Pulsed laser deposition for growth of high quality epitaxial garnet films for low threshold waveguide lasers

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a mature technique capable of producing extremely high quality epitaxial single crystalline films. We have grown Nd:doped garnet films of GGG (Gd The talk will summarise our progress using conventional (single beam) PLD in thin-film and waveguide growth, using both nanosecond and femtosecond lasers, and also introduce our new directions in tri-beam PLD (three targets, three lasers) for growth of some interesting, complex and perhaps impossible structures, such as Gaussian doping, internal voids and even helically doped structures

New Looks At An Ancient Writ: Habeas Corpus Reexamined

The traditional characterization of the writ of habeas corpus as an original ... civil remedy for the enforcement of the right to personal liberty, rather than as a stage of the state criminal proceedings or as an appeal therefrom . . . cannot be permitted to defeat the manifest federal policy that federal constitutional rights of personal liberty shall not be denied without the fullest opportunity for plenary federal judicial review

Early Outcomes of Cemented versus Cementless Total Knee Arthroplasty

Introduction. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been provento be very effective for long-term pain relief in the degenerativeknee. Few studies have investigated short-term clinicaland functional outcomes between the cemented and cementlessTKA. The specific aim of this study was to assess the potentialdifference of functional outcomes in the early postoperativeperiod between these two surgical options usingthe Knee Society Score (KSS) and range of motion (ROM). Methods. A total of 164 knees that had undergone TKA by a singlesurgeon at a single institution between 2007 and 2010 were reviewed.Three different TKA prosthetic designs (cruciate retaining(CR), posterior stabilized (PS) and cruciate substituting (CS))were included. Data collection included patient demographics,pre- and post-operative ROM, and pre- and post-operative KSSat each visit (1.5 months, 3 months, and 12 months). Two separateKSS scores were assigned: functional score and clinical score. Results. Sixty-seven knees underwent cemented TKA and 97knees underwent cementless TKA. No significant differencewas recognized in either age or body mass index for thesetwo TKA groups. The cementless group showed a significantearly ROM improvement after 1.5 months post-operative (p <0.05), while the cemented group showed ROM improvementonly after three months post-operative. No significant differencewas detected in terms of KSS between the cemented andcementless TKA groups at each measured time period. Bothgroups showed marked KSS improvement (cemented: 135%,cementless: 125%) after 1.5 months post-operative and theKSS seemed to be stabilized after three months post-operativefor both groups (cemented: p = 0.36; cementless: p = 0.07). Conclusions. There was a significant early ROM improvementfor the cementless TKA group compared to the cementedTKA group, but no statistical significant difference was notedin KSS in the early post-operative period when comparing cementedand cementless TKA groups. The findings provide evidencethat cementless TKA patients can undergo an identicalpost-operative protocol to cemented TKA, without concernsabout implant stability or function. KS J Med 2016;9(4):93-98

Infant Hearing Screening 1984 to 1989: The Henry Ford Hospital Experience

From 1984 to 1989 the Infant Hearing Screening (IHS) program at Henry Ford Hospital identified 1,300 infants as being at risk for hearing loss. The prevalence of significant sensorineural hearing loss in this sample was 1.4%. Additionally, 80 infants who passed the IHS program and reached 3 years of age were found to have normal hearing sensitivity by conventional audiometric techniques (ie, no false-negative predictions). There were three false-positive predictions. It was discovered that infants of low birthweight (ie, \u3c 1,500 g) were three times more likely to fail IHS than those whose weight exceeded 1,500 g. A higher return rate was found for infants failing an initial hearing screening conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit in comparison to those screened as outpatients one week postdischarge. The sensitivity and specificity of behavioral observation audiometry were 43% and 92%, respectively, when brainstem auditory-evoked potentials was used as the criterion validity measure

Post-exercise cold-water immersion modulates skeletal muscle PGC-1α mRNA expression in immersed and non-immersed limbs: evidence of systemic regulation

Mechanisms mediating post-exercise cold-induced increases in PGC-1α gene expression in human skeletal muscle are yet to be fully elucidated, but may involve local cooling effects on AMPK and p38 MAPK related signalling and/or increased systemic β-adrenergic stimulation. We aimed to therefore examine whether post-exercise cold-water immersion enhancement of PGC-1α mRNA is mediated through local or systemic mechanisms. Ten subjects completed acute cycling (8x5 min at ~80% peak power output) followed by seated-rest (CON) or single-leg cold-water immersion (CWI; 10 min, 8°C). Muscle biopsies were obtained pre-, post- and 3 h post-exercise from a single limb in the CON condition but from both limbs in CWI (thereby providing tissue from a CWI and non-immersed limb, NOT). Muscle temperature decreased up to 2 h post-exercise following CWI (-5°C) in the immersed limb, with lesser changes observed in CON and NOT (-3°C; P<0.05). No differences between limbs were observed in p38MAPK phosphorylation at any time point (P<0.05), whilst a significant interaction effect was present for AMPK phosphorylation (P=0.031). Exercise (CON) increased gene expression of PGC-1α 3 h post-exercise (~5-fold; P<0.001). CWI augmented PGC-1α expression above CON in both the immersed (CWI; ~9-fold; P=0.003) and NOT limbs (~12-fold; P=0.001). Plasma Normetanephrine concentration was higher in CWI vs. CON immediately post-immersion (860 vs. 665 pmol/L; P=0.034). We report for the first time that local cooling of the immersed limb evokes transcriptional control of PGC1-α in the non-immersed limb, suggesting increased systemic β-adrenergic activation of AMPK mediates, in part, post-exercise cold-induction of PGC-1α mRNA

Pancreatic anastomosis training models:current status and future directions

Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after pancreatoduodenectomy (PD), and previous research has focused on patient-related risk factors and comparisons between anastomotic techniques. However, it is recognized that surgeon experience is an important factor in POPF outcomes, and that there is a significant learning curve for the pancreatic anastomosis. The aim of this study was to review the current literature on training models for the pancreatic anastomosis, and to explore areas for future research. It is concluded that research is needed to understand the mechanical properties of the human pancreas in an effort to develop a synthetic model that closely mimics its mechanical properties. Virtual reality (VR) is an attractive alternative to synthetic models for surgical training, and further work is needed to develop a VR pancreatic anastomosis training module that provides both high fidelity and haptic feedback