Introduction  Crohn's Disease is a chronic and idiopathic inflammatory process with transmural invasion that can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract. The etiopathogenesis of this pathology is not fully understood and studies have been carried out to understand the influence of different kind of factors on its development, including appendectomy. This monograph aims to address the possible existence of a link between appendectomy and Crohn's Disease, and the possible causes and clinical consequences of this association. Methods  This monograph was based on the research of original scientific articles in MEDLINE database via PubMed, restricted to articles in Portuguese and English during the period between 1991 and 2017. Results  Appendectomy seems positively associated with the development of Crohn's Disease, especially in the first years of surgery, regardless of whether or not there is inflammation of the appendix. In fact, the appendix plays important roles in gastrointestinal integrity, acting in the development of an adequate immune response, maintaining and regulating the intestinal flora. Conclusion  The appendix is important for intestinal homeostasis, preventing the development of certain pathologies. Its resection, regardless of whether or not there is an inflammation after surgery, increases the risk of Crohn's Disease and worsens the prognosis of this pathology, so appendectomy should be avoided in the absence of appendicitis.

Electric mobility with all of its advantages has gained momentum during the last decade with increasing utilization by many sectors of the society. However, professional fleets 19 operators (e.g. taxis) are still conservative in switching to this new mobility paradigm. In this paper, we empirically evaluate whether electric vehicles together with normal charging speeds could replace current internal combustion engine vehicles for taxi mobility and study the implications for the taxi business. To perform this study we resort to a detailed and large mobility dataset of a taxi fleet collected in a mid-sized European city. The results provide a first indication that such transition towards electric mobility is feasible for the vast majority of the vehicles of the fleet and that simple AC chargers at taxi stands could suffice to provide the necessary range autonomy.