Complications of abdominal right-thoracic (Ivor Lewis) esophagectomy

Esophageal resection and reconstruction are associated with significant operative and postoperative morbidity and mortality. Careful evaluation of the patient's cardiopulmonary status; proper preparation of the patient with smoking cessation, exercise, and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation; assessment of the stage of disease; selection of a suitable operative technique; and meticulous attention to technical details help reduce the incidence of complications and ensure a successful outcome in this technically challenging procedure.     

Anti-Pathogenic and Technological Traits of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Isolated from Koozh,a Fermented Food Product of South India

The aim of this study was to assess the biopotency of fermented food product Koozh associated coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and non-mycobacterial pathogens, and to document some technologically relevant attributes. The anti-tubercular property of six CNS strains was exhibited using luciferase reporter phage assay. All strains revealed pronounced mycobactericidal property in terms of higher percentage of relative light unit reduction (> 90%). The antagonistic role of CNS strains against non-mycobacterial pathogens was evaluated using agar well diffusion assay. Staphylococcus hominis strain MANF2 was found to be the most effective against Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 96 and Yersinia enterocolitica MTCC 840 with arbitrary units of 1600.31 ± 22.3 and 1500.23 ± 22.3 AU/mL, respectively. Further, various technological attributes of staphylococci were determined using standard methodology. All strains exhibited promising carbohydrate fermentation ability at standard in vitro conditions. CNS strains were positive for exopolysaccharide production and expressed strain specific lipase activity. All the isolates lacked amylase activity and biofilm formation ability. All six CNS strains, particularly strain MANF2 exhibited significant rate of autolytic and catalase activity, and showed the potential to reduce nitrate to nitrite. Most importantly, these strains were categorized for safe utilization based on in vitro safety hazards test. Overall, the present investigation indicated the persuasive biopotency of CNS against M. tuberculosis H37Rv and non-mycobacterial pathogens, and revealed adaptable technological attributes that would make them relevant for formulation of staphylococcal starter cultures for the development of quality fermented food products.     

Effect of household processing on the in vitro bioavailability of iron in mungbean (Vigna radiata)

BACKGROUND: Mungbean (Vigna radiata) is a major source of energy and protein in developing countries, especially for the vegetarian population. Improvement of the bioavailability of iron in mungbean by common household processes could make a significant contribution to the nutrition of people in countries where iron-deficiency anemia is widespread. OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted to determine the effect of common household processes on nutritional and antinutritional factors as well as in vitro bioavailability of iron in mungbean. METHODS: Mungbean was subjected to various domestic processes such as dehulling, pressure cooking, germination, and fermentation. The effects of these processes on proximate composition, antinutritional factors (phytin phosphorus, polyphenols, and neutral detergent), and iron, including ionizable iron, were determined. RESULTS: No significant change in crude protein content was observed. There was a significant (p < or = .05) increase in fiber content after germination. Ash content decreased significantly (p < or = .05) after all processing methods. The processing methods resulted in a significant (p < or = .05) reduction in phytin phosphorus and polyphenols. Pressure cooking significantly (p < or = .05) decreased the neutral detergent fiber, whereas fermentation and germination increased it. The phytate:iron molar ratio of processed mungbean revealed that the maximum reduction was in germinated and fermented samples. Ascorbic acid content increased significantly (p < or = .05) after germination. The in vitro bioavailability of iron in raw mungbean was 7.32%. All of the processing methods resulted in an increase in iron bioavailability in vitro; the maximum bioavailability was in germinated cooked mungbean (12.52%), followed by fermented cooked mungbean and germinated raw mungbean (both 11.04%). CONCLUSIONS: Suitable processing techniques can improve the in vitro bioavailability of iron from mungbean. If mungbean products with enhanced iron bioavailabilty are developed, they could help improve the iron status of the population.     

Efficient SAT-based bounded model checking for software verification

This paper discusses our methodology for formal analysis and automatic verification of software programs. It is applicable to a large subset of the C programming language that includes pointer arithmetic and bounded recursion. We consider reachability properties, in particular whether certain assertions or basic blocks are reachable in the source code, or whether certain standard property violations can occur. We perform this analysis via a translation to a Boolean circuit representation based on modeling basic blocks. The program is then analyzed by a back-end SAT-based bounded model checker, where each unrolling is mapped to one step in a block-wise execution of the program.     

Fracture mechanics weight functions in three dimensions: Subtraction of fundamental fields

A new procedure is presented for the determination of the fracture mechanics weight functions that are required for the evaluation of stress intensity factors in cracked solids. The procedure can be used with a standard three-dimensional boundary element code. The weight functions are proportional to the displacements on the boundary of the solid when the only loading is a pair of self-equilibrated point forces at the crack front. In previous work, the highly singular crack-tip fields that this loading produces have been modelled by replacing the crack front by a cylindrical cavity with appropriate displacement boundary conditions on the cavity walls. It is shown here that results are dependent on the cavity radius and that convergence of the results cannot be guaranteed. An alternative procedure, based on the substraction of fundamental fields (SFF), is demonstrated herein. The high-order singularities are removed from the field before the reduced problem is solved numerically using a standard boundary element method. Since the reduced problem is equivalent to an unloaded crack in a solìd subjected to boundary tractions, the usual quarter-point displacement elements and quarter-point traction singular elements can be used to improve the accuracy. Weight functions, so obtained, are used to evaluate stress intensity factors as a function of position on the crack front for a straight-fronted crack in a rectangular bar subjected to various loadings. Both edge and central cracks are considered and the validity of the technique is demonstrated by comparing the results with previously published values.     

Studies on baking of high alpha-amylase flours: effect of pH,salt and L-cysteine . HCI in the dough

The effect of varying concentrations of sodium chloride (0 to 2.5%), pH (5.8 to 4.2) and KBrO₃ (75 ppm) with and without addition of L-cysteine ± HCI (25 to 75 ppm) on the baking of flours with high content of alphaamylase (108 to 540 SKB/100 g) was compared with a normal flour. Decreasing the pH of dough to 4.2 and increasing the salt concentration to 2.5% reduced the loaf volume and gluten recoveries considerably. Decreased pH also reduced the mixing tolerance of dough, which was counteracted by increased salt content of normal and high alpha-amylase flours. A combination of low pH, salt and L-cysteine ± HCI and 75 ppm of KBrO₃ without sugar in the dough of higher alpha-amylase flour produced a satisfactory loaf by eliminating bulk fermentation.