QUALITY OF LIFE USING EURAHS-QoL SCORES AFTER SURGICAL TREATMENT OF INGUINAL HERNIA: LAPAROSCOPIC TRANSABDOMINAL PREPERITONEAL (TAPP) AND LICHTENSTEIN TECHNIQUES.

BACKGROUND: Results on quality of life after inguinal hernia surgery, such as esthetics, postoperative pain, period of absence from activities, and recurrence are a relevant topic since inguinal hernia affects 27% of men and 3% of women at some point in their lives, and should guide health policies to allocate resources more efficiently. AIMS: To evaluate the quality of life in the late postoperative period of inguinal herniorrhaphy regarding recurrence, pain, esthetics, and restriction in activities, comparing the minimally invasive techniques - the transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) and the conventional Lichtenstein. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational clinical study was conducted with the EuraHS-QoL questionnaire validated and translated into Portuguese, applied to patients after an average of 65 months postoperatively. Forty-five patients were assessed, 28 undergoing Lichtenstein and 17 undergoing TAPP. All were males aged between 18 and 87 years with a primary unilateral inguinal hernia. Recurrent or bilateral hernias, other concomitant abdominal wall hernias, patients who chose not to participate or who were not found, and female patients were excluded from the study. RESULTS: Regarding the domains pain, restriction, and esthetics, there was no difference between the two groups when examining quality of life. Neither group presented recurrence in the studied period. CONCLUSIONS: Both TAPP and Lichtenstein techniques presented similar results concerning quality of life when compared in the long-term.

Análise das vítimas de queimadura ocupacional internadas na Unidade de Terapia de Queimados de Catanduva / Analysis of the victims of occupational burn hospitalized in the burn care unit of Catanduva

Objetivo: Este estudo tem o intuito de avaliar os pacientes que foram vítimas de queimaduras ocupacionais internados na Unidade de Terapia de Queimaduras (UTQ) do Hospital Padre Albino (HPA) da Faculdade de Medicina de Catanduva, SP. Método: Estudo de corte transversal do período de março de 2012 a fevereiro de 2013 em que foram levantados os dados dos pacientes vítimas de queimaduras ocupacionais por meio de revisão dos prontuários de todos os pacientes internados na UTQ do HPA nesse período. Resultados: O sexo masculino foi o predominante, com 83%. A idade com maior predominância foi entre 21 a 30 anos, com 36%. O tempo de internação entre 6 a 10 dias foi o mais encontrado, com 36%. A principal etiologia encontrada foi a elétrica, com 21%. Superfície corporal queimada entre 10 a 30% foi encontrada em 60% dos casos. Foram submetidos à enxertia de pele um total de 21% dos pacientes e a retalhos 10% dos casos. 12% dos pacientes desenvolveram infecção durante a internação. CONCLUSAO: As publicações a esse respeito são escassas, portanto, necessitam de mais estudos de diferentes metodologias estatísticas e com números maiores de indivíduos afetados. As medidas impostas pelas leis trabalhistas são eficazes, com redução da incidência devido aos equipamentos de proteção individual e medidas de proteção coletiva, mas precisam se estender aos trabalhadores informais para que também sejam beneficiados.

Objective: This study intend to evaluate patients who were victims of occupational burns hospitalized in Burn Care Unity of Hospital Padre Albino (HPA) Faculdade de Medicina de Catanduva, SP. Method: Cross-sectional study of the period from March 2012 to February 2013. It was analyzed the data of patients victims of occupational burn collected from the medical records of all the patients hospitalized in this period. Results: Male was predominating with 83%. The main age was between 21 to 30 years old with 36%. The most common etiology found was electric burn with 21%. Total burned body surface between 10 to 30% was found in 60% of the cases. 21% was submitted to skin grafting, and 10% to flaps. 12% of the patients had infection during the hospitalization. Conclusions: There aren't many papers about this issue despite its importance and more researches are needed. The rules of Brazilian occupational law are effectives to decrease the incidences of occupational injuries, but its benefice must reach the informal workers for a better prevention.

Local observation of plasmon focusingin Talbot carpets.

We present a detailed experimental and theoretical study of plasmon Talbot effect. A theoretical model based on simple scattering theory is developed to describe the Talbot self-imaging pattern generated by a linear arrangement of cylindrical nanostructures forming a periodic array. We first show the experimental observation of plasmon Talbot carpets created by propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) interacting with cylindrical nanostructures positioned on a thin Au film using leakage radiation microscopy. Such images provide information on the distribution of the plasmon intensity close to the nanostructures. Next, heterodyne interferometer based near-field imaging is carried out to extract information on the plasmonic modes forming the Talbot carpet deployment. We report the experimental observation of Talbot focal spots with dimensions down to lambda/4.

Localized surface plasmon resonance effects on the magneto-optical activity of continuous Au/Co/Au trilayers.

We study how the magneto-optical activity in polar configuration of continuous Au/Co/Au trilayers is affected by the excitation of localized plasmon resonances of an array of Au nanodiscs fabricated on top of them over a dielectric SiO(2) spacer. We show that the effect of the nanodiscs array is twofold. First, it optimizes the absorption of light at specific photon energies corresponding to the localized surface plasmon excitation of the array, modifying the reflectivity of the system (we define this effect as the purely optical contribution). Second, upon localized plasmon resonance excitation, the electromagnetic field in the whole system is redistributed, and an enhanced magneto-optical activity occurs at those energies where the electromagnetic field in the magnetic layer is increased (this effect is identified as the purely magneto-optical contribution of the nanodiscs array).

Coupling localized and extended plasmons to improve the light extraction through metal films.

Efficient transmission of light through a metal layer has become a key issue for a variety of applications including light-emitting diodes and solar cells. We report here on a novel strategy where localized and extended surface plasmons are combined to maximize the fluorescence transmission through a metallic film. We show that the dispersion of an artificial material formed by an array of metal nanoparticles coupled to a flat metal layer can be engineered to make the metal film, in a specific direction, 100% transmissive.

Electromagnetic coupling between a metal nanoparticle grating and a metallic surface.

The electromagnetic coupling between a two-dimensional grating of resonant gold nanoparticles and a gold metallic film is investigated. We report on the observation of multipeaks in the extinction spectra attributed to resonant modes of the hybrid system, resulting from the coupling between the localized plasmon of the nanoparticles with the underlying surface plasmon mode. Simulations based on the Fourier modal method give good agreement with the experimental measurements and allow for the identification of the respective contributions.