När byggnadsdelars brandmotstånd provas och klassificeras används nästan enbart standardbrandkurvan som definierad temperaturexponering över tid. Brandexponeringen beskrivs i den europeiska standarden EN 1363-1 samt den internationella standarden ISO 834. Standardbrandkurvan definierades för över 100 år sedan i en tid när kunskapen om branddimensionering var bristfällig. Dagens standardbrandkurva är till viss del modifierad men ser i stort sett ut på samma sätt som för 100 år sedan. Ett annat sätt att dimensionera byggnadsdelar på är teoretiskt med hjälp av de parametriska brandkurvorna och materialmodellerna i Eurokoderna. I EN 1991-1-2 bilaga A presenteras en beräkningsmetod, Eurokodmodellen, som resulterar i temperatur-tidkurvor. Denna metod tar hänsyn till hur den slutgiltiga rumsgeometrin och brandlasten ser ut och till skillnad från standardbrandkurvan innehåller den dessutom en avsvalningsfas. Därav anses de parametriska brandkurvorna beskriva verkliga bränder bättre än vad standardbrandkurvan gör. I detta arbete har temperaturutvecklingen i lägenhets- och rumsbränder, baserade på riktiga lägenhetsgeometrier, beräknats med Eurokodmodellen i syfte att jämföra temperatur-tidkurvorna med standardbrandkurvans temperaturexponering. Arbetet påbörjades med en litteraturstudie för att ge en djupare förståelse inom ämnet. Därefter samlades ritningar in från riktiga lägenheter som låg till grund för ett ritningsunderlag. Ritningsunderlaget användes sedan som input till beräkningsmetoden i EN 1991-1-2 bilaga A. För att underlätta beräkningarna skapades ett beräkningsdokument i Excel enligt Eurokodmodellen, där alla beräkningarna genomfördes. Fyra olika scenarier skapades som innefattar två olika termiska trögheter samt två olika öppningsfaktorer för varje termisk tröghet. Anledningen till det var att det ansågs intressant att beakta i vilken utsträckning dessa två parametrar påverkar brandförlopp. Det resulterade i att scenario 3 med lägre termisk tröghet och högre öppningsfaktor var det scenario med kraftigast brandförlopp avseende tillväxthastighet och temperatur. I förhållande till standardbrandkurvan hade majoriteten av temperatur-tidkurvorna för scenario 3 en snabbare upphettningsfas med högre temperaturer fram till påbörjad avsvalningsfas. Scenario 2 med högre termisk tröghet och lägre öppningsfaktor resulterade i det motsatta, det vill säga ett längre brandförlopp med lägre temperaturer. Vid en jämförelse visar det sig att för majoriteten av kurvorna enligt scenario 2, så var temperaturen lägre än standardbrandkurvans under hela brandförloppet. Öppningsfaktorn styr vilken mängd syre som kommer in i brandrummet, en högre öppningsfaktor betyder mer syre och intensivare brandförlopp. Termiska trögheten reglerar hur långsamt brandrummet värms upp, en låg termisk tröghet innebär att brandrummet värms upp snabbare och resulterar därmed i högre temperaturer då mindre energi absorberas av väggarna. De beräknade lägenhets- och rumsbrändernas temperatur-tidkurvor stämde överlag bättre överens med standardbrandkurvan än förväntat. Givet att golv och tak är betong och väggar gips samt att brandlasten som definierats av Boverket är korrekt, är slutsatsen att standardbranden fungerarar bra i de flesta fallen. Dock är tillväxthastigheten i standardbranden lägre i vissa av scenarierna men har i många fall en temperatur vid 60 minuter som överstiger scenariernas. Det finns dock utrymme för utveckling av brandmotståndstester då en mängd av de beräknade lägenhets- och rumsbränderna översteg standardbrandkurvan under tidsperioder på över 30 minuter, något som hade kunnat äventyra de brandskyddstekniska kraven. Men eftersom majoriteten av de beräknade bränderna understeg standardbrandkurvan kan kraven och standardbrandkurvan oftast anses överdimensionerade utifrån genomfört arbete. / When construction parts are tested in order to try and classify the fire resistance, the standard fire curve is almost only used. The standard fire curve defines exposure from temperature over time. The fire exposure is described in the European standard EN 1363-1 and in the international standard ISO 834. The standard fire curve was defined for over 100 years ago, in a time when the knowledge in fire design was inadequate. Now days the standard fire curve is a bit modified, but it almost remains the same as the fire curve defined for 100 years ago. Another way to design construction parts is theoretical by using parametric fire curves and the material models in the Eurocodes. In EN 1991-1-2 appendix A, a method to calculate parametric fire curves is presented, the method results in temperature-time curves and is known as the Eurocode model. This method considers the final room geometry and fire load, it also contains a cooling phase unlike the standard fire curve. Therefore, the Eurocode model is considered to be better at describing real fires. Compartment and room fires based on geometries from real apartments, will be calculated with the Eurocode method in order to compare the temperature-time curves against the exposure of the standard fire curve. The project started with a study of former literature to give a deeper understanding in the current subject. After that, real apartment drawings were collected to represent real apartments. The drawings were then used as input for the calculation method in EN 1991-1-2 appendix A. To calculate in a more effective way an Excel spread sheet was created for the calculation method according to the Eurcode model, which later has been used for all calculations. Four different scenarios were created, including two different thermal inertia and two different opening factors for each thermal inertia. The reason why was that it seemed to be interesting to examine in what extent these parameters affect a fire. It resulted in that scenario 3, the scenario with a lower thermal inertia and a higher opening factor, were the scenario with the fastest growing fire and with the highest temperatures. In comparison with the standard fire curve, scenario 3 had a majority of fires that exceeded the standard fire curve’s temperatures until the cooling phase begun. Scenario 2 which had a higher thermal inertia and a lower opening factor resulted in the opposite, that is a fire burning during a longer time with overall lower temperatures. In comparison with the standard fire curve scenario 2 had a majority of fires with lower exposure of temperature than the standard fire curve, during the entire time of fire. The opening factor controls which amount of oxygen that flows in to the fire compartment, an increase of the amount of oxygen leads to a more intensive fire. The thermal inertia controls how slowly something gets warmed up, a lower thermal inertia means that the fire compartment warms up faster and resulting in higher temperatures as less energy is absorbed by the walls. The calculated compartment and room fires temperature-time curves was in a better agreement with the standard fire curve than expected. Given that the floor and roof is concrete, the walls is gypsum and together with the assumption that the fire load defined by Boverket is correct, is the conclusion that the standard fire works well in most cases. However, the fire growth rate is lower for the standard fire than for some calculated cases but have a temperature at 60 minutes that exceeds most of the calculated cases at the same time. The fire resistance tests can still develop since a big amount of the calculated temperature-time curves exceeded the standard fire curve in periods of time over 30 minutes, something that could affect the fire protection requirements. But the majority of the calculated fires had an exposure of temperature under the standard fire curve. Therefore, the standard fire and the requirements can sometimes be considered oversized based on the work that been done.

The interplay between biochemical signals and mechanical processes during animal development is key for the formation of tissues and organs with distinct shapes and functions. An important step during the formation of many tissues is the formation of compartment boundaries which separate cells of different fates and functions. Compartment boundaries are lineage restrictions that are characterized by a straight morphology. Biochemical signaling across compartment boundaries induce the expression of morphogens in the cells along the boundaries. These morphogens then act at long-range to direct growth and patterning of the whole tissue. Compartment boundaries stabilize the position of morphogens and thereby contribute to proper tissue development. The straight morphology of compartment boundaries is challenged by cell rearrangements caused by cell division and tissue reshaping. Physical mechanisms are therefore required to maintain the straight morphology of compartment boundaries. The anteroposterior (A/P) compartment boundary in the developing Drosophila melanogaster wing is established by biochemical signals. Furthermore, mechanical processes are required to maintain the straight shape of the A/P boundary. Recent studies show that mechanical tension mediated by actomyosin motor proteins is increased along the A/P boundary. However, it was not understood how biochemical signals interact with mechanical processes to maintain the A/P boundary. Here I provide the first evidence that Hedgehog signaling regulates mechanical tension along the A/P boundary. I was able to show that differences in Hedgehog (Hh) signal transduction activity between the anterior and posterior compartments are necessary and sufficient to maintain the straight shape of the A/P boundary, which is crucial for patterning and growth of the adult wing. Moreover, differences in Hh signal transduction activity are necessary and sufficient for the increase in mechanical tension along the A/P boundary. In addition, differences in Hh signal transduction activity are sufficient to generate smooth borders and to increase mechanical tension along ectopic interfaces. Furthermore, the differential expression of the transmembrane protein Capricious is sufficient to increase mechanical tension along ectopic interfaces. It was previously suggested that mechanical tension is generated by an actomyosin-cable through which the increase in mechanical tension is transmitted between the junctions along the A/P boundary. Here I show that mechanical tension is generated locally at each cell bond and not transmitted between junctions by an actomyosin cable. My results provide new insights for our understanding of the interplay between biochemical signals and mechanical processes during animal development.

Baharestani M, Amjad I, Bookout K, Fleck T, Gabriel A, Kaufman D, McCord SS, Moores DC, Olutoye OO, Salazar JD, Song DH, Teich S, Gupta S. V.A.C. ® Therapy in the management of paediatric wounds: clinical review and experience. ABSTRACT Usage of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in the management of acute and chronic wounds has grown exponentially in the past decade. Hundreds of studies have been published regarding outcomes and methods of therapy used for adult wounds. This treatment is increasingly being used to manage difficult-to-treat paediatric wounds arising from congenital defects, trauma, infection, tumour, burns, pressure ulceration and postsurgical complications in children, although relatively few studies have been aimed at this population. Given the anatomical and physiological differences between adults and children, a multidisciplinary expert advisory panel was convened to determine appropriate use of NPWT with reticulated open cell foam (NPWT/ROCF) as delivered by Vacuum Assisted Closure® (V.A.C.® Therapy, KCI Licensing, Inc., San Antonio, TX) for the treatment of paediatric wounds. The primary objectives of the expert advisory panel were to exchange state-of-practice information on paediatric wound care, review the published data regarding the use of NPWT/ROCF in paediatric wounds, evaluate the strength of the existing data and establish guidelines on best practices with NPWT/ROCF for the paediatric population. The proposed paediatrics-specific clinical practice guidelines are meant to provide practitioners an evidence base from which decisions could be made regarding the safe and efficacious selection of pressure settings, foam type, dressing change frequency and use of interposing contact layer selections. The guidelines reflect the state of knowledge on effective and appropriate wound care at the time of publication. They are the result of consensus reached by expert advisory panel members based on their individual clinical and published experiences related to the use of NPWT/ROCF in treating paediatric wounds. Best practices are described herein for novice and advanced users of NPWT/ROCF. Recommendations by the expert panel may not be appropriate for use in all circumstances. Decisions to adopt any particular recommendation must be made by the collaborating medical team, including the surgeon and wound care specialist based on available resources, individual patient circumstances and experience with the V.A.C.® Therapy System.

No description available.

No description available.

Nhx1 est un antiport vacuolaire de Na+/H+ chez la levure Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nhx1 joue un rôle important dans le maintien de l’homéostasie ionique du cytoplasme de la cellule. En effet, la mutation du gène NHX1 chez la levure nhx1Δ entraîne une perte de l’homéostasie cellulaire quand les cellules sont cultivées dans un milieu de faible osmolarité. Ce travail rapporte pour la première fois, et contrairement à la cellule parentale, que la mutation du gène NHX1 a pour effet une sensibilité du mutant nhx1Δ à une variété des drogues et des agents cationiques et anioniques lorsque les cellules sont cultivées dans un milieu riche. En outre, dans ces conditions de culture, aucune sensibilité n’a été observée chez le mutant nhx1Δ quand les cellules sont traitées avec différentes concentrations de sel. Nous avons aussi démontré que la sensibilité du mutant nhx1Δ aux différents agents ainsi que la sécrétion de l’enzyme carboxypeptidase Y observé chez ce mutant n’ont pas été restauré lorsque les cellules sont cultivées dans des milieux avec différents pH ou avec différentes concentrations de sel. Enfin, une analyse génétique a révélé que le mutant nhx1Δ montre un phénotype distinct d’autres mutants qui ont un défaut dans le trafic entre le compartiment pré-vacuolaire et l’appareil de Golgi quand ces cellules sont traitées avec différents agents. Cette analyse prouve que la sensibilité de nhx1Δ aux différents agents n’est pas liée au trafic entre le compartiment pré-vacuolaire et l’appareil de Golgi. / Nhx1 is an intracellular Na+/H+ exchanger localized to the late endosome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is believed that Nhx1 plays a major role in pH-mediated vesicle trafficking, as nhx1Δ mutant is defective in maintaining the intracellular pH in the vacuoles and cytoplasm when grown in low osmolarity media. In this work, we reported novel drug sensitivities of the nhx1Δ mutant to a range of cationic and anionic agents when cells are grown in rich media. Unlike the low osmolarity media, the nhx1Δ mutant showed no sensitivity to salt. Furthermore, we showed that the drug phenotypes of the nhx1Δ mutant, as well as the secretion of the vacuolar protein carboxypeptidase Y, were not rescued by either altering the pH or salt concentration. Although, amino acid substitution of the phylogenetically conserved residue Glu355 for Ala (E355A) in Nhx1 resulted in sensitivity to genotoxic drug bleomycin, it was not observed for the non-conserved residue Glu371Ala (E371A). Moreover, genetic analysis revealed that the nhx1Δ mutant displayed distinct drug phenotypes in comparison to mutants that are defective in retrograde trafficking from the prevacuole to the late Golgi, excluding the possibility that the drug sensitivity of the nhx1Δ mutant is related to retrograde trafficking.

Les prothèses myoélectriques modernes peuvent être dotées de plusieurs degrés de liberté ce qui nécessite plusieurs signaux musculaires pour en exploiter pleinement les capacités. Pour obtenir plus de signaux, il nous a semblé prometteur d'expérimenter si les 6 compartiments du biceps brachial pouvaient être mis sous tension de façon volontaire et obtenir ainsi 6 signaux de contrôle au lieu d'un seul comme actuellement. Des expériences ont donc été réalisées avec 10 sujets normaux. Des matrices d'électrodes ont été placées en surface au-dessus du chef court et long du biceps pour recueillir les signaux électromyographiques (EMG) générés par le muscle lors de contractions effectuées alors que les sujets étaient soit assis, le coude droit fléchi ~ 100 ° ou debout avec le bras droit tendu à l'horizontale dans le plan coronal (sur le côté). Dans ces deux positions, la main était soit en supination, soit en position neutre, soit en pronation. L'amplitude des signaux captés au-dessus du chef court du muscle a été comparée à ceux obtenus à partir du chef long. Pour visualiser la forme du biceps sous les électrodes l'imagerie ultrasonore a été utilisée. En fonction de la tâche à accomplir, l'activité EMG a était plus importante soit dans un chef ou dans l'autre. Le fait de pouvoir activer préférentiellement l'un des 2 chefs du biceps, même si ce n'est pas encore de façon complètement indépendante, suggère que l'utilisation sélective des compartiments pourrait être une avenue possible pour faciliter le contrôle des prothèses myoélectriques du membre supérieur. / The latest myoelectric prostheses have several degrees of freedom and therefore require a large number of myoelectric signals to fully exploit their capabilities. Muscle compartments, which are intra-muscular subdivisions innervated by an individual muscle nerve branch, can be exploited to provide additional independent muscle control sites to operate such prostheses. This research presents a work to investigate the activation of the 6 biceps brachii compartments in healthy subjects to see if they have the ability to activate those compartments voluntarily. Therefore, electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from an array of seven and ten pairs of equally spaced surface electrodes positioned across the short and long head of the biceps of ten healthy subjects. The EMG signals are collected in two positions: 1) with the subject seated, right elbow flexed ~100°, and 2) with the subject standing with the right arm extended horizontally in the coronal plane (90°shoulder abduction). In both positions, the hand is either fully supinated, neutral, or fully pronated. The average root mean square value of the EMG signals obtained from the pairs of electrodes positioned over the short head are compared with the average obtained for the other pairs placed over the biceps long head. Ultrasound imaging also used to visualize the long and short heads of the biceps in flexed and extended arm while the hand was in different postures. Depending on the task to be accomplished, activity was larger in one head or in the other. Being able to activate either head of the biceps, while not yet completely independently, suggests that the selective use of compartments could be a possible avenue for controlling upper limb myoelectric prostheses.

La simulation devient un outil incontournable pour concevoir ou optimiser les procédés en biotechnologies. Elle est particulièrement pertinente pour permettre le changement d'échelle de l'échelle laboratoire à la mise en œuvre de cultures biologiques industrielles. Cette thèse se concentre sur le développement d'une structure de modèle pour les fermenteurs, qui ne néglige ni les problématiques de mélange, ni la complexité biologique, tout en permettant des simulations rapides. Pour intégrer l'ensemble des phénomènes couplés et dynamiques interagissant dans les bioréacteurs, l'approche proposée couple (i) un modèle métabolique dynamique pour décrire le comportement des cellules, (ii) un modèle de bilan de population pour suivre la diversité biologique et (iii) un modèle de compartiments pour décrire l'hydrodynamique du fermenteur. Une structure de modèle métabolique, générique et numériquement peu couteuse a été appliquée à E. coli et S. cerevisiae et été confrontée avec succès à de nombreuses données expérimentales. Parmi plusieurs méthodes numériques permettant de traiter les équations de bilan de population, la méthode EQMOM a été sélectionnée pour sa stabilité et sa précision et son coût a été réduit d'un facteur 10. L'hydrodynamique gaz-liquide d'un fermenteur industriel a été obtenue par simulations CFD et des outils ont été développés pour en extraire des modèles de compartiments. Le couplage de ces différents aspects a finalement été illustré par la simulation d'une culture industrielle. Ce travail ouvre la voie à la création d'outil de simulation rapide, ce qui permettra des études d'ingénierie de design et d'optimisation de procédés industriels. / Simulations are becoming an essential tool to design and improve processes in the field of biotechnologies. They are especially relevant to facilitate the scale-up of biological cultures from laboratory to industrial scales which is a key difficulty as of now. This thesis focuses on developping a model structure for fermenters, which does not neglect either mixing issues known to occur in industrial bioreactor, nor biological complexity inherent to micro-organisms, while enabling fast and low-cost simulations. To account for all coupled and dynamic phenomena that occur in bioreactors, the developed approach couples (i) a dynamic metabolic model to describe cells behaviour, (ii) a population balance model tracking biological cell-to-cell diversity and (iii) a compartment model to account for fermenter hydrodynamics. A structure for low-cost dynamic metabolic model has been developed, applied to E. coli and S. cerevisiae and successfully challenged against experimental data. Among multiple numerical methods tackling population balance equations, the EQMOM method has been selected for its stability and precision, and its algorithm has been improved by reducing its cost by a factor 10. The gas-liquid hydrodynamics of an industrial fermenter has been obtained through CFD simulations, and tools have been developed to extract compartment model from these simulation results. Finally, the coupling between all these modeling blocks has been demonstrated by simulating an actual industrial culture. This work paves the way to the emergence of fast bioreactor simulation tools, which will then enable new enginnering studies for designing and optimising industrial bio-processes.

Este trabalho visa o estudo de uma metodologia de simulação numérica aplicada ao processo de troca térmica do motor de um veículo de passeio. O processo de troca térmica é essencial para evitar o superaquecimento do motor, que provoca o rompimento do filme de óleo lubrificante dos pistões e, conseqüentemente, o seu travamento. Essa metodologia será útil nos estudos preliminares do sistema de arrefecimento de um veículo na fase inicial de projeto por meio de simulações virtuais, o que possibilitará a redução de protótipos, além de proporcionar um ganho em tempo de resposta. A metodologia utiliza um programa comercial de CFD para a simulação do processo de troca térmica no interior do compartimento do motor do veículo. As simulações foram realizadas com base nos testes físicos em túnel de vento que fazem parte do desenvolvimento e projeto de automóveis em condições de operação que representam situações críticas integrantes da vida operacional. Essas condições operacionais de teste, tais como a velocidade do veículo, as cargas térmicas, a potência dos ventiladores e outros parâmetros foram utilizadas como condições de contorno na validação do modelo do veículo. O processo de validação de modelos é composto por: validações de itens isolados do sistema de arrefecimento, avaliação do efeito da densidade de malha computacional de um modelo completo na vazão de ar nos trocadores de calor e simplificações no modelo para a redução do tempo de processamento. Neste trabalho três modelos distintos de veículos foram utilizados, sendo que dois deles para a validação na comparação com os resultados de túnel vento, enquanto o terceiro modelo foi utilizado para a validação da metodologia através de comparações com os dados obtidos nos testes em pista circular. Os resultados das simulações mostraram variações máximas de 5,5% na temperatura do líquido de arrefecimento na entrada do radiador em relação aos testes. A metodologia de simulação mostrou ser uma poderosa ferramenta de otimização durante a fase de desenvolvimento do projeto e complementando os testes físicos para o sistema de arrefecimento veicular. / The present work is applied to a development of a numerical simulation methodology for a passenger vehicle engine cooling process. The heat exchange process is essential to avoid the engine overheat which may result in the piston oil film separation and consequently its halt. This methodology will be useful for the preliminary studies of the cooling system at the initial phase through the virtual simulations which can reduce the number of prototypes and save proposals\' time response. The methodology uses commercial CFD software for airflow simulation and the thermal process at under hood. The simulations were based on the physical wind tunnel tests that are part of the automotive development, with operational conditions representing critical situations experienced by a vehicle in its operating life. The test conditions, such as vehicle speed, thermal loads, fan power and other parameters were used as the boundary conditions for the model validation. The validation process is based on the following phases: validation of the isolated cooling system components, the effect of mesh density at cooling airflow using a complete vehicle model and model simplification in order to improve the processing time. In this work development, three different models were used; two of them for validation with test tunnel data and the third, was used for methodology validation through the circular road test. The simulation results for tunnel and circular road showed 5.5% of differences for the radiator coolant inlet temperature when compared with physical tests. The methodology of the simulation is a powerful tool for optimization during the development phase and complementing the physical tests for the vehicle cooling systems.

Comparar a qualidade da imagem entre a ultrassonografia transvaginal sem preparo intestinal e após preparo intestinal nas pacientes com suspeita de endometriose infiltrativa profunda do compartimento posterior e avaliar do grau de desconforto das pacientes em relação ao preparo intestinal. Estudo transversal com dados coletados prospectivamente, incluindo 39 pacientes com suspeita clínica de endometriose do compartimento posterior do ambulatório de Endometriose do Hospital Universitário Pedro Ernesto (HUPE) da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), no Rio de Janeiro. As pacientes foram submetidas à ultrassonografia transvaginal (USTVG) sem preparo intestinal prévio, seguido de nova USTVG uma hora após realização do enema retal. Os vídeos dos exames gravados foram editados, com ênfase na avaliação do compartimento posterior, com interesse na identificação do nódulo retrocervical e do retossigmóide. Foram graduados conforme a qualidade da imagem pelo examinador e por um radiologista (ambos mascarados), que marcaram uma nota de 0 a 10, usando a escala analógica visual. Restaram apenas 26 pacientes. Em relação ao desconforto devido a realização do enema retal, todas pacientes (100%) relataram apenas um desconforto discreto. Conforme a opção escolhida pelos avaliadores em relação ao melhor método, eles concordaram em 13 (50%) pacientes que a ultrassonografia transvaginal com preparo retal é melhor. Foi usado o teste não-paramétrico de Wilcoxon para amostras dependentes. O p-valor obtido foi de 0.042, considerado significativo (abaixo de 0.05). Isto significa que a realização do enema retal antes da realização da ultrassonografia transvaginal proporcionou uma qualidade melhor na avaliação dos nódulos. A diferença entre as avaliações com e sem preparo retal é maior nos nódulos menores que 2cm, porque encontramos a diferença de 1,1 entre os valores das medianas dos dois tipos de exames. Nos nódulos maiores que 2cm, a diferença encontrada foi de apenas 0,65. A realização do enema retal previamente à realização da ultrassonografia transvaginal no diagnóstico do nódulo endometriótico mostra uma melhora discretamente significativa na qualidade da imagem, comparativamente a não realização de preparo intestinal prévio. Somente nos casos onde o nódulo era menor que 2 cm, foram encontrados valores estatisticamente significativos com o preparo retal. O enema retal causa discreto desconforto, porém isto não parece ser um fator limitante na realização da ultrassonografia com preparo intestinal. / To compare image quality between the transvaginal ultrasound without bowel preparation and after bowel preparation in patients with suspected deep infiltrating endometriosis of the posterior compartment and evaluate the degree of discomfort of patients in relation to bowel preparation. Cross sectional data collected prospectively, including 39 patients with clinical suspicion of endometriosis of the posterior compartment of the endometriosis clinic of the Hospital Universitário Pedro Ernesto (HUPE) State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), in Rio de Janeiro . The patients underwent transvaginal sonography (USTVG) without prior bowel preparation, followed by new USTVG one hour after completion of the rectal enema. The recorded videos of the tests were published, with emphasis on evaluation of the posterior compartment, with interest in the identification of the nodule retrocervical and rectosigmoid. Were graded according to the quality of the image by the examiner and by a radiologist (both masked), which marked a score from 0 to 10, using the visual analog scale. That left only 26 patients. Regarding the realization of discomfort due to rectal enema, all patients (100%) reported only mild discomfort. Depending on the option chosen by the evaluators regarding the best method, they agreed in 13 (50%) patients with transvaginal ultrasound rectal preparation is better. We used the nonparametric Wilcoxon test for dependent samples. The p-value obtained was 0042 and considered significant (less than 0.05). This means that the completion of rectal enema prior to the transvaginal ultrasound provided a better quality in the evaluation of nodules. The difference between evaluations with and without rectal preparation is higher in nodules smaller than 2 cm, because we found a difference of 1.1 between the median values of the two types of tests. In nodules larger than 2cm, the difference was only 0.65. The performance of the rectal enema prior to the performance of transvaginal sonography in the diagnosis of endometriotic nodule shows a slightly significant improvement in image quality, compared to non-completion of bowel preparation prior. Only in cases where the lump was less than 2 cm were found statistically significant values with rectal preparation. The rectal enema cause mild discomfort, but this does not seem to be a limiting factor in the performance of ultrasound with bowel preparation