Functional fat injection in the treatment of dysphagia following surgery

Functional fat injection under local anesthesia could be useful in the treatment of chronic dysphagia in selected patients with tissue loss secondary to laryngeal surgery

Dark Matter and Baryon Fraction at the Virial Radius in Abell 2256

We combine ASCA and ROSAT X-ray data to constrain the radial dark matter distribution in the primary cluster of A2256, free from the isothermality assumption. Both instruments indicate that the temperature declines with radius. The region including the central galaxy has a multicomponent spectrum, which results in a wide range of allowed central temperatures. We find that the secondary subcluster has a temperature and luminosity typical of a rich cluster; however, the ASCA temperature map shows no signs of an advanced merger. It is therefore assumed that the primary cluster is in hydrostatic equilibrium. The data then require dark matter density profiles steeper than rho ~ r^-2.5 in its outer part. Acceptable models have a total mass within r=1.5 Mpc (the virial radius) of 6.0+-1.5 10^14 Msun at the 90% confidence, about 1.6 times smaller than the mass derived assuming isothermality. Near the center, dark matter profiles with and without central cusps are consistent with the data. Total mass inside the X-ray core (r=0.26 Mpc) is 1.28+-0.08 10^14 Msun, which exceeds the isothermal value by a factor of 1.4. Although the confidence intervals above may be underestimates since they do not include possible asymmetry and departures from hydrostatic equilibrium, the behavior of the mass distribution, if applicable to other clusters, can bring into better agreement X-ray and lensing mass estimates, but aggravate the ``baryon catastrophe''. The observed considerable increase in the gas content with radius, not anticipated by simulations, may imply that a significant fraction of thermal gas energy comes from sources other than gravity and merger shocks.Comment: Added dynamic argument against advanced merger. Latex, 10 pages, 3 figures; uses emulateapj.sty. ApJ in pres

Narrow-line magneto-optical trap for erbium

We report on the experimental realization of a robust and efficient magneto-optical trap for erbium atoms, based on a narrow cooling transition at 583nm. We observe up to $N=2 \times 10^{8}$ atoms at a temperature of about $T=15 \mu K$. This simple scheme provides better starting conditions for direct loading of dipole traps as compared to approaches based on the strong cooling transition alone, or on a combination of a strong and a narrow kHz transition. Our results on Er point to a general, simple and efficient approach to laser cool samples of other lanthanide atoms (Ho, Dy, and Tm) for the production of quantum-degenerate samples

Reliabiliy and clinical validity of the italian reflux symptom index

Currently, there is no Italian version of the Reflux Symptom Index (RSI). The aim of this study was to develop an Italian RSI and to evaluate its internal consistency, reliability, and clinical validity. The study design used was a cross-sectional survey study. Eighty patients with a Reflux Finding Score (RFS) >7, and 193 asymptomatic subjects were included in the study. For the RSI reliability analysis, the appositely developed Italian RSI was filled twice, with a week interval, by the 80 patients and 80 control subjects. The test-retest reliability was assessed through the Pearson correlation test, whereas the Cronbach's \u3b1 coefficient was used for internal consistency analysis. For the clinical validity assessment, the scores obtained in the pathological group were compared with the data from the asymptomatic individuals through the Student's t test. Finally, the correlation between RSI and RFS in the 80 patients was assessed. All of the patients filled in the entire questionnaire autonomously. The test-retest reliability in the patients, as well as in the control group, was very high (r > 0.90); the internal consistency also showed very high values (\u3b1 = 0.99). The mean RSI score in the patients was 21.1 \ub1 6.6, whereas in the control group it was 6.3 \ub1 5.6; the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.0001). The mean RFS score in the 80 patients was 9.2 \ub1 2.7 and the correlation between RFS score and RSI score was rather high (r = 0.89). The Italian RSI is easily administered, highly reproducible, and exhibits excellent clinical validity

Explaining the entropy excess in clusters and groups of galaxies without additional heating

The X-ray luminosity and temperature of clusters and groups of galaxies do not scale in a self-similar manner. This has often been interpreted as a sign that the intracluster medium has been substantially heated by non-gravitational sources. In this paper, we propose a simple model which, instead, uses the properties of galaxy formation to explain the observations. Drawing on available observations, we show that there is evidence that the efficiency of galaxy formation was higher in groups than in clusters. If confirmed, this would deplete the low-entropy gas in groups, increase their central entropy and decrease their X-ray luminosity. A simple, empirical, hydrostatic model appears to match both the luminosity-temperature relation of clusters and properties of their internal structure as well.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJL; added one reference, otherwise unchange

Measuring cosmological bulk flows via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in the upcoming cosmic microwave background maps

We propose a new method to measure the possible large-scale bulk flows in the Universe from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps from the upcoming missions, MAP and Planck. This can be done by studying the statistical properties of the CMB temperature field at many X-ray cluster positions. At each cluster position, the CMB temperature fluctuation will be a combination of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) kinematic and thermal components, the cosmological fluctuations and the instrument noise term. When averaged over many such clusters the last three will integrate down, whereas the first one will be dominated by a possible bulk flow component. In particular, we propose to use all-sky X-ray cluster catalogs that should (or could) be available soon from X-ray satellites, and then to evaluate the dipole component of the CMB field at the cluster positions. We show that for the MAP and Planck mission parameters the dominant contributions to the dipole will be from the terms due to the SZ kinematic effect produced by the bulk flow (the signal we seek) and the instrument noise (the noise in our signal). Computing then the expected signal-to-noise ratio for such measurement, we get that at the 95 % confidence level the bulk flows on scales >100h^{-1} Mpc can be probed down to the amplitude of $< 200$ km/sec with the MAP data and down to only 30 km/sec with the Planck mission.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres

Quick X-ray microtomography using a laser-driven betatron source

Laser-driven X-ray sources are an emerging alternative to conventional X-ray tubes and synchrotron sources. We present results on microtomographic X-ray imaging of a cancellous human bone sample using synchrotron-like betatron radiation. The source is driven by a 100-TW-class titanium-sapphire laser system and delivers over $10^8$ X-ray photons per second. Compared to earlier studies, the acquisition time for an entire tomographic dataset has been reduced by more than an order of magnitude. Additionally, the reconstruction quality benefits from the use of statistical iterative reconstruction techniques. Depending on the desired resolution, tomographies are thereby acquired within minutes, which is an important milestone towards real-life applications of laser-plasma X-ray sources

Surgical management of a life-threatening retro-pharyngeal haematoma following trans-oesophageal echocardiography = Trattamento chirurgico di un pericoloso ematoma retrofaringeo, sviluppatosi a seguito di un\u2019ecocardiografia transesofagea

Nonostante siano state descritte complicanze potenzialmente letali, l\u2019ecocardiografia transesofagea viene considerata una procedura diagnostica sicura. Scopo del presente lavoro \ue8 sottolineare come, nei casi di voluminosi ematomi secondari a tale procedura, possa diventare indispensabile il ricorso alla chirurgia per tutelare la vita del paziente. Nel caso qui descritto, un paziente affetto da spondilosi cervicale e in terapia anticoagulante ha sviluppato, a seguito di un\u2019ecocardiografia transesofagea, un ematoma retrofaringeo tanto voluminoso da determinare un\u2019ostruzione delle vie aeree superiori. Per assicurarne la perviet\ue0 \ue8 stato necessario ricorrere a una tracheotomia, l\u2019ematoma, invece, \ue8 stato drenato per via transcervicale. Il paziente \ue8 guarito completamente in 10 giorni. Il chirurgo otorinolaringoiatrico dovrebbe essere a conoscenza, non solo di questa rara complicanza, ma anche della necessit\ue0 di un suo trattamento chirurgico.Trans-oesophageal echocardiography is generally considered a safe procedure, but occasional life-threatening complications have been reported. The aim of this clinical investigation is to outline the need of surgical management in cases of large retro-pharyngeal haematoma following trans-oesophageal echocardiography. In the case reported here, a patient with cervical spondylosis on anti-coagulant therapy was referred to the Head and Neck Department because of a retro-pharyngeal haematoma with severe upper airway obstruction following transoesophageal echocardiography. Tracheotomy was required to guarantee respiratory function, while trans-cervical surgery was performed to evacuate the haematoma. Total recovery was achieved within 10 days. In conclusion, the head and neck surgeon should consider the need of surgical management in cases of retro-pharyngeal haematoma following trans-oesophageal echocardiography