Minimally invasive coronary bypass: experience at the Erasme Hospital in 1997-1998

Since the launching of cardiopulmonary bypass in 1952 the landscape of cardiac surgery has been marked by a major milestone every ten years. Though most of the cardiopathies can be surgically treated with satisfactory results in up to 90% of the cases, we must try to improve the existing results. That means--Can we do better, cheaper and less invasive? Several new surgical approaches aiming at so doing are discussed in the present report: Minimally invasive direct coronary arterial bypass (MIDCAB) which is performed through a small anterior thoracotomy; Beating heart revascularization through sternotomy; Heart Port approach; Trans Myocardial Laser Revascularization (TMLR). Those new technologies respectively offer specific advantages to the existing therapies thus represent promising alternatives in selected subcategories of patients.     

Functional diversity and clonal frequencies of reactivity in the available antibody repertoire

Our objective was to determine the effect of level and chemical form of dietary selenium on productivity of beef cows, concentrations of triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) in plasma, and immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) in plasma and colostrum of cows. Pregnant cows (n = 60) were randomly allocated among four dietary treatments of 20, 60, or 120 ppm Se as selenite and 60 ppm as selenomethionine from selenized yeast (SeY) in salts offered free-choice. Treatments began 90 d prepartum and continued through the second parturition. Treatments did not affect the final body weights of cows or birth weights or weaning weights of calves. At parturition, cows given salt with 20 ppm Se as selenite had lower (P < . 05) concentrations of Se in blood than cows with access to higher-Se salts. Treatments affected (P < .01) the concentration of T3 and the ratio of T3:T4 in plasma of cows. The concentration of T3 in plasma of cows with access to salt with 20 ppm Se was 14% lower than that in cows supplemented with 60 ppm Se as selenite or SeY. Plasma IgG in cows and calves, colostrum, and Se concentrations in colostrum, casein, and whey were lowest (P < .01) for cows given salt with only 20 ppm Se. Thus, salts with concentrations of 60 and 120 ppm Se improved measures of Se status in cows and calves. Consideration should be given to the concentrations of T3 and IgG when determining the nutritional requirements for Se in cattle.     

Trypanosoma cruzi genotypes associated with domestic Triatoma sordida in Bolivia

Triatoma sordida is the second species of Triatominae considered of epidemiological significance in Bolivia. Associated with Triatoma infestans in various regions, it is as yet the only triatomine species established in human dwellings in localities of Velasco province, Department of Santa Cruz. This domestication is considered as primary. Flagellate parasites were detected in 16.2% of domiciliary T. sordida and the kDNA-PCR confirmed the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi. Frequencies of T. cruzi clonets 20 and 39, common clonets in Bolivian domestic cycle (T. infestans), were established by their direct detection in feces using PCR and hybridization. These clonets present low frequencies in T. sordida and synanthropic mammals. Forty-six stocks were isolated and analysed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE). The MLEE showed a higher clonal diversity than in T. infestans domestic cycle and the genotypes were clustered in the two principal lineages of T. cruzi. Within each lineage, a broad variability was observed. Mixture of genotypes was mostly observed in mammals. The large diversity of T. cruzi in this cycle should be related to its sylvatic origin. Moreover, the current limited sample of stocks suggests a lineage association with specific hosts.     

What can you verify and enforce at runtime?

The underlying property, its definition, and representation play a major role when monitoring a system. Having a suitable and convenient framework to express properties is thus a concern for runtime analysis. It is desirable to delineate in this framework the sets of properties for which runtime analysis approaches can be applied to. This paper presents a unified view of runtime verification and enforcement of properties in the Safety-Progress classification. First, we extend the Safety-Progress classification of properties in a runtime context. Second, we characterize the set of properties which can be verified (monitorable properties) and enforced (enforceable properties) at runtime. We propose in particular an alternative definition of ??property monitoring?? to the one classically used in this context. Finally, for the delineated sets of properties, we define specialized verification and enforcement monitors.     

“Modification V” of poly 4-methylpentene-1 from cyclopentane solutions and gels

A new crystalline structure of poly 4-methylpentene-1 (P4MP1), modiification named modification V, is obtained from cyclopentane solutions and gels, for polymer volume fractions between 0.01 and 0.10. The effect of the thermal history imparted to the solution is analyzed. The relation between gelation, polymorphism and existence of helical conformations of P4MP1 in solution is discussed. Modification V is tentatively indexed on the basis of an hexagonal unit cell with dimensions a = 22.17 ± 0.14 Å and c = 6.69 ±0.02 Å. The crystal transforms into modification I at 130 ± 5°C, the heat of transition being + 15 ±2 J.g^?1.     

SEM study of the growth of electrochemically obtained polyselenophene thin films. Effect of electrolyte and monomer concentration in acetonitrile

Summary The influence of electrolyte and monomer concentration on properties and morphology of electrochemically obtained polyselenophene films doped and undoped with hexafluorophosphate and tetrafluoroborate anions was analyzed. The films were deposited on SnO₂-coated glass in a classical three-electrode cell from the monomer and the electrolyte in anhydrous acetonitrile.The electrochemical growth of polyselenophene thin films was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The morphology study revealed different three- dimensional (3D) and bidimensional (2D) growth, depending on monomer and electrolyte concentration.     

Stability of ruthenium catalysts supported on TiO2 or ZrO2 in catalytic wet air oxidation

The stability of ruthenium catalysts supported on TiO₂ and ZrO₂ were studied in the wet air oxidation of aqueous solution of succinic and p-hydroxybenzoic acids taken as model effluent and on real effluents from the paper-pulp industry. Catalyst recycling experiments were conducted in batch reactor and long-term stability tests were conducted in trickle-bed reactor. In all experiments, ruthenium and support materials were perfectly stable to leaching, sintering and fouling. Ruthenium catalysts experienced a weak deactivation as they were exposed to air, e.g., in recycling experiments however the loss of activity occurred only after the first exposure and was completely reversible upon catalyst reduction. The deactivation was attributed to an over-oxidation of the catalyst surface particularly noticeable in the case of very small Ru-clusters (1 nm).     

Molecular analysis of intact preen waxes of Calidris canutus (Aves: Scolopacidae) by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

The intact preen wax esters of the red knot Calidris canutus were studied with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and GC/MS/MS. In this latter technique, transitions from the molecular ion to fragment ions representing the fatty acid moiety of the wax esters were measured, providing additional resolution to the analysis of wax esters. The C₂₁−C₃₂ wax esters are composed of complex mixtures of hundreds of individual isomers. The odd carbon-numbered wax esters are predominantly composed of even carbon-numbered n-alcohols (C₁₄, C₁₆, and C₁₈) esterified predominantly with odd carbon-numbered 2-methyl fatty acids (C₇, C₉, C₁₁, and C₁₃), resulting in relatively simple distributions. The even carbon-numbered wax esters show a far more complex distribution due to a number of factors: (i) Their n-alcohol moieties are not dominated by even carbon-numbered n-alcohol moieties are not dominated by even carbon-numbered n-alcohols esterified with odd carbon-numbered 2-methyl fatty acids, but odd and even carbon-numbered n-alcohols participate in approximately equal amounts; (ii) odd carbon-numbered methyl-branched alcohols participate abundantly in these wax ester clusters; and (iii) with increasing molecular weight, various isomers of the 2,6-, 2,8-, and 2,10-dimethyl branched fatty acids also participate in the even carbon-numbered wax esters. The data demonstrate that there is a clear biosynthetic control on the wax ester composition although the reasons for the complex chemistry of the waxes are not yet understood.