Severe pelvic injury: vascular lesions detected by ante- and post-mortem contrast medium-enhanced CT and associations with pelvic fractures.

The objectives of this study were to compare arterial and venous contrast medium extravasation in severe pelvic injury detected by ante- and post-mortem multi-detector CT (MDCT) and determine whether vascular injury is associated with certain types of pelvic fracture. We retrospectively included two different cohorts of blunt pelvic trauma with contrast medium extravasation shown by MDCT. The first group comprised 49 polytrauma patients; the second included 45 dead bodies undergoing multi-phase post-mortem CT-angiography (MPMCTA). Two radiologists jointly reviewed each examination concerning type, site of bleeding and pattern of underlying pelvic ring fracture. All 49 polytrauma patients demonstrated arterial bleeding, immediately undergoing subsequent angiography; 42 (85%) had pelvic fractures, but no venous bleeding was disclosed. MPMCTA of 45 bodies revealed arterial (n = 33, 73%) and venous (n = 35, 78%) bleeding and pelvic fractures (n = 41, 91%). Pelvic fracture locations were significantly correlated with ten arterial and six venous bleeding sites in dead bodies, with five arterial bleeding sites in polytrauma patients. In dead bodies, arterial haemorrhage was significantly correlated with the severity of pelvic fracture according to Tile classification (p = 0.01), unlike venous bleeding (p = 0.34). In severe pelvic injury, certain acute bleeding sites were significantly correlated with underlying pelvic fracture locations. MPMCTA revealed more venous lesions than MDCT in polytrauma patients. Future investigations should evaluate the proportional contribution of venous bleeding to overall pelvic haemorrhage as well as its clinical significance

Peritoneal Carcinomatosis in Primary Ovarian Cancer Staging: Comparison Between MDCT, MRI, and 18F-FDG PET/CT.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare multidetector CT (MDCT), MRI, and FDG PET/CT imaging for the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) in ovarian cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifteen women with ovarian cancer and suspected PC underwent MDCT, MRI, and FDG PET/CT, shortly before surgery. Nine abdominopelvic regions were defined according to the peritoneal cancer index. We applied lesion size scores on MDCT and MR and measured FDG PET/CT standard uptake. We blindly read MDCT, MR, and PET/CT before joint review and comparison with histopathology. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was performed. RESULTS: Ten women had PC (67%). Altogether, 135 abdominopelvic sites were compared. Multidetector CT, MRI, and FDG PET/CT had a sensitivity of 96%, 98%, and 95%, and specificity was 92%, 84%, and 96%, respectively. Corresponding receiver operating characteristics area was 0.94, 0.90, and 0.96, respectively, without any significant differences between them (P = 0.12). FDG PET/CT detected supradiaphragmatic disease in 3 women (20%) not seen by MDCT or MRI. CONCLUSIONS: Although MRI had the highest sensitivity and FDG PET/CT had the highest specificity, no significant differences were found between the 3 techniques. Thus, MDCT, as the fastest, most economical, and most widely available modality, is the examination of choice, if a stand-alone technique is required. If inconclusive, PET/CT or MRI may offer additional insights. Whole-body FDG PET/CT may be more accurate for supradiaphragmatic metastatic extension

Heerwesen, Gemeindeordnung und städtische Interessenpolitik im Vormärz dargestellt am Beispiel der rheinischen Kommunen

Die Untersuchung thematisiert für den Zeitraum des Vormärz die Rolle und Funktion zivil-militärischer Beziehungen am Beispiel ausgewählter Kommunen der preußischen Rheinprovinz. Dabei orientiert sich die leitende Fragestellung an den kommunalen wie auch militärischen Zielvorstellungen, Voraussetzungen und Interessen, die eine Dislokation von Truppen in einem vom preußischen Staat neu erworbenem Territorium ermöglichten oder verhinderten. Waren die Kommunen zumeist aus ökonomischen Motiven an einer militärischen Belegung interessiert, so konnten sie weiterführende Bedürfnisse zumeist nur im Einzelfall behaupten, in der Regel waren sie dem militärfiskalischen Regulierungsdruck erlegen. Das Militär wirkte ökonomisch belebend, in größeren Städten z.T. auch modernisierend; dort vor allem in bezug auf die den Ausbau der Infrastruktur, aber auch die dysfunktionalen Elemente, die der bewaffneten Nacht zuzuschreiben sind, blieben nicht ohne Bedeutung und Eigengewicht auf der kommunalen Bilanzseite

Cyanide intermediates in catalytic reduction of NO by C2H4 on Rhodium(III)

Temp.-programmed reaction spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) have been applied to study reactions of NO and C2H4 coadsorbed on Rh(111). As expected, H2O, CO2, and N2 are the main products at low C2H4 coverages, but at higher coverages H2, HCN, CO, and NO, and even some C2N2 evolve as well. Static SIMS indicates the formation of a large supply of adsorbed cyanide species, part of which desorbs as HCN, while the remainder decomps. and is responsible for delayed formation of N2. For the highest C2H4 coverages, the majority of the nitrogen atoms in the initially adsorbed NO desorbs as HC

A comprehensive study of shower to shower fluctuations

By means of Monte Carlo simulations of extensive air showers (EAS), we have performed a comprehensive study of the shower to shower fluctuations affecting the longitudinal and lateral development of EAS. We split the fluctuations into physical fluctuations and those induced by the thinning procedure customarily applied to simulate showers at EeV energies and above. We study the influence of thinning on the calculation of the shower to shower fluctuations in the simulations. For thinning levels larger than 10^(-5) - 10^(-6), the determination of the shower to shower fluctuations is hampered by the artificial fluctuations induced by the thinning procedure. However, we show that shower to shower fluctuations can still be approximately estimated, and we provide expressions to calculate them. The influence of fluctuations of the depth of first interaction on the determination of shower to shower fluctuations is also addressed.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure

Orbital effect of in-plane magnetic field on quantum transport in chaotic lateral dots

We show how the in-plane magnetic field, which breaks time-reversal and rotational symmetries of the orbital motion of electrons in a heterostructure due to the momentum-dependent inter-subband mixing, affects weak localisation correction to conductance of a large-area chaotic lateral quantum dot and parameteric dependences of universal conductance fluctuations in it.Comment: 4 pages with a figur

Initial Staging of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer and Regional Lymph Nodes: Comparison of Diffusion-Weighted MRI With 18F-FDG-PET/CT.

The aim of the study was to compare diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) parameters with 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). From October 2012 to September 2014, 24 patients with histologically confirmed and untreated LARC (T3-T4) prospectively underwent a pelvic 1.5-T DW-MRI (b = 0 s/mm, b = 600 s/mm2) and a whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT, before neoadjuvant therapy. The 2 examinations were performed on the same day. Two readers measured 18F-FDG SUVmax and SUVmean of the rectal tumor and of the pathological regional lymph nodes on PET/CT and compared these with minimum and mean values of the ADC (ADCmin and ADCmean) on maps generated from DW-MRI. The diagnostic performance of ADC values in identifying pathological lymph nodes was also assessed. Regarding tumors (n = 24), we found a significant negative correlation between SUVmean and corresponding ADCmean values (ρ = -0.61, P = 0.0017) and between ADCmin and SUVmax (ρ = -0.66, P = 0.0005). Regarding the lymph nodes (n = 63), there was a significant negative correlation between ADCmean and SUVmean values (ρ = -0.38, P = 0.0021), but not between ADCmin and SUVmax values (ρ = -0.11, P = 0.41). Neither ADCmean nor ADCmin values helped distinguish pathological from benign lymph nodes (AUC of 0.24 [confidence interval, 0.10-0.38] and 0.41 [confidence interval, 0.22-0.60], respectively). The correlations between ADCmean and SUVmean suggest an association between tumor cellularity and metabolic activity in untreated LARC and in regional lymph nodes. However, compared with 18F-FDG PET/CT, ADC values are not reliable for identifying pathological lymph nodes

Cosmic distance-duality as probe of exotic physics and acceleration

In cosmology, distances based on standard candles (e.g. supernovae) and standard rulers (e.g. baryon oscillations) agree as long as three conditions are met: (1) photon number is conserved, (2) gravity is described by a metric theory with (3) photons travelling on unique null geodesics. This is the content of distance-duality (the reciprocity relation) which can be violated by exotic physics. Here we analyse the implications of the latest cosmological data sets for distance-duality. While broadly in agreement and confirming acceleration we find a 2-sigma violation caused by excess brightening of SN-Ia at z > 0.5, perhaps due to lensing magnification bias. This brightening has been interpreted as evidence for a late-time transition in the dark energy but because it is not seen in the d_A data we argue against such an interpretation. Our results do, however, rule out significant SN-Ia evolution and extinction: the "replenishing" grey-dust model with no cosmic acceleration is excluded at more than 4-sigma despite this being the best-fit to SN-Ia data alone, thereby illustrating the power of distance-duality even with current data sets.Comment: 6 pages, 4 colour figures. Version accepted as a Rapid Communication in PR

Quantum optical coherence tomography with dispersion cancellation

We propose a new technique, called quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT), for carrying out tomographic measurements with dispersion-cancelled resolution. The technique can also be used to extract the frequency-dependent refractive index of the medium. QOCT makes use of a two-photon interferometer in which a swept delay permits a coincidence interferogram to be traced. The technique bears a resemblance to classical optical coherence tomography (OCT). However, it makes use of a nonclassical entangled twin-photon light source that permits measurements to be made at depths greater than those accessible via OCT, which suffers from the deleterious effects of sample dispersion. Aside from the dispersion cancellation, QOCT offers higher sensitivity than OCT as well as an enhancement of resolution by a factor of 2 for the same source bandwidth. QOCT and OCT are compared using an idealized sample.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

Retention of Two-Band Superconductivity in Highly Carbon-Doped MgB2

Tunneling data on MgB_{1.8}C_{0.2} show a reduction in the energy gap of the pi-bands by a factor of two from undoped MgB2 that is consistent with the Tc reduction, but inconsistent with the expectations of the dirty limit. Dirty-limit theory for undoped MgB2 predicts a single gap about three times larger than measured and a reduced Tc comparable to that measured. Our heavily-doped samples exhibit a uniform dispersion of C suggestive of significantly enhanced scattering, and we conclude that the retention of two-band superconductivity in these samples is caused by a selective suppression of interband scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; added one figure, added one reference, minor changes to the text, manuscript accepted for publication as a Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communicatio