Congenital mitral stenosis is a rare anomaly. We report successful surgical management of congenital mitral stenosis in a patient with Kabuki syndrome. A 15-month-old male with Kabuki syndrome was referred and echocardiography showed isolated congenital mitral stenosis. The valve was not repairable as it was showing severe stenotic features in multilevel fashion. Valve was replaced with mechanical valve. Postoperative course was uneventful without any rhythm problem and he has been doing well clinically during the 25 months follow-up with regular international normalized ratio checks.

Magnesite pebbles in Miocene lacustrine conglomerates in northwest Turkey have been partially to totally replaced by sepiolite. Only 5% of the magnesite pebbles have been converted to essentially pure sepiolite; the rest represent mixtures of magnesite and sepiolite. This process of sepiolitization is documented by X-ray diffraction (XRD), chemical, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. These techniques show that the sepiolitization proceeds from the rim towards the core of the pebbles. The conglomerates, with pebbles of magnesite and ultramafic rocks, were deposited in a near-shore environment on the margin of a large Miocene lake with an ophiolitic substratum. The diagenetic transformation of magnesite to sepiolite is believed to have been caused by the interaction of mixed meteoric and lacustrine waters, which were undersaturated with respect to magnesite. The sepiolitization occurred during the highstands of the lake, when the near-shore conglomerates were flooded by the silica-rich lake waters. The pH of the water during the sepiolitization was probably on the order of 10.5–11.5. The sedimentary magnesite beds in the center of the Miocene basin show no sepiolitization, which is explained by the presence of pore water saturated with respect to magnesite.

The magnesite-sepiolite replacement process is chemically modeled as a 4-stage process from dimerization to polymerization.

Çayırbağı magnesite is one of numerous magnesite deposits occurring throughout Turkey. In this deposit, sepiolite and newly found stevensite occur locally as two daughter minerals formed from magnesite. The sepiolite and stevensite show distinctive compositions and modes of formation compared to those described in the literature. The objective of the current study was to characterize these minerals by means of mineralogic, thermal, structural, geochemical, and textural analyses and to describe their mechanisms of formation. The geology, mineralogy, and geochemistry were examined by field work followed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential thermal (DTA), and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses. Chemical analyses were performed by means of electron microprobe (EMPA), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The XRD analyses showed that the d110 of the sepiolite was at 12.64 Å and at 13 Å after air-drying and ethylene-glycol solvation, respectively. Identification of the sepiolite as sepiolite-13 Å was supported by FTIR and TG-DTA data. Chemical analyses showed an ideal composition with a structural formula of (Ca0.05K0.02)(Mg7.79Al0.10□0.11)Si12O30(OH)4. Stevensite displayed distinctive results for XRD, FTIR, and thermal characteristics. The structural formula of stevensite was: (Ca0.01Na0.20K0.04)(Mg1.90Al0.30Fe3+0.37Ti0.01□0.43)(Si3.93Al0.07)O10(OH)2, indicating a layer charge arising mainly from octahedral sheets. Field and SEM observations demonstrated that sepiolite was formed from magnesite by transformation via a dissolution–precipitation mechanism. Descending surface waters were responsible for this transformation. Thick magnesite veins were partly replaced whereas in thin veins sepiolite replaced the overall mass. Both surface waters with high Si, low Al and Fe activities, and pH values of 8–9.5 were responsible for sepiolite formation. Stevensite was formed similarly to sepiolite with respect to the mechanism and parent mineral under permanent groundwater; where both Si, Fe, Al activities and pH (>9.5) were high.

Russell and Burch's Three Rs principle of replacement, reduction and refinement offers a useful concept for the scientific and ethical evaluation of the use of animals in scientific procedures. Replacement, reduction and refinement are often considered separately, but when applied, one of the Three Rs may have a positive or negative effect on one or both of the other Rs. This paper explores the interplay between the Three Rs and provides examples where the Three Rs have a positive interaction and where they are in conflict with each other. For example, all Three Rs positively interact in the use of cell cultures, but validation studies of replacement techniques may initially increase the numbers of animals used; therefore replacement and reduction are in conflict. Several models of cost-benefit analyses, used by animal ethics committees to justify or reject animal experimentation, contain elements such as quality and significance of the research, the credibility of the research group and the discomfort caused to the animals. Although these models consider the Three Rs, each R is considered independently of the others. Consequently, moral dilemmas may arise when reviewing proposals in which the Three Rs conflict. Currently there is no legal guidance relating to the prioritisation of the Three Rs, but guidance is required to facilitate their use. For example, does a significant reduction in animal numbers justify increased individual suffering? Moral justifications deserve more attention when considering the Three Rs in general, and when considering the application of one or more Rs to a procedure, to a protocol, or to the wider research programme.

Galena–tetrahedrite intergrowth textures have been observed in some quenched run products of melting experiments conducted at 500 and 600°C in the systems ZnS–PbS–FeS–Cu2S–Sb2S3 and ZnS–PbS–FeS–Cu2S–Sb2S3–As2S3, using the evacuated silica-tube method. At 600°C the intergrowth formed an interface between sulfide melt and galena, whereas at 500°C it existed as inclusions partially embedded or completely embedded within tetrahedrite. At 600°C tetrahedrite was absent in PbS-bearing experiments, instead galena and melt were a part of the equilibrium phase assemblage. From the disposition of the galena–tetrahedrite intergrowths at 500°C it is evident that droplets of galena–tetrahedrite melt coexisted with tetrahedrite or tetrahedrite + galena and gave rise to these intergrowths upon quenching. The intergrowths coexisting with galena probably represent compositions on the galena-rich liquidus in the galena–tetrahedrite binary and those coexisting with tetrahedrite represent points on the tetrahedrite-rich liquidus. A eutectic at galena:tetrahedrite = ~30:70, very close to 500°C is apparent. It is clearly indicated that galena–tetrahedrite intergrowths can be formed by sulfide partial melting, and could be used as a potential indicator of partial melting in metamorphosed sulfide ore deposits.

Some important and interesting data on the O, C and Sr isotopic compositions of rocks associated with the Bayan Obo Fe-Nb-REE deposit have been reported by Le Bas et al. (1997). However, a number of points relating to the interpretation of these data, and also to the terminology adopted, are worthy of further discussion. The essence of this discussion is that some of the geochemical and isotopic signatures found at Bayan Obo are not exclusively consistent with an igneous origin. A replacement hypothesis involving deep-sourced fluids could also explain the pattern of data, if minor carbonatitic intrusions into a sedimentary sequence are considered.

Kidney stones consisting predominantly of whewellite (calcium oxalate monohydrate, COM) are often found attached to hydroxylapatite (HA) plaques that form in the soft tissue of kidneys, cause lesions and become exposed to urine. Although the processes of stone formation are not entirely known, it is an established view that so-called Randall’s plaques serve as substrates for COM crystal nucleation and growth from correspondingly supersaturated urine. However, the results presented here suggest an additional mineral replacement process is involved. In an experimental approach, HA was reacted in 0.25 mM, 0.5 mM and 1.0 mM oxalate solutions with pH ranging from 4.5 to 7.5, simulating normal to harsh conditions encountered in urine. Extremely acidic solutions induce dissolution of HA crystals coupled with re-precipitation of the released Ca2+ ions as COM on the HA surface. When, instead, bone was used as a substrate, being more similar to the pathological plaque (aggregated HA nanocrystals within an organic matrix), the HA-COM mineral-replacement reaction is induced even under much milder fluid conditions, commonly found in urine. Hence, a process of COM partly replacing and encrusting Randall’s plaque may take place in the urinary tract of idiopathic stone formers, representing a potential starting event for nephrolithiasis.

In vein material from the abandoned copper mine at Dhurode, County Cork, Republic of Ireland, the sulphosalt meneghinite is partly replaced by later minerals, notably a symplectite of galena and bournonite. Mineral analyses and proportions indicate that the bulk Pb/Sb ratio in the symplectite is almost identical to that of the meneghinite. It is inferred that Pb and Sb were the relatively immobile elements whose short-range segregation controlled the scale of symplectite intergrowth, during a diffusive replacement reaction in which Cu and S were added from the vein-forming fluid. This is the second sulphosalt-bearing symplectite for which immobile elements have been identified. In both cases, the inferred replacement reaction causes a volume increase, approximately 15% in the present example.

Massive chromitite, banded chromitite and disseminated chromite grains are found in a ˜3800 Ma layered ultrabasic body in West Greenland. The major part of the ultrabasite is dominated by dunite. In the upper exposed part, harzburgite and sheets of gabbro-anorthosite occur. Chromite grains in dunites, and in massive and banded chromitites are homogeneous, with increasing Fe contents upwards in the intrusion. In harzburgites chromites show unusual and very complex textural relationships, with two generations ofchromites one replacing the other, and both exhibiting exsolution textures. In harzburgites, an Fe-rich chromite crystallized first. This first chromite exsolved two spinel phases in a very fine-scale pattern and ilmenite lamellae in a trellis pattern. The Fe-rich chromite was later partly replaced by Al-rich chromite, which crystallized contemporaneously with formation of a late gabbro-anorthositic melt. Subsequently, the Al-rich chromite exsolved a very fine-scale magnetite-rich phase. The exsolutions in the first generation chromite were formed under magmatic conditions. Exsolution of ilmenite lamellae in Fe-rich spinel was caused by oxidation under magmatic conditions.

Manganotantalite replacement by (1) microlite and (2) ferrotantalite, and changes in composition of uranoan microlite from rare-metal pegmatites in South Africa and Namibia have been investigated with the electron microprobe. A uranmicrolite from Karibib, Namibia contained 14.35% UO2, 1.03% PbO, 56.12% Ta2O5, 13.18% Nb2O5, 0.58% Fe2O3, 6.87% CaO, 0.54% SrO, 0.59% MnO, 0.86% Na2O and 0.47% F. Analyses along traverses across a 1.3 mm uranoan microlite, Tantalite Valley, Namibia, revealed two essentially distinct compositions: a more hydrated rim area of 200 µm radius containing 7% higher Ta2O5, 10% lower CaO and 1.3% lower F than a main central area of slightly variable composition. Back-scattered electron images reveal zoning and distinctive subspheroidal structures. New data and structural features are given for radioactive uranoan microlite from Namaqualand, South Africa. These crystals contain remnants of a bismuth phase and are in various stages of replacement. In the microlites replacing manganotantalite, the microlite reflects the composition of the replaced mineral. At Rubicon Mine, Karibib, a narrow marginal zone of mangantantalite is replaced by ferrotantalite along cleavages; a zone of intermediate composition is apparent. Detailed traverses have been completed across all of these crystals.

During chemical weathering and natural hydrothermal reactions, apatite can form by replacing calcium carbonates. In hydrothermal experiments in which aragonite and calcite single crystals have been reacted with phosphate solutions, the carbonates are replaced by polycrystalline hydroxylapatite (HAP). In both cases the crystals have retained their overall morphology while their compositions have changed significantly. The HAP appears to have a crystallographic relationship to the parent carbonate crystals. The textural relationships are consistent with an interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation mechanism. Structural relationships and relative molar volumes and solubilities appear to be factors that greatly affect replacement reactions.

Experiments were performed to investigate the transformation of natural aragonite crystals to calcite by reaction with aqueous solutions of calcium carbonate at hydrothermal conditions for different periods of time. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and Laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) were used to characterize the reaction product. The results indicate that the replacement of aragonite by calcite follows an interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation mechanism.

Macro- and micro-perthitic microclines from pegmatites from Perth, Ontario (Wards catalogue 46 E 0510) and Keystone, South Dakota (Wards 46 E 5125) have been studied using light and electron microscopy. A sample of the type perthite from Perth, Ontario (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, M2361)was compared using light microscopy. It differs in bulk composition and microtexture from the Wards sample. The Perth sample from Wards is a mesoperthite, with sub-periodic ∼mm-thick albite veins near (100), with irregular surfaces. The microcline has regular tartan twins and formed fromorthoclase by a continuous process. The Keystone sample is a microperthite, with non-periodic albite veins mainly in {110}. Irregular tartan twins, volumes of irregular microcline and subgrains suggest that the microcline formed by dissolution–reprecipitation. Microcline in both samplescontains semicoherent cryptoperthitic albite films that formed after the development of tartan twins. The bulk compositions of these intergrowths imply exsolution below ∼400°C. Diffusion parameters imply sustained heating for between 0.11 My at 400°C, 1.5 GPa and 8.4 My at 300°C,1 GPa. Unrealistic times are required at 200°C. Subsequently, the crystals reacted with a fluid leading to replacive growth of the vein perthites. Unusually, Albite twin composition planes in replacive subgrains have sub-periodic dislocations, formed by coalescence of advancing growthtwins. Processes that might lead to periodic, replacive intergrowths are discussed. The Perth and Keystone feldspars have been used for experimental work on dissolution during weathering and on anomalous thermoluminescence fading. Their microtextures make them unsuitable for obtaining propertiesthat can be extrapolated to feldspars in general.