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Colorectal deep infiltrative endometriosis (DIE) can have a major impact on patient’s health and quality of life. Surgical treatment of colorectal DIE varies depending on the location and characteristics of the lesions, which is why the preoperative non-invasive diagnosis needs to be correct and complete. Multiple imaging methods are currently available, but their usefulness is still being studied, as none of them has proven itself perfect. In the present study we wanted to find out to what extent the combined use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), endorectal ultrasound (ERUS) and computed tomography-based virtual colonoscopy (CTC) helps perform the preoperative mapping of lesions. We conducted a retrospective study of prospectively collected data that included 49 patients operated for colorectal DIE. In identifying rectal nodules, MRI as a single diagnostic method was the most useful. When ERUS or CTC was added, the concordance between intraoperative and imaging results was very strong. CTC was the most useful in identifying sigmoid nodules. ERUS evaluates the depth of rectal nodules best. CTC assesses best the stenosis for both rectal and sigmoid nodules. Each method contributed to the completion of the diagnosis, so performing ERUS and CTC in addition to MRI seems to be preferable in patients with colorectal DIE.

Introduction. Pregnancy is a well-known risk factor for asymptomatic hemangiomas discovered incidentally, becoming aggressive or symptomatic, most often in the third trimester of pregnancy, related to hemodynamic and endocrine changes that occur during pregnancy. Many patients experience incomplete spontaneous remission after birth. Material and method. We report the case of a 24-year-old woman, who presented for incomplete paraplegia, pain in the spine, instability of walking of the left lower limb, bilateral plantar paresthesia, possible walking with metal support. Results and discussions. The MRI performed identifies T9 vertebral fracture-compression on pathological bone, T10-T12 vertebral hemangiomas. Conclusions. In order to obtain favorable results, the patient benefited from the support and treatment of a multidisciplinary team: neurosurgeons, imagers, physical and rehabilitation medicine doctors and physiotherapists, and represented a real challenge regarding the complexity of the factors involved. Keywords: hemangioma, rehabilitation, multidisciplinary team

Ultrawide-bandwidth optical amplification over almost 90 nm, covering the C+L bands, is described. Complemented by system-tailored geometrical constellation shaping and nonlinearity compensation, it enabled a record capacity transmission of 74.38 Tb/s over 6,300 km of G.654 single-mode fibre. The hybrid scheme, combining backward Raman pre-amplification with EDFA, significantly improves the average effective noise figure across the entire bandwidth, allowing the use of span lengths of 70 km. The system-tailored GS-64QAM constellation was optimised to both linear link impairments and transceiver nonlinearities, improving the gap to the AWGN channel capacity relative to square 64QAM from 0.6 bit/symbol to 0.35 bit/symbol. We experimentally evaluated the system performance using the bit-wise achievable information rate (AIR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the end of transmission, as well as post SD-FEC BER.

In the paper it will be presented the history of electric vehicles (EVs), compared to conventional combustion engine cars. Environmental impacts produced the necessity of a cleaner transportation by reintroducing electrical cars in the automotive market. By increasing the EVs used in transportation, the level of pollution is decreased, but some major issues concerning electromagnetic compatibility are raised. The ambient electromagnetic field was described, focusing on simulation of a MV power distribution line. Afterwards, it was analyzed the electromagnetic interaction between an electric vehicle and the power distribution line, simulating the magnetic field distribution.

Liposarcoma of the breast is a very rare soft tissue malignant tumor arising in the fat cells, with a prevalence of 0.3% of all malignant breast tumors, clinically manifested as a palpable breast mass mimicking a primary breast cancer. In the present paper, we had two objectives: (i) to report the first liposarcoma case in our Clinic and (ii) to screen the scientific literature on the topic. Our report presents an unusual case of a 56-year-old female with symptomatic left breast mass initially histopathologically diagnosed as a mesenchymal lesion. Four months later, the tumor was histopathologically identified as a grade 3 dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) Federation Nationale des Centres de Lutte Contre le Cancer (FNCLCC; French Federation of Cancer Centers). We present the histopathological, immunohistochemical, and radiological features of the case and outcomes. Secondly, we performed a systematic search on liposarcoma on the PubMed®∕Medline® and Web of Science® databases, using the keyword "primary breast liposarcoma" (all-time topic). Due to the small number of cases found in the literature, the best treatment choice and determination of prognosis are difficult to make. Our patient underwent breast radical surgery, received adjuvant treatment, continuously monitored, being disease-free after five years of follow-up.

Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement is almost universal in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and is associated with significant disease-related morbidity and mortality.1 The entire GI tract can be involved and other disease features (eg, low mood, terminal organ failure and functional hand impairment) can result in significant nutritional impairment. Severe GI involvement has been reported to occur in ~10% of patients with SSc and often occurs early in the course of the disease.2 However, identification of patients at high risk of clinically significant weight loss is extremely challenging, including from the high prevalence of GI symptoms in patients with SSc. Therefore, there is a need to understand high-risk patients including potentially modifiable risk factors, with a view to early intervention strategies. Against this background, the aim of this study was to examine potential clinical risk factors of significant weight loss in patients with SSc. We performed an analysis of patients with SSc enrolled in the multinational, longitudinal European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) database. In our study, we defined significant weight loss as 4.5 kg and/or least 5% of their body weight at 5 months onwards.3 Patients with a recorded second visit after 3 months and before 12 months were included in the analysis. We adopted a pragmatic approach (relevant to clinical practice) in …

In infectious diseases, viral hepatitis has an increased incidence, being an important cause of morbidity and mortality, being a "sentinel" indicator of the socio-economic and hygienic-cultural standard of a geographical area. The World Health Organization (WHO) admits the following types of hepatitis viruses: A, B, B + D, C, E, F and G. Among the viral entities recognized by the WHO, a special importance in terms of incidence, evolution over time with the risk of chronicity and the therapeutic options are presented by hepatitis B and C. There is currently an effective vaccine as well as treatment for hepatitis B. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but in recent years considerable progress has been made in treating this disease. Also, the introduction of drugs known as direct-acting antivirals makes it possible to cure over 90% of patients within 2-3 months. But in many countries, current drug policies, regulations and prices keep treatment out of the reach of most people with hepatitis. Eradication of viral hepatitis is possible if greater emphasis is placed on prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Vaccination is very important, as it is possible for types A and B of hepatitis. Early diagnosis is also extremely important, given that there are currently very effective drugs that can prevent the development of liver cancer. The WHO also noted that about two million people worldwide become ill each year due to the reuse of syringes and stressed the importance of checking blood donors to see if they are not carriers of hepatitis B or C viruses. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to highlight the pharmacological treatment and the main therapeutic and prevention schemes currently used for patients with these liver diseases. The paper was based on the most popular methods of identification of the latest international information about the treatment of hepatitis (by electronic search using Pubmed, SciFinder, Scirus, GoogleScholar and Web of Science). We also consulted the global literature cited in the hepatitis database of the World Health Organization (WHO) updated frequent from the current literature on this topic.

We experimentally demonstrated the transmission of 312 $\times {}$ 35 GBd DP-256QAM over 9 $\times {}$ 70 km spans using hybrid distributed Raman-EDFA (HRE) amplifiers with a continuous 91 nm gain bandwidth. A total throughput of 120 Tbit/s over 630 km is demonstrated, with a net achievable information rate after SD-FEC of 10.99 bit/symbol. An extensive, theoretical investigation of the noise contributions originating from amplifier, transceiver sub-system and fiber nonlinearity were carried out using the Gaussian noise model in the presence of inter-channel stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS GN model). The ISRS GN model accounts for arbitrary, wavelength dependent signal power profiles along fiber spans, which is vital for the modeling of ultra-wideband transmission, particularly for hybrid Raman-amplified links. The analysis serves to quantify the relative noise contributions and explain the performance achieved. It was found that, due to the low noise HRE amplifier and a transmission distance of 630 km, the noise originating from the transceiver sub-system imposed a penalty of 6 dB in SNR. For this system, the transceiver noise is, therefore, the main limitation to the system throughput.

Purpose This study aimed to characterize the injuries involving periorbital region in our severely burned patients. Method A 2 years retrospective study was conducted with a total of 210 severe burns admissions. Periorbital burn injuries (all produced in association with facial injuries) were encountered in 126 patients, representing the study group that was further analyzed for multiple parameters: demographics, mechanism of injury, TBSA (total body surface area), burn depth, inhalation injury, need for intubation and mechanical ventilation. The presence and severity of ocular injuries were also evaluated. Results Analyzing our study group (n=126), we observed the presence of multiple negative prognosis factors: elderly patients, extensive burns, deep burns affecting functional areas, unfavorable mechanism (electric, chemical or explosions), inhalation injuries, need for intubation and mechanical ventilation, leading to severe morbidity and high mortality level. Ocular injuries were encountered in 37 patients (30 primary and 7 secondary lesions). The predominance of primary ocular lesions is explained trough high severity burns encountered in our patients with high mortality and lack of long-term clinical observations. Conclusion The clinical outcome for periorbital burn injuries depends on patient characteristics, etiology, burn extension and depth, associated lesions, infectious risk and the quality of the treatment applied. Presence of ocular injuries in various severity degrees impose an adequate evaluation and specialized treatment, being associated with important morbidity. In severely burned patients, it is mandatory to apply preventive measures to avoid ocular complications. If exposure keratopathy is detected, prompt ophthalmologic treatment is essential to avoid functional impairment including loss of vision. Abbreviations: TBSA = total body surface area, MSOF = multisystem organ failure, OCS = orbital compartment syndrome, AION = anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

The etiologic diagnosis of pleural effusion is often difficult, requiring invasive investigations to determine it. In Romania, tuberculosis is a frequent cause of pleural effusion, with the diagnosis of certainty being based on the bacteriological or histopathological examination. Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an enzyme found in T lymphocytes, stimulated by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is why it is considered to be an essential marker of etiologic diagnosis in countries where the TB endemic is elevated. A case-control study was conducted in the Clinical Pneumophthisiology Hospital of Constanta, Romania, in patients diagnosed with tuberculous pleural effusion. The primary endpoint was to establish the cut-off value for ADA in supporting the positive diagnosis of TB pleural effusion, and the secondary objective was to identify the differences between TB pleural effusion and other etiologic types of pleural effusion. A cut-off of 55 UI has a good specificity (80%) and good sensitivity (85%). The study confirms other features of tuberculous pleural effusion as younger age, lower levels of white blood cells and neutrophils, increased number of lymphocytes in pleural fluid, low protein serum level, increased values of pleural lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and pleural ADA.

Semiconductor optical amplification complemented by backward-propagating Raman pumps enables 100 nm ultra-wideband transmission which, when coupled with wavelength-adaptive modulation and SD-FEC, gives a net throughput of 80.2 Tb/s over a single span of 257.5 km.

We address the different design challenges and applications of machine learning to modeling optical amplifiers. The problem of accuracy in designing neural networks cannot be simplified to the requirement of large training data sets, but it is specific to the application and the model selection.

An optimised subsea system design for energy-efficient SDM operation is demonstrated using machine learning. The removal of gain-flattening filters employed in submarine optical amplifiers can result in capacity gains at no additional overall repeater cost., Comment: CLEO 2020

This first chapter presents the basic principles of color science and their application to dentistry. It includes color coordinates, color differences, whiteness indexes, and the most relevant optical properties such as transmittance, absorption, scattering, fluorescence, translucency, and opacity. Measuring and evaluating methods are described and relevant literature and standards are reported. Therefore, this chapter is essential to understand color science and optical properties, assisting any dental professional in performing and interpreting color science studies, improving the practice of esthetic dentistry by applying such knowledge to design and manufacture restorative material systems and, finally, to restore the missing dental structures.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) continues to be a major public health challenge with suboptimal treatment outcomes including well-documented treatment-related toxicities. We compared the cost-effectiveness of bedaquiline (BDQ) containing regimens with injectable containing regimens (short-course regimen [SCR] and long-course regiman [LCR]) in India, Russia, and South Africa.The analysis evaluated the direct costs of DR-TB treatment which included drugs, hospitalization, injectable-related adverse event costs, and other costs. Scenarios altered regimen costs, SCR/LCR ratio, and substitution rate between regimens (whether BDQ or injectable containing).BDQ containing regimens are more cost effective based on cost per treatment success compared with injectable containing regimens, reducing these in SCR by 18-20% and in LCR by 49-54%. Average cost effectiveness ratios (ACERs) of BDQ containing regimens are lower. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) is negative. Exclusive use of BDQ containing regimens results in approximately 61,000 more patients treated successfully over 5 years.Across all countries, BDQ containing regimens are dominant compared to injectable containing regimens, entailing lower treatment costs to achieve better clinical outcomes. This analysis can provide insight and support to local and global decision-makers and public health organizations to allocate efficiently resources improving patient and public health outcomes.

In the last years sunflower become one of the most important crops in Romania. The most of the surface cultivated with sunflower from our country is located in south and south-east and, in many cases, sunflower is cultivated after maize. As result the attack of the maize leaf weevil (Tanymecus dilaticollis Gyll) at sunflower plants has increasing. The attack is dangerous when sunflower plants are in first vegetation stages (BBCH 10-BBCH 14). Similar with maize crop, sunflower seeds treatment with neonicotinoids were generalized after 2007. As result of the EU directive 485/2013, no active ingredients remain available for sunflower seeds treatment, against T. dilaticollis, in Romania. The researches from the last years were orientated for finding of the possible alternatives for seed treatments, in eventuality of permanent ban of neonicotinoid insecticides, after 2018. Because of the variability of climatic conditions from the field, during spring period, researches concerning effectiveness testing of sunflower seed treatments, in green house conditions, using high pest pressure is a good method to evaluate influence of the different active ingredients to control T. dilaticollis adults. In this experiment it has tested three doses of cyantraniliprole active ingredient (7.5, 10.0 and 12.5 l/to) and three neonicothinoid active ingredients (imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam). Sunflower seeds were placed in plastic pots. After plants emergence the insects were added in pots. At each pot it has added 20 adult insects, collected from the field. Each day, it has recorded insect mortality. At 8 days from the start of the experiment, it has assessed attack intensity of the adult insects on sunflower plants. The attack was evaluated using a scale from 1 (plant not attacked) to 9 (plant complete destroyed). In conditions of high pest pressure (4 insects/plant) the attack intensity of T. dilaticollis at sunflower plants was ranged from 3.35 in case of variant treated with clothianidin and 8.50 in case of untreated plants. Lower attack intensity of the pest at sunflower plants it has registered in case of variants treated with imidacloprid and thiamethoxam (I=3.58 and 3.50). Plants emerged from the untreated seeds were destroyed by the insects, at 8 days from the start of the experiment.

The optical properties of transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) based on indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates were evaluated in this work making use of the Inverse Adding-Doubling (IAD) iterative method. This technique allowed us to obtain the scattering and absorption coefficients explaining the optical behavior of the ITO-PET samples. The results pointed out that absorption is the most noticeable optical extinction process that occurs when light travels through this material.

Nowadays, the global shift towards living a more eco-friendly life is changing the content of vehicles by means of utilizing more and more electric propulsion systems that use high voltage components with safety aspects that may make automotive electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) more difficult. Vehicles with electric propulsion systems, as well as those that use internal combustion engines (ICE) need to comply with certain EMC rules and not overtake an acceptable level of radiated emissions. Compared to ICE vehicles, electric vehicles (EVs) need recharging of the battery after driving and this simple action may cause EMC issues by producing big levels of radiated emissions that are not acceptable for residential, commercial or light industrial environments. Also, while driving, all vehicles have to be compliant with EMC regulations, so that every electric/electronic system and subsystem inside the vehicle or in the proximity of the vehicle, to function as designed and not be harmful or affect in any way human beings or the environment. This study presents the different operating modes an EV should be tested from EMC point of view to check the generated level of radiated emissions. One of the operating modes is “rechargeable energy storage system (REESS) in charging mode coupled to the power grid”. Another one is “other than REESS in charging mode coupled to the power grid”, but this operating mode can be split in two: “driving mode” and “ready to drive mode”. By analyzing the results obtained from performing real radiated emissions tests in a semi-anechoic chamber on an EV will show the differences between different operating modes, different location of the charging inlet and as well as different types of charging cables.

In the past years, electric and hybrid cars have become more and more important due to growing concerns about global pollution. Electric and hybrid vehicles started to grow their number and by 2025 it is estimated that 30 % of all vehicle sales will be electric and hybrid. Developments in the design and improvement of technologies for rechargeable batteries, motors and controllers make again electric vehicles a viable option for transportation. The complexity of vehicle electrical and electronics systems introduces new issues for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). The rapid development of the automotive industry and the trend towards autonomous machines using advanced driver-assistance systems, make electromagnetic compatibility design and test scenarios to be more sophisticated and rigorous. Vehicle architecture is becoming increasingly complex, including electronic devices that require a reliable function without compromising security or communications infrastructure. With the introduction of wireless communications in the vehicle, there is a need for high performance systems that require high transfer rates and hence higher frequencies, depending on the operating environment. Each of these subsystems must comply with electromagnetic compatibility standards. The paper presents the main categories of electromagnetic demands and immunity problems that arise between major components of the vehicle. In the second part of this article are highlighted the revised electromagnetic compatibility international standards for automotive industry with reference to the phenomena described above. To ensure electromagnetic compatibility of electrical/electronic components and immunity of electric vehicles with the environment, the EMC regulations must be applied.

This paper presents a characterization of magnetic field constraints in electric vehicle compartment. Because of the small space inside a vehicle, passengers sit very close to the electric system. For this it was analyzed the vehicle power train components and their connection in order to see which are the magnetic field values generated by the high voltage cable which connects the motor to the battery system. To reduce the magnetic field inside the compartment, some car manufacturers choose to integrate the inverter into electric motor and the power management system into the battery system. For magnetic field simulation it was used a Finite Element Method Magnetics tool called FEMM which is a finite element package for solving 2D planar and axisymmetric problems in low frequency magnetics and electrostatics. This study presents magnetic field simulations for 3 different topologies of the high voltage cable. Another simulation was performed for coaxial cable.

Ultrawide bandwidth optical amplifier designs based on multiple pump wavelengths additionally benefit from gain control per sub-bands, at the cost of an increased configuration complexity. In such systems it becomes possible to adapt system parameters such as spectral tilt and optical output power per amplifier, in response to changing conditions in the network, such as wavelength re-configuration and repairs. Machine learning gives a high accuracy performance in configuring and monitoring amplifiers easing the complexity incurred by human-effort.

Transmission of 306×35 GBd, dual polarization, 64-ary geometrically shaped channels over 90× 70 km of SMF was demonstrated, achieving a net throughput of 74.38 Tb/s. A combination of hybrid fiber spans and EDFA/Raman amplifiers enabled a continuous gain bandwidth of 10.8 THz.

Stroke is a common cause of adult disability and the third cause of death in Western European countries. Carotid disease is a well-known risk factor for ischemic stroke, and this relationship is established. However, only a minority of the population with atherosclerosis will have a stroke. The aim of these paper is to establish the relation between carotid atherosclerosis and first ischemic stroke. We performed an observational study, including 159 patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Our patients were examined with carotid ultrasound examination and cranio-cerebral computed tomography. We excluded patient with other cause of cerebral ischemia such atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, arterial dissection, vasculopathy, neoplasia. We also excluded any kind of transient cerebral ischemia, because of heterogeneity and poor medical documentation. Despite our efforts to treat this condition, carotid disease remains a powerful risk factor for ischemic stroke.

Body-stalk anomaly is a severe and lethal anomaly, characterized by an anatomic defect in the ventral abdominal wall and exit of the viscera of the abdominal cavity, associating spine and limb deformities and absence or shortening of the umbilical cord. The prenatal diagnosis is suggested by ultrasound means and should be confirmed by histopathology evaluation. We present a case of a body-stalk anomaly incidentally diagnosed at 23 weeks of gestation, during routine ultrasound evaluation. Due to its fatal prognosis it is imperative to differentiate it from other abdominal wall defects.

In this paper, authors collective present effect of two pesticides applied on maize seeds (Olt variety), Gaucho 600 FS (8.0 l/tonne) and Nuprid 600 FS (8.0 l/tona) and two insecticides applied in vegetation, Calypso 480 SC (90 ml/ha) and Decis Mega (150 ml/ha) against maize leaf weevil attack, at NARDI Fundulea. Also, it performed productivity elements and seeds yields and chemical compozition on Laboratory of Yields Quality of Plant Science Department, Bucharest Faculty of Agriculture. The higher insecticides effectiveness fluctuated between 4.56 when it was applied Nuprid 600 FS and 8.33 when it was applied Calypso 480 SC. The largest attack was recorded to control plots where there is no treatment was applied. The density of plants ranged between 116 and 118 plants/plot, respectively over 65% of saved plants by treatment on seeds with both insecticides. In case of spraying insecticides in vegetation, their effect were insignificant, 31 plants/plot density and 17% saved plants in case of Calypso 480 SC and 16.75 plants/plots density and 9.31% saved plants in case of Decis Mega. The largest yields was of 7,778 kg/ha at insecticides variant with the best effectiveness and density of 65,690 plants/ha. Insecticides showed no influence on chemical composition of seeds at harvesting. But due to high temperatures and drought, the maize seeds accumulated: 12.31% protein; 70.18% starch; 5.05% oil; 1.46% ash; 5.24% fibre.

Hybrid distributed Raman-EDFA amplifiers, with a continuous 91 nm gain bandwidth and 1.4 dB average effective noise figure, are used to enable a record single mode fibre transmission capacity of 120 Tbit/s using $312\times 35$ GBd DP-256QAM over $9 \times 70$ km spans.

Intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) and their worst form, the Asherman’s syndrome, are the result of endometrium basal layer damage, leading to partial or complete obliteration of the uterine cavity by fibrous bridges between the uterine walls. We present the case of a 30 years old woman, gravida 1, para 1 that suffers from secondary amenorrhea and infertility resulted from IUAs formation after an uncomplicated cesarean section, which she underwent 2 years before. Although she never breastfed, she did not start menstruating again after the cesarean section. Clinical and hormonal examinations were in normal ranges and the transvaginal ultrasound revealed an eccentric echogenic endometrium. Hysterosalpingography showed multiple intrauterine filling defects and bilateral tubal occlusion. The operative hysteroscopy revealed multiple intrauterine adhesions originating from the former caesarean incision site and extending to the entire uterine cavity. In spite of hysteroscopic adhesiolysis, intrauterine device insertion and hormonal therapy being provided, the patient never regained fertility. Patients with Asherman’s syndrome usually present infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, amenorrhea or hypomenorrhea. The main cause is known to be the endometrium damage following pregnancy-related curettage. Less common etiologic factors are represented by caesarean section, hysteroscopic procedures, myomectomy and histerotomy. Around 2-2.8% of the patients develop IUAs after cesarian section, more likely as a result of chorioamnionitis, postpartum endometritis, postpartum curettage or uterine compression sutures for postpartum hemorrhage. Severe intrauterine adhesions are a challenging gynecological pathology. The particularity of the case is due to an unusual extensive endometrium damage following uncomplicated caesarian section.

Cholelithiasis is a multifactorial disease who affects women at reproductive age. Acute cholecystitis is the second most common non-obstetrical emergency in pregnancy. The early symptoms of the acute cholecystitis resemble to the common symptoms of pregnancy, delaying the diagnosis and therapy and worsening both maternal and foetal prognosis. Immediate laparoscopic cholecystecomy is the best choice for treatment, lowering the maternal risk and improving foetal outcome. We present a case of a first trimester pregnant woman, 3 years after bariatric surgery, diagnosed with acute cholecystitis, successfully resolved by a multidisciplinary team. Keywords: acute cholecystitis, bariatric surgery, pregnancy, laparoscopy

Summary CrocoBLAST is a tool for dramatically speeding up BLAST+ execution on any computer. Alignments that would take days or weeks with NCBI BLAST+ can be run overnight with CrocoBLAST. Additionally, CrocoBLAST provides features critical for NGS data analysis, including: results identical to those of BLAST+; compatibility with any BLAST+ version; real-time information regarding calculation progress and remaining run time; access to partial alignment results; queueing, pausing, and resuming BLAST+ calculations without information loss. Availability and implementation CrocoBLAST is freely available online, with ample documentation (webchem.ncbr.muni.cz/Platform/App/CrocoBLAST). No installation or user registration is required. CrocoBLAST is implemented in C, while the graphical user interface is implemented in Java. CrocoBLAST is supported under Linux and Windows, and can be run under Mac OS X in a Linux virtual machine. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Ganglioneuromas are rare tumors, known as neuroblastic or neurogenic tumors, which most often start in autonomic nerve cells, which may be found in any part of the body. We present a case of 53 years old, woman, with mild arterial hypertension, who has right sided hemiparesis, more on the leg, with gradual onset. Cerebral MRI was normal. After a few months, she developed motor deficit on the opposite leg, with the picture of triparesis and impairment of walking. MRI of the cervical spine was showing an extra medullary intradural mass C5-C6-C7 and she finally underwent extended cervical laminectomy from C-5 to C-7 level, and total ablation of the tumor. Despite the first supposition of a neurinoma, histopathology examination confirmed a case of ganglioneuroma tumor. In a few weeks, she became confused and with impairment of gait. An obstructive hydrocephalus was confirmed on CT scan. The ventriculo-peritoneal shunt was performed and the recovery was complete.

Biomolecular channels play important roles in many biological systems, e.g. enzymes, ribosomes and ion channels. This article introduces a web-based interactive MOLEonline 2.0 application for the analysis of access/egress paths to interior molecular voids. MOLEonline 2.0 enables platform-independent, easy-to-use and interactive analyses of (bio)macromolecular channels, tunnels and pores. Results are presented in a clear manner, making their interpretation easy. For each channel, MOLEonline displays a 3D graphical representation of the channel, its profile accompanied by a list of lining residues and also its basic physicochemical properties. The users can tune advanced parameters when performing a channel search to direct the search according to their needs. The MOLEonline 2.0 application is freely available via the Internet at http://ncbr.muni.cz/mole or http://mole.upol.cz.

Objectives To develop a customized CIELAB-based whiteness index for dentistry that accurately correlates to perception of tooth whiteness. Methods Four psychophysical experiments (PE1-4) were conducted by three panels of observers (OP1-3) under diffuse/0° observation/measuring conditions and under typical clinical viewing conditions. Nine whiteness indices (WI, Z %, WIC, WIO, W31, W64, W , WLAB, W *), two yellowness indices (YID1925, YIE313) and tint of white in the CIELAB color system ( T ) were compared with regard to their ability to measure the perceived whiteness of human teeth. Determination coefficient ( R 2 ) and ‘% wrong decision’ (%WD) method were used as direct measures of the quality of the indices for whiteness perception in dentistry. Results CIELAB-based whiteness index (WI D = 0.511 L * −2.324 a * −1.100 b *) was developed through optimization from the data obtained in PE1. The proposed WI D performed better than all the CIELAB and CIE1931 XYZ-based indices under laboratory and clinical conditions (only WIO was comparable to WI D in PE2 and PE4). Conclusion The validation experiments under laboratory and typical clinical conditions revealed that the proposed index WI D outperformed previous indices, being the only CIELAB-based index developed for evaluation of whiteness in dentistry.

Well defined biomacromolecular patterns such as binding sites, catalytic sites, specific protein or nucleic acid sequences, etc. precisely modulate many important biological phenomena. We introduce PatternQuery, a web-based application designed for detection and fast extraction of such patterns. The application uses a unique query language with Python-like syntax to define the patterns that will be extracted from datasets provided by the user, or from the entire Protein Data Bank (PDB). Moreover, the database-wide search can be restricted using a variety of criteria, such as PDB ID, resolution, and organism of origin, to provide only relevant data. The extraction generally takes a few seconds for several hundreds of entries, up to approximately one hour for the whole PDB. The detected patterns are made available for download to enable further processing, as well as presented in a clear tabular and graphical form directly in the browser. The unique design of the language and the provided service could pave the way towards novel PDB-wide analyses, which were either difficult or unfeasible in the past. The application is available free of charge at http://ncbr.muni.cz/PatternQuery.

In teaching of Vision Physics or Physiological Optics, the knowledge and analysis of the aberration that the human eye presents are of great interest, since this information allows a proper evaluation of the quality of the retinal image. The objective of the present work is that the students acquire the required competencies which will allow them to evaluate the optical quality of the human visual system for emmetropic and ammetropic eye, both with and without the optical compensation. For this purpose, an optical system corresponding to the Navarro-Escudero eye model, which allows calculating and evaluating the aberration of this eye model in different ammetropic conditions, was developed employing the OSLO LT software. The optical quality of the visual system will be assessed through determinations of the third and fifth order aberration coefficients, the impact diagram, wavefront analysis, calculation of the Point Spread Function and the Modulation Transfer Function for ammetropic individuals, with myopia or hyperopia, both with or without the optical compensation. This course is expected to be of great interest for student of Optics and Optometry Sciences, last courses of Physics or medical sciences related with human vision.

Objectives To use the Kubelka–Munk theory to evaluate the scattering ( S ), absorption ( K ) and transmittance ( T ) of non-colored and colored dental zirconia systems and human (HD) and bovine (BD) dentins. Methods Two zirconia systems were used: ZC- ZirCAD (Ivoclar Vivadent) and LV-LAVA (3M ESPE). Specimens from each ceramic system were divided into 3 groups ( n = 5): ZC1 and LV1 (non-colored); ZC2 and LV2 colored to shade A1, and ZC3 and LV3 colored to shade A3. Five human and bovine anterior teeth were flattened and polished through 1200 grit SiC paper to expose the superficial buccal dentin. All samples were prepared to a final thickness of 0.5 mm. Diffuse reflectance was measured against white and black backgrounds, using a spectroradiometer in a viewing booth with D65 illuminant and d/0° geometry. S and K coefficients and T were calculated using Kubelka–Munk's equations. Data was statistically analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney tests, and VAF coefficient. Results Spectral distributions of S , K and T were wavelength dependent. The spectral behavior of S and T was similar to HD (VAF ≥ 96.80), even though they were statistically different ( p ≤ 0.05). The spectral behavior of K was also similar to HD, except for LV1 (VAF = 38.62), yet all ceramics were statistically different from HD ( p ≤ 0.05). HD and BD showed similar values of S and T ( p > 0.05). Significance The dental professional should consider the optical behavior differences between the zirconia systems evaluated and the human dentin to achieve optimal esthetics in restorative dentistry.

Structure validation has become a major issue in the structural biology community, and an essential step is checking the ligand structure. This paper introduces MotiveValidator, a web-based application for the validation of ligands and residues in PDB or PDBx/mmCIF format files provided by the user. Specifically, MotiveValidator is able to evaluate in a straightforward manner whether the ligand or residue being studied has a correct annotation (3-letter code), i.e. if it has the same topology and stereochemistry as the model ligand or residue with this annotation. If not, MotiveValidator explicitly describes the differences. MotiveValidator offers a user-friendly, interactive and platform-independent environment for validating structures obtained by any type of experiment. The results of the validation are presented in both tabular and graphical form, facilitating their interpretation. MotiveValidator can process thousands of ligands or residues in a single validation run that takes no more than a few minutes. MotiveValidator can be used for testing single structures, or the analysis of large sets of ligands or fragments prepared for binding site analysis, docking or virtual screening. MotiveValidator is freely available via the Internet at http://ncbr.muni.cz/MotiveValidator.

This work presents a Color Fuzzy Set Design procedure, or similarly a color naming procedure, based on the VITA Classical dental color shade guide, for composite color matching applications in direct restorations in aesthetic dentistry. For that purpose, a psychophysical experience based on a set of visual assessments by a panel of observers was performed, with the objective of identifying the areas of the CIELAB color space which can be associated to each shade of the VITA guide. A number of composite sets from four different manufacturing companies were used in the experiment. This information was processed and a set of nonparametric Fuzzy Sets was obtained for the VITA shades, with the aid of an acceptability dental color threshold taken from previous studies. The designed Fuzzy Set System was applied for the identification of the VITA shade of different dentine and enamel composite samples (bilaminar technique) from two different manufacturing companies, with the subsequent clinical applicability. Results show a high level of accuracy in VITA shade identification of the operated dental samples, when compared with visual assessment performed by experts.

The prediction of physical and chemical properties of molecules is a very important step in the drug discovery process. QSAR and QSPR models are strong tools for predicting these properties. The models employ descriptors and statistical approaches to provide an estimation of the desired property. An abundance of descriptors and QSAR/QSPR models were published, but the prediction of some properties (i.e., pKa, logP) is still a challenge [1]. For this reason, researchers are perpetually working on identifying new descriptors and analyzing their performance in newly designed models. The process of design, parameterization and evaluation of a QSAR/QSPR model is relatively complicated. Therefore, several software tools for its automation are currently under development [2,3]. These tools are very useful if we wish to apply some of many descriptors which they implement. But if we need to use other descriptors or test our own, we require a different solution. We introduce a new version of the software QSPR Designer that fulfils the above mentioned requirement. Specifically, the user can easily and quickly add his own module for descriptor calculation into QSPR Designer. Alternatively, descriptors can also be obtained from an input file. When the descriptors are available, QSPR Designer allows the user to include them to the model, to validate this model and to perform further tasks. The functionality of QSPR Designer is demonstrated on three case studies, in which the user gradually tests and improves his ideas of how to predict pKa. The first case study is focused on the question whether pKa has any relation with atomic charges. The second case study tests if we can use charges and a simple similarity-based model to predict pKa. The third case study analyzes several QSPR models predicting pKa from charges.

Tunnels are access paths connecting the interior of molecular systems with the surrounding environment. The presence of tunnels in proteins influences their reactivity, as they determine the nature and intensity of the interaction that these proteins can take part in. A few examples of systems whose function relies on tunnels include transmembrane proteins involved in small molecule transport and signal transduction, peptide exit channels through which ribosomes release newly synthesized proteins during transcription Knowledge of the location and characteristics of protein tunnels can find immediate applications in rational drug design, protein engineering, enzymology etc. Identification and characterization of tunnels has been the focus of several studies, and various algorithms and software tools have been developed for these purposes [1-4]. These methodologies use special mathematical algorithms to represent and scan the surface of the protein in search for tunnels and the amino acid residues involved. In the presented study we perform a benchmarking study of the most known approaches and software tools for finding tunnels in proteins (Mole, MolAxis, Hollow, etc.). We focused on proteins from the cytochrome P450 family, which are very important from the biological point of view. We provide a critical discussion of the strong and weak points of the analyzed approaches and software tools.

The present work carries out a novel study on the determination of color acceptability thresholds using a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy approximation, performing an evaluation of the CIEDE2000(K L :K C :K H ) color difference formula in dentistry. A total of 55 sample pairs were evaluated by a panel of 28 observers. The responses for each pair were processed, and data was fitted using a TSK Fuzzy Approximation, which in recent literature has proven to be a reliable and recommendable methodology for approximating color data in dentistry. 50:50% acceptability thresholds were calculated for both CIEDE2000(1:1:1) and CIEDE2000(2:1:1) formulas and the performance of these formulas was evaluated using the PF/3 and STRESS parameters. We obtained better values for all performance parameters for CIEDE2000(2:1:1), indicating the better agreement between this formula and the visual results. Our results suggest considering reviewing the parametric factors, so that the CIEDE2000 color difference formula can be properly used for further applications in dentistry.

We investigate the impact of channel spacing and nonlinear transmission over 120 km of standard single mode fiber for a 10 Gbit/s long-reach wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON). We employed polarization division multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying (PDM-QPSK), which allowed data transmission at 3.125 GBaud, including a 25% overhead for forward error correction. To receive this spectrally efficient modulation format, a digital coherent receiver was employed, allowing for both frequency selectivity and an increased sensitivity of -45 dBm (25 photons/bit).We investigated a channel spacing as low as 5 GHz, for which the loss budget was 48.6 dB, increasing to 54.0 dB for a 50 GHz grid.

Software-defined transceivers can be reconfigured based on demand and existing channel impairments, and as such, monitoring of both signal and channel parameters is necessary. We demonstrate a novel joint estimation method suitable for spectrally efficient Nyquist wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), based on the cyclostationary property of linearly modulated signals, exploited both in the frequency and time domains. Using a Nyquist superchannel composed of three 10 GBaud channels, we experimentally demonstrate the simultaneous monitoring of symbol-rate with 100% accuracy, roll-off, frequency offset (FO), chromatic dispersion (CD) and optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) with root-mean-square errors (RMSE) of 20%, 4 MHz, 200 ps/nm and 1.5 dB respectively, when the roll-off factor is larger than 0.06 for DP-QPSK and 0.3 for DP-16QAM.

To evaluate the results in metabolic control at newly discovered type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) patients regarding the lifestyle optimization only. In this short (1 year) observational study we included a number of 1855 newly discovered T2DM patients. We compared body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FBG), HbA1c, triglycerides (TG), high density level cholesterol (HDLc) all these recorded initially at the diagnosis and then 1 year later. At baseline 52.91% males and 52.41% females were recommended only lifestyle and the rest was treated with metformin, sulfonylurea or insulin. After one year the patients who remained on lifestyle only decreased with only 5%, demonstrating that lifestyle optimization remains one of the most important "therapeutic" tools in the metabolic control of T2DM patients studied. Adipobiology 2012; 4: 103-106.

Background Partial atomic charges are a well-established concept, useful in understanding and modeling the chemical behavior of molecules, from simple compounds, to large biomolecular complexes with many reactive sites. Results This paper introduces AtomicChargeCalculator (ACC), a web-based application for the calculation and analysis of atomic charges which respond to changes in molecular conformation and chemical environment. ACC relies on an empirical method to rapidly compute atomic charges with accuracy comparable to quantum mechanical approaches. Due to its efficient implementation, ACC can handle any type of molecular system, regardless of size and chemical complexity, from drug-like molecules to biomacromolecular complexes with hundreds of thousands of atoms. ACC writes out atomic charges into common molecular structure files, and offers interactive facilities for statistical analysis and comparison of the results, in both tabular and graphical form. Conclusions Due to high customizability and speed, easy streamlining and the unified platform for calculation and analysis, ACC caters to all fields of life sciences, from drug design to nanocarriers. ACC is freely available via the Internet at http://ncbr.muni.cz/ACC. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13321-015-0099-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is the most prevalent vaginal infection worldwide. Considering the violence of the symptoms that some patients report, the tendency to relapse or of resistance to the azole therapy, and the success reported by some studies in the treatment with boric acid of the vaginal infection with various pathogens, we conducted a prospective study in which we used vaginal boric acid for Candida species infection. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of boric acid in the treatment of vaginal infection with Candida species. Analysing the data from the satisfaction questionnaire completed by the patients who reached the end of the study showed that our investigational product has a good and very good effectiveness in sterilizing the infection (71%), being considered by patients to be easily administered (67.7%), the safety of the product being perceived as good and very good by 93.6% of them.