Vascularisation of the geniculate ganglion

Background: Lack of the relevant data in the literature and possible clinical significance of the geniculate ganglion vasculature inspired us to examine the vessels of this ganglion. Materials and methods: Twelve temporal bones were taken during autopsy and microdissected. Four geniculate ganglions were taken as well, serially sectioned and used for haematoxylin-eosin and trichrome staining, and for CD34 immunostaining. Results: The geniculate ganglion was supplied by the petrosal artery, which averaged 1.1 in number, 0.44 mm in the outer diameter, 0.24 mm in the luminal diameter, and 17.1 mm in length. The artery approached the greater petrosal nerve, giving off 1-3 twigs to it with a mean diameter of 24 mu m, and entered the nerve hiatus or a small bone opening close to the ganglion. Before the artery continued to the tympanic segment of the facial nerve, it gave rise to 1 (8.33%), 2 (75.00%) or 3 (16.67%) branches to the geniculate ganglion, which ranged in diameter between 18 mu m and 56 mu m (mean 29 mu m). From the formed superficial network, several twigs penetrated the ganglion and built an intraganglionic plexus. The counting, performed in microscopic fields, each measuring 341.7 mu m x 250.0 mu m in size, contained between 20 and 38 (mean 28.1) ganglion cells, as well as from 87 to 143 microvessels (mean 99.8), so that the neuron/vessel ratio was 1:3.6. Conclusions: This is the first detailed examination of the geniculate ganglion vasculature. The obtained data could be of clinical importance, especially in relation to the Bell's palsy, ganglionitis, geniculate neuralgia, petrous bone imaging, and operations in the same region

Vascularisation of the geniculate ganglion

Background: Lack of the relevant data in the literature and possible clinical significance of the geniculate ganglion vasculature inspired us to examine the vessels of this ganglion. Materials and methods: Twelve temporal bones were taken during autopsy and microdissected. Four geniculate ganglions were taken as well, serially sectioned and used for haematoxylin-eosin and trichrome staining, and for CD34 immunostaining. Results: The geniculate ganglion was supplied by the petrosal artery, which averaged 1.1 in number, 0.44 mm in the outer diameter, 0.24 mm in the luminal diameter, and 17.1 mm in length. The artery approached the greater petrosal nerve, giving off 1–3 twigs to it with a mean diameter of 24 μm, and entered the nerve hiatus or a small bone opening close to the ganglion. Before the artery continued to the tympanic segment of the facial nerve, it gave rise to 1 (8.33%), 2 (75.00%) or 3 (16.67%) branches to the geniculate ganglion, which ranged in diameter between 18 μm and 56 μm (mean 29 μm). From the formed superficial network, several twigs penetrated the ganglion and built an intraganglionic plexus. The counting, performed in microscopic fields, each measuring 341.7 μm × 250.0 μm in size, contained between 20 and 38 (mean 28.1) ganglion cells, as well as from 87 to 143 microvessels (mean 99.8), so that the neuron/vessel ratio was 1:3.6. Conclusions: This is the first detailed examination of the geniculate ganglion vasculature. The obtained data could be of clinical importance, especially in relation to the Bell’s palsy, ganglionitis, geniculate neuralgia, petrous bone imaging, and operations in the same region.

Arterial supply of the trigeminal ganglion, a micromorphological study

Background: In this study, we explored the specific microanatomical properties of the trigeminal ganglion (TG) blood supply and its close neurovascular relationships with the surrounding vessels. Possible clinical implications have been discussed. Materials and methods: The internal carotid and maxillary arteries of 25 adult and 4 foetal heads were injected with a 10% mixture of India ink and gelatin, and their TGs subsequently underwent microdissection, observation and morphometry under a stereoscopic microscope. Results: The number of trigeminal arteries varied between 3 and 5 (mean 3.34), originating from 2 or 3 of the following sources: the inferolateral trunk (ILT) (100%), the meningohypophyseal trunk (MHT) (100%), and from the middle meningeal artery (MMA) (92%). In total, the mean diameter of the trigeminal branches was 0.222 mm. The trigeminal branch of the ILT supplied medial and middle parts of the TG, the branch of the MHT supplied the medial part of the TG, and the branch of the MMA supplied the lateral part of the TG. Additional arteries for the TG emerged from the dural vascular plexus and the vascular network of the plexal segment of the trigeminal nerve. Uniform and specific intraganglionicdense capillary network was observed for each sensory trigeminal neuron. Conclusions: The reported features of the TG vasculature could be implied in a safer setting for surgical approach to the skull base, in relation to the surrounding structures. The morphometric data on TG vasculature provide anatomical basis for better understanding the complex TG blood supply from the internal and external carotid arteries

Vascular anatomy of the thenar eminence: its relevance to a pedicled or free thenar flap

Background: The aim of this study was to clarify the arterial supply of the skin covering the prominent part of the thenar eminence in order to describe the possibility and potential for harvesting a pedicled or a free flap from the thenar eminence. Materials and methods: The arteries were studied in 30 post-mortem specimens of human hands; 3 previously perfused with 4% formaldehyde solution, and injected with black India ink, and 27 injected with methyl-methacrylate and afterwards corroded in 40% potassium hydroxide solution. Results: In all hands we found two little palmar arteries coming from the anatomical snuff-box portion of the radial artery. We labelled the first (proximal) branch as the middle thenar artery, because it supplies the middle third of the thenar eminence skin. Its diameter varied from 0.25 to 0.55 mm (mean 0.4 mm). The distal, more prominent branch of the radial artery, vascularised the lateral third of the thenar eminence skin, and was named the lateral thenar artery; its diameter ranged from 0.40 to 0.90 mm (mean 0.67 mm). The superficial palmar branch of the radial artery, always present, was classified as: hypoplastic, average or prominent, with a diameter ranging from 0.8 to 2.7 mm (mean 1.47 mm). Conclusions: Three individually developed branches of the radial artery supplied the skin of the thenar eminence. Cutaneous branches of these three arteries were interconnected via anastomotic vessels

Toxic Metals in 3 Fractions (d<63µm, d63-250µm and d250-1000µm) of Dust Collected on Roads of Industrial Town Kostolac, Serbia

Kostolac is a town exposed to several serious sources of toxic metals and other inorganic pollutants. They arrive from sources typical for urban environments such as traffic, but also from various heavy industry sources: coal mining, burning of coal in power plants, ash landfills, and steel factory. Toxic metals in the air are concentrated in particulate matter. Their transport and health risks depend strongly on the size of dust particles. Goals of the research were to estimate: 1. how much does traffic contributes to the total pollution load compared to the natural sources and the industry; 2. how is pollution distributed in different fractions of the dust; 3. are there any spatial trends present and is there any correlation between vicinity of pollution sources and concentrations of toxic elements in different fractions of the dust. Samples of dust were collected from 10 locations in July and in September. Each location had one sampling site on a major road with intensive traffic and the other site on auxiliary road with much less traffic, located 10- 20 m away from the major road. The dust was dried, sieved through sieves with 3 different apertures (d=63µm, 250µm and 1000µm) and pressed into 32 mm diameter pellets. The samples were analysed by WD-XRF standardless method. The results showed that Al, P, K, V, Mn, Fe, Co, Zr, Rb and Ti have the highest concentrations in the smallest fraction (d<63µm) and the lowest concentrations in the most coarse fraction with stat. significant differences among concentrations. Concentrations of: Mg, S, Zn and Cu have the same trend as previous group of elements but no stat. significant differences, wile conc. of Si and Ca have the opposite trend. Neither the time of the year nor the intensity of the traffic have had any significant effect to the concentrations, therefore it can be concluded that industrial sources of pollution have significantly higher attribution to the total pollution load than traffic. The trend that toxic elements are more concentrated in the smallest fraction of the dust indicates that the source of the pollution is rather anthropogenic than natural. Concentrations of elements in dust collected on sites from our research were compared to concentrations of the same elements in the soil collected by SEPA (Serbian Environmental Protection Agency). Although locations from both researches were in close proximity, no significant correlation between concentrations was observed. The lack of correlation can be explained by several hypotheses which should be further investigated in future researches

A Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the mostpressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenontime-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the availableparameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), whilefeaturing extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates.These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decayand through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-baseddetector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantlyadvance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, andcosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.<br

Variation in postoperative outcomes of patients with intracranial tumors: insights from a prospective international cohort study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: This study assessed the international variation in surgical neuro-oncology practice and 30-day outcomes of patients who had surgery for an intracranial tumor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We prospectively included adults aged ≥18 years who underwent surgery for a malignant or benign intracranial tumor across 55 international hospitals from 26 countries. Each participating hospital recorded cases for 3 consecutive months from the start of the pandemic. We categorized patients’ location by World Bank income groups (high [HIC], upper-middle [UMIC], and low- and lower-middle [LLMIC]). Main outcomes were a change from routine management, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 30-day mortality. We used a Bayesian multilevel logistic regression stratified by hospitals and adjusted for key confounders to estimate the association between income groups and mortality. Results: Among 1016 patients, the number of patients in each income group was 765 (75.3%) in HIC, 142 (14.0%) in UMIC, and 109 (10.7%) in LLMIC. The management of 200 (19.8%) patients changed from usual care, most commonly delayed surgery. Within 30 days after surgery, 14 (1.4%) patients had a COVID-19 diagnosis and 39 (3.8%) patients died. In the multivariable model, LLMIC was associated with increased mortality (odds ratio 2.83, 95% credible interval 1.37–5.74) compared to HIC. Conclusions: The first wave of the pandemic had a significant impact on surgical decision-making. While the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection within 30 days after surgery was low, there was a disparity in mortality between countries and this warrants further examination to identify any modifiable factors

Electrical properties of ternary Bi-Ge-Sb and Al-Cu-Sb alloys

Copyright: © 2017 CSIC. Electrical properties of ternary Bi-Ge-Sb and Al-Cu-Sb alloys. This paper presents review of electrical properties of two ternary systems based on Sb, ternary Bi-Ge-Sb and Al-Cu-Sb system. Beside electrical properties in paper are presented microstructures of both systems observed with light optical microscopy. On four samples microstructural analysis was carried out by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive spectrometry and X-ray powder diffraction technique. Moreover, micro hardness of selected alloys from the ternary Bi-Ge-Sb system was determined using Vickers hardness tests

A rare case of traumatic chylothorax after blunt thoracic trauma

© 2017, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved. Introduction Chylothorax is an accumulation of chyle in the pleural cavity due to a disruption of the thoracic duct. Traumatic chylothoraces are usually a result of a penetrating trauma and disruption of the thoracic duct, but blunt traumatic chylothorax is a rare condition. The aim of this paper is to present a rare case of traumatic chylothorax after blunt thoracic trauma. Case Outline We present a case of traumatic chylothorax after blunt thoracic trauma in a patient injured in a motor vehicle accident. The patient had a right-sided fracture of rib XI, hydropneumothorax, lung contusion, and signs of pneumomediastinum. We performed thoracic drainage, but a few days later, according to the increase of amount of the fluid daily drained, and the confirmation of laboratory findings of the analyzed fluid, we made a diagnosis of chylothorax and the patient underwent a thoracotomy, where we sutured the thoracic duct. Conclusion Chylothorax should be considered in patients after chest trauma if they develop a milky pleural effusion. Analysis of pleural fluid and level of triglycerides is important for the diagnosis and treatment of chylothorax

A rare case of coexistent intralobar and extralobar pulmonary sequestration

In the pathology of respiratory tract, sequestration presents as a non-functional lung tissue with no communication with tracheobronchial tree. It represents a rare congenital bronchopulmonary and vascular malformation, which occurs at a frequency of 0.1 to 6%. Intralobar and extralobar sequestrations are extremely rare congenital anomalies, especially if they occur at the same time in a patient. Proper diagnosis and appropriate surgical therapy, in the absence of associated anomalies, provide an excellent prognosis. In this paper, we are describing the simultaneous presence of intralobar sequestration (ILS) in the lower lobe of the left lung and extralobar sequestration (ELS) which is positioned on the aortic arch, in a 53 years old man. Two years post surgery, there is no recurrence or any patomorphological and functional disorDers in the respiratory tract. © 2012 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg