157 research outputs found
The Isospectral Dirac Operator on the 4-dimensional Orthogonal Quantum Sphere
Equivariance under the action of Uq(so(5)) is used to compute the left
regular and (chiral) spinorial representations of the algebra of the orthogonal
quantum 4-sphere S^4_q. These representations are the constituents of a
spectral triple on this sphere with a Dirac operator which is isospectral to
the canonical one on the round undeformed four-sphere and which gives metric
dimension four for the noncommutative geometry. Non-triviality of the geometry
is proved by pairing the associated Fredholm module with an `instanton'
projection. We also introduce a real structure which satisfies all required
properties modulo smoothing operators.Comment: 40 pages, no figures, Latex. v2: Title changed. Sect. 9 on real
structure completely rewritten and results strengthened. Additional minor
changes throughout the pape
The Objective Buttocks Assessment Scale (OBAS): a new and complete method to assess the gluteal region
Introduction: New treatment methods to improve and enhance buttocks appearance require globally accepted scales for aesthetic research and patient evaluation. The purpose of our study was to develop a set of grading scales for objective assessment of the gluteal region and assess their reliability and validity.
Materials and methods: Twelve photonumeric grading scales were created. Eleven aesthetic experts rated photographs of 650 women in 2 validation sessions. Responses were analyzed to assess inter-rater and intra-rater reliability. The Rasch model was used as part of the validation process.
Results: All the scales exceeded criteria for acceptability, reliability and validity. Overall inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability were both âalmost perfectâ (p=0.15 and p=0.16 respectively).
Conclusion: Consistent outcomes between raters and by individual raters at 2 time points confirm the reliability of the Objective Buttocks Assessment Scale in female patients and suggest it will be a valuable tool for use in research and clinical practice
Differential and Twistor Geometry of the Quantum Hopf Fibration
We study a quantum version of the SU(2) Hopf fibration and its
associated twistor geometry. Our quantum sphere arises as the unit
sphere inside a q-deformed quaternion space . The resulting
four-sphere is a quantum analogue of the quaternionic projective space
. The quantum fibration is endowed with compatible non-universal
differential calculi. By investigating the quantum symmetries of the fibration,
we obtain the geometry of the corresponding twistor space and
use it to study a system of anti-self-duality equations on , for which
we find an `instanton' solution coming from the natural projection defining the
tautological bundle over .Comment: v2: 38 pages; completely rewritten. The crucial difference with
respect to the first version is that in the present one the quantum
four-sphere, the base space of the fibration, is NOT a quantum homogeneous
space. This has important consequences and led to very drastic changes to the
paper. To appear in CM
A Hypothetical New Challenging Use for Indocyanine Green Fluorescence during Laparoscopic Appendectomy: A Mini-Series of Our Experience and Literary Review
Laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) is a well-standardized surgical procedure, but there are still controversies about the different devices to be used for the appendiceal stump closure and
the related postoperative complications. Indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence angiography (FA)
has already been shown to be helpful in elective and emergency surgery, providing intraoperative
information on tissue and organ perfusion, thus guiding the surgical decisions and the technical
strategies. According to these two aspects, we report a mini-series of the first five patients affected
by gangrenous and flegmonous acute appendicitis intraoperatively evaluated with ICG-FA during
LA. The patients were admitted to the Emergency Department with an usual range of symptoms
for acute appendicitis. The patients were successfully managed by fully LA with the help of a new
hypothetical challenging use of ICG-FA
Avulsion thighplasty:what about the consent for loss of reconstructive options for microsurgical breast reconstruction?
Avulsion Thighplasty: What about the Consent for Loss of Reconstructive Options for Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction?
Therapeutic Potentials of Ketamine and Esketamine in ObsessiveâCompulsive Disorder (OCD), Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and Eating Disorders (ED): A Review of the Current Literature
The obsessiveâcompulsive spectrum refers to disorders drawn from several diagnostic categories that share core features related to obsessiveâcompulsive disorder (OCD), such as obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors and anxiety. Disorders that include these features can be grouped according to the focus of the symptoms, e.g., bodily preoccupation (i.e., eating disorders, ED) or impulse control (i.e., substance use disorders, SUD), and they exhibit intriguing similarities in phenomenology, etiology, pathophysiology, patient characteristics and clinical outcomes. The non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAr) antagonist ketamine has been indicated to produce remarkable results in patients with treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and OCD in dozens of small studies accrued over the past decade, and it appears to be promising in the treatment of SUD and ED. However, despite many small studies, solid evidence for the benefits of its use in the treatment of OCD spectrum and addiction is still lacking. Thus, the aim of this perspective article is to examine the potential for ketamine and esketamine in treating OCD, ED and SUD, which all involve recurring and intrusive thoughts and generate associated compulsive behavior. A comprehensive and updated overview of the literature regarding the pharmacological mechanisms of action of both ketamine and esketamine, as well as their therapeutic advantages over current treatments, are provided in this paper. An electronic search was performed, including all papers published up to April 2021, using the following keywords (âketamineâ or âesketamineâ) AND (âobsessiveâ OR âcompulsiveâ OR âOCDâ OR âSUDâ OR âsubstance use disorderâ OR âaddictionâ OR âcravingâ OR âeatingâ OR âanorexiaâ) NOT review NOT animal NOT âin vitroâ, on the PubMed, Cochrane Library and Web of Science online databases. The review was conducted in accordance with preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The use and efficacy of ketamine in SUD, ED and OCD is supported by glutamatergic neurotransmission dysregulation, which plays an important role in these conditions. Ketamineâs use is increasing, and preliminary data are optimistic. Further studies are needed in order to better clarify the many unknowns related to the use of both ketamine and esketamine in SUD, ED and OCD, and to understand their long-term effectiveness.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Almotriptan 12.5âmg in menstrually related migraine: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study
Background: Menstrually related migraine (MRM) affects more than
half of female migraineurs. Because such migraines are often predictable, they
provide a suitable target for treatment in the mild pain phase. The present
study was designed to provide prospective data on the efficacy of almotriptan
for treatment of MRM
The role of ceus in the evaluation of thyroid cancer : From diagnosis to local staging
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Ultrasound often represents the first diagnostic step for thyroid nodule evaluation in clinical practice, but baseline US alone is not always effective enough to achieve thyroid nodule characterization. In the last decades new ultrasound techniques, such as CEUS, have been introduced to evaluate thyroid parenchyma as recommended by EFSUMB guidelines, for use in clinical research field, although its role is not yet clear. Several papers show the potential utility of CEUS in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules and in the analysis of lymph node involvement in neoplastic pathology. Therefore, we carried out an evaluation of the literature concerning the role of CEUS in three specific areas: the characterization of the thyroid nodule, the evaluation of minimally invasive treatment and locoâregional staging of the lymph node in proven thyroid cancer. According to evidence reported, CEUS can also play an operative role in nodular thyroid pathology as it is able to guide ablation procedures on thyroid nodule and metastatic lymph nodes, to assess the radicality of surgery, to evaluate disease relapse at the level of the margins of ablated regions and to monitor the clinical evolution of necrotic areas in immediate postâtreatment setting.publishersversionPeer reviewe
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