Search

This paper presents the web-based remote laboratory that will be used as part of the practice for the Electronic Physics subject at the Electronic Engineering course of the National University of Rosario, Argentina. This remote laboratory was developed as a final project of the course by two students. In this project several semiconductors devices (diodes, BJT, J-FET, and phototransistors) can be tested in order to obtain the output characteristics of each one and to study the behavior in different conditions. The fact that the user (student) does not need to install any software to access via Internet and the low cost for implementation of the laboratory, are the most outstanding advantages of this Lab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe the design and development of interconnected devices which allow monitoring in situ the performance of solar boilers. This mobile remote lab system comprises two huge blocks of hardware: a mobile station located by the boiler, which is monitored and controlled in a remote way, and a fixed station, located in the Laboratory of Energy for the Sustained Development of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario. The communication between the fixed and mobile devices is controlled by micro-controllers included in both stations and programmed in C language. The project is being developed through three parallel lines of work: 1) Design and development of fixed and mobile hardware; 2) Development of firmware and software necessary to register and communicate data; 3) Design and development of learning activities. This mobile remote lab will be useful to test the behavior of solar boilers in the place and environmental conditions where they are placed so as to evaluate their performance and efficiency anywhere. This is also in order to contribute for the implementation of norms for the certification of solar boilers. On the other hand, the data and results obtained from the development will be used as supplies for the design of learning activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential celiac disease (PCD) is a clinical condition characterised by the presence of a positive CD-specific serology and a normal intestinal architecture. Asymptomatic PCD patients are generally advised to continue on a gluten-containing diet (GCD), but long-term risks of this approach have never been explored. In the present study, we aimed to investigate nutritional and autoimmune complications possibly developing overtime in a cohort of asymptomatic PCD children on a GCD. We compared children's parameters of growth, nutritional status, and autoimmunity between the time of diagnosis and on the occasion of their last medical check, after a long-term gluten-containing diet. Altogether, we collected data from 171 PCD children with a mean follow-up time of 3 years (range 0.35-15.3 years). During follow-up, although patients did not reduce their amount of daily gluten intake, their anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-TG2) antibodies spontaneously and significantly decreased. Most parameters analysed had not changed during follow-up (height centile, ferritin, albumin, cholesterol, calcium, alkaline phosphatase, parathormone, and vitamin D) or even improved significantly (weight and BMI centile, haemoglobin, blood iron, HDL, glycaemia, and HbA1C, p < 0.05), always remaining within the limit of normality. Equally, autoantibodies for other concomitant autoimmune disorders did not increase overtime. Similar results were obtained excluding from analysis patients who had stopped producing anti-TG2 and those with a follow-up time < 3 years. Our pilot study has provided reassuring results regarding the maintenance of a gluten-containing diet in asymptomatic PCD children, even when long-term follow-up was considered.

The choice of therapy--whether medical or surgical--for patients with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is often a subject of debate. After a period in which surgery was almost the exclusive mode of treatment in patients with severe complications resulting from GER or in patients who did not respond to medical therapy, long-term follow-up showed that in 20 cases of GER in which only medical treatment was given, a progressive shortening of the esophagus--frequently in the absence of esophagitis--had developed. To investigate the pathophysiology of acquired short esophagus, we studied 34 patients--20 from the initial group and 14 who already had this condition. Clinical assessment consisted of interview, radiologic examination of the upper digestive tract, endoscopic and histologic examinations, and 24-hour home esophagogastric pH monitoring. We noted that acid GER causes shortening in the presence of severe mucosal lesions, while "nonacid" GER--a combination of gastric, pancreatic, and hepatic secretions--causes shortening of the esophagus even without evident mucosal lesions. Symptom evaluation, acid GER pH recording, and endoscopy are not sufficient for determination of the current choice of therapy. It is also important to quantify GER that results from the mixing of gastric and biliopancreatic secretions with use of the esophagogastric pH recording. This should reduce the possibility of silent shortening of the esophagus.