Chronic anisakiasis is a rare entity, and its diagnosis is difficult. We report a case of chronic anisakiasis with multiple gastrointestinal manifestations presenting as a palpable mesenteric mass, diagnosed by specific serology and histologic findings. We describe the computed tomographic appearance of this mass and the pathologic correlations. To our knowledge, this is the first time this mesenteric location has been detected by imaging before surgery.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Optimal synthesis of protein purification processes.

There has been an increasing interest in the development of systematic methods for the synthesis of purification steps for biotechnological products, which are often the most difficult and costly stages in a biochemical process. Chromatographic processes are extensively used in the purification of multicomponent biotechnological systems. One of the main challenges in the synthesis of purification processes is the appropriate selection and sequencing of chromatographic steps that are capable of producing the desired product at an acceptable cost and quality. This paper describes mathematical models and solution strategies based on mixed integer linear programming (MILP) for the synthesis of multistep purification processes. First, an optimization model is proposed that uses physicochemical data on a protein mixture, which contains the desired product, to select a sequence of operations with the minimum number of steps from a set of candidate chromatographic techniques that must achieve a specified purity level. Since several sequences that have the minimum number of steps may satisfy the purity level, it is possible to obtain the one that maximizes final purity. Then, a second model that may use the total number of steps obtained in the first model generates a solution with the maximum purity of the product. Whenever the sequence does not affect the final purity or more generally does not impact the objective function, alternative models that are of smaller size are developed for the optimal selection of steps. The models are tested in several examples, containing up to 13 contaminants and a set of 22 candidate high-resolution steps, generating sequences of six operations, and are compared to the current synthesis approaches.

Biotechnology↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Optimal design of protein production plants with time and size factor process models.

In this work we propose an optimization model for the design of a biotechnological multiproduct batch plant. A first level of detail posynomial model is constructed for each unit, as well as decisions regarding the structural optimization of the plant. A particular feature of this model is that it contains composite units in which semicontinuous items operate on the material contained by batch items. This occurs in the purification steps, in particular with the microfilters operating between retentate and permeate vessels, and with the homogenizer and ultrafilters operating on the material contained in a batch holding vessel. Also, the unit models rely on batch operating time expressions that depend on both the batch size and the size of semicontinuous items. The model takes into account all of the available options to increase the efficiency of the batch plant design: unit duplication in-phase and out-of-phase and intermediate storage tanks. The resulting mathematical model for the minimization of the plant capital cost is a mixed integer non-linear program (MINLP), which is solved to global optimality with an implementation of the outer approximation/ equality relaxation/ augmented penalty (OA/ER/AP) method. A plant that produces four recombinant proteins in eight processing stages is used to illustrate the proposed approach. An interesting feature of this example is that it represents an attempt to standardize a plant for the production of both therapeutic and nontherapeutic proteins; the model applied is generic and can thus be applied to any such modular plant. Results indicate that the best solution in terms of minimal capital cost contains no units in parallel and with intermediate storage tank allocation.

Algorithms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Horner's syndrome and brachial radiculopathy related to vertebral metastases].

INTRODUCTION: Horner's syndrome consists of sympathetic ocular paralysis, with lesions occurring at different levels. When it's associated with involvement of the C8-T1 roots, the commonest causes are the tumours responsible for Pancoast's syndrome. CLINICAL CASE: We describe the case of a patient who presented with a clinical condition in which a complete right Horner's syndrome was associated with ipsilateral C8-T1 brachial radiculopathy. On investigation, there was a tumour involving the vertebral segments between C8 and T5. Histological studies showed this to be a metastasis from an adenocarcinoma at the base of the right lung. CONCLUSION: We consider this case to be interesting because of its unusual aetiology, since metastatic vertebral lesions are an uncommon cause of Horner's syndrome.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of ionizing radiation on the heart: a prospective study of 65 patients.

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Adult↗