BACKGROUND Few cases of GIST bigger than 15 cm have been reported in medical literature, all primarily in elderly patients. We report an unusual case, in which a giant gastric GIST - in a young patient - presented as spontaneous intratumoral bleeding followed by intraluminal rupture. CASE PRESENTATION A 37-year-old man was admitted with an acute onset of abdominal pain. CT showed a 32 x 25 cm...

The aim of this study was to determine the predictive value of cervical length as a risk factor for spontaneous pre-term birth in twin gestations. A retrospective chart review was carried out on patients with twin pregnancies referred to our multiples' clinic. Cervical length was measured by transvaginal ultrasonography. Patients with an indicated pre-term delivery or intervention were excluded...

Single Langmuir probe measurements are presented for a two-dimensional array of locations in the near Discharge Cathode Assembly (DCA) region of a 30-cm diameter ring-cusp ion thruster over a range of thruster operating conditions encompassing the high-power half of the NASA throttling table. All data were analyzed assuming an electron population consisting of Maxwellian electrons only yielding...

We present laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements of Xe II (4D7/2) in the FMT2 ion engine plume. Three 605.1 nm beams from a ring dye laser are focused through a single lens into a submillimeter interrogation volume, from which we collect LIF at 529.2 nm. Fourier-transform deconvolution of the LIF spectra returns ion velocity distribution estimates along the three laser beam directions. ...

In many applications there is a need for high position resolution VUV and UV imagers. For these applications we have developed and successfully tested 1D and 2D VUV imaging detectors based on microgap RPCs. Two versions of these detectors were extensively tested: one filled with photosensitive vapours and the other one with the GaAs cathode coated by a 400 nm thick CsI layer. The main feature o...

This article describes the analysis and interpretation of rovibrational spectra involving highly excited vibrational states in the molecule of HCN. The spectra were obtained by means of the vibrationally mediated photodissociation technique. Analysis of the spectra revealed four bands with Sigma-Sigma structures that, once fitted, provided the energies and rotational constants of four new, high...