A rare variation of the inferior alveolar artery with potential clinical consequences

Variations of the inferior alveolar artery are seemingly quite rare, especially with regard to its origin from the maxillary artery. We present an unusual case of an inferior alveolar artery that originated from the external carotid artery. To the best of our knowledge, our case is one of only two reports of the inferior alveolar artery arising from the external carotid artery. The clinician who deals with the mandibular region should be aware of such a variation in the arterial architecture

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the spermatic cord: a case report and review of the literature

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is a morphologically ill-defined tumour of the soft tissues and may involve nearly every organ of the body. MFH of the spermatic cord represents an extremely rare entity and reports of it in the literature are limited. We report a 69-year-old man found to have a left spermatic cord MFH and retroperitoneal and mediastinal lymphadenopathy, who was treated with radical orchiectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. The morphological findings of the spermatic tumour are presented and the literature is reviewed to clarify the potential diagnostic/therapeutic approaches and the prognosis related to spermatic cord MFH

Iranian midwives’ lived experiences of providing continuous midwife-led intrapartum care: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Continuity of midwifery-led care during labour and birth is considered optimal. To ensure its sustainability in practice where limited evidence is available, the aim of the present study was to explore midwives’ lived experiences of delivering continuous midwife-led intrapartum care. METHODS: This study took a qualitative approach in meeting its aim. Participants were midwives working in the labour wards of private and public hospitals in Iran. The data were purposefully collected in 2019 through in-depth, semi-structured, and face-to-face interviews with midwives (n = 10) aged between 26 and 55 years. A thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology was undertaken to make sense of the data collected. RESULTS: “Wanting to lead continuous woman-centered care but being unable to” was identified as an overarching theme. Three other themes “emphasis on the non-interventional care”, “midwifery-specific focus” and “barriers and challenges of midwifery care” were also identified. Ultimately, midwives described knowing how to and wanting to lead continuous ‘woman’-centered care but being unable to. Perceived barriers included lack of familiarity with and knowledge in relation to childbirth, the insignificant role of midwives in decision making, obstetrician utilitarianism, high workloads along with work-related stress argument-driven communication between midwives and obstetricians and an absence of a ‘triangle of trust’ in care. CONCLUSION: Future research strategies could usefully include obstetricians and focus on the upscaling of midwifery in Iran using continuity of care models, highlight the value of midwives, identify why uptake of antenatal education in Iran is poor and develop user friendly, evidence based, midwife-led programs. Initiatives aiming to promote mutual professional respect, trust and collegiality and increased remuneration for midwifery work would be also welcomed in pursuit of reducing maternal and infant mortality in Iran

Directional emission of light from a nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna

The plasmon resonance of metal nanoparticles can enhance and direct light from optical emitters in much the same way that radio frequency (RF) antennas enhance and direct the emission from electrical circuits. In the RF regime, a typical antenna design for high directivity is the Yagi-Uda antenna, which basically consists of a one-dimensional array of antenna elements driven by a single feed element. Here, we present the experimental demonstration of directional light emission from a nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna composed of an array of appropriately tuned gold nanorods. Our results indicate that nano-optical antenna arrays are a simple but efficient tool for the spatial control of light emission.Comment: 4 pages, including 4 figure

A holistic metric approach to solving the dynamic location-allocation problem.

In this paper, we introduce a dynamic variant of the Location-Allocation problem: Dynamic Location-Allocation Problem (DULAP). DULAP involves the location of facilities to service a set of customer demands over a defined horizon. To evaluate a solution to DULAP, we propose two holistic metric approaches: Static and Dynamic Approach. In the static approach, a solution is evaluated with the assumption that customer locations and demand remain constant over a defined horizon. In the dynamic approach, the assumption is made that customer demand, and demographic pattern may change over the defined horizon. We introduce a stochastic model to simulate customer population and distribution over time. We use a Genetic Algorithm and Population-Based Incremental Learning algorithm used in previous work to find robust and satisfactory solutions to DULAP. Results show the dynamic approach of evaluating a solution finds good and robust solutions

Single InGaAs Quantum Dot Coupling to the Plasmon Resonance of a Metal Nanocrystal

We report the observation of coupling of single InGaAs quantum dots with the surface plasmon resonance of a metal nanocrystal, which leads to clear enhancement of the photoluminescence in the spectral region of the surface plasmon resonance of the metal structures. Sharp emission lines, typical for single quantum dot emission, are observed, whereas for reference samples, only weak continuous background emission is visible. The composite metal–semiconductor structure is prepared by molecular beam epitaxy utilizing the principle of strain-driven adatom migration for the positioning of the metal nanocrystals with respect to the quantum dots without use of any additional processing steps

Monitoring Inequalities in the Health Workforce: The Case Study of Brazil 1991–2005

Introduction: Both the quantity and the distribution of health workers in a country are fundamental for assuring equitable access to health services. Using the case of Brazil, we measure changes in inequalities in the distribution of the health workforce and account for the sources of inequalities at sub-national level to identify whether policies have been effectiv