Search results for "Tropic"
showing 10 items of 1375 documents
Monte Carlo simulations of the solid-liquid transition in hard spheres and colloid-polymer mixtures
2010
Monte Carlo simulations at constant pressure are performed to study coexistence and interfacial properties of the liquid-solid transition in hard spheres and in colloid-polymer mixtures. The latter system is described as a one-component Asakura-Oosawa (AO) model where the polymer's degrees of freedom are incorporated via an attractive part in the effective potential for the colloid-colloid interactions. For the considered AO model, the polymer reservoir packing fraction is eta_p^r=0.1 and the colloid-polymer size ratio is q=sigma_p/\sigma=0.15 (with sigma_p and sigma the diameter of polymers and colloids, respectively). Inhomogeneous solid-liquid systems are prepared by placing the solid fc…
Two New Alternatives to the Conventional Arm-in-Cage Test for Assessing Topical Repellents
2021
Abstract European guidelines for testing attractant and repellent efficacy (i.e., Product type 19 [PT19]) have been in revision since 2017. A key topic of discussion is the current approach to evaluating topical repellents. The European Chemical Agency has stated field testing should be avoided because of mosquito-borne disease risks. However, the most common laboratory method, the arm-in-cage (AIC) test, may limit the reliable extrapolation of lab results to field conditions. This study’s main goal was to assess alternative laboratory methods for evaluating topical mosquito repellents that use mosquito landing rates more representative of those in the field. The study took place at three E…
Image-guided endonasal transsphenoidal microsurgical treatment of recurrent microadenomas of the pituitary gland.
2006
BACKGROUND Neuronavigation is a commonly used technology that provides continuous, three-dimensional information for the precise localization of and surgical trajectory to brain lesions. This study was performed to evaluate the role that navigation can play in assisting microsurgical transsphenoidal surgery for precise localization and removal of recurrent pituitary tumours while simultaneously preserving pituitary gland function. METHOD During a 6-month period -- July 2004 until December 2004 -- 9 patients with recurrent pituitary tumours (5 female and 4-male) were treated with navigation-guided transsphenoidal microsurgical resection. Surgery was performed via a paraseptal or endonasal tr…
Perfusion MRI in normal and abnormal pituitary gland. A preliminary study.
1997
Perfusion MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the pituitary gland was performed in 20 healthy volunteers and 63 patients with various lesions involving the pituitary gland. All patients underwent sequential contrast-enhanced MRI using spoiled gradient recalled sequences with high temporal resolution (7 seconds). Four pituitary areas (pituitary stalk, posterior lobe, postero-superior, and antero-inferior adenohypophysis) were tested with a selected region of interest. Maximal contrast percentual variation was calculated. The timing of enhancement in normal patients matched perfectly with normal pituitary vascularization. Abnormal timing in pathological condition was investigated.
Use of illicit and prescription drugs for cognitive or mood enhancement among surgeons.
2012
Background Surgeons are usually exposed to high workloads leading to fatigue and stress. This not only increases the likelihood of mistakes during surgery but also puts pressure on surgeons to use drugs to counteract fatigue, distress, concentration deficits, burnout or symptoms of depression. The prevalence of surgeons taking pharmacological cognitive enhancement (CE) or mood enhancement (ME) drugs has not been systematically assessed so far. Methods Surgeons who attended five international conferences in 2011 were surveyed with an anonymous self-report questionnaire (AQ) regarding the use of prescription or illicit drugs for CE and ME and factors associated with their use. The Randomized …
Acute hormonal responses to heavy resistance exercise in younger and older men
1998
The purpose of this investigation was to examine the acute responses of several hormones [total and free testosterone (TT and FT, respectively), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol (C), growth hormone (GH), and insulin (INS)] to a single bout of heavy resistance exercise (HRE). Eight younger [30-year (30y) group] and nine older [62-year (62y) group] men matched for general physical characteristics and activity levels performed four sets of ten repetitions maximum (RM) squats with 90 s rest between sets. Blood samples were obtained from each subject via an indwelling cannula with a saline lock pre-exercise, immediately post-exercise (IP), and 5, 15 and 30 min post-exercise. Levels o…
The Metabolic Profile in Active Acromegaly is Gender-Specific.
2012
CONTEXT: The sexual dimorphism of the somatotroph axis has been documented, but whether the acromegaly-related metabolic alterations are gender-dependent has never been investigated. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of gender on the metabolic parameters in acromegaly. DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective, comparative, multicenter study. PATIENTS: The 307 newly diagnosed acromegalic patients included in the study were grouped by gender: 157 men (aged 48.01 ± 14.28 yr), and 150 women (aged 48.67 ± 14.95 yr; of which 77 were premenopausal and 73 postmenopausal). OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: We measured each component of the metabolic syndrome (MS), hemoglobin A1c, the areas …
Capacity assessment for provision of quality sexual reproductive health and HIV-integrated services in Karamoja, Uganda
2020
Introduction: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are crucial global health issues. Uganda continues to sustain a huge burden of HIV and AIDS.
 Methods: A cross-sectional health facility-based assessment was performed in November and December 2016 in Karamoja Region, northern Uganda. All the 126 health facilities (HFs) in Karamoja, including 5 hospitals and 121 Health Centers (HCs), covering 51 sub-counties of the 7 districts were assessed. We assessed the capacity of a) leadership and governance, b) human resource, c) service delivery, d) SRH and HIV service integration and e) users satisfaction and perceptions.
 Results: 64% of the establi…
Indications of the occurrence of inflammatory reactions in the clinical improvement phase in multiple sclerosis patients.
2009
– In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) the spontaneous burst activity (BA) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells was related to the clinical course of the disease. In five patients clinical improvement was found while the BA was significantly increased (more than 300% of the controls). During the appearance of new or deteriorating signs and in the period without clinical changes, the BA was not at all or not markedly increased. In two patients without clinical improvement the BA did not reach levels above 300% of the controls. Our findings suggest that inflammatory reactions represented by the BA occur in the phase of clinical improvement. Since burst-stimulating activity was found in t…
Neural-level associations of non-verbal pragmatic comprehension in young Finnish autistic adults
2021
This video-based study examines the pragmatic non-verbal comprehension skills and corresponding neural-level findings in young Finnish autistic adults, and controls. Items from the Assessment Battery of Communication (ABaCo) were chosen to evaluate the comprehension of non-verbal communication. Inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging data was used to reveal the synchrony of brain activation across participants during the viewing of pragmatically complex scenes of ABaCo videos. The results showed a significant difference between the ISC maps of the autistic and control groups in tasks involving the comprehension of non-verbal communication, there…