8,508 research outputs found
Excisional treatment of cavernous hemangioma of the liver
Fifteen patients had hepatic hemangiomas removed with liver resections that ranged in extent from local excision to right trisegmentectomy. There was no mortality and little morbidity. The propriety and feasibility of extirpative treatment of such liver tumors has been emphasized by this experience
Template-Stripped Multifunctional Wedge and Pyramid Arrays for Magnetic Nanofocusing and Optical Sensing
We present large-scale reproducible
fabrication of multifunctional ultrasharp metallic structures on planar
substrates with capabilities including magnetic field nanofocusing
and plasmonic sensing. Objects with sharp tips such as wedges and
pyramids made with noble metals have been extensively used for enhancing
local electric fields via the lightning-rod effect or plasmonic nanofocusing.
However, analogous nanofocusing of magnetic fields using sharp tips
made with magnetic materials has not been widely realized. Reproducible
fabrication of sharp tips with magnetic as well as noble metal layers
on planar substrates can enable straightforward application of their
material and shape-derived functionalities. We use a template-stripping
method to produce plasmonic-shell-coated nickel wedge and pyramid
arrays at the wafer-scale with tip radius of curvature close to 10
nm. We further explore the magnetic nanofocusing capabilities of these
ultrasharp substrates, deriving analytical formulas and comparing
the results with computer simulations. These structures exhibit nanoscale
spatial control over the trapping of magnetic microbeads and nanoparticles
in solution. Additionally, enhanced optical sensing of analytes by
these plasmonic-shell-coated substrates is demonstrated using surface-enhanced
Raman spectroscopy. These methods can guide the design and fabrication
of novel devices with applications including nanoparticle manipulation,
biosensing, and magnetoplasmonics
Laser Generation of Narrow Band Ultrasound
Laser based sensor systems to replace conventional piezoelectric contact transducers for ultrasonic testing continue under development for applications where contact with the specimen surface is undesirable or impossible. To date, such systems are considerably less sensitive than their piezoelectric counterparts. As a result, a great deal of effort has contributed to the development of a number of interferoroetric transducer systems to detect ultrasound. Increasingly, however, researchers have begun looking at laser ultrasonic sources to see what improvements might be made to enhance overall system sensitivity for laser generation and detection of ultrasound
Predicting and comparing three corrective techniques for sagittal craniosynostosis
Sagittal synostosis is the most occurring form of craniosynostosis, resulting in calvarial deformation and possible long-term neurocognitive deficits. Several surgical techniques have been developed to correct these issues. Debates as to the most optimal approach are still ongoing. Finite element method is a computational tool that’s shown to assist with the management of craniosynostosis. The aim of this study was to compare and predict the outcomes of three reconstruction methods for sagittal craniosynostosis. Here, a generic finite element model was developed based on a patient at 4 months of age and was virtually reconstructed under all three different techniques. Calvarial growth was simulated to predict the skull morphology and the impact of different reconstruction techniques on the brain growth up to 60 months of age. Predicted morphology was then compared with in vivo and literature data. Our results show a promising resemblance to morphological outcomes at follow up. Morphological characteristics between considered techniques were also captured in our predictions. Pressure outcomes across the brain highlight the potential impact that different techniques have on growth. This study lays the foundation for further investigation into additional reconstructive techniques for sagittal synostosis with the long-term vision of optimizing the management of craniosynostosis
Deep Video Generation, Prediction and Completion of Human Action Sequences
Current deep learning results on video generation are limited while there are
only a few first results on video prediction and no relevant significant
results on video completion. This is due to the severe ill-posedness inherent
in these three problems. In this paper, we focus on human action videos, and
propose a general, two-stage deep framework to generate human action videos
with no constraints or arbitrary number of constraints, which uniformly address
the three problems: video generation given no input frames, video prediction
given the first few frames, and video completion given the first and last
frames. To make the problem tractable, in the first stage we train a deep
generative model that generates a human pose sequence from random noise. In the
second stage, a skeleton-to-image network is trained, which is used to generate
a human action video given the complete human pose sequence generated in the
first stage. By introducing the two-stage strategy, we sidestep the original
ill-posed problems while producing for the first time high-quality video
generation/prediction/completion results of much longer duration. We present
quantitative and qualitative evaluation to show that our two-stage approach
outperforms state-of-the-art methods in video generation, prediction and video
completion. Our video result demonstration can be viewed at
https://iamacewhite.github.io/supp/index.htmlComment: Under review for CVPR 2018. Haoye and Chunyan have equal contributio
Using Sensitivity Analysis to Develop a Validated Computational Model of Post-operative Calvarial Growth in Sagittal Craniosynostosis
Craniosynostosis is the premature fusion of one or more sutures across the calvaria, resulting in morphological and health complications that require invasive corrective surgery. Finite element (FE) method is a powerful tool that can aid with preoperative planning and post-operative predictions of craniosynostosis outcomes. However, input factors can influence the prediction of skull growth and the pressure on the growing brain using this approach. Therefore, the aim of this study was to carry out a series of sensitivity studies to understand the effect of various input parameters on predicting the skull morphology of a sagittal synostosis patient post-operatively. Preoperative CT images of a 4-month old patient were used to develop a 3D model of the skull, in which calvarial bones, sutures, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and brain were segmented. Calvarial reconstructive surgery was virtually modeled and two intracranial content scenarios labeled “CSF present” and “CSF absent,” were then developed. FE method was used to predict the calvarial morphology up to 76 months of age with intracranial volume-bone contact parameters being established across the models. Sensitivity tests with regards to the choice of material properties, methods of simulating bone formation and the rate of bone formation across the sutures were undertaken. Results were compared to the in vivo data from the same patient. Sensitivity tests to the choice of various material properties highlighted that the defined elastic modulus for the craniotomies appears to have the greatest influence on the predicted overall skull morphology. The bone formation modeling approach across the sutures/craniotomies had a considerable impact on the level of contact pressure across the brain with minimum impact on the overall predicated morphology of the skull. Including the effect of CSF (based on the approach adopted here) displayed only a slight reduction in brain pressure outcomes. The sensitivity tests performed in this study set the foundation for future comparative studies using FE method to compare outcomes of different reconstruction techniques for the management of craniosynostosis
Comparison of next-generation portable pollution monitors to measure exposure to PM2.5 from household air pollution in Puno, Peru.
Assessment of personal exposure to PM2.5 is critical for understanding intervention effectiveness and exposure-response relationships in household air pollution studies. In this pilot study, we compared PM2.5 concentrations obtained from two next-generation personal exposure monitors (the Enhanced Children MicroPEM or ECM; and the Ultrasonic Personal Air Sampler or UPAS) to those obtained with a traditional Triplex Cyclone and SKC Air Pump (a gravimetric cyclone/pump sampler). We co-located cyclone/pumps with an ECM and UPAS to obtain 24-hour kitchen concentrations and personal exposure measurements. We measured Spearmen correlations and evaluated agreement using the Bland-Altman method. We obtained 215 filters from 72 ECM and 71 UPAS co-locations. Overall, the ECM and the UPAS had similar correlation (ECM ρ = 0.91 vs UPAS ρ = 0.88) and agreement (ECM mean difference of 121.7 µg/m3 vs UPAS mean difference of 93.9 µg/m3 ) with overlapping confidence intervals when compared against the cyclone/pump. When adjusted for the limit of detection, agreement between the devices and the cyclone/pump was also similar for all samples (ECM mean difference of 68.8 µg/m3 vs UPAS mean difference of 65.4 µg/m3 ) and personal exposure samples (ECM mean difference of -3.8 µg/m3 vs UPAS mean difference of -12.9 µg/m3 ). Both the ECM and UPAS produced comparable measurements when compared against a cyclone/pump setup
A probabilistic analysis of argument cogency
This paper offers a probabilistic treatment of the conditions for argument cogency as endorsed in informal logic: acceptability, relevance, and sufficiency. Treating a natural language argument as a reason-claim-complex, our analysis identifies content features of defeasible argument on which the RSA conditions depend, namely: change in the commitment to the reason, the reason’s sensitivity and selectivity to the claim, one’s prior commitment to the claim, and the contextually determined thresholds of acceptability for reasons and for claims. Results contrast with, and may indeed serve to correct, the informal understanding and applications of the RSA criteria concerning their conceptual dependence, their function as update-thresholds, and their status as obligatory rather than permissive norms, but also show how these formal and informal normative approachs can in fact align
Twin pregnancy in a liver transplant recipient with HIV infection
We are not aware of a report detailing the complex obstetrical and medical management of twin pregnancy in the context of HIV infection and early post-liver transplantation period. Here we describe the successful outcome of a twin pregnancy in a 28-year-old HIV-positive female receiving antiretroviral therapy and immunosuppressive therapy who was the recipient of a liver transplant for previous drug-induced liver failure
A Computational Framework to Predict Calvarial Growth: Optimising Management of Sagittal Craniosynostosis
The neonate skull consists of several bony plates, connected by fibrous soft tissue called sutures. Premature fusion of sutures is a medical condition known as craniosynostosis. Sagittal synostosis, caused by premature fusion of the sagittal suture, is the most common form of this condition. The optimum management of this condition is an ongoing debate in the craniofacial community while aspects of the biomechanics and mechanobiology are not well understood. Here, we describe a computational framework that enables us to predict and compare the calvarial growth following different reconstruction techniques for the management of sagittal synostosis. Our results demonstrate how different reconstruction techniques interact with the increasing intracranial volume. The framework proposed here can be used to inform optimum management of different forms of craniosynostosis, minimising the risk of functional consequences and secondary surgery
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