The increasing deployment of distributed generation systems based on renewables in the residential sector, the development of information and communication technologies and the expected evolution of traditional power systems towards smart grids are inducing changes in the passive role of end-users, namely with stimuli to change residential demand patterns. The residential user should be able to make decisions and efficiently manage his energy resources by taking advantages from his flexibility in load usage with the aim to minimize the electricity bill without depreciating the quality of energy services provided. The aim of this paper is characterizing electricity consumption in the residential sector and categorizing the different loads according to their typical usage, working cycles, technical constraints and possible degree of control. This categorization of end-use loads contributes to ascertain the availability of controllable loads to be managed as well as the different direct management actions that can be implemented. The ability to implement different management actions over diverse end-use load will increase the responsiveness of demand and potentially raises the willingness of end-users to accept such activities. The impacts on the aggregated national demand of large-scale dissemination of management systems that would help the end-user to make decisions regarding electricity consumption are predicted using a simulator that generates the aggregated residential sector electricity consumption under variable prices.

Central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) is an ophthalmological emergency. Various treatment modalities have been tried, but none have shown to alter natural history of the disease. Hyperoxia can restore retinal oxygenation, and favourable results were obtained with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). We report two patients with sudden visual loss due to CRAO treated with HBOT. Case 1: a 61-year-old female, presented with CRAO in her left eye(OS). She was submitted to eight sessions of HBOT(2.4atmosphere absolute (ATA)). BCVA(Best corrected visual acuity) improved from counting fingers (CF) to 1.0 and fluorescein angiography (FA) showed a normalisation. Vascular study showed a value of 8.8% for HbA1c and ventricular extrasystoles. Case 2: a 69-year-old male presented with CRAO in his OS. Nine sessions of HBOT(2.4 ATA) were performed. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)improved from CF to 0.8 and the FA was normalised. Vascular study revealed an atheromatous carotid disease, and cardiac pathology. HBOT seems to be beneficial on the recovery of vision following CRAO.

Thymomas are rare neoplasms that have an indolent growth with a preferentially intra-thoracic dissemination pattern. Surgery is currently the standard treatment of thymomas; however radiotherapy is often used in an adjuvant setting due to a high sensitivity of these tumors to such treatment. Postoperative entire hemithoracic irradiation has been used in selected Masaoka stage IVa cases after complete surgical excision of metastatic lesions. In the present article, the authors report three cases of Masaoka stage IVa thymoma that underwent entire hemithorax irradiation after surgical excision of metastatic lesions. The first two patients presented as stage IVa thymomas. The third case consisted of a pleural recurrence of a thymoma. Hemithoracic irradiation with low doses has been used by different authors; the available data shows that it is a well-tolerated treatment that could potentially lead to better loco-regional control and increased overall survival.

We report a 48-year-old female patient who presented to the emergency room with right eyelid edema, with 3 days of evolution. She had suffered minor trauma to this eye one week before. She reported episodes of right eyelid swelling of spontaneous resolution since the occurrence of a traumatic brain injury 5 years ago. Ophthalmological examination showed a soft and painless eyelid edema of the right eye. Brain computed tomography showed an area of bone discontinuity of the orbital roof with brain herniation and a CSF leak into the eyelid (blepharocele). Magnetic resonance confirmed the result of TC and revealed an area of frontal encephalomalacia. Ibuprofen (800 mg/day) was prescribed, with complete resolution within 20 days. She was evaluated by Neurosurgery with no indication of surgery due to the resolution of the edema and absence of symptoms. Blepharocele is a rare entity that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of unilateral eyelid edema. It can be secondary to an orbital fracture or congenital lesion.

Intellectual disability affects 2% - 3% of the general population, with a chromosomal abnormality being found in 4% - 28% of these patients and a cryptic subtelomeric abnormality in 3% - 16%. In most cases, these subtelomeric rearrangements are submicroscopic, requiring techniques other than conventional karyotype for detection. They may be de novo or inherited from an affected parent or from a healthy carrier of a balanced chromosomal abnormality. The aim of this study was to characterize patients from our medical genetics center, in whom both a deletion and duplication in subtelomeric regions were found.

Hydrodynamics play an important role in the rate of cell attachment and nutrient and oxygen transfer, which can affect biofilm development and the level of recombinant protein production. In the present study, the effects of different flow conditions on the development of Escherichia coli biofilms and the expression of a model recombinant protein (enhanced green fluorescent protein, eGFP) were examined. Planktonic and biofilm cells were grown at two different flow rates in a recirculating flow cell system for 7 days: 255 and 128 L h(-1) (corresponding to a Reynolds number of 4600 and 2300, respectively). The fluorometric analysis showed that the specific eGFP production was higher in biofilms than in planktonic cells under both hydrodynamic conditions (3-fold higher for 255 L h(-1) and 2-fold higher for 128 L h(-1)). In the biofilm cells, the percentage of eGFP-expressing cells was on average 52% higher at a flow rate of 255 L h(-1). Furthermore, a higher plasmid copy number (PCN) was obtained for the highest flow rate for both planktonic (244 PCN/cell versus 118 PCN/cell) and biofilm cells (43 PCN/cell versus 29 PCN/cell). The results suggested that higher flow velocities promoted eGFP expression in E. coli biofilms.