Renal agenesis associated with homolateral ovarian dysplasia. A case report]

This case concerns an arc welder who presented suppurative bronchiectasis and episodes of purulent left side pleurisy in relation to cystic bronchiectasis of the left lower lobe and a very severe stenosis at the origin of the main left bronchus. The medicolegal problem was to assess the causal relationship between these lesions and occupational exposure. They do not come under the heading of table 44 of the General List and we made this the aim of discretionary award in front of a regional committee of compensation for occupational disease.     

Effect of octreotide pretreatment on surgical outcome in acromegaly

Pretreatment with octreotide (OCT) in acromegaly has been reported to improve surgical outcome. The objective of this study was to analyze retrospectively the effects of a 3- to 6-month presurgical treatment with OCT in acromegalics focusing on electrocardiographic (ECG) records, blood pressure levels, glucose and lipid profile, tumor size and consistency, easy tumor removal at surgery, and morphological findings at pathology. Fifty-nine patients with acromegaly who were undergoing surgical treatment were studied randomly before surgery; 37 patients were untreated, and 22 were treated with OCT at doses ranging 150-600 micrograms/day for 3-6 months. At study entry, untreated and OCT-treated patients had similar circulating GH and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), glucose, and cholesterol levels as well as prevalence of overt diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and ECG abnormalities. In untreated and OCT-treated patients, respectively, radiological imaging documented microadenoma in 0 and 1, intrasellar macroadenoma in 10 and 6, intra- and suprasellar macroadenoma in 18 and 11, invasive macroadenoma in 9 and 4 patients. Before surgery, serum GH and IGF-I levels significantly decreased in the 22 OCT-treated acromegalics, and in 5 of them, a significant shrinkage was documented. ECG abnormalities disappeared in 7 of 11 (63.6%) OCT-treated patients. In 3 of the 7 patients with diabetes mellitus, treatment with OCT together with low carbohydrate intake normalized blood glucose levels, whereas in 2 patients, insulin could be replaced by oral antidiabetics, and in 2 patients, the insulin dose was reduced. Presurgical blood glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, as well as systolic (145.2 +/- 3.4 vs. 132.9 +/- 2.5 mm Hg; P < 0.01) and diastolic (94.3 +/- 1.7 vs. 84.3 +/- 1.6 mm Hg; P < 0.001) blood pressure levels were significantly higher in untreated than in OCT-treated patients. Two weeks after surgery, circulating GH and IGF-I levels were normalized in 11 untreated (29.7%) and 12 OCT-treated (54.5%) patients (P < 0.005, by chi 2 test). Macroscopically, no difference was found between untreated and OCT-treated adenomas, whereas at pathology, a significant increases in cellular atypia (31.6% vs. 19.2%; P < 0.05) was found in OCT-treated adenomas. One patients in the untreated group died from cardiorespiratory arrest during the early postoperative period. Finally, the average duration of hospitalization after operation was longer in untreated than in OCT-treated patients (8.6 +/- 0.7 vs. 5.6 +/- 0.5 days). We conclude that a 3- to 6-month treatment with OCT before surgery for GH-secreting adenoma improved clinical conditions and surgical outcome and reduced the duration of hospitalization after operation.     

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa rhlG gene encodes an NADPH-dependent beta-ketoacyl reductase which is specifically involved in rhamnolipid synthesis

A Pseudomonas aeruginosa gene homologous to the fabG gene, which encodes the NADPH-dependent beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase required for fatty acid synthesis, was identified. The insertional mutation of this fabG homolog (herein called rhlG) produced no apparent effect on the growth rate and total lipid content of P. aeruginosa cells, but the production of rhamnolipids was completely abrogated. These results suggest that the synthetic pathway for the fatty acid moiety of rhamnolipids is separate from the general fatty acid synthetic pathway, starting with a specific ketoacyl reduction step catalyzed by the RhlG protein. In addition, the synthesis of poly-beta-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is delayed in this mutant, suggesting that RhlG participates in PHA synthesis, although it is not the only reductase involved in this pathway. Traits regulated by the quorum-sensing response, other than rhamnolipid production, including production of proteases, pyocyanine, and the autoinducer butanoyl-homoserine lactone (PAI-2), were not affected by the rhlG mutation. We conclude that the P. aeruginosa rhlG gene encodes an NADPH-dependent beta-ketoacyl reductase absolutely required for the synthesis of the beta-hydroxy acid moiety of rhamnolipids and that it has a minor role in PHA production. Expression of rhlG mRNA under different culture conditions is consistent with this conclusion.     

Solitary capillary hemangioblastoma, cellular variant. Clinical, radiological, and anatomo-pathological study of 2 cases

Two cases of the rare cellular variant of the solitary capillary haemangioblastoma are reported. On MR study both tumors appeared as cerebellar contrast-enhancing masses, without evidence of intra- or perilesional blood vessels. Histologically, they showed compact groups of polygonal or rectangular cells separated by compressed small capillaries. There were no reticulin fibres among cell clusters. The stromal cells were found to be immunopositive for neuron-specific enolase (NSE), factor VIII-related antigen (von Wille-brand factor), Ulex europaeus lectin, and glial frillary acidic protein (GFAP). The findings are discussed in light of the pertinent literature.     

C NMR study of the heterogeneity of the carrageenan from Rissoella verruculosa (Bert.) J.Ag. (Rhodophtya)

The co-existence of ω and -type polymers in the carrageenan system of Rissoella verruculosa led us to investigate the possible precursors for these structures. No highly sulphated carrageenan similar to what has been reported as precursor of most carrageenan was found. Isolation of a third component, β-carrageenan, is reported. Fractionation by DEAE chromatography shows that this latter polymer always coexists with ω but is never found in the fractions containing . The significance of this co-existence, as a preliminary approach to establish biosynthetic relationships between these different carrageenans, is discussed.     

TRISO-fuel element thermo-mechanical performance modeling for the hybrid LIFE engine with Pu fuel blanket

A TRISO-coated fuel thermo-mechanical performance study is performed for the fusion-fission hybrid Laser Inertial Fusion Engine (LIFE) to test the viability of TRISO particles to achieve ultra-high burn-up of Pu or transuranic spent nuclear fuel blankets. Our methodology includes full elastic anisotropy, time and temperature varying material properties, and multilayer capabilities. In order to achieve fast fluences up to 30 × 10²⁵ n m⁻² (E > 0.18 MeV), judicious extrapolations across several orders of magnitude of existing material databases have been carried out. The results of our study indicate that failure of the pyrolytic carbon (PyC) layers occurs within the first 2 years of operation. The particles then behave as a single-SiC-layer particle and the SiC layer maintains reasonably-low tensile stresses until the end-of-life. It is also found that the PyC creep constant, K, has a striking influence on the fuel performance of TRISO-coated particles, whose stresses scale almost inversely proportional to K. Conversely, varying the geometry of the TRISO-coated fuel particles results in little differences in terms of fuel performance.     

An efficient protection of stainless steel against corrosion: Combination of a conversion layer and titanium dioxide deposit

In the present work, a novel process has been developed to improve the corrosion properties of ferritic stainless steels. Titanium oxide coatings have been deposited onto stainless steel by sol-gel process after a pre-functionalization of the substrate in a conversion bath. Gel titania was prepared by hydrolysis of a titanium butoxide through a sol-gel process. Duplex systems “conversion layer/uniform TiO₂ coating” have been prepared on stainless steels using a dipping technique and thermal post-treatments at 450 °C. The preparation of sol-gel coatings with specific chemical functions offers tailoring of their structure, texture and thickness and allows the fabrication of large coatings. The morphology and structure of the coatings were analysed using scanning electron microscopy with field effect gun (SEM-FEG), Mass spectroscopy of secondary ions (SIMS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The anticorrosion performances and the ageing effects of the coatings have been evaluated in neutral and aggressive media by using several normalized tests.The results show that the conversion layer was not sufficient to protect steel but sol-gel TiO₂ coatings, anchored on the metal substrate via the conversion layer, show good adhesion with the substrate and act as a very efficient protective barrier against corrosion. So, duplex layers with TiO₂ nanoparticle coatings on steels exhibit an excellent corrosion resistance due to a ceramic protective barrier on metal surface. Analysis of the data indicates that the films act as geometric blocking layers against exposure to the corrosive media and increase drastically the lifetime of the substrate.     

Effectiveness of active and modified atmosphere packaging on shelf life extension of a cheese tart

This study evaluated the shelf life extension of a cheese cake subjected to modified atmosphere (MAP) and active packaging (AP). Cheese cakes were packaged under different N₂/CO₂ ratios (70/30 and 20/80) (MAP batches), by placing a sachet of an iron oxide-based oxygen absorber inside trays (AP batch) and with air (air batch). Changes in microbial growth, in-package gas composition, chemical–physical parameters including texture and sensory attributes were monitored for 48 days at 20 °C. AP allowed a mould-free cheese cake shelf life of 48 days, MAP extended the shelf life of samples packaged under 30% and 80% CO₂ up to 14 and 34 days, respectively, whereas tarts stored with air spoiled after 7 days. MAP resulted in a significant increase in hardness after 14 days of storage, whereas AP tarts recovered the initial texture after 48 days. Panellists judged AP tarts over the acceptability threshold during the whole shelf life of cheese tarts.