898 research outputs found
Is vocal cord asymmetry seen on transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography a significant predictor of voice quality changes after thyroidectomy?
Background: Vocal cord asymmetry (VCA) on laryngoscopic examination (LE) may suggest voice impairment after thyroidectomy, but LE may cause patient discomfort. We aimed to correlate the presence of postoperative VCA assessed by noninvasive transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography (TLUSG) with voice quality changes after thyroidectomy. Methods: A total of 169 patients scheduled for thyroidectomy completed two validated voice symptoms questionnaires - the GRBAS (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain) scale and the voice impairment score (VIS) - and underwent TLUSG and LE at 1 day before and 7-10 days after thyroidectomy. Postoperative VCA was apparent in 51 patients on TLUSG (group I), whereas there was no VCA in the other 118 patients (group II, controls). The GRBAS scale and VIS results were compared between the groups. Results: Before operation, the two groups had comparable preoperative GRBAS and VIS status. After operation, the "grade" and "roughness" components on the GRBAS scale were significantly worse in group I than in group II: 0.24 versus 0.07 (p = 0.016) and 0.33 versus 0.14 (p = 0.022), respectively. "Grade" and "roughness" in the GRBAS scale significantly worsened after the operation in group I: from 0.04 to 0.24 (p = 0.008) and from 0.02 to 0.33 (p = 0.001), respectively. They did not change in group II. Also, the overall VIS was significantly worse after thyroidectomy in group I: 4.97 versus 12.97 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: VCA seen on TLUSG significantly correlated with "grade" and "roughness" components on the GRBAS scale and the overall VIS. Thus, VCA might be used as a surrogate of postoperative voice changes. © 2013 Société Internationale de Chirurgie.postprin
Spin State Disproportionation in Insulating Ferromagnetic LaCoO3 Epitaxial Thin Films
The origin of insulating ferromagnetism in epitaxial LaCoO3 films under
tensile strain remains elusive despite extensive research efforts have been
devoted. Surprisingly, the spin state of its Co ions, the main parameter of its
ferromagnetism, is still to be determined. Here, we have systematically
investigated the spin state in epitaxial LaCoO3 thin films to clarify the
mechanism of strain induced ferromagnetism using element-specific x-ray
absorption spectroscopy and dichroism. Combining with the configuration
interaction cluster calculations, we unambiguously demonstrate that Co3+ in
LaCoO3 films under compressive strain (on LaAlO3 substrate) are practically a
low spin state, whereas Co3+ in LaCoO3 films under tensile strain (on SrTiO3
substrate) have mixed high spin and low spin states with a ratio close to 1:3.
From the identification of this spin state ratio, we infer that the dark strips
observed by high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy indicate
the position of Co3+ high spin state, i.e., an observation of a spin state
disproportionation in tensile-strained LaCoO3 films. This consequently explains
the nature of ferromagnetism in LaCoO3 films
Inter-hemispheric EEG coherence analysis in Parkinson's disease : Assessing brain activity during emotion processing
Parkinsonâs disease (PD) is not only characterized by its prominent motor symptoms but also associated with disturbances in cognitive and emotional functioning. The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of emotion processing on inter-hemispheric electroencephalography (EEG) coherence in PD. Multimodal emotional stimuli (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust) were presented to 20 PD patients and 30 age-, education level-, and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) while EEG was recorded. Inter-hemispheric coherence was computed from seven homologous EEG electrode pairs (AF3âAF4, F7âF8, F3âF4, FC5âFC6, T7âT8, P7âP8, and O1âO2) for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. In addition, subjective ratings were obtained for a representative of emotional stimuli. Interhemispherically, PD patients showed significantly lower coherence in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands than HC during emotion processing. No significant changes were found in the delta frequency band coherence. We also found that PD patients were more impaired in recognizing negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, and disgust) than relatively positive emotions (happiness and surprise). Behaviorally, PD patients did not show impairment in emotion recognition as measured by subjective ratings. These findings suggest that PD patients may have an impairment of inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (i.e., a decline in cortical connectivity) during emotion processing. This study may increase the awareness of EEG emotional response studies in clinical practice to uncover potential neurophysiologic abnormalities
Effective-Range Expansion of the Neutron-Deuteron Scattering Studied by a Quark-Model Nonlocal Gaussian Potential
The S-wave effective range parameters of the neutron-deuteron (nd) scattering
are derived in the Faddeev formalism, using a nonlocal Gaussian potential based
on the quark-model baryon-baryon interaction fss2. The spin-doublet low-energy
eigenphase shift is sufficiently attractive to reproduce predictions by the
AV18 plus Urbana three-nucleon force, yielding the observed value of the
doublet scattering length and the correct differential cross sections below the
deuteron breakup threshold. This conclusion is consistent with the previous
result for the triton binding energy, which is nearly reproduced by fss2
without reinforcing it with the three-nucleon force.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures and 6 tables, submitted to Prog. Theor. Phy
Anatomical Differences Determine Distribution of Adenovirus after Convection-Enhanced Delivery to the Rat Brain
Background: Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of adenoviruses offers the potential of widespread virus distribution in the brain. In CED, the volume of distribution (Vd) should be related to the volume of infusion (Vi) and not to dose, but when using adenoviruses contrasting results have been reported. As the characteristics of the infused tissue can affect convective delivery, this study was performed to determine the effects of the gray and white matter on CED of adenoviruses and similar sized super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO). Methodology/Principal Findings: We convected AdGFP, an adenovirus vector expressing Green Fluorescent Protein, a virus sized SPIO or trypan blue in the gray and white matter of the striatum and external capsule of Wistar rats and towards orthotopic infiltrative brain tumors. The resulting Vds were compared to Vi and transgene expression to SPIO distribution. Results show that in the striatum Vd is not determined by the Vi but by the infused virus dose, suggesting diffusion, active transport or receptor saturation rather than convection. Distribution of virus and SPIO in the white matter is partly volume dependent, which is probably caused by preferential fluid pathways from the external capsule to the surrounding gray matter, as demonstrated by co-infusing trypan blue. Distant tumors were reached using the white matter tracts but tumor penetration was limited. Conclusions/Significance: CED of adenoviruses in the rat brain and towards infiltrative tumors is feasible when regional anatomical differences are taken into account while SPIO infusion could be considered to validate proper catheter positioning and predict adenoviral distribution
Circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: A tool whose time has come of age
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are isolated tumor cells disseminated from the site of disease in metastatic and/or primary cancers, including breast cancer, that can be identified and measured in the peripheral blood of patients. As recent technical advances have rendered it easier to reproducibly and repeatedly sample this population of cells with a high degree of accuracy, these cells represent an attractive surrogate marker of the site of disease
Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in âsNN=5.02ââTeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector
Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (ÎÏ) and pseudorapidity (Îη) are measured in âsNN=5.02ââTeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1ââÎŒb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ÎŁETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Îη|<5) ânear-sideâ (ÎÏâŒ0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ÎŁETPb. A long-range âaway-sideâ (ÎÏâŒÏ) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ÎŁETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Îη and ÎÏ) and ÎŁETPb dependence. The resultant ÎÏ correlation is approximately symmetric about Ï/2, and is consistent with a dominant cosâĄ2ÎÏ modulation for all ÎŁETPb ranges and particle pT
Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at âs = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of âs = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}{{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}|\eta |\lt 1.9{{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques
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