Design for a three-dimensional printed laryngoscope blade for the intubation of rats

Endotracheal intubation of rats is a common technique that is best carried out with a laryngoscope blade. The blade allows direct visualization of the trachea during intubation, reducing the risk of accidental intubation of the esophagus. Laryngoscope blades for use in rats are not commercially available, however. Three-dimensional (3D) printers have recently become available and can be used to produce small plastic items simply and reliably based on an established design. The authors created a design for a laryngoscope blade to be printed with a 3D printer and polylactide filament material. Using the printed laryngoscope blade, the authors successfully intubated 35 rats. The presented design may be used by any experimenter with access to a 3D printer to fabricate the same laryngoscope blade for their intubation procedures

On the topological computation of K_4 of the Gaussian and Eisenstein integers

In this paper we use topological tools to investigate the structure of the algebraic K-groups K4(R) for R=Z[i] and R=Z[ρ] where i:=−1−−−√ and ρ:=(1+−3−−−√)/2. We exploit the close connection between homology groups of GLn(R) for n≤5 and those of related classifying spaces, then compute the former using Voronoi’s reduction theory of positive definite quadratic and Hermitian forms to produce a very large finite cell complex on which GLn(R) acts. Our main result is that K4(Z[i]) and K4(Z[ρ]) have no p-torsion for p≥5

Treatment of lateral epicondylitis with platelet-rich plasma, glucocorticoid, or saline. A comparative study

Background Lateral epicondylitis (LE) is the most common overuse syndrome and related to excessive wrist extension, known as tendonitis of the extensor muscles of the forearm, and refers to pain and tenderness over the lateral epicondyle of the humerus. Local corticosteroid injection has short-term benefits in pain reduction, global improvement, and grip strength compared with placebo (saline or lidocaine) and other conservative treatments. Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection has gained popularity within the sports medicine literature because of its presumed safety and ease of use as a potential treatment for any musculoskeletal problems by inducing cell proliferation and promoting the healing process. This thesis was carried out to assess the effectiveness of different types of injections (PRP, glucocorticoid, and saline) in improving pain and function in patients with LE. Patients and methods This study included 45 patients with LE (more than 3 months) between 31 and 58 years of age. All patients were subjected to assessment of history, clinical examination by the visual analogue scale (VAS), functional assessment by patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation (PRTEE), laboratory investigations, and ultrasonography assessment of the elbow. All the patients were divided randomly into three groups: group I received a saline injection, group II received a PRP injection, and group III received a corticosteroid injection. Patients were reassessed clinically and by ultrasound after 3 months. Results The present study showed that VAS and PRTEE scores were highly significantly reduced after injection in group II than group I and group III. Moreover, the reductions in VAS and PRTEE were highly significantly different in group III in comparison with group I. In terms of ultrasonographic changes and reduction in tenderness, there was a highly significant improvement in group II than group I and group III. Moreover, the reduction was highly significantly different in group III than group I. Conclusion PRP injection may offer several therapeutic advantages over corticosteroid injection