81 research outputs found
Triple-Cut Computer-Aided Design-Computer-Aided Modeling: More Oncologic Safety Added to Precise Mandible Modeling
PURPOSE:
Computer-aided design-computer-aided modeling (CAD-CAM) has become standard in mandibular reconstruction because it offers better outcomes. Occasionally, the reconstructive plans need to be changed intraoperatively and the custom-made prefabricated devices may become inadequate. We present an efficient adjunct to the standard CAD-CAM technique that resolves this problem.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Customized surgical devices with our "triple-cut" concept were used in 5 patients for mandibular reconstruction with free fibula flap (4 after mandibular resection for squamous cell carcinoma and 1 after mandibular osteoradionecrosis). In all patients the mandibular and fibular cutting guides were provided with 3 different cutting levels per side.
RESULTS:
Three different cutting levels on the mandible permitted an accurate resection based on the intraoperative needs. The corresponding 3 "cutting levels" on the fibula created perfectly matching segments of vascularized bone. Good contact of bony segments was obtained in all patients.
CONCLUSIONS:
The prefabricated triple-cut cutting guides make changing the dimensions of bony resection, while still using the prefabricated CAD-CAM reconstructive plate, possible
MEDEA: a real time imaging pipeline for pixel lensing
Pixel lensing is a technique used to search for baryonic components of dark
matter (MACHOs) and allows to detect microlensing events even when the target
galaxies are not resolved into individual stars. Potentially, it has the
advantage to provide higher statistics than other methods but, unfortunately,
traditional approaches to pixel lensing are very demanding in terms of
computing time. We present the new, user friendly, tool MEDEA (Microlensing
Experiment Data-Analysis Software for Events with Amplification). The package
can be used either in a fully automatic or in a semi-automatic mode and can
perform an on-line identification of events by means of a two levels trigger
and a quasi-on-line data analysis. The package will find application in the
exploration of large databases as well as in the exploitation of specifically
tailored future surveys.Comment: To appear in New Astronom
Correlations between atazanavir Ctrough and hyperbilirubinemia: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Hyperbilirubinemia is a common side effect of the antiretroviral agent atazanavir but is generally reversible upon discontinuation of treatment. We used therapeutic drug monitoring to investigate the occurrence of hyperbilirubinemia in a 49-year-old Hispanic man infected with HIV, following an overdose of ritonavir in ritonavir-boosted atazanavir therapy.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 49-year-old Hispanic man with HIV who had received several highly active antiretroviral therapy regimens over a number of years including atazanavir-containing regimens, was diagnosed with hyperbilirubinemia. An inappropriate doubling of ritonavir boosting resulted in a high atazanavir C<sub>trough </sub>and an initial rise in bilirubin plasma levels. Bilirubin levels later decreased, probably as a consequence of enzyme induction, while atazanavir plasma concentrations remained elevated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This article describes an occurrence of hyperbilirubinemia in a man infected with HIV and supports the importance of therapeutic drug monitoring in investigations of hyperbilirubinemia among patients receiving antiretroviral agents. That the patient tolerated exceptionally high atazanavir levels further strengthens the tolerability profile of this drug.</p
Effect of vascular endothelial growth factor gene therapy on post-traumatic peripheral nerve regeneration and denervation-related muscle atrophy
Functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury depends on both improvement of nerve regeneration and prevention of denervation-related skeletal muscle atrophy. To reach these goals, in this study we overexpressed vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by means of local gene transfer with adeno-associated virus (AAV). Local gene transfer in the regenerating peripheral nerve was obtained by reconstructing a 1-cm-long rat median nerve defect using a vein segment filled with skeletal muscle fibers that have been previously injected with either AAV2-VEGF or AAV2-LacZ, and the morphofunctional outcome of nerve regeneration was assessed 3 months after surgery. Surprisingly, results showed that overexpression of VEGF in the muscle-vein-combined guide led to a worse nerve regeneration in comparison with AAV-LacZ controls. Local gene transfer in the denervated muscle was obtained by direct injection of either AAV2-VEGF or AAV2-LacZ in the flexor digitorum sublimis muscle after median nerve transection and results showed a significantly lower progression of muscle atrophy in AAV2-VEGF-treated muscles in comparison with muscles treated with AAV2-LacZ. Altogether, our results suggest that local delivery of VEGF by AAV2-VEGF-injected transplanted muscle fibers do not represent a rational approach to promote axonal regeneration along a venous nerve guide. By contrast, AAV2-VEGF direct local injection in denervated skeletal muscle significantly attenuates denervation-related atrophy, thus representing a promising strategy for improving the outcome of post-traumatic neuromuscular recovery after nerve injury and repair
Lyme Borreliosis, Po River Valley, Italy
We aimed to determine the presence of Ixodes ricinus ticks in heavily populated areas of the Po River Valley after report of a Lyme disease case. Eighteen percent of ticks examined from 3 locations were positive for Lyme disease borreliae. Lyme disease was diagnosed for 3 workers at risk for tick bite
Microlensing as a probe of the Galactic structure; 20 years of microlensing optical depth studies
Microlensing is now a very popular observational astronomical technique. The
investigations accessible through this effect range from the dark matter
problem to the search for extra-solar planets. In this review, the techniques
to search for microlensing effects and to determine optical depths through the
monitoring of large samples of stars will be described. The consequences of the
published results on the knowledge of the Milky-Way structure and its dark
matter component will be discussed. The difficulties and limitations of the
ongoing programs and the perspectives of the microlensing optical depth
technique as a probe of the Galaxy structure will also be detailed.Comment: Accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitation.
General Relativity and Gravitation in press (2010) 0
The POINT-AGAPE Survey I: The Variable Stars in M31
The POINT-AGAPE collaboration has been monitoring M31 for three seasons with
the Wide Field Camera on the Isaac Newton Telescope. In each season, data are
taken for one hour per night for roughly sixty nights during the six months
that M31 is visible. The two fields of view straddle the central bulge,
northwards and southwards. We have calculated the locations, periods and
amplitudes of 35414 variable stars in M31 as a by-product of our microlensing
search. The variables are classified according to their period and amplitude of
variation. They are classified into population I and II Cepheids, Miras and
semi-regular long-period variables. The population I Cepheids are associated
with the spiral arms, while the central concentration of the Miras and
long-period variables varies noticeably, the stars with brighter (and shorter)
variations being much more centrally concentrated. A crucial role in the
microlensing experiment is played by the asymmetry signal. It was initially
assumed that the variable stars would not be a serious problem as their
distributions would be symmetric. We demonstrate that this assumption is not
correct. We find that differential extinction associated with the dust lanes
causes the variable star distributions to be asymmetric. The size and direction
of the asymmetry of the variable stars is measured as a function of period and
amplitude of variation. The implications of this discovery for the successful
completion of the microlensing experiments towards M31 are discussed.
(Abridged)Comment: To appear in MNRAS. Revised version including additional discussion
on color of variables. Additional data table will be available once the paper
is publishe
MOA-2010-BLG-477Lb: constraining the mass of a microlensing planet from microlensing parallax, orbital motion and detection of blended light
Microlensing detections of cool planets are important for the construction of
an unbiased sample to estimate the frequency of planets beyond the snow line,
which is where giant planets are thought to form according to the core
accretion theory of planet formation. In this paper, we report the discovery of
a giant planet detected from the analysis of the light curve of a
high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2010-BLG-477. The measured
planet-star mass ratio is and the projected
separation is in units of the Einstein radius. The angular
Einstein radius is unusually large mas. Combining
this measurement with constraints on the "microlens parallax" and the lens
flux, we can only limit the host mass to the range . In
this particular case, the strong degeneracy between microlensing parallax and
planet orbital motion prevents us from measuring more accurate host and planet
masses. However, we find that adding Bayesian priors from two effects (Galactic
model and Keplerian orbit) each independently favors the upper end of this mass
range, yielding star and planet masses of
and at a distance of kpc,
and with a semi-major axis of AU. Finally, we show that the
lens mass can be determined from future high-resolution near-IR adaptive optics
observations independently from two effects, photometric and astrometric.Comment: 3 Tables, 12 Figures, accepted in Ap
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