D-mannose: a promising support for acute urinary tract infections in women. A pilot study

Urinary tract infections still represent a significant bother for women and result in high costs to the health system. D-mannose is a simple sugar; it seems able to hinder bacteria adhesion to the urothelium. The present study aimed to determine whether D-mannose alone is effective in treating acute urinary tract infections in women and its possible utility in the management of recurrences

Unexpected Metastasis of High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer to Breast: Case Report and Literature Review

Introduction: Metastasis of ovarian serous carcinoma to breast and/or axillary lymph nodes represents an unusual event. Nevertheless, their detection and distinction from mammary carcinoma are of huge clinical importance because the treatment and prognosis diverge significantly. Case presentation: We report a case of a 47 year-old Caucasian female patient with unforeseen metastasis to the breast and to axillary lymph nodes due to ovarian serous carcinoma. Conclusion: In patients with history of OSC who present with axillary or breast mass, an accurate histological diagnosis should be obtained since this has a great impact on treatment outcomes

An implementation of terrain geomorphing in the vertex shader for synthetic planetary surfaces

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 55).The purpose of this research is to develop the three-dimensional models of planetary surfaces which can be used in the test environments for the Vision-Based Navigation Systems' (VBNS) terrain recognition and navigation algorithms. The VBNS will fly a trajectory over the planet, taking pictures along the flight and dynamically updating the imagery passed to the VBNS. The pictures will be generated based on the current camera angle and attitude. Testing in this more realistic, arbitrary planetary environment will help ensure the most robust algorithms for the VBNS. A terrain generation tool is implemented that allows users to create synthetic planetary terrains. Users are able to arbitrarily place terrain features (e.g. craters, mountains, and boulders), textures, and lighting to create realistic planetary surfaces. Creating these complex, three dimensional models presents its own problem: a significantly larger amount of data has to be processed. To solve this problem, geomorphing is implemented and incorporated into the simulations. Geomorphing refers to the process of seamlessly switching between different levels of-detail of data, which are data sets with different resolutions; the goal is to display the appropriate level-of-detail of data based on where the VBNS is currently located. Simply switching between the different data sets causes discontinuities and visual anomalies, which affect the algorithms of the VBNS. Therefore, the switching has to be done seamlessly, so that the VBNS cannot tell there was a change in the data sets being rendered. The test results indicate that geomorphing helped to reduce the discontinuities in the simulations that occur when simply switching between the different levels-of-detail.by Lawrence W. Colagiovanni.M.Eng

Comparison of anogenital distance and correlation with vulvo-vaginal atrophy: a pilot study on premenopausal and postmenopausal women

OBJECTIVES: Anogenital distance (AGD) represents the space between labia posterior commissure and anus. This was pilot study to investigate how menopause and so lack of oestrogens affects AGD. METHODS: A total of 109 patients were enrolled. AGD was measured in lithotomy position using sterile paper ruler. Anogenital index (AGI) was used to control 2 variables of height and weight (body mass index, kg/m2). Vaginal health index (VHI) was used to evaluate vaginal wellness. Female sexual function index (FSFI) questionnaire was administered to all women to evaluate the impact of menopause on their sexual function. RESULTS: AGD (30.87 ± 2.98 vs. 17.57 ± 2.18; P = 0.0001) and AGI (1.40 ± 0.21 vs. 0.70 ± 0.15; P = 0.0001) were both significantly lower in the postmenopausal group. Postmenopausal women were affected by vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) significantly. Thus, VHI scores were dramatically worse in postmenopausal group (23.95 ± 1.28 vs. 10.75 ± 3.41; P = 0.0001) as well as FSFI results (32.68 ± 2.25 vs. 19.78 ± 5.46; P = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that AGD in post-menopausal women was significantly shorter than AGD in premenopausal women, correlating with an increase of VVA and sexual impairment. Changes of AGD and AGI demonstrated to predict hormonal changes that may occur after menopause

Effective nasotracheal intubation using a modified transillumination technique

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Erratum to: The Role of Sleeve Gastrectomy in Reducing Cardiovascular Risk

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Anaphylaxis by antihistamine containing bovine gelatin: the utility of the basophil activation test in the diagnostic work-up.

Gelatin, a collagen protein obtained from cow and pig bones and fish skin is widely used, by the hydrolysis of collagen, in food preparations (sweets, yoghurt, etc.) and as a stabilizer in the pharmaceutical industry. In particular it could be found as an ingredient of drug capsules, plasma expanders, vaccines and plasma substitutes. Systemic allergic reactions to gelatin-containing vaccines and drugs have been proven by anti-gelatin IgE assay [1\u20133] and by the Basophil Activation Test (BAT) [4]. Bovine gelatin sensitization is commonly associated with cow milk allergy and beef allergy [5]. We report the case of a 14-year-old patient affected by cow\u2019s milk allergy, who experienced lip paraesthesia, generalized itching and dyspnoea with bronchospasm after the ingestion of lyophilised ebastine; the reaction was handled in the emergency room with intramuscular and aerosolized epinephrine, systemic corticosteroids and antihistamines