959 research outputs found
Refractory Coats’ Disease of Adult Onset
Purpose: We present the case of an 18-year-old Caucasian male with a unilateral macular star and retinal vascular anomalies compatible with adult onset Coats’ disease. Methods: Diagnosis was based on fundoscopic, fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography findings. Results: The patient presented to our emergency department with complaints of low vision in his left eye (LE) detected 10 days before. The best-corrected visual acuity in the LE was 20/50. Fundoscopy of the LE evidenced a complete macular star. Optical coherence tomography showed increased retinal thickness, infiltration of the retinal wall, and detachment of the neuroepithelium. Angiography revealed no appreciable diffusion in the macula. Above the superior temporal (ST) arcade, anomalies in the retinal vasculature were found, with interruption of the peripheral vessels and vessels which were ‘sausage’-like. After 1 month, the LE vision evolved to hand movements. Laser photocoagulation was performed in the ST quadrant. Intravitreal injection of bevacizumab 1.25 mg/0.05 ml and photodynamic therapy were performed without any significant changes, progression of ST serous detachment of the neuroepithelium, and finally progression to macular fibrosis. Discussion: Coats’ disease is usually diagnosed in childhood, but rare cases may occur in adults. Those cases usually have a more indolent course which was not observed in our patient. When there is macular involvement, prognosis is more guarded, despite treatment
Electronic properties of FeCl3-adsorbed single-wall carbon nanotubes
The structural and electronic properties of FeCl3 interacting with single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were investigated by ab initio methods. By using first-principles spin-polarized calculations, we studied the structural and electronic behavior of FeCl3 adsorbed on both semiconducting and metallic SWNTs. It was found that the FeCl3 molecule behaves as an electron acceptor. The binding energy is very small, thus suggesting that the interaction is through a physisorption regime.722
Noncommutative cosmological models coupled to a perfect fluid and a cosmological constant
In this work we carry out a noncommutative analysis of several
Friedmann-Robert-Walker models, coupled to different types of perfect fluids
and in the presence of a cosmological constant. The classical field equations
are modified, by the introduction of a shift operator, in order to introduce
noncommutativity in these models. We notice that the noncommutative versions of
these models show several relevant differences with respect to the
correspondent commutative ones.Comment: 27 pages. 7 figures. JHEP style.arXiv admin note: substantial text
overlap with arXiv:1104.481
The Pioneer Anomaly
Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11
spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated
the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly
changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was
interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at
the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of
the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer
anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we
summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and
the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review
various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current
state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of
the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts
rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft
in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry
files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study
is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background
for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a
significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the
two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various
data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data
analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was
not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for
the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living
Reviews in Relativit
Assessment of rotatory laxity in anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees using magnetic resonance imaging with Porto-knee testing device
Purpose Objective evaluation of both antero-posterior
translation and rotatory laxity of the knee remains a target
to be accomplished. This is true for both preoperative
planning and postoperative assessment of different ACL
reconstruction emerging techniques. The ideal measurement tool should be simple, accurate and reproducible,
while enabling to assess both ‘‘anatomy’’ and ‘‘function’’
during the same examination. The purpose of this study is
to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a new in-housedeveloped testing device, the so-called Porto-knee testing
device (PKTD). The PKTD is aimed to be used on the
evaluation of both antero-posterior and rotatory laxity of
the knee during MRI exams.
Methods Between 2008 and 2010, 33 patients with ACLdeficient knees were enrolled for the purpose of this study.
All patients were evaluated in the office and under
anesthesia with Lachman test, lateral pivot-shift test and
anterior drawer test. All cases were studied preoperatively
with KT-1000 and MRI with PKTD, and examinations
performed by independent observers blinded for clinical
evaluation. During MRI, we have used a PKTD that applies
antero-posterior translation and permits free tibial rotation
through a standardized pressure (46.7 kPa) in the proximal
posterior region of the leg. Measurements were taken for
both knees and comparing side-to-side. Five patients with
partial ruptures were excluded from the group of 33.
Results For the 28 remaining patients, 3 women and 25
men, with mean age of 33.4 ± 9.4 years, 13 left and 15 right
knees were tested. No significant correlation was noticed for
Lachman test and PKTD results (n.s.). Pivot-shift had a
strong positive correlation with the difference in anterior
translation registered in lateral and medial tibia plateaus of
injured knees (cor. coefficient = 0.80; p\0.05), and with
the difference in this parameter as compared to side-to-side
(cor. coefficient = 0.83; p\0.05).
Considering the KT-1000 difference between injured and
healthy knees, a very strong positive correlation was found
for side-to-side difference in medial (cor. coeffi-
cient = 0.73; p\0.05) and lateral (cor. coefficient = 0.5;
p\0.05) tibial plateau displacement using PKTD.
Conclusion The PKTD proved to be a reliable tool in
assessment of antero-posterior translation (comparing with
KT-1000) and rotatory laxity (compared with lateral pivotshift under anesthesia) of the ACL-deficient knee during
MRI examinatio
- …