We report a case of two babies with absence of pericardium and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). The absence of pericardium was found coincidentally during PDA ligation. The PDA was successfully ligated but the pericardium was not reconstructed. Postoperatively, the agenesis of the pericardium did not interfere with cardiac function.
Pericardial cysts occur rarely, with an incidence rate of 1 per 100,000. They are usually detected by chance and clinically silent in most cases. Pericardial cysts are the most common benign tumours of the pericardium and presents by the third or fourth decade of life, and equally common in males and females. In principle, they only require follow-up, however, an enlarging or symptomatic cyst requires surgical removal. We report a case of a 32 year-old Malay lady, who presented with history of recurrent pericardial effusion followed by right pleural effusion. Computed tomography (CT) thorax identified a large mediastinal cyst as the cause of her problem, requiring exploratory thoracotomy.
In this paper, a new method is designed to effectively determine the parameters of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), i.e., ξ 1 , ξ 2 , ξ 3 , ξ 4 , R C , λ , and b . The fuel cells (FCs) involve multiple variable quantities with complex non-linear behaviours, demanding accurate modelling to ensure optimal operation. An accurate model of these FCs is essential to evaluate their performance accurately. Furthermore, the design of the FCs significantly impacts simulation studies, which are crucial for various technological applications. This study proposed an improved parameter estimation procedure for PEMFCs by using the GOOSE algorithm, which was inspired by the adaptive behaviours found in geese during their relaxing and foraging times. The orthogonal learning mechanism improves the performance of the original GOOSE algorithm. This FC model uses the root mean squared error as the objective function for optimizing the unknown parameters. In order to validate the proposed algorithm, a number of experiments using various datasets were conducted and compared the outcomes with different state-of-the-art algorithms. The outcomes indicate that the proposed GOOSE algorithm not only produced promising results but also exhibited superior performance in comparison to other similar algorithms. This approach demonstrates the ability of the GOOSE algorithm to simulate complex systems and enhances the robustness and adaptability of the simulation tool by integrating essential behaviours into the computational framework. The proposed strategy facilitates the development of more accurate and effective advancements in the utilization of FCs.
The formulation of the Cardiothoracic Registry. Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of diseases affecting organs inside the thorax (the chest). It is a general treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease) and lungs (lung disease). In Malaysia, due to lack of data collection we do not have estimates of number and outcome of such procedure in the country. Western figures are often used as our reference values and this may not accurately reflect our Malaysian population. The Malaysian Cardiothoracic Surgery Registry (MyCARE) by the Ministry of Health will be a valuable tool to provide timely and robust data of cardiology practice, its safety and cost effectiveness and most importantly the outcome of these patients in the Malaysian setting.