Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in blunt abdominal trauma.

In the assessment of polytrauma patient, an accurate diagnostic study protocol with high sensitivity and specificity is necessary. Computed Tomography (CT) is the standard reference in the emergency for evaluating the patients with abdominal trauma. Ultrasonography (US) has a high sensitivity in detecting free fluid in the peritoneum, but it does not show as much sensitivity for traumatic parenchymal lesions. The use of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) improves the accuracy of the method in the diagnosis and assessment of the extent of parenchymal lesions. Although the CEUS is not feasible as a method of first level in the diagnosis and management of the polytrauma patient, it can be used in the follow-up of traumatic injuries of abdominal parenchymal organs (liver, spleen and kidneys), especially in young people or children

The role of myocardial scintigraphy in the assessment of coronary artery disease

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for the assessment of myocardial perfusion was introduced in the early 1970s, following pioneer studies of Gould et al. It has rapidly become one of the most used noninvasive technique for the assessment of myocardial ischemia. Thanks to the current technetium based tracers that allow electrocardiogram gated synchronization, it is possible to assess the regional ventricular systolic function and the evaluation of myocardial perfusion as well. In the last twenty years, beyond its diagnostic role, myocardial SPECT has become also a prognostic technique. Indeed, it has acquired a role for the short-term prediction of major coronary events in a large cohort with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of this review is to give an update of the correct use and interpretation of myocardial SPECT in patients with known or suspected CAD and without left ventricular dysfunction

Orthogonality Properties of the Pseudo-Chebyshev Functions (Variations on a Chebyshev’s Theme)

The third and fourth pseudo-Chebyshev irrational functions of half-integer degree are defined. Their definitions are connected to those of the first- and second-kind pseudo-Chebyshev functions. Their orthogonality properties are shown, with respect to classical weights

Computation of the Bell-Laplace transforms

An extension of the Laplace transform by using Bell polynomials was recently introduced. In the present paper computational techniques for approximating the transformed functions are derived. The theoretical approach exploits the generating function method, but for the numerical experiments the matrix pencil method has been used, since it proved to be more effective

The Third and Fourth Kind Pseudo-Chebyshev Polynomials of Half-Integer Degree

New sets of orthogonal functions, which correspond to the first, second, third, and fourth kind Chebyshev polynomials with half-integer indexes, have been recently introduced. In this article, links of these new sets of irrational functions to the third and fourth kind Chebyshev polynomials are highlighted and their connections with the classical Chebyshev polynomials are shown

Laguerre-type Bessel functions

In the framework of the 'monomiality principle', we introduce a class of Bessel-type functions which can be derived by applying the properties of an isomorphism, related to the so called Laguerre-type exponentials. Further extensions and possible generalizations to the multivariable case are mentioned