Archives-August 2021

To present an unusual case of Multiple primary malignant neoplasms and to describe the steps we followed to evoke each diagnosis trying to reveal an underlying genetic disorder and to discuss the best strategy of treatment of our patient. We describe the work-up, diagnosis, and treatment course of a 50-year-old woman who presented with papillary thyroid carcinoma, parathyroid adenoma, pulmonary adenocarcinoma and pheochromocytoma. The tumor involvement of the parathyroid and the adrenal gland led us to think about NEM2 syndrome. Instead of medullary thyroid cancer which is invariably present in NEM2 syndromes, our patient presented a papillary thyroid cancer. We could think that the total thyroidectomy that have been performed in our patient could have prevented the appearance of a medullary thyroid carcinoma. The possibility of carrying out a DNA sequencing with research of germline RET mutation could have been very interesting to determine if this case can be considered as an unusual MEN 2A syndrome. Tumor DNA sequencing has a major role to determine molecular characteristics in different tumors and research eventual common biomolecular abnormalities, which can provide a genetic counseling.

Environmental friendly ? – Fe2O3nanoparticles were successfully synthesized via a facile and cost effective chemical precipitation method with the extraction of Nyctanthesarbortristis for the first time. Also it is undergone at room temperature for super capacitor applications and that was observed through electrochemical studies. The prepared samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission Scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and UV visible spectroscopic studies. The powder X-ray diffraction study revealed the formation of ? - Fe2O3 in the case of annealed sample. Microscopic images displays that the ? – Fe2O3 nanoparticles were highly agglomerated in nature with the dimension of the order of 2 - 3 ?m. Cyclic voltammetry and simultaneous galvanostatic charge/discharge studies were performed in order to find out the suitability of the material for Supercapacitor applications. The electrochemical results explores that the annealed sample (? – Fe2O3) had improved performance due to its structural with superiority nature. Moreover, the capacitance retention of the ? - Fe2O3 based electrode shows highly stable performance and also its suitability as a lasting electrode material for Super capacitor applications.

The analysis of potentially toxic metals in soils and the environmental risk assessment was presented in this study. Ten representative surface soil samples were collected from ten different locations in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos, Nigeria where soils have been contaminated by metal particulates from metal cutting and welding operations. The samples were digested with aqua regia and the concentration of the potentially toxic metals (Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Zn and Cu) was measured using the flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS) under optimized conditions. The physicochemical properties of the soils (pH, %organic matter, cation exchange capacity, and particle size distribution) were determined using standard analytical methods. Multivariate analysis of the original results obtained was carried out using the principal component analysis (PCA) to identify how the physicochemical parameters of the soils correlate to the concentration of the potentially toxic metals, while the ecological risk assessment was done using the model proposed by Hakanson. The results of the analysis showed that there was serious contamination of the soils in the study area with Pb, Cd and Cu. The results of the principal component analysis showed that the first factor, PC1 explained 36.95% of the total variance which exhibited a high positive loading on Ni, Zn, Cd and Cr while the second factor, PC2 explained 23.67% of the total variance which exhibited a high positive loading on Ni, Cd and Cr and the sources of these heavy metals could be both natural and anthropogenic. The results of the ecological risk assessment show that there is high ecological risk resulting from the release of Cd and Cu into the environment in majority of the sample locations.

The torsion of the greater omentum is a rotation of all or part of the omentum on itself, which creates vascularization disorders; however, this diagnosis remains an infrequent situation in current practice, and because of the non-specificity of the clinical symptomatology, which depends on the site of the torsion and is confused with many other etiology, we report In this article we report a case of this 90-year-old patient, type 2 diabetic under ADO, who presented during five days the installation of epigastric pain and the CT scan takes all its interest in finding an image of rotation "whirl sign" and the diagnosis of torsion of the greater omentum is confirmed intraoperatively.

Drying is one of the most practical and traditional methods of preserving the quality of agricultural products. Solar dryer is the application of solar energy and numerous types of solar dryers have been designed and developed in various parts of the world, yielding varying degrees of technical performance. The problem with the solar energy is that it is intermittent and has a period of shinning. This problem makes most solar dryer ineffective and leads to moisture re-absorption and also prolong the period of drying, thereby affect the properties of the dried product. To solve this problem, granite stone painted black to absorb heat from the solar collector was provided to increase the drying period and improve product quality. This was placed immediately below the flat plate collector for storing the heat from the absorber. The heat stored by the rock was used later for drying when the solar energy is not available. The dryer was tested loaded and unloaded and the temperature of the cabinet and solar collector was measured with the help of k-type thermocouple connected to 12 channel temperature recorder at every hour. Tomatoes, sliced into 2mm thick were used when the dryer was loaded and the weight was measured at every one hour. Drying time was extended by 3 h and thereby reduces the drying period. Physical observation of dried tomatoes looks attractive. The drying chamber efficiency and overall system efficiency are 50.37% and 51.40% respectively.

Concrete columns confined by single layered stirrup are commonly used for increasing the strength and ductility in seismic areas. Recent experiments have developed hope in the use of double stirrup confinement technique in enhancing the strength and ductility of the columns. In the present study, 12 numbers of double confined concrete square column specimens of high strength concrete, of size 150x150x450 (mm), were cast and tested under uni-axial compression. The columns were reinforced with 6 mm and 10 mm diameter of 500 MPa grade as transverse and longitudinal reinforcements respectively. Varied shapes of inner transverse reinforcement such as square, diamond, circular and spiral with square shaped outer layer stirrup, have been studied. The findings reveal that variation in shapes, contributed to greater compressive strength and better ductility of double layered stirrup confined concrete columns.

In the United States, many small business owners display inadequate preparedness strategies to mitigate natural disasters. The damage caused by natural disasters usually costs millions of dollars in injuries or lost lives, disruptions to operations, and property damage. Small business owners who fail to plan and prepare for disaster frequently face closure when disasters strike. The goal of this study was to explore strategies independent auto maintenance business owners use to mitigate natural disasters. Holling’s organizational resilience theory grounded this qualitative multiple case study. From the population, a purposive sample drawn, included five participants who implemented disaster mitigation strategies from Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana and participated in this study. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data, which was analyzed by triangulating the results against company strategic plans, financial data, emails, website information, and operation manuals. The implementation in the data analysis of Yin’s 5-step data analysis process yielded important themes of: employee relations and financial strength, disaster planning and response guideline, communication, and collaboration and partnership. The analysis of the analysis led to the presentation of key recommendation for business owners, notably to comprehensively understand, plan, and execute successful natural disaster mitigation strategies, to ensure business continuity and resilience. The implication for positive social change is the potential for businesses to avoid permanent business closure, create jobs, retain employees, and improve the economic standard of living for communities.

Management practices refer to the strategies, and organizational practices to improve workers effectiveness and performance, with the intended improvement in quality. The paucity in studies on healthcare management practices in developing countries prompted undertaking this study. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the management practices that influence health workers performance and quality of care within the Dakar-Senegal region and to gain an insight into the phenomenon under study. The theory of performance was used as the underlying lens in this study. The overarching research questions developed in this study, was to understand how healthcare workers describe management practices that affect healthcare worker performance in Senegal, and to explore, how healthcare workers describe management practices that affect the quality of care in Senegal. The focus of this study was on clinicians in various healthcare organizations. The protocol developed in this study included one-on-one interviews and focus groups. The repeated words or phrases from the interview data was used to categorize data into themes. The themes that emerged from the data were: (a) willingness to better communicate and work as team in the workplace, (b) expanding the knowledge and training skills for a positive organization operational, (c) restoring and effective organization structure in promoting learning/growth, increase efficiency, quality, flexibility and performance. These themes clarified how management practices influence healthcare worker performance and quality.

Glomus tumors are rare benign tumors, they represent 1 to 4.5% of hand tumors developing from Masson's glomus, a neuromyo-vascular structure of the body that participates in thermal regulation. Delay in diagnosis is frequent, because this tumor can’t give an elementary lesion, and only manifest itself by a throbbing paroxysmal pain, which misleads the practitioners, thus referring the patients in psychiatry The definitive diagnosis is based on the pathological examination. The aim of our retrospective study was to assess the value of MRI in the diagnostic management of digital glomus tumors.

Table of contents for the month of August 2021