4D Printing of Plasmon-Encoded Tunable Polydimethylsiloxane Lenses for On-Field Microscopy of Microbes

Here the 4D printing of a magnifying polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) lens encoded with a tunable plasmonic rejection filter is reported. The lens is formed by moldless printing of PDMS pre-polymer on a nanostructured porous silicon (PSi) templating layer. A nanometer-thick plasmonic filter is integrated on the lens surface by in situ synthesis of Ag and Au nanoparticles (NPs) with programmed density. The filter can be designed to reject light at the plasmonic resonance wavelength of the NPs with an optical density tunable from 0 to 3 and retreive light at longer wavelengths with a pass-to-stop band ratio tunable from 0 to 60 dB. Swelling of PDMS in hexane and ether is used to change the NP density on the lens surface and modulate, in turn, the transmittance properties of the NP-decorated lens over 3 orders of magnitude. The plasmon-encoded lens is coupled to a commercial smartphone demonstrating: shaping of the emission spectrum of a white light-emitting diode to tune the color from yellow to purple; real-time bright-field and fluorescence microscopy of living microbes in water, namely, the auto-fluorescent green alga Chlorogonium sp. and the ciliated protozoan Euplotes daidaleos

Laparoscopic conservative treatment of colo-vesical fistulas following trauma and diverticulitis: report of two different cases

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Clear-cell renal cell carcinoma single thyroid metastasis: A single-center retrospective analysis and review of the literature

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is known to cause metastasis to unusual sites, which can be both synchronous or metachronous. Thyroid gland is a rare site for metastasis. However, RCC is the most common primary neoplasm to metastasize to the Thyroid gland. Report of three cases and review of the literature

Laparoscopic conservative treatment of colo-vesical fistula: a new surgical approach

Introduction The standard treatment of colo-vesical fistula is the exeresis of fistula, suture of bladder wall, colic resection with or without temporary colostomy. Usually the approach is open because conversion rates and morbidity are lower than laparoscopy. The aim of video is to show the steps of a new mini-invasive approach of colo-vesical fistula without colic resection. Materials and Methods A 69 years old male underwent laparoscopic conservative treatment of colo-vesical fistula due to endoscopic polipectomy in sigmoid diverticulum. 12 mm trocar for the camera was placed at the umbilicus, two 10 mm trocars were placed along bisiliac line and 5 mm port was placed along left emiclavear line; Trendelenburg position was 20°. The fistulous loop was carefully isolated, clipped with Hem-o-lock® clips and removed. Since diverticular disease appeared slight and no inflammation signs were evident, colon resection was not performed. We sutured and sinked the sigmoid wall; after curettage of the fistula site, the bladder wall was sutured. Fat tissue was placed between sigmoid and bladder wall to reduce the risk of fistula recurrence. Results Operative time, estimated blood loss, catheterization time, time to flatus and hospital stay were respectively 210 minutes, 300 mL, 10 days, 48 h and 8 days. The histological examination showed colonic inflammatory and necrotic tissue. No complications or fistula recurrence occurred at 54 months follow-up. Conclusions The laparoscopic conservative treatment of colo-vesical fistula is a safe and feasible technique, in particular when the diverticular disease is limited and the fistula is not due to diverticulitis

Frailty Network in an Acute Care Setting: The New Perspective for Frail Older People

The incidence of elderly patients who come to the emergency room is progressively increasing. The specialization of the physician units might not be adequate for the evaluation of this complexity. The present study aimed to present a standard procedure, called ‘The Geriatric Frailty Network’, operating at the Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS Foundation, which is configured specifically for the level II assessment of frail elderly patients. This was a retrospective study in 1191 patients aged over 65, who were evaluated by the Geriatric Frailty Unit directly after emergency department admission for one year. All patients underwent multidimensional geriatric evaluation. Data were collected on demographics, co-morbidity, disease severity, and Clinical Frailty Scale. Among all patients, 723 were discharged directly from the emergency room with early identification of continuity of care path. Globally, 468 patients were hospitalized with an early assessment of frailty that facilitated the discharge process. The geriatric frailty network model aims to assist the emergency room and ward doctor in the prevention of the most common geriatric syndromes and reduce the number of incongruous hospitalization

Primary melanoma of the bladder: Case report and review of the literature

Skin melanoma represents one of the most common and lethal solid tumor. It usually develops on the skin but it can occur in any tissues with melanine- containing-cells (extracutaneous malignant melanoma). Only 4-5% of malignant melanomas originate in extracutaneous tissues, and they have an extremely lethal behavior (1). These non-skin malignant melanomas are rare but extremely aggressive. Primary melanoma of the genitourinary tract accounts for less than 0.2% of all melanomas. To date only 28 cases of primary bladder melanoma (PMM) are described. We report a rare case of PMM of the bladder in a 72 years old man treated with radical cystectomy and immunotherapy with Nivolumab

Fabrication of self-aligned gated silicon microtip array using electrochemical silicon etching

In this paper we report a new approach to fabricate gated silicon microtip arrays for field emission applications using a single mask process. The key role in the fabrication process is played by the photoelectrochemical etching of silicon in HF-based electrolytes. This technique is here exploited to produce highly uniform silicon microtip arrays. The fabrication process is detailed and the dependence of the tip geometry on the electrochemical etching parameters is discussed. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Immediate Radical Cystectomy for Massive Bleeding of Bladder Cancer

Objective. To investigate feasibility and safety of our surgical strategy and clinical and oncological efficacy. Materials and Methods. In a high volume tertiary institution 225 radical cystectomies were performed from January 2012 to December 2014. We prospectively collected data of a cohort of 12 patients who underwent immediate open radical cystectomy for bladder cancer causing massive haematuria, acute anemia, and impossibility of postponing surgery. A retrospective study was carried out to evaluate operative data, intra- and postoperative complications, and oncologic outcomes. The Clavien-Dindo Classification was used to grade complications. The oncologic outcome was evaluated in terms of positive overall and soft tissue surgical margins and cancer specific survival at a median follow-up of 26 months. Results. Mean preoperative haemoglobin was 6.8 mg/dL. Mean operative time was 278 minutes. Mean blood loss was 633 mL. The overall transfusion rate was 100% with a mean of 3.6 blood units per patient before surgery and 1.8 units postoperatively. No intraoperative complications occurred. Major complications (defined as grades III, IV, and V according to Clavien-Dindo Classification) were 18,5%. In fact grade III complications were 14.8% and grade IV complications were 3.7%. Grade V did not occur. The positive surgical margin rate was 33.3% and cancer specific survival was 58,3% at median follow-up of 26 months. Conclusions. Immediate surgical management seems feasible, safe, and efficacious

Temperature stabilised tunable Gm-C filter for very low frequencies

In this work, a continuous time low pass filter, with sub-Hz upper band limit, is presented. The circuit is based on a Gm-C approach, where the transconductance is stabilised against temperature variations over a wide temperature range (0-80°C) using a DC feedback loop applied to a dummy transconductor (master). The very low transconductance values required to obtain low frequency singularities are achieved by means of multistage current division. A first order low pass prototype filter has been fabricated by means of the 1-μm BCD3S process of STMicroelectronics