They were found in the proximal region of one of the three largest chromosome pairs, in the terminal/subterminal region of a smaller chromosome or, more seldom, terminally in a larger chromosome. Only in a few cases were such constrictions observed simultaneously in both homologues of the same chromosome pair. The high variability of this karyotype feature may be due to the activation of this region in the previous interphase but may also indicate a high structural variability and heterozygosity of citrus germplasms

Validation of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C) in a sample of Brazilian children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C), an instrument developed in the United States and applied to a sample of Brazilian schoolchildren. The process included the translation of the original material from English into Portuguese by two bilingual psychiatrists and a back translation by a bilingual physician. Both the front and back translations were revised by a bilingual child psychiatrist. The study was performed using a cross-sectional design and the Portuguese version of the SPAI-C was applied to a sample of 1954 children enrolled in 3rd to 8th grade attending 2 private and 11 public schools. Eighty-one subjects were excluded due to an incomplete questionnaire and 2 children refused to participate. The final sample consisted of 1871 children, 938 girls (50.1%) and 933 boys (49.8%), ranging in age from 9 to 14 years. The majority of the students were Caucasian (89.0%) and the remainder were African-Brazilian (11.0%). The Pearson product-moment correlation showed that the two-week test-retest reliability coefficient was r = 0.780 and Cronbach's alpha was 0.946. The factor structure was almost similar to that reported in previous studies. The results regarding the internal consistency, the test-retest reliability and the factor structure were similar to the findings obtained in studies performed on English speaking children. The present study showed that the Portuguese language version of SPAI-C is a reliable and valid measure of social anxiety for Brazilian children.

Bacteriophages of Erwinia amylovora and their potential use in biological control

Forty-four bacteriophage isolates of Erwinia amy/ovora, the causal agent of fire blight, were collected from sites in and around the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario in the summer of 1998. Phages were isolated only from sites where fire blight was present. Thirty-seven of these phages were isolated from the soil surrounding infected trees, with the remainder isolated from aerial plant tissue samples. A mixture of six E. amy/ovora bacterial host strains was used to enrich field samples in order to avoid the selection bias of a single-host system. Molecular characterization of the phages with a combination of peR and restriction endonuclease digestions showed that six distinct phage types were isolated. Ten phage isolates related to the previously characterized E. amy/ovora phage PEa1 were isolated, with some divergence of molecular markers between phages isolated from different sites. The host ranges of the phages revealed that certain types were unable to efficiently lyse some E. amy/ovora strains, and that some types were able to lyse the epiphytic bacterium Pantoea agg/omerans. Biological control of E. amy/ovora by the bacteriophages was assessed in a bioassay using discs of immature pear fruit. Twenty-three phage isolates were able to significantly suppress the incidence of bacterial exudate on the pear disc surface. Quantification of the bacterial population remaining on the disc surface indicated that population reductions of up to 97% were obtainable by phage treatment, but that elimination of bacteria from the surface was not possible with this model system.

Overview of the First Phylogenomics Conference

Affiliation: H. Philippe: Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal

Les relations entre les grands-parents et leurs petits-enfants au Québec

Nous avons constaté, au Québec, que les grands-parents étaient les grands oubliés de la littérature sur la famille. En effet, les recherches sociologiques sur les grands-parents au Québec sont trop peu nombreuses et il nous semble donc important de les développer davantage. Avec les changements que connaissent les familles aujourd’hui (divorce, recomposition, etc.), les relations entre grands-parents et petits-enfants en sont des plus affectées. Cette relation est souvent laissée au bon vouloir des parents qui ont le rôle de génération intermédiaire. Ces derniers contrôlent l’accès de leurs enfants aux relations avec leurs grands-parents et aux représentations qu’ils en ont. Manifestement, il semble que la relation grand-parent et petit-enfant soit à penser de manière triangulaire. Il peut sembler alors que cette triangulation caractérise la qualité de la relation entre les grands-parents et leurs petits-enfants. En fait, il est des plus intéressant d’étudier l’importance du rôle médiateur que jouent les parents, à l’intersection du lien grands-parents et petits-enfants dans la transmission des valeurs au Québec. Il ressort également de l’analyse le rapport à la grand-parentalité à travers plusieurs générations ainsi que le résultat de reproduction sociale du rôle de grands-parents.

The Secession Reference: A Ruling in Search of a Nation

This short article will address the two following issues: the new vision of the Canadian constitutional order entertained by the Supreme Court in the Reference re Secession of Quebec (I) nd the impact of this new vision. upon the fate of Canada (II)

L'évolution de l'appui à la souveraineté du Québec: effets de la formulation de la question et effets de contexte.

Cette recherche étudie l'évolution de l'appui à la souveraineté du Québec entre 1976 et aujourd'hui, en considérant les diverses formulations de la question utilisées par les acteurs politiques et par les sondeurs. Cette question est abordée en faisant une analyse longitudinale multiniveaux de plus de 800 sondages. Une telle approche suggère que les caractéristiques des sondages sont nichées à l'intérieur d'unités contextuelles plus larges, des unités de temps. Cela permet d'une part d'observer quels sont les facteurs liés à la mesure qui influencent l'appui à la souveraineté du Québec et ensuite de voir comment ces mêmes effets varient à travers le temps et comment ils sont influencés par certains événements jugés importants. Il ressort de ces analyses que les propositions séparation, indépendance, souveraineté et souveraineté-association/partenariat entraînent généralement des appuis moyens significativement différents les uns des autres. Il apparaît aussi que certains événements ont eu une influence significative sur l'évolution de l'appui à ces diverses propositions. Enfin, il a été tenté de voir si les appuis propres à ces diverses propositions évoluaient de manière parallèle, s'ils réagissaient similairement aux différents événements considérés dans les analyses ou si au contraire ces appuis pouvaient parfois évoluer de manière différente. Les résultats à cet égard sont intéressants mais non concluants.