Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Caused by Space Occupying Lesions

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnosis and treatment of the carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) due to space occupying lesions (SOL). MATERIALS and METHODS: Eleven patients and 12 cases that underwent surgery for CTS due to SOL were studied retrospectively. We excluded SOL caused by bony lesions, such as malunion of distal radius fracture, volar lunate dislocation, etc. the average age was 51 years. There were 3 men and 8 women. Follow-up period was 12 to 40 months with an average of 18 months. the diagnosis of CTS was made clinically and electrophysiologically. in patients with swelling or tenderness on the area of wrist flexion creases, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or computed tomogram (CT) were additionally taken as well as the carpal tunnel view. We performed conventional open transverse carpal ligament release and removal of SOL. RESULTS: the types of lesion confirmed by pathologic examination were; tuberculosis tenosynovitis in 3 cases, nonspecific tenosynovitis in 2 cases, and gout in one case. Other SOLs were tumorous condition in five cases, and abnormal palmaris longus hypertrophy in 1 case. Tumorous conditions were due to calcifying mass in 4 cases and ganglion in 1 case. Following surgery, all cases showed alleviation of symptom without recurrence or complications. CONCLUSION: in cases with swelling or tenderness on the area of wrist flexion creases, it is important to obtain a carpal tunnel view, and MRI and/or CT should be supplemented in order to rule out SOLs around the carpal tunnel, if necessary.ope

Method and and apparatus for processing a signal

A method of processing a signal is disclosed. The present invention includes receiving (a) downmix signal being generated from plural-channel signal and (b) spatial information indicating attribute of the plural-channel signal in order to upmix the downmix signal and including phase shift flag indicating whether phase of a frame of at least one channel of the plural-channel signal is shifted; obtaining inter-channel phase difference (IPD) coding flag indicating whether IPD value is used to the spatial information from a header of the spatial information; obtaining IPD mode flag indicating whether the IPD value is used to frame of the spatial information from the frame based on the IPD coding flag; obtaining the IPD value of parameter band in the frame, based on the IPD mode flag; upmixing plural-channel signal by applying the IPD value to the downmix signal; and shifting the phase of the frame of the at least one channel of the plural-channel signal based on the phase shift flag

Influence of the waist diameters on transmission characteristics and strain sensitivity of microtapered long-period fiber gratings

Transmission characteristics of microtapered long-period fiber gratings (MTLPGs) and their strain and temperature sensitivities with variations in the waist diameters are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Transmission characteristics of MTLPGs strongly depend on the waist diameter of the tapered optical fiber (TOF) because of the modification of the effective index difference between the core and the cladding modes. Based on the photoelastic effect, the resonant wavelengths of MTLPGs with variations in strain shift to shorter wavelengths. The strain sensitivity of the MTLPG with a waist diameter of 25 μm is improved by a factor of 20 compared with that of a 125 μm long-period fiber grating. The temperature sensitivities of MTLPGs are also enhanced by reducing the waist diameter of the TOF

Probe card-Type multizone electrostatic chuck inspection system

Electrostatic chucks (ESCs) are major components of the equipment used to improve the production yield of wafers and temperature uniformity across wafer surfaces by controlling the wafer temperature precisely. However, ESCs are directly exposed to harsh environments, such as plasma, chemical gases, and high temperature fluctuations. Therefore, ESCs may malfunction if used for a certain period. Therefore, repair and performance verification of failed ESCs are required. In this study, we developed a multizone probe card system suitable for electrical testing of the heating electrodes embedded in ESC control modules to correlate the failure mode factors of ESCs. This system has the advantages of examining the resistance of the internal heating electrode of a 144-zone ESC in a short time and detecting an abnormality in this component based on the measured data. The heating electrode resistance measurement error rate of the developed system was 1%, and the maintenance time was reduced by approximately 66% compared with that of existing ESC maintenance methods