Spontaneous tibial artery thrombosis associated with varicella pneumonia and free protein S deficiency

Pneumonia is the most common serious complication of varicella infection in adults. A variety of thrombotic complications including purpura fulminans and disseminated intravascular coagulation have been reported in children with varicella but not in adults. Two men with varicella pneumonia who had profound lower extremity ischemia caused by thrombosis of the profunda femoris and tibial arteries are reported. Both patients had free protein S deficiency and vascular thrombosis in association with varicella pneumonia without overt evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation or purpura fulminans. Antiphospholipid immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M antibodies were present in one, whereas the other had evidence of the lupus anticoagulant. The proposed pathogenesis and management options including intraarterial thrombolytic therapy with urokinase and the need for long-term anticoagulation are discussed.     

Measurement and modeling of the electromagnetic response to phase transformation in steels

An electromagnetic (EM) sensor, capable of detecting the formation of ferromagnetic ferrite from paramagnetic austenite below the Curie temperature, has been developed and assessed. In this article, results obtained using an a.c. EM sensor for a medium (0.45 wt pct)-carbon steel slow cooled through its transformation-temperature range are presented. It was found that the EM sensor can successfully detect the formation of ferrite below the Curie temperature, but that the transimpedance values can be significantly affected by the formation of a decarburized ferrite ring around the samples. It was also found that the transimpedance value is monotonically (nonlinearly) related to the ferrite volume fraction and depends on the morphology/distribution of the ferromagnetic phase and, hence, is influenced by the prior-austenite grain size. Results from finite-element (FE) simulations designed to enable prediction of the transimpedance from the microstructure are also presented, showing that two-dimensional (2-D) FE simulations can be successfully used to model the experimental trends observed. The combination of modeling and measurement has shown that EM sensors can be used to indirectly monitor the ferrite transformation (below the Curie temperature), thus providing a measure of ferrite volume fraction and also a means of identifying the ferrite distribution in the microstructure.     

Measurement of decarburisation of steel rods with an electromagnetic sensor using an analytical model

This paper presents the measurement of decarburization of steel rods with an electromagnetic sensor using an analytical model both in online and offline scenarios. Loss of carbon (decarburization) at the steel surface can have a significantly detrimental effect on mechanical properties of products, since hardness, fatigue, strength and wear properties are strongly dependent on carbon content. Currently, measurement of decarburization is by destructive methods, such as metallographic observation or hardness tests on a sample cross-section after processing. A non-destructive EM method is proposed in this paper. An analytical solution for the inductance of a circular air-cored coil encircling a steel rod is deduced and further a simplified model is obtained which shows that for both online and offline cases, the thickness of the decarburisation layer is proportional to the inductance difference with and without decarburisation. Using this simplified model, decarburisation thickness can be obtained. The results have been verified by both finite element models and metallographic observations.     

State in Haskell

Some algorithms make critical internal use of updatable state, even though their external specification is purely functional. Based on earlier work on monads, we present a way of securely encapsulating stateful computations that manipulate multiple, named, mutable objects, in the context of a non-strict, purely-functional language. The security of the encapsulation is assured by the type system, using parametricity. The same framework is also used to handle input/output operations (state changes on the external world) and calls to C.     

Urea on Flaked Soybean Hulls as a Protein Replacement for Dairy Cows

In Experiment I a Latin square design was used to study the utilization of urea nitrogen adsorbed on flaked soybean hulls in normal rations of high producing dairy cows. Concentrates containing urea, urea with supplemental minerals, or soybean meal as the protein supplement were fed with corn silage and alfalfa in a total ration of approximately 17% crude protein. Both urea concentrates contained 2.7% urea. Animals fed urea and soybean had similar milk yields (28.7 and 27.9 kg/day), milk protein, and digestible dry matter intakes. Urea with mineral produced lower milk yield (25.3 kg/day), milk protein, and dry matter intakes, probably because of excessive mineral content. Urea nitrogen of plasma was similar for all three diets. Essential amino acids of plasma were lower for urea than for soybean while for urea mineral the essential amino acids were midway between the other two. In Experiment 2 a switchback design was used to compare the urea-soybean hull concentrate diet of Experiment 1 (17% crude protein) to a negative control diet consisting of its basal components without urea adjusted to 12% protein with wheat bran. Milk yield was 1.2 kg/day higher when the urea diet was fed. Perhaps due to improved urea distribution in the rumen, flaked soybean hulls with urea were effective in maintaining the feed intake necessary for high milk production.     

Interoperable support for collaborative, mobile, and accessible health care

E-Health systems, through their use of Internet and wireless technologies, offer the possibility of near real-time data integration to support the delivery and management of health care. In practice, the wide range of choice in technologies, vendors, protocols, formats, and information representations can make even simple exchanges of information between systems problematic. Much of the focus on healthcare interoperability has been on resolving interoperability issues of system to system information exchanges. But issues around people to people interactions and people to system interactions are just as important to address from an interoperability point of view. In this paper, we identify interoperability deficiencies in collaborative care delivery and develop a methodology in two parts. In the first part, an ontology is developed to represent collaborative care delivery. In the second part, the ontology is used to design an architecture for interoperable clinical information system design. We then use a case study in palliative care to provide a proof of concept of the methodology. The case study provides an inventory of the interoperability requirements for palliative care and a perspective on the design and implementation of a people oriented clinical information system that supports collaborative health care delivery in palliative care.