A fetal scalp electrode as a simple aid in the search for a lost needle fragment during sacrospinous ligament fixation

A needle fragment was lost during a sacrospinous ligament fixation. This was recognized during the procedure, but could not be found at that moment. The patient complained of severe buttock pain postoperatively. The needle fragment was localized on CT scan of the pelvis. A fetal scalp electrode helped as a search device to localize the needle on X-ray during the secondary surgery. The patient was operated successfully and was free of pain after 6 weeks

beta-Glucan Reverses the Epigenetic State of LPS-Induced Immunological Tolerance

Contains fulltext : 163356.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

4D coronary artery reconstruction based on retrospectively gated rotational angiography: first in-human results

A method is proposed that allows for a fully automated computation of a series of high-resolution volumetric reconstructions of a patient's coronary arteries based on a single rotational acquisition. During the 7.2 second acquisition the coronary arteries are injected with contrast material while the imaging system rotates around the patient to obtain a series of X-ray projection images over an angular range of 180 degrees. Based on the simultaneously recorded ECG-signal the projection images corresponding to the same cardiac cycle can be utilized to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) high-spatial-resolution angiograms of the coronary arteries in multiple (3D+t) cardiac phases within the cardiac cycle. The proposed acquisition protocol has been applied to 22 patients and the tomograpic reconstructions depicted the main arteries as well as the main bifurcations in multiple cardiac phases in all enrolled patients. For the first time, this feasibility study shows that a three-dimensional description of the coronary arteries can be obtained intraprocedurally in a conventional interventional suite by means of tomographic reconstruction from projection images without any user interaction

β-Glucan Reverses the Epigenetic State of LPS-Induced Immunological Tolerance

Innate immune memory is the phenomenon whereby innate immune cells such as monocytes or macrophages undergo functional reprogramming after exposure to microbial components such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We apply an integrated epigenomic approach to characterize the molecular events involved in LPS-induced tolerance in a time-dependent manner. Mechanistically, LPS-treated monocytes fail to accumulate active histone marks at promoter and enhancers of genes in the lipid metabolism and phagocytic pathways. Transcriptional inactivity in response to a second LPS exposure in tolerized macrophages is accompanied by failure to deposit active histone marks at promoters of tolerized genes. In contrast, β-glucan partially reverses the LPS-induced tolerance in vitro. Importantly, ex vivo β-glucan treatment of monocytes from volunteers with experimental endotoxemia re-instates their capacity for cytokine production. Tolerance is reversed at the level of distal element histone modification and transcriptional reactivation of otherwise unresponsive genes. Video Abstrac

Dust Density Distribution and Imaging Analysis of Different Ice Lines in Protoplanetary Disks

Recent high angular resolution observations of protoplanetary disks at different wavelengths have revealed several kinds of structures, including multiple bright and dark rings. Embedded planets are the most used explanation for such structures, but there are alternative models capable of shaping the dust in rings as it has been observed. We assume a disk around a Herbig star and investigate the effect that ice lines have on the dust evolution, following the growth, fragmentation, and dynamics of multiple dust size particles, covering from 1 $\mu$m to 2 m sized objects. We use simplified prescriptions of the fragmentation velocity threshold, which is assumed to change radially at the location of one, two, or three ice lines. We assume changes at the radial location of main volatiles, specifically H$_2$O, CO$_2$, and NH$_3$. Radiative transfer calculations are done using the resulting dust density distributions in order to compare with current multiwavelength observations. We find that the structures in the dust density profiles and radial intensities at different wavelengths strongly depend on the disk viscosity. A clear gap of emission can be formed between ice lines and be surrounded by ring-like structures, in particular between the H$_2$O and CO$_2$ (or CO). The gaps are expected to be shallower and narrower at millimeter emission than at near-infrared, opposite to model predictions of particle trapping. In our models, the total gas surface density is not expected to show strong variations, in contrast to other gap-forming scenarios such as embedded giant planets or radial variations of the disk viscosity.Comment: Minor changes after language edition. Accepted for publication in Ap