Relationship between supratentorial arachnoid cyst and chronic subdural hematoma: neuroradiological evidence and surgical treatment.

Arachnoid cysts are relatively common congenital intracranial mass lesions that arise during the development of the meninges. They can be complicated by the formation of an ipsilateral chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) after minor cranial trauma. Treatment of these coexisting conditions remains controversial. In this study the authors describe the anatomical, clinical, and neuroradiological features and outcome in a series of patients whose CSDH associated with arachnoid cysts were managed surgically by draining the hematoma alone and leaving the cyst intact. The authors based this surgical management on histological and neuroradiological observations concerning these associated medical conditions. A series of 8 patients with CSDHs associated with arachnoid cysts underwent surgery to drain the hematoma though a bur hole. The arachnoid cyst was left intact. Postoperative follow-up included CT scanning and T1- and T2-weighted MR imaging. Results. Clinical, anatomical, and radiological observations suggest that because separate membranes cover arachnoid cysts and the related hematoma, arachnoid cysts remain unaffected by the subdural bleeding. In the present study, these observations received support from the neuroimaging appearances, suggesting that arachnoid cysts related to hematoma contained only blood breakdown products from the hematoma that had filtered through the reciprocal dividing membranes

Late Evaluation of Silent Cerebral Ischemia Detected by Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging after Filter-Protected Carotid Artery Stenting

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Postoperative diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) often discloses new lesions after carotid artery stent placement (CAS), most of them asymptomatic. Our aim was to investigate the fate of these silent ischemic lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively studied 110 patients undergoing protected transfemoral CAS, 98 of whom underwent DWI before and after the intervention. Patients in whom DWI disclosed silent postoperative lesions also had delayed MR imaging. Preoperative, postoperative, and delayed scans were compared. RESULTS: Of the 92 patients without postoperative symptoms, DWI disclosed 33 new silent ischemic lesions in 14 patients (15.2%), 13 of whom (30 lesions) underwent delayed MR imaging after a mean follow-up of 6.2 months. In 8 of these 13 patients (61%), MR imaging disclosed 12 persistent lesions (12/30, 40%). The reversibility rate depended significantly on the location (cortical versus subcortical) and size (0–5 versus 5–10 mm) of the lesions ( P χ 2 test). CONCLUSIONS: Because many silent ischemic lesions seen on postoperative DWI after CAS reverse within months, the extent of permanent CAS-related cerebral damage may be overestimated

Waveguiding and SERS simplified Raman spectroscopy on biological samples

Biomarkers detection at an ultra-low concentration in biofluids (blood, serum, saliva, etc.) is a key point for the early diagnosis success and the development of personalized therapies. However, it remains a challenge due to limiting factors like (i) the complexity of analyzed media, and (ii) the aspecificity detection and the poor sensitivity of the conventional methods. In addition, several applications require the integration of the primary sensors with other devices (microfluidic devices, capillaries, flasks, vials, etc.) where transducing the signal might be difficult, reducing performances and applicability. In the present work, we demonstrate a new class of optical biosensor we have developed integrating an optical waveguide (OWG) with specific plasmonic surfaces. Exploiting the plasmonic resonance, the devices give consistent results in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for continuous and label-free detection of biological compounds. The OWG allows driving optical signals in the proximity of SERS surfaces (detection area) overcoming spatial constraints, in order to reach places previously optically inaccessible. A rutile prism couples the remote laser source to the OWG, while a Raman spectrometer collects the SERS far field scattering. The present biosensors were implemented by a simple fabrication process, which includes photolithography and nanofabrication. By using such devices, it was possible to detect cell metabolites like Phenylalanine (Phe), Adenosine 5-triphosphate sodium hydrate (ATP), Sodium Lactate, Human Interleukin 6 (IL6), and relate them to possible metabolic pathway variation

Fabrication and Applications of Micro/Nanostructured Devices for Tissue Engineering

Nanotechnology allows the realization of new materials and devices with basic structural unit in the range of 1–100 nm and characterized by gaining control at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular level. Reducing the dimensions of a material into the nanoscale range usually results in the change of its physiochemical properties such as reactivity, crystallinity, and solubility. This review treats the convergence of last research news at the interface of nanostructured biomaterials and tissue engineering for emerging biomedical technologies such as scaffolding and tissue regeneration. The present review is organized into three main sections. The introduction concerns an overview of the increasing utility of nanostructured materials in the field of tissue engineering. It elucidates how nanotechnology, by working in the submicron length scale, assures the realization of a biocompatible interface that is able to reproduce the physiological cell–matrix interaction. The second, more technical section, concerns the design and fabrication of biocompatible surface characterized by micro- and submicroscale features, using microfabrication, nanolithography, and miscellaneous nanolithographic techniques. In the last part, we review the ongoing tissue engineering application of nanostructured materials and scaffolds in different fields such as neurology, cardiology, orthopedics, and skin tissue regeneration

Foreign Policy and the Ideology of Post-ideology: The Case of Matteo Renzi’s Partito Democratico

The post-communist Italian Left has experienced a long phase of ideational misalignment between ideas placed at different levels, as a qualified discursive institutionalist approach demonstrates. Background public philosophies have often clashed with post-communist political ideology, while foreign policy programmes have often contradicted specific policies. Under the leadership of Matteo Renzi, however, the PD is now experiencing a moment of remarkable ideational consistency. Rather than being founded on entirely new premises, this new consensus folds old elements into new ones and shows all the defining traits of post-ideology. Yet, by espousing post-ideology, Renzi is making an ultimately ideological move whose limitations may soon start to show

Hot-electron nanoscopy using adiabatic compression of surface plasmons

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A Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events: Cuore, an Update

CUORE is a proposed tightly packed array of 1000 TeO_{2} bolometers, each being a cube 5 cm on a side with a mass of 750 gms. The array consists of 25 vertical towers, arranged in a square, of 5 towers by 5 towers, each containing 10 layers of 4 crystals. The design of the detector is optimized for ultralow- background searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of ^{130}Te (33.8% abundance), cold dark matter, solar axions, and rare nuclear decays. A preliminary experiment involving 20 crystals of various sizes (MIBETA) has been completed, and a single CUORE tower is being constructed as a smaller scale experiment called CUORICINO. The expected performance and sensitivity, based on Monte Carlo simulations and extrapolations of present results, are reported.Comment: in press: Nucl. Phys. of Russian Academy of Sc

Laboratory injection molder for the fabrication of polymeric porous poly-epsilon-caprolactone scaffolds for preliminary mesenchymal stem cells tissue engineering applications

This study presents a simple and rapid fabrication technique involving injection molding and particle leaching (IM/PL) to fabricate the porous scaffold for tissue engineering applications. Sodium Chloride (NaCl) and Sucrose are separately mixed with the poly-epsilon-caprolactone (PCL) granules using a screwed thermo-regulated extruder, then the biocompatible scaffolds are fabricated through injection molding. The micro/nano-structure of the samples and their different grade of porosity were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells are chosen for cell culture and Hoechst 33342 staining was used to verify the biocompatibility of the polymeric porous surfaces. We concluded that, by using the same fast solvent free injection/leaching process, the use of Sucrose as porogen, instead of NaCl, allowed the obtainment of biocompatible scaffolds with a higher grade of porosity with suitable cell adhesion capacity for tissue engineering purpose