Bilateral exostoses of the internal auditory canal

A 54-year-old female patient presented to her physician with a 3-year-old history of bilateral tinnitus and hearing loss. She also complained of paresthesia in the periauricular area. There were no episodes of imbalance or vertigo

Pseudotumoral tophaceous involvement of the Achilles paratenon

Gout is the most common form of microcrystalline arthropathy which usually does not pose a diagnostic challenge when patients have typical presentation, appropriate biochemical picture and classical radiographic appearance. However, formation of gouty tophi in unusual locations and with atypical presentations may mislead clinicians and radiologists, thereby justifying gout nickname as the “great mimicker”. When interpreting images of tendon related masses, radiologists should be aware of gouty tophi as a possible differential given its variable and nonspecific imaging appearance. In this article, we present a case of a patient with a painless tophaceous gout nodule, adjacent to the Achilles tendon

Determining crystal structures through crowdsourcing and coursework

We show here that computer game players can build high-quality crystal structures. Introduction of a new feature into the computer game Foldit allows players to build and real-space refine structures into electron density maps. To assess the usefulness of this feature, we held a crystallographic model-building competition between trained crystallographers, undergraduate students, Foldit players and automatic model-building algorithms. After removal of disordered residues, a team of Foldit players achieved the most accurate structure. Analysing the target protein of the competition, YPL067C, uncovered a new family of histidine triad proteins apparently involved in the prevention of amyloid toxicity. From this study, we conclude that crystallographers can utilize crowdsourcing to interpret electron density information and to produce structure solutions of the highest quality

Ossification of the ligamentum flavum in the cervical spine

A 67-year-old Caucasian woman with no medical history was referred to the hospital with severe neck pain radiating to the left arm

TAKAYASU’S ARTERITIS IN A YOUNG CAUCASIAN FEMALE: CASE REPORT AND REVIEW

We report a case of a 24-year-old Caucasian woman presenting with fatigue, weight loss, a cardiac murmur, anaemia and biochemical markers of inflammation due to Takayasu's arteritis (TA), a vasculitis of the aorta and large vessels that typically affects young women. The rarity of the disease, the great variability in presentation together with the absence of specific symptoms as well as the absence of specific biochemical markers, makes early diagnosis difficult. Besides (magnetic resonance) arteriography, new promising diagnostic tools are discussed, including transoesophageat echocardiography (TEE) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Nevertheless, a high index of suspicion remains the key to an early diagnosis, and hence a better prognosis, of TA.status: publishe

Cooperation between humans and machines: First results of an experiment with a multi-level cooperative organisation in air traffic control

The increasing air traffic and the ensuing increasing burden on air traffic controllers suggest to attempt to provide enhanced assistance to air traffic controllers. As it is difficult to reduce the number of primary tasks, a solution is to give active assistance to controllers by means of computer tools that allow for optimal control in order to maintain the level of safety and at the same time regulate the air traffic controllers' workload. The objective of our research is to propose and validate a new organisation of air traffic control. It aims at integrating both levels of the organisation of air traffic control: a tactical level managed by a radar controller and a strategic level managed by a organic controller. Our study at first addresses the tactical level, aiming at ‘horizontal cooperation’ consisting in dynamic allocation of control tasks between a human air traffic controller and an assistance tool. The results of this first approach has oriented the study toward the implementation of a scheduling module for the tactical level. This paper reports the functionalities of air-traffic control and the results of few preceding experiments. A description of the new multi-level organisation is given, to conduce to the presentation of experimental platform, experimental protocol and the first results of experiments