In the last ten years many proposals and studies have been advanced for a far-IR kilometer baseline interferometer. This paper shows the results of FISICA (Far Infrared Space Interferometer Critical ...Assessment), an FP7 program of the European Community. In particular, we focus on an innovative strategy to cover the plane of observation with a minimal propellant consumption. Results of some numerical simulations, carried out for a three-booms configuration, are provided.
A young patient presented with a small bowel infarction with pneumatosis intestinalis in the early course of life-threatening severe acute asthma. Low cardiac output with severe congestive right ...heart failure combined with the use of high doses of epinephrine to reverse the near-fatal bronchospasm probably contributed to this previously unreported complication. The presence of gas collections in the submucosal space was possibly the consequence of diffuse small bowel mucosal disruption. Early recognition of this unusual complication is of major importance to ensure appropriate therapeutic management.
FISICA (Far Infrared Space Interferometer Critical Assessment) is an FP7 program of the European community that aims to bring together the leading international experts on FIR (Far InfraRed) space ...instrumentation, in the effort to identify the scientific questions connected to high spatial resolution observations in the FIR and to translate these questions into a technological definition of a FIR space mission. To this finality the technologies relevant for a space interferometer which are at a low Technology Readiness Level will be studied and analyzed, trying to implement the appropriate solutions to current problems. The outcome of this study will advance the knowledge and technology required for a future FIR mission, consolidating the scientific community and bringing world-wide expertise to the EU consortium.
An information system for the management of the anesthesia record has been developed in the Cardiac Surgery section of the authors' institute. Commercial software was applied, revised and adjusted ...according to anesthesia staff requirements. The anesthesia system was integrated with the Hospital Information System, already set up at the authors' institute for the management of health care administration and delivery. The system is currently used in the adult section and is being extended to pediatric cardiac surgery.
Two cases of rubella encephalitis in young adults are reported.
2 patients, 19 and 16-year-old, presented with severe encephalitis. One required mechanical ventilation. Neither were vaccinated ...against rubella. MRI scan of the brain was normal. The diagnosis was confirmed by serology. Good recovery was noted in both patients.
Both cases of rubella encephalitis occurring in young adults illustrate the severity of this rare disease. As already shown in Finland, improvement with the French vaccination policy should lead to the prevention of rubella encephalitis.
The Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) is one of the modules of EChO, the Exoplanets Characterization Observatory proposed to ESA for an M-class mission. EChO is aimed to observe planets while ...transiting by their suns. Then the instrument had to be designed to assure a high efficiency over the whole spectral range. In fact, it has to be able to observe stars with an apparent magnitude Mv= 9-12 and to see contrasts of the order of 10-4 - 10-5 necessary to reveal the characteristics of the atmospheres of the exoplanets under investigation. VNIR is a spectrometer in a cross-dispersed configuration, covering the 0.4-2.5 micron spectral range with a resolving power of about 330 and a field of view of 2 arcsec. It is functionally split into two channels respectively working in the 0.4-1 and 1.0-2.5 micron spectral ranges. Such a solution is imposed by the fact the light at short wavelengths has to be shared with the EChO Fine Guiding System (FGS) devoted to the pointing of the stars under observation. The spectrometer makes use of a HgCdTe detector of 512 by 512 pixels, 18 micron pitch and working at a temperature of 45K as the entire VNIR optical bench. The instrument has been interfaced to the telescope optics by two optical fibers, one per channel, to assure an easier coupling and an easier colocation of the instrument inside the EChO optical bench.
To assess the relationship between the age of pediatric patients and the likelihood of difficult intubations and to confirm the importance of Down Syndrome causing difficult intubations.
...Retrospective study.
Pediatric cardiac surgery operating room.
627 pediatric patients, suffering from congenital heart disease, operated in our hospital from 1992 to 1994, divided in three age groups (under 1 month, between 1 month and 1 year, over 1 year of age).
Translaryngeal intubation performed in the operating room before the operation.
The percentage of difficult intubations was assessed in the three age groups and the association with Down syndrome was also considered. The likelihood of orotracheal intubations in each of the preceding groups was also examined.
The percentage of difficult intubation in our experience was estimated to be 4.62%. Intubation's difficulty increases with decreasing age of non Down patients. The risk of difficult intubation in Down patients is, irrespectively of age, nearly 27% higher than in non-Downs (5.77% versus 4.52). However Down Syndrome seems to be important only in the age group between one month and one year. The percentage of orotracheal intubations in the preceding groups, even if indirectly, seem to confirm this observation.
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