Progettazione di un dispositivo artroscopico ad attuazione magnetica per la diagnosi di alterazioni cartilaginee nelle articolazioni di polso e gomito

L’analisi artroscopica delle articolazioni di polso e gomito è una tecnica problematica sia per il chirurgo, che incontra difficoltà nel percepire il reale stato clinico dell’articolazione, che per il paziente che rischia di subire un danno di entità maggiore di quello già presente. L’artroscopia diagnostica, essendo mini-invasiva, garantisce la mancanza di lunghi tempi di decorso post-operatorio, nessun disagio estetico, brevi tempi di ospedalizzazione, etc. Tuttavia è una tecnica giovane, con casistica ancora limitata e che può avere svariate controindicazioni. Ingegneristicamente parlando, non è possibile migliorarla dal punto di vista di riduzione delle problematiche che si sviluppano all’interno dell’ambiente articolare in seguito all’intervento chirurgico, ma invece è possibile sviluppare dei dispositivi chirurgici in grado di ridurre o evitare i danni indotti sulla cartilagine. Il presente lavoro di tesi si propone di sviluppare un dispositivo per artroscopia diagnostica di nuova generazione in grado di risolvere il problema del danneggiamento articolare dovuto ai tradizionali artroscopi. Tale dispositivo consentirà una diminuzione delle controindicazioni chirurgiche diminuendo le probabilità di distaccamento cartilagineo e riducendo il rischio di infezione dell’ambiente articolare. La progettazione del dispositivo sarà preceduta da una attenta modellizzazione analitica ed agli elementi finiti, al fine di valutare il suo comportamento meccanico al variare sia della topologia del tip del dispositivo sia delle diverse condizioni operatorie. Tale fase permetterà di ridurre sia i tempi che i costi di sviluppo del sistema, consentendo un primo screening sulle geometrie del dispositivo da realizzare

Le scienze umane, l’interdisciplinarità, lo specifico pedagogico. Una questione ancora aperta

Scientific and critical pedagogy becomes a simple process of socialization attentive to market demands.This contribution attempts the relaunch of a critical pedagogy, as paidetical formation now compromised by the advent of a system that measures education as a capacity for material production and consumption

Molecular modeling in support of CO2 sequestration and enhanced oil recovery.

Classical molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the formation of water droplets on two kaolinite surfaces: the gibbsite-like surface which is hydrophilic and the silica surface which is hydrophobic. Two methods for calculating contact angles were investigated in detail. The method of Giovambattista et al. was successful in calculating contact angles on both surfaces that compare well to the experimental data available. This is the first time that contact angles have been calculated for kaolinite surfaces from molecular simulations. This preliminary study provides the groundwork for investigating contact angles for more complex systems involving multiple fluids (water, CO{sub 2}, oil) in contact with different minerals in the subsurface environment

Gastric glomus tumor: a rare case of dyspepsia

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Predictive calculations to assess the long-term effect of cementitious materials on the pH and solubility of uranium(VI) in a shallow land disposal environment

One proposed method of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal is to mix the radioactive waste streams with cement, place the mixture in steel barrels, and dispose of the barrels in near-surface unsaturated sediments. Cement or concrete is frequently used in burial grounds, because cement porewaters are buffered at high pH values and lanthanides and actinides; are very insoluble in highly alkaline environments. Therefore, leaching of these contaminants from the combined cement/low-level radioactive waste streams will at least initially be retarded. The calculations performed in this study demonstrate that the pH of cement porewaters will be maintained at a value greater than 10 for 10,000 years under Hanford specific hydrogeochemical conditions. Ten thousand years is the period generally studied in longterm performance assessments per regulatory guidance. The concentrations of dissolved hexavalent uranium [U(VI)], the valence form of dissolved U usually present in oxidizing surface and groundwaters, are also constrained by the high pH and predicted solution compositions over the 10,000-year period, which is favorable from a long-term performance perspective

Demographic, Clinical and Hematological Predictors of Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Histology

Aims: This retrospective observational study was aimed to identify hematological predictors of histological heterogeneity of carotid atherosclerotic plaques (CAPs). Results: The mean values of all demographic, clinical and haematological parameters did not differ between patients with or without symptomatic CAD. In univariate analysis, intraplaque hemorrhage was associated with male sex (r=0.18; p=0.032), superficial thrombosis with low hemoglobin (r=- 0.18; p=0.033), fibrosis with enhanced RDW (r=0.24; p=0.005), presence of foam cells with high WBC count (r=0.22; p=0.001), neovascularisation with high WBC count (r=0.17; p=0.048), whilst the presence of inflammatory infiltrate was also associated with high WBC count (r=0.17; p=0.043). Conlusions: The results of this retrospective observational study confirm that some traditional and inexpensive hematological parameters such as WBC count, hemoglobin and RDW may help identifying patients with more severe forms of CAD