Draft Genome Sequence of the Oleaginous Green Alga Tetradesmus obliquus UTEX 393.

The microalgae Tetradesmus obliquus is able to maintain a high photosynthetic efficiency under nitrogen limitation and is considered a promising green microalgae for sustainable production of diverse compounds, including biofuels. Here, we report the first draft whole-genome shotgun sequencing of T. obliquus The final assembly comprises 108,715,903 bp with over 1,368 scaffolds.

[Assessment of patient satisfaction after regional anaesthesia in two institutions]. / Evaluation de la satisfaction des patients ayant bénéficié d'une anesthésie locorégionale par bloc nerveux périphérique: étude bicentrique sur 314 cas.

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to assess patient satisfaction after regional anaesthesia for limb surgery. METHODS: An anaesthesia satisfaction questionnaire was developed, validated (Kappa coefficient) and submitted to 314 patients operated in two institutions (one university hospital with anaesthesiology residents and one specialised in orthopaedics with experienced anaesthesiologists). Items explored were information modalities, pain and anxiety during procedure and global satisfaction rated with four levels (very satisfied [VS], satisfied [S], partially satisfied [PS], non-satisfied [NS]). Patients were interviewed by telephone at postoperative D1 and D8 by a pharmacist student not involved in the patient's care. RESULTS: Inspite of a high level of patient satisfaction at D8 (VS: 50%, S: 44%), some interesting aspects should be emphasised: a) sedation given before nerve block was not efficient to reduce anxiety and pain during procedure; b) VS levels decreased from D1 (56%) to D8 (50%) mainly because of late postoperative pain (after discharge) and discomforts; c) willingness to undergo the same nerve block again (294/314) was not correlated with patient's satisfaction since among PS and NS patients, a majority (9/15) wished for a block in case of renewed limb surgery; d) multivariate analysis showed that VS level was highly correlated with the quality of communication by the anaesthesiologist mainly for informations about pre and postoperative periods. No correlation was found with pain level during procedure; e) satisfaction levels were not different in the two institutions. CONCLUSION: This study has emphasised some important factors of patient satisfaction which were not sufficiently taken into account in our daily practice.

Estimation of the respiration quotient in a bicarbonate buffered batch cell cultivation.

In bicarbonate buffered media the carbon dioxide balance is affected by accumulation and therefore the RQ can not directly be calculated from gas flow and gas concentration measurements. To cope with the buffering capacity of such media a Kalman Filter was designed as a software sensor to estimate the RQ. To eliminate the role of a priori knowledge of cell and medium kinetics on the performance of the Kalman Filter all carbonate was lumped to one term. As a result only physical constants are required. A reference experiment verified the performance of the software sensor. Subsequently several experiments were performed with insect cells to show the progress of the RQ-values during cultivation.

[Cardiac arrest caused by pericardial heart dislocation]. / Arrêt circulatoire par luxation extrapéricardique du coeur.

A case is reported of a 33-year-old multiple injured patient with closed chest trauma and an unknown rupture of left pericardium and hemidiaphragm. A peroperative cardiac arrest, one year later, was related to dislocation of the heart. Thoracotomy for internal cardiac massage was responsible for a successful outcome.

Hyperbaric oxygenation as an adjunct therapy in strokes due to thrombosis. A review of 122 patients.

Results are reported using hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) in 122 patients with strokes due to thrombosis, both acute and completed. HBO is used as adjunctive treatment and three appears to be justification for a controlled study to delineate the treatment further. The authors believe it is essential to treat patients with stroke at 1.5 to 2 atmospheres absolute (ATA).

Continuous production of baculovirus in a cascade of insect-cell reactors.

Insect cells (Spodoptera frugiperda) were cultured in a continuous stirred-tank reactor. The effluent was led to a cascade of another two reactors, each containing half the volume of the cell-growth reactor, where the cells were infected with Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus. For about 10 days production of 10(7) polyhedra (virus particles embedded in a protein capsule) per cm3 was achieved. This short production time compared to previous experiments involving an analogous system with a single infection vessel of equal volume to the cell-growth vessel is ascribed to the accelerated occurrence of the so-called passage effect (a decrease of infectious virus with time). From the results of a computer model it was concluded that this passage effect was accelerated by the change in residence time distribution as compared to the earlier experiments.