Search

Digitization in international shipping is an increasingly important topic, but for many years, the lack of accepted international standards and the usage of many different regional solutions, especially for communication between ships and ports, has made the introduction of digitalized solutions difficult. Since 2020, important work has been done in IMO to harmonize international standards supporting ship-port interactions, and this work has now been supported by both shipping, ports, and international standardizations organizations. IMO, through its facilitation committee (FAL) and EGDH (Expert Group on Data Harmonization) is developing the IMO Reference Data Model that covers mandatory reporting requirements related to port calls. This conceptual data model is mapped to three technical data models in three different domains, namely, UNECE (trade), WCO (customs) and ISO 28005 (maritime) to ensure the interoperability between the different ICT systems participating in the data exchange. The IMO Reference Data Model has also been extended with operational data to handle Just-In-Time arrival and departure and also nautical information to ensure that the specification of the locations in ports (berths, pilot boarding places, bollards etc) are the same for different usages. Several international organizations as BIMCO (the largest ship owners' organization) and international port organisations as IAPH, IPCSA and IHMA are strongly involved in this work. This paper summarizes work done by IMO and others to clarify the roles, functionalities and ICT-systems (Information and Communications Technology) that are needed to support the various processes needed to be performed during a port call. These definitions will form the basis for defining a Maritime ITS (Intelligent Transport System) Architecture which will also need to be related to road ITS and also to e-Navigation functionalities. The Maritime ITS Architecture described in this paper contains three levels, namely the Domain Definition (generalized roles that represent people, organizations and equipment in the system), the Processes (definitions of processes and functions that need to be supported to make the domain work), and the Information model (a generalized information model covering the information elements that are required by the functions and processes). In addition to this comes the layers to describe the physical implementation architecture, and the layers to describe the service implementation (e.g. APIs) and the protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To identify associations between clinical symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorders and radiographic findings. Methods: Two hundred four adult patients (156 women, 48 men, mean age 40 years) with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain/sounds or changes in mandibular motion were examined according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD). Bilateral sagittal corrected TMJ tomograms in closed and open positions were assessed for the presence of flattening, erosion, osteophytes, and sclerosis in the joint components and the range of mandibular motion. Logistic regression analyses were performed with the radiographic findings as the dependent variables and the following clinical variables as independent variables: opening pattern, maximal jaw opening, TMJ sounds, number of painful muscle/TMJ sites, duration of pain, presence of arthritic disease, depression and somatization scores, graded chronic pain, and age and gender. Results: Coarse crepitus on opening/closing (odds ratio [OR] >/= 3.12), on lateral excursions (odds ratio >/= 4.06), and on protrusion (OR >/= 5.30) was associated with increased risk of degenerative findings in tomograms. A clinical diagnosis of osteoarthritis increased the risk of radiographic findings (OR >/= 2.95) and so did increasing age (OR >/= 1.03 per year) and the female gender (OR >/= 2.36). Maximal assisted opening and maximal opening without pain (< 40 mm) was associated with a posterior condyle-to-articular tubercle position (OR >/= 2.60). No other significant associations were observed. Conclusion: Age, gender, and coarse crepitus, but no pain-related variables, were associated with increased risk of degenerative findings in TMJ tomograms. Maximal opening < 40 mm was associated with a posterior condyle-to-articular tubercle relation on opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIMS: To evaluate the effect of temporomandibular arthralgia on mandibular mobility, chewing, and bite force. METHODS: Twenty female patients (ages 19 to 45 years) with unilateral temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain during chewing (49 +/- 27 mm on a 100-mm visual analog scale) and provocation, as well as TMJ tenderness, were studied. The TMJ conditions were classified as disc derangement disorders (n = 9), osteoarthritis (n = 7), and inflammatory disorders (n = 4). The patients were compared with matched healthy volunteers without orofacial pain or tenderness. Exclusion criteria were the presence of fewer than 24 teeth or malocclusion. The methods used were (1) algometric assessment of the pressure pain threshold (PPT) over the TMJ; (2) clinical recordings of maximum jaw opening; (3) computerized kinematic assessment of maximum vertical distance, velocity, and cycle duration during chewing of soft gum; and (4) measurement of unilateral molar bite force. RESULTS: The mean (+/- SD) PPT in the patients' painful side (69 +/- 20 kPa; P = .000001) was significantly lower than in the control subjects (107 +/- 22 kPa). Jaw opening was also significantly less (P = .00003) in the patients (42 +/- 9 mm) than in the controls (52 +/- 4 mm). Chewing cycle duration and maximum closing velocity were significantly different (P < or = .03) in the patients (948 +/- 185 milliseconds and 142 +/- 46 mm/s, respectively) versus the controls (765 +/- 102 milliseconds and 173 +/- 43 mm/s, respectively), and bite force was significantly lower (P = .000003) in the patients (238 +/- 99 N) than in the controls (394 +/- 80 N). Both bite force and jaw opening in patients were significantly correlated (P < or = .02) with PPT (r = 0.53 and 0.63, respectively). CONCLUSION: These systematic findings supplement results from acute pain experiments and confirm indications from unspecified patient groups that the clinical presence of long-standing TMJ pain is associated with marked functional impairment. This impairment might be a result of reflex adaptation and long-term hypoactivity of the jaw muscles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic is an important sink for organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) long-range transported from industrial regions. With the retreat of sea ice and increasing anthropogenic activities such as the oil and gas industries, local sources of PAHs are expected to increase both through operational and accidental discharges. There is a need to increase our knowledge concerning the uptake and distribution of organic pollutants, in particular PAHs, to evaluate the risk these toxic compounds may represent for Arctic species. The absorption and tissue distribution of C-benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and C-phenanthrene (Phen) were studied in the polar cod ( Boreogadus saida), a key Arctic species. After a single oral dose of BaP (1.15 ± 0.36 mg/kg fish) or Phen (0.40 ± 0.12 mg/kg fish), corresponding to 0.12 ± 0.03 mCi/kg fish, the tissue distribution was followed through 30 days by means of whole-body autoradiography and liquid scintillation counting of liver and bile. For both compounds, radiolabeling was mainly present in the bile and the intestines throughout the study period. Phen-derived radioactivity, however, appeared to be more systemically distributed compared to BaP. Furthermore, a far higher amount of irreversibly bound BaP-derived radioactivity was present in the intestinal mucosa compared to Phen, indicating a more extensive formation of reactive intermediates from the former compared with the latter. Liquid scintillation counting confirmed that radioactivity was present in the liver at all time points for both groups although the levels were low in the BaP group. These results strongly indicated that both compounds and/or their metabolites undergo enterohepatic circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To investigate efficacy, saliva flow, and composition in repeated Bo NT-B treatments of drooling. Materials and methods Seventeen neurological patients (median 66 years), referred for treatment of drooling participated in this observational study. Median total doses of 4000 units botulinum toxin type B (Bo NT-B, Neurobloc®) were injected with at least 3 months intervals into parotid and submandibular glands using ultrasound guidance. Measures of drooling and saliva collection for analysis were obtained before treatment, and 6, 12, and eventually 18 weeks after. Results Number of treatment series in each patient was 1-7. Compared to baseline, saliva flow rate and drooling were reduced 30-70% 6 weeks after treatment in the first series, while sodium, chloride, and total protein increased 20-80% (t-tests; P < 0.05). After 12 weeks, drooling was still significantly reduced, saliva flow tended to be, and saliva composition was back to baseline. Frequent side effects were viscous saliva and dry mouth. Due to fading effect in eight patients, individual decisions were taken to change from Bo NT-B to Bo NT-A. Similarly, the outcome was significantly reduced over time in six patients completing five subsequent Bo NT-B treatment series ( ANOVA; P < 0.05). Conclusion In the first series, Bo NT-B treatment resulted in marked reduction of drooling and saliva flow rate with some relapse after 12 weeks. The viscous saliva was ascribed to increased total protein content and compensatory mechanisms related to ß-adrenergic receptor-specific actions. With patients needing long-term treatment, it should be noted that the efficacy of repeated Bo NT-B may fade with time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]