1,058 research outputs found
Ileovesicostomy Update: Changes for the 21st Century
Objectives. To review the literature regarding ileovesicostomy and evaluate our patient population for clinical characteristics. Methods. Various surgical reconstructive techniques allow management of difficult clinical scenarios involving patients with neurogenic bladder, irretraceable lower urinary tract symptoms, lower urinary tract disaster, and urethrocutaneous fistulae. One such reconstructive technique employed is the ileovesicostomy. This procedure provides patients with a low-pressure urinary conduit utilizing the ileum and native bladder that empties without catheterization. We describe our patient population who underwent ileovesicostomy for 5 consecutive years ending 2007 at Detroit Receiving Hospital. Results. Most common diagnosis was neurogenic bladder secondary to spinal cord injury. Our population and clinical outcomes are similar to those previously reported in the literature. Conclusions. Based on our experience, we suggest that patients with severe lower urinary tract symptoms and who are unable to perform clean intermittent catheterization and/or refractory to medical therapy ileovesicostomy should be the procedure of choice
Upgrades of beam diagnostics in support of emittance-exchange experiments at the Fermilab A0 photoinjector
The possibility of using electron beam phase space manipulations to support a
free-electron laser accelerator design optimization has motivated our research.
An on-going program demonstrating the exchange of transverse horizontal and
longitudinal emittances at the Fermilab A0 photoinjector has benefited recently
from the upgrade of several of the key diagnostics stations. Accurate
measurements of these properties upstream and downstream of the exchanger
beamline are needed. Improvements in the screen resolution term and reduced
impact of the optical system's depth-of-focus by using YAG:Ce single crystals
normal to the beam direction will be described. The requirement to measure
small energy spreads (<10 keV) in the spectrometer and the exchange process
which resulted in bunch lengths less than 500 fs led to other diagnostics
performance adjustments and upgrades as well. A longitudinal to transverse
exchange example is also reported.Comment: 16 p
Sobre uma coluna vertebral de um titanossaurĂdeo (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) do grupo Bauru, NeocretĂĄceo do Brasil
A new titanosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous continental deposits of the Bauru Group is described. Trigonosaurus pricei n.gen., n.sp., is based on two specimens, both collected at the Caieira Quarry near PeiroÌpolis, Minas Gerais. The holotype consists of the five most posterior cervical vertebrae, 10 dorsals, six sacrals and the left ilium (MCT 1488-R). The second specimen (paratype) consists of 10 caudal vertebrae that according to a quarry map, were found isolated but show a similar morphology and compatible size suggesting that they belonged to one individual (MCT 1719-R). Trigonosaurus pricei is diagnosed by a combination of characters such as elongated cervicals and middorsals, dorsal vertebrae 9 and 10 with incipient postzygodiapophyseal lamina and transverse processes well developed throughout the sequence formed by anterior and medial caudals. The occurrence of this new taxon indicates a higher diversity of titanosaurids in the Brazil during the Cretaceous period.Um novo titanossauriÌdeo procedente dos depoÌsitos continentais do grupo Bauru (NeocretaÌceo) eÌ descrito. Trigonosaurus pricei n.gen., n.sp. eÌ baseado em dois exemplares coletados na localidade Caieira na regiaÌo de PeiroÌpolis, Minas Gerais. O holoÌtipo eÌ composto das uÌltimas cinco veÌrtebras cervicais, 10 veÌrtebras dorsais, seis sacrais e o iÌlio esquerdo (MCT 1488-R). O segundo exemplar (paraÌtipo) eÌ formado por 10 veÌrtebras caudais que, de acordo com um mapa da escavaçaÌo, foram encontradas isoladas, mas apresentam o mesmo padraÌo morfoloÌgico e um tamanho compatiÌvel, sendo, deste modo, consideradas como pertencentes a um mesmo indiviÌduo (MCT 1719-R). Trigonosaurus pricei eÌ diagnosticado por uma combinaçaÌo de caracteres tais como veÌrtebras cervicais e dorsais meÌdias alongadas, veÌrtebras dorsais 9 e 10 com uma incipiente laÌmina diapopoÌs-zigapofisiaÌria e processos transversos bem desenvolvidos por toda sequÌeÌncia anterior e meÌdia da seÌrie caudal. A ocorreÌncia deste novo taÌxon demonstra a existeÌncia de uma maior diversidade de titanosauriÌdeos no Brasil durante o periÌodo CretaÌceo
Education and articulation: Laclau and Mouffeâs radical democracy in school
This paper outlines a theory of radical democratic education by addressing a key concept in Laclau and Mouffeâs Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: articulation. Through their concept of articulation, Laclau and Mouffe attempt to liberate Gramsciâs theory of hegemony from Marxist economism, and adapt it to a political sphere inhabited by a plurality of struggles and agents none of which is predominant. However, while for Gramsci the political process of hegemony formation has an explicit educational dimension, Laclau and Mouffe ignore this dimension altogether. My discussion starts with elaborating the concept of articulation and analysing it in terms of three dimensions: performance, connection and transformation. I then address the role of education in Gramsciâs politics, in which the figure of the intellectual is central, and argue that radical democratic education requires renouncing that figure. In the final section, I offer a theory of such education, in which both teacher and students articulate their political differences and identities
Nanoparticle-Delivered Multimeric Soluble CD40L DNA Combined with Toll-Like Receptor Agonists as a Treatment for Melanoma
Stimulation of CD40 or Toll-Like Receptors (TLR) has potential for tumor immunotherapy. Combinations of CD40 and TLR stimulation can be synergistic, resulting in even stronger dendritic cell (DC) and CD8+ T cell responses. To evaluate such combinations, established B16F10 melanoma tumors were injected every other day X 5 with plasmid DNA encoding a multimeric, soluble form of CD40L (pSP-D-CD40L) either alone or combined with an agonist for TLR1/2 (Pam3CSK4 ), TLR2/6 (FSL-1 and MALP2), TLR3 (polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, poly(I:C)), TLR4 ( monophosphoryl lipid A, MPL), TLR7 (imiquimod), or TLR9 (Class B CpG phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide, CpG). When used by itself, pSP-D-CD40L slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival, but did not lead to cure. Of the TLR agonists, CpG and poly(I:C) also slowed tumor growth, and the combination of these two TLR agonists was more effective than either agent alone. The triple combination of intratumoral pSP-D-CD40L + CpG + poly(I:C) markedly slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival. This treatment was associated with a reduction in intratumoral CD11c+ dendritic cells and an influx of CD8+ T cells. Since intratumoral injection of plasmid DNA does not lead to efficient transgene expression, pSP-D-CD40L was also tested with cationic polymers that form DNA-containing nanoparticles which lead to enhanced intratumoral gene expression. Intratumoral injections of pSP-D-CD40L-containing nanoparticles formed from polyethylenimine (PEI) or C32 (a novel biodegradable poly(B-amino esters) polymer) in combination with CpG + poly(I:C) had dramatic antitumor effects and frequently cured mice of B16F10 tumors. These data confirm and extend previous reports that CD40 and TLR agonists are synergistic and demonstrate that this combination of immunostimulants can significantly suppress tumor growth in mice. In addition, the enhanced effectiveness of nanoparticle formulations of DNA encoding immunostimulatory molecules such as multimeric, soluble CD40L supports the further study of this technology for tumor immunotherapy
Semantic Segmentation of Histopathological Slides for the Classification of Cutaneous Lymphoma and Eczema
Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare, potentially life threatening skin disease,
which in early stages clinically and histologically strongly resembles Eczema,
a very common and benign skin condition. In order to increase the survival
rate, one needs to provide the appropriate treatment early on. To this end, one
crucial step for specialists is the evaluation of histopathological slides
(glass slides), or Whole Slide Images (WSI), of the patients' skin tissue. We
introduce a deep learning aided diagnostics tool that brings a two-fold value
to the decision process of pathologists. First, our algorithm accurately
segments WSI into regions that are relevant for an accurate diagnosis,
achieving a Mean-IoU of 69% and a Matthews Correlation score of 83% on a novel
dataset. Additionally, we also show that our model is competitive with the
state of the art on a reference dataset. Second, using the segmentation map and
the original image, we are able to predict if a patient has MF or Eczema. We
created two models that can be applied in different stages of the diagnostic
pipeline, potentially eliminating life-threatening mistakes. The classification
outcome is considerably more interpretable than using only the WSI as the
input, since it is also based on the segmentation map. Our segmentation model,
which we call EU-Net, extends a classical U-Net with an EfficientNet-B7 encoder
which was pre-trained on the Imagenet dataset.Comment: Submitted to
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-52791-4_
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