The diagnostic yield of DBE was comparable to WCE, but with the addition of therapeutic possibility and histological yield. We believe this technique could be a valuable addition to existing endoscopic techniques, complementary to WCE, and may be considered as an alternative diagnostic and therapeutic option in the SB in children.

We report on the temperature-dependent electrical characteristics of the Au/Pd/n-GaN Schottky diode in the temperature range of 90-410 K. The barrier heights and ideality factors of Schottky diodes were found in the range 0.23 eV and 3.5 at 90 K to 0.97 eV and 1.9 at 410 K, respectively. It was observed that the zero bias barrier height bo decreases and the ideality factor n increases with a decrease in temperature. Such behavior is attributed to barrier inhomogeneities by assuming a Gaussian distribution of barrier heights at the interface. The estimated values of series resistance (R S ) are in the range of 636 at 90 K to 220 at 410 K using Cheung's method. Based on the above observations, the bo , n and R S values are seen to be strongly temperature dependent. The flat-band barrier height bf (T = 0 K) and temperature coefficient α were found to be 0.67 eV and 2.81 × 10 −3 eV K −1 , respectively. Further, the homogeneous barrier height is estimated from the linear relationship between temperature-dependent experimental effective barrier heights and ideality factors and the value is approximately 1.31 eV. The effective Richardson constant is determined to be 20.43 A cm −2 K −2 and is in good agreement with the theoretical value. It is concluded that the temperature-dependent I-V characteristics of the Au/Pd/n-GaN Schottky diode can be successfully explained on the basis of thermionic emission (TE) mechanism with the Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights.

Incidentally detected, small bowel intussusceptions without an identifiable pathological lead point, with a normal wall thickness, a length of less than 3.5 cm, normal nondilated proximal bowel and normal vascularity on color Doppler reduce spontaneously and are of no clinical significance.

No abstract

Carrying loads on the head is a common practice in rural Zimbabwe. Headloading imposes a considerable amount of strain to the axial skeleton. The cervical spine, being the most cranial and mobile part of the vertebral column, may be susceptible to spondylosis or disc degeneration in headloading. Age as well as the effects of intrinsic factors on cervical spondylosis have been well documented. However, studies on the effect of extrinsic weight bearing to spondylosis on the cervical spine are lacking. In this study, the effect of headloading on the pattern of spondylosis attributed to aging was examined. Results indicated that age led to significant degeneration of the fifth intervertebral disc space (P < 0.05) as well as significant straightening of the lordotic curve (P < 0.01). Load carrying seems to accentuate the straightening of the curve (P < 0.001). The results also suggest that headloading creates a shift in the degeneration from the fifth intervertebral disc space to higher levels. It is concluded that carrying heavy loads on the head alters the pattern of degenerative changes of the cervical spine.