Susceptibility of severe COVID-19 patients to rhino-orbital mucormycosis fungal infection in different clinical manifestations.

PURPOSE: To present the different clinical manifestations of rhino-orbital mucormycosis (ROM) co-infection in severe COVID-19 patients. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational clinical study METHODS: Among 32,814 patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of COVID-19 between March 2020 and December 2020 in our center, eleven microbiologically confirmed ROM co-infection cases in severe COVID-19 patients were evaluated. RESULTS: There were nine men and two women with a mean age of 73.1 ± 7.7 years. Eight patients had uncontrolled type 2 diabetes with a mean diagnosis duration of 12.1 ± 4.4 years. All patients had COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome and received corticosteroids. The mean time interval between COVID-19 diagnosis and ROM diagnosis was 14.4 ± 4.3 days. Seven patients (63.6%) had orbital apex syndrome, and four patients (36.4%) presented with orbital cellulitis. Endophthalmitis was detected in 54.5% of patients, and two of these patients developed retinoschisis. CT scan/MRI revealed sino-orbital involvement in all patients, and three of these had cerebral involvement at initial presentation. All patients received intravenous and retrobulbar liposomal amphotericin B and had undergone radical debridement of involved sinuses. Intravitreal liposomal amphotericin B injected in patients with endophthalmitis. Despite all measures, 63.6% of patients expired. CONCLUSIONS: Severe COVID-19 is associated with a significant incidence of ROM with higher mortality rates due to immune dysregulation and the widespread use of steroids. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of this infection in patients with COVID-19. An aggressive multidisciplinary approach can help to reduce mortality.

Energy and emission benefits of chicken manure biogas production: a case study.

Studies on the production of biogas of different organic materials in an anaerobic environment are being carried out all over the world. The most important parameters in these researches can be listed as raw material potential, production processes, economic analyses, and environmental effects. Chicken manure is one of the raw materials used in biogas production. In this study, in addition to the analysis of biogas and energy production potential from chicken manure, greenhouse gas emissions were analyzed to evaluate environmental effects. In Turkey, chicken manure is not adequately processed and causes environmental pollution. The model biogas plant and potential energy generation were researched in this field study. The pilot plant produces 8.58 million m3 of biogas per year by processing about 110 thousand tons of waste. It produces 17 GWh/year of electricity and 16 GWh/year of thermal energy, as well as reducing CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by 13.86 thousand tons/year.

The effect of sildenafil on fascia-wrapped diced cartilage grafts.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Diced cartilage grafts are frequently used, especially in rhinoplasty. The effect of sildenafil on the viability of diced cartilage grafts was investigated in this study. STUDY DESIGN: Animal experiment. METHODS: An approximate 2 × 2-cm cartilage graft was taken from the ears of 14 New Zealand rabbits, diced to approximately 1-mm(3) dimensions, then wrapped in muscle fascia taken from the right rear leg. These were then weighed and placed in prepared cavities on the backs of the rabbits. The animals were separated into two groups, and although no procedure was applied to the control group, a daily dose of 10 mg/kg sildenafil was administered orally to the sildenafil group. After 3 months, the rabbits were sacrificed and the grafts were removed, weighed, and examined histopathologically. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was observed between groups with respect to graft weight. Histopathologically, graft tissue viability was 85% in the sildenafil group and 41.43% in the control group, which was determined to be statistically significant. A lower resorption rate and higher basophilia rate was observed in the sildenafil group (P < .05) compared with the control group. No statistically significant differences were determined between the groups with respect to calcification, bone metaplasia, inflammation, or fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS: Independent of surgical technique, sildenafil may be clinically useful as a medical agent to enhance graft viability. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: NA

A comparison of diced cartilage grafts wrapped in perichondrium versus fascia.

UNLABELLED: Cartilage grafts are the most commonly used grafts for structural and aesthetic purposes. This study aimed to compare the viability of diced cartilage grafts wrapped in fascia with diced cartilage grafts wrapped in perichondrium. Approximately 2 × 2 cm cartilage grafts were harvested from the ears of seven New Zealand rabbits, diced to approximately 1-mm cubes, and then wrapped in perichondrium harvested from the ears or muscle fascia harvested from the right rear leg of the same rabbits. The wrapped grafts were then weighed and implanted into two paravertebral subcutaneous cavities created on the shaved backs of the donor rabbits. After 3 months, the rabbits were sacrificed and the grafts were removed, weighed and examined histopathologically. We found no statistically significant difference in the weights of the two graft types before and after embedding. The mean chondrocyte viability was 87.14 % in the perichondrium-wrapped cartilage grafts and 41.43 % in the fascia-wrapped grafts, which was determined to be statistically significant. Overall, our findings show that cartilage grafts wrapped in perichondrium led to higher chondrocyte viability and graft survival rates as compared with grafts wrapped in fascia. This method may be used as an alternative in clinical practice to provide patients requiring cartilage grafts with positive long-term effects, lower morbidity and lower costs associated with the procedure. NO LEVEL ASSIGNED: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. This excludes Review Articles, Book Reviews, and manuscripts that concern Basic Science, Animal Studies, Cadaver Studies, and Experimental Studies. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

Online measurement of soil organic carbon as correlated with wheat normalised difference vegetation index in a vertisol field.

This study explores the potential of visible and near infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy for online measurement of soil organic carbon (SOC). It also attempts to explore correlations and similarities between the spatial distribution of SOC and normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) of a wheat crop. The online measurement was carried out in a clay vertisol field covering 10 ha of area in Karacabey, Bursa, Turkey. Kappa statistics were carried out between different SOC and NDVI data to investigate potential similarities. Calibration model of SOC in full cross-validation resulted in a good accuracy (R (2) = 0.75, root mean squares error of prediction (RMSEP) = 0.17%, and ratio of prediction deviation (RPD) = 1.81). The validation of the calibration model using laboratory spectra provided comparatively better prediction accuracy (R (2) = 0.70, RMSEP = 0.15%, and RPD = 1.78), as compared to the online measured spectra (R (2) = 0.60, RMSEP = 0.20%, and RPD = 1.41). Although visual similarity was clear, low similarity indicated by a low Kappa value of 0.259 was observed between the online vis-NIR predicted full-point (based on all points measured in the field, e.g., 6486 points) map of SOC and NDVI map.

Temporal arteritis in a young patient.

Temporal arteritis in the young is clinically and histologically different from classic giant cell arteritis of the elderly population. A male patient, aged 36 years, presented with headache and a nodule in his left temporal region. Histological examination of the nodule showed that the left temporal artery was encircled by a lymphoid tissue with prominent germinal centres. The arterial wall was infiltrated with mixed inflammatory cells, the internal elastic lamina was disrupted, and there was marked intimal hyperplasia. The patient was diagnosed with juvenile temporal arteritis. Because of persistent headache after surgical excision of the lesion, the patient was treated with prednisolone. Systemic vasculitides, classic giant cell arteritis, Kimura's disease, and angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia should be considered in the differential diagnosis of the disease.

The value of Tc-99m tetrofosmin scintimammography in the assessment of P-glycoprotein in patients with breast cancer.

P-glycoprotein (Pgp) overexpression has been shown to be correlated with resistance to chemotherapy in patients with malignant breast tumors. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of technetium-99m-tetrofosmin (99mTc-TF) as a functional imaging agent reflecting Pgp expression in these tumors. We prospectively studied 28 patients (26 females, 2 males; mean age, 53.07±9.88 years; range, 38 to 70 years) with breast cancer to ascertain the relationship between the degree of accumulation (lesion/nonlesion=L/NL) and percentage washout (WO%) rate of 99mTc-TF and expression of Pgp in tumor tissues. All patients received 555-740 MBq of 99mTc-TF intravenously at the arm controlateral to the suffering breast. Planar images were obtained 10 and 120 min post injection from prone lateral and anterior views with an acquisition time of 5 min. Visual and semiquantitative measurements were performed. The L/NL ratios and WO% rates were calculated semiquantitatively. Immunohistochemical studies were performed on paraffin sections using a monoclonal antibody, JSB-1. The L/NL ratios and WO% rates were related with the level of Pgp determined immunohistochemically. Our results showed an inverse correlation between the L/NL ratios of 99mTc-TF and the density of Pgp expression in tumor tissues, whereas there was no appreciable correlation between the tumor WO% rates of 99mTc-TF and the level of Pgp expression (P=0.275). The values for the L/NL ratios were significantly lower for those tumors expressing Pgp at high levels than those with intermediate or no Pgp expression (P<0.002 and P<0.04). In conclusion, although our results warrant further studies, our data strongly suggest that 99mTc-TF imaging is useful to noninvasively determine the presence of multidrug resistance in patients with breast cancer.

Potential of on-line visible and near infrared spectroscopy for measurement of pH for deriving variable rate lime recommendations.

This paper aims at exploring the potential of visible and near infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy for on-line measurement of soil pH, with the intention to produce variable rate lime recommendation maps. An on-line vis-NIR soil sensor set up to a frame was used in this study. Lime application maps, based on pH predicted by vis-NIR techniques, were compared with maps based on traditional lab-measured pH. The validation of the calibration model using off-line spectra provided excellent prediction accuracy of pH (R2 = 0.85, RMSEP = 0.18 and RPD = 2.52), as compared to very good accuracy obtained with the on-line measured spectra (R2 = 0.81, RMSEP = 0.20 and RPD = 2.14). On-line predicted pH of all points (e.g., 2,160) resulted in the largest overall field virtual lime requirement (1.404 t), as compared to those obtained with 16 validation points off-line prediction (0.28 t), on-line prediction (0.14 t) and laboratory reference measurement (0.48 t). The conclusion is that the vis-NIR spectroscopy can be successfully used for the prediction of soil pH and for deriving lime recommendations. The advantage of the on-line sensor over sampling with limited number of samples is that more detailed information about pH can be obtained, which is the reason for a higher but precise calculated lime recommendation rate.

Sensing and 3D Mapping of Soil Compaction.

Soil compaction is an important physical limiting factor for the root growth and plant emergence and is one of the major causes for reduced crop yield worldwide. The objective of this study was to generate 2D/3D soil compaction maps for different depth layers of the soil. To do so, a soil penetrometer was designed, which was mounted on the three-point hitch of an agricultural tractor, consisting of a mechanical system, data acquisition system (DAS), and 2D/3D imaging and analysis software. The system was successfully tested in field conditions, measuring soil penetration resistances as a function of depth from 0 to 40 cm at 1 cm intervals. The software allows user to either tabulate the measured quantities or generate maps as soon as data collection has been terminated. The system may also incorporate GPS data to create geo-referenced soil maps. The software enables the user to graph penetration resistances at a specified coordinate. Alternately, soil compaction maps could be generated using data collected from multiple coordinates. The data could be automatically stratified to determine soil compaction distribution at different layers of 5, 10,.…, 40 cm depths. It was concluded that the system tested in this study could be used to assess the soil compaction at topsoil and the randomly distributed hardpan formations just below the common tillage depths, enabling visualization of spatial variability through the imaging software.