A Multicenter, Prospective, Randomized, Contralateral Study of Tissue Liquefaction Liposuction vs Suction-Assisted Liposuction

Tissue liquefaction liposuction (TLL) deploys a novel energy source utilizing a stream of warmed, low-pressurized, and pulsed saline to extract fat tissue. Objectives: Compare TLL to suction-assisted liposuction (SAL) to determine which device is more efficient for surgeons and provides better recovery for patients. Methods: Thirty-one adult female patients were followed prospectively in a contralateral study design comparing differences in bruising, swelling, tenderness, and incision appearance ratings between TLL and SAL procedures. Surgical efficiency and appearance of the lipoaspirate were also compared. Results: All 31 patients successfully completed the study. For TLL and SAL procedures, the average volumes of infusion (1.242 vs 1.276 L) and aspirated supernatant fat (704 vs 649 mL) were statistically similar. TLL median fat extraction rate was faster than SAL (35.6 vs 25 mL/min; P < 0.0001), and stroke rate was reduced in TLL vs SAL procedures (48 vs 120 strokes/min; P < 0.0001), and both were statistically significant. The mean total scores for bruising, swelling, treatment site tenderness, and incision appearance were lower, indicating improved patient recovery on the TLL side. Conclusions: TLL and SAL techniques produced comparable volume of fat aspirate. TLL demonstrated a 42% faster fat extraction rate and a 68% reduction in arm movements needed to complete the procedure compared to SAL, both of these differences are statistically significant. The TLL side was noted to have reduced bruising and swelling and improved incision site appearance with less tenderness compared to the SAL side

DESIGN OF GEODETIC NETWORKS BASED ON OUTLIER IDENTIFICATION CRITERIA: AN EXAMPLE APPLIED TO THE LEVELING NETWORK

We present a numerical simulation method for designing geodetic networks. The quality criterion considered is based on the power of the test of data snooping testing procedure. This criterion expresses the probability of the data snooping to identify correctly an outlier. In general, the power of the test is defined theoretically. However, with the advent of the fast computers and large data storage systems, it can be estimated using numerical simulation. Here, the number of experiments in which the data snooping procedure identifies the outlier correctly is counted using Monte Carlos simulations. If the network configuration does not meet the reliability criterion at some part, then it can be improved by adding required observation to the surveying plan. The method does not use real observations. Thus, it depends on the geometrical configuration of the network; the uncertainty of the observations; and the size of outlier. The proposed method is demonstrated by practical application of one simulated leveling network. Results showed the needs of five additional observations between adjacent stations. The addition of these new observations improved the internal reliability of approximately 18%. Therefore, the final designed network must be able to identify and resist against the undetectable outliers – according to the probability levels

Gender Variation and Expression of Monoecy in Juniperus phoenicea (L.) (Cupressaceae)

Variation of gender expression and cone production is described quantitatively for Juniperus phoenicea L. populations in southern Spain and Morocco. The species is monoecious, but most populations showed a dichotomy of gender expression at flowering, with predominantly "male" and predominantly "female" plants and few "monoecious" individuals, a functionally subdioecious breeding system. The proportion of female plants in the Spanish populations ranged from 31% (R. B. Donana) to 40% (Cda. Sabinas, 1988) and did not exceed 10% in Morocco. Most plants with femaleness values < .40 failed to set full-sized seed cones or produced very small crops. Individual plants showed a significant constancy of gender expression in consecutive years. Most inconsistencies in sexual behavior involved transitions between the male and female expressions and their respective "inconstant" conditions. Between-year variations in seed-bearing cone production largely reflected changes in female flowering gender of the individual plants; years with large crop production were characterized by increases in average female gender expression for a given gender category and, as a result, a greater percentage of the population producing female cones. Plants differing in gender expression showed no significant differences in size. Male plants always produced fewer than 10 female cones per crop, and inconstant males rarely exceeded 200 female cones; female plants usually had crop sizes above 100 cones, except in the seasons of cone crop failure. Individual plants also differed in annual shoot growth, but these differences were unrelated to both gender expression and cone production in the previous season. Differences among populations accounted for 52% of total variance in female cone size, while the effect of the individual plant accounted for 26%; only 22% was attributable to within-plant variation. A nested model with gender category as the main effect and plant as a nested effect accounted for 88% of total variation in five cone characteristics, but gender effect accounted for ≤ 2%Peer reviewe