382 research outputs found
Pedunculated and obstructive Wilms\u27 tumor: A rare presentation in a 2 year- T old male
Wilms\u27 tumor manifesting as an obstructing ureteral mass is extremely rare. Herein, we report an unusual case in which a child presented with a clinical picture concerning for and suggestive of ureteropelvic junction ob- struction (UPJO), but was instead found to have an intrapelvic pedunculated Wilms\u27 tumor with extension into the proximal ureter. We discuss the patient\u27s diagnostic workup, radiographic, operative and pathologic findings, as well as important lessons learned from this unusual case
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Multimedia delivery in the future internet
The term âNetworked Mediaâ implies that all kinds of media including text, image, 3D graphics, audio
and video are produced, distributed, shared, managed and consumed on-line through various networks,
like the Internet, Fiber, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, 3G and so on, in a convergent manner [1]. This white
paper is the contribution of the Media Delivery Platform (MDP) cluster and aims to cover the Networked
challenges of the Networked Media in the transition to the Future of the Internet.
Internet has evolved and changed the way we work and live. End users of the Internet have been confronted
with a bewildering range of media, services and applications and of technological innovations concerning
media formats, wireless networks, terminal types and capabilities. And there is little evidence that the pace
of this innovation is slowing. Today, over one billion of users access the Internet on regular basis, more
than 100 million users have downloaded at least one (multi)media file and over 47 millions of them do so
regularly, searching in more than 160 Exabytes1 of content. In the near future these numbers are expected
to exponentially rise. It is expected that the Internet content will be increased by at least a factor of 6, rising
to more than 990 Exabytes before 2012, fuelled mainly by the users themselves. Moreover, it is envisaged
that in a near- to mid-term future, the Internet will provide the means to share and distribute (new)
multimedia content and services with superior quality and striking flexibility, in a trusted and personalized
way, improving citizensâ quality of life, working conditions, edutainment and safety.
In this evolving environment, new transport protocols, new multimedia encoding schemes, cross-layer inthe
network adaptation, machine-to-machine communication (including RFIDs), rich 3D content as well as
community networks and the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays are expected to generate new models of
interaction and cooperation, and be able to support enhanced perceived quality-of-experience (PQoE) and
innovative applications âon the moveâ, like virtual collaboration environments, personalised services/
media, virtual sport groups, on-line gaming, edutainment. In this context, the interaction with content
combined with interactive/multimedia search capabilities across distributed repositories, opportunistic P2P
networks and the dynamic adaptation to the characteristics of diverse mobile terminals are expected to
contribute towards such a vision.
Based on work that has taken place in a number of EC co-funded projects, in Framework Program 6 (FP6)
and Framework Program 7 (FP7), a group of experts and technology visionaries have voluntarily
contributed in this white paper aiming to describe the status, the state-of-the art, the challenges and the way
ahead in the area of Content Aware media delivery platforms
Registration of 3D Fetal Brain US and MRI
We propose a novel method for registration of 3D fetal brain ultrasound and a reconstructed magnetic resonance fetal brain volumes. The reconstructed MR volume is first segmented using a probabilistic atlas and an ultrasound-like image volume is simulated from the segmentation of the MR image. This ultrasound-like image volume is then affinely aligned with real ultrasound volumes of 27 fetal brains using a robust block-matching approach which can deal with intensity artefacts and missing features in ultrasound images. We show that this approach results in good overlap of four small structures. The average of the co-aligned US images shows good correlation with anatomy of the fetal brain as seen in the MR reconstruction
Exact closed form analytical solutions for vibrating cavities
For one-dimensional vibrating cavity systems appearing in the standard
illustration of the dynamical Casimir effect, we propose an approach to the
construction of exact closed-form solutions. As new results, we obtain
solutions that are given for arbitrary frequencies, amplitudes and time
regions. In a broad range of parameters, a vibrating cavity model exhibits the
general property of exponential instability. Marginal behavior of the system
manifests in a power-like growth of radiated energy.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Stability of stationary states in the cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation: applications to the Bose-Einstein condensate
The stability properties and perturbation-induced dynamics of the full set of
stationary states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation are investigated
numerically in two physical contexts: periodic solutions on a ring and
confinement by a harmonic potential. Our comprehensive studies emphasize
physical interpretations useful to experimentalists. Perturbation by stochastic
white noise, phase engineering, and higher order nonlinearity are considered.
We treat both attractive and repulsive nonlinearity and illustrate the
soliton-train nature of the stationary states.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
A Feature-Driven Active Framework for Ultrasound-Based Brain Shift Compensation
A reliable Ultrasound (US)-to-US registration method to compensate for brain
shift would substantially improve Image-Guided Neurological Surgery. Developing
such a registration method is very challenging, due to factors such as missing
correspondence in images, the complexity of brain pathology and the demand for
fast computation. We propose a novel feature-driven active framework. Here,
landmarks and their displacement are first estimated from a pair of US images
using corresponding local image features. Subsequently, a Gaussian Process (GP)
model is used to interpolate a dense deformation field from the sparse
landmarks. Kernels of the GP are estimated by using variograms and a discrete
grid search method. If necessary, the user can actively add new landmarks based
on the image context and visualization of the uncertainty measure provided by
the GP to further improve the result. We retrospectively demonstrate our
registration framework as a robust and accurate brain shift compensation
solution on clinical data acquired during neurosurgery
Inhibition of the NFAT pathway alleviates amyloid β neurotoxicity in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease
Amyloid β (Aβ) peptides, the main pathological species associated with Alzheimerâs disease (AD), disturb intracellular calcium homeostasis, which in turn activates the calcium-dependent phosphatase calcineurin (CaN). CaN activation induced by Aβ leads to pathological morphological changes in neurons, and overexpression of constitutively active calcineurin is sufficient to generate a similar phenotype, even without Aβ. Here, we tested the hypothesis that calcineurin mediates neurodegenerative effects via activation of the nuclear transcription factor of activated T-cells (NFAT). We found that both spine loss and dendritic branching simplification induced by Aβ exposure were mimicked by constitutively active NFAT, and abolished when NFAT activation was blocked using the genetically encoded inhibitor VIVIT. When VIVIT was specifically addressed to the nucleus, identical beneficial effects were observed, thus enforcing the role of NFAT transcriptional activity in Aβ-related neurotoxicity. In vivo, when VIVIT or its nuclear counterpart were overexpressed in a transgenic model of Alzheimerâs disease via a gene therapy approach, the spine loss and neuritic abnormalities observed in the vicinity of amyloid plaques were blocked. Overall, these results suggest that NFAT/calcineurin transcriptional cascades contribute to Aβ synaptotoxicity, and may provide a new specific set of pathways for neuroprotective strategies
Photonic quantum ring laser
We report a quantum ring-like toroidal cavity naturally formed in a
vertical-cavity-like active microdisk plane due to Rayleigh's band of
whispering gallery modes. The -dependent redshift and a square-law
property of microampere-range threshold currents down to 2 A are
consistent with a photonic quantum wire view, due to whispering gallery
mode-induced dimensional reduction.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX, Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. 06/08/98,
revised 10/28/98, To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 82(3), Jan. 199
Amyloid beta induces the morphological neurodegenerative triad of spine loss, dendritic simplification, and neuritic dystrophies through calcineurin activation
Amyloid beta containing plaques are surrounded by dystrophic neurites in the Alzheimer disease (AD) brain, but whether and how plaques induce these neuritic abnormalities remain unknown. We tested the hypothesis that soluble oligomeric assemblies of Aβ, which surround plaques, induce calcium mediated secondary cascades that lead to dystrophic changes in local neurites. We show that soluble Aβ oligomers lead to activation of the calcium-dependent phosphatase CaN (PP2B) which in turn activates the transcriptional factor nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT). Activation of these signaling pathways, even in the absence of Aβ, is sufficient to produce a virtual phenocopy of Aβ induced dystrophic neurites, dendritic simplification, and dendritic spine loss in both neurons in culture and in the adult mouse brain. Importantly, the morphological deficits in the vicinity of Aβ deposits in a mouse model of AD are ameliorated by CaN inhibition, supporting the hypothesis that CaN/NFAT are aberrantly activated by Aβ, and that CaN/NFAT activation is responsible for disruption of neuronal structure near plaques. In accord with this, we also detect increased levels of an active form of CaN and NFATc4 in the nuclear fraction from the cortex of patients with AD. Thus, Aβ appears to mediate the neurodegeneration of AD, at least in part, by activation of CaN and subsequent NFAT-mediated downstream cascades
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