The educational value, both past and present, of an ancient scientific collection: the collection of anatomical preparations illustrating the various phases of bone development, from the second month of intrauterine life to adulthood

Italy’s museums possess an enormous patrimony of historical scientific artefacts. This raises important questions regarding the conservation and safeguard of such materials and prompts reflection as to the utility of current modalities of popularising science. The collections housed in scientific museums were created in order to promote scientific education by making science more accessible and more comprehensible. The authors ask whether this heritage can still be used for educational purposes today, and examine a collection of preparations on the ossification of human bones in the Anatomical Museum of the University of Siena. They conclude that such materials can still be of educational value if they are made part of exhibitions that meet the needs of the public and of students in training. Indeed, it is essential to bear witness to the long pathway of the development of scientific knowledge and, in particular, to the value of the research on which this knowledge is based. Through the implementation of ad hoc exhibitions, this precious historical scientific patrimony can continue to play an important role in presenting medical/healthcare issues of topical interest without losing sight of the relevance of past experience to basic teaching

mini invasive surgery in the first three years of life

Background: In the last 30 years mini-invasive surgery (MIS) has been widely used becoming an important and irreplaceable method, safe and highly reliable, in both the diagnostic and therapeutic treatment, for a variety of conditions in both the child and the newborn. This has led to a significant increase of the use of this approach in the pediatric population under the age of 3 years, with results similar to the open techniques. Materials and Methods: At the Department of Surgery, Medicine and Neuroscience at the University of Siena we conducted a retrospective study of patients aged less than three years of life underwent minimally invasive procedures. The clinical information was extrapolated from a prospective database. They included all patients treated from June 2003 to October 2014. Were considered for each patient demographics, associated diseases, surgical procedure, MIS approach, the instruments used, the duration of surgery and hospitalization, intraoperative and postoperative complications (early and late). Results: From a total of 933 minimally invasive procedures, 150 (16%) were performed under the age of 3 years. The 76% of patients were males, 24% were females. Twenty-two patients (15%) presented associated diseases. 53 (35%) were diagnostic procedures, 97 (65%) were therapeutic procedures. We treated: 1 3 esophageal atresia, 1 diaphragmatic hernia, 1 congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM), 8 stenosis of the ureteropelvic junction , 2 disorders of sexual differentiation (DSD), 20 inguinal hernias, 75 cases of non-palpable testis, 15 cases of Hirschsprung disease, 10 cases of fundoplication, 4 cases of ovarian tumors, 6 cases of nephrectomy, 4 cases of eminefrectomy and 1 case of thymoma. In total we performed 6 (4%) thoracoscopic procedures, 18 (12%) in retroperitoneoscopy and 126 (84%) in laparoscopy. 55 procedures (37%) were performed in "one-trocar" technique. Among the remaining 95 (67%), in 62 (41%) we used a "3 mm" instruments, in 18 (12%) "5 mm" instruments and in 15 (14%) they were mixed (3/5 mm). The duration of the procedure was an average of 59 minutes (range: 20-135 minutes) in diagnostic procedures and 184 minutes (range: 40-370 minutes) in the therapeutic procedures. We converted to an open technique in 14/150 (9%). We reported no postoperative complication and incidentaloma no intraoperative complications. The following is 100% survival. Conclusions:MIS is probably the most important change that has taken place in the field of Pediatric Surgery in the last 30 years. The optimum benefits are to be found in the lesser surgical stress, the lower cavity contamination, the magnification of details, the reduced hospital stay, reduced morbidity or the best aesthetic result

hypospadias long term follow up in a single center

Introduction: Hypospadias is one of the most common birth defects that affect the male urogenital tract. It can present as isolated anomaly, but sometimes can arise in the context of complex disorders of sex development (DSD). These malformations are characterized by a great variety of clinical manifestations and compromise the aesthetic appearance, but also functional and psychological impact that the malformation can determine the patient. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients undergoing surgery for hypospadias from March 2000 to January 2015. The data was extrapolated from a prospective database. It was considered for each patient: demographics; type of hypospadias; surgical technique; average age for surgery; intraoperative and postoperative complications (early and late). Duckett's classification was used. Results: 343 urethroplasties were performed. 320 (93%) were primary urethroplasties and 23 (7%) reoperations in patients who had performed many other surgical procedures. 7 patients with megameatus were excluded. The hypospadias have been ranked according to Duckett's classification, 35 patients had associated diseases. In total were performed: 186 (55%) Snodgrass, 71(21%) Duckett,10 (3%) augmented Duckett, 42 (13%) Magpi, 16 (5%) Duplay, 1 (0,3%) Bracka, 1 (0,3%) was a Bianchi'technique and 5 (1,4%) were Standoli. In 4 patients (1%) were used mixed technique. There were no intraoperative complications. The mean age at surgery was 15 months (range 12-22 months). Postoperative complications were 12%. Long term follow up was done with uroflussimetrie at 3 and 6 months in those who had reached the continence and possible urethral calibrations in those who had submitted a stenosis in post-op.Conclusions: The improvement of surgical techniques, the use of optical amplification tools, the use of suture material (PDS) and the experience gained in recent years have enabled us to optimized the results. Though aware of the potential and actual complications that this type of microsurgical correction can lead to the results we have obtained are comparable to those of major international series and can be considered satisfactory, both from an aesthetic and functional

Boolean like algebras

Using Vaggione’s concept of central element in a double pointed algebra, we introduce the notion of Boolean like variety as a generalization of Boolean algebras to an arbitrary similarity type. Appropriately relaxing the requirement that every element be central in any member of the variety, we obtain the more general class of semi-Boolean like varieties, which still retain many of the pleasing properties of Boolean algebras. We prove that a double pointed variety is discriminator i↵ it is semi-Boolean like, idempotent, and 0-regular. This theorem yields a new Maltsev-style characterization of double pointed discriminator varieties. Moreover, we show that every idempotent semi-Boolean-like variety is term equivalent to a variety of noncommutative Boolean algebras with additional regular operations

Subendothelial nerve fibers in bovine mesenteric lymphatics: an ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study

Abstract In the lymphatic vessels of man and most animals the nerve fibers are confined to the adventitia. However, immunohistochemical studies suggest that acetylcholinesterase-positive and monoamine-containing fibers reach as far as the endothelium in bovines. The aim of this study was to verify the presence of subendothelial nerve fibers by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in bovine mesenteric lymphatics and to determine whether typical sensory neurotransmitters such as Substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) could be detected in these fibers. TEM revealed numerous unmyelinated nerve fibers in the subendothelial connective environment in close association with endothelial cells. Their axons were devoid of Schwann cell sheath on the endothelial side and contained small clear vesicles and large nerve fibers were demonstrated to be SP and CGRP-immunoreactive with mouse monoclonal antibodies against SP and rabbit polyclonal antibodies against CGRP. It is hypothesized that these fibers act as mechanoceptors capable of detecting intraluminal pressure and vessel wall tension variations and of locally releasing SP and CGRP. Since SP, potentiated by CGRP, is known to be a vasoconstrictor in lymphatics, we propose that the contraction of bovine mesenteric lymphatics may also be neurogenic

Lymphatic vessels of the human heart: precollectors and collecting vessels. A morphostructural study.

Only topographic and distributional data are available on the lymphatic outflow vessels of the human heart. Here we describe their structural and ultrastructural features. Fragments of the atria, ventricles and fat surrounding the major coronary branches were obtained from hearts of dilated cardiomyopathy patients. Serial semithin sections were observed under light microscopy and used for tridimensional reconstructions. Ultrathin sections were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Precollectors, the initial lymphatic outflow routes of the heart, are small valved vessels with irregular, discontinuous musculature. They originate in the subepicardial region from a network of epicardial, and from scattered myocardial absorbing lymphatic vessels and drain into the collecting vessels accompanying the major coronary branches. Collecting vessels are larger but structurally similar to precollectors. Wall musculature is independent of the size of the vessel. Their ultrastructure is the same as that of precollectors. Endothelial cells have many Weibel-Palade bodies, cytoplasmic filaments and focal adhesions. The basement membrane is discontinuous and anchoring filaments are frequent and conspicuous. The subendothelial layer contains much elastin. Human heart collecting vessels and precollectors may only be distinguished by their size. The scarcity of musculature suggests that lymph progression in this district is mainly ensured by cardiac revolutions. Their ultrastructural features are determined by adaptation to dynamic forces. The architecture of these vessels (random, disorderly, discontinuous, lacking any exact plan) and their large variations in caliber are in line with the ontogenetic hypothesis that peripheral lymphatic vessels originate from the coalescence of mesenchymal lacunae

Simultaneous detection of reverse transcriptase and high molecular weight RNA in tissue of patients with Hodgkin's disease and patients with leukemia.

Complexes of high-molecular-weight RNA and reverse transcriptase (RNA-dependent DNA nucleotidyltransferase) have been detected in 14(77.8%) of 18 spleen from patients with Hodgkin's disease and in all samples tested of peripheral leukocytes and spleens from leukemic patients. The enzyme and its template are localized in a particle having a density between 1.16 and 1.19 g/ml. These observations describe characteristic features of RNA tumor viruses