Abdominal tuberculosis: a surgical perplexity

Abdominal tuberculosis is one of the most challenging forms of extra pulmonary tuberculosis. The diagnosis of the disease itself poses the greatest challenge due to the variability of presentation. Clinical presentations in various forms with conflicting results on a multitude of haematological, immunological and radiological tests causes a lot of confusion in interpreting and correlating the symptoms to arrive at a diagnosis. This adds to the perplexity in surgical management of this complex disease especially in an era where AIDS has added to the problems. Having arrived at a diagnosis, chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. Surgery is indicated when the response to medical therapy is poor or complications supervene. Deciding the optimum procedure is again a major issue. Understanding the pathophysiology therefore is pivotal in making a value decision. The article briefly outlines the approach to this surgical perplexity.

Diopside-Based Glass-Ceramics from Chrysotile Asbestos Tailing

By utilizing chrysotile asbestos tailing from Shannan ore in Sichuan as the main raw material, diopside-based glass-ceramics were successfully synthesized in the laboratory by adding some limestone, quartz sand, Al2O3, H3BO3, Na2CO3 and CaF2. The optimum procedure for glass-ceramics was as follows: melting at 1400 for 60 min, sintering at 1100 for 120 min. Through the tests of physical and mechanical properties, the glass-ceramics materials with more crystalline phase had high density, fine performance of resisting compression (366MPa) and negligible water absorption. Through chemical resistance tests, the glass-ceramics samples showed strong corrosion resistance. Overall result indicated that it was a feasible attempt to produce glass-ceramics materials for building and decorative materials from chrysotile asbestos tailing.

Optimum Meridian Profile With Additional Criteria

In the previous paper, the optimum meridian profile of impeller and guidevane was obtained improving efficiency and cavitation performance. But, the meridian profile of impeller and guidevane is necessary to be decided by the consideration of various operative conditions for the practical use. In particularly, it is important that the separation flow in impeller and guidevane is suppressed in partial flow rate. In this paper, the optimum meridian profile of impeller and guidevane is calculated by considering the partial flow rate operative condition. That is, the optimum criteria are the efficiency, the cavitation performance and the partial flow rate operative condition. The partial flow rate operative condition is expressed by the limited condition of diffusion factor (e.g. Deq = 2). In the optimum procedure, the meridian profile is improved considering diffusion factor at partial flow rate in tip, mid-span and hub stream lines of impeller and guidevane become to the objective value (e.g. Deq = 2) in specified partial flow rate (e.g. Qpartial = 0.5Q). The equation of partial flow rate diffusion factor is expressed by partial inlet-outlet flow condition and additional term expressed by increase of attack angle at impeller inlet and at guidevane inlet. As the result, the optimum meridian profile considering partial flow rate operative condition is obtained.

Lanthanide doped alkaline metal sulphates as candidates for EPR dosimetry

The applicability of lanthanide doped alkaline metal sulphates as a new type of dosimeters for EPR dosimetery of ionizing radiation has been investigated in an attempt to obtain a dosimeter with better characteristics than the commonly used alanine dosimeter. Irradiation of samples doped with different lanthanides (Y, Ln, Gd) showed that the best sensitivity is obtained using dosimeters doped with Y2(S04)3. Different procedures for manufacturing dosimeters were studied and an optimum procedure was established. The time stability of the EPR signal of the irradiated Y2(S04)3 dosimeter was investi?gated using a 15N-PDT standard and no fading of the EPR signal was observed over at least two weeks. The dose dependence of alanine and Y2(S04)3 doped K3Na(S04)2 dosimeters irradiated in the range 20 Gy - 200 kGy was analysed using a combination of 1-hit and 2-hit mechanisms of free radicals creation.

A Regeneration Protocol for Spinacia oleracea Using Gibberellic Acid

A reliable plant regeneration procedure by organogenesis has been obtained for Spinacia oleracea L. cv. Hybrid 102. The optimum procedure utilises a sequence of three different media. Explants from sterile seedling cotyledons or hypocotyls are incubated for 4 weeks in the dark on medium containing 4.6 μM kinetin and 4.5 μM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The calli are then transferred to medium without 2,4-D but containing kinetin and gibberellic acid (GA3). From this point on, incubation is in the light. A number of passages (usually three) of 4-6 weeks are required on this medium for shoot formation to occur. Calli destined to form shoots usually first undergo some root proliferation ('rooty calli'). Shoots can be induced to form roots by transfer to hormone-free medium. It is suggested that GA3 stimulates the development of shoot primordia induced by 2,4-D. The presence of kinetin (but not 6-benzylaminopurine) results in more rapid shoot formation.