Obvious Reason (obvious + reason)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Reflux as a cause of tracheoesophageal puncture failure

THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 1 2009
Kavita M. Pattani MD
Abstract Objective: To evaluate the response to empiric reflux management in treatment of tracheoesophageal punctures (TEP) failures. Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients with failed TEP was performed (n = 37). Only those patients without any documented anatomic cause for failure (n = 22) were then further reviewed to determine if empiric treatment for reflux improved voicing. Evidence of reflux was determined by either using video flexible scope of the neopharynx, barium swallows, 24-hour pH probes, and /or transnasal esophagoscopy (TNE). In 13 of 22 patients who had voicing difficulties and no evidence of reflux on these tests, empiric treatment with antireflux medications had been documented. The 22 patients were closely monitored to determine the role of reflux therapy and subsequent voicing outcomes. Results: Of the 22 patients studied, 9 were noted to have granulation tissue on the tracheal side of the prosthesis. All nine patients had complete resolution of the granulation tissue after antireflux treatment, and seven of nine were able to voice again. Of the patients with no obvious reason for TEP failure who were empirically treated for reflux, 62% (8 of 13) had TEP voice after treatment. Seventy-seven percent of our patients (17 of 22) had a positive response to treatment with aggressive reflux therapy. Conclusions: Previous studies have demonstrated patients with a total laryngectomy and/or radiation therapy have increased reflux. This study addresses reflux as a potential cause of TEP voicing problems. We noted 41% (9 of 22) of patients with voicing difficulties had granulation tissue surrounding the prosthesis as a result of reflux. Aggressive antireflux therapy proved beneficial in eradicating this problem. Prophylactic antireflux therapy may be warranted for patients undergoing TEP to reduce voicing problems. Laryngoscope, 119:121,125, 2009 [source]


Rock salt,urea,water (1/1/1) at 293 and 117,K

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION C, Issue 8 2008
S. Müller
The crystal structure of NaCl·CH4N2O·H2O has been determined at 117,K and redetermined at room temperature. It can be described as consisting of alternating `organic' and `inorganic' planar layers. While at room temperature the structure belongs to the space group I2, the low-temperature structure belongs to the space group Pn21m. All water O atoms are located on positions with crystallographic symmetry 2 (m) in the room-temperature (low-temperature) structure, which means that the water molecules belong, in both cases, to point group mm2. During the phase transition, half of the urea molecules per unit cell perform a 90° rotation about their respective C,O axes. The other half and the inorganic parts of the structure remain unaltered. The relationship between the two phases is remarkable, inasmuch as no obvious reason for the transition to occur could be found; the internal structures of all components of the two phases remain unaltered and even the interactions between the different parts seem to be the same before and after the transition (at least when looked at from an energetic point of view). [source]


NaSO2Ph Induced Exclusive Isomerization of 1,2-Allenyl Sulfoxides to 2-Alkynylic Phenyl Sulfoxides

CHINESE JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY, Issue 6 2005
Fu Chun-Ling
Abstract The clean isomerization of 1,2-allenyl sulfoxides in the presence of NaSO2Ph afforded 2-alkynylic phenyl sulfoxides in good yields and selectivities. Although strong base-catalyzed isomerization of allenes to alkynes is known, the mechanism for the current reaction is interesting for the obvious reason that NaSO2Ph is a weak base. [source]


Molecular Neuropathology of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Complementary Approaches in Animal Models and Human Disease Tissue

EPILEPSIA, Issue 2007
Michael Majores
Summary:, Patients with temporal lobe epilepsies (TLE) frequently develop pharmacoresistance to antiepileptic treatment. In individuals with drug-refractory TLE, neurosurgical removal of the epileptogenic focus provides a therapy option with high potential for seizure control. Biopsy specimens from TLE patients constitute unique tissue resources to gain insights in neuropathological and molecular alterations involved in human TLE. Compared to human tissue specimens in most neurological diseases, where only autopsy material is available, the bioptic tissue samples from pharmacoresistant TLE patients open rather exceptional preconditions for molecular biological, electrophysiological as well as biochemical experimental approaches in human brain tissue, which cannot be carried out in postmortem material. Pathological changes in human TLE tissue are multiple and relate to structural and cellular reorganization of the hippocampal formation, selective neurodegeneration, and acquired changes of expression and distribution of neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels, underlying modified neuronal excitability. Nevertheless, human TLE tissue specimens have some limitations. For obvious reasons, human TLE tissue samples are only available from advanced, drug-resistant stages of the disease. However, in many patients, a transient episode of status epilepticus (SE) or febrile seizures in childhood can induce multiple structural and functional alterations that after a latency period result in a chronic epileptic condition. This latency period, also referred to as epileptogenesis, cannot be studied in human TLE specimens. TLE animal models may be particularly helpful in order to shed characterize new molecular pathomechanisms related to epileptogenesis and open novel therapeutic strategies for TLE. Here, we will discuss experimental approaches to unravel molecular,neuropathological aspects of TLE and highlight characteristics and potential of molecular studies in human and/or experimental TLE. [source]


Entering the Twilight Zone: The Local Complexities of Pay and Employment Equity in New Zealand

GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2009
Deborah Jones
This article introduces the recent pay and employment equity situation in the New Zealand state sector through a discussion of research carried out for a Pay and Employment Equity Taskforce. It investigates the twilight zone of pay and employment equity , the murky situations where pay and employment equity programmes already exist, but progress for senior women has stalled for no obvious reasons. Qualitative research is necessary to make sense of these complex situations and to complement labour-market level studies. The example used is a study of teachers in New Zealand schools, where a range of complex reasons, including lack of support, gendered job designs and intense workloads, creates a bottleneck for women at senior levels. The authors argue that highly decentralized human resources practices work against progress in equal employment opportunity in the state sector. [source]


Equivocal Masculinity: New York Dada in the context of World War I

ART HISTORY, Issue 2 2002
Amelia Jones
This essay explores a cluster of works by the group of artists retroactively labelled `New York Dada' in light of the pressures exerted on masculine subjectivity during the WWI period. While the war has, for obvious reasons, been a key reference point for studies of European Dada, it has never been acknowledged (beyond passing references) as a context for the New York group (in particular, for the work of the key figures Man Ray, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp). Failing to attend to the Great War as a crucial historical pressure on the group simply accepts at face value these artists' own desire to escape the war (in the case of Picabia, Duchamp, Jean Crotti and others, by leaving Europe and coming to New York). This essay, in contrast, insists upon attending to the effects of the war environment , with its heated discourses of heroism and patriotic nationalism , on the New York Dada group (which, after all, would not have existed had these artists not left Europe for New York because of the war). Examining the relationship of each of the key NewYork Dada figures to the war, it explores a selection of their works in relation to these experiences. Ultimately, I argue that the artists' non-combatant masculinity, compromised in the face of dominant discourses of militarized masculinity, is eerily and disconcertingly echoed by the predominance of shadows, gaps and absences in their visual art works. [source]