Systematic surgical approach to juvenile angiofibroma

Introduction. Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is a rare type of benign vascular tumour that affects only young males, especially those between the ages of 9 and 19. Therapeutic management depends on the extent of the lesion, being conditioned by the complexity of the anatomy of the skull base and the risk of massive bleeding due to the abundant vascular supply. The purpose of this article is to describe the modern approach to juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma, starting from the general knowledge on this topic and presenting the experience of our clinic. Materials and Methods. A retrospective study was conducted on 10 male patients with juvenile angiofibroma, with clinical and imaging diagnoses, confirmed by post-ablative histopathological examination. From the 10 juvenile angiofibroma case treated in our clinic, 4 of them were less extensive, 2 with invasion to the pterygopalatine fossa, 3 involving the infratemporal fossa and 1 with minimal intracranial extension. Results. Combined approach (endoscopic trans-nasal approach and Caldwell Luc approach) was necessary in the treatment of a IIC case. Follow-up after surgery was done using MRI scans every 6 months. Recurrence was encountered in one case (9 months from the first surgery), and needed reintervention to remove the residual tumour. Conclusions. Even if it is a rare condition, the development of specific materials and techniques (endoscopic, embolization) has been considerable, allowing the reduction of intraoperative bleeding and residual tumour tissue, in conditions of minimal interference with the facial anatomy of such young patients

Identification of an optimal prolactin threshold to determine prolactinoma size using receiver operating characteristic analysis

Prolactinomas represent the most common type of secretory pituitary neoplasms, with a therapeutic management that varies considerably based on tumour size and degree of hyperprolactinemia. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the relationship between serum prolactin (PRL) concentrations and prolactinoma size, and to determine a cut-off PRL value that could differentiate micro- from macro-prolactinomas. A retrospective cohort study of 114 patients diagnosed with prolactinomas between 2007 and 2017 was conducted. All patients underwent gadolinium enhanced pituitary MRI and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed. 51.8% of patients in this study were men, with a mean age at the time of diagnosis of 42.32 ± 15.04 years. 48.2% of the total cohort were found to have microadenomas. Baseline serum PRL concentrations were strongly correlated to tumour dimension (r = 0.750, p = 0.001). When performing the ROC curve analysis, the area under the curve was 0.976, indicating an excellent accuracy of the diagnostic method. For a value of 204 μg/L (4338 mU/L), sensitivity and specificity were calculated at 0.932 and 0.891, respectively. When a cut off value of 204 μg/L (4338 mU/L) was used, specificity was 93.2%, and sensitivity 89.1%, acceptable to reliably differentiate between micro- and macro- adenomas

Fast Electrochemical Measurement of Laccase Activity for Monitoring Grapes’ Infection with Botrytis cinerea

Grapes’ infection with the fungi Botrytis cinerea is one of the major causes of economic loss in the winemaking sector worldwide. The laccase activity of grapes is considered an appropriate indicator of this type of fungal infection, and enzymatic activity higher than 3 U/mL indicates a high risk of irreversibly damaged grape must due to enzymatic browning. This work describes a fast test for the measurement of laccase activity based on a dual optical and electrochemical detection method. A paper sensor impregnated with the enzymatic substrate dye 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) provides a semi-quantitative optical measurement. While the paper sensor can be used independently, when combined with a screen-printed electrode and amperometry measurements, it enables the quantitative detection of laccase activities down to 0.4 U/mL in only 5 min. The method was applied for monitoring the artificial infection of white, rosé, and red grapes with different strains of Botrytis cinerea. The results were confirmed by parallel analysis using the spectrophotometric method of laccase activity determination based on syringaldazine. The influence of the fungal strain and type of grape on laccase activity levels is reported. The demonstrated robustness, simplicity, and versatility of the developed method make it ideal for application on-site in the vineyard or at grape processing points.Financial support provided by the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI), ERANET-MANUNET-III-WINBIOTOOL-2, contract 151/9.03.2020 grant (for A.V), contract150/9.03.2020 (for P.E) and contract 152/9.03.2020 (for C.P. (Catalina Pantazi), E.B., and M.I.); the Romanian Academy grant RO1567-IBB05/2021 (for R.R. and C.P. (Cristina Purcarea)); the Basque Government and the European Union through the European regional development fund 2014–2020 (FEDER) (ZL-2020/00532 and ZL-2021/00340); and the Diputación Foral de Álava (ALAVA INNOVA program—INNOEM-2020/00045) for Bodegas de los Herederos del Marqués de Riscal; and the Diputación Foral de Álava (ALAVA INNOVA program— INNOEM-2020/00045) for Bodegas de los Herederos del Marqués de Risca is gratefully acknowledged

New Strategy for Inducing Surface Anisotropy in Polyimide Films for Nematics Orientation in Display Applications

The operability of liquid crystal displays is strongly impacted by the orientation aspects of nematics, which in turn are affected by the alignment layer surface features. In this work, two polyimide (PI) structures are obtained based on a cycloaliphatic dianhydride and aromatic or aliphatic diamines with distinct flexibility. The attained PI films have high transmittance (T) for visible radiations, i.e., at 550 nm T > 80%. Here, a novel strategy for creating surface anisotropy in the samples that combines rubbing with a cloth and stretching via pressing is reported. Birefringence and atomic force microscopy (AFM) scans reveal that the generated orientation of the chains is affected by the chemical structure of the polymer and order of the steps involved in the surface treatment. Molecular modeling computations and wettability tests show that the PI structure and produced surface topography are competitive factors, which are impacting the intensity of the interactions with the nematic liquid crystals. The achieved results are of great relevance for designing of reliable display devices with improved uniform orientation of liquid crystals

The Impact of the Azo-Chromophore Sort on the Features of the Supramolecular Azopolyimide Films Desired to Be Used as Substrates for Flexible Electronics

High-performance supramolecular polyimide systems were synthesized via a simple and innovative approach using two types of azo-chromophores, leading to concomitant special properties: high thermostability, the ability to be processed in the form of films with high flexibility, adequate morphological features, and good structuring capacity via phase mask ultraviolet (UV) laser irradiation, induced by the presence of the azo groups (–N=N–). The dimension and the anisotropy degree of the micro/nano patterns obtained on the surface of the flexible films (determined by atomic force microscopy) depend on the azo-dye type used in the supramolecular azopolyimide synthesis, which were higher when the azo-chromophore containing a –cyano group (–C≡N) was used. The molecular dynamics method, an excellent tool for an in-depth examination of the intermolecular interactions, was used to explain the morphological aspects. Energetic, dynamic and structural parameters were calculated for the two systems containing azo-chromophores, as well as for the pristine polymer system. It was highlighted that the van der Waals forces make a major contribution to the intermolecular interactions. The results from the combination of the dynamic analysis and the concentration profile explain the better mobility of the polyimide chains with a maximum content of azo groups in the cis configuration compared to the other systems. Taking all these data into account, the surfaces of the films can be tuned as required for the proposed applications, namely as substrates for flexible electronis

Azo-polymers modified with nucleobases and their interactions with DNA molecules

The photo-fluidization process which is specific for azo-materials opens a new perspective for their use in the field of molecules nano manipulation at the surface of the azo polymer films. This is possible considering that in the case of the UV irradiation from a polarized laser source the azo material has an unidirectional flow. Here, we investigated the structuring phenomena occurring on the surface of the azo-polysiloxanes films modified with nucleobases, upon UV irradiation. Measurements of topography and adhesive forces between polymeric substrates and a hydrophilic probe have been done by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The response of the material upon irradiation has been investigated also by using UV-VIS spectroscopy. This method allowed us to draw the photo-isomerization and relaxation curves. Also, preliminary tests were conducted to determine the capacity of the film surface to immobilize DNA molecules

Probing the architecture of visual number sense with parietal tRNS

Theoretical accounts of the visual number sense (VNS), i.e., an ability to discriminate approximate numerosities, remain controversial. A proposal that the VNS represents a process of numerosity extraction, leading to an abstract number representation in the brain, has been challenged by the view that the VNS is non-numerical in its essence and amounts to a weighted integration of continuous magnitude features that typically change with numerosity. In the present study, using two-alternative forced-choice paradigm, we aimed to distinguish between these proposals by probing brain areas implicated in the VNS with transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS). We generated predictions for the stimulation-related changes in behavioural performance which would be compatible with alternative mechanisms proposed for the VNS. First, we investigated whether the superior parietal (SP) area hosts a numerosity code or whether its function is to modulate weighting of continuous stimulus features. We predicted that stimulation may affect the VNS precision if the SP role is representational, and that it may affect decision threshold if its role is modulatory. Second, we investigated whether the intraparietal (IP) area hosts a numerosity code independently of codes for continuous stimulus features, or whether their representations overlap. If the numerosity code is independent, we predicted that IP stimulation may improve the VNS but not continuous magnitude judgements. Our results were consistent with the hypotheses of a modulatory role of the SP and of the independence of the numerosity code in the IP, whereby suggesting that VNS is an emergent abstract property based on continuous magnitude statistics.</p

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for the Decontamination of Chemical Warfare Nerve Agents and Blister Agents

International standards and environmental regulations require the development of new decontamination solutions for hazardous chemicals of military interest (chemical warfare agents) and industrial chemicals (pesticides, insecticides, etc.). It is necessary for them to be more efficient, with a higher decontamination speed and less waste generation. Metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have been intensively studied and have shown promising results in various industries (alimentary [1], medicine [2,3], pharmaceutical [4,5] and microbiology [6,7]). Metal oxide NPs offer promising outcomes—such as small particle size, high specific surface area, and unique physicochemical properties—which allow them to both adsorb and degrade toxic compounds due to their catalytic activity [8,9,10]. The paper presents the influence of zinc oxide nanoparticles, embedded in an internally developed amino-alcoholic decontamination solution, on the decontamination efficiency of chemical warfare nerve and blister agents. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate, using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry/electron impact, the decontamination efficiency of ZnO NPs embedded in the organic decontamination solution. The decontamination efficiency was evaluated against two toxic compounds: sulfur mustard (HD) and soman (GD). Several solutions with different concentrations of ZnO NPs (0.1–2%) were tested and compared with the reference decontamination solutions. The decontamination efficiency was evaluated using GC-MS/EI analysis at 2, 10, and 30 min, and 1, 3, 5 and 24 h. The decontamination product formation was observed and quantified throughout the process. The decontamination procedures were caried out at 25 °C with magnetic stirring. The presence of ZnO NPs in the organic decontamination solution showed better decontamination efficiency, which increased along with the concentration of NPs added, at a concentration interval of 0.1–1%. The solution with 2% ZnO NPs showed a decrease in the decontamination efficiency in the cases of both HD and GD

Reactive Organic Suspensions Comprising ZnO, TiO2, and Zeolite Nanosized Adsorbents: Evaluation of Decontamination Efficiency on Soman and Sulfur Mustard

This paper comprises an extensive study on the evaluation of decontamination efficiency of three types of reactive organic suspensions (based on nanosized adsorbents) on two real chemical warfare agents: soman (GD) and sulfur mustard (HD). Three types of nanoparticles (ZnO, TiO2, and zeolite) were employed in the decontamination formulations, for enhancing the degradation of the toxic agents. The efficacy of each decontamination solution was investigated by means of GC-MS analysis, considering the initial concentration of toxic agent and the residual toxic concentration, measured at different time intervals, until the completion of the decontamination process. The conversion of the two chemical warfare agents (HD and GD) into their decontamination products was also monitored for 24 h

Research and Science Today Supplement No. 1/2014

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