The New Transverse-Facial Artery Musculomucosal Flap for Intraoral Reconstructions

With the bilateral progression of the 2 pedicled flaps, we were able to successfully restore both form and function of the soft palate, with a single-stage straightforward procedure, preserving at the same time the natural course of the facial arteries. Both flaps healed uneventfully. Six days after operation, the patient was placed on a liquid diet with no velopharyngeal insufficiency. This is to our knowledge the first extensive palatal reconstruction carried out with intraoral flaps onl

A New Approach in the Management of Triangular Fossa Auricular Defects: The Posterior Auricular Artery Perforator Antihelix-Conchal Flap (PAAP Flap).

Background: The reconstruction of extensive scapha or triangular fossa defects to the ear still represents a challenge considering the lack of local simple surgical procedures. Objective: To present a new perforator flap which is a modification of the Elsahy and Ladocsi chondrocutaneous rotation flaps. Patients and Methods: Ten patients, in whom the oncological resection to the triangular fossa did not include cartilage, but skin and perichondrium. Defects no larger than 3 cm in diameter were treated. The dissection of the flap was carried out from lateral to medial on the anterior subperichondral plane. The flap was thus raised without the cartilage component but with the anterior perichondrium branched with the perforating vessels. Results: All flaps survived and treated patients presented good aesthetic results. Conclusions: We think that this procedure represents a valuable option to be considered in reconstructing well selected composite defects to upper ear

Perceived Quality as Assessment Tool for the Test Case Amore e Psiche Domus in Ostia Antica

Recent years have seen the development of many new ways for cultural heritage visualization; with the growing use of “Information and Communications Technology” (ICT) many 3D reconstructions, virtual tours and “Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality” (AR/VR) application has been developed to enrich the contents of museums, archeological sites and historical places. However, today only few cultural assets have an accurate 3D model with a detailed informative content. In fact, the costs due to the creation of virtual content are still high and they can be addressed only for the most iconic or important monuments. Inside this frame the project RECIPE (REsilience in art CIties: Planning for Emergencies) founded by ESA/ESTEC1 use a crowdsourcing approach, involving tourists and interested people, to acquire cheaply the photos necessary to create photogrammetric models. Such a models to be correctly used inside different level of recording and monitoring tasks, require developing procedure to evaluate their quality. This work discusses, with reference to a study case, only how to validate models by proposing a methodology based on dimensional and color error calculation together with structural indices, such as SSIM and PIQE. Besides to avoid influence generate by different cameras, focus and positioning in photos taken by tourists, the used photo data base has been produced with a professional device following the state of art rules in SfM. At least, it is also discussed the possibility to implement the 3D models in a virtual reality environment to increase their diffusion on new multimedia and interactive plat-forms

Nuclear Morphometry using a Deep Learning-based Algorithm has Prognostic Relevance for Canine Cutaneous Mast Cell Tumors

Variation in nuclear size and shape is an important criterion of malignancy for many tumor types; however, categorical estimates by pathologists have poor reproducibility. Measurements of nuclear characteristics (morphometry) can improve reproducibility, but manual methods are time consuming. In this study, we evaluated fully automated morphometry using a deep learning-based algorithm in 96 canine cutaneous mast cell tumors with information on patient survival. Algorithmic morphometry was compared with karyomegaly estimates by 11 pathologists, manual nuclear morphometry of 12 cells by 9 pathologists, and the mitotic count as a benchmark. The prognostic value of automated morphometry was high with an area under the ROC curve regarding the tumor-specific survival of 0.943 (95% CI: 0.889 - 0.996) for the standard deviation (SD) of nuclear area, which was higher than manual morphometry of all pathologists combined (0.868, 95% CI: 0.737 - 0.991) and the mitotic count (0.885, 95% CI: 0.765 - 1.00). At the proposed thresholds, the hazard ratio for algorithmic morphometry (SD of nuclear area $\geq 9.0 \mu m^2$) was 18.3 (95% CI: 5.0 - 67.1), for manual morphometry (SD of nuclear area $\geq 10.9 \mu m^2$) 9.0 (95% CI: 6.0 - 13.4), for karyomegaly estimates 7.6 (95% CI: 5.7 - 10.1), and for the mitotic count 30.5 (95% CI: 7.8 - 118.0). Inter-rater reproducibility for karyomegaly estimates was fair ($\kappa$ = 0.226) with highly variable sensitivity/specificity values for the individual pathologists. Reproducibility for manual morphometry (SD of nuclear area) was good (ICC = 0.654). This study supports the use of algorithmic morphometry as a prognostic test to overcome the limitations of estimates and manual measurements

The Human HerpesVirus 8 infection alters lipid synthesis and induces neutral lipid accumulation in primary endothelial cells

Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV8), the causative agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), induces an intense transcriptional reprogramming of endothelial (HUVEC) cells in vitro, prolonging their life span and augmenting cell survival in the presence of apoptotic inducers. In this work, lipid synthesis and metabolism were studied inHHV8infectedHUVECcells. Cholesterol and triglyceride synthesis were analysed by the use of 14C acetate and 14C oleate during lytic and latent HHV8 infection from days +3 to +24. A quantitative analysis of neutral lipids in infected cells was performedin situ using Nile Red dye, which displayed a red emission for polar lipids and a yellowemission for neutral lipids. The results showed that during the lytic phase (1 4 days after HHV8 infection) a depression of cholesterol and cholesterol ester synthesis (about 26%) was observed, while triglycerides appeared to be enhanced up to 45% as compared to controls. After 14 24 days, during the latent phase of infection, there was an increased synthesis of cholesterol (up to +44%) and cholesterol esters (up to +58%) in infected cells, whereas triglycerides were progressively lowered. Imaging analysis showed that the lipid droplets and total neutral lipid content were definitely higher (up to +85%) in HHV8 infected cells compared to the controls. Lipid synthesis inhibitors Sigma C75 and Sandoz 58035 were used to examine the importance of lipid synthesis modification and neutral lipid accumulation in the pathogenesis of KS and neo angiogenesis. This work was financed by the Fondazione Banco di Sardegna 2012

Latent Herpesvirus 8 infection improves both insulin and glucose uptake in primary endothelial cells

Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), the causative agent of Kaposi sarcoma, induces a profound modification of infected cell behaviour, with reprogramming of gene expression and changes in physiological properties, over-expression of the insulin receptor, increased resistance to stress conditions and prolonged cell survival in conditions of serum deprivation. This paper shows that HHV8 infection induces a strong enhancement of both insulin and glucose uptake in primary endothelial cells (HUVEC). The increase in insulin uptake is already evident in the lytic phase of the viral infectious cycle, and reaches a maximum of up to 71% during the latent phase, whilst glucose uptake is slightly depressed during the lytic viral infection, but significantly enhanced compared with the control during the latent phase of viral infection, with an average increase of about 37% 25 days after cell infection

Composite scalp replacement and negative pressure therapy for successful graft take and hair regrowth

Microvascular scalp replantation is the procedure of choice after devastating scalp avulsion injuries. When replantation is not possible, alternative procedures should be considered to provide 1) wound closure and, possibly, 2) acceptable cosmetic results. A number of elective procedures including local and microsurgical flaps have historically been described. None of those procedures allow for obtaining superior cosmetic results in one single stage, as tissues being replaced are not "like with like". The use of spare parts from the avulsed scalp as a non vascularized composite hair bearing graft is reported herein, in association to negative pressure therapy. Despite very low success rate of composite scalp grafts reported into the literature, our patient had a 100% graft take and a favourable cosmetic result in terms of hair re-growth. At 6 months follow-up the graft is stable, pliable, and covered by a considerable amount of hair. The patient is very satisfied with the result. We think negative pressure device as the key factor in enhancing non-vascularized composite tissue survival including follicles. This is to our knowledge the first case of successful non-vascularized scalp replacement associated to negative pressure therapy. We think this approach should be considered when microsurgical replantation is not possible, still being available the use of spare parts, before attempting further elective procedures