Nasal obstruction in neonates: Two cases report of congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis

A Estenose Congénita do Orifício Piriforme (ECOP) é uma causa rara de obstrução nasal no recém-nascido, um respirador nasal obrigatório, e por isso potencialmente fatal. Obriga a diagnóstico diferencial com causas mais comuns como a atrésia choanal. Na clínica predominam a apneia episódica e a cianose cíclica, sendo o diagnóstico confirmado imagiologicamente. Pode surgir isoladamente ou associada a alterações crâniofaciais, hipopituitarismo e cromossomopatias. A correcção cirúrgica impõe-se face ao insucesso do tratamento médico. Este artigo tem por objectivo relatar dois casos clínicos de ECOP. O primeiro caso foi diagnosticado à nascença, não apresentava patologia concomitante e estabilizou clinicamente apenas com terapêutica médica. O segundo caso relata lactente de 3 meses, cujo estudo imagiológico identificou dente incisivo superior mediano único, como malformação associada. Pela gravidade da obstrução nasal a abordagem exigiu, para além da terapêutica nasal tópica, a correcção cirúrgica da estenose. Ambas as crianças encontram-se clinicamente beminfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nasosinusal Mucormycosis - Clinical Reports and Literature Review

A mucormicose e uma infecção fúngica potencialmente grave,causada por fungo saprófita. Pode tornar-se patogénico, em condições específicas, com evolução frequentemente fatal, particularmente em indivíduos imunocomprometidos. A doença inicia-se com a inalação do fungo para os seios perinasais. 0 fungo pode invadir o palato, os seios perinasais, o seio cavernoso, as órbitas e cavidade craniana. A chave para uma terapêutica de sucesso inclui, a suspeição c1ínica e diagnóstico precoces e a estabilização das comorbilidades, em conjunto com uma terapêutica médica e cirúrgica agressivas. Apresentamos três casos c1ínicos de mucormicose rino-sinusal em doentes imunocomprometidos (sexo masculino), com idade media de 70 anos, com diagnóstico histopatologico de mucormicose, tratados no último ano (2009), no Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia do Hospital de S.José.Todos os doentes foram tratados com anfotericina B lipossómica e dois deles, foram submetidos a desbridamento cirúrgico, o desfecho foi fatal em dois dos doentes. A mucormicose caracteriza-se por um quadro c1ínico grave, que exige um diagnóstico precise e tratamento rápido, já que apresenta mortalidade elevada, não só pelas características da infecção, mas também pelas condições subjacentes aos doentes

A Mesozoic bird from Gondwana preserving feathers

The fossil record of birds in the Mesozoic of Gondwana is mostly based on isolated and often poorly preserved specimens, none of which has preserved details on feather anatomy. We provide the description of a fossil bird represented by a skeleton with feathers from the Early Cretaceous of Gondwana (NE Brazil). The specimen sheds light on the homology and 3D structure of the rachis-dominated feathers, previously known from two-dimensional slabs. The rectrices exhibit a row of rounded spots, probably corresponding to some original colour pattern. The specimen supports the identification of the feather scapus as the rachis, which is notably robust and elliptical in cross-section. In spite of its juvenile nature, the tail plumage resembles the feathering of adult individuals of modern birds. Documentation of rachis-dominated tail in South American enantiornithines broadens the paleobiogeographic distribution of basal birds with this tail feather morphotype, up to now only reported from China.Fil: De Souza Carvalho, Ismar. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Novas, Fernando Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Agnolin, Federico. Universidad Maimónides; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Isasi, Marcelo Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentina. Universidad Maimónides; ArgentinaFil: Freitas, Francisco I.. Geopark Araripe; BrasilFil: Andrade, José A.. No especifíca

Motivations for seeking experimental treatment in Japan

In this article on innovative medical treatment for serious conditions in Japan we aim to revise two widespread notions: first, that people living with severe conditions are all waiting for a cure or are impatient to try out experimental treatment, in particular regenerative medicine. Showing that motivations for cure seeking are complex and linked to somatic identity, we argue that gaining a cure also means a new social normality, which for some people narrows the only normality that is meaningful to them; and, second, that people living with a serious (latent) condition necessarily define their lives as not normal in the light of normalization. People with a condition conceptualise normal life variously and multiply in the light of both individual and collective experiences. The two revisions are crucial to attempts at understanding what makes people seek experimental medicine. Comparing the narratives of people with four different conditions – spinal cord injury, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Diabetes Mellitus type 1 and cardiovascular disease – it becomes clear that the difference between seeking treatment or not largely depends on somatic identities; rather than through notions of (ab)normality, it is more adequately understood in terms of the experience of somatic lacking and wholeness

Histological evidence for a supraspinous ligament in sauropod dinosaurs

Supraspinous ossified rods have been reported in the sacra of some derived sauropod dinosaurs. Although different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin ofthis structure, histological evidence has never been provided to support or reject any of them. In order to establish its origin, we analyse and characterize the microstructure of thesupraspinous rod of two sauropod dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. The supraspinous ossified rod is almost entirely formed by dense Haversian bone. Remains ofprimary bone consist entirely of an avascular tissue composed of two types of fibre-like structures, which are coarse and longitudinally (parallel to the main axis of the element) oriented. These structures are differentiated on the basis of their optical properties under polarized light. Very thin fibrous strands are also observed in some regions. These small fibres are all oriented parallel to one another but perpendicular to the element main axis. Histological features of the primary bone tissue indicate that the sacral supraspinous rod corresponds to an ossified supraspinous ligament. The formation of this structure appears to have been a non-pathological metaplastic ossification, possibly induced by the continuous tensile forces applied to the element.Fil: Cerda, Ignacio Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Casal, Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, Rubén Darío. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia ; ArgentinaFil: Ibiricu, Lucio Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin

New Forearm Elements Discovered of Holotype Specimen Australovenator wintonensis from Winton, Queensland, Australia

New skeletal elements are reported of the holotype specimen Australovenator wintonensis, from the type locality, near Winton, central western Queensland. New elements include left and right humeri, right radius, right radiale, right distal carpal 1, near complete right metacarpal I, left manual phalanx II-1, left manual phalanx II-2, near complete left manual phalanx II-3 and a left manual phalanx III-3. These new elements combined with those previously described are compared against other neovenatorids

Prevention is better than cure, but...: Preventive medication as a risk to ordinariness?

Preventive health remains at the forefront of public health concerns; recent initiatives, such as the NHS health check, may lead to recommendations for medication in response to the identification of 'at risk' individuals. Little is known about lay views of preventive medication. This paper uses the case of aspirin as a prophylactic against heart disease to explore views among people invited to screening for a trial investigating the efficacy of such an approach. Qualitative interviews (N=46) and focus groups (N=5, participants 31) revealed dilemmas about preventive medication in the form of clashes between norms: first, in general terms, assumptions about the benefit of prevention were complicated by dislike of medication; second, the individual duty to engage in prevention was complicated by the need not to be over involved with one's own health; third, the potential appeal of this alternative approach to health promotion was complicated by unease about the implications of encouraging irresponsible behaviour among others. Though respondents made different decisions about using the drug, they reported very similar ways of trying to resolve these conflicts, drawing upon concepts of necessity and legitimisation and the special ordinariness of the particular dru

A Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Ischigualasto Formation (Triassic, Carnian) and the Early Evolution of Sauropodomorpha

BACKGROUND: The earliest dinosaurs are from the early Late Triassic (Carnian) of South America. By the Carnian the main clades Saurischia and Ornithischia were already established, and the presence of the most primitive known sauropodomorph Saturnalia suggests also that Saurischia had already diverged into Theropoda and Sauropodomorpha. Knowledge of Carnian sauropodomorphs has been restricted to this single species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We describe a new small sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Ischigualsto Formation (Carnian) in northwest Argentina, Panphagia protos gen. et sp. nov., on the basis of a partial skeleton. The genus and species are characterized by an anteroposteriorly elongated fossa on the base of the anteroventral process of the nasal; wide lateral flange on the quadrate with a large foramen; deep groove on the lateral surface of the lower jaw surrounded by prominent dorsal and ventral ridges; bifurcated posteroventral process of the dentary; long retroarticular process transversally wider than the articular area for the quadrate; oval scars on the lateral surface of the posterior border of the centra of cervical vertebrae; distinct prominences on the neural arc of the anterior cervical vertebra; distal end of the scapular blade nearly three times wider than the neck; scapular blade with an expanded posterodistal corner; and medial lamina of brevis fossa twice as wide as the iliac spine. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We regard Panphagia as the most basal sauropodomorph, which shares the following apomorphies with Saturnalia and more derived sauropodomorphs: basally constricted crowns; lanceolate crowns; teeth of the anterior quarter of the dentary higher than the others; and short posterolateral flange of distal tibia. The presence of Panphagia at the base of the early Carnian Ischigualasto Formation suggests an earlier origin of Sauropodomorpha during the Middle Triassic