Is contrast-enhanced US alternative to spiral CT in the assessment of treatment outcome of radiofrequency ablation in hepatocellular carcinoma?

Purpose: The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound with low mechanical index in evaluating the response of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma by comparing it with 4-row spiral computed tomography. Materials and Methods: 100 consecutive patients (65 men and 35 women; age range: 62 – 76 years) with solitary hepatocellular carcinomas (mean lesion diameter: 3.7cm± 1.1cm SD) underwent internally cooled radiofrequency ablation. Therapeutic response was evaluated at one month after the treatment with triple-phasic contrast-enhanced spiral CT and low-mechanical index contrast-enhanced ultrasound following bolus injection of 2.4 ml of Sonovue (Bracco, Milan). 60 out of 100 patients were followed up for another 3 months. Contrast-enhanced sonographic studies were reviewed by two blinded radiologists in consensus. Sensitivity, specificity, NPV and PPV of contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination were determined. Results: After treatment, contrast-enhanced ultrasound identified persistent signal enhancement in 24 patients (24%), whereas no intratumoral enhancement was detected in the remaining 76 patients (76%). Using CT imaging as gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, NPV, and PPV of contrast enhanced ultrasound were 92.3% (95% CI = 75.9 – 97.9%), 100% (95% CI = 95.2 – 100%), 97.4% (95% CI = 91.1 – 99.3%), and 100% (95% CI = 86.2 – 100%). Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound with low mechanical index using Sonovue is a feasible tool in evaluating the response of hepatocellular carcinoma to radiofrequency ablation. Accuracy is comparable to 4-row spiral CT

To Splint or Not to Splint Short Dental Implants Under the Same Partial Fixed Prosthesis? One-year Post-loading Data From a Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial

PURPOSE. To compare the clinical outcomes of two adjacent 6-mm-long dental implants splinted under the same prosthesis (control group) versus two identical implants sup-porting single crowns (test group). MATERIALS AND METHODS. Forty-seven patients with edentulous posterior (premolars and/or molars) jaws received two adjacent 6-mm-long dental implants, which were sub-merged. Four months later, at impression taking, patients were randomised to receive splinted or unsplinted definitive cemented metal-composite prostheses. Unfortunately, four patients died before randomisation and three patients lost five implants, so only 40 patients were randomised, according to a parallel-group design, to have both implants splinted under the same partial fixed prosthesis (19 patients) or with two single crowns (21 patients). Outcome measures were: prosthesis and implant failures, any complica-tions, peri-implant marginal bone level changes and patient satisfaction. Patients were followed-up to 1 year after loading. RESULTS. One patient from the splinted group dropped out. No implant failures occurred after randomisation. One complication occurred in the unsplinted group versus no complications at splinted implants, the difference not being statistically different (Fisher’s exact test P = 1.000; difference in proportions =-0.04; 95% CI-0.16 to 0.09). Both groups presented significant peri-implant marginal bone loss at 1 year after loading (P<0.05), respectively-0.36 (0.45) mm at splinted implants and-0.17 (0.31) mm at unsplinted implan-ts, but there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups (mean difference 0.19 mm; 95% CI-0.10 to 0.48; P = 0.194). All patients were fully or reasonably satisfied with the treatment, with the exception of two patients, both from the splinted group: one patient was not sure about the aesthetics, and another would not undergo the same treatment again. CONCLUSIONS. The present data seems to suggest that up to 1 year after loading the prognosis of short implants, mostly placed in mandibles characterised by dense bone quality, may not be influenced by splinting or not under the same fixed prostheses. Howe-ver, these preliminary results need to be confirmed by larger trials with follow-ups of at least 5 years

Clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness of computerâ guided versus conventional implantâ retained hybrid prostheses: A longâ term retrospective analysis of treatment protocols

BackgroundComputerâ guided systems were developed to facilitate implant placement at optimal positions in relation to the future prosthesis. However, the time, cost and, technique sensitivity involved with computerâ guided surgery impedes its routine practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate survival rates and complications associated with computerâ guided versus conventional implant placement in implantâ retained hybrid prostheses. Furthermore, longâ term economic efficiency of this approach was assessed.MethodsPatients were stratified according to implant placement protocol into a test group, using computerâ guided placement, and a control group, using traditional placement. Calibrated radiographs were used to measure bone loss around implants. Furthermore, the costs of the initial treatment and prosthetic complications, if any, were standardized and analyzed.ResultsFortyâ five patients (149 implants in the test group and 111 implants in the control group) with a minimum followâ up of 5 years, and a mean followâ up of 9.6 years, were included in the study. While no significant difference was found between both groups in terms of biologic and technical complications, lower incidence of implant loss was observed in the test group (P  0.05).ConclusionsComputerâ guided implant placement for an implantâ supported hybrid prosthesis is a valid, reliable alternative to the traditional approach for implant placement and immediate loading. Computerâ guided implant placement showed higher implant survival rates and comparable longâ term cost to nonâ guided implant placement.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145504/1/jper10157.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145504/2/jper10157_am.pd

MiniBooNE and LSND data: non-standard neutrino interactions in a (3+1) scheme versus (3+2) oscillations

The recently observed event excess in MiniBooNE anti-neutrino data is in agreement with the LSND evidence for electron anti-neutrino appearance. We propose an explanation of these data in terms of a (3+1) scheme with a sterile neutrino including non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) at neutrino production and detection. The interference between oscillations and NSI provides a source for CP violation which we use to reconcile different results from neutrino and anti-neutrino data. Our best fit results imply NSI at the level of a few percent relative to the standard weak interaction, in agreement with current bounds. We compare the quality of the NSI fit to the one obtained within the (3+1) and (3+2) pure oscillation frameworks. We also briefly comment on using NSI (in an effective two-flavour framework) to address a possible difference in neutrino and anti-neutrino results from the MINOS experiment.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, discussion improved, new appendix added, conclusions unchange

Non-standard interactions versus non-unitary lepton flavor mixing at a neutrino factory

The impact of heavy mediators on neutrino oscillations is typically described by non-standard four-fermion interactions (NSIs) or non-unitarity (NU). We focus on leptonic dimension-six effective operators which do not produce charged lepton flavor violation. These operators lead to particular correlations among neutrino production, propagation, and detection non-standard effects. We point out that these NSIs and NU phenomenologically lead, in fact, to very similar effects for a neutrino factory, for completely different fundamental reasons. We discuss how the parameters and probabilities are related in this case, and compare the sensitivities. We demonstrate that the NSIs and NU can, in principle, be distinguished for large enough effects at the example of non-standard effects in the $\mu$-$\tau$-sector, which basically corresponds to differentiating between scalars and fermions as heavy mediators as leading order effect. However, we find that a near detector at superbeams could provide very synergistic information, since the correlation between source and matter NSIs is broken for hadronic neutrino production, while NU is a fundamental effect present at any experiment.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures. Final version published in JHEP. v3: Typo in Eq. (27) correcte

Broad Antibody Mediated Cross-Neutralization and Preclinical Immunogenicity of New Codon-Optimized HIV-1 Clade CRF02_AG and G Primary Isolates

Creation of an effective vaccine for HIV has been an elusive goal of the scientific community for almost 30 years. Neutralizing antibodies are assumed to be pivotal to the success of a prophylactic vaccine but previous attempts to make an immunogen capable of generating neutralizing antibodies to primary “street strain” isolates have resulted in responses of very limited breadth and potency. The objective of the study was to determine the breadth and strength of neutralizing antibodies against autologous and heterologous primary isolates in a cohort of HIV-1 infected Nigerians and to characterize envelopes from subjects with particularly broad or strong immune responses for possible use as vaccine candidates in regions predominated by HIV-1 CRF02_AG and G subtypes. Envelope vectors from a panel of primary Nigerian isolates were constructed and tested with plasma/sera from the same cohort using the PhenoSense HIV neutralizing antibody assay (Monogram Biosciences Inc, USA) to assess the breadth and potency of neutralizing antibodies. The immediate goal of this study was realized by the recognition of three broadly cross-neutralizing sera: (NG2-clade CRF02_AG, NG3-clade CRF02_AG and NG9- clade G). Based on these findings, envelope gp140 sequences from NG2 and NG9, complemented with a gag sequence (Clade G) and consensus tat (CRF02_AG and G) antigens have been codon-optimized, synthesized, cloned and evaluated in BALB/c mice. The intramuscular administration of these plasmid DNA constructs, followed by two booster DNA immunizations, induced substantial specific humoral response against all constructs and strong cellular responses against the gag and tat constructs. These preclinical findings provide a framework for the design of candidate vaccine for use in regions where the HIV-1 epidemic is driven by clades CRF02_AG and G

Nonzero |Ue3| from charged lepton corrections and the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle

After the successful determination of the reactor neutrino mixing angle \theta_13 ~ 0.16 \neq 0, a new feature suggested by the current neutrino oscillation data is a sizeable deviation of the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle \theta_23 from \pi/4. Using the fact that the neutrino mixing matrix U = U_e^\dagger U_\nu, where U_e and U_\nu result from the diagonalisation of the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, and assuming that U_\nu has a i) bimaximal (BM), ii) tri-bimaximal (TBM) form, or else iii) corresponds to the conservation of the lepton charge L' = L_e - L_\mu - L_\tau (LC), we investigate quantitatively what are the minimal forms of U_e, in terms of angles and phases it contains, that can provide the requisite corrections to U_\nu so that \theta_13, \theta_23 and the solar neutrino mixing angle \theta_12 have values compatible with the current data. Two possible orderings of the 12 and the 23 rotations in U_e, "standard" and "inverse", are considered. The results we obtain depend strongly on the type of ordering. In the case of "standard" ordering, in particular, the Dirac CP violation phase \delta, present in U, is predicted to have a value in a narrow interval around i) \delta ~ \pi in the BM (or LC) case, ii) \delta ~ 3\pi/2 or \pi/2 in the TBM case, the CP conserving values \delta = 0, \pi, 2\pi being excluded in the TBM case at more than 4\sigma

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 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 √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques