Pericardial tamponade as the first manifestation of dermatopolymyositis

Pericardial involvement in polymyositis and dermatomyositis (PM/DM) is rare, usually asymptomatic and exceptionally part of the initial presentation. We describe a 37-year-old patient hospitalized for overt acute pericarditis, revealing dermatomyositis, which to our knowledge has not been previously reported. Pericardial puncture relieved the patient. The pericardial fluid was citrine yellow, exsudative, and mainly contained lymphocytes. Search for LE cells and anti-DNA antibodies was negative, whereas the antinuclear antibodies and the rheumatoid factor were present in the pericardial fluid. A biopsy of the pericardium showed a non-specific chronic inflammatory state and the search for an etiology was negative. There was no sign of tuberculosis, systemic lupus, nor neoplasia. Moreover bacteriological cultures and HIV serology were negative. After pericardiostomy associated with corticosteroid therapy at the dose of 1 mg/kg/day, outcome was good with a resolution of the pericarditis confirmed at one-year follow-up. Since pericardial tamponade, even though rare, may be fatal in a patient with dermatomyositis, we emphasize that a two dimensional echocardiographic study should be performed in all patient presenting with dermatopolymyositis.     

Carbon dioxide absorption by ammonia intensified with membrane contactors

Membrane gas absorption technology is a promising alternative for CO₂ removal from post-combustion coal-fired flue gases. This study examines an alternative which consists in absorbing carbon dioxide by ammonia aqueous solution in a membrane contactor to improve the capture processes and to intensify the gas–liquid transfer. Absorption measurements through a membrane contactor have been made. The influence of the material nature constituting the membrane and operating parameters on the capture efficiency has been studied. The potentialities of dense skin membrane contactors are discussed with regard to both increased CO₂ mass transfer performances and mitigation of ammonia volatilization. The results have shown that it is possible to capture CO₂ from ammonia through a membrane with capture efficiency greater than 90 %. The membrane limits ammonia losses but does not eliminate it. The experimental results are used to calculate an intensification factor of 5, which represents the comparison between the membrane overall absorption rate to that of the column.     

3D line-support grid flattening for more accurate geostatistical reservoir population with petrophysical properties

Reservoir models are essential if we need to clearly understand the fossil resources and, hence, to make better use of them. Feeding these models with physical properties on the basis of wells data is a key step in their construction. Line-support (LS) grid is the most popular grid in reservoir engineering, it is massively used for reservoir simulations. In the current methods used to populate with properties the LS grid of a reservoir unit, a Cartesian grid of equivalent size (in each direction), obtained by averaging the edge lengths, is first of all completed. The properties calculated in this way are then transferred as they are into the initial LS grid, because there is cell-for-cell correspondence. This leads to distortion of the Cartesian grid, making it fit the shape of the LS grid. This has the effect of altering calculations of correlation distances between well markers in geostatistical population simulations. Consequently, this primarily induces distortions on the simulated bodies. To resolve this problem, in this paper, we propose innovative methods for a “smooth” conversion from the LS grid of the structural space to the Cartesian grid of the geostatistical population space. The basic principle is to calculate the correlation distances between wells on the basis of “quasi-isometric” flattening of the stratigraphic unit LS grid in the population space. This same flattening technique is then used for inverse transfer of the properties from the population space to the structural space.     

Parametric study of an efficient renewable power-to-substitute-natural-gas process including high-temperature steam electrolysis

Power-to-Substitute Natural Gas processes are investigated to offer solutions for renewable energy storing or transportation. In the present study, an original Power-to-SNG process combining high-temperature steam electrolysis and CO₂ methanation is implemented and simulated. A reference process is firstly defined, including a specific modelling approach of the electrolysis and a methanation modelling including a kinetic law. The process also integrates a unit to clean the gas from residual CO₂, H₂ and H₂O for gas network injection. Having set all the units, simulations are performed with ProsimPlus 3™ software for a reference case where the electrolyser and the methanation reactors are designed. The reference case allows to produce 67.5 Nm³/h of SNG with an electrical energy consumption of 14.4 kW h/Nm³. The produced SNG satisfies specifications required for network injection. From this reference process, two sensitivity analyses on electrolysis and methanation working points and on external parameters and constraints are considered. As a main result, we observe that the reference case maximises both process efficiency and SNG production when compared with other studied cases.     

Book reviews

Landscape Transformed

London, Academy Editions, 1996, 112 pp., no price given, ISBN 1-85490-452-3

Sculpting with the Environment: a natural dialogue

Baile Oakes (Ed.)

New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995, ISBN 0-442-01642-5, 252 pp., £45.00, hb.

After the Ruins: restoring the countryside of Northern France after the Great War

Hugh Clout

Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 1996, ISBN 0-85989-491-6,332 pp., £35.

Environmental Aesthetics: ideas, politics and planning

J. Douglas Porteous

London and New York, Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0-415-13769-1, 20 pp., £15.99.

Countryside Survey 1990 Main Report

C.J. Barr, R.G.H. Bunce, R.T. Clarke, R.M. Fuller, M.T. Furse, M.K. Gillespie, G.B. Groom, C.J. Hallam, M. Hornung, D.C. Howard & M.J. Ness

London, Department of the Environment, 1993, 174 pp., £12.00 (available from DoE Publications Sales Unit, Block 3, Spur 2, Government Buildings, Lime Grove, Eastcote, HA4 8SE)

World of Environmental Design, Volume 1: Urban Spaces I (Streets and Squares)

Francisco Asenio Cerver

Barcelona, Arco Editorial, 1995, 255 pp., US$75 (per volume) ISBN 84-8185-004-7 (complete work), ISBN 84-8185-005-5 (Volume 1)

'The Remains of Distant Times': archaeology and the National Trust

David Morgan Evans, Peter Salway & David Thackray (Eds)

Woodbridge, Suffolk, The Boydell Press, 1996, ISBN 0-85115-671-1, hb, 235 pp., £29.50

Apostle of Taste: Andrew Jackson Downing 1815-1852

D. Schuyler

Baltimore, fohns Hopkins University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8018-5229-3, $35.95     

None of us is as smart as all of us [creative collaborations]

The authors discusses the success of creative collaborations. They consider the importance of strong leadership. The groups studied were as disparate as the Walt Disney studio, which invented the animated feature, and the Manhattan Project, which gave the world the first atomic bomb. They included both Lockheed Skunk Works, which pioneered the stealth technology deployed so dramatically in the Persian Gulf War, and Black Mountain College, a tiny, ground-breaking arts school that flourished for a time in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains     

The Electrohydrodynamic Origin of Turbulence in Electrostatic Precipitators

The functioning of an electrostatic precipitator in the light of previous studies on various regimes of electroconvection in both parallel and divergent electric fields is examined. Coupling between velocity and charge density fluctuations for both ions and charged particles is discussed. It is shown that for a certain diameter range of the particles, their nondimensional mobility parameter takes values similar to those characterizing ions in liquids. An experimental simulation using insulating liquids is proposed.     

Effects of halothane on the metabolism of human adipose tissue

The metabolism of specimens of human adipose tissue exposed to different concentrations of halothane was studied. Halothane was added to the incubation medium directly or via the gas phase above the medium. The basal lipolysis was significantly increased by low concentrations of halothane. Higher concentrations clearly diminished the lipolysis, but here, in spite of the inhibitory effect on the basal lipolysis, the lipolytic effect of noradrenaline expressed as percent increment was increased. The rate of lipid synthesis from glucose was reduced when halothane was present in the gas phase. The effect of insulin on glucose metabolism was not affected by the presence of halothane, while the antilipolytic action was abolished by high concentrations of halothane. The results show that halothane may exert dual effects on the mobilization of lipids from human adipose tissue; at low concentrations halothane enhances the basal lipolysis, while at higher concentrations it exerts inhibitory effects.     

Evaluating the impact of several scrubbing systems on the tar removal efficiency from producer gas

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Biomass gasification is the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass into producer gas. The latter can be then integrated in a combined heat and power...     

Cyanobacteria as bioreactors for the synthesis of Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt nanoparticles via an enzyme-mediated route

Common Anabaena, Calothrix, and Leptolyngbya cyanobacteria are shown to form Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt nanoparticles of well-controlled size. These nanoparticles are synthesized intra-cellularly, and naturally released in the culture medium, where they are stabilized by algal polysaccharides, allowing their easy recovery. The size of the recovered particles as well as the reaction yield is shown to depend on the cyanobacteria genus. Investigations of nanoparticle formation indicate that the intracellular nitrogenase enzyme is responsible for the metal reduction but that the cellular environment is involved in the colloid growth process.