Transcatheter Closure of Patent Ductus Arteriosus via Different Approaches

Background: There have been marked advances in devices such as Amplatzer Duct Occluder II (ADO-II) or vascular plug through 5Fr delivery sheath for closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in the past five decades, making it possible for cardiologists to deliver occluders via different approaches. However, comparisons of these different approaches have not been reported. Therefore, the aim of this study was to summarize and compare the advantages of different approaches for PDA closure, and to guide clinical strategies.Methods: This retrospective study included all patients undergoing transcatheter closure of PDA from 2019 to 2020. Patients were matched by 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM). The retrograde femoral artery approach (FAA) and simple vein approach (SVA) groups were compared with the conventional arteriovenous approach (CAA).Results: The average age of the 476 patients was 21.05 ± 21.15 years. Their average weight was 38.23 ± 24.1 kg and average height was 130.14 ± 34.45 cm. The mean diameter of the PDA was 4.29 ± 2.25 mm. There were 127 men and 349 women, comprising 205 adults and 271 children. Among them, 197 patients underwent CAA, 223 underwent SVA, and 56 underwent retrograde FAA. The diameter in the FAA group was smaller than that in the other two groups, but was similar in adults and children. In the PSM comparison of CAA and SVA, 136 patients with CAA and 136 patients with SVA were recruited. Simple vein approach was associated with markedly reduced length of hospital stay, length of operation, and contrast medium usage as compared with CAA (all P < 0.05). In the PSM comparison of FAA and CAA, 30 patients with CAA and 30 patients with FAA were recruited. The operation duration was longer in the CAA than in the FAA group. There were no significant differences in postoperative complications among groups.Conclusion: Patent ductus arteriosus closure by using the SVA and FAA is safe and effective, and has certain advantages in some respects as compared with CAA.

STUDY OF MORPHODYNAMIC AND SEDIMENTOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE OUALIDIA LAGOON (MOROCCO) USING BATHYMETRIC DATA: FIRST INVESTIGATIONS AFTER THE SEDIMENT TRAP DREDGING

Coastal lagoons are highly dynamic and physically complicated systems. They are environmentally productive and socio-economically valuable. Contemporary global development and management pressures require a better understanding of their dynamics and sustainability. The present study focuses on the problem of water confinement in the Oualidia lagoon (Atlantic coast of Morocco). This lagoon is characterized by an asymmetric tidal propagation, with a shorter duration of the flood (rising tide) than the ebb (falling tide). In the long term, this contributes to the reduction of depths and the confinement of water upstream. After extensive studies, a sediment trap was created in 2011 to trap the finest sediment in the upstream part of the lagoon. This study aims to analyze the morphodynamical and sedimentological changes in the lagoon of Oualidia, after the sediment trap dredging. For this purpose, bathymetric surveys covering 6 years between 2006 and 2012 were analyzed, providing sufficient data to identify the morphological changes that the lagoon has undergone during this period. The data analysis was followed by a study of the lagoon bed dynamics using profile lines extracted from the bathymetric data in a GIS environment. As a result, the findings partly show that over 6 years, an average height of +0.65 m was gained by the lagoon, while the average change in the eroded areas was estimated to be −0.42 m. In addition, the eroded area in the lagoon was estimated to be about 1,513,800 m2 with an erosion volume of 633,383 m3, while the accumulated area found was about 2,699,396 m2 with an accumulation volume of 1,765,866 m3. These changes can be related to the large input of marine sediment, mainly caused by tidal currents and waves, but also to the creation of a sediment trap in the upstream area of the lagoon.

Optimization of the Process Parameters for Micro-Milling Thin-Walled Micro Parts Using Advanced Algorithms

The surface integrity and machining accuracy of thin-walled micro parts are significantly affected by micro-milling parameters mostly because of their weak stiffness. Furthermore, there is still a lack of studies focusing on parameters optimization for the fabrication of thin-walled microscale parts. In this paper, an innovative approach is proposed for the optimization of machining parameters with the objectives of surface quality and dimension accuracy, which integrates the Taguchi method, principal component analysis method (PCA) and the Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). In the study, surface arithmetic average height Sa, surface root mean square height Sq, and 3-D fractal dimension Ds are selected to evaluate surface quality. Then micro-milling experiments are conducted based on the Taguchi method. According to the experimental results, the significance of machining parameters can be determined by range analysis. Besides, regression models for the responses are developed comparatively, and the PCA method is employed for dimension reduction of the optimization objective space. Finally, two combinations of machining parameters with the highest satisfaction are obtained through NSGA-II, and verification experiments are carried out. The results show that the surface quality and dimension accuracy of the thin-walled microscale parts can be simultaneously improved by using the proposed approach.

Analysis of Reservoir Seismic Law Based on Three-Dimensional Morphological Characteristics of Joint Surface Related to Listric Fault

Since water storage, earthquakes occurred in Badong County, Hubei Province, accounted for as much as one-third of the strong earthquakes in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. For example, the MS5.1 earthquake occurred in December 2013 near the Gaoqiao fault in Badong County. The earthquake time, magnitude, and location analysis showed that reservoir earthquakes in this area exhibited some characteristics, such as periodicity, migration, and deep extension. Based on the regional stratum lithology and structural characteristics, this paper designed a curved joint on a small scale to simulate the structural morphology of the Gaoqiao fault and carried out triaxial compression tests under different immersion times to analyze the morphological parameters of the joint surface. The results showed that topological parameters such as root mean square height (Sq), arithmetic average height (Sa), reverse load area ratio (Smc), and minimum autocorrelation length (Sal) could effectively characterize the degree of damage and deterioration of curved joints. The test privides a reference for analyzing the evolution law of the seismic characteristics of the reservoir.

Allelopathic Effect of Aqueous Extracts of Stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens L.) on Germination and Growth of Some Weed Species

The experiment was implemented by CRD design with three replications and lasted for 40 days, from 5 October until 15 November 2020. Four extract concentrations of D. graveolens 0, 2, 6, and 10% were used. The concentration of 0% was considered as control. The allelopathic effect has been studied on five weed species; Amaranthus retroflexus L., Portulaca oleracea L., Lolium multiflorum Lam., Sorghum halepense L., and Cuscuta campestris Yunck. The research also aimed to determine the effect of Stinkwort extract on the growth of tomato seedlings. All concentrations affected seed germination for all studied weeds. The concentration of 10% was more influential in growth-related indicators compared to other concentrations. The seeds of L. multiflorum and rhizomes of S. halepense were more tolerant to D. graveolens allelochemicals in germination rate than A. retroflexus, P. oleracea, and C. campestris. All concentrations led to a reduction in the weed heights and the wet and dry weights compared with the controls. The effect of the extract with various concentrations was catalytic for the growth of tomato seedlings, as the average height of tomato seedlings was in direct proportion to the concentration.

Quality of Soil in Gossaigaon Sub-Division and Its Impact on Environmental Degradation

People on Earth are under tremendous threat due to undesired changes in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water and soil. Due to increased human population, industrialization, use of unwanted amounts of fertilizers and man-made activities, water and soil is highly polluted with different harmful contaminants. Natural water and soil contaminates due to weathering of rocks and leaching of soils, mining processing etc. It is necessary that the quality of drinking water and soil should be checked at regular time interval, because due to use of contaminated drinking water, human population suffers from variety of water borne diseases. The study area, Gossaigaon sub-division of Kokrajhar district, Assam lies on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river and is slowly sloping towards south from the foothills of Bhutan upto an average height of 42 MSL. The tributaries of the Brahmaputra- Sankosh, Ripu, Dambra, Bura chara, Gadadhar, Gurufella, Madati, Hel, Gongea are flowing southward which have their sources in the Himalayas. In this paper an attempt has been made to assess the quality of soil of 10 different stations by considering the parameters like Colour, Temperature, pH value, Conductance, Alkalinity, Dissolved Oxygen, Hardness, TS, TDS, Chlorine, Fluorine, Sulphur, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Iron, Calcium and Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Zinc, Nickel, Lead and Copper which have direct correlation with human health.

A study of height, weight and body mass index in Nepalese

Introduction: The height measurement is an important anthropometric measurement which can be directly correlated with health status of an individual. Body weight of an individual refers to total body mass and is also important indicator of health status of people. Body mass index (BMI) is a key index for relating weight to height. It is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, The BMI is an attempt to quantify the amount of body tissue mass in an individual, and then categorize that the person as underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. Objectives: To find out the average height and weight, to calculate BMI and find out its average value and to correlate height and weight in Nepalese population. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted in subjects from different parts of Nepal. Three hundred twenty one healthy subjects of 25-40 years of age group were studied. Height and weight of subjects were recorded and BMI was calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Result: In overall Nepalese population, Mean height was found to be 156.6 ± 6.3 cm; mean weight 56.6 ± 11.4 kg and BMI 20.9 ± 1.8 kg/m2. Pearson’s correlation co-efficient(r) for height and weight was 0.88. Conclusion: There was partial positive correlation between height and weight. There was statistically significant difference in height, weight and BMI between Nepalese male and female(p<0.05).

Allelopathic Effect of Aqueous Extracts of Stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens L.) on Germination and Growth of Some Weed Species

The experiment was implemented by CRD design with three replications and lasted for 40 days, from 5 October until 15 November 2020. Four extract concentrations of D. graveolens 0, 2, 6, and 10% were used. The concentration of 0% was considered as control. The allelopathic effect has been studied on five weed species; Amaranthus retroflexus L., Portulaca oleracea L., Lolium multiflorum Lam., Sorghum halepense L., and Cuscuta campestris Yunck. The research also aimed to determine the effect of Stinkwort extract on the growth of tomato seedlings. All concentrations affected seed germination for all studied weeds. The concentration of 10% was more influential in growth-related indicators compared to other concentrations. The seeds of L. multiflorum and rhizomes of S. halepense were more tolerant to D. graveolens allelochemicals in germination rate than A. retroflexus, P. oleracea, and C. campestris. All concentrations led to a reduction in the weed heights and the wet and dry weights compared with the controls. The effect of the extract with various concentrations was catalytic for the growth of tomato seedlings, as the average height of tomato seedlings was in direct proportion to the concentration.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF HOLLOW MICRONEEDLES FOR INSULIN DELIVERY

Microneedles (MN) are miniature devices capable of perforating painlessly stratum corneum and delivering active ingredients in the inner epidermal layers. Hollow microneedles (HMNs) are highly detailed objects due to their internal microchannels and thus, their fabrication with Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a challenging task. Vat polymerization techniques provide a sufficient accuracy for such microstructures. Differentiated from other approaches where stereolithography and 2-photon polymerization were adopted, this paper presents the 3D-printing of HMNs purposed for insulin delivery, using the more economic Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) method. First, different geometries (hexagon, square pyramid, beveled) were 3D printed with constant height and varying curing time, printing angle and layer resolution. Quality features in each case were captured with optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The most promising geometry was found to be the beveled one due to the more refined tip area and the feasibility of non-clogged microchannel formation. Among printing parameters, printing angle proved to be the most influential, as it affects resin flow phenomenon during printing process. Lastly, optimized HMN geometry was the beveled configuration, where the average height was measured 900μm, 3D printing angle was set at -45°, the curing time was 10s per layer and the optimal layer height was 30μm.

Functional Acrylic Surfaces Obtained by Scratching

By using sandpaper of different grit, we have scratched up smooth sheets of acrylic to cover their surfaces with disordered but near parallel micro-grooves. This procedure allowed us to transform the acrylic surface into a functional surface; measuring the capillary rise of silicone oil up to an average height h¯, we found that h¯ evolves as a power law of the form h¯∼tn, where t is the elapsed time from the start of the flow and n takes the values 0.40 or 0.50, depending on the different inclinations of the sheets. Such behavior can be understood alluding to the theoretical predictions for the capillary rise in very tight, open capillary wedges. We also explore other functionalities of such surfaces, as the loss of mass of water sessile droplets on them and the generic role of worn surfaces, in the short survival time of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.