Validità della Lip Adhesion nel trattamento della cheilognatopalatoschisi grave: analisi di 94 casi clinici.

Lo scopo di questo studio è testare la validità della Lip Adhesion (LA) nella trattamento della cheilognatopalatoschisi grave. Dal gennaio 2010 all'agosto 2014 novantaquattro pazienti, 67 con una schisi monolaterale e 27 con una schisi bilaterale, sono stati sottoposti a LA o sinechia temporanea mediamente circa 50 giorni prima della cheiloplastica e della successiva palatoplastica. L'indicazione a tale procedimento chirurgico era la presenza di una ampia schisi alveolare (> 7 mm.) con grave dislocazione dei segmenti ossei mascellari e grave distorsione dei tessuti molli. La LA è stata fatta in media al 48° giorno, seguita poi dalla cheiloplastica definitiva al 98° giorno. Prima di ogni intervento sono state scattate fotografie ed è stato fatto il il calco dell'arcata dentale. L'ampiezza della schisi mascellare durante un periodo medio postoperatorio di 50 giorni si è ridotta del 50,5% nelle forme monolaterali mentre in quelle bilaterali del 47% a sinistra e del 40% a destra. Lo studio ha evidenziato che tramite la LA i tessuti molli del labbro superiore vengono uniti in modo da convertire una cheilognatopalatoschisi grave, sia nei casi monolaterali che in quelli bilaterali, in una schisi incompleta più semplice da correggere e , grazie alla riduzione del gap fra i segmenti mascellari, la LA non solo facilita la chiusura definitiva del labbro superiore garantendo risultati migliori sia funzionali che estetici ma anche la ricostruzione tridimensionale del mascellare schisato tramite la periostioplastica

Chemical-looping combustion for combined cycles with CO2 capture

Chemical-Looping Combustion (CLC) is a process where fuel oxidation is carried out Background and Scope The use of fossil fuels is so widespread and deep-rooted in industrial societies ͑and man's habits͒ that its reduction as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will require an unprecedented, daunting effort ͓1͔. In the short-and medium-term, substantial reductions of greenhouse gas emissions could still be achieved by sequestering the CO 2 generated by fossil fuels oxidation. The capture and long-term storage of CO 2 -or possibly other carbon-laden compounds ͓2͔-could thereby ease the transition toward the long-term goal of a society relying on most environmentally benign energy sources and conversion systems. CO 2 sequestration appears to make most sense for large-scale power stations, either due to economies of scale and to the complexity of the systems needed for capture and storage. In this case there appear to be three crucial issues: 1. CO 2 capture in fossil fuel-fired power plants; 2. CO 2 transport to storage site; 3. availability of appropriate, long-term storage sites. This paper focuses on the first issue, assuming that a system does exist for transporting liquid, supercritical CO 2 at 85 bar to a safe, long-term storage site like depleted oil or gas fields, underground caverns, aquifers or deep oceanic waters. Should higher pressures be required, they can easily be achieved with very low pumping energy requirements. In a fossil fuel-fired power plant, CO 2 capture can be carried out by a variety of processes and technologies. A host of recent studies focus on three concepts involving relatively well-known technologies: i. CO 2 removal via amine chemical absorption from flue gas ͓3,4͔; ii. fuel decarbonization, i.e. conversion of fossil fuel into hydrogen and CO 2 , which is removed ahead of combustion ͓5,6͔; iii. oxy-combustion, where nearly-pure CO 2 is obtained by knocking out the water from the gas generated by burning the fuel into oxygen ͓7,8͔. This paper focuses on yet another technology, often named as Chemical Looping Combustion ͑CLC͒, reporting the outcome of a research commissioned by Enitecnologie, a company of the ENI group, to the Energy Department of Energy Engineering Politecnico di Milano. The CLC concept is illustrated i

Glyphozines and treatment of cardiac disease

Glyphozines also called SGLT2 inhibitors, are a new class of agents that inhibit reabsorption of glucose in the kidney, in proximal tubules, and therefore lower blood sugar. They act by inhibiting sodiumglucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2). Glyphozines are used in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus. In studies with canagliflozin, a member of this class, the medication was found to enhance blood sugar control as well as reduce body weight and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In addition to regulate blood glucose, recent studies have shown that glyphozines have important positive cardiovascular benefits, such as weight loss, decreased volaemia and PA, reduced triglycerides, natriuresis and improved endothelial wall dysfunction. Clinical studies have shown reduction in deaths from cardiovascular events among diabetic patients treated with glyphozines. At the moment these drugs are being studied for an extension of the therapeutic indication also for cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure. In this review, we discuss the class of SGLT2 inhibitors in the treatment of diabetes, and studies focused on their possible role in the treatment of cardiac disease

The Life Span Determinant p66Shc Localizes to Mitochondria Where It Associates with Mitochondrial Heat Shock Protein 70 and Regulates Trans-membrane Potential

P66Shc regulates life span in mammals and is a critical component of the apoptotic response to oxidative stress. It functions as a downstream target of the tumor suppressor p53 and is indispensable for the ability of oxidative stress-activated p53 to induce apoptosis. The molecular mechanisms underlying the apoptogenic effect of p66Shc are unknown. Here we report the following three findings. (i) The apoptosome can be properly activated in vitro in the absence of p66Shc only if purified cytochrome c is supplied. (ii) Cytochrome c release after oxidative signals is impaired in the absence of p66Shc. (iii) p66Shc induces the collapse of the mitochondrial trans-membrane potential after oxidative stress. Furthermore, we showed that a fraction of cytosolic p66Shc localizes within mitochondria where it forms a complex with mitochondrial Hsp70. Treatment of cells with ultraviolet radiation induced the dissociation of this complex and the release of monomeric p66Shc. We propose that p66Shc regulates the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis by inducing mitochondrial damage after dissociation from an inhibitory protein complex. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that mitochondria regulate life span through their effects on the energetic metabolism (mitochondrial theory of aging). Our data suggest that mitochondrial regulation of apoptosis might also contribute to life span determination

Stab Injury to the Preauricular Region With Laceration of the External Carotid Artery Without Involvement of the Facial Nerve: a Case Report

BACKGROUND: Open injuries to the face involving the external carotid artery are uncommon. These injuries are normally associated with laceration of the facial nerve because this nerve is more superficial than the external carotid artery. Hence, external carotid artery lesions are usually associated with facial nerve dysfunction. We present an unusual case report in which the patient had an injury to this artery with no facial nerve compromise. CASE PRESENTATION: A 25-year-old Portuguese man sustained a stab wound injury to his right preauricular region with a broken glass. Immediate profuse bleeding ensued. Provisory tamponade of the wound was achieved at the place of aggression by two off-duty doctors. He was initially transferred to a district hospital, where a large arterial bleeding was observed and a temporary compressive dressing was applied. Subsequently, the patient was transferred to a tertiary hospital. At admission in the emergency room, he presented a pulsating lesion in the right preauricular region and slight weakness in the territory of the inferior buccal branch of the facial nerve. The physical examination suggested an arterial lesion superficial to the facial nerve. However, in the operating theater, a section of the posterior and lateral flanks of the external carotid artery inside the parotid gland was identified. No lesion of the facial nerve was observed, and the external carotid artery was repaired. To better understand the anatomical rationale of this uncommon clinical case, we dissected the preauricular region of six cadavers previously injected with colored latex solutions in the vascular system. A small triangular space between the two main branches of division of the facial nerve in which the external carotid artery was not covered by the facial nerve was observed bilaterally in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: This clinical case illustrates that, in a preauricular wound, the external carotid artery can be injured without facial nerve damage. However, no similar description was found in the reviewed literature, which suggests that this must be a very rare occurrence. According to the dissection study performed, this is due to the existence of a triangular space between the cervicofacial and temporofacial nerve trunks in which the external carotid artery is not covered by the facial nerve or its branches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

withdrawn 2017 hrs ehra ecas aphrs solaece expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation

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A Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Patch Array Antenna for Phase-Only Beam Shaping with Element Rotation

In this paper, an innovative patch antenna optimally designed for phase-only beam shaping is presented. The radiating element generates a circularly polarized field and exhibits two separate operative frequency bands. The element is center-fed by a pin connected to the beam forming network (BFN) layer. This unique feature allows us to generate any given phase distribution by simply proportionally rotating the radiating elements with respect to their feeding points. An effective phase-only synthesis method is also illustrated, which takes into account the radiating element rotations. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution, two linear arrays for global coverage have been designed, specifically operating in the E1 and E6 frequency bands of the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Galileo. The two presented antennas performance have been verified with full-wave simulations, showing excellent agreement with theoretical results and, therefore, confirming the effectiveness of the presented design approach