Ureteral Avulsion During Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery: When the Unexpected Happens.

We report the case of a 49-year-old woman affected by bilateral urinary stones. Bilateral semirigid ureteroscopy was performed followed on the left side by a flexible ureteroscopy, caused by localization of the stone. Unfortunately, disinsertion of the left ureter occurred during the intervention. Open conversion was performed in the same single procedure for left ureteral reimplant. After an easy recovery, the patient was rehospitalized on day 9 postintervention for left pyelonephritis. This case report discusses the management of this rare but serious complication, including the necessity for quick thinking and decision making.

Contrasting the community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from hydrocarbon-contaminated and uncontaminated soils following willow (Salix spp. L.) planting.

Phytoremediation is a potentially inexpensive alternative to chemical treatment of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils, but its success depends heavily on identifying factors that govern the success of root-associated microorganisms involved in hydrocarbon degradation and plant growth stimulation. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbioses with many terrestrial plants, and are known to stimulate plant growth, although both species identity and the environment influence this relationship. Although AMF are suspected to play a role in plant adaptation to hydrocarbon contamination, their distribution in hydrocarbon-contaminated soils is not well known. In this study, we examined how AMF communities were structured within the rhizosphere of 11 introduced willow cultivars as well as unplanted controls across uncontaminated and hydrocarbon-contaminated soils at the site of a former petrochemical plant. We obtained 69 282 AMF-specific 18S rDNA sequences using 454-pyrosequencing, representing 27 OTUs. Contaminant concentration was the major influence on AMF community structure, with different AMF families dominating at each contaminant level. The most abundant operational taxonomic unit in each sample represented a large proportion of the total community, and this proportion was positively associated with increasing contamination, and seemingly, by planting as well. The most contaminated soils were dominated by three phylotypes closely related to Rhizophagus irregularis, while these OTUs represented only a small proportion of sequences in uncontaminated and moderately contaminated soils. These results suggest that in situ inoculation of AMF strains could be an important component of phytoremediation treatments, but that strains should be selected from the narrow group that is both adapted to contaminant toxicity and able to compete with indigenous AMF species.

A novel elastomer/liquid crystal polymer nanocomposite created in situ from controlled radical graft-polymerization.

We present the original design and properties of a novel, all-polymer hierarchical composite comprising an elastomer and a fluorinated liquid crystal polymer. The material follows from the phase separation between the two highly incompatible components, occuring in situ during the controlled radical graft-polymerization of the liquid crystal monomer onto functionalized elastomeric chains. We demonstrate that the composite remarkably combines the mechanical properties, static and dynamic, of both an elastomer and a semi-crystalline polymer. We thereby illustrate how the careful choice of a graft can provide a simple rubbery material with original and antonymic functionalities. Here, the temperature-sensitive liquid crystal polymeric domains act as hard particulate fillers under their fusion temperature and liquid softening inclusions above, with fast reversible transitions from one state to another. A variety of composites combining physico-chemical features difficult to marry otherwise may be designed following this simple method.