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Objective To evaluate the efficacy of fetal intervention using fetal cystoscopy or vesicoamniotic shunting in the treatment of severe lower urinary obstruction (LUTO). Methods (ARR, 1.16 (95% CI,; P = 0.33)). In cases in which there was a postnatal diagnosis of posterior urethral valves, fetal cystoscopy was effective in improving both the 6-month survival rate and renal function (ARR, 4.10 (95% CI, P < 0.01) and 2.66 (95% CI,; P = 0.01) respectively) while vesicoamniotic shunting was associated only with an improvement in the 6-month survival rate (ARR, 3.76 (95% CI,; P < 0.01)) with no effect on renal function (ARR, 1.03 (95% CI, P = 0.93)

We prove that weak bounded solutions to the Vlasov equation with BV coefficients have the renormalization property, and we show that when the renormalization property holds for a general transport equation, it also holds for only Lipschitz nonlinearities.

Dividing the sac and suturing the peritoneum is feasible and efficient by laparoscopy. Compared with the other techniques that have previously been reported, either without any dissection of the sac or any ligature, our technique seems to be advantageous. It is not time consuming and does not require any special laparoscopic skill.

The breakdown of a positive point to plane gap in air near atmospheric pressure begins with the formation of a low-conductivity filament by the space-charge-controlled streamer process. Within the filament, the rate of electron attachment exceeds that of ionization, and the external current decreases. However, a sudden rise of current leading to spark breakdown can be observed. The following explanation is proposed. Owing to the current flow the temperature increases within the discharge. A radial flow of neutral species will thus appear, which decreases the neutral density near the discharge axis. In turn E/N increases until the ionization rate becomes greater than that of attachment, leading to the final current growth.

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Since air is a natural part of our environment, special attention is given to the study of plasmas in air at atmospheric pressure and their applications. This fact promoted the study of electrical conduction in air-like mixtures, i.e. mixtures containing an electronegative gas component. If the ionization growth is not limited its temporal evolution leads to spark formation, i.e. a thermal plasma of several thousand kelvins in a quasi-local thermodynamic equilibrium state. But before reaching such a thermal state, a plasma sets up where the electrons increase their energy characterized by an electron temperature T e much higher than that of heavy species T or T + for the ions. Since the plasma is no longer characterized by only one temperature T , it is said to be in a nonthermal plasma (NTP) state. Practical ways are listed to prevent electron ionization from going beyond the NTP states. Much understanding of such NTP may be gathered from the study of the simple paradigmatic case of a discharge induced between a sharp positively stressed point electrode facing a grounded negative plane electrode. Some physical properties will be gathered from such configurations and links underlined between these properties and some associated applications, mostly environmental. Aerosol filtration and electrostatic precipitators, pollution control by removal of hazardous species contained in flue gas exhaust, sterilization applications for medical purposes and triggering fuel combustion in vehicle motors are among such applications nowadays.