4 research outputs found
An acute abdomen due to torsion of an accessory spleen: a case report
No full textTorsion of accessory splenic is a rare cause of acute abdomen that usually presents diagnostic challenges. This report presents a case of a 35-year-old diabetic male who was diagnosed with torsion of an accessory spleen (AS) on contrast enhanced CT scan and managed conservatively.
Aspiration and Sclerotherapy with Sodium Tetradecyl Sulfate Versus open Hydrocelectomy: An Experience with the Two Modalities of Hydrocele Management
No full textBackground. Hydrocele is the most prevalent cause of painless scrotal swelling. Hydrocelectomy is the gold standard of management for symptomatic hydrocele, but in recent years, aspiration and sclerotherapy have been tried as minimally invasive treatment modalities. Aim of the study. The study aims to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of percutaneous aspiration and sclerotherapy with sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) compared to the standard open hydrocelectomy procedure for the treatment of symptomatic hydroceles. Methods. A retrospective analysis of the cases that were treated for symptomatic hydroceles between January 2019 and December 2023 with either open hydrocelectomy or percutaneous aspiration followed by sclerotherapy with a sodium tetradecyl sulfate-based solution was conducted. This study was undertaken after obtaining formal permission from the ethics committee. Primary outcomes included patient satisfaction and procedural success, while secondary outcomes focused on complications and the comparative costs of the procedures. Results. Thirty-seven patients were treated with aspiration and sclerotherapy, and these patients were compared with 34 patients who underwent hydrocelectomy. The mean follow-up for the aspiration and sclerotherapy group was 10.6 months, and for the hydrocelectomy group, it was 18.2 months. The patient satisfaction rate was 76% for aspiration and sclerotherapy and 90% for hydrocelectomy. The overall success rate for aspiration and sclerotherapy was 76%, compared to 86% for hydrocelectomy. The complication rate was significantly lower for aspiration and sclerotherapy (12%) compared to hydrocelectomy (29%). The cost of hydrocelectomy was almost twelve times higher than aspiration and sclerotherapy. Conclusions. Aspiration and sclerotherapy with sodium tetradecyl sulfate provide a minimally invasive, cost-effective, and safe alternative to open hydrocelectomy. Although the success rate is slightly lower than that of hydrocelectomy, its simplicity, lower complication rate, and significantly reduced cost render it a cost-effective and practical first-line approach for managing hydroceles in appropriately selected cases
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Life on foot : an investigation of pedestrian life in everyday urban space
No full textExploring pedestrian life in the drab, suburban fringe of Austin, Texas this master’s thesis aims to understand where and how people walk in an environment that does not seem to encourage it. Inspired by the literature of “everyday urbanism,” the author studied the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and Rundberg Lane in Austin, a place known for being high in crime, traffic crashes, and poverty rates. In an effort to document with the precision of traffic engineers how people walk in a city, this study found a rich tapestry of walking routes that go beyond the officially designated sidewalks and crosswalks typically seen as the place for walking. Pedestrians seem to create their own routes, traversing parking lots and landscaping. Furthermore, the walking environment seems to be racialized, to be gendered, and to attract only certain ages. This study suggests planning theorists adopt a broader notion of what makes a place “walkable,” more closely studying the experience of pedestrians in environments such as Rundberg and Lamar. Further, this thesis suggests that practitioners design and plan such spaces after understanding by experience how people actually use and inhabit a space.Community and Regional Plannin
Three-dimensional CFD-DEM simulation of raceway transport phenomena in a blast furnace
No full textpeer reviewedImproving energy efficiency in a blast furnace (BF) has a significant effect on energy consumption and pollutant emission in a steel plant. In the BF, the blast injection creates a cavity, the so-called raceway, near the inlet. On the periphery of the raceway, a ring-type zone is formed which is associated with the highest coke combustion rate and temperatures in the raceway. Therefore, predicting the raceway size or in other words, the periphery of the ring-type zone with accuracy is important for estimating the BF’s energy and coke consumption. In the present study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is coupled to Discrete Element Method (DEM) to develop a three-dimensional (3D) model featuring a gas–solid reacting flow, to study the transport phenomena inside the raceway. The model is compared to a previously developed two-dimensional (2D) model and it is shown that the assumptions associated with a 2D model, result in an overestimation of the size of the raceway. The 3D model is then used to investigate the coke particles’ combustion and heat generation and distribution in the raceway. It is shown that a higher blast flow rate is associated with a higher reaction rate and a larger raceway. A 10% increase in the inlet velocity (from 200 m/s to 220 m/s) caused the raceway volume to grow by almost 40%. The DEM model considers a radial discretization over the particle, therefore the heat and mass distributions over the particle are analyzed as well.Raceway of Blast Furnac
