Spinal epidural abscess is a severe, generally pyogenic, infection of the epidural space of spinal cord or cauda equina. The swelling caused by the abscess leads to compression or vascular disruption ...of neurological structures that requires urgent surgical decompression to avoid significant permanent disability. We share a rare case of
spinal epidural abscess secondary to haematogenous spread of previous lung infection that presented late at our centre with cauda equina syndrome that showed good short-term outcome in delayed decompression. A 50-year old female presented with one-week history of persistent low back pain with progressively worsening bilateral lower limb weakness for seven days and urinary retention associated with saddle anesthesia of 2-day duration. Magnetic resonance imaging with contrast of the lumbo-sacral region showed an intramuscular collection of abscess at left gluteus maximus and left multifidus muscle with a L3-L5 posteriorly placed extradural lesion enhancing peripherally on contrast, suggestive of epidural abscess that compressed the cauda equina. The pus was drained using the posterior lumbar approach. Tissue and pus culture revealed
, suggestive of bacterial infection. The patient made immediate improvement of muscle power over bilateral lower limbs postoperative followed by ability to control micturition and defecation the 4
post-operative day. A good short-term outcome in delayed decompression of cauda equine syndrome is extremely rare. Aggressive surgical decompression combined with antibiotic therapy led to good short-term outcome in this patient despite delayed decompression of more than 48 hours.
Growing public concern about environment and potential risks to health in the polymer and plasticizer industry promises to increase the market for a safer alternative plasticizer such as a vegetable ...oil-based agent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of crude palm oil as a bio-additive in polypropylene blown films. The polypropylene was blended with 1%, 3%, and 5% dosages of CPO using a twin screw extruder. The extruded samples were blown using the blown thin film technique. Mechanical, physical, and morphological properties were characterized. Modifying polypropylene with CPO showed good enhancement in the mechanical properties of the polypropylene. Tensile strength, elongation at break, impact strength, and tear strength all increased. The scanning electron microscopy photographs of the CPO-modified PP clearly supported the results from the mechanical strength tests. The presence of CPO in the PP matrices decreased the density and increased the melt flow rate. These findings contribute new knowledge to the additives area and give important implications for designing and manufacturing polymer packaging materials.
A simulation was conducted using Aspen HYSYS® software for an industrial scale condensate stabilisation unit and the results of the product composition from the simulation were compared with the ...plant data. The results were also compared to the results obtained using PRO/II software. It was found that the simulation is closely matched with the plant data and in particular for medium range hydrocarbons. The effects of four process conditions, i.e. feed flow rate, temperature, pressure and reboiler temperature on the product Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) and sulphur content were also studied. The operating conditions which gave rise to the production of off-specification condensate were found. It was found that at a column pressure of 8.5 barg and reboiler temperature of 180 °C, the condensate is successfully stabilized to a RVP of 60.6 kPa (8.78 psia). It is also found that as compared to the other parameters the reboiler temperature is the most influential parameter control the product properties. Among the all sulphur contents in the feed, nP-Mercaptan played a dominant role for the finishing product in terms of sulphur contents.
•An industrial scale of condensate stabilisation unit was simulated using Aspen Hysys® and PRO/II.•The simulation was validated by the plant data.•Effects of feed flow rate, temperature and pressure and the reboiler on the product were reported.•Product specifications are RVP and sulphur content.
This study presented the DC bus instability in distributed power system driving by Photovoltaic (PV) source with constant power load (CPL). The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of PV ...source towards the performances of DC bus voltage stability using constant power load. The system first was tested using linear DC supply as voltage source and CPL was modeled and connected to the voltage source through LC filter network. A passive damping circuit was chosen to stabilize the DC bus instability. The system was repeated using PV source. PV array was modeled based on the parameters obtained from a commercial PV data sheet. A circuitry simulation was performed under the similar design excluding the DC source in order to investigate DC bus instability. Results showed that the stability of DC bus become unstable when using linear DC voltage supply and slightly affected when using PV source. The instability phenomenon due to the negative incremental impedance of a constant power load can be overcome by using damping technique. For linear DC voltage source, DC bus voltage system tends to oscillate. However, with PV source which is actually a current source input seems not much affecting the DC bus voltage stability.
To carry out a comparative study of the safety and immunogenicity of Vi polysaccharide vaccine against whole-cell killed (WCK) typhoid vaccine.
The study was carried out on young adult recruits (aged ...18-25 years) of the Malaysian Air Force. A total of 125 subjects received the Vi polysaccharide vaccine and 114 received the WCK vaccine.
The Vi vaccine was significantly less reactogenic than the WCK vaccine with regard to systemic and local reactions. Following administration of the Vi vaccine, seroconversion rates (defined as the percentage of subjects with a 4-fold rise of baseline antibody level) of 75.5% and 67% were observed at 2 weeks and 6 weeks, respectively, after immunization, compared with 25% and 31.3% among recipients of the WCK vaccine. Of the 110 Vi vaccinees with serological data, 21 (19%) had high, seroprotective, pre-immunization levels of anti-Vi antibodies (> or = 1 microgram/ml). The majority of subjects in this group came from a region in Malaysia which is known to have high typhoid endemicity. Interestingly, these antibody levels were boosted considerably following administration of vaccine at a level that was 5-fold higher than in subjects with low pre-immunization levels. In contrast, the seroconversion rates in those receiving the Vi vaccine were higher in subjects with low pre-immunization levels of anti-Vi antibodies (76-84%), compared to those with protective levels of > or = 1 microgram/ml prior to immunization (48-57%).
The study reaffirms the safety and efficacy of the Vi polysaccharide vaccine and identifies a hitherto unrecognized advantage in its use, i.e. it is a potent immunogen that boosted considerably the protective antibody levels among a significant number of immunologically sensitized individuals living in typhoid-endemic regions.
A fully soft-switched bidirectional converter to interface an ultra-capacitor (UC) and a battery is proposed. The proposed converter acts as a buck zero current transition (ZCT) to charge the UC and ...acts as a boost zero voltage transition (ZVT) to discharge the UC. The ZVT and ZCT techniques guarantee soft-switching condition for all power switches. The proposed converter has high efficiency (above 95%), requires fewer components and has a small footprint. The analysis of the switching technique is validated by simulation. In addition, a 100 W experimental converter is constructed. The results from simulation and experiment are in good agreement with each other.
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