Median aperture of the fourth ventricle revisited

Background: The median aperture of Magendie is the largest of three openings of the fourth ventricle and thus it forms the main path for the outflow of the cerebrospinal fluid from the ventricle. The Magendie aperture connects the fourth ventricle with the cisterna magna and makes a natural corridor for neurosurgical approach and inspection of the ventricle and its floor. The purpose of this study was to give a contemporary anatomical view of this structure in the context of historical data. Material and methods: The Magendie foramen was studied in 30 fixed specimens of human brainstems with cerebella. The microdissection technique was used. Measurements were taken with a microscope ocular ruler. Results: The aperture is limited by the following structures: obex and gracile tubercles inferiorly, and tela choroidea with choroid plexus superolaterally. Obex tubercles usually have the form of a piece of neural tissue bridging two halves of the brainstem above the entrance to the central canal. Gracile tubercles together are 8.15 mm wide and the maximal width of the foramen is 6.53 mm. Tela choroidea attaches laterally at both sides to the inferior medullary velum. In most cases the right and left choroid plexus are connected to each other with a triangular membrane of tela choroidea, which protrudes through the median foramen and attaches to the vermis at a highly variable level. Conclusions: We hope that the presented description of anatomical relations around the Magendie aperture, with its new measurements, will be helpful for those operating in the area and will explain some of the inaccuracies found in literature. (Folia Morphol 2011; 70, 2: 84–90

The anatomy of the fundic branches of the stomach: preliminary results

The fundic branches of the stomach can be defined as a group of vessels that can arise either directly or indirectly from the following source arteries: the left inferior phrenic artery, the accessory left hepatic artery, the left gastric artery, the left middle suprarenal artery, the main trunk of the splenic artery, the posterior gastric artery, the superior polar artery, the gastrosplenic artery, the left gastroepiploic artery and the splenic artery with its inferior and superior terminal branches. It is worth mentioning that the fundic branches of the left gastroepiploic artery and the superior and inferior terminal branches of the splenic artery, like other vessels arising from these three source arteries and supplying the stomach, are defined as short gastric arteries. The anatomy of these fundic branches, particularly relevant to some surgical procedures, is not sufficiently described, and the current literature suffers from lack of publications on this particular topic. We therefore decided to explore in detail the arterial vascularisation of the gastric fundus. The research was carried out on material consisting of 15 human stomach specimens. The anatomical analysis comprised the following: the number of occurrences of fundic branches in each of the source arteries defined above, the distance between the origins of the source artery and its arising fundic branch, the way in which the fundic branches arose, the length, diameter at point of origin and morphology of the fundic braches, as well as the exact point of perforation of each fundic branch on the fundus. The highest incidence of the direct-branching pattern of fundic branches was in the left middle suprarenal artery, the gastrosplenic artery and the left gastrosplenic artery. The accessory left hepatic artery, the left gastric artery and the main trunk of the splenic artery were the most frequent site of the indirectly arising pattern of fundic branch. The highest median value of fundic branch length was 63.05 mm, found in the accessory left hepatic artery group. The largest median diameter value of the vessel was encountered among those originating in the left middle suprarenal artery and reached 2.17 mm. The posterolateral quadrant of the fundus received the largest number of fundic branches, amounting to 46.5% of all the fundic branches studied. (Folia Morphol 2008; 67: 120–125

ОБЗОР СЕМАНТИКИ ЯЗЫКА HTML 5

HTML5 несет в себе множество изменений разного уровня и разной важности. Принципиально, ключевые изменения можно разделить на 5 блоков: семантика, мультимедиа, динамичная графика, веб-формы, JavaScript APls. В данной статье рассмотрен обзор семантики HTML5 в котором появился ряд новых семантических тегов, позволяющих более осмысленно организовывать внутреннюю структуру веб-страни

Standard clinical computed tomography fails to precisely visualise presence, course and branching points of deep cerebral perforators

Background: Standard computed tomography (CT) images have earned a well-established position in neuroimaging. Despite that, CT is somehow limited by its resolution, which does not enable to distinctively visualize structures smaller than 300 um in diameter. Perforating arteries, most of which measure 100-400 um in diameter, supply important subcortical structures (thalamus, basal ganglia, internal capsule). Consequently, pathologies affecting these vessels (e.g. lacunar strokes) can have a devastating clinical outcome. The aim of our study was to assess standard CT’s ability to visualize perforators and compare it with microscopical and micro-CT pictures. Materials and methods: We have obtained six brainstem and seventeen basal ganglia specimens. We infused them with barium sulphate contrast medium administered into either vertebral or internal cerebral artery. After that, the specimens were fixed in formalin and subsequently a series of CT, micro-CT and microscopical examinations were performed. Results: The median number of visualized perforators in brainstem and basal ganglia specimens was 8 and 3, respectively for CT and 18 and 7 for micro–CT (p < 0.05). Standard CT failed to clearly visualize branching points and vessels smaller than 0.25-0.5 mm (1-2 voxels) in diameter. Parallel vessels, like lenticulostriate arteries could not be differentiated in standard CT due to their proximity being smaller that the resolution. Conclusions: Basing on our results, we infer that CT is a poor modality for imaging of the perforators, presenting both quantitative and qualitative flaws in contrast with micro-CT

A Search for WIMPs with the First Five-Tower Data from CDMS

We report first results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment running with its full complement of 30 cryogenic particle detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. This report is based on the analysis of data acquired between October 2006 and July 2007 from 15 Ge detectors (3.75 kg), giving an effective exposure of 121.3 kg-d (averaged over recoil energies 10--100 keV, weighted for a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) mass of 60 \gev). A blind analysis, incorporating improved techniques for event reconstruction and data quality monitoring, resulted in zero observed events. This analysis sets an upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of 6.6$\times10^{-44}$ cm$^2$ (4.6$\times10^{-44}$ cm$^2$ when combined with previous CDMS Soudan data) at the 90% confidence level for a WIMP mass of 60 \gev. By providing the best sensitivity for dark matter WIMPs with masses above 42 GeV/c$^2$, this work significantly restricts the parameter space for some of the favored supersymmetric models.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRL 28 March 200

Search for inelastic dark matter with the CDMS II experiment

Results are presented from a reanalysis of the entire five-tower data set acquired with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, with an exposure of 969 kg-days. The analysis window was extended to a recoil energy of 150 keV, and an improved surface-event background-rejection cut was defined to increase the sensitivity of the experiment to the inelastic dark matter (iDM) model. Three dark matter candidates were found between 25 keV and 150 keV. The probability to observe three or more background events in this energy range is 11%. Because of the occurrence of these events the constraints on the iDM parameter space are slightly less stringent than those from our previous analysis, which used an energy window of 10-100 keV.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, minor changes to match published version, conclusion unchange

Results from a Low-Energy Analysis of the CDMS II Germanium Data

We report results from a reanalysis of data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Data taken between October 2006 and September 2008 using eight germanium detectors are reanalyzed with a lowered, 2 keV recoil-energy threshold, to give increased sensitivity to interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with masses below ~10 GeV/c^2. This analysis provides stronger constraints than previous CDMS II results for WIMP masses below 9 GeV/c^2 and excludes parameter space associated with possible low-mass WIMP signals from the DAMA/LIBRA and CoGeNT experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Supplemental material included as ancillary files. v3) Added appendix with additional details regarding energy scale and background