Slight Pressure Research Articles

Impact of additional HEPA filter on APAP performance and CPAP pressure level in simulated sleep apnea events.

BackgroundCPAP is the first line treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. Recently, the use of added filters has been debated following the field safety notice of Philips Respironics™ on potential health risks due to foam degradation used in their ventilators. However, the added resistance of filters has never been analyzed.ObjectivesThe primary aim was to investigate the impact of four different filters on APAP mode performance with and without added unintentional air leaks (UIAL) with two simulated respiratory events. The secondary aim was to assess the pressure drop due to the increased filter resistance at different fixed CPAP pressure levels.MethodThis is a bench study. Performance tests were performed on a breathing simulator (ASL 5000™) with a DreamStation™ device. To assess the combined effect of UIAL, a controlled valve was added to the setup.ResultsWithout UIAL, the algorithm was able to detect respiratory events and increase pressure level consequently. In the presence of UIAL, the device's response to simulated events was affected. In fixed CPAP mode, the median measured end-expiratory pressure was 6.2 to 10.0% (p < 0.001) below the set pressure with the additional filters. Additional UIAL severely impacted the delivered pressure with a median reduction up to 28.3% (p < 0.001) to the set pressure.ConclusionDespite a slight pressure drop, the APAP algorithm still performed with additional filters when UIAL were avoided. However, the combined effect of added filter resistance and UIAL severely impacted APAP performance and effectively delivered set pressure.

Improving the performance of the compound labyrinth weirs using an artificial ventilation approach

Abstract Compound labyrinth weirs are a new shape that is used to increase discharge. The air pockets behind the nappe flow are a big problem for the hydraulic performance of the labyrinth weirs. The study aims to use the artificial ventilation approach to improve the performance of the compound labyrinth weirs. The current study proposes artificial ventilation techniques to mitigate the pressure behind nappe flow and to improve the coefficient of discharge. The data have been collected for three cases (without vented (WV), with vented (V), and with suction (S)). The results indicated that the pressure distribution behind nappe flow was not similar for all tested points. Also, a slight negative pressure was observed when H′t/P′ was measured between 0.1 and 0.2. Artificial ventilation with a suction pump was the best technique to reduce pressure behind the nappe flow when compared with a vent pipe device. Furthermore, the compound coefficient of discharge (Cdc) using the suction and vent devices was greater than the compound coefficient of discharge (Cdc) without the vent devices by 10% and 4.5%, respectively. The empirical equations were provided to predict the compound coefficient of discharge when pressure data behind nappe flow is available.

Highly Sensitive Wearable Pressure Sensor Over a Wide Sensing Range Enabled by the Skin Surface‐Like 3D Patterned Interwoven Structure

AbstractFlexible electronic equipment is an emerging field in recent years, which attaches more attention to be researched and applied in health monitoring and human–machine interface. However, for the existing pressure sensors, even a very slight pressure will greatly reduce their sensitivity, so it is an urgent problem to be solved for achieving high sensitivity and wide application range simultaneously. Hence, a high‐performance piezoresistive pressure sensor based on PAN nanofiber films (PAN NFs) and MXene (Ti3C2Tx) is proposed. The realization of high sensitivity and wide sensing range is based on the microstructure of accordion‐like MXene and the macrostructure of fluffy porous blowing spinning PAN nanofibers, which exhibits a high sensitivity of 81.89 kPa−1 over a wide sensing range of 0.83–38.13 kPa and the dynamic responses to external pressures can reach 98.73 kPa. The pressure sensors based on skin surface‐like 3D patterned interwoven structure are used for health monitoring and tiny pressure detecting. Moreover, the application in human–machine interface is demonstrated. Additionally, to meet the requirement of long‐term wearing, the structure of the sensor is optimized and endowed with excellent breathability and conformal properties, which promotes the further development of flexible electronic equipment.

Performance Enhancement of a Ventilation System in Hot and Dry Climate Using Air-PCM Heat Exchanger

The building projects' power consumption and CO2 emissions are 40% and 33%, respectively. It is a viable strategy to use phase change material in energy storage to provide free cooling. There are few studies on free cooling in hot climates, so the proposed system uses paraffin as a thermal storage material for free cooling and ventilation. The project contains a cooling tower, a horizontal slab heat exchanger between air and phase change material, and an indirect compact heat exchanger between air and water. The energy equation is computed using Engineering Equation Solver software to assess the overall system perform properly. The model investigated the parameters that affect the system's performance under various climate conditions. The system has improved indoor air quality by providing ventilation and extending the period of thermal comfort. The system's performance is determined by the cooling tower's performance and the Air to PCM and Air to water heat exchangers. The Air to PCM heat exchanger reduces supply temperature by 2°C with a slight pressure drop &lt; 20Pa and does not affect system power consumption.

Intranasal Esketamine + CBT: a 6 months follow-up of a resistant depression complicated case

IntroductionTRD is a highly disabling condition, often responsible for chronic clinical course, high number of relapses and elevated suicide risk. Intranasal esketamine is currently the only available pharmacological therapy specifically indicated for TRD, as add-on therapy to antidepressant treatment with SSRI or SNRI.ObjectivesThe purpose of the study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intranasal esketamine associated with CBT in a complex clinical case of TRD, over a six-month follow-up.Methods A 67-year-old patient with TRD was selected for treatment with intranasal esketamine+CBT as add-on to antidepressant therapy. Before each treatment session the HAM-D rating scale was administered. The patient underwent weekly CBT sessions throughout the 6 months follow-up. The effect on physical well-being and social functioning was evaluated by means of Short-Form-Health-Survey-36.Results After the first two administrations of intranasal esketamine the total score on HAM-D decreased by 10 units (from 26 to 16). After 6 weeks of treatment decreased from 26 to 12 with the disappearance of suicidal ideation present at T0. After 6 months the total HAM-D score decreased from 26 to 8. Treatment was well tolerated, with mild adverse effects, confined to the first two hours post-administration. In particular, mild sedation, dizziness, slight transient blood pressure rise were reported, never required medical intervention and resolved spontaneously during the observation period.ConclusionsIntranasal esketamine add-on therapy + CBT was an effective and safe treatment allowing to achieve and maintain symptomatic remission in a complex case of TRD, improving quality of life, social functioning, and reducing suicidal ideation over a six-month follow-up.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Reaction to fire of polymethylmethacrylate and polyvinylchloride under reduced oxygen concentrations in a controlled-atmospherecone calorimeter

Electrical cable sheaths are the most abundant fire load in nuclear power plants, mainly in rooms that are kept in under slight pressure. This configuration leads fires to grow in under-ventilated and vitiated conditions. Assessing fire threat involves characterizing the heat released, responsible for fire growth, and the smoke evolved, which may interact with sensitive components in the area. For that purpose, a revisited controlled-atmosphere cone calorimeter has been designed, set up, and coupled to a Fourier transformed infrared spectrometer and an electrical low-pressure impactor to measure simultaneously the evolved gases and aerosols, respectively. This bench-scale apparatus has been first qualified with polymethylmethacrylate. It has second been used to characterize polyvinylchloride cable sheath representative material reaction to fire in under-ventilated and vitiated conditions. It appeared that vitiation in under-ventilated fires lowers the heat release rate and the fuel mass loss rate.

Improving the performance of a hybrid solar desalination system under various operating conditions

The issue of freshwater shortage is a general problem that touches almost all human beings, and everyone is trying to find creative and practical solutions to try to overcome this problem. In this paper, the proposed desalination system consists of a modified solar still (MSS), parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC), separation unit (SU), and two external condensers (EC). The idea of this proposed device is that the PTSC was utilized to heat the saline feed water to a temperature from which steam can be extracted, and then a separation is made for this steam from the remaining water that has risen in temperature and has not been evaporated to be used as feed water for MSS. Also, MSS has been modified by making all its walls (except for the back wall of the distiller) of glass to obtain a greater amount of absorbed solar radiation. Besides, a double glass cover for MSS was used instead of the single glass sheet to prevent the heat loss to the atmosphere through the glass cover. The double glass cover is two sheets of glass between which there is a slight vacuum pressure. Regarding the experimental tests conducted through July 2021, the main conclusions of this work can be pointed. It was revealed that at 12:00, the maximum water temperature of PTSC was 55 °C at 20 L/hr (0.33 L/min), where the solar radiation was 1050 W/m². Besides, the effectiveness of PTSC was 60%, and the total accumulated productivity of PTSC was 83 L/daytime (daytime = 9 hrs). Moreover, the total accumulated productivities of conventional solar still (CSS) and MSS with double glass cover were 3330 and 2325 mL/m².daytime, respectively. Therefore, the productivity of MSS with double glass cover was smaller than that of the CSS by about 30%. In addition, the total accumulated freshwater distillate of CSS and MSS with double glass and condenser was 3370 mL/m².daytime and 6150 mL/m².daytime, respectively. As a consequence, the productivity of MSS with double glass and condenser was more than that of CSS by around 82.50%. In addition, the thermal and exergy efficiencies were 31% and 2.54%, respectively for CSS and 47.5% and 3.95%, respectively for MSS with double glass and condenser. Besides, the total productivity of the hybrid system (PTSC and MSS together) was reported as 91.0 L/daytime. Also, the cost of distilled water of proposed hybrid system is 0.008 $/L, and payback period of costs on proposed system is three months. Moreover, the environmental parameters of EPF, ϕCO2, and Z′ for MSS are slightly more than the double of that for CSS.

Customized guide for transmucosal pterygomaxillary disjunction: Proof of concept

Potential complications related to pterygomaxillary disjunction have been widely described in the literature, most of them being due to the inaccurate and blind approach involved. The present study used preoperative virtual planning to establish a surgical cutting guide for pterygomaxillary osteotomy. It was placed in the maxillary tuberosity supported by molars, and a flapless vertical osteotomy was performed with a piezoelectric saw. Then, maxillary down-fracture was performed with slight pressure through an anterior approach. The use of the surgical guide added accuracy and predictability to the procedure, with no prolongation of the surgery time. There were no undesired fractures or bleeding. Regarding manipulation of the surgical guide in the posterior area, it was found to be easily manageable and very stable over the posterior teeth, due to its small size and precision, respectively. In conclusion, this technique seems to improve the accuracy of pterygomaxillary disjunction without prolonging the surgery time. Furthermore, it reduces potential complications related to the conventional procedure. Nevertheless, a larger body of patient data is needed to confirm the benefits of the technique.

High Noon Reclamation, and: Untitled 2 Ate Untitled 1

High Noon Reclamation, and: Untitled 2 Ate Untitled 1 Tania Chen (bio) High Noon Reclamation Your loneliness is a long-term project. You sit with it, stones in your mouth; edge to edge, front to back, the light on the wall creeps. You replace the stones with musical notes and your family memory resides in a distant country (—the memory waking old aches that belong to your great-grandfather and the war wounds he brought with him across the sea). Your great-grandmother kept washing old clothes until they were all brightly bleached (—you don't remember her face, just her hands: calloused and worked to the bone). Your grandparents, your parents, they were just tests, a way of setting the ground (—but you, you are different. Meant to be so much better, meant to fit in under the bright noon sun). There is no place to hide the inadequacy of your being, too much and too little by any rule you're measured with. Your parents have given too much to fit in (—they hope, as their parents did before, that you are shaped correctly enough to make this). Your mouth knows how to pronounce all the words your grandmother stumbled on. The words your great-grandmother never bothered to learn (—in return you've given up the voice of your ancestors — the language feels awkward in you). [End Page 65] UNTITLED 2 ATE UNTITLED 1 My insides are glossy ceramic smooth and deep red, an eternal Chinese New Year that holds my memories trapped in that single moment. The ribs are paper-mâché, a cave-in at the slightest pressure; the heart a chrysanthemum nestled at the left-center; liver, stomach, and kidneys the shape of oval jade, protruding slightly when I inhale. The New Horizon spacecraft measures the blackness of space, subtracts known sources of light. In the same way, I slip a hand down my throat to measure the darkness inside. I dreamt of constellations swimming within, was told there are no horizons in space: only the inky black, billions of stars already dead thousands of light-years away. [End Page 66] Tania Chen Tania Chen is a Chinese-Mexican queer writer. Their work has been published in Unfettered Hexes by Neon Hemlock, they are a first reader for Strange Horizons and Nightmare Magazine and a graduate of the Clarion West Novella Bootcamp workshop of January/Feb 2021. Copyright © 2022 Pleiades and Pleiades Press

Breast Augmentation with Autologous Fat Grafting Immediately after Removal of Polyacrylamide Hydrogel and Fibrotic Capsule in 162 Patients

Objective: In this study, we investigated the feasibility and efficacy of immediate breast augmentation with autologous fat grafting after removal of polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAG) and fibrotic capsule. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 162 female patients who underwent removal of breast filler PAAG and the fibrotic capsule which produced after injection of PAAG via areola omega-shaped incision. Then autologous fat grafting was immediately performed evenly and radially around the areola via the same incision into different layers (subcutaneous, submammary tissue, pectoralis major intramuscular, and inferior pectoralis major space) except the empty cavity. The cavity left by removal of PAAG and fibrous capsule was closed with negative pressure drainage tube and slight external pressure. Results: All patients recovered well without severe complications. The average score of postoperative satisfaction with physical well-being: chest was 99.83 (total score: 100) compared with the average satisfaction score of 71.69 (total score: 100) preoperatively by means of BREAST-Q™ evaluation (p < 0.01). All patients were satisfied with their postoperative breast shape. Conclusions: Removing as much as possible is critical for patients who underwent the PAAG injection. Our experience in immediate breast augmentation with autologous fat grafting after removal of PAAG and fibrotic capsule proved useful and effective to maintain the balance between removing the PAAG as much as possible and retaining soft tissue to reshape breasts. Level of Evidence: IV.

Research on Arc Extinguishing Performance of C4F7N/CO2 Gases With Slight Positive Pressure

C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> F <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">7</sub> N is a new environmentally friendly gas that can replace SF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sub> . Its insulation ability and interruption performance at high pressure have been proved. But the arc extinguishing performance at slight positive pressure has not been studied yet. In this article, the arc extinguishing performance of the C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sub> F <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">7</sub> N/CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> gases with slight positive pressure in a 12-kV ring-main unit (RMU) is tested in the synthetic test circuit. The voltage characteristic and the dielectric recovery strength of the mixture are measured, and compared with those of SF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sub> . A high-speed camera is used to observe the arc shapes and arc movement of the two gases. The experimental results show that at the slight positive pressure (0.14 MPa, absolute atmosphere), the arc voltage of the C4 mixture is similar to that of SF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sub> , but the peak voltage of the C4 mixture is lower and the arc column is wider than that of SF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sub> . And the arc of the C4 mixture is more prone to back commutation. At the same breaking current, the dielectric recovery strength of the C4 mixture is about 34% of SF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sub> . For 12-kV RMU, the interruption capability of the C4 mixture can meet the requirements of the IEC standard for load switch. According to experiments, the interruption capability of the C4 mixture can be further improved by optimizing the arc extinguishing structure.

Non-invasive laparoscopic detection of small tumors of the digestive tract using inductive sensors of proximity

The precise location of gastric and colorectal tumors is of paramount importance for the oncological surgeon as it dictates the limits of resection and the extent of lymphadenectomy. However, this task proves sometimes to be very challenging, especially in the laparoscopic setting when the tumors are small, have a soft texture, and do not invade the serosa. In this view, our research team has developed a new instrument adapted to minimally-invasive surgery, and manipulated solely by the operating surgeon which has the potential to locate precisely tumors of the digestive tract. It consists of an inductive proximity sensor and an electronic block encapsulated into an autoclavable stainless-steel cage that works in tandem with an endoscopic hemostatic clip whose structure was modified to increase detectability. By scanning the serosal side of the colon or stomach, the instrument is capable to accurately pinpoint the location of the clip placed previously during diagnostic endoscopy on the normal bowel mucosa, adjacent to the tumor. In the current in-vivo experiments performed on large animals, the modified clips were transported without difficulties to the point of interest and attached to the mucosa of the bowel. Using a laparoscopic approach, the detection rate of this system reached 65% when the sensor scanned the bowel at a speed of 0.3 cm/s, and applying slight pressure on the serosa. This value increased to 95% when the sensor was guided directly on the point of clip attachment. The detection rate dropped sharply when the scanning speed exceeded 1 cm/s and when the sensor-clip distance exceeded the cut-off value of 3 mm. In conclusion, the proposed detection system demonstrated its potential to offer a swift and convenient solution for the digestive laparoscopic surgeons, however its detection range still needs to be improved to render it useful for the clinical setting.

Solitary skin-colored nodule on a child’s face

Sir, A healthy, six-year-old boy presented with a slowly grown dome-shaped nodule on the mandibular angle region present for two years. The patient’s past medical and family history were unremarkable. A physical examination revealed a solitary, 1.3 × 1 cm, firm, painless, flesh-colored tumor (Fig. 1). Dermoscopy showed branching, serpentine vessels on a pink background (Fig. 2a). These features disappeared when slight pressure was exerted on the dermoscope and the tumor exhibited a central, white, structureless area (Fig. 2b). An excisional biopsy was performed. A microscopic examination showed a well-circumscribed, paucicellular dermal tumor composed of eosinophilic collagen bundles separated by clefts and forming a storiform pattern. Scattered fibroblasts were found among the collagen bundles. The overlying epidermis was slightly flattened (Fig. 3). The diagnosis of solitary sclerotic fibroma was established. Sclerotic fibroma (SF), also known as storiform collagenoma, is a rare benign skin tumor. It usually manifests itself as an asymptomatic, slowly growing, white-to-skin-colored papule or nodule [1]. It was first described in patients with Cowden’s disease, yet may also occur sporadically [2]. There were no mucocutaneous features of Cowden’s disease (tricholemmomas, oral fibromas, acral keratoses, palmar pits, and gingival and palatal papules) in the patient and her family members. Dermatofibroma, the main differential diagnosis of SF, usually exhibits hyperplastic changes of the epidermis instead of atrophy, and the boundaries of the lesion are unclear [2]. Only two papers have been published describing the dermoscopic findings of SF, consisting of a white background with peripheral arborizing vessels [3]. A white background may be related to an increased dermal collagen density. It is also described in dermatofibroma, typically with a peripheral pigmentation network. Although dermoscopy may improve the clinical diagnosis of SF, histopathological analysis is required.

Souvenirs

Souvenirs M. Colón-Margolies (bio) Last week, while I was taking summer clothes out of storage, I discovered a trove of notes written on slips of paper and the backs of receipts in the bottom of a drawer in my bedroom. The handwriting was my own, but the letters looked unfixed and childlike, as if I'd written them twenty years before. The events they recounted, however, occurred two springs ago—during our confinement year in Paris and the year before that. When I spread the notes on my bed, when I pored over the emotions and events recorded in them, all I saw were lies. A pale mosaic, immaterial to the life I now lead. But all of it is true. ________ The earliest notes date to 2019. Our third year in Paris, a time when all I did was forget. My wallet at a restaurant, my gloves on the train. A misplaced taxe de habitation I later had to pay a fee on. I was pregnant at the time. Always hungry, and yet also always nauseous. Repulsed by heavy foods, meat and eggs, but lascivious, envious even, when it came to sweets. I'd stare at the chocolate studded pains suisses nestled in the window display of the bakery by my apartment, and debate whether a taste might be worth the queasiness that would come afterwards. Pregnancy is a time of bodily embarrassment, but also beauty, thwarted desires, and contradictions. You're exhausted, but unable to sleep. Connected to the creature inside you, and yet wholly detached from it. Even your immune system has to suppress itself so it won't mistake the baby for a disease. So maybe it made sense that I felt harebrained at the time, that I continued to forget. In Paris, you have to apply for a place in the public daycare system when you're three months along. The system is excellent and inexpensive, but it's hard to get into. My husband Hector and I organized our application for weeks, and then, on the day we were supposed to drop it off at the mairie, I realized I'd forgotten to bring an essential form. Then, at the interview, I struggled to answer questions in French, and felt my cheeks grow hot at the fact that the language I'd studied for years could still evade me when the slightest pressure was applied. I looked down and saw that the fabric of the red shirt I was wearing seemed cheap. A self-possessed civil servant appraised me over her black-rimmed glasses, and six months [End Page 104] later, a slender envelope arrived in our mailbox informing us that we'd been rejected. Our daughter, Sara, had just been born, and I had to go back to work full-time in a few months. We couldn't afford a nanny and didn't have family in France who could take care of Sara during the day. I worried, but Hector said in a calm voice that he knew we'd find a solution. He touched my cheek and gave me a teasing smile, a gesture he sometimes made to diffuse tension or show tenderness. Then he said he'd do some research. We could still apply for a garde partagée, a kind of nanny share, he said a few days later. Or the halte-garderie, a public part-time daycare, but our best bet might be applying for a place in an employer-subsidized crèche system that reserved a handful of places for the children of employees at his and other nonprofits around the city. Hector's office had just joined the network, and even though it was late in the year and there was a lot of demand, his coworkers said that they thought we'd get priority because we had no roots in France, no blood on the continent, and therefore had no one who could help us. So, we applied, and after many pleading emails and phone calls, dossiers photocopied and delivered, one brilliant cold morning, we got in. The director of the crèche was a former pediatric nurse. A sensible and jolly woman...

Quantitative sensory test findings in cervical radicular pain and their relationship with the symptoms.

This study aims to define and compare sensory phenotypes in cervical radiculopathy patients exhibiting neuropathic pain (NP) components with healthy volunteers using clinical examination and quantitative sensory test (QST) findings. Another aim of the study is to show whether symptomatic components of the pain detect questionnaire (PDQ) are correlated with the QST findings, which may help clinicians indicate patients with sensory abnormalities without the use of specialized tests. Fifty-seven participants were included in the study, including patients with NP (n=20) and healthy volunteers (n=37). After obtaining the sociodemographic and clinical data of the participants, the PDQ was performed in patients with pain followed by QST analysis in all participants. Analyses between painful and non-painful extremities yielded no differences in all groups for QST (p>0.05). Sensory thresholds were found to be higher in the NP group compared to healthy volunteers, and the pain threshold test was found to be lower (p<0.05) in the intergroup analyses. The changes described were found in both painful and non-painful limbs. Pain with slight pressure was found to be correlated with the lower heat pain threshold values (R=-0.602, p=0.005). Patients with NP were found to have lower thresholds for pain and higher sensory thresholds when compared to healthy volunteers. Moreover, pain with pressure component in PDQ was found to be associated with hyperalgesia in QST.

The Sound of One Fracture Flowing

In November 2020, Gustavo Ugueto had an extraordinary in-well experience. The source of his amazement was a stream of fiber-optic data measuring how fractures were altered by slight pressure changes during production. When the principal petrophysicist for unconventional technology at Shell described the Permian well test, he sounded like someone who had used a stethoscope for the first time. “The straining is extended and compressed at all times like breathing,” Ugueto said during a presentation at the 2021 Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) about the test done at the Fracturing Test Site 2 in late 2020 (URTeC 5408). He said it was an “aha moment,” as was getting a good signal considering the infinitesimal differences in the fracture dimensions in a well where the daily pressure drop was less than 40 psi. And he was excited to think about what this test could reveal someday about how fractures change during production. If it lives up to that potential, “we will have the ability to measure. We can experiment. What type of treatment? What type of proppant? We can do more of the good one and less of the bad one. The problem [now] is we have been working blind,” he said. While he was clearly excited about the potential, he also repeatedly cautioned that there is so much more work required to learn what is possible. At this point, the few people with access to this data are like new medical students using a stethoscope, wondering how those sounds related to the patient’s health. “We are at the beginning of journey; it may fail,” Ugueto said. The New Strain The data from the Hydraulic Fracture Test Site 2 are only available now to those who backed the project, but three papers cover the work (see For Further Reading), sparking others to try this new way to measure fractures. “Because of the publications by Gustavo and his coauthors, we are seeing a lot of uptake based on what was learned,” said Dana Jurick, Neubrex Energy Services US—the company that supplied the equipment used to measure the strain data. The company has since been hired for similar work by other oil companies curious about what they can learn from this new diagnostic. The coauthors include Ge Jin, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines, who was a geophysics consultant at the Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site 2, and Kan Wu, an associate professor at Texas A&amp;M, who is collaborating with Jin. Her group at Texas A&amp;M is working on modeling aimed at turning this qualitative data source into a quantitative measurement. Ugueto said other operators trying it, including Chevron and ConocoPhillips who were among the test site partners, plus other fiber-optic companies, are getting into a field that is so new there is no settled name for it. Two commonly used labels for it reflect varying levels of optimism about its future. One is based on the data gathered: near-wellbore strain analysis. The other is based on a vision where it is possible to measure how fractures react to change: near-wellbore fracture dynamics.

Subgrouping of Peripheral Neuropathic Pain Patients According to Sensory Symptom Profile Using the Korean Version of the PainDETECT Questionnaire

BackgroundA culturally validated Korean version of the PainDETECT Questionnaire (PD-Q) was used to identify neuropathic pain components (NeP) in patients suffering from chronic pain. The purpose of this study was to determine if the Korean PD-Q can be used to subgroup patients with peripheral NeP according to sensory symptom profiles.MethodsThis study included 400 Korean patients with peripheral neuropathic pain diagnosed as probable or definite NeP. The total scores and subscores for each item in PD-Q were transformed into a Z-score for standardization. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to identify clusters of subjects by PD-Q scores.ResultsThe mean total PD-Q score of the study participants was 14.57 ± 6.46. A hierarchical cluster analysis identified 5 clusters with distinct pain characteristic profiles. Cluster 1 had relatively severe burning and tingling sensations. The mean total PD-Q score for cluster 2 was the lowest of the 5 clusters. Cluster 3 tended to be vulnerable to pain in response to cold/heat stimulation. Cluster 4 showed relatively severe pain induced by physical stimuli, such as light touch or slight pressure. Cluster 5 had high scores for all NeP symptoms.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the ability of patients to cluster by symptoms using the Korean PD-Q. Subgrouping of peripheral neuropathic pain by sensory symptom profile may be useful in making effective drug treatment decisions.

Modelling mass transport within the membrane of direct contact membrane distillation modules used for desalination and wastewater treatment: Scrutinising assumptions

A two-dimensional numerical model for a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) module, mostly used for desalination and wastewater treatment, has been created. This model has been used to explore the sensitivity of the simulated transmembrane flux of water vapour of the modelled distillation module to some of the commonly-used assumptions and simplifications related to the mass transport in the membrane, namely: equimolar diffusion; Knudsen diffusion-free mass transport; and binary gas mixture. The model has been also used to assess the impact of a slight total pressure difference across the membrane. The sensitivity of the transmembrane flux to the above assumptions has been then evaluated with relatively low and high inlet feed temperatures. The outcomes of the model have been presented, discussed and finally summarised.

Painting CROSS TCA technique: Modification of the CROSS method for the treatment of atrophic acne scars-Case series.

The Chemical Reconstruction of Skin Scars (CROSS) technique was first described in 2002 and has since demonstrated safety and efficacy in multiple studies. We describe the treatment of six patients with a modified version of the CROSS method-the Painting CROSS trichloroacetic acid (TCA) technique. This technique has the advantage of offering even higher tissue selectivity and better control of the scar edges, enhancing both safety and efficacy. We retrospectively evaluated 31scars of six patients who underwent a single treatment by the Painting CROSS TCA method. A 0.3ml insulin syringe with a 30-gauge needle was filled with 0.05ml of 85% TCA solution and then applied to the scar base with slight pressure until frosting was achieved. Patients were evaluated before and 3months after treatment for scar volume deficit by a high-resolution three-dimensional imaging system. The average volume of the 31scars assessed in our study was 2.71mm3 before treatment and 1.96mm3 after treatment. There was a 26.3% average decrease in the volume of the scars after one treatment. Transient mild hyperpigmentation was noted in two patients after the treatment. Painting CROSS TCA technique has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of acne scars after a single treatment.

Positively Monstrous!

Positively Monstrous!