Laparoscopic resection of posterior gastric leiomyoma

BACKGROUND: A variety of laparoscopic procedures for the repair of abdominal wall hernias have been described. The repair described in this paper represents a modification and improvement of one approach. METHODS: Our technique employs an Origin Tacker (Origin Medsystems, Inc, Menlo Park, CA) and a Gore suture passer (W. L. Gore, Flagstaff, AZ) to secure an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) patch, (DualMesh, W. L. Gore, Flagstaff, AZ) to the anterior abdominal wall. RESULTS: This approach simplifies the repair by minimizing the number of steps required to secure the ePTFE graft to the anterior abdominal. CONCLUSIONS: We have found this to be a safe and reliable technique that may be used in the laparoscopic repair of ventral, umbilical, or inguinal hernias.     

Distribution of T-2 and HT-2 toxins in milling fractions of durum wheat

The effect of processing on mycotoxin content in milling fractions has been investigated in 10 samples of durum wheat contaminated with T-2 and HT-2 toxins at levels ranging from 97 to 5,954 μg/kg (sum of T-2 and HT-2 toxins). Either naturally contaminated samples or samples artificially inoculated with Fusarium sporotrichioides under field conditions were used. A method based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with immunoaffinity column cleanup was validated in-house for the simultaneous analysis of both toxins in a variety of matrices, including uncleaned wheat, cleaned wheat, screenings, bran, red dog, fine middlings, and semolina. Mean recoveries from samples spiked with T-2 and HT-2 toxins at levels of 100 μg/kg ranged from 85 to 107%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 14%. The milling process led to an increase of T-2 and HT-2 toxin contents up to 13- and 5-fold in screenings and bran, respectively, compared with occurrence in the uncleaned wheat; however, an overall reduction of T-2 and HT-2 toxins by 54% (RSD, 20%) and 89% (RSD, 3%) was observed in cleaned wheat and in semolina, respectively.     

Isolation and molecular characterization of antibiotic-resistant lactic acid bacteria from poultry and swine meat products

The transfer via the food chain from animals to humans of microbes that are resistant to antimicrobial agents is of increasing concern. To determine the contributions of nonpathogenic microflora to the occurrence and spread of antibiotic resistance (AR) genes in the food chain, 123 lactic acid bacteria were isolated from 29 samples of raw and processed pork and chicken meat products that had previously tested positive for one or more AR genes that encode clinically relevant ARs: tet(M), tet(O), tet(K), erm(A), erm(B), erm(C), aac (6')-Ie aph (2")-Ia, mecA, and blaZ. All of the isolates were initially tested for their AR gene profiles by PCR. The 59 isolates carrying a tet, erm, or blaZ gene were taken through molecular identification, analyzed by determination of the MIC, and subjected to genetic fingerprinting. Lactococcus garvieae was the predominant species (28 isolates), followed by Lactobacillus plantarum (11 isolates) and L. salivarius (6 isolates), whereas Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactobacillus johnsonii, L. reuteri, L. crispatus, and L. brevis were identified at lower frequencies. The tet(M) and erm(B) genes were the most frequently detected. Assessment of multiple resistances in 18 tet positive (tet+) isolates revealed that tet(M) plus erm(B) and tet(K) plus erm(B) were the most frequent AR gene patterns. Partial sequencing of the tet(M) open reading frame of three selected strains showed high sequence similarities (> 99%) with tet(M) genes previously found in human pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes and Neisseria meningitidis). Southern hybridization with plasmid profiles revealed these strains contained tet(M)-carrying plasmids.     

Influence of temperature of thermal treatment on surface densification of spruce

Spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) wood lamellae, thermally treated at 170, 190, 210 and 230 °C were surface densified by compression at a temperature of 150 °C to three degrees of compression. Immediate springback, set recovery, mechanical properties in 3-point flexure, Brinell hardness and density profiles measurements were used to determine the effect of thermal treatment on the properties of surface densified wood. The highest immediate springback occurred in wood specimens thermally treated at the highest temperature (230 °C) and decreased with decreasing thermal treatment temperature. The untreated samples had the highest set recovery, which decreased with the temperature of thermal treatment. The surface densification increased hardness and bending strength. The highest increase was in the case of untreated wood and decreased with the temperature of thermal treatment. The modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) of surface densified wood decreased with increasing thermal treatment temperature. The trend was similar for specimens which were thermally treated but not surface densified. Surface densification increased the density of the specimens in the first few millimetres below the surface. The highest density was achieved in untreated specimens and the lowest in specimens thermally treated at the highest temperature.     

Steerable miniature jumping robot

Jumping is used in nature by many small animals to locomote in cluttered environments or in rough terrain. It offers small systems the benefit of overcoming relatively large obstacles at a low energetic cost. In order to be able to perform repetitive jumps in a given direction, it is important to be able to upright after landing, steer and jump again. In this article, we review and evaluate the uprighting and steering principles of existing jumping robots and present a novel spherical robot with a mass of 14 g and a size of 18 cm that can jump up to 62 cm at a take-off angle of 75°, recover passively after landing, orient itself, and jump again. We describe its design details and fabrication methods, characterize its jumping performance, and demonstrate the remote controlled prototype repetitively moving over an obstacle course where it has to climb stairs and go through a window. (See videos 1–4 in the electronic supplementary material.)     

More decidable instances of Post's correspondence problem: beyond counting

We present a new technique to decide or reduce instances of Post's correspondence problem. It generalizes balance arguments to a consideration about some special context-free languages which allow the combination with other decision (or reduction) techniques. In spite of its simplicity, the new technique is able to decide more instances than known techniques.     

Soft information and the stewardship value of accounting disclosure

In light of IASB??s statement to drop stewardship as a separate objective of financial accounting and the ongoing debate about increasing the disclosure of soft information, we investigate the economic consequences of publicly reported soft information from a stewardship perspective. In an LEN model we include market price as a performance measure and investigate whether the principal benefits from disclosing additional information. While the principal can only use contractible performance measures in the contract with the agent, capital market participants can only use disclosed information when pricing firm value. We find that the disclosure of information can decrease the principal??s expected net profit. This result follows from either a noisier or a less congruent market price as a consequence of disclosing additional information. Thus, we present a rationale for partial disclosure in the absence of proprietary costs or the uncertainty of information endowment.     

Authentication of organic and conventional eggs by carotenoid profiling

Organic production benefits from fair competition and sustained consumer confidence. The latter can only be assured by paper trailing and verification assessments. Traditional analytical strategies for guaranteeing quality and uncovering adulteration have relied on the determination of the amount of a marker compound or compounds in a material and a subsequent comparison of the value(s) obtained with those established for equivalent material. Since it is unlikely to find a unique marker that allows discrimination between organic and conventional produce, selective fingerprinting (profiling) combined with chemometrics is a more promising approach. In this study, carotenoid High Performance Liquid Chromatography–Diode Array Detection profiling combined with k-nearest neighbour classification chemometrics was used to predict the production system (organic vs. non-organic) of chicken eggs. A proof-of-concept set (training set for the model) was composed of eggs from 24 organic farms, 12 free range, and 12 barn farms in the Netherlands. The identities of organic, free range, and barn eggs were predicted with success rates of 100%, 100%, and 84%, respectively. The identity of eggs determined using an additional market test set with eggs from 12 organic, 12 free range, and 12 barn farms originating from the Netherlands and New Zealand resulted in correct classifications for 35 of the 36 samples. The results of this study indicate that this fingerprint approach is a promising tool for analytical verification of the production system of organic eggs.     

A fully sealed luminescent tube based on carbon nanotube field emission

A fully sealed luminescent tube of 40 cm length and 4 cm diameter based on carbon nanotube field emission is demonstrated. The device shows a homogeneous illumination over the whole length and circumference of the tube and reaches the luminance of conventional fluorescent tubes while being mercury-free, continuously dimmable and with a high illuminance capability. The realization has been made possible with the development of a chemical vapor deposition method to grow nanotubes homogeneously on long metallic wires, which provides an additional possibility to control the mean length and density of the emitters. This control has proven to be of utmost importance as it makes possible to adjust the emission voltage and emission site density needed to reach the target intensity and specifications of the device.     

The HLD Study of Surfactant Partitioning for Oilfield Corrosion Inhibitors

The partitioning of corrosion inhibitor (CI) products is a measure of their potential to protect oilfield pipelines. In this paper the hydrophilic–lipophilic deviation (HLD) model is first used to quantify their partitioning in terms of the characteristic curvature (C _c,act) of a series of anionic (alkoxylated phosphate esters) and cationic (alkoxylated amines, aromatic amines, imidazoline acetates and quaternary amines) actives. This parameter is expressed over a range of pHs within which pipeline corrosion occurs. The HLD model is next used to predict the partitioning of each active from water into toluene at increased salinities. Linear mixing rules are lastly used to predict the characteristic curvature of Product A (C _c,mix) as a function of the C _c,act of a subset of actives.