Striking electrocardiographic changes associated with pheochromocytoma. Masquerading as ischemic heart disease

A patient with pheochromocytoma presented striking electrocardiographic changes mimicking ischemic heart disease at one time and acute pulmonary embolism at other times. Diffuse left ventricular hypokinesia was demonstrated in the presence of normal coronary arteries. Following removal of the pheochromocytoma, the electrocardiographic abnormalities disappeared.     

屈强比对高强钢断裂韧性的影响

通过控制组织形态，对化学尬发相同，屈强比不同的两种钢材进行三点弯曲ＣＴＯＤ试验，并利用三维有限元法分析裂纹法端的应力应变分布。结果表明，高屈强比的材料，由于裂纹尖端应力水平高，脆性启裂ＣＴＯＤ值δｃ明显低于低屈强比的材料；而对有延性裂纹扩展的ＣＴＯＤ临界值δｕ和δｍ，高屈强比的材料同于低屈强比双相钢，这是因为低屈强比材料内部存在微观组织非均质，有应变集中所致。     

Khaya gum – a natural and eco-friendly biopolymer dielectric for low-cost organic field-effect transistors (OFETs)

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Nature provides a wide range of dielectric biopolymers that can be used in electronic devices. In this work, organic field-effect...     

Characterization of Critical Determinants of ACE2–SARS CoV-2 RBD Interaction

Despite sequence similarity to SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated greater widespread virulence and unique challenges to researchers aiming to study its pathogenicity in humans. The interaction of the viral receptor binding domain (RBD) with its main host cell receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), has emerged as a critical focal point for the development of anti-viral therapeutics and vaccines. In this study, we selectively identify and characterize the impact of mutating certain amino acid residues in the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 and in ACE2, by utilizing our recently developed NanoBiT technology-based biosensor as well as pseudotyped-virus infectivity assays. Specifically, we examine the mutational effects on RBD-ACE2 binding ability, efficacy of competitive inhibitors, as well as neutralizing antibody activity. We also look at the implications the mutations may have on virus transmissibility, host susceptibility, and the virus transmission path to humans. These critical determinants of virus–host interactions may provide more effective targets for ongoing vaccines, drug development, and potentially pave the way for determining the genetic variation underlying disease severity.     

State of the art review of quality,reliability and maintenance issues in closed-loop supply chains with remanufacturing

The design of reverse logistics and remanufacturing processes and the recovery of end-of-life products have been well-studied in the literature. Quality, reliability, maintenance and warranty for recovered products and the remanufacturing activities that extend their life are integral issues in reverse logistics. This paper reviews recent and relevant literature on these issues in closed-loop supply chains, with a focus on remanufactured or second-hand products. The published literature is first classified into domain areas of research and practice. The wide array of mathematical tools and techniques used in the literature are then identified and mapped. Finally, the findings are summarised and the main research gaps are highlighted.     

Model-based approaches for interoperability of next generation enterprise information systems: state of the art and future challenges

Enterprise businesses are more than ever challenged by competitors that frequently refine and tailor their offers to clients. In this context, enterprise information systems (EIS) are especially important because: (1) they remain one of the last levers to increase the performance and competitiveness of the enterprise, (2) we operate in a business world where the product itself has reached a limit of performance and quality due to uniform capacity of industrial tools in a globalized economy and (3) the EIS can increase the product value thanks to additional digital services (built on data associated to the product) in order to meet and fit better client’s needs. However, the use of EISs reaches a limit in collaborative environments because enterprises management methods diverge and EISs are mainly inflexible resource packages that are not built with an interoperability objective. Consequently, we need to make EISs interoperable in order to achieve the needed gains competitiveness and performance. This paper contribution can be summarized as follows: (1) it relates existing work and it examines barriers that, at the moment, are preventing further improvements due to current methodological and technological limits, and (2) it proposes a conceptual framework and five challenges that model based approaches must overcome to achieve interoperability between EIS in the near and long term.     

Time domain approximation using digital methods

Two digital methods are proposed for the solution of the time-domain approximation problem. Tho first method, based on a reeursivo algorithm for tho matrix pseudo-iriverso, determines the pulse transfer function of a discrete-timo system of a prescribed order providing the best fit in tho least squares sense at tho samplo points. Tho continuous-time system transfer function is then derived by using a simple transformation provided that tho sampling frequence oxeeeds tho Nyquist rate. Tho method is direct and computationally efficient. The second method is based on using an offieiont gradient search algorithm providing the best fit in the least pti sense at tho samplo points. A number of examples illustrato the methods     

Inhibition by memantine of the development of persistent oral dyskinesias induced by long-term haloperidol treatment of rats

The effects of ginsenoside-Rh1 and Rh2 in the induction of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by IFN-gamma plus LPS were investigated using murine peritoneal macrophages. The NO production from rIFN gamma plus LPS-treated macrophages was markedly reduced by ginsenoside-Rh1 or Rh2 in a dose dependent manner, but had no inhibitory effects by ginsenoside-Rb1, Rc or Re. In addition, treatment of the cells with ginsenoside-Rh2 6 hr before the stimulation with IFN-gamma plus LPS showed more inhibitory effect than the treatment with ginsenoside-Rh2 6 hr after or simultaneously with the stimulation with IFN-gamma plus LPS in the NO production. Ginsenoside-Rh2 also effectively inhibited IFN-gamma induced NO production when the cells were treated with IFN-gamma 6 hr after the treatment with ginsenoside-Rh2. Our findings suggest that this phenomenon might be caused by inhibition of priming signal such as IFN-gamma for the synergistic induction of NO synthesis.     

Intestinal parasites in the vendors and consumers of street food. A study conducted in the Dakar area

To determine the origin and nature of mucinlike material in fine-needle aspiration (FNA) smears of the breast in noncancerous breast lesions, we studied breast FNA smears from four patients. All smears contained epithelial cells floating in a mucinlike background, which raised suspicion for mucinous (colloid) carcinoma. Mucicarmine stain was performed on one smear from each case. Subsequent tissue biopsy specimens were studied using mucicarmine, periodic acid-Schiff with and without diastase, and alcian blue stains at pH 2.7 and 0.9 on selected tissue sections. Correlation of the cytologic and histologic findings of each lesion was performed. The mucinlike background in all four FNA smears stained strongly with mucicarmine. Corresponding biopsy specimens revealed pseudoangiomatous hyperplasia in the first case, fibroadenoma and atypical ductal hyperplasia in the second, benign phyllodes tumor in the third, and fibroadenoma in the fourth. Each lesion in cases 1 to 3 was associated closely with fibrocystic changes. In case 4, cystic changes were located within the fibroadenoma. On tissue sections of all four cases, the cyst contents and 10% to 50% of normal lobule and duct contents stained with mucicarmine, indicating that the cyst contents were the most probable source of mucin in the FNA smears. The presence of pools of mucicarmine-positive material in FNA smears of the breast is not an exclusive feature of mucinous carcinoma; mucicarmine-positive mucin can arise from benign cystic changes as well as from normal lobules and ducts.