Facial myokymia and spastic paretic facial contracture as the result of anaplastic pontocerebellar glioma

The case of a 36-year-old man who sought treatment of right facial myokymia and spastic paretic facial contracture is reported. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a tumor located in the right cerebellar peduncle and the right dorsal pons bulging into the fourth ventricle. After microsurgical partial resection of the mass, which was verified histologically as an anaplastic glioma, facial myokymia initially ceased. The vermicular rippling movements were less intense upon recurrence and could be controlled by low-dose dexamethasone in the further course, when magnetic resonance imaging showed an interstitial pontine edema after percutaneous radiation therapy. It is assumed that facial myokymia and spastic paretic facial contracture were generated by ectopic activity due to alterations in the microenvironment at the intrapontine portion of the axons of the seventh nerve caused by the compressive effect of the tumor and later by edema.     

Biodegradation of chlorpyrifos by either single or combined cultures of some soilborne plant pathogenic fungi

Biodegradation of chlorpyrifos was studied in liquid culture media amended with either single or combined eight different plant pathogenic fungi isolated from the continuous cropping wheat fields. The average recovery of chlorpyrifos from the liquid media was found to be 86.1%. The detection limit of chlorpyrifos by the analytical method used was 19 ppb. Data showed that the growth of mixed fungi at concentrations up to 200 ppm of chlorpyrifos was higher than in the control treatment. Chlorpyrifos concentrations declined in the medium of combined fungi more than it did in the medium of any single fungus with increase in the incubation period. The amount of chlorpyrifos recovered was 79.8 ppm (39.9%) in the combined fungal cultures after 21 days. However, those recovered from the media of Fusarium graminearum, F. oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Cladosporium cladosporiodes, Cephalosporium sp., Trichoderma viridi, Alternaria alternata, and Cladorrhinum brunnescens, ranged from 48.0 to 74.8%. The half-life value (T1/2) for chlorpyrifos was 15.8 day in the medium amended with mixed fungi. However, for the single cultures it ranged from 19.3 to 33.0 day.     

A micromechanical model for cleavage-crack reinitiation

A crack-tip screening analysis of cleavage fracture of steel is developed. The analysis incorporates evidence that reinitiation of an arrested cleavage crack requires less stress intensity than cleavage initiation from a fatigue precrack. Fractographic evidence as well as metallographic sectioning of arrested cracks have previously shown that the mechanism of rapid crack propagation by cleavage is affected strongly by partial crack-plane deflection which leaves unbroken ligaments in its wake. The tearing of these ligaments by dimple rupture is the dominant energy-absorbing mechanism. Earlier etch-pit experiments using an Fe-Si alloy showed that the crack-tip stress intensity based on plastic zone size is extremely low. These observations are incorporated into a model in which cleavage crack reinitiation is analyzed using a sharp crack that is shielded by a distribution of pinching forces along its faces. During reloading of the arrested crack, the ligaments restrict crack-tip blunting, leading to higher local stresses. As a result, lower stress intensities are needed for reinitiation than for initiation from a fatigue precrack.     

Optimized species growth in epoxy polymerization with real-coded NSGA-II

Satisfaction of twin objectives of maximization of M_n along with minimization of PDI do not necessarily guarantee the maximization of concentration of desired species in a semibatch epoxy polymerization process. As the final product consists of a number of polymer species, a need is felt to perform an advanced optimization study to come up with such process conditions for which the selective growth of a particular polymer species is maximized in minimum possible processing time and the population of other species should be at their lowest values. These above-mentioned conflicting objectives frame the platform for a multi-objective optimization problem, which is solved here using a real-coded non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm or NSGA II and Pareto optimal solutions are obtained. The decision variables are discrete addition rates of various ingredients, e.g. the amount of addition of bisphenol-A (a monomer), sodium hydroxide and epichlorohydrin at different time steps. All species balance equations, bounds on M_n, PDI and addition amounts are treated as constraints. Results are very promising in terms of optimized operations for selective enhancement of desired polymer species for the epoxy polymerization process. Total additions are kept very close to available experimental conditions to minimize probable extrapolation errors. It has been observed that preferential oligomer production is extremely difficult for epoxy polymerization. Lower chain polymers are the only choice for a good quality, stable polymer product.     

Limit load analysis of strength undermatched welded T-joints under bending

An increasing amount of laser beam welded T‐joints (e.g. skin‐stringer) of aluminium alloys are now in use in advanced fuselage applications designed as ‘integral structures’ for weight and cost savings. It is known that weld joints generally show lower strength (undermatching) than base metal in both laser beam and friction stir welded joints of 6xxx series Al‐alloys. Damage tolerance considerations in terms of the residual strength of such joints require limit load solutions to be used in engineering fitness‐for‐service (FFS) analysis. The paper, therefore, provides an upper bound limit load solution in closed form for welded T‐joints (idealized) with strength undermatching and subject to a bending moment. In addition to the necessary requirements of the upper bound theorem, the kinematically admissible velocity field chosen leads to a stress field, which satisfies the equilibrium equations and some stress boundary conditions in the plastic zone. This is an advantage of the solution and, therefore, it is expected that the upper bound obtained is close to the exact limit load of such joints.     

Gastrointestinal autonomic nerve tumour presenting as small bowel volvulus: a rare disease with a rare presentation

A 78-year-old Chinese woman presented with recurrent postprandial abdominal pain. Computerised tomography revealed a small bowel tumour causing volvulus of a segment of the small bowel. Laparotomy confirmed an extraluminal ileal tumour with partial volvulus of the involved small bowel segment. Small bowel resection was done. Histological and ultrastructural studies confirmed a gastrointestinal autonomic nerve tumour. We review the medical literature on this rare tumour.     

Longitudinal bone mineral density changes in early rheumatoid arthritis

A prospective longitudinal study of patients with early RA was performed to examine the influence of disease duration, disease activity and physical activity on bone loss. Sixty-seven patients with non-steroid treated RA of less than 5 yr duration, including 16 patients with disease duration less than 6 months, had BMD measurements of the femoral neck and the lumbar spine over a 12-month period using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The BMD changes were compared with values from 72 control patients and were also correlated with serial measurements of disease activity (measured by the Stoke Index) and disability [measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score], at 3-monthly intervals over the 12-month period. No significant differences in BMD changes were found between RA patients and controls overall. Patients with disease duration of less than 6 months had significantly greater loss of BMD at the femoral neck (-3.9%, S.E.M. 1.5) than the remainder of the cohort (-0.2%, S.E.M. 0.7) (P = 0.02) and controls (-0.8%, S.E.M. 0.6). Lumbar spine BMD changes correlated with the initial Stoke Index (Rs-0.373, P = 0.01) but not mean Stoke Indices. There was no correlation of BMD changes with age or HAQ scores. These findings suggest that significant bone loss occurs within the first few months of disease in patients with RA.