Dental trauma that require fixation in a children's hospital.

Children and adolescents who suffer traumatic injuries often seek emergency treatment at a Children's Hospital. Complex injuries to permanent teeth and their periodontium require immediate repositioning and stabilization. Many of these emergencies are treated by pediatric dental residents at the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York. The purpose of this study was to characterize these complex injuries of permanent teeth that require emergency treatment in a Children's Hospital. All of the cases of dental trauma which had involved permanent teeth and which had been treated with a splint in 2001 and 2002 were reviewed. There were 79 patients that were between 5 and 19 years of age with twice as many males (54) as females (25). The number of males increased from childhood (5-10 years) to early adolescence (11-15 years) and then decreased rapidly in late adolescence (16-19 years), whereas the number of females decreased steadily with age. Most of the incidents occurred during the summer months (72%), particularly in June and July (42%), and Fridays and Saturdays were the busiest days of the week. Most of the injuries were caused by organized and recreational sporting activities (39%) and accidental falls (33%), followed by interpersonal violence (15%) and a few motor vehicle accidents (7%). The 173 permanent tooth injuries were mostly luxations (62%) or avulsions (20%), with only a few fractures of the alveolar bone (5%) or tooth root (1%). Most of the displacements were lateral luxations (40%) or extrusions (18%) with only a few intrusions (3%). These injuries most commonly afflicted the maxillary central incisors (54%), followed by the maxillary laterals (18%) and mandibular centrals (17%). The emergency treatment that was provided at the Children's Hospital included replantation and repositioning, and the placement of a semi-rigid or flexible splint.     

Dothideales

The type specimens or representative specimens of the potentially dothidealean genera Bagnisiella, Botryochora, Coccostromella, Columnosphaeria, Delphinella, Dictyodothis, Discosphaerina, Dothidea, Dothiora, Endodothiora, Jaffuela, Mycoporis, Omphalospora, Pachysacca, Plowrightia, Saccothecium, Stylodothis, Sydowia and Yoshinagaia were examined while, fresh specimens of Aureobasidium pullulans, Dothidea insculpta, Plowrightia ribesia and Saccothecium sepincola were made from Italy and Thailand. An introduction and the history of these genera, their family placement, morphology, and molecular phylogeny are provided. Morphology plus GenBank data are used to provide a systematic treatment of Dothideales. Phylogenetic analysis of LSU, SSU and ITS gene regions was carried out and in the resulting phylogenetic tree the taxa cluster in two clades with high bootstrap support. Clade A comprises Dothideaceae, the family type of Dothideales. The family Dothioraceae is not recognized as a distinct family and is synonymized under Dothideaceae. Neocylindroseptoria is introduced to accommodate Cylindroseptoria pistaciae as it forms a well-supported distinct clade in Dothideaceae. Clade B comprises Aureobasidium, Kabatiella, Pseudoseptoria, Saccothecium and Selenophoma species and Columnosphaeria fagi, for which we propose a new family, Aureobasidiaceae. The recently introduced Sydowia eucalypti also clustered within Clade B and therefore based on morphology and molecular phylogeny a new genus Pseudosydowia is introduced for Sydowia eucalypti. Celosporium laricicola is separated in a distinct clade, and therefore it is placed in Dothideales, genera, incertae sedis. The genera Bagnisiella, Botryochora, Coccostromella, Jaffuela, Lucidascocarpa, Mycoporis, Omphalospora, Pachysacca and Yoshinagaia are excluded from Dothideales and their placements are discussed.     

Metal-free functionalized carbonized cotton for efficient solar steam generation and wastewater treatment

Water desalination via solar steam generation is one of the most important technologies to address the increasingly pressing global water scarcity. Materials for solar photothermal energy conversion are highly sought after for their cost savings, environmental friendliness and broad utility in many applications including domestic water heating and solar-driven desalination. Herein, we report the successful development of metal-free, low weight and cost effective functionalized carbonized cotton (CC) fibers for efficient solar water desalination and wastewater treatment. The CC fibers with nearly full solar spectrum absorption, efficient photo-thermal conversion and low-cost could provide excellent alternatives to the high-cost plasmonic-based materials for solar water desalination. We also report on a novel and simple device to mitigate the issues associated with conductive heat loss by utilizing the economically viable carbonized cotton materials as an irradiation surface placed on a low-density polyethylene foam that floats on the surface of seawater. The CC solar steam generation device exhibits average water evaporation rates of 0.9, 6.4 and 10.9 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ with impressive solar-to-vapor efficiencies of 59.2, 88.7 and 94.9% under 1, 5 and 8 sun illumination, respectively. Moreover, the device displays excellent durability showing stable evaporation rates over 10 steam generation cycles under 5 sun of solar intensity. Furthermore, the applicability of the CC device for the removal of organic dyes from contaminated water through solar steam generation is also demonstrated. The low-cost, simple design, high solar thermal evaporation efficiency, excellent stability and long-term durability make this CC device a perfect candidate for applications in seawater desalination and wastewater treatment by solar steam generation.

Water desalination via solar steam generation is one of the most important technologies to address the increasingly pressing global water scarcity.     

Muscle function and resting energy expenditure in female athletes with cystic fibrosis

The pathophysiology of impaired exercise tolerance in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is not completely understood. The objective of this study was to compare exercise ability (at clinical and cellular levels) and resting energy expenditure in female athletes with CF compared with matched control subjects. Sixteen subjects and matched control subjects participated in the study. The girls with CF not only had a significantly greater resting energy expenditure (7.6% higher; p<0.05), their habitual daily activity was also significantly greater than that of control subjects (15% greater; p<0.01). Peak aerobic capacity was similar in both groups. However, peak anaerobic power was 20% less (p<0.05) in girls with CF. The 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies demonstrated that there were no differences between the groups at rest, but at 25% total work output the girls with CF were less acidotic (CF, pH 6.99 [0.06]; control subjects, 6.90 [0.05]) and had a significantly lower inorganic phosphorus-to-phosphocreatine ratio (CF, 0.34 [0.07]; control subjects, 0.41 [0.08]). These differences continued to increase to maximal exercise. This study demonstrates that in spite of normal lung function and good nutritional status, females athletes with CF still had significant deficiencies in some measures of fitness and muscle metabolism compared with healthy athletes.     

Results of laparoscopic repair of giant paraesophageal hernias: 200 consecutive patients

BACKGROUND: Giant paraesophageal hernias (GPEH) have traditionally required open operations. Increasingly, a laparoscopic approach is being applied to more complex esophageal surgery. Our objective was to update our growing experience with laparoscopic repair of GPEH. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review at our institution of patients undergoing laparoscopic repair of GPEH from July 1995 to July 2001. The GPEH was defined as greater than one-third of the stomach in the chest. RESULTS: Elective laparoscopic repair of a GPEH was attempted in 203 patients. Mean age was 67 years. The most common symptoms included heartburn (96 patients), dysphagia (72), epigastric pain (56), and vomiting (47 patients). Laparoscopic procedures included 69 Nissens, 112 Collis-Nissens, and 19 other procedures. There were three open conversions due to adhesions, but no intraoperative emergencies. Median length of stay was 3 days (range, 1 to 120 days). Minor or major complications occurred in 57 patients (28%). There were six postoperative esophageal leaks (3%), and 1 death. Median follow-up was 18 months. Five patients required reoperation for recurrent hiatal hernia. Excellent results were reported in 128 (84%) patients, 12 (8%) had a good result, 7 (5%) fair, and 5 (3%) poor (based on postoperative follow-up and GERD questionnaire). The mean postoperative GERD Health-related Quality of Life Score was 2.4 (scale 0 to 45; 0 = no symptoms, 45 = worst). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic repair of GPEH is possible in the majority of patients with acceptable morbidity, a median length of hospital stay of 3 days and excellent intermediate-term results in an experienced center.