Anatomy and clinical importance of the extracranial clivus and surrounding structures

The aim of this study was to reveal the clinical importance of measurements taken from the pharyngeal tubercle (PT) to various anatomical structures around the extracranial clivus. Twenty-six adult dry Anatolian skulls were examined. The extracranial clivus and PT were used as landmarks from which various distances were measured using a digital caliper accurate to 0.01 mm. The following mean distances from the PT were observed; foramen lacerum (FL) (L: 17.15 mm, R: 17.4 mm); medial external margin of the carotid canal (CC) (L: 26.7 mm, R: 27.5 mm); anterior tip of occipital condyle (OC) (L: 16.4 mm, R: 16.3 mm); anterior margin of foramen magnum (FM) (10.8 mm); foramen ovale (FO) (L: 25.9 mm, R: 29.1); medial margin of the jugular fossa (JF) (L: 25.4 mm, R: 25.7 mm); medial external margin of the hypoglossal canal (HC) (L: 20.0 mm, R: 19.9 mm). Mean bilateral distances were: LFO-RFO: 45.34 mm; LFL-RFL: 20.1 mm; LCC-RCC: 52.1 mm; LOC-ROC: 17.6 mm; LJF-RJF: 45.2 mm; LHC-RHC: 33.5 mm. The following mean distances were observed from the FM: FM-OC (L: 8.3 mm, R: 9.3 mm); FM-HC (L: 17.8 mm, R: 17.4 mm). Also the mean distance of OC-HC were observed (L: 11.7 mm, R: 11.4 mm). Present measurements suggest that the PT can be used as an anatomical landmark during surgery involving clival pathology. However, the anatomy and variations of the extracranial clivus and surrounding structures must be taken into consideration.</p

Ocjena apsorpcije, djelotvornosti protiv bakterije Escherichia coli i citotoksičnosti krutih lipidnih nanočestica s moksifloksacinom

Moxifloxacin (MOX) is an important antibiotic commonly used in the treatment of recurrent Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections. The aim of this study was to investigate its antibacterial efficiency when used with solid lipid nanoparticles (SNLs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) as delivery vehicles. For this purpose we designed two SLNs (SLN1 and SLN2) and two NLCs (NLC1 and NLC2) of different characteristics (particle size, size distribution, zeta potential, and encapsulation efficiency) and loaded them with MOX to determine its release, antibacterial activity against E. coli, and their cytotoxicity to the RAW 264.7 monocyte/macrophage-like cell line in vitro. With bacterial uptake of 57.29 %, SLN1 turned out to be significantly more effective than MOX given as standard solution, whereas SLN2, NLC1, and NLC2 formulations with respective bacterial uptakes of 50.74 %, 39.26 %, and 32.79 %, showed similar activity to standard MOX. Cytotoxicity testing did not reveal significant toxicity of nanoparticles, whether MOX-free or MOX-loaded, against RAW 264.7 cells. Our findings may show the way for a development of effective lipid carriers that reduce side effects and increase antibacterial treatment efficacy in view of the growing antibiotic resistance.Moksifloksacin je važan antibiotik koji se često rabi za liječenje rekurentne infekcije bakterijom Escherichia coli (E. coli). Cilj je ovog istraživanja bio ocijeniti njegovu djelotvornost u formulaciji s krutim lipidnim nanočesticama (engl. solid lipid nanoparticles, krat. SNL) i nanostrukturiranim lipidnim nosačima (engl. nanostructured lipid carriers, krat. NLC) kao njegovim vehikulima. U tu smo svrhu osmislili dva SLN-a (SLN1 I SLN2) te dva NLC-a (NLC1 i NLC2) različitih svojstava (veličine čestice, raspodjele veličina, zeta potencijala i sposobnosti enkapsulacije) te ih obogatili moksifloksacinom kako bismo utvrdili njegovo otpuštanje, djelovanje protiv E. coli i citotoksičnost za makrofagnu staničnu liniju RAW 264.7 in vitro. S bakterijskom apsorpcijom od 57,29 %, SLN1 se pokazao značajno djelotvornijim vehikulom moksifloksacina od njegove standardne formulacije (otopine), a formulacije s SLN2, NLC1 odnosno NLC2 s odgovarajućim apsorpcijama od 50,74 %, 39,26 % odnosno 32,79 % iskazale su djelotvornost sličnu onoj standardnog antibiotika. Test citotoksičnosti nije pokazao značajnu toksičnost nanočestica bez obzira na to jesu li sadržavale moksifloksacin ili nisu. Naši rezultati upućuju na mogući smjer razvoja djelotvornih lipidnih nosača kojima bi se mogle smanjiti nuspojave i povećati antibakterijska djelotvornost liječenja s obzirom na sve veću bakterijsku rezistentnost

SILICA NANOPARTICLE FORMATION BY USING DROPLET-BASED MICROREACTOR

This paper describes a method for the synthesis of silica nanoparticles that can be later used for coating of quantum dots inside a microfluidic reactor. Here, a droplet-based system is used where two reagents were mixed inside the droplets to obtain silica. Particles in the size range of 25 +/- 2.7 nm were obtained with comparable size distribution to controlled batch wise synthesis methods. This method is suitable to be used later to coat CdSe nanoparticles inside the microreactor

Comparison of Infrared and Visible Imagery for Object Tracking: Toward Trackers with Superior IR Performance

The subject of this paper is the visual object tracking in infrared (IR) videos. Our contribution is twofold. First, the performance behaviour of the state-of-the-art trackers is investigated via a comparative study using IR-visible band video conjugates, i.e., video pairs captured observing the same scene simultaneously, to identify the IR specific challenges. Second, we propose a novel ensemble based tracking method that is tuned to IR data. The proposed algorithm sequentially constructs and maintains a dynamical ensemble of simple correlators and produces tracking decisions by switching among the ensemble correlators depending on the target appearance in a computationally highly efficient manner We empirically show that our algorithm significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art trackers in our extensive set of experiments with IR imagery

Silica nanoparticle formation by using droplet-based microreactor

This paper describes a method for the synthesis of silica nanoparticles that can be later used for coating of quantum dots inside a microfluidic reactor. Here, a droplet-based system is used where two reagents were mixed inside the droplets to obtain silica. Particles in the size range of 25±2.7 nm were obtained with comparable size distribution to controlled batchwise synthesis methods. This method is suitable to be used later to coat CdSe nanoparticles inside the microreactor. © 2017 ASME

The association of the amniotic fluid index (AFI) with perinatal fetal and maternal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM)

Objectives: To investigate association of amniotic fluid index (AFI) with perinatal fetal and maternal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) Material and methods: A total of 70 singleton pregnancies complicated by PPROM at 23–33 weeks’ gestation were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Data on maternal clinical and obstetric characteristics [maternal age, gravidity, parity, PPROM time, and AFI (cm), latency period, treatments, type of delivery, length of hospital stay (LOS, day)], fetal characteristics (gestational age at delivery, birth weight (g), gender) and maternal and fetal complications were recorded and compared in AFI &lt; 5 cm (n = 27) and AFI ≥ 5 cm (n = 21) groups. Results: Overall AFI was ≤ 5 cm in 27 (56.3%) patients and &gt; 5 cm in 21 (43.7%) patients. No significant difference was noted in maternal clinical and obstetric characteristics, gestational age at delivery and gender of the newborn as well as in maternal and fetal complications rates with respect to AFI groups. AFI was correlated positively with latency period (r = 0.399, p = 0.018) and negatively with postpartum LOS (r = –0.314, p = 0.030). Conclusions: In conclusion, our findings seems to indicate increased likelihood of shorter latency to delivery and longer postpartum LOS with decrease in AFI after PPROM between 23–33 weeks’ gestation, whereas no impact of AFI on mode of delivery and fetal or maternal complications

Protein Profiles in Different Strains of Aeromonas hydrophila Isolated from Retail Foods

WOS: 000274088000012In this study, whole cell protein profiles of 20 local strains of Aeromonas hydrophila isolated from different foods in Turkey and one reference strain (ATCC 7966) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis). It was observed that there was variability among the strains. Molecular weight of proteins were found to be between 21-116 kDa. The protein polypeptide bands from 37.8 to 101.4 kDa were common in both local strains and reference strain of A. hydrophila. The results of this study indicated that there is a genetic similarity between strains of A. hydrophila and reference strain (ATCC 7966). These protein patterns are likely to be beneficial to differentiate between the strains in epidemiological studies

The Effect of Consumer Ethnocentrism on Purchase Intention of Products from Local Supermarkets: The Mediating Role of Attitudes Towards Local Campaigns

WOS: 000457784600005The aim of this study was to explain the effect of consumers' ethnocentrism levels on purchase intentions of products from local supermarkets depending on the collectivist values and to determine the mediation role of consumer attitudes towards local campaigns. The scope of the study includes local campaigns that promoted by non-governmental organizations and local supermarket associations and encouraged to shop at local supermarkets, and consumers who were exposed to these campaigns. In this context, data was collected via face-to-face survey and evaluated by path analysis. As a result, it has been found that the collectivism values of the consumers positively affect the ethnocentrism levels. In addition, it has been found that consumers' attitudes towards local campaigns have a partial and full mediation effect on the positive effect of ethnocentrism levels on purchase intentions of products from local supermarkets

Music driven real-time 3D concert simulation

Music visualization has always attracted interest from people and it became more popular in the recent years after PCs and MP3 songs emerged as an alternative to existing audio systems. Most of the PC-based music visualization tools employ visual effects such as bars, waves and particle animations. In this work we define a new music visualization scheme that aims to create life-like interactive virtual environment which simulates concert arena by combining different research areas such as crowd animation, facial animation, character modeling and audio analysis