Large diaphragmatic defect as the cause of hydrothorax in a cirrhotic patient: demonstration with peritoneal scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging

A 52-year-old man with history of post-hepatitic cirrhosis presented with ascitis and respiratory distress. Chest X-ray on admission showed a large right hydrothorax. Thoracentesis yielded a large volume of a clear transudate fluid. Peritoneal scintigraphy showed rapid migration of radiotracer into the right pleural cavity, confirming the abdominal origin of the pleural fluid and suspecting a large diaphragmatic defect. MR imaging study using ultrafast sequences confirmed the large diaphragmatic defect.     

Extension of plurisubharmonic currents

Let A be a closed subset of an open subset of ⁿ and T be a negative current on \ A of bidimension (p,p). Assume that T is psh and A is complete pluripolar such that the Hausdorff measure , then T extends to a negative psh current on . We also show that if T is psh or if dd ^cT extends to a current with locally finite mass on , then the trivial extension of T by zero across A exists in both cases: A is the zero set of a k–convex function with kp–1 or . Our basic tool is the following theorem [El3]: Let A be a closed complete pluripolar subset of an open subset of ⁿ and T be a positive current of bidimension (p,p) on \ A. Suppose that and exist (resp. exists and dd ^cT 0 on \ A), then there exists a positive (resp. closed positive) current S supported in A such that . Furthermore, we give a generalization of some theorems done by Siu and Ben Messaoud-El Mir and Alessandrini-Bassanelli without requiring anything from dT.     

Untargeted Phytochemical Profile,Antioxidant Capacity and Enzyme Inhibitory Activity of Cultivated and Wild Lupin Seeds from Tunisia

Lupin seeds can represent a valuable source of phenolics and other antioxidant compounds. In this work, a comprehensive analysis of the phytochemical profile was performed on seeds from three Lupinus species, including one cultivar (Lupinus albus) and two wild accessions (Lupinus cossentinii and Lupinus luteus), collected from the northern region of Tunisia. Untargeted metabolomic profiling allowed to identify 249 compounds, with a great abundance of phenolics and alkaloids. In this regard, the species L. cossentinii showed the highest phenolic content, being 6.54 mg/g DW, followed by L. luteus (1.60 mg/g DW) and L. albus (1.14 mg/g DW). The in vitro antioxidant capacity measured by the ABTS assay on seed extracts ranged from 4.67 to 17.58 mg trolox equivalents (TE)/g, recording the highest values for L. albus and the lowest for L. luteus. The DPPH radical scavenging activity ranged from 0.39 to 3.50 mg TE/g. FRAP values varied between 4.11 and 5.75 mg TE/g. CUPRAC values for lupin seeds ranged from 7.20 to 8.95 mg TE/g, recording the highest for L. cossentinii. The results of phosphomolybdenum assay and metal chelation showed similarity between the three species of Lupinus. The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition activity was detected in each methanolic extract analyzed with similar results. Regarding the butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzyme, it was weakly inhibited by the Lupinus extracts; in particular, the highest activity values were recorded for L. albus (1.74 mg GALAE/g). Overall, our results showed that L. cossentinii was the most abundant source of polyphenols, consisting mainly in tyrosol equivalents (5.82 mg/g DW). Finally, significant correlations were outlined between the phenolic compounds and the in vitro biological activity measured, particularly when considering flavones, phenolic acids and lower-molecular-weight phenolics.     

Synthesis and characterization of new heptacyclic helicenes

New helically chiral substituted heptacyclic systems have been prepared from a simple phenanthrene building block in good yields and purity, via a four-step sequence involving palladium-catalysed Heck coupling and oxidative photocyclization. X-ray crystal structure analysis indicated that the conformation resembled that of the unsubstituted heptahelicene. The optical properties of these heptacyclic helicenes were investigated and show interesting behaviour.     

Recovering boundary data: The Cauchy Stokes system

This paper is concerned with the severely ill-posed Cauchy–Stokes problem. We are interested in a data completion problem which is exploited to detect small leaks to control water loss Kim et al. (2008) [1]. This inverse problem is rephrased into an optimization one: An energy-like error functional is introduced. We prove that the optimality condition of the first order is equivalent to solving an interfacial equation which turns out to be a Cauchy-Steklov-Poincaré operator. Numerical trials highlight the efficiency of the method.     

Hydride Generation/Condensation System With an Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Polychromator for Simultaneous Determination of Arsenic,Antimony, Selenium,Lead, Mercury and Tin in Honey

Abstract

An efficient method for the determination of nanogram levels of heavy metals in honey is described. Honey samples obtained in the field from farms located along the coast of the province of Cap-Bon (North Tunisia) were analysed by hydride generation with an inductively coupled argon plasma polychromator after a previous treatment in a microwave acid bomb.

An apparatus for the generation of volatile hydrides, interfaced with an inductively coupled argon plasma polychromator for simultaneous determination of As, Pb, Sb, Hg and Sn, is used. The optimum conditions for generating and determining the compounds and the effect of different parameters are discussed. The parameters investigated include: the chemical nature, form and concentration of the reductant, acid concentration of the sample and the carrier gas flow rate. Detection limits range 0.05 ng/ml for Hg to 1.1 ng/ml for Sb and precision values at 10 ng/ml are less than 6% of the relative standard deviation. Analytical protocols concerning analytical stages are exposed and discussed.     

Synthesis and characterization of a new hexacyclic helicene

A new helically chiral hexacyclic system, bearing an acetoxymethyl group, was prepared from a simple naphthalene building block in good yield and purity, via a four-step sequence involving palladium-catalysed Heck couplings and oxidative photocyclizations. Suitable crystals of the latter indicate that its conformation closely resembles that of unsubstituted [6]helicene, whose idealized symmetry is C₂. The optical properties of the hexacyclic helicene were investigated and show interesting behaviour.