12 research outputs found
Experimental Assessment of the Acoustic Performance of Nozzles Designed for Clean Agent Fire Suppression
No full textDischarge through nozzles used in gas-based fire protection of data centers may generate noise that causes the performance of hard drives to decay considerably; silent nozzles are employed to limit this harmful effect. This work focuses on proposing an experimental methodology to assess the impact of sound emitted by gaseous jets by comparing various nozzles under several operating conditions, together with relating that impact to design parameters. A setup was developed and repeatability of the experiments was evaluated; standard and silent nozzles were tested regarding the discharge of inert gases and halocarbon compounds. The ability of silent nozzles to contain the emitted noise—generally below the 110 dB reference threshold—was proven effective; a relationship between Reynolds number and peak noise level is suggested to support the reported increase in noise maxima as released flow rate increases. Hard drives with lower speed were the most affected. Spectral analysis was conducted, with sound at the higher frequency range causing performance decay even if lower than the acknowledged threshold. Independence of emitted noise from the selected clean agent was also observed in terms of released volumetric flow rate, yet the denser the fluid, the lower the generated noise under the same released mass flow rate
Radiation therapy in primary orbital lymphoma: a single institution retrospective analysis
No full textAbstract Background Primary orbital lymphoma is a rare disease that accounts for 10% of all orbital tumors. Radiotherapy on the orbital cavity is the treatment of choice for this unusual presentation of localized non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness and the toxicity of radiation treatment in patients with primary orbital lymphoma. Methods Forty-seven consecutive patients having primary orbital lymphoma treated in our department between May 1983 and September 2006 were investigated in a retrospective study. Either 60Co γ rays or 6 MV X rays were used to deliver daily fractions of 1.8 or 2.0 Gy, 5 times/week, with total doses ranging from 34.2 to 50 Gy. Forty-three patients had stage IE, three had stage II and one stage IV disease. Thirty-eight patients had marginal zone B-cell lymphoma, 5 diffuse large B cell lymphoma, 3 mantle cell lymphoma and 1 Burkitt lymphoma. Local control (LC), disease free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and late side effects were evaluated in all patients. Results With a median follow up of 45 months, LC was obtained in 100% of patients. The estimated 5- and 7-year DFS rates were 75.8% and 55.3%, and the 5- and 7-year OS rates were 88.7% and 79.9% respectively. Acute toxicity was minimal. Late toxicity such as cataract, keratitis, retinopathy and xerophthalmia occurred respectively in 12 (25.5%), 5 (10.6%), 1 (2.1%), and 9 (19.1%) patients. Conclusion Radiotherapy is an effective and at the same time well tolerated treatment for primary orbital lymphoma.</p
Fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy for orbital optic nerve sheath meningioma - a single institution experience and a short review of the literature.
No full textFractionated Stereotactic Radiation Therapy for Orbital Optic Nerve Sheath Meningioma - a Single Institution Experience and a Short Review of the Literature
No full textOptic nerve sheath meningioma (ONSM) is a rare orbital tumor that generally induces a slow progressive visual loss in affected patients. Radiotherapy (RT) has currently become the first choice to treat ONSM. In this study our experience in ONSM treatment with fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) is reported. Five patients with diagnosis of orbital ONSM were treated between April 2007 and December 2009 at the Radiation Oncology department of our institution. All patients underwent history and physical, and ophthalmic examinations. Orbital MRI was performed before and 6 weeks after treatment; thereafter every 6 months for the first 2 years. By previous stereotactic localization of the target, RT was delivered with 28 daily fraction of 1.8 Gy by multiple non coplanar arcs dynamically conformed by a micro multileaf-collimator. At diagnosis, in all 5 patients, visual acuity limitations of different degrees were found, while exophthalmos was present in 2, diplopy in 2, orbital pain in 1, and proptosis in 1. In all patients pre-treatment MRI showed an orbital mass involving the optic nerve. After radiotherapy, previous symptoms improved in all patients. However, after RT the MRI consistently showed a stationary status compared to the MRI before RT. At a median follow up of 26 months (range 9-37) all patients had a subjective and/or objective better visual performance than before RT without any evidence of disease progression. No late side effects were recorded. Accordingly to the current literature, our experience confirms the efficacy and the safety of FSRT in patients with orbital ONSM
Long-Term Evaluation of Patients with Neurotrophic Keratopathy Undergoing Staged Keratoplasty After Corneal Neurotization
No full textPurposeCorneal neurotization (CN) is a novel, potentially curative surgical procedure for the treatment of neurothophic keratopathy (NK). Patients with severe NK can present with corneal opacification requiring optical keratoplasty, which would likely fail without a proper trophic support of corneal nerves in the recipient cornea.MethodsThis is a pilot study on 4 patients undergoing keratoplasty after CN. Pre- and postoperative data at 12, 24 months and at the last follow-up were collected for the examination of (i) best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), (ii) slit lamp examination and photograph acquisition with and without fluorescein staining, (iii) corneal aesthesiometry, (iv) in vivo confocal microscopy of the central cornea. Neurophysiological study of the corneal reflex before corneal graft and at last follow up was performed.ResultsFour female patients (47.25 +/- 5.06 y.o.) underwent keratoplasty after CN (3 penetrating keratoplasty, 1 deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty). The mean interval between CN and keratoplasty was 22 (+/- 12) months. The mean graft survival time was 42 (+/- 25) months. Graft follow-up ranged from 72 to 132 months. At the final follow-up, BCVA was improved in 2 out of 4 patients. The mean corneal sensitivity was 11.9 +/- 8.3 mm at last follow-up. In vivo confocal microscopy confirmed the presence of functioning nerves at the last follow-up in all patients. NK-related complications occurred in 3 eyes (2 persistent epithelial defect, 1 corneal melting). The former complication was successfully treated by autologous serum eye drops while the latter required repeated keratoplasty.ConclusionsKeratoplasty is a viable strategy to improve visual acuity in patients with corneal opacity who underwent CN for the treatment of NK. Even in the presence of functioning corneal nerves before keratoplasty, surgeons should be aware of the increased rate of NK-related complications that could require the need for repeated procedure
Internacionalización de la producción: Diagnóstico de la evolución de los cinco productos más exportables del Ecuador en los últimos cinco años (2008-2012) y su relación con los Acuerdos Internacionales vigentes
No full textEl maestrante entrega tres ejemplares empastados de la tesis y tres CD con el contenido de la misma en Word y en formato PDFLa presente investigación se da por la importancia de analizar la producción nacional de mayor exportación en el último lustro, a efectos de tener una visión global de la problemática del sector y orientar las mejores propuestas en beneficio del país. Por ello se estudian los Convenios internacionales vigentes y las estadísticas del comercio internacional.
El Ecuador a pesa de ser un país de muchos recursos naturales y poseer regiones geográficas con microclimas aptos para todo tipo de cultivos durante el año, ha mantenido en su producción exportable, pocos productos tradicionales que son utilizados como materia prima en los países industrializados.
Al momento la política internacional del Ecuador y sus relaciones comerciales con el mundo se caracterizan y tienden por la no apertura a la firma de Tratados de Libre Comercio, lo que lo pone en desventaja frente a los países vecinos de Colombia y Perú que mantienen una política comercial de apertura agresiva a los mercados internacionales.
Bajo este marco se estudia el comportamiento del mercado y su evolución del banano, atún, flores, camarón y cacao, siendo estos los más representativos en las exportaciones no petroleras.
El Ecuador en los últimos cinco años ha tenido un crecimiento del 11,76%, siendo meta del gobierno nacional apoyar al desarrollo productivo creando valor agregado y desarrollando tecnología, ventajas competitivas que posicionan mejor a nuestro país en los mercados internacionales.This research is given by the importance of analyzing the national production of major export in the last five years, in order to have a global view of problems and guide the best proposals for the benefit of the country. Therefore existing international agreements and international trade statistics are studied.
Ecuador despite being a country with many natural resources and geographical regions have microclimates suitable for all crops during the year, has maintained its export production, few traditional products which are used as raw materials in the industrialized countries.
At the moment, the International Policy of Ecuador’s trade relations with the world and tend, characterized by not opening the signing of Free Trade Agreements, which puts Ecuador at a disadvantage against neighboring Colombia and Peru that maintain an aggressive commercial policy of openness to International Markets.
Under this framework, the market behavior and evolution of bananas, tuna, flowers, shrimp and cocoa is studied, being the most representative in non-oil exports.
Ecuador in the last five years has had a growth of 11,76%, being the goal of the national government supporting the production development by creating value-added and technology development, competitive advantages that puts our country in the International Markets.Universidad de Guayaquil; Instituto Superior de Post-Grado en Ciencias Internacionales "Dr. Antonio Parra Velasco
Lo scambio di informazioni in materia tributaria
No full textL’opera approfondisce la rilevanza fondamentale che, nell’ambito delle prospettive più ampie di riforma del sistema tributario, assume l’analisi giuridica dell’elusione e dell’evasione fiscale, sia a livello nazionale che internazionale, con particolare riferimento ai più recenti strumenti normativi di contrasto, al fine di verificare ipotesi di coordinamento e razionalizzazione degli stessi
New nutraceutical combination reduces blood pressure and improves exercise capacity in hypertensive patients via a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism
No full textBackground High blood pressure (BP) has long been recognized as a major health threat and, particularly, a major risk factor for stroke, cardiovascular disease, and end-organ damage. However, the identification of a novel, alternative, integrative approach for the control of BP and cardiovascular protection is still needed. Methods and Results Sixty-nine uncontrolled hypertension patients, aged 40 to 68 years, on antihypertensive medication were enrolled in 2 double-blind studies. Forty-five were randomized to placebo or a new nutraceutical combination named AkP05, and BP, endothelial function, and circulating nitric oxide were assessed before and at the end of 4 weeks of treatment. Twenty-four patients were randomized to diuretic or AkP05 for 4 weeks and underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test to evaluate the effects of AkP05 on functional capacity of the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and muscular systems. Vascular and molecular studies were undertaken on mice to characterize the action of the single compounds contained in the AkP05 nutraceutical combination. AkP05 supplementation reduced BP, improved endothelial function, and increased nitric oxide release; cardiopulmonary exercise test revealed that AkP05 increased maximum O2 uptake, stress tolerance, and maximal power output. In mice, AkP05 reduced BP and improved endothelial function, evoking increased nitric oxide release through the PKCα/Akt/endothelial nitric oxide synthase pathway and reducing reactive oxygen species production via NADPH-oxidase inhibition. These effects were mediated by synergism of the single compounds of AkP05. Conclusions This is the first study reporting positive effects of a nutraceutical combination on the vasculature and exercise tolerance in treated hypertensive patients. Our findings suggest that AkP05 may be used as an adjunct for the improvement of cardiovascular protection and to better control BP in uncontrolled hypertension
Author Correction: Host nasopharyngeal transcriptome dataset of a SARS-CoV-2 positive Italian cohort
No full textEnhancing Precision Medicine: An Automatic Pipeline Approach for Exploring Genetic Variant-Disease Literature
No full text[EN] Advancements in genomics have generated vast amounts of data, requiring efficient methods for exploring the relationships between genetic variants and diseases. This paper presents a pipeline approach that automatically integrates diverse biomedical databases, including NCBI Gene, MeSH, LitVar2, PubTator, and SynVar, for retrieving comprehensive information about genes, variants, diseases, and associated literature. The pipeline consists of multiple stages: querying and searching across the different databases, extracting relevant data, and applying filters to refine the results. Its goal is to bridge the gap in information retrieval related to genetic variants and diseases by providing a systematic framework for discovering relevant literature. The pipeline uses open-access sources to uncover additional articles not referenced in expert reports that mention the genetic variants of interest. In this paper, we present the methodology of the pipeline, discuss its limitations and highlight its potential for advancing information systems, data management, and interoperability in the domains of genomics and precision medicine.This work is partially supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by the 'European Union' and 'NextGenerationEU/MRR', and by 'ERDF A way of making Europe' under grants PDC2021-120846-C44 and PID2021-126061OB-C41. It is also partially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana underproject CIPROM/2021/023.
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