Usefulness of Intraoperative 2D-Ultrasound in the Resection of Brain Tumors

The surgical approach to brain tumors often uses preoperative images to visualize the characteristics of pathology, guiding the surgical procedure. However, the usefulness of preoperative images during the surgical procedure is altered by the changes in the brain during the surgery because of craniotomy, inflammation, tumor resection, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage, among others. For this reason, there is a need to use intraoperative imaging evaluation methods that allow the surgeon to consider these changes, reflecting the real-time anatomical disposition of the brain/tumor. Intraoperative ultrasound (iUS) has allowed neurosurgeons to guide the surgical procedure without exposing the patient to ionizing radiation or interrupting the procedure. Technological advances have made it possible to improve image quality, have smaller probes, and facilitate the use of the equipment, in addition to the introduction of new imaging modalities, such as three-dimensional images, enhanced with contrast, among others, expanding the available options. In the context of these advances, the objective of this chapter was to review the current status of the usefulness and challenges of iUS for brain tumor resection through an in-depth review of the literature and the discussion of an illustrative case

Motor Recovery in Different Types of Brachial Plexus Injury Surgeries

Brachial plexus injuries (BPI) affect mostly the young population. The management of these injuries is complex and there are many surgical options for treatment. To evaluate the patient motor component, the British Medical Research Council motor grading scale (BMRC), range-of-motion (ROM), disability of the arm, shoulder, and hand questionnaire (DASH), and push and pull dynamometer are the main clinical assessment tools that provide information about the clinical status regarding motor function. The purpose of this chapter is to show the motor recovery on interventions that are available as surgical alternatives for the management of BPI, through a systematic review of the literature

A Pliocene-Pleistocene continental biota from Venezuela

The Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in the Neotropics is poorly understood despite the major climatic changes that occurred at the onset of the Quaternary. The San Gregorio Formation, the younger unit of the Urumaco Sequence, preserves a fauna that documents this critical transition. We report stingrays, freshwater bony fishes, amphibians, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, aquatic and terrestrial turtles, and mammals. A total of 49 taxa are reported from the Vergel Member (late Pliocene) and nine taxa from the Cocuiza Member (Early Pleistocene), with 28 and 18 taxa reported for the first time in the Urumaco sequence and Venezuela, respectively. Our findings include the first fossil record of the freshwater fishes Megaleporinus, Schizodon, Amblydoras, Scorpiodoras, and the pipesnake Anilius scytale, all from Pliocene strata. The late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene ages proposed here for the Vergel and Cocuiza members, respectively, are supported by their stratigraphic position, palynology, nannoplankton, and 86 Sr/ 88 Sr dating. Mammals from the Vergel Member are associated with the first major pulse of the Great American Biotic Interchange. In contrast to the dry conditions prevailing today, the San Gregorio Formation documents mixed open grassland/forest areas surrounding permanent freshwater systems, following the isolation of the northern South American basin from western Amazonia. These findings support the hypothesis that range contraction of many taxa to their current distribution in northern South America occurred rapidly during at least the last 1.5 million years

Lo glocal y el turismo. Nuevos paradigmas de interpretación.

El estudio del turismo se realiza desde múltiples escalas y enfoques, este libro aborda muchos temas que es necesario discutir desde diversas perspectivas; es el caso de la reflexión sobre la propia disciplina y sus conceptos, así como los asuntos específicos referidos al impacto territorial, los tipos de turismo, las cuestiones ambientales, el tema de la pobreza, la competitividad, las políticas públicas, el papel de las universidades, las áreas naturales protegidas, la sustentabilidad, la cultura, el desarrollo, la seguridad, todos temas centrales documentados y expuestos con originalidad y dominio del asunto. Lo multiescalar es básico para la comprensión del sistema turístico, sistema formado de procesos globales, regionales y locales. El eje de discusión del libro es lo glocal, esa interacción entre lo nacional y local con lo global

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements