Side-effects of cidofovir in the treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a chronic and difficult to treat disease of the larynx. In 1998, the first article was published that described the use of the antiviral substance cidofovir to treat this disease. Although the results are promising, there remains some concern about the potential carcinogenicity of cidofovir. There is a demand for a qualitative review of the side-effects of this medicine. In this review, the side-effects of cidofovir are investigated. Special attention was given to the potential carcinogenicity of cidofovir. For this review a search is performed in PubMed and EMBASE for relevant articles in which the use of intralesional cidofovir for patients with RRP is described. Eventually, 31 articles could be included for this review. In these articles a total of 188 patients with RRP were described who underwent therapy with intralesional cidofovir. Five of these patients have developed dysplasia of the larynx during the treatment with cidofovir. This is a percentage of 2.7. This percentage is concurrent with the incidence of spontaneous malignant degeneration of RRP (2–3%). Based on this review, it can be concluded that the use of intralesional cidofovir does not increase the risk of laryngeal dysplasia. Apart from the articles that describe the intralesional administration of cidofovir, some articles have been published in which the use of intravenous cidofovir is described as a therapy for RRP. Therefore, a summary is given on the side-effects of intralesional cidofovir as well as a summary on the reported side-effects of the intravenous administration of cidofovir. Based on the outcomes of this review, recommendations are given for a safe use of cidofovir for treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis in the future

Subjektivierungsforschung quo vadis? Auf holprigen Wegen zwischen Kollektiv und Individuum

Tagungsbericht zu: Jenseits der Person. Die Subjektivierung kollektiver Subjekte, 06.-08. April 2016 in Leipzig

Wireless Acoustic Tracking for Extended Range Telepresence

Telepresence systems enable a user to experience virtual or distant environments by providing sensory feedback. Appropriate devices include head mounted displays (HMD) for visual perception, headphones for auditory response, or even haptic displays for tactile sensation and force feedback. While most common designs use dedicated input devices like joysticks or a space mouse, the approach followed in the present work takes the user\u27s position and viewing direction as an input, as he walks freely in his local surroundings. This is achieved by using acoustic tracking, where the user\u27s pose (position and orientation) is estimated on the basis of ranges measured between a set of wall-fastened loudspeakers and a microphone array fixed on the user\u27s HMD. To allow for natural user motion, a wearable, fully wireless telepresence system is introduced. The increase in comfort compared to wired solutions is obvious, as the user\u27s awareness of distracting cables is taken away during walking. Also the lightweight design and small dimensions contribute to ergonomics, as the whole assembly fits well into a small backpack

Consulting Project 2018/19: Manufacturing process of superconducting magnets: Analysis of manufacturing chain technologies for market-oriented industries. Report

An international consortium of more than 150 organisations worldwide is studying the feasibility of future particle collider scenarios to expand our understanding of the inner workings of the Universe. The core of this Future Circular Collider (FCC) study, hosted by CERN, an international organisation near Geneva (Switzerland), is a 100 km long circular particle collider infrastructure that extends CERN's current accelerator complex. As a first step, an intensity frontier electron-positron collider is assumed. The ultimate goal is to build a proton collider with an energy seven times larger than the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Such a machine has to be built with novel superconductive magnet technology. Since it takes decades for such technology to reach industrial maturity levels, R&D has already started. The superconducting magnet system is considered the major cost driver for construction of such a proton collider. A good cost-benefit balance for industrial suppliers is considered an important factor for the funding of such a project. Aim The aim of this investigation was to identify the industrial impact potentials of the key processes needed for the manufacturing of novel high-field superconducting magnets and to find innovative additional applications for these technologies outside the particle-accelerator domain. Suppliers and manufacturing partners of CERN would benefit if the know-how could be used for other markets and to improve their internal efficiency and competitivity on the world-market. Eventually, being more cost-effective in the manufacturing and being able to leverage further markets on a long-time scale will also reduce the cost for each step in the manufacturing chain and ultimately lead to lower costs for the superconducting magnet system of a future high-energy particle collider. Method The project is carried out by means of the Technology Competence Leveraging method, which has been pioneered by the Vienna University of economics and business in Austria. It aims to find new application fields for the three most promising technologies required to manufacture novel high-field superconducting magnets. This is achieved by gathering information from user-communities, conducting interviews with experts in different industries and brainstorming for new out-of-the-box ideas. The most valuable application fields were evaluated according to their Benefit Relevance and Strategic Fit. During the process, 71 interviews with experts have been carried out, through which 38 new application fields were found with credible impacts beyond particle accelerator projects. They relate to manufacturing "superconducting Rutherford cables" (15), "thermal treatment" (10) and "vacuum impregnation with novel epoxy" (13). Superconducting magnet manufacturing technologies for market-oriented industries Report. Results: A short description of all application fields that were classified as "high potential" can be found here: Superconducting Rutherford cable * Aircraft charging: Commercial airplanes only spend around 45 minutes on the ground at a time to load and unload passengers. For future electric aircraft this time window would be to small to charge using conventional cables. The superconducting Rutherford cable could charge an electric plane fast and efficiently. * Electricity distribution in hybrid-electric aircraft: On a shorter time scale, hybrid-electric aircraft is an appealing ecological technology with economic advantages. In this case, electricity for the electric engines is produced by a generator. Cables with high current densities are needed inside the aircraft to distribute the energy. The superconducting Rutherford cable could be a candidate for this task. * Compact and efficient electricity generators: Using the superconducting Rutherford cable, small and light engines and generators can be constructed. One end-use example is for instance the generation of electricity using highly-efficient wind turbines. Thermal treatment: Heat treatment is needed during the production of superconducting magnet coils. In this processing step, the raw materials are reacted to form the superconductor. This processing step is used for certain lowtemperature superconductors as well as for certain high-temperature superconductors. * Scrap metal recycling: Using a large-scale oven with very accurate temperature stabilisation over long time periods, melting points of different metals can be selected. This leads to more efficient recycling of scrap metal. It also permits a higher degrees of process automation and quality management. * Thermal treatment of aluminium: Thermal treatment of aluminium comprises technologies like tempering and hardening. The goal of this technique is to change the characteristics of aluminium and alloys containing aluminium. End-use applications include for instance the automotive and aerospace industry, where such exact treatment is necessary. Vacuum impregnation * Waste treatmnent companies currently face challenges because new legislation require more leak-tight containers. Novel epoxy resin developed for superconducting magnets in particle colliders also needs to withstand high radiation levels. Therefore, this technology can be useful in the process of managing highly-activated radioactive waste

Blockade of the mental nerve for lower lip surgery as a safe alternative to general anesthesia in two very old patients

Purpose: Regional anesthesia is gaining popularity with anesthesiologists as it offers superb postoperative analgesia. However, as the sole anesthetic technique in high-risk patients in whom general anesthesia is not preferred, some regional anesthetic possibilities may be easily overlooked. By presenting two cases of very old patients with considerable comorbidities, we would like to bring the mental nerve field block under renewed attention as a safe alternative to general anesthesia and to achieve broader application of this simple nerve block. Patients and methods: Two very old male patients(84 and 91 years) both presented with an ulcerative lesion at the lower lip for which surgical removal was scheduled. Because of their considerable comorbidities and increased frailty, bilateral blockade of the mental nerve was considered superior to general anesthesia. As an additional advantage for the 84-year-old patient, who had a pneumonectomy in his medical history, the procedure could be safely performed in a beach-chair position to prevent atelectasis and optimize the ventilation/perfusion ratio of the single lung. The mental nerve blockades were performed intraorally in a blind fashion, after eversion of the lip and identifying the lower canine. A 5 mL syringe with a 23-gauge needle attached was passed into the buccal mucosa until it approximated the mental foramen, where 2 mL of lidocaine 2% with adrenaline 1:100.000 was injected. The other side was anesthetized in a similar fashion. Results: Both patients underwent the surgical procedure uneventfully under a bilateral mental nerve block and were discharged from the hospital on the same day. Conclusion: A mental nerve block is an easy-to-perform regional anesthetic technique for lower lip surgery. This technique might be especially advantageous in the very old, frail patient

Efficient Multilateration Tracking with Concurrent Offset Estimation using Stochastic Filtering Techniques

Multilateration systems operate by deter- mining distances between a signal transmitter and a number of receivers. In aerial surveillance, radio sig- nals are emitted as Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) by the aircraft, representing the signal transmitter. A number of base stations (sensors) receive the signals at different times. Most common approaches use time dif- ference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, calculated by subtracting receiving times of one receiver from another. As TDOAs require intersecting hyperboloids, which is considered a hard task, this paper follows a different ap- proach, using raw receiving times. Thus, estimating the signal\u27s emission time is required, captured as a com- mon offset within an augmented version of the system state. This way, the multilateration problem is reduced to intersecting cones. Estimation of the aircraft\u27s posi- tion based on a nonlinear measurement model and an underlying linear system model is achieved using a lin- ear regression Kalman filter [1, 2]. A decomposed com- putation of the filter step is introduced, allowing a more efficient calculation

A Wearable System for the Wireless Experience of Extended Range Telepresence

Extended range telepresence aims at enabling a user to experience virtual or remote environments, taking his own body movements as an input to define walking speed and viewing direction. Therefore, localization and tracking of the users pose (position and orientation) is necessary to perform a body-centered scene rendering. Visual and acoustic feedback is provided to the user by a head mounted display (HMD). To allow for free movement within the user environment, the tracking system is supposed to be user-wearable and entirely wireless. Consequently, a lightweight design is presented fea- turing small dimensions to fit into a conventional 13"laptop backpack, which satisfies the above stated demands for highly immersive extended range telepresence scenarios. Dedicated embedded hardware combined with off-the-shelf components is employed to form a robust, low-cost telepresence system that can be easily installed in any living room

Correlation between Deformation and Volumetric Characteristics in the Aging Condition of Hot Mix Asphalt

The surface layer of pavement structures tends to experience a decrease in performance as its service life approaches. Generally, this decrease in performance is caused by aggregate degradation and aging of the asphalt binder, which can be caused by traffic loads or weather exposure. The mechanical performance of asphalt mixtures is due to the effects of aggregate degradation, which was simulated by reducing the coarse aggregate fraction and adding medium and fine aggregate fractions. The asphalt aging process simulates changes in binder characteristics by adding RAP binder to Pen 60/70 asphalt. Hot mix asphalt (HMA) with new material (SA-1) as a control for degradation simulation (SA-2, SA-3 and SA-4). Marshall test results show that aggregate degradation significantly causes a decrease in voids in the mixture (VIM) and voids in mineral aggregate (VMA), as well as an increase in voids filled with asphalt (VFA). WTM test results show that HMA degradation causes an increase in rutting depth, which increases the deformation rate and decreases dynamic stability. The correlation results between WTM and Marshall tests show a negative exponential relationship between VIM and VMA with deformation and a positive exponential relationship between VFA and asphalt mixture deformation

Percutaneous CT fluoroscopy-guided core biopsy of pancreatic lesions: technical and clinical outcome of 104 procedures during a 10-year period

Background: In unclear pancreatic lesions, a tissue sample can confirm or exclude the suspected diagnosis and help to provide an optimal treatment strategy to each patient. To date only one small study reported on the outcome of computed tomography (CT) fluoroscopy-guided biopsies of the pancreas. Purpose: To evaluate technical success and diagnostic rate of all CT fluoroscopy-guided core biopsies of the pancreas performed in a single university center during a 10-year period. Material and Methods: In this retrospective study we included all patients who underwent a CT fluoroscopy-guided biopsy of a pancreatic mass at our comprehensive cancer center between 2005 and 2014. All interventions were performed under local anesthesia on a 16-row or 128-row CT scanner. Technical success and diagnostic rates as well as complications and effective patient radiation dose were analyzed. Results: One hundred and one patients (54 women;mean age, 63.912.6 years) underwent a total of 104 CT fluoroscopy-guided biopsies of the pancreas. Ninety-eight of 104 interventions (94.2%) could be performed with technical success and at least one tissue sample could be obtained. In 88 of these 98 samples, a definitive pathological diagnosis, consistent with clinical success could be achieved (89.8%). Overall 19 minor and three major complications occurred during the intra- or 30-day post-interventional period and all other interventions could be performed without complications;there was no death attributable to the intervention. Conclusion: CT fluoroscopy-guided biopsy of pancreatic lesions is an effective procedure characterized by a low major complication and a high diagnostic rate

Outcomes of a new slowly resorbable biosynthetic mesh (Phasix (TM)) in potentially contaminated incisional hernias : a prospective, multi-center, single-arm trial

Background: Resorbable biomaterials have been developed to reduce the amount of foreign material remaining in the body after hernia repair over the long-term. However, on the short-term, these resorbable materials should render acceptable results with regard to complications, infections, and reoperations to be considered for repair. Additionally, the rate of resorption should not be any faster than collagen deposition and maturation; leading to early hernia recurrence. Therefore, the objective of this study was to collect data on the short-term performance of a new resorbable biosynthetic mesh (Phasix (TM)) in patients requiring Ventral Hernia Working Group (VHWG) Grade 3 midline incisional hernia repair. Materials and methods: A prospective, multi-center, single-arm trial was conducted at surgical departments in 15 hospitals across Europe. Patients aged >= 18, scheduled to undergo elective Ventral Hernia Working Group Grade 3 hernia repair of a hernia larger than 10 cm(2) were included. Hernia repair was performed with Phasix (TM) Mesh in sublay position when achievable. The primary outcome was the rate of surgical site occurrence (SSO), including infections, that required intervention until 3 months after repair. Results: In total, 84 patients were treated with Phasix (TM) Mesh. Twenty-two patients (26.2%) developed 32 surgical site occurrences. These included 11 surgical site infections, 9 wound dehiscences, 7 seromas, 2 hematomas, 2 skin necroses, and 1 fistula. No significant differences in surgical site occurrence development were found between groups repaired with or without component separation technique, and between clean-contaminated or contaminated wound sites. At three months, there were no hernia recurrences. Conclusion: Phasix (TM) Mesh demonstrated acceptable postoperative surgical site occurrence rates in patients with a Ventral Hernia Working Group Grade 3 hernia. Longer follow-up is needed to evaluate the recurrence rate and the effects on quality of life. This study is ongoing through 24 months of follow-up